WEBVTT - Steph/LeBron Comparisons 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:18.640 M all right, welcome to a special edition of the 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.960 State of the Lakers podcast. Today, we're going to focus 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.600 on a bunch of stuff related to Stephan Lebron because 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:29.040 he's been brought back to the forefront here ironically, even 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.440 though the two of them haven't really had a legitimate 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.240 playoff match up against each other, and what's this now 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.239 almost four years? But I think Stephen A. Smith is 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:41.640 one of the big guys who's kind of brought this 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:43.360 to the forefront. But it's been a big topic in 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.000 a bunch of different ways. Now. We had the weird 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.280 interview where somebody said that Steph was the Michael Jordan 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.120 of this era. We had the Bill Simmons podcast for 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.200 him and Syrah, so he went all in on a 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:57.640 couple of different topics related to whether or not step 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.440 was the best player of the last ten years, and 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:05.600 whether or not him and Lebron have had different different 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:10.120 levels of impact on the game, changing the game of basketball. Um. So, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.319 the three main questions that I want to hit today 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.560 in the step Lebron conversation is one, is Steph the 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:21.920 Michael Jordan of this era? And then two, could Steph 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.000 ever pass Lebron? And then last, how did Lebron and 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.760 Steph change the game? Just kind of getting into that 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.959 because there's a lot of people who think step step 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:32.960 has changed the game, but Lebron hasn't. But Lebron has 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:34.680 changed the game in a lot of ways. So I 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.119 wanted to get into that as well. So let's start 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:42.880 with this Michael Jordan's concept. So you know, obviously Steph 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:44.959 is not the Michael Jordan of this era because he 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.440 hasn't been better than Lebron James. That said, you know, 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.559 I don't even think Lebron James has been the Michael 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.520 Jordan of this era because there's a huge difference between 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.640 the way that MJ dominated the league in the way 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.800 that Lebron dominant dominated the league. Now, there's a couple 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.480 of different elements to that, right, because MJ dominated the 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:09.440 league in the nineties during an era where both Larry 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.040 Bird and Magic Johnson had their careers cut short by 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.720 on like unfortunate circumstances. Larry Bird throughout his back towing 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.799 his driveway and French lack and and Magic Johnson got 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.560 hib and in both cases, guys who in their late 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.640 primes would have been able to go on a run 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.880 to potentially derail Michael Jordan's championship contenders just never really 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:36.799 got that chance, and so then you ended up with 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.200 guys who were in a significantly lower tier all time 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.320 trying to take titles off of m J. Guys like 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.280 you know, Karl Malone, guys like Charles Barkley. And so 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.680 part of that is you have to give credit to 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.680 Michael Jordan's for being so much better than everybody in 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.960 his era. That is a legitimate, uh testament to how 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.400 good he was at the time. But at the same time, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.840 you know, you also have to factor in the fact 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.680 that you didn't have a year like this year where 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.360 you're looking at Lebron and Kevin Durant and Steph Curry 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.280 and Nicola Yokich and Jana Santana Croompo all playing like 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.839 super duper duper duper duper stars, like there's there never 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.280 There hasn't been a season like that during the nineties 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.120 that we could look back to and be like, here's 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.240 a year where MJ dominated an unbelievably stacked top of 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.280 the league. It just didn't happen. So again, you could 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.880 choose to interpret that two ways. You can interpret it 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.080 as MJ was just way better than everybody. So that's 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.480 a credit to MJ or MJ took advantage of a 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.680 downturn in talent in the NBA. There's a bunch of 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.080 different ways to look at that, but Lebron, who has 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.240 been by far the most dominant player of this era, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:53.360 even that dominance isn't the same type of dominance that 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.240 you saw from Michael Jordan's. So that's why I compared 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.480 them more to the Lebron step dynamic, to me, compares 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:04.600 a lot more to the Magic Johnson Larry Bird rivalry 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.120 that took place in the eighties. Now those two players 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.920 are closer all time than Stephan Lebron are. I have 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.400 Lebron to maybe one, depending on what they asked me. 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.599 I have Steph right around number ten, whereas Bird and 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.120 Magic are both in that four five range. So they're 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.400 definitely closer to each other than Stephan Lebron were. But 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.080 Stephan Lebron are definitely a lot closer to each other 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.800 than Michael was to anybody that he played against in 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:33.560 his era. So that's kind of what I was trying 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.360 to say. A lot of people interpreted that tweet that 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:37.479 I sent out as some sort of shot at Lebron. 