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Speaker 1: net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: Presentify fand here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. We've
Speaker 1: made it halfway through the week. Today we're gonna be
Speaker 1: covering Nuggets, Blazers and talking a lot about Nicola Yoki
Speaker 1: in the easy way that he dominates basketball games. And
Speaker 1: then we're also gonna be talking about the Philadelphia seventy
Speaker 1: sixers going into l A and beating the Clippers. And
Speaker 1: then I told you guys how I was gonna start
Speaker 1: doing more quick hitters. We have three more quick hitters
Speaker 1: at the end of this show. John Wall thinking the
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen Wizards would have beat Lebron's calves definitely
Speaker 1: have some thoughts there. J. J. Reddick and a real
Speaker 1: basketball work ethic. I wanted to talk about that for
Speaker 1: a second. And then everyone's acting all surprised that the
Speaker 1: Nets suck without Katie, which is completely absurd to me.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to share some thoughts on that as well.
Speaker 1: And then tomorrow night, we're gonna be going live immediately
Speaker 1: after the final buzzer of Warriors Celtics. An excellent opportunity
Speaker 1: for the Warriors to send a message on the road
Speaker 1: in Boston tomorrow night. You guys know the drill before
Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so
Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
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Speaker 1: miss any show announcements. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos
Speaker 1: and you can't get over to YouTube to finish, you
Speaker 1: can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight,
Speaker 1: all let's talk some basketball. So this game was with
Speaker 1: the Blazers and the Nuggets. Was a little close through
Speaker 1: about half, but Denver really took over in the second
Speaker 1: half ended up winning thirteen. It's kind of a funny
Speaker 1: game to watch because anytime you get two players like
Speaker 1: Dame and Yokich. Now, Yokich is way better than Dame,
Speaker 1: but those two players are two players where you're primarily
Speaker 1: talking about their offensive impact, like uh Yoki is more
Speaker 1: of like an average defensive player. Dame Lillard is a
Speaker 1: bad defensive player, so they're gonna struggle to guard each other,
Speaker 1: and they kept putting each other in actions, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of funny watching how neither of them could
Speaker 1: guard each other. Anytime Yokich had to come out to
Speaker 1: the level of the screen, Lillard was getting by him
Speaker 1: off the dribble, or if he didn't get out there,
Speaker 1: he's hitting pull up jump shots. And then on the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, Yoki is running these like
Speaker 1: inverted picking rolls, and literally Dame is just trying to
Speaker 1: hedge out and switch and do all this hilarious stuff.
Speaker 1: He just looks completely helpless trying to guard Yo kitchen actions,
Speaker 1: which is just kind of the funny thing you're gonna
Speaker 1: see when you see two players of this particular archetype
Speaker 1: go at each other. But to Denver's credit, they really
Speaker 1: locked in defensively in the second half, particularly, I thought
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown did a really nice job switching onto Dame
Speaker 1: and making his shots more difficult, which inevitably led to
Speaker 1: him missing some, which gave Denver an opportunity to build
Speaker 1: a lead. Uh, we're gonna talk about Denver's a defense
Speaker 1: here in a minute, But I want to I want
Speaker 1: to talk about Yogi because I thought this game, in
Speaker 1: particular was a perfect example of something I've been saying
Speaker 1: about him all season. So he finished the game with
Speaker 1: thirty six, twelve, and ten, but he was just thirteen
Speaker 1: for fourteen from the field, and the only shot he
Speaker 1: missed was an early second half three in the right
Speaker 1: corner where the shot clock was winding down and he
Speaker 1: had to like literally take a running, spinning three in
Speaker 1: the corner that had very little chance of going in.
Speaker 1: But he was thirteen for thirteen outside of that shot.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I've been talking about a
Speaker 1: lot this season is that Yokich is the master of
Speaker 1: easy basketball. I think it's a huge part of why
Speaker 1: he's so polarizing and why so many people struggled to
Speaker 1: see his vow you they see it looks so easy.
Speaker 1: They don't see anything truly exceptional, and so they undervalue
Speaker 1: the things that he does on the court. So what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do is go basket for basket through
Speaker 1: Yoki's night to kind of demonstrate to you guys, how
Speaker 1: Yokich can put together a thirteen for fourteen night for
Speaker 1: thirty six points. So first of all, he had two
Speaker 1: offensive rebound putbacks. There was one where Jamal Murray's coming
Speaker 1: off the screen drew you. Banks is up at the
Speaker 1: level of the screen trying to contest the shot. Shot
Speaker 1: goes up. Yo, kids just sprints to the front of
Speaker 1: the rim and then taps it in. Um. So to
Speaker 1: offensive rebound putbacks, that's four points. I had a coach
Speaker 1: at Arizona Christian University, the last school that I played
Speaker 1: at when I was in college. UM. His name was
Speaker 1: Jeff Rutter. Excellent basketball coach. He is still there, um.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that you used to always
Speaker 1: say to me was, hey, you can always get twelve
Speaker 1: points a game if once a half you get two
Speaker 1: free throws either by hard cutting to the basket or
Speaker 1: setting good screens or crashing the offensive glass, a transition
Speaker 1: layup us by sprinting the floor, and a putback just
Speaker 1: by crashing the offensive glass, getting the ball and putting
Speaker 1: it back into the basket. If you do each of
Speaker 1: those things once per half, you can average twelve points
Speaker 1: a game. And it was essentially his way of saying, like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you're interested in box score numbers and he'd say
Speaker 1: this to all of the players on the team, but
Speaker 1: he's like, if you're interested in box score numbers, this
Speaker 1: is an easy way to load up the box score
Speaker 1: without having to look for your shot within the offense.
