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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: everybody hopeful. If you guys are having a great week

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Speaker 1: so far. We are live on AMPS, so if you're

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Speaker 1: guys can get these shows. We are continuing our power

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Speaker 1: rankings today with number fourteen the New York Nicks, and

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Speaker 1: then I've got three male bag questions for you guys

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Speaker 1: are the Joe before we get started. Subscribe to the

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Speaker 1: last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk

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Speaker 1: some basketball. Let's talk some New York Knicks. So little

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Speaker 1: recap of the offseason. They lost Derek Rose and Obi Toppin,

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Speaker 1: and they added Dylan Windler, was a shooting wing who

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Speaker 1: won't play much, Nathan Knight, a backup big from Minnesota

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Speaker 1: who probably won't play much as well, and then they

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Speaker 1: added Dante. Devincenzo's very good role player. In my opinion,

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Speaker 1: he's an outstanding spot up player. He averaged one point

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Speaker 1: twenty five points per spot up possession last year with

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Speaker 1: the Warriors. There were one hundred and twenty six players

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Speaker 1: who logged at least two hundred spot up possessions last year,

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Speaker 1: and Dante ranked fourth in efficiency last year, fourth out

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Speaker 1: of one hundred and twenty six players. So one of

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Speaker 1: the most efficient spot up guys in the league last year. Now,

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Speaker 1: some of that's golden state, obviously, they tend to generate

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Speaker 1: extremely high quality spot up looks with the nature of

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Speaker 1: the way their offense works. But he's also just a

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Speaker 1: lights out shooter. He was sixty four percent in effective

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots and

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Speaker 1: seventy three percent effective field goal percentage on jump shots

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Speaker 1: when he was unguarded. So a very very reliable spot

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Speaker 1: up shooter. And this is a team in the Knicks

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Speaker 1: that was not a good spot up shooting team last year,

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Speaker 1: and I think that Dante will help in that specific ERAa.

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Speaker 1: He's also a great athlete, which helps him in a

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Speaker 1: bunch of different areas. Helps him on the glass. He's

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Speaker 1: an excellent rebounding guard six point two rebounds per thirty

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Speaker 1: six minutes last year, including two offensive rebounds per thirty

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Speaker 1: six minutes. Really good at kind of like sneaking in

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Speaker 1: behind the play to kind of disrupt stuff after the

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Speaker 1: shot goes up, whether that's trying to poke the ball

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Speaker 1: away from a rebounder or to sneak in from behind

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Speaker 1: and grab offensive rebounds when guards aren't paying attention. It

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Speaker 1: also helps him at the rim. He shot sixty three

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Speaker 1: percent in the restricted area last year, which is awesome

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Speaker 1: for a guard. Anything over sixty percent is awesome for

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Speaker 1: a guard, and that's not just a Golden State thing.

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Speaker 1: His last full healthy season with the Bucks back in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty, he shot over sixty percent in the restricted area.

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Speaker 1: That season as well. I think sixty two percent if

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Speaker 1: I remember correctly. He was also really good in Golden

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Speaker 1: State's five out offense attacking off of off ball screens.

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Speaker 1: He was one point twenty six points per possession coming

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Speaker 1: off of an off ball screen, which was third best

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Speaker 1: in the entire NBA out of the sixty one players

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Speaker 1: who ran that type of action at least fifty times

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Speaker 1: in the NBA season. He's got really good work footwork

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Speaker 1: coming off of screens and rising up and shooting. He's

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Speaker 1: definitely better with his right left than he is with

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Speaker 1: his left right, meaning like when he's going to his left,

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Speaker 1: he's better at rising and firing than he is going

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Speaker 1: to his right. That's very typical for right handed shooters,

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Speaker 1: mainly just because most right handed shooters have the right

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Speaker 1: foot forward, So when you're running this way, your right

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Speaker 1: foot's already forward, so it's easy to quick turn and

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Speaker 1: plant that left foot. But when you're coming towards the

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Speaker 1: right handed side, for right handed shooter, your right foot's

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Speaker 1: behind the play. You have to like swing that foot

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Speaker 1: around and you have to get a lot better lyft,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes you have to square up in mid air.

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Speaker 1: So that's pretty typical, but he was fourteen for twenty

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Speaker 1: five coming off of wide pin downs for jump shots

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Speaker 1: going to his left, and then he was four for

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Speaker 1: thirteen going to his right, so not a big surprise there.

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Speaker 1: He's also good off of dribble handoffs. He was twelve

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Speaker 1: for twenty seven on movement jump shots coming off of

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Speaker 1: dribble handoffs. So he's like legitimately a dangerous movement shooter

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Speaker 1: and you have no choice in those actions but to

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Speaker 1: chase Dante close over the top of those screens. I

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Speaker 1: think that's a valuable weapon and it's gonna be an

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Speaker 1: interesting fit here with the Knicks because the Knicks don't

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Speaker 1: really run a lot of action in general, let alone

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Speaker 1: off ball action. That's gonna be one of the big

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Speaker 1: themes that we talk about when we get into their offense.

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Speaker 1: This is a team that is very much a brute

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Speaker 1: force offense. They're picking on matchups and they're just standing

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Speaker 1: in spot up spots and giving a guy room to work,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's very rudimentary in a lot of ways.

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Speaker 1: And that's kind of unfortunate because Quentin Grimes is also

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Speaker 1: a very good movement shooter, at least in terms of

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Speaker 1: what he's capable of, but he didn't get a lot

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Speaker 1: of opportunities last year. As matter of fact, the Knicks

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Speaker 1: ran or took a shot off of an off ball

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Speaker 1: screen just one hundred and ninety one times all year

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Speaker 1: last year. That was the third least in the entire NBA.

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Speaker 1: And to give you guys some perspective, the Warriors ran

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Speaker 1: those types of actions nine hundred and fifty eight times.

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Speaker 1: So nine hundred and fifty eight shots coming off of

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Speaker 1: screens for the Warriors, one hundred and ninety one for

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Speaker 1: the Knicks. So an example of why we got to

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Speaker 1: find out that Dante has that in his game and

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Speaker 1: an example of why it might be a funky fit

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Speaker 1: with the Knicks. But in general, and again this is

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Speaker 1: going to be a major theme in this particular season preview,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to see the Knicks try to work that

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Speaker 1: in a little bit to mix up their brute force

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Speaker 1: attack that they use so often. But insummation, Dante's a

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Speaker 1: really good player, and I think he fits a specific

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Speaker 1: need for the Knicks ross as a guard off the bench.