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.400 It wasn't at all. It's just the dynamic between Lebron 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:45.080 and Steph it's very different now, uh than than the 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.719 mj dynamic was in that era. But could could Steph 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.719 be the Michael Jordan's this era? Absolutely not, because what 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.000 Michael Jordan did in the nineties is kind of unprecedented 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.320 in modern basketball. There hasn't been anybody in this era 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.960 who has come close to that level of dominance, and 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.520 that needs to be respected. That that phrase is somebody 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.799 the Michael Jordan of this era just shouldn't be thrown 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.280 out unless we have a player come into the league 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.200 who is just monumentally better than everybody else in the game. 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:19.000 That's what it would require to to receive that distinction. Okay, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.799 moving on to question number two. Could Steff ever pass Lebron? 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.080 Of course you could. There's nothing saying that Steph. Couldn't, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.680 you know, rip off an MVP this year in the finals, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.000 MVP this year, and then come back next year and 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.400 be an MVP again and win another NBA title and 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.440 rip off two or three in a row, and all 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.040 of a sudden you're looking at a guy who's got 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.960 five or six titles and was definitively the best player 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.120 on you know, multiple championship teams that he would certainly 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.080 become a conversation, but he does have a long way 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.560 to go. That's the important thing that you have to understand, 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.360 and it's a lot easier said than done. Like it's 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.320 it's it's one thing to look at the situation and 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.360 be like, Okay, Steph is on arguably the best team 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.520 in the league right now, and he's he's you know, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.640 in the conversation for m v P, although I think 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:07.920 Kevin Durant has surpassed him in recent weeks because he 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.680 hasn't been playing as well. But let's say, you know, 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.279 it's just the the idea of step ripping off multiple 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.840 m v P s and ripping off multiple titles at 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.799 this point, it could happen, but it's a long shot. 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.840 A lot of things have to break his way. He 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.280 has to stay healthy, he has to avoid a physical decline. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.440 He needs to get something out of Andrew Wiggins. He 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.600 needs to get something out of Jonathan Cominga and Jonathan 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.400 and James Wiseman. He needs Draymond Green to not physically decline. 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.839 He needs Klay Thompson to come back from this injury 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.719 and to look like more or less what he was 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.520 and before he got hurt. A lot of things have 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.799 to break right for that to happen, but it could. 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.919 And I'm not like, yeah, I'm a Lebron fan, but 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.240 I'm not beholden to him. I'm not like, in the 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.520 first and foremost, even though I am a Lebron fan, 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.719 I'm a basketball fan and I take NBA history very seriously. 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.040 That's why I've been so heads attempt to put Lebron 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.920 above Michael Jordan's because I do think there's a certain 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.680 amount of respect that is owed in that direction. And 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.800 I feel the same way you know about this Lebron 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.480 Steps situation. Steph has a lot to accomplish in order 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.400 to pass Lebron, but it certainly is possible. But you 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.320 have to keep in mind, like with Lebron, even if 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.480 even if you just like a lot of people want 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.080 to simplify it to Lebron has four rings and step 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.800 has three rings, but it's actually a lot more complicated 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.280 than that. Like Lebron on all four of those championship 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.840 teams was definitively the very best player on his team, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.720 whereas with Steph there's one in two thousand fift team, 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:39.920 where he was definitively the best player on his team. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.960 But then there's the other two where you know he 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.400 was playing with somebody who arguably was better than him 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.520 at the time. Now, I personally think that Steph at 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.560 the time was every bit as good as Kadi, if 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.600 not a little bit better. But there are people who 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.240 think that kat was better, and those teams, you have 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:01.120 to admit that specific accomplishment doesn't necessarily feel the same 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.320 as a Lebron in two thousands sixteen beating the Warriors 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.880 with with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The point is is, 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.240 obviously no two titles are weighed the same, and I'm 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.000 not trying to undercut titles by any stretch of the imagination, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:18.040 but Lebron's four are clearly different than steps three, two 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:22.080 of which he did he got alongside Kevin freaking Durant 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.240 at the absolute peak of his powers. But even if 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.880 we set that aside, even if we said, okay, Steph 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.720 has four titles, Lebron has four titles, you have to 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.680 look at the rest of Lebron's resume for him to 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.040 have made First Team All m b A as many 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.079 times as he has for him to win four m vps, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.160 and I think he absolutely should have one at five. 