Speaker 1: And for me in particular that year it was it
Speaker 1: was an important message for me because I was playing
Speaker 1: with two All American guards. In the previous year, I
Speaker 1: was an All Conference score so like, I was trying
Speaker 1: to fit as a role alongside two of the best
Speaker 1: guards in the country, and I needed to look to
Speaker 1: impact the game in ways that went beyond my own scoring.
Speaker 1: And so that message always resonated with me. And simple
Speaker 1: things like Nicola Yokis just battling for offensive rebound putbacks
Speaker 1: that pumps up your stats a little bit. I wanted
Speaker 1: to dig a little bit deeper into this. So everything
Speaker 1: for Yokis was in the flow of the offense. Specifically,
Speaker 1: twenty eight of Yoki is thirty six points or in
Speaker 1: the flow of the offense. So check this out. So
Speaker 1: he had four points, uh cutting back door so um
Speaker 1: putbacks like we talked about earlier. Then he had five
Speaker 1: points in spot up situations. There was a couple of
Speaker 1: plays where uh, he caught the ball in the three
Speaker 1: point line. Nurkic was sprinting out at him, and he
Speaker 1: just drove around him and drew fouls, and he made
Speaker 1: three of the four free throws. And then there was
Speaker 1: another play in the second half where he picked him
Speaker 1: popped to the left wing and then Josh Hart closed
Speaker 1: out on him and he just drove to the middle
Speaker 1: and made like a little floater in the lane. Y
Speaker 1: All said four points in transition. There was one where
Speaker 1: Nurkis took a three and Yokis just ran by him.
Speaker 1: And then there was another play whereas a different Blazer
Speaker 1: took a shot and Yoki's just sprinted down the floor
Speaker 1: past Nurkics and got a layup. This is something I've
Speaker 1: been crediting Yokis for all season. He's still not a
Speaker 1: great transition defender, but he's trying his ass off to
Speaker 1: run up and down the floor and he's making a
Speaker 1: lot of plays that way. He had seven points just
Speaker 1: as a rollman, nice little floater on a pocket pass
Speaker 1: from Jamal Murray, a picking pop three from Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: all super high percentage shots. And then there's a really
Speaker 1: cool play in the second half where Aaron gore it
Speaker 1: in Nickela Yokis ran high a ball screen at the
Speaker 1: top of the key and on the play uh Nick
Speaker 1: Nurkics switched out onto Aaron Gordon and so Jeremy Grant
Speaker 1: was guarding your Ki and as Gordon was trying to
Speaker 1: work off the dribble on Nurkitch, Yo Kids just pinned
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grant on his left hip and provided an opening
Speaker 1: at the rim. So when Gordon got to the left
Speaker 1: and drove to the basket, he just had an easy
Speaker 1: little drop past to Yokich who's still holding off. Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant catches the ball with his right hand and just
Speaker 1: feeds it into the rim in one solid motion. Just
Speaker 1: super super easy stuff. In pick and Roll he had
Speaker 1: four points just cutting by use of Nurkics, but both
Speaker 1: plays were giving goes starting a top of key swing pass.
Speaker 1: On the swing pass just sprint to the front of
Speaker 1: the rim. It's a thing that usually happens with defensive
Speaker 1: players that when their player passes the ball, they usually
Speaker 1: step up out of their stance as an opportunity to
Speaker 1: relax and save energy. That's a great time to cut.
Speaker 1: That's why Steph Curry and other guys who were great
Speaker 1: off ball players have a ton of success. They wait
Speaker 1: and wait for you to relax, and then that's when
Speaker 1: they move, and it's usually right after they give up
Speaker 1: the basketball. That's four points just by cutting to the basket.
Speaker 1: He had two points on a little pin down jumper
Speaker 1: starting on the block, brust down, Brown goes down and
Speaker 1: sets a pin down jogs up to the free throw line.
Speaker 1: Nurkics gets caught on the screen. Yoki's just turns around
Speaker 1: and shoots a free throw basically, and he's gonna make
Speaker 1: of those when he's that open right um. And then
Speaker 1: there was two points where Dame fouled him after after
Speaker 1: he grabbed a defensive rebound, so literally just uh contested
Speaker 1: a shot from Dame, got a miss held onto the rebound,
Speaker 1: and Dame hacked him. That's twenty eight points without a
Speaker 1: single high difficulty shot attempt. Twenty eight points. And that's
Speaker 1: stuff that any NBA player that plays that position can do.
Speaker 1: Any big can sprint up and down the floor. Any
Speaker 1: big can you know, learn how to make little pop
Speaker 1: shots and floaters in the lane. That's what makes yokis
Speaker 1: so unique is he's got the skilled don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't make it more complicated than it needs
Speaker 1: to be. He thrives by hunting down the easy opportunities
Speaker 1: on a basketball court. Even his post ups and ISOs
Speaker 1: were easy he had, so he added eight additional points
Speaker 1: and post ups and ISOs. There was a tough shot
Speaker 1: one in particular, Iso nurk Kits in the first half
Speaker 1: and he took like a spinning hook shot in the lane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a tough shot. That's a superstar play. That's what
Speaker 1: you hope for from Yokich. But the other two baskets,
Speaker 1: they were post up on Lillard where Lillard got switched
Speaker 1: on to him and he just sealed them under the basket, entry, pass, catch, finish,
Speaker 1: easy basketball. And then in the second half on the
Speaker 1: right wing, he had a little face up jumper on
Speaker 1: nur Kits where Nurkics was basically conceding him the shot
Speaker 1: because he was open. And so that, in a nutshell,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go through all those baskets, because that,
Speaker 1: in a nutshell is why I think Nicola Yokich is
Speaker 1: so polarizing. People don't see anything exceptional. You know, there's
Speaker 1: the highlight passes from here there, here, and then there's
Speaker 1: the tough one legged fade away every once in a while.
