Speaker 1: The volume Lakers Tonight is presented by FanDuel Sports Book.
Speaker 1: There's no better place to make every moment more than
Speaker 1: with FanDuel. You get great odds in markets for the
Speaker 1: NBA and a gel college, and so much more. It's
Speaker 1: America's number one sports book. It's super easy to use.
Speaker 1: Plus you can combine multiple bets from the same game
Speaker 1: into a same game parlay. If you are new, just
Speaker 1: download the fandel Sports Book app to get started. Now
Speaker 1: sign up with promo code Jason T so they know
Speaker 1: I sent you twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia
Speaker 1: or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund
Speaker 1: issued as non withdrawable site credit that expires in fourteen days.
Speaker 1: Restrictions apply see terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot com.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step or text
Speaker 1: next step to five three three four two in Arizona
Speaker 1: one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
Speaker 1: seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut
Speaker 1: one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash
Speaker 1: RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, in Virginia one eight
Speaker 1: seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one eight
Speaker 1: hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential
Speaker 1: help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight Hope and
Speaker 1: Why or text hope and Why to four six seven
Speaker 1: three six nine in New York. In Tennessee redline dial
Speaker 1: one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine
Speaker 1: in Tennessee. Visit www one dot one eight hundred gambler
Speaker 1: dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops
Speaker 1: Tonight presented I Fan Duel here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody.
Speaker 1: You're almost all the way through the week. I hope
Speaker 1: you have big plans for the weekend. Absolutely jam packed
Speaker 1: show tonight. What an incredible basketball game that Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn Nets. Game was on so many different levels.
Speaker 1: It is back and forth like five different times. There
Speaker 1: was a bunch of shifts, and just the style of
Speaker 1: the game and the way it was being played out.
Speaker 1: We're gonna break that game down in detail, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into Anthony Davis and the story that
Speaker 1: he is going to be a sham Trania reporter that
Speaker 1: he's going to be returning on Friday, and it looks
Speaker 1: like Lebron will be as well. I have a couple
Speaker 1: of key stats that are going to explain why I
Speaker 1: think that the Lakers still have an outside chance of
Speaker 1: trying to turn things around. And then for those you
Speaker 1: guys who stick around around the end, we're gonna play
Speaker 1: some games, and we also have um a breakdown of
Speaker 1: the l A Clippers and the theory that I have
Speaker 1: about something that I think might be coming down the
Speaker 1: line here very soon regarding the Clippers. But let's start
Speaker 1: with that Bucks Nets game. So, like I said, an
Speaker 1: incredible back and forth type of flow. You know, I
Speaker 1: always talk about how the NBA's about matchups. You know,
Speaker 1: their styles make fights. It's all those classic cliches. But
Speaker 1: the gist of it is is that you know, you
Speaker 1: have a certain punch that you can throw, and it
Speaker 1: might work better against one opponent than it will against another.
Speaker 1: And these two teams could not be more different in
Speaker 1: the way that they play basketball. Milwaukee is so much
Speaker 1: of a brute force attack at every position. Even Chris Middleton,
Speaker 1: one of their most skilled players, is a very physically
Speaker 1: imposing six ft eight huge forward that tries to back
Speaker 1: you down and work out of the post a lot
Speaker 1: of the time. But Drew Holidays, this power guard, you know,
Speaker 1: just like runs people over getting to the bass. A
Speaker 1: dominant defensive player has a good amount of skill, but
Speaker 1: it's not his bread and butter. He's very much a
Speaker 1: brute force power guard, is what I always call him.
Speaker 1: And then you have Jhannas Antena Kopo is basically like
Speaker 1: the modern version of shock that operates on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Going over to the nets. It's Kyrie Irving, arguably the
Speaker 1: most skilled basketball player to ever touch a basketball court.
Speaker 1: It's Kevin Durant, you know, this very slender, tall arguably
Speaker 1: the best score to ever touch the basketball court. And
Speaker 1: their third best player right now is probably Seth Curry,
Speaker 1: an undersized guard who is as skilled as you'll find
Speaker 1: in a role player in the league, but not a
Speaker 1: brute force type of player. And it was interesting to
Speaker 1: see that flow throughout the game and the way that
Speaker 1: that shifted as each team kind of flexed their individual
Speaker 1: skill sets. At the beginning of the game, it was
Speaker 1: all nets. In that first quarter. The nets were the
Speaker 1: Bucks were sending a lot of extra help towards Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: They were trapping him on every pick and role, and
Speaker 1: they turned him into a playmaker, and he made them
Speaker 1: pay for that. He had five assists in the first quarter.
Speaker 1: I thought he was making the right play every time
Speaker 1: down the floor. It was interesting to see the way
Speaker 1: that that disrupted his rhythm as the game went along.