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.600 A lot of the ones in NBA history that people 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.000 look at as Lebron should have one m v P, 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.640 I actually disagree. But in particular the year they just 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.240 won the title, he should have won the MVP that year. 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.480 That should not have been Nice's award. It was a 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.120 huge benefit thrown to Janice through advanced metrics and a 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:01.720 lot of things that had to do with the Bucks 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.440 playing in a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible Eastern Conference, and 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.880 that was legitimized when he lost quickly in the bubble. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.720 The point being, you know, Lebron has this extensive resume, 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.800 multiple m vps, multiple you know what does he have now? 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.840 Ten finals appearances. There's so much more to Lebron's resume 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:25.560 above and beyond what you get with the championships that 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.959 it's just it's so much would have to be added 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.440 to what Steph has done in order for him to 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.840 pass Lebron. And you guys know, like I'm not. I 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.440 got to do a conversation with a couple of guys 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.440 yesterday about this on Twitter. But you know, you don't 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:42.840 have to love one and hate the other. That's been 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.040 the most confusing thing to me over the course of 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.280 my time being on Twitter, seeing people think like, Okay, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.160 I like Steph, so therefore I must hate Lebron, or 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.400 I like Lebron, so therefore I must hate Steph. Like 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:57.880 to me, when I see stuff like that, I'm like, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.720 do you even like basketball? Because I love basketball and 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.000 I love watching Steph play basketball. Do I get annoyed 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.400 sometimes by some of the things his fans say? Sure, 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.440 but I also get annoyed by the things Lebron James 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.080 himself does and says, you know, because he could be 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.360 so corny sometimes. The point is is, like, as a 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.120 basketball fan, it's I struggle to understand how anybody could 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.520 not like the two of them, and look at the 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.120 two of them and understand how much better they are 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:26.960 than everyone else that has played in this era. And 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.720 again like step has the ability to pass Lebron, and 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.440 I have a ton of respect for stef and I 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.520 love the way he plays the game. But right now 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.880 there's a pretty significant chasm there. He would have to 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.480 make up a lot of ground over the course of 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.280 the next few seasons. He has an opportunity to Golden 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.400 State has a ton of talent, a lot of their talent. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.440 He's young. He absolutely has the opportunity to pass Lebron, 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.480 but he has a long way to go. And that's 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.640 not a slight against step And I've heard a lot 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.559 of people with that tweet that I said out yesterday 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.360 saying no, it's k D. It should be Braun and 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.280 k D, or should be Katie and Steph fighting for 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:08.320 that third spot. I vehemently disagree. Now, Kevin Durant has 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.880 a very good basketball resume in its own right, but 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.520 Steph has accomplished more at every level of the game 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.640 than Kevin Durant has. He has the more m vps, 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.839 he's He's won more championships. He definitively has won a 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.920 title as the best player on his team. Kevin Durant 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.800 has not. He may or may not have been better 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.600 than Steph. And then on a day in, day out basis, 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.319 over the course of the last decade, Steph has impacted 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.400 winning more than Kevin Durant has, in my opinion, and 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.640 that has manifested in the way that his teams have 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.000 performed in the standings year in and year out. I 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.280 don't care that they lost in the in the playing 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.400 game last year. If you look at that team, they 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.680 shouldn't even have been in the play in if Steph 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.560 had not landed on his tailbone on a freaky play 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.080 where he fell into the stands in the year before 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.720 he broke his hand. So like, I don't really look 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:56.880 too much into that. It's very similar to Lebron missing 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.160 in twenty is just injury related, but over the worse 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:04.760 of the last decade, steps record is unassailable against someone 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.760 like KD. So to me, Lebron is definitively number one, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:13.200 but Steph is definitively number two, and Katie is probably 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.920 definitively number three. But there isn't really there's a very 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.600 clear and discernible boundary that separates those three guys from 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.319 each other, in my opinion, And it's not a disrespect 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.040 to any of them. It's just the reality of what 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.120 they've accomplished on the court. Like you can argue whether 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.120 or not Steph or Lebron has been better in any 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.280 specific season because maybe you value one skill set over another. 