Speaker 1: But everything really kind of looks easy, and I think
Speaker 1: that that just goes over a lot of people's heads um.
Speaker 1: But you don't get bonus points in basketball for flair
Speaker 1: two points. Two pointers are worth two points, three's are
Speaker 1: worth three, and free throws are worth one. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like yokis just dominating a lot of
Speaker 1: games to people. But you know, you look up and
Speaker 1: it's thirty ten and ten for Yo Kitchen, the Nuggets win,
Speaker 1: and and that that fundamentally is all that matters. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that he's not hitting all the crazy
Speaker 1: tough jump shots that you know Joe l em Bead
Speaker 1: is hitting. It doesn't matter that he's demonstrating the high
Speaker 1: level shot making that you're seeing from guys like Kevin
Speaker 1: Duran and Lebron James or Jayson Tatum. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: because he's so damn big and strong that he can
Speaker 1: get these easy shots, and he just knows how to
Speaker 1: hunt those easy shots. Nicola Yokets this year is averaging
Speaker 1: eleven and ten and the Nuggets are plus three D
Speaker 1: and sixty seven in his minutes, which is the best
Speaker 1: individual plus minus in the entire league. So, like, honestly,
Speaker 1: Yoki fan and should just be running around town or
Speaker 1: you know, running around the internet, just screaming scoreboard at
Speaker 1: the top of their lungs, because that's all that matters.
Speaker 1: Who cares what you think he looks like. Who cares
Speaker 1: that he doesn't make the same number of highlight plays
Speaker 1: as some of his peers around the league. He puts
Speaker 1: up the numbers, the team wins all of his shifts,
Speaker 1: and he's winning on the scoreboard better than any NBA
Speaker 1: player in the league this year. One last note on
Speaker 1: them on this particular game that I that stuck out
Speaker 1: to me, I wanted to shout out Mike Malone for
Speaker 1: just the overall level of offensive organization he's implemented. Everyone
Speaker 1: is always in the right place. When we look at
Speaker 1: the Nuggets, we focus a lot on the on ball actions, right.
Speaker 1: We look at Murray Yokis pick and rolls. We look
Speaker 1: at Yokich Murray pick and rolls. We look at Bruce Brown,
Speaker 1: you know, Yoki's pick and rolls. We look at all
Speaker 1: these different things. But the reality is there's a five
Speaker 1: man unit out there that's moving on all these possessions,
Speaker 1: and we don't give enough credit to guys like k
Speaker 1: CP and Michael Porter Jr. For always relocating to the
Speaker 1: perfect spot to give your kitchen opportunity for a kickout
Speaker 1: and that all a lot of that credit goes to
Speaker 1: Mike Malone as well. And then Aaron Gordon is just
Speaker 1: so good at cutting and finding these little soft spots
Speaker 1: around the rim for him to find quick finishes. They're
Speaker 1: a well oiled machine and that's why they're the second
Speaker 1: best offense in the league. Now, I said before the season,
Speaker 1: I expected them to be the best offensive offense in
Speaker 1: the league, but they're one tenth of a point per
Speaker 1: one hundred possession behind Boston, So they've got a little
Speaker 1: bit of work to do to make me right. And then, lastly,
Speaker 1: big picture with the Nuggets. Last night was rough defensively
Speaker 1: in the first half, but they were really good defensively
Speaker 1: in the second half. The Nuggets are third in defensive
Speaker 1: rating over their last fifteen games and they have now
Speaker 1: moved up to seventeen for the season. Now, if you
Speaker 1: guys remember before the season, I said that Denver is
Speaker 1: so damn good offensively that I don't necessarily think they
Speaker 1: need to be a top ten defense, but I do
Speaker 1: think they need to be within ten to fifteen, and
Speaker 1: closer to ten if possible. And so you know, and
Speaker 1: again I know it's like, oh, who cares, we've been
Speaker 1: playing defensive late. But the reason why I care about
Speaker 1: the full season is there are lots of examples in
Speaker 1: the NBA of teams for ten fifteen games playing hard
Speaker 1: and then letting go of the rope on that end
Speaker 1: of the floor. You know, the Lakers defended incredibly well
Speaker 1: to start the season and then immediately stopped, even with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. So it's one of those things where like,
Speaker 1: I look at the big picture of the season defensive rating,
Speaker 1: because that tells me, over an eighty two games sample size,
Speaker 1: if you're top ten and defense, or for the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: if you're between ten and fifteen, that tells me that
Speaker 1: you put in a good deal of effort and focus
Speaker 1: to establishing defensive habits, and over the course of that
Speaker 1: eighty two game season you did better than half the
Speaker 1: teams in the league. That is going to be an
Speaker 1: indicator to me that when the ship hits the fan
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, you've got enough of a backbone of
Speaker 1: habits and and work ethic that you're going to lock
Speaker 1: in defensively and that will carry you through spurts when
Speaker 1: your offense doesn't work. So obviously trending in the right direction,
Speaker 1: but I'd like to see a little bit more. Another
Speaker 1: ten fifteen games of them playing at this level, then
Speaker 1: their defensive rating will click up to twelve in the league.