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Speaker 1: He's a very competitive player. He's a very good on

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Speaker 1: ball defender who plays physical ball pressure defense. I actually

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Speaker 1: thought he was one of Golden State's best point of

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Speaker 1: attack defenders last year. I think Knicks fans are going

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Speaker 1: to love him, so very very excited about the Dante

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Speaker 1: DiVincenzo fit. So let's take a quick look at the

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Speaker 1: depth chart before we move any further. At the guard position,

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, Quinton Grimes, Evan Fournier, Dante DiVincenzo, Emmanuel quickly

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Speaker 1: induce McBride, so kind of similar to the Memphis Grizzly situation.

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Speaker 1: Very deep at guard at forward, and these first two

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Speaker 1: guys are are kind of like hybrid guard forwards because

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Speaker 1: they're both a little undersized. But I'm considering R. J.

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Speaker 1: Barrett and Josh Hart both forwards in this system just

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Speaker 1: with the functionality the way they fill a role on

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Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. They're both bigger, stronger, better athletes.

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Speaker 1: They play more forward esque kind of positions on the floor.

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Speaker 1: Julius Randall and Isaiah Robi and then at the center

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Speaker 1: position Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho SAMs. So a

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Speaker 1: roster balance issue there. You've got six guards that can

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Speaker 1: really play, and then you've got two somewhat undersized forwards

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Speaker 1: and then forward, and Julius Randall that obviously has a

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Speaker 1: lot of offensive responsibility which limits his ability to kind

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Speaker 1: of devote energy to the dirty work, and as Isaiah Roby,

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Speaker 1: who ideally should not be in your rotation right. So

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Speaker 1: in this particular situation, I wouldn't be surprised if at

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Speaker 1: some point during the season that the Knicks were one

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Speaker 1: of the teams that was looking to potentially move somebody

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Speaker 1: like Evan Fournier from a position where they have a

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Speaker 1: lot of depth, looking for a forward to help bolster

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Speaker 1: that position. But let's move to the offensive end of

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Speaker 1: the four for second. So this is a slow, brute

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Speaker 1: force offense. They don't run in transition much. They don't

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Speaker 1: run a lot of action in the half court. They

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Speaker 1: spend most of the time hunting matchups. They're gonna run

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Speaker 1: a lot of Jalen Brunson pick and roll to try

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Speaker 1: to either get switches or to try to get him

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Speaker 1: looks for little short pull up jump shots and floaters

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Speaker 1: in the mid range right, and then they're gonna run

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Speaker 1: a certain amount of action with Julius Randall to try

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Speaker 1: to get him switched on to a smaller defender so

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Speaker 1: that he can post them up or face them up.

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Speaker 1: Those two guys are basically match up hunting the entire game,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it's important to identify the ups and

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Speaker 1: downs of that specific play style because that we've seen

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Speaker 1: championship teams that were brute force offenses. The twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: Lakers were kind of an example of this, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: when you have a team that matchup hunts a lot,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna struggle a lot in the regular season offensively,

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Speaker 1: because running a lot of action, having a lot of

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Speaker 1: diversity in your attack works in the grand scheme of

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Speaker 1: an eighty two game season when there's not a lot

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Speaker 1: of scouting. But what ends up happening is you get

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Speaker 1: to the playoffs and teams scout your actions and get

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Speaker 1: in front of them, and then all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: it does become an area where brute force offense is

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Speaker 1: more valuable. Like we see this every year with the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. They run way more action than everybody

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Speaker 1: else in the league. They take way more shots and

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Speaker 1: off ball screens and things like that, and then they

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Speaker 1: get to the playoffs and suddenly it's like, oh shit,

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Speaker 1: we need Steph to run a million pick and rolls. Right,

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Speaker 1: That's just kind of the nature of the way the

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Speaker 1: game changes when you get to the postseason. But I

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Speaker 1: think there's a happy medium there. I think there's a

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Speaker 1: better version of this where you're a team that has

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Speaker 1: that brute force attack but also can make things easier

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Speaker 1: on themselves. And that's gonna be a theme for this

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Speaker 1: particular show. But let's focus on their brute force attack

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Speaker 1: for a minute, because it does work, and I think

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Speaker 1: it's a big part of why they were able to

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Speaker 1: beat Cleveland last year. And I think Julius randalls struggles

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Speaker 1: in the postseason for more indicative of his injuries and

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Speaker 1: the way they disrupted his rhythm and is possibly a

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Speaker 1: positive indicator for what this team could be capable of

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Speaker 1: this season if Julius Randall can get there when he's

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Speaker 1: actually healthy. So they ran and fifty nine ISOs last year,

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Speaker 1: which was the third most in the NBA, and they

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Speaker 1: were good at it. One point zero three points per possession.

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Speaker 1: That was the seventh best mark in the league. Jalen

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Speaker 1: Brunson was the fifth best high volume ISO play in

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Speaker 1: the entire NBA last year one point one zero points

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Speaker 1: per possession. That was fifth out of twenty five players

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Speaker 1: to run at least two hundred and fifty ISOs, and

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Speaker 1: you all saw it in the postseason, whether he was

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Speaker 1: attacking Cheedty Osman in the first round or he was

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Speaker 1: attacking Gabe Vincent in the second round against the Heat,

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Speaker 1: and just in general throughout the season, it's just he

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Speaker 1: gets the matchup he wants and then he kind of

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Speaker 1: methodically works to some kind of mid range pull up

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Speaker 1: jump shot, and he's got all the dribble combinations and

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Speaker 1: all the footwork. He can actually turn and post as well,

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Speaker 1: better than most guards in the modern era can. Jalen

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Speaker 1: Brunson has a really diverse matchup attacking approach, and that's

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Speaker 1: why he's been so efficient in those specific situations. Julius

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Speaker 1: Randall less efficient, but still over a point per possession.