Speaker 1: And this is a long staining theory. I have like
Speaker 1: stand still jump shooters, they don't need as much rhythm
Speaker 1: because every jump shot they take looks the same, Like
Speaker 1: every shot you see Stanley Johnson take from a three
Speaker 1: point line in the game looks exactly the same. But
Speaker 1: guys like k D, guys like Kyrie, they're very rhythm oriented.
Speaker 1: Every shot they take looks different. They have to be adaptable,
Speaker 1: and I feel like those kinds of guys are very
Speaker 1: dependent on rhythm. And there was a stretch of the
Speaker 1: game I think Katie didn't score and the entire second
Speaker 1: and third quarters. I thought that was directly tied to
Speaker 1: the way that Milwaukee trapped him and sent extra help
Speaker 1: towards him throughout, kind of disrupting his rhythm. He was
Speaker 1: playing great basketball, He was making the right play. But
Speaker 1: that's the other impact that that kind of thing has.
Speaker 1: It disrupts the rhythm and flow. And Kadi was able
Speaker 1: to make some big jump shot towards the end of
Speaker 1: the game, but he wasn't the same type of efficient
Speaker 1: jump shooter that we normally see, and I think that
Speaker 1: that was part of that strategy. But the double teams
Speaker 1: and all that help and all that trapping was hurting
Speaker 1: the Bucks in that first quarter. Right at the end
Speaker 1: of the first quarter, Katie took an easy trap on
Speaker 1: a on a ball screen, dumped it two drumming on
Speaker 1: the short roll, quick easy kick out to Seth Curry. Bam.
Speaker 1: They're up seven to end the first quarter. But then
Speaker 1: comes the second quarter. Kad steps out of the game
Speaker 1: for a minute, and now that brute force attack takes over.
Speaker 1: Janice is an absolute monster in the second quarter, just
Speaker 1: running people over getting to the basket, and next thing
Speaker 1: you know, we got ourselves a basketball game. Then we
Speaker 1: get into that third quarter, the Bucks are kind of
Speaker 1: in control again, but then all of a sudden, Kyrie
Speaker 1: starts making shots and Katie starts making shots and they
Speaker 1: go on a run, and then we had that weird
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton play, which was you know, I you never
Speaker 1: want to see a very important player to the outcome
Speaker 1: of a game like that get removed. But that's a
Speaker 1: textbook play that a guy has to be ejected for.
Speaker 1: You can't pull somebody out of mid air when they're
Speaker 1: jumping at full speed. It's such a dangerous play, very
Speaker 1: similar to what happened to Alex Caruso when he broke
Speaker 1: his rich which, ironically enough, I was literally listening to
Speaker 1: Alex Caruso on the JJ Reddick podcast today and he
Speaker 1: said that, uh, that Grayson Allen still has not apologized
Speaker 1: for that, which I thought was very interesting. Chris Milton's
Speaker 1: a good guy. He's not that type of player. Just
Speaker 1: a random act, a random act of violence needed to
Speaker 1: be ejected. At that point, it looked like the game
Speaker 1: was over there. That's made a couple of big plays.
Speaker 1: They were up by nine with three minutes left, and
Speaker 1: then it was just incredible execution from that point forward.
Speaker 1: The extent to which the Bucks locked down defensively was
Speaker 1: so incredibly impressive to me. That's how you come back
Speaker 1: from down nine with three minutes left. It's that high
Speaker 1: level defensive execution mixed with their athleticism. There was a
Speaker 1: play in early overtime, well first of all, but at
Speaker 1: the end of regulation. That play where Katie got the
Speaker 1: jump shot. He's working on Wesley Matthews, and as we've
Speaker 1: seen several times, he did it at the end of regulation,
Speaker 1: and he did it at the end of overtime, and
Speaker 1: he did it twice at the end of that game
Speaker 1: seven against the Bucks in the playoffs last year. Katie's
Speaker 1: go to move when he needs a jump shot at
Speaker 1: the end of the game is hard dribble left, get
Speaker 1: cut off, spin and elevate, and that's that. You could
Speaker 1: tell that's the move he gets most comfortable with. When
Speaker 1: he knows he can take off, he knows he's gonna
Speaker 1: get a clean look at the basket, he takes the
Speaker 1: outcome out of the defender's hands and puts it in
Speaker 1: his hands. And Janice really smartly through a late double
Speaker 1: team at Katie right as he was spinning off of Wesley.
Speaker 1: Mattis to talk about this a lot on the show,
Speaker 1: but if you catch an offensive player in the middle
Speaker 1: of their move, it's a lot harder for them to counter.
Speaker 1: He disrupted Katie, and Katie is such an insane talent.