Speaker 1: Then we can start to really look at the Nuggets
Speaker 1: as a bona fide top tier championship contender. Tip off
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Speaker 1: of the phases of the season where they're having fun
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Speaker 1: moving on to the Sixers and the Clippers, this was
Speaker 1: a one point game at the end of the third quarter,
Speaker 1: and then Tyrese Maxie just completely took over the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: He started with a ridiculous step back three over Nicholas Patum,
Speaker 1: and then he had two threes against Moses Brown and
Speaker 1: drop coverage when he was too far behind the screen.
Speaker 1: Those three pull up threes basically built the initial margin
Speaker 1: that determined the outcome of this game, because suddenly you
Speaker 1: look up and you're down by down by nine or ten,
Speaker 1: and now James Harden and Joel and become in the
Speaker 1: game and it's basically over at that point. You know,
Speaker 1: we always look at a Tyrese Maxi is the transition threat.
Speaker 1: He's one of the best speed guards in the league.
Speaker 1: But he's actually turned himself into a really great shooter,
Speaker 1: particularly off the dribble. This year, he's shooting thirty nine
Speaker 1: on six point three pull up jumpers per game. Now,
Speaker 1: that seems a little low, but he was over forty
Speaker 1: last year. I expect him to finish over forty percent
Speaker 1: this year. He just shot terribly in the first several
Speaker 1: games when he came back from his foot injury, which
Speaker 1: is to be expected because, like I always say, pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting and all the skill areas of basketball
Speaker 1: have to be tuned in. They they you have to
Speaker 1: build your rhythm, established that that touch and dial everything in.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I'm not overly concerned about that.
Speaker 1: But even with that, six point three pull up jumpers
Speaker 1: per game is great. I mean to give you an example,
Speaker 1: like guys like Lebron James and Jayson Tatum are in
Speaker 1: the low thirties. So he's doing really well there. Uh.
Speaker 1: Tyrres Maxie is my favorite example to push as far
Speaker 1: as me. Uh, in my take that I've had all
Speaker 1: season that I think Philly has the most talented top
Speaker 1: four in the NBA. Think about your bench group for
Speaker 1: whatever team that you root for. Think about the guys
Speaker 1: that are running your bench lineups. You know, UM, a
Speaker 1: lot of teams have to keep one of their superstars
Speaker 1: on the floor at all costs, at the expense of
Speaker 1: ever having them on the floor together, not having them
Speaker 1: on the floor together that much, because if they don't
Speaker 1: have much talent to run bench groups like a lot
Speaker 1: of these groups, it's like you're you're throwing Tyres Maxie
Speaker 1: out there with two really good shooters like Shake Milton
Speaker 1: and Georges Kneeang and Matistible to help on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Um, guys like Montrez Harrold, who
Speaker 1: are so good as picking, picking and rolling to the
Speaker 1: basket and finishing around the rim. They can run a
Speaker 1: bench group like that without James Harden or Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: and buy time for those guys to rest and have
Speaker 1: a good chance to win those minutes because of how
Speaker 1: good Tyrese Maxie is offensively. Then you know, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you're downtn and here comes James Harden and
Speaker 1: Joel embid who are gonna wear you out with pick
Speaker 1: and roll and you're gonna lose. And we haven't even
Speaker 1: gotten Tobias Harris and the capability that he has to
Speaker 1: create his own shot, defend multiple positions, and do all
Speaker 1: the things that he can do on a basketball court.
Speaker 1: I think they are the most talented top four in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and that's a huge advantage for the Sixers.
Speaker 1: They're not as deep with talent as teams like Boston,
Speaker 1: but they're they're top heavy um, and that you know,
Speaker 1: is going to give them a lot of advantages in
Speaker 1: a in the in the in the playoffs this year.
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about the embiad
Speaker 1: hard and pick and roll because they absolutely towards the
Speaker 1: Clippers last night with it to close the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: The issue there is you can't switch it. You've got
Speaker 1: to put a giant body on Joel embat Um, and
Speaker 1: that giant body is not going to be able to
Speaker 1: guard James Harden in a isolation situation. And so what
Speaker 1: that means is James James Harden almost is guaranteed to
Speaker 1: get over the top of the screen and get downhill.