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Speaker 1: He was at one point zero two fifteenth on that

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Speaker 1: same list of twenty five five volume ISO players. More

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Speaker 1: of a power kind of face up game, so a

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Speaker 1: lot of jab step jumpers and little step back jumpers

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Speaker 1: and face up situations, and then he likes to rip through.

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Speaker 1: And then when he rips through, if he gets cut off,

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Speaker 1: that's when he'll turn his back and kind of turn

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Speaker 1: it into a post up at that point, and he

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Speaker 1: was a very very good post up player last year

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Speaker 1: one point zero six points per possession, which was well

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Speaker 1: above average as a team. The Knicks also run a

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Speaker 1: ton of pick and roll. Jalen Brunson was one of

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Speaker 1: the best pick and roll players in the league last year.

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Speaker 1: Remember that high volume pick and roll list that I've

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Speaker 1: been referencing all season, that one thousand minimum possessions list,

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Speaker 1: There's fifteen guys who ran at least a thousand pick

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Speaker 1: and rolls. Jalen Brunson came in at fifth on that

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Speaker 1: list at one point zero eight points per possession. Really

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Speaker 1: impressive when you consider the fact that the Knicks don't

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Speaker 1: have fantastic role men and they don't have fantastic spot

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Speaker 1: up talent, and when you factor that in, that tells

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Speaker 1: you that there's a lot of really high level shot

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Speaker 1: making going on from Jalen Brunson. He was fifty two

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Speaker 1: percent an effective field goal percentage on pull up jump

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Speaker 1: shots last year. There were fourteen players in the NBA

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Speaker 1: who attempted at least five hundred pull up jump shots.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson ranked third in effective field goal percentage on

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Speaker 1: that So one of the very best pull up jump

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Speaker 1: shot maker in the league right now is Jalen Brunston.

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Speaker 1: I again, I had a lot of people complain in

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Speaker 1: about where how I had him so high on my list,

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Speaker 1: and I had even yesterday like I had people complaining

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Speaker 1: about me having Jalen Brunson over John Morant. Here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: John Urant's gonna be better than Jalen Brunson in the

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Speaker 1: long run. He's just got too much natural ability. But

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Speaker 1: here's the reality. Jalen Brunson right now is a devastating

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Speaker 1: playoff player. He led them to a win against the Calves.

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Speaker 1: He was the guy who damn near beat the Heat

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Speaker 1: in Game six and almost pushed that series to Game seven.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson right now is flat out a better basketball

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Speaker 1: player than John Muran. It's not gonna be like that forever,

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Speaker 1: but he is right now, Like we can. You have

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Speaker 1: to separate the potential and the theoretical basketball player from

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Speaker 1: the actual basketball player that's actually on the floor leading

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Speaker 1: teams to victory. Right now, Jalen Brunson beat the Calves,

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Speaker 1: who were one of the very best teams in the

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Speaker 1: league last year. The John Morant playoff experience has been

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Speaker 1: beating a bad Minnesota Timberwolves team two years ago and

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Speaker 1: getting beat by veteran teams as soon as he faced them.

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Speaker 1: And that's not to say that John Morant's not going

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Speaker 1: to eventually have that opportunity and succeed. I expect him

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Speaker 1: to eventually, but he's a kid and he's not quite

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Speaker 1: what he's going to be yet. Jalen Brunson right now

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Speaker 1: is a better, more reliable playoff player. I don't think

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Speaker 1: that's a hot take. I think I'm very very confident

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Speaker 1: in that specific stance, and I believe that that is

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Speaker 1: the truth about those two as basketball players right now.

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Speaker 1: I just think again, like, well, when you get to

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, they are very specific things that work at

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Speaker 1: a higher level than the regular season. And we've just

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Speaker 1: seen too many examples over the years of young teams

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Speaker 1: succeeding in the regular season and then struggling when they

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Speaker 1: get to the real basketball and to me, Memphis kind

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Speaker 1: of falls into that specific group. Let's see where we're at.

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Speaker 1: Pick and roll. So Julius Randa also is pretty solid

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Speaker 1: in pick and roll as well, one point zero seven

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Speaker 1: point possession. He only did it about three times per game.

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Speaker 1: Might want to look into doing that a little bit

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Speaker 1: more this year. Remember we talked about like the dynamic

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Speaker 1: of running pick and roll with a bigger player, You

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Speaker 1: have to use a bigger defender, right, Julius Randall's a

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Speaker 1: bully ball player, so you have to put a big,

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Speaker 1: strong forward on him. Big strong forwards they do good

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Speaker 1: guarding bullyball players, but they're not going at navigating screens.

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Speaker 1: It's not something they practice when they're younger. So putting

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Speaker 1: them in screening actions is actually a great way to

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Speaker 1: get Julius Randall downhill against a slow footed big Have

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Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson set screens for Julius Randall, or have guards

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Speaker 1: set screen for screens for Julius Randall more often, same

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Speaker 1: type of thing. If guard gets a solid screen on

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Speaker 1: that big strong forward, he's gonna get separation. Now Julius

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Speaker 1: Randall's going downhill against a smaller player, or getting a

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Speaker 1: switch against a smaller player that he can then take

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Speaker 1: down to the post. That's another thing I'd like to

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Speaker 1: see them do more, just to kind of add more

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Speaker 1: variety to their offense. RJ. Barrett and Emmanuel quickly ran

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Speaker 1: most of the rest of their pick and rolls. Both

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Speaker 1: of them were just to touch below a point per possession,

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Speaker 1: which is below age. So those two guys not great

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Speaker 1: in pick and roll last season. The two main areas

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Speaker 1: of opportunity I want to hit on, so obviously spot

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Speaker 1: up efficiency. They were seventeenth in converting spot up possessions

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Speaker 1: into points last year. Dante DiVincenzo will help with that,

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Speaker 1: and then offensive organization, which is the second thing I

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Speaker 1: want to hit on. This will also help with spot

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Speaker 1: up possessions, which we'll get to in just a second.