Speaker 1: Somehow he's still got a decent look off. He just
Speaker 1: missed it, but a really smart play from Jhannice. And
Speaker 1: then in overtime the Bucks just completely clamped down. There
Speaker 1: was a sequence where Katie was working on Wesley Matthews
Speaker 1: on the left wing and Janice kind of doubles out
Speaker 1: of the strong side corner off of Seth Curry. Katie
Speaker 1: makes the right pass to Seth Curry. Seth Curry's wide open,
Speaker 1: but somehow Janice closes out on him and takes away
Speaker 1: the shot because he's just a freak of nature. The
Speaker 1: ball gets worked back around, ends up and draw his
Speaker 1: hands Drawgic drives into the lane, kate U. Janice comes
Speaker 1: over and doubles again and Seth Curry relocates over to
Speaker 1: the right wing, gets kicked out to Seth Curry. He's
Speaker 1: wide open again and Janice he brings another terrifying clothes
Speaker 1: out to chase him off the line again and I'm
Speaker 1: just sitting there watching him like man. When this Bucks
Speaker 1: team really really tightens the screws defensively, they are a
Speaker 1: frightening team to play against. And when they have the
Speaker 1: type of physical like the the physical overwhelming nature of
Speaker 1: their lineups. Like I said, Drew Holiday has that power
Speaker 1: size and straight eight combination that you don't see a
Speaker 1: lot at the guard position. Obviously, Janice is a freak,
Speaker 1: and Chris Middleton did a really nice job all night
Speaker 1: on Kevin Durant so that he was never comfortably applied
Speaker 1: good pop ball pressure across half court. I thought it
Speaker 1: was a really fascinating game, very up and down, and
Speaker 1: then in overtime it just became about the nets being
Speaker 1: incapable of scoring. And then we had a couple of fouls.
Speaker 1: I thought it was really impressive the way that Janice
Speaker 1: missed those two free throws, two very important free throws.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a bad call. Thought Katie played
Speaker 1: great defense on that possession. I thought Janice chicken winged
Speaker 1: him a little, but he got away with it. Got
Speaker 1: the foul, goes to the line Mrs Both. Then Katie
Speaker 1: goes down and makes all three free throws, but Janice
Speaker 1: came right back down. I thought it was genius that
Speaker 1: Mike Budenholzer did not call a time out after those
Speaker 1: free throws. They had one to burn, they didn't use it.
Speaker 1: It was so smart because you gave Joannice the full
Speaker 1: court runway. It was very similar to a play in
Speaker 1: Game three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eighteen when Lebron made the game winning bank shot
Speaker 1: floater off the glass against the Raptors. When you have
Speaker 1: a Trait Trains type of player, which was only a
Speaker 1: handful of guys like that in the league, and Janice
Speaker 1: is one of them, if you give them a head
Speaker 1: start in transition, it's actually a better option than bringing
Speaker 1: it in against the half court set when they just
Speaker 1: don't have that same head of steam. The wall is
Speaker 1: already built and it becomes a much tougher, tougher offensive assignment.
Speaker 1: You know, Nick Claxton kind of hacked down on Janice
Speaker 1: right as he was going up. It was unfortunate because
Speaker 1: Katie was right there and help. I think he would
Speaker 1: have blocked it off the glass because Janice was double
Speaker 1: pumping on the play, so he wasn't trying to dunk it.
Speaker 1: He would have laid it up. Just unfortunate the way
Speaker 1: it goes. And then Katie goes to his go to
Speaker 1: move again that hard dribble left spin back elevate and
Speaker 1: it went in and out, and that's how the story goes.
Speaker 1: I still think the nets are just a little bit better.
Speaker 1: I've talked about this at length a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: This is the way the game goes, Like keV Durant
Speaker 1: did not have a good shooting night tonight. Overall, I
Speaker 1: over the course of the the uh. You know, Yanna's
Speaker 1: got a lot of easy stuff over the course of
Speaker 1: the game. That stuff that they can tighten up, tight
Speaker 1: tighten the screws over the course of a playoff series.
Speaker 1: Because you know, with Joannice, it's interesting when you when
Speaker 1: you build the wall on him, the game does get
Speaker 1: incredibly difficult for him relative to the way it is
Speaker 1: when the game is in the open floor and he's
Speaker 1: operating and an advantaged all the time. And so the
Speaker 1: interesting thing is gonna be with Janice is how he
Speaker 1: can adjust to that. You know, when you're playing a
Speaker 1: team like Brooklyn and you're Jannice, you have a physical
Speaker 1: advantage against literally everybody. Last year they tried playing Blake Griffin.