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.880 Maybe you think what Lebron does impacts winning more, maybe 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.480 you think what Steph does impacts winning more. But the 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.640 reality of the situation is in terms of what actually 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:49.240 has happened on the scoreboard, in terms of actual team accomplishments, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.520 Lebron has Steph beat. He has step beat by significant margin, 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.480 and Steph has KD beat by a significant margin. So 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.959 in terms of their place in history in this lead, 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.400 it's pretty clear where those three land. But I'm never 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.079 gonna shut the door on Steph being able to pass Lebron. 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.880 He certainly came. He just has a long way to go, 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.040 and I think that it needs to be pointed out now. 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.280 Moving on, how did how did Lebron and step change 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.640 the game? This was the big topic that was brought 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:28.280 up in that recent Bill Simmons podcast. So Steph obviously 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:29.920 changed the game in a bunch of different ways people 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.640 think about. You know, there's certain areas of the way 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.520 step change the game that actually aren't remembered correctly. Like 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.920 the league was trending heavily towards taking more threes with 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.160 or without step that would have happened anyway. Where I 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.000 think Steph changed the league has a lot to do 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.400 with what the pick and roll ball handler does or 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.400 what the isolation ball handler does. It used to be 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.240 that an off the dribble three point shot was incredibly taboo. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.600 You would never it would you would be extremely rare 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.000 for you'd even see one in m in an NBA game, 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.480 and almost never at the lower levels, and it was 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.800 consistently viewed as a low percentage bad shot that was 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.080 bad for the offense, is bad for the flow in 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.600 rhythm and confidence of your team. It was just all bad. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.000 And that was kind of the ironic thing of the 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.720 two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen Warriors was Steph 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.920 taking all these shots that people thought were bad shots 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:23.840 that actually ended up being good shots because of how 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.400 good he was at converting them, which inevitably led to 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.200 a change in defense. And this is where step changed 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:31.680 the game. It's funny if you guys, remember, if you 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.359 ever watched an NBA game from the late two thousand's, 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.840 almost every team in the league did some variation of 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.880 a hedge and recover on pick and roll defense. So 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.600 you like, just just imagine watching the old Calves games 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.280 and you'd see, you know, Larry Hugh's garden the ball 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.560 handler and the ball handler would come off a ball 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.480 screen and you see zydrenas galwas kiss or Anderson bears. 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.440 Youw like run almost out to half court on like 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.520 a hedge to try to send the ball handler back, 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.000 and then the guy guarding the ball handler would go 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.880 under the screen, and he'd go under the screen and 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.920 try to meet the ball handler on the other side. 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.440 It's a hedge and recover defense. It was the most 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.560 common pick and roll defense, you know, fifteen years ago 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:19.040 that was rendered completely useless by Steph Curry because every 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:20.920 single time, as soon as he beat the hedge, the 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.400 hedger would recover to the roll man and he'd have 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.880 a little bit of a gap of space between him 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.040 and the guard going underneath the screen, and he would 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.600 just make people pay every single time knocking down the three. 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.240 And now if you watch, almost every team runs a 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.240 drop coverage where they chase over the top. Why is that. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.600 It's because every guard has now tried to copy what 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.720 Steph Curry did, which is shoot threes off the dribble, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:46.920 going over the top of a screen and pick and roll. 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.720 And so now since every single guard in the league 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.720 can do that, at least the majority of guards. You know, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.520 there are a lot of guards who are extremely good 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.560 at that, but there are so many guards that are 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.760 good at shooting coming off the top of the screen 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.320 that now almost repick and roll defense involves the guy 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.360 guarding the ball handler to chase over the top of 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.720 the screen. That is an example of Steph completely changing 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.520 the game and the irony there there is. You've seen 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.840 so many guys try to copy Steph by attempting to 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.880 take a ton of optagital threes. But what they missed 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.040 and the reason why those guys aren't as good as 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.640 step the reason why there's such a huge gap between 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.800 a guy like Dame Lillard and Steph. You know, it 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.200 has a lot to do with the other facets of 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.360 the game that Steff has never gotten enough credit for 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:35.120 him moving every single time he passes the ball. He's 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.640 always in motion. He is never making himself easy to guard. 