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Speaker 1: So we talked about this a lot. In the gosh

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Speaker 1: which video was it, I can't even remember which team

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Speaker 1: we were covering. It might have been Minnesota. But complications

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Speaker 1: on offense are just little actions that you run to

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Speaker 1: set up an action, right. We talked about like how

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Speaker 1: before a play you can run a ram screen, so

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Speaker 1: for instance, like downscreen for the ball screener, so that

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Speaker 1: the screen defender is trailing the play when you run

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, which gives you a better chance to

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Speaker 1: get downhill. That's one thing you could do. We talked

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Speaker 1: about Spain pick and roll, but putting a shooter in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the floor and having him relocate to

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Speaker 1: the top and maybe throw a little screen at the

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Speaker 1: role man as he's rolling to the basket, or having

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Speaker 1: the rollman screen down for the shooter. Those are little

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Speaker 1: things you can do that make things easier for you

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Speaker 1: to get better opportunities in pick and roll. What about

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Speaker 1: action that flows into pick and roll, maybe like a

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Speaker 1: dribble handoff that is so that at least the two

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Speaker 1: guards involved might have to navigate a switch or have

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Speaker 1: to fight through a screen before they get to the

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Speaker 1: pick and roll. Little things like that just make it

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Speaker 1: a little bit easier. And again, like we talked about

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Speaker 1: brute force offense, and yeah, you're right, in a seven

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Speaker 1: game series, they're gonna find ways to shut those actions down.

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Speaker 1: But this team does very little of that even during

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Speaker 1: the regular season. And the problem with that is it

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Speaker 1: just makes it harder than it needs to be. And like, again,

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Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with the brute force offense, you guys know,

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Speaker 1: I believe in it as a playoff weapon, but have

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Speaker 1: that be something that you use as part of a

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Speaker 1: bigger picture in the offense. This team, I think needs

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Speaker 1: to look to add a little bit more complication to

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Speaker 1: what they do offensively. And here's the other thing too.

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Speaker 1: Having movement shooters like Quinton Grimes and Dante DiVincenzo. That

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Speaker 1: opens up more off ball action. So like if you're

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Speaker 1: running pick and roll on the right side of the

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Speaker 1: floor and Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson are playing two

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Speaker 1: man game to try to get some sort of advantage,

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Speaker 1: if your other three shooters are just standing on the

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Speaker 1: opposite of the floor I should say two shooters and

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Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson's in the dunker spot, those three defenders don't

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Speaker 1: have to be paying attention. They can have a foot

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Speaker 1: in the paint and be staring at your two man game.

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Speaker 1: But if you're running some sort of interchange, if you

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Speaker 1: have Mitchell Robinson and Josh Harder or whoever it is,

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Speaker 1: it's on the other side of the floor setting a

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Speaker 1: pin down for Quentin Grimes or setting a pin down

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Speaker 1: for Dante DiVincenzo, Suddenly those three help defenders have to

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Speaker 1: be at least paying attention to what's taking place on

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Speaker 1: the week side of the floor. And this has been

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Speaker 1: a thing with Tom Thibodeaux forever. He's more of a

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Speaker 1: defensive minded coach. He's a pack to paint guy. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about that in a minute. He's a very

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Speaker 1: traditional approach in that sense. But like at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, like it doesn't have to be this hard.

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Speaker 1: This team is capable of being a better offensive team

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Speaker 1: than they actually are, and I'd like to see them

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Speaker 1: add some more complications to their offense to make that easier.

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Speaker 1: Now here's the thing, when we get to the postseason,

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Speaker 1: the brute force approach, I do think is capable of

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Speaker 1: working to a higher level than it did, And for

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Speaker 1: the record, it did work. They upset the Cleveland Cavaliers

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Speaker 1: in the first round. That was a very good team

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Speaker 1: that they beat. Without home court advantage, right, you had

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Speaker 1: a chance in a one possession game at the end

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Speaker 1: to push Miami to a Game seven, and in that

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Speaker 1: situation you would have had Game seven at home and

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Speaker 1: had a pretty good chance to win this series. So

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Speaker 1: they were this close to being a conference finals team

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Speaker 1: last year. And that was despite the fact that Julius

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Speaker 1: Randall was awful, awful, awful seventeen eight and four in

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Speaker 1: the postseason. I'm forty nine percent true shooting. He made

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Speaker 1: his wide open jump shots. He was ten for twenty

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Speaker 1: one on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots. But he

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Speaker 1: basically missed everything else. He was sixteen for sixty six

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Speaker 1: on all other jump shots. He shot just fifty six

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Speaker 1: percent at the rim, which is bad for a big

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Speaker 1: forward like him. He was zero for four on hooks

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Speaker 1: and floaters. His post up offficiency tanked. He had a

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Speaker 1: bad postseason, and I'm not blaming Julius Randall. He had

431
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,640
Speaker 1: an injury. He went into the postseason with an injury

432
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: and was completely out of rhythm. Again, all of you

433
00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:12,199
Speaker 1: guys who have actually played the game know exactly what

434
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,320
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. There is a process that goes from

435
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,920
Speaker 1: being off the court with an injury to being on

436
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 1: the court as you return. Then there's a process to

437
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 1: get from there to in rhythm and ready to go.

438
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:28,400
Speaker 1: If you had an ankle sprain and you were out

439
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,200
Speaker 1: for a week and a half and you've only done

440
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 1: some light shooting and you go to play, you're not

441
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: gonna be the best version of yourself, not even close.

442
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:38,760
Speaker 1: You won't be close to the best version of yourself.

443
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,200
Speaker 1: There's a version of you that has command of the game,

444
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: command of your game, and you only get there after

445
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,399
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks of really good rhythm where you

446
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,120
Speaker 1: get great work in every day, you don't get any

447
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,800
Speaker 1: sort of nagging, injury or set back. You have good

448
00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 1: nutrition to build up that to recover from those workouts,

449
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 1: and over time you build your conditioning. And then when

450
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:06,480
Speaker 1: you get to that point where conditioning is set and

451
00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,400
Speaker 1: your rhythm is set and your jump shot feels good

452
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: and your timing is set, that's when you start to

453
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 1: play like the best version of yourself. And if Julius

454
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,320
Speaker 1: Randall goes into the postseason with a month straight of

455
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 1: playing good basketball, maybe he plays better than he did,

456
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,680
Speaker 1: and that literally could have been the difference between them

457
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:26,680
Speaker 1: being a team that lost in the second round and

458
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 1: makes a deeper run into the conference finals, or maybe

459
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,359
Speaker 1: has a chance to contend with Boston and potentially make

460
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: it to the finals. I think this Knicks team is

461
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:39,600
Speaker 1: capable of being very, very good. A couple of complications

462
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 1: added to their offense, making better use of their off

463
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: ball players and getting to the playoffs with Julius Randall

464
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brunson healthy could be the difference between this

465
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: team having a chance and them not having a chance.