Speaker 1: He had some success against him early in the series,
Speaker 1: but Blake Griffin has taken a significant physical decline since then,
Speaker 1: so he's out of the picture. And so now it's
Speaker 1: like it's Nick Claxton, it's Kevin Durant, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit Andre Drummond on the back side. It's it's just
Speaker 1: it's not James Johnson actually did an okay job on
Speaker 1: him for stretches tonight, but they're not physically equipped for
Speaker 1: that type of matchup. And you know what's gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting for me with Joannice is if he does
Speaker 1: beat Brooklyn, let's say in the first round, there is
Speaker 1: going to be a team that he's gonna play at
Speaker 1: some point for seven games that has better physical tools
Speaker 1: to throw his way. If you look at his playoff
Speaker 1: run last year, even as he's working up his way through,
Speaker 1: he makes it through that Brooklyn team that's injury decimated.
Speaker 1: Right then he plays that Atlanta team and they play
Speaker 1: a lot of Clint Compel on him. He's okay, they
Speaker 1: have some wings, but they're not a super physically stout team.
Speaker 1: And then you get to the finals and as soon
Speaker 1: as DeAndre Ayton was off the floor, they had nobody
Speaker 1: that they could throw at him. Jake Crowder is too short,
Speaker 1: their backup center of Frank Kaminski was just completely incapable
Speaker 1: of that task. And that's why when I you know
Speaker 1: I talked about when I did the video talking about
Speaker 1: how I thought Janice was still below Kevin Durant and Lebron.
Speaker 1: I talked about how those two guys have this plethora
Speaker 1: of evidence of the way they succeed in so many
Speaker 1: any different environments. Like, for instance, Lebron in two thousand
Speaker 1: twenty in the Bubble, he has on the better team
Speaker 1: every single series. He had Anthony Davis on his team
Speaker 1: as well, Like if that was his only title, you
Speaker 1: could point to some fortunate circumstances there, Kevin Durant, Steph
Speaker 1: Courier on their couches. You know, they they had the
Speaker 1: most talent in the in the that entire playoff run,
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat were kind of a strange team to
Speaker 1: make it out of the Eastern Conference. But you don't
Speaker 1: judge Lebron for that because he has so much other
Speaker 1: success in his past that adds legitimacy to it. You've
Speaker 1: also seen him do what he did in two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: so you don't think of as a fortunate run. You've
Speaker 1: seen what he did in two thousand thirteen and in
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, so you don't think of that as
Speaker 1: a fortunate run. Even with all of his finals runs
Speaker 1: when he didn't win the title, Janice got some beneficial
Speaker 1: you know, luck of the draw type stuff with his
Speaker 1: matchups throughout the playoff run last year. So when I
Speaker 1: was saying, like, you know, I'd like to see him
Speaker 1: do it again, when I'm talking about is like what
Speaker 1: happens when you get the bad matchup. You know who's
Speaker 1: gonna be like the Spurs word for Lebron, the team
Speaker 1: that takes away everything that he does well and forces
Speaker 1: him to do something that makes him uncomfortable. There's going
Speaker 1: to be a team at some point in the next
Speaker 1: couple of years very well, maybe this year that puts
Speaker 1: Janice in a predicament again, And I'm really curious to
Speaker 1: see how he responds, because to me, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: the difference between him being on the same tier as
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and Lebron and him being above those guys.
Speaker 1: That's the next step, the malleability, the facing your worst enemy,
Speaker 1: your greatest weakness, staring it right in the eye and
Speaker 1: overcoming that. That's gonna be the difference between Janice being
Speaker 1: a one time champion and him being a five time
Speaker 1: champion because because in that five trips to the finals
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. There's going to be years where
Speaker 1: it doesn't break perfectly for you, or you don't get
Speaker 1: to play Trey Young in the conference finals, where you
Speaker 1: don't get Kyrie Irving landing on someone's foot, where Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant does you know, have his foot behind the line.
Speaker 1: There are gonna be series where that kind of stuff
Speaker 1: works against him, and I'm really curious to see how
Speaker 1: Janice evolves in the long run. There Again, like I
Speaker 1: said the other night, the biggest thing I'm looking for
Speaker 1: him there is his passing ability. Way less concerned about
Speaker 1: his ability to knock down a jump shot, for the record,
Speaker 1: is a huge weapon that he was able to knock
Speaker 1: down that step back three tonight to send it to overtime.
Speaker 1: That that's a great weapon to having your bag for
Speaker 1: very specific scenarios. But nobody can guard Janice one on
Speaker 1: one on the block literally in the entire league. So
Speaker 1: I'm more concerned about how he handles multiple defenders than
Speaker 1: I am for him shooting jump shots and things along
Speaker 1: those lines. When I'm comparing guys like Janice and uh
Speaker 1: and Katie and Lebron, or I'm comparing guys like you know,
Speaker 1: Yokich and Embeed. It's a lot of like in the
Speaker 1: eye of the beholder, and a lot of like what's
Speaker 1: their situation like right, Because like I said, they couldn't
Speaker 1: be more different. Katie is surgical, Janice is brute force.