Speaker 1: When he does, that is going to force the screen
Speaker 1: defender to step up, which is inevitably going to force
Speaker 1: you to help out of the week side. And so
Speaker 1: you're seeing a ton of drop offs to Um and
Speaker 1: Beat in that short roll and a lot of good
Speaker 1: stuff out of that. To give you some numbers to
Speaker 1: kind of explain how effective this has been, twenty five
Speaker 1: players in the NBA this year have run at least
Speaker 1: five hundred picking rolls including passes. James Harden his fourth
Speaker 1: out of in points per possession in points per possession
Speaker 1: at one point one UM including passes, and that's helped
Speaker 1: in large part by Embeat in the short role. He's
Speaker 1: the only player in the league that's logged at least
Speaker 1: two hundred rollman possessions. And what's funny is almost every
Speaker 1: team is bringing the screen because you can't switch. Like
Speaker 1: I said, they're bringing that screen defender over, they're taking
Speaker 1: the ball out of James Harden's hands, and then they're
Speaker 1: bringing a guy over to tag and beat at the
Speaker 1: free throw line. And what's happening there is Embat is
Speaker 1: taking and making a ton of quick isolation jump shots
Speaker 1: in that little short roll spot. It's kind of more
Speaker 1: of like an ISO than it is a short roll thing,
Speaker 1: but they're logging it a short roll possessions because it's
Speaker 1: coming out of a pick and roll. But James Joe
Speaker 1: Lymbiad is so deadly with that short jump shot right
Speaker 1: around the free throw line that they're just getting a
Speaker 1: ton of baskets out of that spot. Um the you know,
Speaker 1: So to give you an idea of just how effective
Speaker 1: and beat has been there at the foul line on
Speaker 1: pull up two's this season or on twos this season
Speaker 1: two point jump shots that are inside of the three
Speaker 1: point line, Joel Embiad is nineties seven for two hundred
Speaker 1: and eight, which is forty seven percent. So when Joel
Speaker 1: Embiat catches and shoots that short little jump shot around
Speaker 1: the free throw line, he's making it half the time.
Speaker 1: And then when you factor in how many times he's
Speaker 1: able to draw a foul, when you factor in how
Speaker 1: many times he's able to beat a guy with a
Speaker 1: pump fake and get to the rim or draw foul there,
Speaker 1: that that is just deadly. And James and and and
Speaker 1: the counter there is if you stay with them, bead
Speaker 1: and fight him off of that position. James Harden is
Speaker 1: able to get downhill because his defender has to chase
Speaker 1: him over the top of the screen. So even if
Speaker 1: you managed to survive that Tyrese MAXI on slot to
Speaker 1: start fourth quarters, you have that hardened and beat pick
Speaker 1: and roll waiting for you to close out the fourth
Speaker 1: and that makes them like super scary. And that's why
Speaker 1: I had Phil. If you guys remember before the season
Speaker 1: my top tier contenders which was Golden State, Boston, Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: and the Clippers. And I've since dropped the Clippers off
Speaker 1: of that list and I put the Bucks into that spot.
Speaker 1: But before the season, I had the Sixers as the
Speaker 1: best of the rest. I had them at fifth in
Speaker 1: the league. And the main reason why was I thought that,
Speaker 1: you know, and be dealt with some health issues last year.
Speaker 1: James Harden wasn't in shape for most of last year.
Speaker 1: I was dealing with hamstring stuff. James Harden's in better
Speaker 1: shape this year. Joel Embiid hopefully will be more healthy
Speaker 1: this year. I expect the Sixers to be a really
Speaker 1: tough out the playoffs, and it comes from the talent
Speaker 1: of those top four guys. One last note on the
Speaker 1: Sixers before we move on to the Clippers for a minute,
Speaker 1: George's kneeing. I talked a lot yesterday when we were
Speaker 1: talking about the Clippers about the value of high end,
Speaker 1: competent wing shooting. And every single time you'd see last night, like, oh,
Speaker 1: the Clippers were jogging back in transition and they weren't
Speaker 1: really matched up super well, and Georgia's kneeing catches on
Speaker 1: the left wing and just nails a transition three, and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh crap, Like we literally can't leave him open.
Speaker 1: And he made another huge three in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: shortly after that, and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 1: that's why, That's why I've been preaching so much about
Speaker 1: that position for the Lakers and for a lot of
Speaker 1: teams around the league. We talked about it for the Bucks.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it for the Warriors. Off the bench,
Speaker 1: we've talked about it about a bunch of teams this year.
Speaker 1: You need to have guys on the wing with real
Speaker 1: size so that they can navigate physical playoff environments that
Speaker 1: are dead eye shooters, because that being a shot that
Speaker 1: goes in fifty of the time and set a thirty
Speaker 1: five percent of the time is going to lead to
Speaker 1: a significant difference in your final result over the course
Speaker 1: of a game or over the course of a playoff series.
Speaker 1: But again, that's not even one of your top four
Speaker 1: guys there, and that's a player that's so immensely valuable
Speaker 1: to that Sixers team. Moving on to the Clippers, I
Speaker 1: remain not worried. Um. They're the sixth best defense in
Speaker 1: the NBA, So that's a classic hallmark of a championship contender.
Speaker 1: They have matchup versatility because of the winging size that
Speaker 1: they have and their ability to play both small and big.
Speaker 1: Now they do have some issues. They desperately need a
Speaker 1: backup center. That's going to be a problem. Moses Brown
Speaker 1: isn't quite up to that task. Um. But the most
Speaker 1: used lineup that the Clippers have played all season is
Speaker 1: their starting lineup Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Marcus Morris, Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson in a Vikazoo back and they've only played a
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty three minutes so four perspective that Portland, Sacramento, Houston,
Speaker 1: and Chicago all of their starting lineups have played over
Speaker 1: four hundred minutes together this year. That's a huge part
Speaker 1: of why their offense is twenty seven in the league.
Speaker 1: Offense is about four key factors advantage creation, play finishing,
Speaker 1: play rescuing, and rhythm and flow. Paul George and Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard have only played in fifty three of the ninety
Speaker 1: two available games for them this year. That directly disrupts
Speaker 1: your advantage creation because those are your two primary advantage creators.