466
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the defensive end of the

467
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,600
Speaker 1: four for a second. So they were nineteenth in defensive

468
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,399
Speaker 1: rating last year twentieth and half court defense according to

469
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,960
Speaker 1: Cleaning the Glass, so not good, slightly above average. And

470
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: transition defense, they were an average transition defense from the

471
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 1: standpoint of efficiency, but they did a very good job

472
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: of keeping teams out of transition, limiting transition opportunities, so

473
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,159
Speaker 1: I'd call the most slightly above average transition defense. Like

474
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:20,120
Speaker 1: most to Thibodeau teams, they overly defend the paint. They're

475
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: guarding pick and roll three on two, they're helping out

476
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: of the weak side corner, they're digging down into driving lanes.

477
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: They overprotect the paint. They allowed just forty six point

478
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: three points in the paint per one hundred possessions. That

479
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,879
Speaker 1: was the best mark in the entire NBA, best paint

480
00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: defense in the league, yet a bottom twelve defense. You

481
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 1: can see where this is going, right. Opponents shot just

482
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,399
Speaker 1: sixty three point five percent in the restricted area against

483
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 1: the Knicks, that was the fourth best mark in the

484
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 1: entire league. But you can guess what the tradeoff was.

485
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 1: They gave up thirty seven opponent three point attempts per game,

486
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,920
Speaker 1: that was the fourth most in the entire NBA. Thirteen

487
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: made opponent threes per game that was the fourth most

488
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: in the NBA. And then obviously, when a team allows

489
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,120
Speaker 1: a lot of threes, it allows a lot of long rebounds,

490
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,359
Speaker 1: which can hurt you in rebounding situations. This was the

491
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,199
Speaker 1: second best rebounding team in the league overall, but they

492
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 1: were only the twelfth best defensive rebounding team, So that

493
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 1: might be something they want to shift in their approach.

494
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 1: And it's gonna be hard to convince an older coach

495
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: that's been in the league for a long time, like

496
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: Tom Thibodeau, of this. But the reality is is professional

497
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 1: basketball players make threes at an extremely high clip now,

498
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: and if you were, you have to as a team

499
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 1: do a good job in order to be an elite defense.

500
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 1: You can't just be a good paint defense anymore. It

501
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,880
Speaker 1: used to be that that was enough. That's not enough anymore.

502
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: You have to guard the paint well, and you have

503
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 1: to guard the three point line well because those are

504
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: the two most efficient shots in basketball. And it used

505
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 1: to be that the paint was the most efficient shot

506
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,760
Speaker 1: in basketball. Huge gap, then the three, then everything else,

507
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,400
Speaker 1: because there wasn't that much shooting talent in the league. Now,

508
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: shooting talent in the league is so good that you

509
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,440
Speaker 1: could argue defending the three point line is more important

510
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 1: than defending the paint. You could argue, now, I think

511
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: foundationally you should start with the paint then guard the

512
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: three point line. But in this particular case, like you

513
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: can no longer just concede three point shots. The NBA

514
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 1: is two good at converting those shots into points, and

515
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,880
Speaker 1: so you're actually better off guarding two man game two

516
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: on two, guarding ISOs and post ups one on one,

517
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 1: staying closer to shooters and forcing guys into taking into

518
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:38,919
Speaker 1: making tougher contested shots at the rim, because if you

519
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 1: can hold them to fifty four percent on a driving

520
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:47,480
Speaker 1: layup over a contest, that's actually a more efficient shot

521
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,719
Speaker 1: or a better more efficient shot for your defense than

522
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,040
Speaker 1: a kickout three to a guy who's making thirty seven

523
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 1: percent of them, because that's gonna put you at like

524
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 1: fifty four percent or whatever in effective field goal percentage.

525
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: So like it, it's a situation now where it's becoming

526
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: a more precarious decision to make. You're actually better off

527
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: in a lot of cases allowing teams to get dribble

528
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: penetration over contests. Then you are giving up catch and

529
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,639
Speaker 1: shoot threes. Now, obviously there's a line there, like if

530
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 1: you're just getting toasted at the perimeter and you're giving

531
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 1: up wide open layups, then you have to help because

532
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: now that math equation is shifted too far in the

533
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,200
Speaker 1: other direction. But it may be time for the Knicks

534
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: to potentially change their defensive approach a little bit. But

535
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: it's not just overhelping and protecting the paint. They don't

536
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 1: have a lot of size and athleticism on the perimeter,

537
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: which hurts their point of attack defense. Like the guy

538
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: they throw out opposing wings, the guy they had guard

539
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler for the most part was Quentin Grimes, who is,

540
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,880
Speaker 1: you know, a good player, but a below average wing defender.

541
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: You know, RJ. Barrett is a good defender, but Jalen

542
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: Brunson is average at best in point of attack situations.

543
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,400
Speaker 1: Julius Randall is average at best. And those two guys

544
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 1: have such a huge offensive low that the not devoting

545
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 1: a lot of energy there. Right, they don't have a

546
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 1: classic wing defender on the roster. They don't have a

547
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels. They don't have an Andrew Wiggins or a

548
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,560
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt. They don't have like a six ' eight

549
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 1: six ' nine long armed freak athlete that they can

550
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: throw at the other team's best perimeter player. That player

551
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,439
Speaker 1: does not exist on this particular roster, and it's a

552
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 1: real shortcoming of their defense. The Knicks were one of

553
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: the worst pick and roll defenses in the league last year.