Speaker 1: So a lot of it depends on the roster that
Speaker 1: you're with, a lot of depends on matchups. They're going
Speaker 1: to be specific matchups where Philly is a great example.
Speaker 1: I think Brooklyn would destroy Philly because they can attack
Speaker 1: a lot of Philly specific weaknesses. I know, Joannice just
Speaker 1: beat Philly the other night and looked great, But in
Speaker 1: the course of a playoff series, they have a lot
Speaker 1: more audibles, a lot more you know, extra cards in
Speaker 1: their deck that they can throw at Janice. That will
Speaker 1: make things more complicated for them. I think Philly is
Speaker 1: a tougher playoff matchup for Janice and for UH Milwaukee
Speaker 1: than they've had in the last couple of years. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be an interesting wrinkle there. So when people say,
Speaker 1: like which guy do you think is better k D
Speaker 1: or Janice, or who's gonna win this playoff series? The
Speaker 1: Nets or or Brooklyn. So so much of it is
Speaker 1: in the eye of the beholder, and so much of
Speaker 1: it is about matchups, and so much of it is
Speaker 1: about who else is on the floor with you. Look
Speaker 1: at how much the Kyrie injury completely changed the dynamic
Speaker 1: of that series last year. But it was an incredibly
Speaker 1: entertaining basketball game. You know. Uh, that's that's the That's
Speaker 1: that's why I love the format of the seven game series.
Speaker 1: It takes some of that flux to take some of
Speaker 1: that wild card nous out and makes it so that
Speaker 1: you have a chance to fight another day. So do
Speaker 1: you have a chance to change some of there There
Speaker 1: were a lot of possessions in the middle of that
Speaker 1: game where the Nets were straight up giving janice lanes
Speaker 1: to the basket without help, like that stuff that you
Speaker 1: can tighten up over the course of a playoff series.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious. The Bucks absolutely strangled the Nets defensively
Speaker 1: at the end of that game, but there were some openings.
Speaker 1: They were sending a ton of help. They were sending
Speaker 1: a lot of strong side overload type stuff. So I'm
Speaker 1: really curious to see how the Nets could counter that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Fantastic basketball game. Gun to my head,
Speaker 1: I still think the nets are just a hair better,
Speaker 1: just a hair more versatile, and I think they have
Speaker 1: more time and more room to improve between now and
Speaker 1: potentially a match up with one of the better teams
Speaker 1: in the East at that point. I'm hopeful that they
Speaker 1: catch a good draw in the first round so they
Speaker 1: get out easy, because I would love to see just
Speaker 1: a huge, you know, incredible highlight fight between one of
Speaker 1: these two teams. At the end of the day, For
Speaker 1: those of you are just joining us, this is Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: presented by Fandel here at the volume. I wanted to
Speaker 1: move on to the Lakers for a minute. Currently playing
Speaker 1: the Jazz tonight, we weren't going to cover that tonight
Speaker 1: because of Lebron and Anthony Davis being out. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk a lot of Lakers over the course of the
Speaker 1: next week because I really genuinely believe that they're going
Speaker 1: to have As long as everybody stays healthy, as long
Speaker 1: as a d stays healthy, and as long as Lebron
Speaker 1: stays healthy, I think this Laker team is gonna make
Speaker 1: a little bit of noise over this last six game
Speaker 1: stretch of the season and show that they can potentially
Speaker 1: be better than what they've shown us this season, and
Speaker 1: I've one stat to evidence that. So this season, there's there.
Speaker 1: I've shown you some of the ugly stats surrounding Lebron
Speaker 1: in a D this year, but there's context there. For instance,
Speaker 1: I said, Lebron and Anthony Davis this year on the
Speaker 1: floor together have fared worse than the Lakers did last
Speaker 1: year with Lebron and a D on the bench. That's
Speaker 1: how much of a catastrophe this season has been. But
Speaker 1: the context there is that they spent the entire first
Speaker 1: chunk of the season playing DeAndre Jordan at center, who's
Speaker 1: not an NBA player, playing Kent as Moore at the
Speaker 1: two guard, who may or may not be an NBA
Speaker 1: player anymore, certainly wasn't a good fit with this specific team.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of, like you know, just the
Speaker 1: Lakers playing into their weaknesses. So I have one stat
Speaker 1: that is evidence of the fact that I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers have a better punch than they've shown so this
Speaker 1: year when Lebron, A D and Russ are all on
Speaker 1: the court together, but there's no center, so DeAndre Jordan
Speaker 1: and Dwight Howard off the floor. Any of the guys
Speaker 1: who played center for the Lakers this year off the floor.
Speaker 1: They have played a hundred and eighty four minutes with
Speaker 1: that trio, which is sad for a whole other reason,
Speaker 1: because that's just how terrible the injury has been the season.