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.440 If you want to guard Steph well for forty eight minutes, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.840 it requires a team effort of consistent attention, and every 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.000 time you lose him, he will make you pay, or 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.280 at least as a high percentage chance that he will 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.000 make you pay. That sort of off ball action that 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.880 Steph weaponizes is something that no one else has been 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.640 able to replicate at the guard position, and that's the 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.760 irony of people trying to be like Steph Is, they 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.280 miss that huge part of his offensive game and how 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:11.080 important that is to UH to staying a threat and 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.720 making sure that you don't get diminished in your impact 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.000 in a playoff series, because that's the important detail there. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.600 You know, Steph has shot below from three in his 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.520 last two playoff runs, that doesn't mean he's played poorly. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.000 All shooting percentages, especially on jump shots, go down in 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:27.959 the playoffs because guys are tired. It's a much more 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.800 physical game. It's a much more slower paced game, and 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.680 it's just harder to make jump shots when you don't 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.840 have your base underneath you. That's why steps shooting percentages 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.120 dropped in the playoffs has nothing to do with anything 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.440 other than the natural order of things in the playoffs. Now, 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.439 the flip side of that is that's where all the 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:47.680 other things Steph does carries so much value. Everything step 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:51.120 Doubs does in terms of his gravity, that absolutely translates 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.639 to the playoffs. Step everything he does as a defensive player, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.320 making it so that you know, like step Is, it's 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.360 just a bad idea to attack him in isolation now 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.080 because he's expreien. He's very strong and he does a 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:03.680 good job moving his feet, and he is good. He's 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.200 got quick hands, and so you know, obviously he might 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.240 be the best option for you to attack in a 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.199 lineup with the Warriors that has like Andrew Wiggins and 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.520 you know UH Andrea Guadala and Klay Thompson in it, right, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.920 But the truth of the matter is like even when 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.000 you attack step it's not a great matchup. He holds 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.439 his own and then off the ball, he does a 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.679 very good job always being in the right spots, using 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.359 his hands and doing all of the little things necessary 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.960 to make him a plus defender instead of a minus defender. 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.640 And that's always been the big difference between him and 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.720 all of the other UH guards in the league that 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.520 try to be him. They think it's all about three 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.400 point shooting. It's not all about three point shooting. There 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.080 is a total package to what Steph Curry brings to 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.920 the table that is different than what these other guards 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.240 are doing. And that's why those guys can't touch that impact. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.120 And that's why what Steph does works all the way 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.000 through June, whereas you've seen Dame consistently flame out in 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.439 earlier rounds. It's just a different total package of a 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.960 basketball player. Now where I pushed back on what uh 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.960 real quickly, one last thing with Steph, his off ball 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:19.440 style does cultivate a ball movement that is very different 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.200 than what you see in other offenses. It's very difficult 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.560 to replicate. You know, We've seen a little bit of 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.280 it from Spurs teams in the past, but the Warriors 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:29.720 just keep the ball moving around really, really well, and 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.120 a lot of that has to do with Steph being 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.240 off the ball. But there's a flip side to that. 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.280 The role players that play with Steph have to be 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.520 a certain archetype, whereas the role players that play with 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.000 Lebron have to be a different archetype. Right, Like we've 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.320 seen We've literally seen Lebron load up on playmakers like 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:49.480 you did in two thousand nineteen, if you guys remember, 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.879 and it kind of didn't really work because you know, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.199 it actually makes more sense to have playmakers with a 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.800 guy like Steph because with Steph he drags bodies away 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.160 from the paint. So what you've really need are guys 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:03.920 that can run a lightning quick four on three attack 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.120 and get layups or wide open threes. If if that's 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.360 what it provides with the point being with step you're 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.560 looking for guys that can attack with an advantage on 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.600 a shrunken court where the paint is open, So it 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.000 actually helps better that it helps more to have guys 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.760 like Andrea Guadala who are not great shooters but can 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.440 put the ball on the floor and make really smart, intelligent, 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.359 quick decisions with the basketball, and when they get to 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.480 the rim, they can finish at the rent, whereas with Lebron, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.800 you actually do want shooters and cutters. You want guys 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.359 that do stuff without the ball in their hands. You 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.159 want guys that have a good understanding of when to 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.919 cut off the ball to the to the basket, and 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.800 you want shooters that do a good job of relocating 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.320 and doing things off the ball to occupy defenders so 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.000 that Lebron can attack or when they're guys help that 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.840 can consistently make you pay. And then obviously for both guys, 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:54.680