554
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: They give up six hundred and twenty seven made shots

555
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: to pick and roll ball handlers, which was the fifth

556
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 1: most in the entire NBA. And I don't think it's

557
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson's fault. I actually think he's a solid drop

558
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: coverage big I watched a lot of film on him

559
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: this morning. It does a really nice job of showing

560
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,239
Speaker 1: on ball handlers and recovering back to roll men and

561
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 1: protecting the rim well. I think it's a point of

562
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: attack issue, and so, as I mentioned earlier in the episode,

563
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: I would like to see the Knicks eventually kind of

564
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,439
Speaker 1: balance their roster a little better by moving one or

565
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 1: two of their guards for some type of forward defender

566
00:27:55,280 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: that can help them take primary defensive assignments. Little prediction

567
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: on the season, I think if Julius Randall can make

568
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,480
Speaker 1: it to the playoffs healthy and in rhythm. They have

569
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 1: a legitimate chance to make it to the conference finals,

570
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,160
Speaker 1: and they were pretty close last year already. Like we said,

571
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:14,399
Speaker 1: I think there's a top tier in the East. I

572
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 1: think you have Miami, Boston, and Milwaukee. But I think

573
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: the Knicks actually have a lot of potential in that

574
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 1: second tier to be a team that gets out of

575
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:28,160
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. They have that brute force matchup attacking approach.

576
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 1: They have that high level defensive capability if they can

577
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 1: orient their defense properly, you know. And like when I

578
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: look at teams that I have ranked above them in

579
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: this list, like teams like Philly, like they're gonna be

580
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: better regular season team, right, Like they have the better

581
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: player in Joel Embiid, but they get to the postseason

582
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: and they go down in effectiveness because of Embiid's limitations,

583
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: because of James Harden's limitations. Even though I don't think

584
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: James Harden's gonna be there this year when it's all

585
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: said and done, But like that's the thing is, like

586
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: the Knicks are kind of in that unique group of

587
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: teams that actually becomes more dangerous when you get to

588
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: the postseason. And so I actually think they have a

589
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: decent chance to get out of the conference should things

590
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: break right, and I would feel a lot better about

591
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: that if they make a trade for some sort of

592
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: athletic forward at some point during the season. All right,

593
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: let's take a look at the mailbag. So before we

594
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 1: get to the mailbag, ad one thing. I wanted to

595
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,200
Speaker 1: talk about Grizzlies fans and then complaining about the low ranking.

596
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:24,479
Speaker 1: So many people like back to back seasons where they

597
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 1: were a top two seed. How can they be a

598
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: middle of the pack team. We have to differentiate between

599
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 1: regular seas success and postseason success. We have to figure

600
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: that out. Like, let's look at the rankings. Who we

601
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: had Sacramento, Cleveland, Memphis all win a shit ton of

602
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 1: regular season games. Then what happened? This happens every year.

603
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:48,720
Speaker 1: I mean even the in twenty twenty one or twenty

604
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: twenty two, you have this Phoenix Suns team that just

605
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 1: runs through everybody in the regular season and then loses

606
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: the Dallas in the second round. Right now, like it

607
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 1: doesn't mean anything anymore for a team to win a

608
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 1: lot of regular season games. Let's take the Knicks for instance,

609
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 1: who do you think deserves to be ranked higher A

610
00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 1: Grizzlies team that was a two seed twice and then

611
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: barely beat Minnesota literally could have lost that series if

612
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 1: it wasn't for Minnesota choking away games in crunch time,

613
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 1: then losing to Golden State, or losing to the seven

614
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: seed Lakers that everyone took talk shit about and made

615
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: fun of all season, or a Knicks team that went

616
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 1: and beat the Calves without home court advantage, a very

617
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: very good Calves team, a Calves team that was better

618
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 1: than a million times better than the Minnesota Timberwolves team

619
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 1: from two years ago that the Grizzlies beat. The Knicks

620
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: have clearly demonstrated they are a better and more dangerous

621
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: playoff team than the Memphis Grizzlies. They have, And so

622
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Like, yeah, I'm sorry, guys, but like

623
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 1: I'm not going to rank teams higher just because they

624
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: want a shit ton of regular season games. That's never

625
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: going to be a thing that determines this list. I'm

626
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: ranking teams based on their playoff potential. And right now,

627
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: a Memphis Grizzlies team with a young, immature point guard,

628
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: you know, a really good two guard who's not an

629
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 1: All star, a really good rim protector, who's not one

630
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: of the best in the league at it and no forwards.

631
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pick them over proven playoff teams

632
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 1: until they demonstrate that. And I don't think they have

633
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 1: that juice this season. I think they've got to make

634
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 1: some changes, as we talked about in that video. And

635
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 1: so again, like, if you're expecting me to rank teams

636
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: highly just because of their regular season record, this isn't

637
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:41,719
Speaker 1: the show for that. That's not the way that I

638
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 1: that's not the way that my personal process works. And

639
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: I understand that Grizzlies fans might disagree with me. And look,

640
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 1: here's the deal, Like maybe they'll go beat everybody and

641
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: win the title this year, but that would be a big,

642
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: you know, move away from what they did in the

643
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: last couple of years. All right, let's talk mail back questions.

644
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: First one from Luke, what are your thoughts on the

645
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 1: Warriors potentially signing Dwight Howard Assuming they returned the best

646
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 1: starting five in the league with a bench including CP three,

647
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 1: Gary Payton and the young guys Dario Sarich and Dwight,

648
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: it feels like they'd check every box that you look

649
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 1: for in a championship contender. So couple things. I obviously

650
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: covered Dwight very closely with the Lakers in twenty twenty

651
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 1: and again in twenty twenty two. He was awesome in

652
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, like legitimately was one of the top five

653
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: players on that team. Only came off the bench as

654
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 1: like a personality test for him because he had come

655
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,959
Speaker 1: off of a couple of weird seasons in other cities.

656
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: Right with that Lakers team, he consistently brought energy off

657
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 1: the bench. He was an excellent drop coverage defender in

658
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 1: their system. He had great pick and roll chemistry with Lebron.

659
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 1: He played hard all the time. He had great energy,

660
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 1: He was a great leader in the locker room. He

661
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: was a weapon to guard Nikole Yolkis when they got

662
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,239
Speaker 1: to the postseason. Dwight was great, but I covered him

663
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two as well, and he had aged

664
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: a lot in that two year span. And basically what

665
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two was like was it dependent on the

666
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 1: year or on the game. Like one game he'd go

667
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: out and he'd look like the Dwight from the championship

668
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 1: season and he'd be incredibly impactful. But then he'd go

669
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: out two nights later and be destructive because he wasn't

670
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: moving well and he didn't have that pop, and him

671
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 1: being a step slow was hurting him on defense, and

672
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 1: he wasn't finishing around the rim like he needed to,

673
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 1: and it was kind of like really up and down.