Speaker 1: For all that we've talked about about, all the self sabotage,
Speaker 1: all the Rob Polinka, all the Genie Buss, all the
Speaker 1: Lebron pushing for the Rush trade, all the bad signings,
Speaker 1: injuries have played a huge role in the way this
Speaker 1: has gone. So that that trio has only played a
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty four minutes without a center, and there
Speaker 1: plus eleven point four net. That's a pretty damn good number.
Speaker 1: It's not a dominant number, but it's a really good number.
Speaker 1: That's a number that tells me a team that can
Speaker 1: potentially win a championship of some things break right. And
Speaker 1: that's with no continuity. That's with Lebron and a d
Speaker 1: barely playing a handful of games together in a row
Speaker 1: before one of them gets hurt. That's what the clunky
Speaker 1: rust fit. There's a bunch of other contexts there that
Speaker 1: would even push that number lower than you would think,
Speaker 1: but their plus eleven point four in hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: four minutes with those three on the floor and no
Speaker 1: center this year, and that is the that is the
Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel. Now, the reason
Speaker 1: why that could get better, this is the case for
Speaker 1: why this team could potentially go on a run, is
Speaker 1: now you're playing better role players instead of it being
Speaker 1: Kemp bays Moore, instead of being Avery Bradley, instead of
Speaker 1: it being Trevor Ariza, and instead of it being Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard minutes, which have proven to be really bad as
Speaker 1: of late. Instead of those players, it's guys like Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: who has taken almost all of Avery Bradley's minutes. He's
Speaker 1: a significantly better player at this point in his career.
Speaker 1: It's been Stanley Johnson taking over for Trevor Areasa. He's
Speaker 1: a better player at this point in his career. It's
Speaker 1: when In Gabriel playing some of those other forward center minutes.
Speaker 1: He's a better player right now than Dwight Howard or
Speaker 1: DeAndre Jordan Wars. So you've got better rotational role players
Speaker 1: in that mix now, and then, last, but not least,
Speaker 1: it's about these shrunken rotation over the course of the
Speaker 1: regular season. You're trying to keep Lebron in a d
Speaker 1: s minutes down to thirty eight minutes per game. There's
Speaker 1: these random shifts that don't make any sense. Think about
Speaker 1: how often this year you've looked at random line ups
Speaker 1: that have had three little guards on the floor like
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley, Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, at the same time
Speaker 1: with like Taylor Horton Tucker who's only six four playing
Speaker 1: power forward. There's been a lot of examples of where
Speaker 1: the Lakers have had to dive into their weaknesses as
Speaker 1: a result of just injuries and and trying to get
Speaker 1: through the regular season. In the playoffs, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: thirty eight to forty minutes of Lebron in a d
Speaker 1: In a big pivotal game, it's gonna be forty two
Speaker 1: to forty four minutes of those guys. It's only gonna
Speaker 1: be like five or six other role players that get
Speaker 1: to play. Frank is gonna be able to just straight
Speaker 1: up bench a guy if he's not playing well because
Speaker 1: he's not trying to spell for the eighty two game season,
Speaker 1: he's not trying to save people's legs. You're just playing
Speaker 1: every game like it's your last. Those are the reasons
Speaker 1: why I think they have a puncher's chance if you
Speaker 1: look at their regular the remaining schedule. So everything broke
Speaker 1: down over the last two days exactly like I expected,
Speaker 1: although it was a little touch and go with San
Speaker 1: Antonio and Memphis the other night. Uh I can't remember
Speaker 1: who it was for the Spurs, but one of their
Speaker 1: young guards had a decent look to win that game,
Speaker 1: and had he made it, all of a sudden, you're
Speaker 1: down one game on the Spurs with them having the tiebreaker,
Speaker 1: that could have been the final nail in the coffin.
Speaker 1: But things broke the way I expected. I expect the
Speaker 1: Lakers to finish losing tonight in Utah, which will put
Speaker 1: both teams, the Spurs and the Lakers at thirty one
Speaker 1: with six games left, except for the Lakers are bringing
Speaker 1: back Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So the remaining schedule
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, they play the Pelicans on Friday, they
Speaker 1: play the Nuggets on Sunday, and then they finished the
Speaker 1: season with the Sons, the Warriors, the Thunder and the Nuggets. Now,
Speaker 1: let's take a real quick look at those games. Do
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers with Lebron James and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: playing for their basketball lives at home on Friday, will
Speaker 1: get a win, Yes, I do. Do I think that
Speaker 1: they're capable of beating that Nuggets team that's, you know,
Speaker 1: not that talented. Absolutely. Do I think they can beat
Speaker 1: the sun Hell no, not yet. Maybe, but maybe by
Speaker 1: the time they get to the first round, but that's
Speaker 1: probably a loss, but they could be two and one
Speaker 1: at that point. Do I think they could beat the
Speaker 1: Warriors without Steph Curry? Absolutely? Do. I think they can
Speaker 1: beat the thunder Absolutely, And then there's the Nuggets again.