Speaker 1: When they miss half the games, you get half as
Speaker 1: much advantage creation. That's your two best play rescuers, tough
Speaker 1: shot makers. If you lose them for half the games,
Speaker 1: you lost half of your play rescuing. I talk all
Speaker 1: the time about how just making crazy shots to save
Speaker 1: possessions is the difference between a one oh eight offensive
Speaker 1: rating in a one seventeen offensive rating, or a good
Speaker 1: offense and a bad offense. You need guys that can
Speaker 1: rescue possessions. And then for rhythm and flow, if my
Speaker 1: team's gonna miss my stars for fifty three of the
Speaker 1: ninety two games, were always playing different lineups. Are best
Speaker 1: lineups only played a hundred and sixty three minutes. We
Speaker 1: have never had an opportunity to build rhythm and flow. Now,
Speaker 1: the one thing there that's consistent is play finishing right
Speaker 1: Like this team has a ton of ball handling and
Speaker 1: shooting in general on the roster. But that just doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if you don't have the guys that can create
Speaker 1: the advantage initially, or the guys that can rescue the
Speaker 1: possessions when they break down, or have enough of your
Speaker 1: guys available enough to where you build that rhythm and flow.
Speaker 1: I talked about rhythm and flow a lot on this show.
Speaker 1: And I have a random little aside you guys have
Speaker 1: probably seen in my background. I've got guitars and a
Speaker 1: Debt and Company poster and there's John Mayor and Bobby
Speaker 1: We're playing some guitar I grew up on. You know,
Speaker 1: all that old blues and rock, Allmond Brothers band, Stevie
Speaker 1: ray Van, you know, Debt and Company, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And Uh, I've become become a huge fan of Debt
Speaker 1: and Company because of John Mayer and his ability to
Speaker 1: play guitar in a way that you probably don't realize
Speaker 1: because he's always playing with these like pop type genre
Speaker 1: music that he's been doing in his mainstream stuff. And
Speaker 1: they just played a show down in Mexico this past weekend,
Speaker 1: and uh, a lot of Debt and Company fans were
Speaker 1: complaining that they sounded disjointed it. And I've been following
Speaker 1: Debt and Company for the last half decade or so,
Speaker 1: and every time they start playing the start of their
Speaker 1: to or they're super sloppy, and then by the end
Speaker 1: of their tour they're dialed in and they're just so
Speaker 1: damn good. Like if you go to last year's tour
Speaker 1: and you look at their last show at City Field,
Speaker 1: they sound amazing, but if you go to their first show,
Speaker 1: it's a little sloppy. And then of course they go
Speaker 1: down to Mexico and they haven't played together in months
Speaker 1: and they sound sloppy. And it's because there's literally, I
Speaker 1: think six members to the band. There's a bass player,
Speaker 1: there's two guitars, there's two drummers, and there's a piano player.
Speaker 1: So when you've got six different moving parts, it takes
Speaker 1: a while for them to get in sync. And that
Speaker 1: kind of that same concept exists in so many different
Speaker 1: phases of our life, but basketball is the one that
Speaker 1: you know, obviously directly relates to me a lot. I
Speaker 1: I see that all the time with the game of basketball,
Speaker 1: there's individual rhythm. If you're a player that's been out
Speaker 1: with an injury and you need to and your jump shooter.
Speaker 1: If your skill or entered, it's gonna take you five
Speaker 1: ten games to get your rhythm back. Steph came back
Speaker 1: from injury. He sucked. Now he's playing better. Desmond Band
Speaker 1: came back from injury. He sucked. Now he's playing better.
Speaker 1: You get the point. That's the natural way that build.
Speaker 1: You build rhythm on an individual level, but that extends
Speaker 1: to the team level. If I've if I've got a
Speaker 1: drive and kick offense with five players on the floor,
Speaker 1: there is a rhythm in a timing and a flow
Speaker 1: to that that you can't build if you don't have
Speaker 1: your players available. And so that's why the Clippers, despite
Speaker 1: having you know, probably a top six or seven roster
Speaker 1: in terms of offensive skill, our seven in offense, they've
Speaker 1: lost their advantage creators for a great deal of the season.
Speaker 1: They've lost their um, you know, shot possession rescuing for
Speaker 1: a large portion of the season, and none of their
Speaker 1: lineups have been able to get enough reps to build
Speaker 1: a real rhythm and flow. UM. I have dropped the
Speaker 1: Clippers from my top tier of contenders because of that,
Speaker 1: but I still view them in that second tier and
Speaker 1: I absolutely think they're capable of winning a championship because
Speaker 1: all they need to do is get their guys back,
Speaker 1: get healthy, and have a game stretch where they all
Speaker 1: play a lot and they build that requisite rhythm and flow.
Speaker 1: If they do, then they are a damn sure, absolutely
Speaker 1: capable championship contender. They have the defense and match up
Speaker 1: versatility to thrive in that environment. They have two outstanding
Speaker 1: advantage creators. They have tons of shooting and close out attacking.