674
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 1: That was twenty twenty two. Now we're going into the

675
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four season, so we're an additional two years

676
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 1: down the line. So like, here's the thing. Maybe twenty

677
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 1: twenty two he was dealing with some injuries that were unusual,

678
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,240
Speaker 1: and maybe he comes in and he's super healthy and

679
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:53,479
Speaker 1: he recaptures some of that twenty twenty magic. But in

680
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: my opinion, the more likely scenario is that it's a

681
00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: more volatile version of twenty twenty two. Maybe he's good

682
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 1: one out of every three games now. But here's the thing.

683
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: They with the way that they're oriented with Kevon Looney

684
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: and Draymond Green, maybe they only need him one every

685
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,280
Speaker 1: three nights, and maybe Steve Kirk can limit his minutes

686
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,720
Speaker 1: and use him in really short bursts, and maybe it works.

687
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: It's a fine pickup because there's just not anybody markedly

688
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: better out there. But I don't think like I want

689
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: to caution Warriors fans against thinking that they're getting twenty

690
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,839
Speaker 1: twenty Dwight because they just probably aren't. And I've seen

691
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: what it looked like in years since as someone who

692
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 1: rooted for him closely, and I like Dwight, but I

693
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:38,840
Speaker 1: just don't think he's going to be a major needle

694
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 1: mover for the Warriors. Now, as for the Warrior, this

695
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 1: Warrior's roster, and we're gonna talk about it in a

696
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: lot more detail when we get there, but the short

697
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,799
Speaker 1: version is I think that they're a better playoff team.

698
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,880
Speaker 1: Obviously bringing in Chris Paul is a more reliable playoff player,

699
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,919
Speaker 1: getting the Jordan Poole situation out of the locker room,

700
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,480
Speaker 1: a couple smart veteran signing guys like Dario Sarch right,

701
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 1: you know, Moses Moody and Johnathan Kaminga getting a year older.

702
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 1: But some of the core problems remain. Jonathan Kaminga is

703
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:10,759
Speaker 1: still gonna be really concerned about his playing time all season,

704
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: and so you're you're lying to yourself if you're pretending

705
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 1: there's not going to be any drama in the locker

706
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 1: room this season, right, You're still incredibly small on the perimeter.

707
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: This is a team that the reporting says is going

708
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,439
Speaker 1: to start Chris Paul. If you start Chris Paul, Steph Curry,

709
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,720
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green, you are probably

710
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,360
Speaker 1: the smallest starting lineup in the entire NBA, and that

711
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,879
Speaker 1: is going to hurt them in a lot of situations.

712
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 1: I actually expect this Warriors team to struggle in the

713
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,920
Speaker 1: regular season in similar ways do they have in years past.

714
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,719
Speaker 1: I don't see this as a top three seed. I

715
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,479
Speaker 1: see this as maybe a little better than last year,

716
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 1: but probably in the five to six range, and they

717
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 1: were a six seed last year, so but I expect

718
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 1: them to be a more dangerous playoff team. So I

719
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 1: like the moves they've made, but unless if they dramatically

720
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: increase their size in athleticism, which they did not, I

721
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:07,319
Speaker 1: don't see them running through the regular season the way

722
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: they did in years past. And again, just like we

723
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 1: talked about the gap between twenty twenty and twenty twenty

724
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 1: two for Dwight Howard, there's gonna be a gap between

725
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,279
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four for some of

726
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: these veteran players that they have on the roster. Now.

727
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:22,919
Speaker 1: I think one of the big swing factors. There could

728
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:24,839
Speaker 1: be Klay Thompson. There's a lot of intel. Zach Lowe

729
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 1: reported yesterday that Klay Thompson's having a great offseason. He

730
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: did not have a great offseason last year, came into

731
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 1: the camp out of shape. In general, I think he's

732
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 1: highly motivated after getting out played by Austin Reeves in

733
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 1: that Lakers series. So maybe Klay Thompson comes back and

734
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 1: has this crazy throwback season and that influx of talent

735
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,359
Speaker 1: shifts things a little bit. But here's the thing. Why

736
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: did the Warriors lose last year a lot in the

737
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: regular season on the road because they didn't defend and

738
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 1: rebound defense and rebounding comes down to size and athleticism.

739
00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 1: That's the key weakness on this rock and they did

740
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 1: not fix that. So I don't see this as a

741
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 1: regular season juggernaut. I see this as a long as

742
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: like a playoff puncher's chance team essentially. But we'll talk

743
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:11,759
Speaker 1: more about the Warriors when we get to them down

744
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: the line. Next question from Kleb Theoretically, with enough work,

745
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: could any NBA player become a star if perhaps just

746
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,880
Speaker 1: in another system. This is an interesting question. So I

747
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,520
Speaker 1: think that obviously every player has like a range of outcomes, right,

748
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: like their floor versus their ceiling. Right, But I think

749
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 1: the ceiling is limited for players who are non stars

750
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: versus players that are stars. And what allows players to

751
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,439
Speaker 1: push to that next level and potentially become a star.

752
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: I put down three things. One a true love of

753
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: the game. I think in order to put in the

754
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,440
Speaker 1: requisite amount of work, you have to love basketball at

755
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 1: a level that is different than other players. And for

756
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 1: the record, and many NBA players have said this, not

757
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,799
Speaker 1: every NBA player loves basketball to this same extent that

758
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,279
Speaker 1: the guys at the top of the league do. You

759
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 1: have to always be wanting to play basketball to be

760
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 1: motivated to put in that necessary work. So that's step

761
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:12,320
Speaker 1: one too. A hatred of losing. This is that competitiveness piece.