Speaker 1: So five and one is very much on the table
Speaker 1: down the stretch. In fact, I would argue, if Lebron
Speaker 1: and a D are healthy and playing like their lives
Speaker 1: depend on it, they should win those games. So that
Speaker 1: will put the Lakers firmly potentially if the Pelicans dropped
Speaker 1: some games, potentially at that nine seed, but that will
Speaker 1: get them into the plane. I believe as long as
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D don't get hurt here in the
Speaker 1: next couple of days, I believe the Lakers will make
Speaker 1: it into the playing game. And for all the reasons
Speaker 1: that I just laid out, I think they have a
Speaker 1: chance to at least a Puncher's chance to make some
Speaker 1: noise there. But they have to get some breaks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: would Chris Paul have to not play super well with
Speaker 1: the Suns potentially have to have an injury where there
Speaker 1: have to be some younger role players to struggle. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of stuff that has to break right
Speaker 1: for them. But I'm in a different mind space that
Speaker 1: I was about a month ago when it looked like
Speaker 1: this team was basically trying to quit. Alright, everybody on YouTube.
Speaker 1: I'm bringing my guy Carson on. We are going to
Speaker 1: play a game. What's up, Jason? How you doing, man?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. This has been a super fun night
Speaker 1: of NBA action. Obviously, Bucks Nets you talked about we
Speaker 1: got a Clippers Bulls and ot Tomorrows forty four now,
Speaker 1: I think so we got a good basketball to watch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, We've got a fun game for you here today.
Speaker 1: It's called that's what he said. So we're gonna give
Speaker 1: you a SoundBite, a quote from around the league that
Speaker 1: we think is interesting, and have you listen, and then
Speaker 1: I'll give you a question. Get your thoughts on it.
Speaker 1: Sound good? All right, I'm excited, let's hear it. Alright.
Speaker 1: So The first one we have is from Draymond Green
Speaker 1: on The Draymond Green Show, obviously his podcast with the volume,
Speaker 1: talking about how he was disappointed with his own play
Speaker 1: as of late, with the Warriors play as of late overall.
Speaker 1: So let's take a listen. Three of you is I've
Speaker 1: been terrible. Um, I've been terrible defensively, I've been terrible offensively,
Speaker 1: and so that's just what it is. Now what am
Speaker 1: I going to do to fix that? Well, I'm going
Speaker 1: to continue to do what I've been doing, which is
Speaker 1: putting the work in. And ultimately, my whole life is
Speaker 1: a product of hard work. You put the work in,
Speaker 1: you get the resource. I know I've put the work in.
Speaker 1: But also, no things don't happen overnight. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't just go from missing two and a half almost
Speaker 1: three months of basketball while everybody's playing at a high
Speaker 1: level and just return and it's and that's that. You know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't work like that. So obviously this has now
Speaker 1: been a pretty consistent downward trend for the Warriors, and
Speaker 1: You've talked about this a lot as of late. So
Speaker 1: how concerned are you about them right now? As we
Speaker 1: had in the postseason, I don't think they're a top
Speaker 1: tier contender, but I felt that way for a long time,
Speaker 1: and it's not attached to Draymond. I think I had
Speaker 1: them at second and my contenders the other day, and
Speaker 1: it's only because of how much I trust those three.
Speaker 1: I have an unbelievable amount of respect for Steph, Clay
Speaker 1: and Draymond and what they've accomplished in their past and
Speaker 1: what they will be capable of when they get to
Speaker 1: the postseason. Now, as far as Draymond goes, a couple
Speaker 1: of things, Like, you know, there the wall of getting
Speaker 1: out of NBA shape and into or i'll just call
Speaker 1: it basketball shape. Um, when you're getting in and out
Speaker 1: of basketball shape, it's a process. We we call it
Speaker 1: breaking through the wall. So essentially, there comes a point
Speaker 1: when you're really working your way back into shape where
Speaker 1: your body almost gets behind in its recovery and you
Speaker 1: feel clunky and you feel slow, and it can take
Speaker 1: like the better part of a month before you really
Speaker 1: get back. Like if they make it to the second
Speaker 1: or third round, it might take until the middle of
Speaker 1: the second round or early third round before Draymond really
Speaker 1: really looks like Draymond, just just in terms of his
Speaker 1: physicality because that's just the process now. As far as
Speaker 1: as his offense goes, so much of it is Steph
Speaker 1: like Stephen Draymond very symbiotic players. A lot of what's
Speaker 1: a Draymond does offensively depends on his ability to make
Speaker 1: reads and four on three scenarios. And the only way
Speaker 1: he can get four on three scenarios is if you
Speaker 1: have a player like Steph Curry that commands a trap
Speaker 1: on every single pick and roll. So a lot of
Speaker 1: what Draymond does offensively is limited when he's not playing
Speaker 1: with Steph Curry. And and in return, Steph needs Draymond
Speaker 1: for everything that he does, So they're very symbiotic pairing.