Speaker 1: They have two guys that create their own shot at
Speaker 1: an extremely high level to rescue possessions and in late
Speaker 1: game situations. That's all the boxes. I don't know want
Speaker 1: else to tell you. That's all the boxes. All of
Speaker 1: their issues I think come down two injuries. Yet I
Speaker 1: hope they tart to get a backup center in the
Speaker 1: trade market. But like a lot, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: smoke and mirrors out. There's a lot of people complaining
Speaker 1: about TYLU, which is a lot of people acting like
Speaker 1: they're frauds. They're not frauds. They've just been hurt, and yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna win anything if they don't get over
Speaker 1: at But it's a pretty easy path from there because
Speaker 1: they have the requisite talent on the roster. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to our quick hitter. So John Wall he said,
Speaker 1: quote unquote, we was going to beat the ship out
Speaker 1: of bron They did not want to see us. Now,
Speaker 1: for the record, this is not the first time that
Speaker 1: the two thousand seventeen Wizards have talked a bunch of
Speaker 1: pointless ship about the Calves. I remember Marquis Morris staying
Speaker 1: some Markuis Morris staying some stuff. This is not even
Speaker 1: the first time I've heard John Wall say anything. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's all based on the fact that in a
Speaker 1: couple of regular season games excuse me, spanning from two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen to two thousand seventeen and eighteen. During
Speaker 1: that span, the Wizards won some games against the Calves
Speaker 1: in the regular season. UM. And that apparently has driven
Speaker 1: that delusion of grandeur within those guys on the Wizards
Speaker 1: to think that they could have won that. And I
Speaker 1: think it's hilarious because a couple of things. First of all,
Speaker 1: the two thousand seventeen Calves bullshitted through that entire season.
Speaker 1: They did not play any defense, They did not fear
Speaker 1: anyone in the Eastern Conference, so they didn't care about
Speaker 1: seating the whole thing was just one big practice for
Speaker 1: the Kevin Durant Warriors, despite that, they still finished two
Speaker 1: games above the Wizards in the regular season standings and
Speaker 1: went two and one against them that season in the
Speaker 1: regular season. And so I just don't understand what he
Speaker 1: was looking at there that would have incentivized him to
Speaker 1: believe that the Wizards could have won that series. Uh.
Speaker 1: And to give you an example, regular season matchups almost
Speaker 1: never translate to the playoffs, especially when you're looking at
Speaker 1: teams that have championship pedigree. For instance, the two thousand
Speaker 1: fifteen Hawks three and one against the Calves in the
Speaker 1: regular season. Lebron swept them with no Kevin Love and
Speaker 1: with Kyrie Irving missing two games and playing hurt in
Speaker 1: the other two. You don't think the Hawks went into
Speaker 1: that series thinking, oh, we got them, we were up
Speaker 1: three one. No, no no, no, Like when you get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs. It's just an entirely different beast. So John
Speaker 1: wall is completely living in fantasy land. Last note here,
Speaker 1: never ever allow yourself to be swayed by regular season
Speaker 1: results for a defending champ. Ever, do you remember the
Speaker 1: top ten defense rule. I've talked about this a lot
Speaker 1: of my show you only win a championship if you're
Speaker 1: a top ten defense. But in this century, there are
Speaker 1: two examples where a team outside of the top ten
Speaker 1: and defense won the title. It was the Shot Kobe
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Katie Steph Warriors, but specifically, both of
Speaker 1: those teams were already defending champs. When you like, the
Speaker 1: defending champ goes into that season with less motivation than
Speaker 1: any team in the league because they literally have the trophy.
Speaker 1: That's why I still have the Warriors at twenty two
Speaker 1: and twenty two as a top tier contender. For me,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of president there for this sort of thing. Um.
Speaker 1: Now I do the Warriors in particular. I don't think
Speaker 1: they're talented enough to not have a top ten defense.
Speaker 1: So with them, I'm really watching that defensive rating over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. But I have not written
Speaker 1: them off despite them struggling this year. The two seventeen
Speaker 1: Cabs went fifty one and thirty one. They were below
Speaker 1: five hundred on the road, and then they absolutely obliterated
Speaker 1: everyone in the playoffs. Then they lost to the most
Speaker 1: talented roster ever assembled, to the Katie Steph Warriors. But
Speaker 1: they were the only NBA t NBA team in the
Speaker 1: league that year to not to playoff win against the
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen Warriors, that CALVS team would have swept
Speaker 1: the Wizards. I have absolutely no doubt about that. Um
Speaker 1: all right, J J. Reddick and his work ethics. So
Speaker 1: there was a clip that was going around on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I tweeted it out today, so if you want to
Speaker 1: see the clip, you can find it there. But J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick's on a podcast with Quentin Richardson and he said
Speaker 1: one of the biggest reasons that he retired was how
Speaker 1: difficult his offseason regimen was and that he didn't think
Speaker 1: his body could handle it anymore. And then he kind
Speaker 1: of broke down when his offseason regiment was and basically
Speaker 1: he did two days Monday through Friday. He takes Saturday off,
Speaker 1: and then he would make three two shots every single Sunday.
Speaker 1: And the reason why the resonate resonated with me is
Speaker 1: I think that there's a disconnect with a lot of
Speaker 1: young players about working on your game in a real
Speaker 1: professional basketball work ethic. And it's a lesson that I
Speaker 1: wish I would have learned when I was younger, because
Speaker 1: when I was younger, I had all the talent I was,
Speaker 1: you know, super up six six without shoes on two
Speaker 1: it and twenty pounds of muscle and six eleven wingspan,
Speaker 1: six ten wins span, whatever it was, and when on
Speaker 1: if you caught me on the right night, like I
Speaker 1: could shoot it and I could put the ball on
Speaker 1: the floor and make plays. So so I scored. I
Speaker 1: had a lot of really high scoring games like I had.
Speaker 1: My career high in college was thirty one twenty plus,
Speaker 1: like a half dozen times average double figures from my
Speaker 1: college career had all those different things, but I was
Speaker 1: very inconsistent. So like conference play in JUCO my second year,
Speaker 1: I shoot fifty percent from three, and then I transferred
Speaker 1: to Arizona Christian and I shot eighteen percent from three.