762
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 1: There's a difference between becoming the most skilled basketball player

763
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: you can be and building out a list of call

764
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 1: them habits. But the willingness to do the dirty work,

765
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 1: which comes down to not a love of basketball but

766
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: a competitive thing. That's a hatred of losing. These playoff

767
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,040
Speaker 1: games are rock fights, and guys have to get their

768
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,919
Speaker 1: hands dirty, and so I think that's a big part

769
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 1: of it. And then Lastly, I put audacity. So there

770
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,359
Speaker 1: are a lot of players that have skill, but they

771
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,680
Speaker 1: don't have the crazy confidence that a rational confidence. I

772
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 1: love the word audacity because it's like it's like I

773
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,560
Speaker 1: imagine being on the floor with nine other NBA players

774
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 1: and taking a step back three, like, do you confident

775
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: you have to be in your ability to look off

776
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:08,359
Speaker 1: four other players and attack a set NBA defense by

777
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 1: taking a tough shot. Like, it's not just a skill piece,

778
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: there's an audacity to it. You need guys who are

779
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,480
Speaker 1: crazy enough to take the big shots, and that that

780
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:23,120
Speaker 1: to me, is a difference for the stars. And there's

781
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,279
Speaker 1: a lot of players that come up in the game

782
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:30,399
Speaker 1: of basketball that just are a little too like Meek, right,

783
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 1: They're just a little too like willing to play in

784
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 1: the background, right, And I think that that's an important

785
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 1: part as well. So like even some of the most

786
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,880
Speaker 1: talented players of all time talented, you know, many of

787
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,359
Speaker 1: them are lacking that audacity piece and it limits them

788
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,040
Speaker 1: from their ultimate potential in the long run. But yeah,

789
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,399
Speaker 1: like you've got to be certain, you have to love

790
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,799
Speaker 1: the game, you have to hate losing, and you've got

791
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,080
Speaker 1: to have a certain amount of irrational confidence. I think

792
00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: those are the three pieces that separates stars in terms

793
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,359
Speaker 1: of their high end potential from the guys that don't

794
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 1: ever get to that level. Last mail back question, Hey Jason,

795
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,759
Speaker 1: do you play any video games at all? And if

796
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 1: you do, which is your favorite? So nowhere near as

797
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 1: much as I used to. I did just buy a

798
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,160
Speaker 1: PS five a few months ago for the Jedi Survivor game.

799
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: Many of you guys know I'm a diehard Star Wars fan.

800
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 1: I will play just about any Star Wars game that

801
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 1: comes out. I also I really enjoyed I've just in

802
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 1: general been a big fan of sci fi and kind

803
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 1: of like big picture of fantasy type stuff. So like,

804
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,479
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the Mass Effect series. I really enjoyed

805
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,080
Speaker 1: the God of War games. Although I haven't played the

806
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:38,040
Speaker 1: new one yet, that's kind of on my to do list.

807
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,800
Speaker 1: My favorite video game that I've ever played is Breath

808
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 1: of the Wild, and I did just get Tears of

809
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:45,919
Speaker 1: the Kingdom. I just haven't actually gotten around of playing

810
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,680
Speaker 1: it yet. I think when we get into the season

811
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 1: and I start working more at night, I will have

812
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,400
Speaker 1: some more time to do that. But the truth is is,

813
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 1: like as I've gotten older, Like my schedule's just gotten

814
00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: more full. We talked about this when we did that

815
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 1: ad for Factor when we were talking about food. But

816
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:07,440
Speaker 1: like I between, like your your your family, your wife's family,

817
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,320
Speaker 1: your friends, your wife's friends, the friends you made together,

818
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 1: like all of all of a sudden, your friends start

819
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,240
Speaker 1: having kids. Then your brothers and sisters start having kids.

820
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a I'm an uncle to like got

821
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: how many now, like like five or six nieces and

822
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,320
Speaker 1: nephews like it? Just then they all have birthday parties.

823
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:29,960
Speaker 1: And then all your friends have kids, and then they

824
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 1: all have birthday parties. Like you know, my buddy Luke,

825
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: who I do the Two Sons podcast with the Star

826
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 1: Wars podcast, Like, now he has a kid, you know,

827
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,800
Speaker 1: like we're and what ends up happening is your social

828
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,880
Speaker 1: calendar gets full. Now I coach basketball too, so like

829
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,360
Speaker 1: twice a week I do workouts with a high school

830
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,840
Speaker 1: team here in town. I play obviously a lot, and

831
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:51,359
Speaker 1: then I have this job and all the time that

832
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,560
Speaker 1: that takes. And so you suddenly like don't have a

833
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,880
Speaker 1: lot of time to sit down and pick up a

834
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: controller and play. You know, I'm sure most of you

835
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 1: guys who are closer to my age are are fully

836
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 1: aware of what I'm talking about. And then like you have,

837
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 1: like my wife and I have a house and we're

838
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,480
Speaker 1: remodeling now, we're remodeling our master suite, so there's a

839
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 1: lot of work involved with that. So I just haven't

840
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,239
Speaker 1: had the time that I like to have for that

841
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,319
Speaker 1: sort of thing, but maybe that'll change in the long run.

842
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 1: And I do enjoy playing video games. A couple other

843
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 1: ones that I really like. I've always enjoyed the Fallout games.

844
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,920
Speaker 1: If they ever make a sequel to that, i'd like

845
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 1: to play them. Never was big into sports games unfortunately,

846
00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 1: So yeah, Like if you're wondering if I play NBA

847
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 1: two K, the answer is no, and you'd probably kick

848
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:32,759
Speaker 1: my ass if we tried. I used to when I

849
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,200
Speaker 1: was younger, but not much anymore. But we'll see. Hopefully

850
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 1: i'll play some more when we get into the season,

851
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:41,240
Speaker 1: because I want to play through Tiers of the Kingdom.

852
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,719
Speaker 1: And then I kind of ripped through Jedi Survivor and

853
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 1: I want to play it again on a higher difficulty

854
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:48,759
Speaker 1: because I just basically went through the story mode so

855
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,720
Speaker 1: I could kind of figure out the story, which was great,

856
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,600
Speaker 1: all right, guys, that is all I have for today.

857
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:56,279
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow with number thirteen and some more

858
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,320
Speaker 1: mailbag questions. Don't forget to drop those in the YouTube

859
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Speaker 1: count comments. As always, I appreciate you guys, and I'll

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Speaker 1: see you next time. The volume