Speaker 1: So uh so, going from fifty percent from three to
Speaker 1: eighteen percent from three in literally a year when theoretically
Speaker 1: I would have gotten better, and it was because I
Speaker 1: was actually a super streaky shooter. What I was was
Speaker 1: a player that had some skill, but I did not
Speaker 1: have reliable skill. And that doesn't seem like a big gap.
Speaker 1: But one of the biggest lessons I learned is I
Speaker 1: got older. Was that a huge gap when in my
Speaker 1: late twenties, UM, was when I finally kind of really
Speaker 1: realized and learned how hard you have to work at
Speaker 1: those things to be good at them. And it's it
Speaker 1: was way too late. I'm thirty one years old now,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't even matter how good I can play basketball.
Speaker 1: There's no real outlet for that now. And one of
Speaker 1: the things that I wish I would have learned when
Speaker 1: I was younger is that specific type of work ethic
Speaker 1: you in order to be a reliable jump shooter and
Speaker 1: a reliable ball handler, you have to put in thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands and thousands of reps over years
Speaker 1: and years and years, and you're only going to see
Speaker 1: incremental improvement on a daily basis. You're barely gonna notice
Speaker 1: it in the short term. You're only gonna notice it
Speaker 1: in the long term. And I hope for all of
Speaker 1: you young basketball players out there, UM that listen to
Speaker 1: the show, that you learned that lesson now, don't make
Speaker 1: the mistake of waiting. The guys that make it to
Speaker 1: the league they learned that lesson when they're teenagers and
Speaker 1: that and they ride that too, you know, getting that
Speaker 1: vote of confidence from an NBA team in the early twenties,
Speaker 1: and then they write it throughout their career to become
Speaker 1: super skilled and reliable NBA role players. That's how they
Speaker 1: do that. You know, there's a it's so easy for
Speaker 1: a lot of players to say, uh, to blame outside
Speaker 1: circumstances for not making it to the NBA or not
Speaker 1: having the best professional basketball career overseas, or the most
Speaker 1: successful college basketball career that they wanted to have, or
Speaker 1: because they got benched at this school or they didn't
Speaker 1: get as many rotation minutes as they wanted at this
Speaker 1: other school, and they'll blame the coach, and they'll blame this,
Speaker 1: and they'll blame that, and they'll blame this, and they'll
Speaker 1: blame that, and chances are it was probably because you
Speaker 1: just didn't work hard enough. I am not an NBA player,
Speaker 1: and I've never insinuated that I am. But the reason
Speaker 1: that I'm not an NBA players I did not work
Speaker 1: hard enough when I was younger. And I hope you
Speaker 1: guys learned that lesson of those of you out here
Speaker 1: out there who are trying to play lastly nets without
Speaker 1: kat So. Kevin Durant has missed three games with his
Speaker 1: knee injury. And the Nets are oh and three and
Speaker 1: two of the three teams they played here below five.
Speaker 1: And the part that's bothering me is everyone's all shocked.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh my goodness, the Nets are terrible without
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. And this has been the case all season long,
Speaker 1: which is exactly why I said Kevin Durant was the
Speaker 1: m v P if the season ended today. Um, now,
Speaker 1: I think he needs to come back from his injuries
Speaker 1: sooner than later to stay in that discussion. Otherwise your
Speaker 1: kisch is gonna run away with it. But um, the
Speaker 1: Nets this season have been about plus seven per one
Speaker 1: possessions when Katie plays and about minus five when he
Speaker 1: does it, and spent an issue all season long. And
Speaker 1: I've been trying to point that out. And what has
Speaker 1: happened with Kevin Durant is he has so many enemies
Speaker 1: in terms of like the fans of the of the
Speaker 1: game because of I think, in large part the Lebron
Speaker 1: fan bases and the Steph fan bases who have painted
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant as their enemy instead of just another good
Speaker 1: basketball player that they should enjoy watching and cheer. Four.
Speaker 1: And so Katie went to the Warriors and everyone called
Speaker 1: him a cupcake, and everyone said that his titles didn't count,
Speaker 1: and everyone said that, oh, he went to Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: now he's losing, when really it has to do with
Speaker 1: roster talent and Kyrie Irving and not anything that Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant is doing. And everyone has just built a massively
Speaker 1: underrated image of what Kevin Durant is. Kevin Durant is
Speaker 1: a freaking incredible basketball player, like one of the ten
Speaker 1: best players of all time, and right now is playing
Speaker 1: better or as well as anybody in the league. And
Speaker 1: so if you remove him from a team, they're gonna
Speaker 1: be really bad. And that's the same for every single
Speaker 1: team in this league that has that level of player.
Speaker 1: And So if there's one thing that I hope that
Speaker 1: this season teaches the NBA fans is to just properly
Speaker 1: respect Kevin Durant. I don't care what you think about
Speaker 1: his titles and how much you think they're worth. I
Speaker 1: don't care what you think about his social media personality.
Speaker 1: I don't care what you think about his friendship with
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. When it comes to what happens inside the
Speaker 1: basketball court lines, he's one of the very best to
Speaker 1: ever do it, and way too often that gets swept
Speaker 1: under the rug because people want to you know, dunk
Speaker 1: on him in a debate about Steph Curry or or
Speaker 1: Lebron James or something stupid like that. Alright, guys, that
Speaker 1: is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate your support. We will be back tomorrow night after
Speaker 1: the final buzzer of Celtics Warriors Volume