Speaker 1: But I'm not worried about Draymond at all, and I
Speaker 1: and he's right. I trust his hard work and I
Speaker 1: have I've no doubt that they'll be able to recapture
Speaker 1: what they were as long as Steph can get back
Speaker 1: on the court and get healthy. What do you think
Speaker 1: is the one thing that needs to change most of
Speaker 1: them beyond obviously just getting step back, But what do
Speaker 1: they really still need to figure out and fix above
Speaker 1: everything else. I think they're fine, like they and right
Speaker 1: now is currently constructed. They're as good as they can
Speaker 1: be without a massive identity change. So like I I'm
Speaker 1: a so they've They're like the Lakers with their injury
Speaker 1: luck this year, like Draymond got hurt, was out forever
Speaker 1: and then he comes back, and then Steph got hurt.
Speaker 1: So everything you've seen on the court with them this
Speaker 1: year is kind of your relevant to what they're going
Speaker 1: to be right now that that group of of Steph,
Speaker 1: Clay Dre and Jordan Poole kind of off the bench
Speaker 1: and then all of those wings that they have, that
Speaker 1: all works great. The only the greatest weakness of this
Speaker 1: team is the same weakness they had in two thousand fifteen,
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen and in two thousand nineteen after Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant went down. Steph Curry is not a physically imposing star,
Speaker 1: so when defense is really locked in on him, if
Speaker 1: he misses shots, they don't have another great punch. I
Speaker 1: love the big wings in the league. This is why
Speaker 1: I always get drawn back to Janest Lebron and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: When you have the ability to really apply a physical
Speaker 1: pressure on the game with your physical tools, I think
Speaker 1: that's an extra punch and an extra versatility. So I'm
Speaker 1: still a big believer in them when they're healthy. I
Speaker 1: put them right below Phoenix and that next tier. But
Speaker 1: they're never gonna become the world beaters they were again
Speaker 1: unless they find a big forward that can develop into
Speaker 1: a rim pressuring guy Wiggins, isn't it. Maybe it becomes
Speaker 1: Jonathan cominga in the future, But you know how I
Speaker 1: feel about lining up timelines, So who knows, But that's
Speaker 1: that's what I've used their biggest weakness. Alright, Well, again,
Speaker 1: that specific sound bite came from Draymond's podcast and he
Speaker 1: had Jason Tatum on this week. That's coming out soon,
Speaker 1: so everybody should go ahead and check that out. Always
Speaker 1: super interesting here and him talked to other NBA guys. Alright,
Speaker 1: so our next quote here is related to the Defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year conversation, and you just did attempts
Speaker 1: tape breakdown on the Jazz defense. Obviously, Rudy Gobert is
Speaker 1: always somewhere in that conversation, some people calling him Stifled
Speaker 1: Tower or some people calling him Rudy Gogert deeply divisive.
Speaker 1: But Marcus Smart came out and talked about sort of
Speaker 1: how they compare defensively, and he said, Rudy can't guard
Speaker 1: all five spots. I can guard all five spots and
Speaker 1: I've been doing it. I've done it very well. So Jason,
Speaker 1: what's your action to that? And who would you have
Speaker 1: as deepoy right now? Wait, that was Marcus Smart that
Speaker 1: said that, Yeah, you're kidding me. Okay, um, So, I,
Speaker 1: like everybody else who a couple of years ago, jumped
Speaker 1: on the Rudy Gobert slander train, you know when that
Speaker 1: always going down Utah Jazz fans, people that I trust, like,
Speaker 1: I try to find people that cover each team that
Speaker 1: follow them on a day to day basis, because you
Speaker 1: can never like, my knowledge of the Lakers will never
Speaker 1: be the same as what I have for the rest
Speaker 1: of the teams because I've literally watched every single game
Speaker 1: they've played this year. For the rest of the league,
Speaker 1: I do my best to parse out my time right.
Speaker 1: The Jazz fans kept coming to me and saying, like,
Speaker 1: it's not Rudy, it's the other guys, and so I
Speaker 1: dove into the tape extensively. Rudy guards ones absolutely fine.
Speaker 1: Rudy King guard all five positions on the floor extremely well.
Speaker 1: He is not the problem. I know, highlights get put
Speaker 1: in there where a guy scores on somebody, but all
Speaker 1: of the best the defensive players in the in the
Speaker 1: in the league gets scored on. You can find Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons getting scored on. You can find Kauai getting scored on.
Speaker 1: It's all part of the bit surrounding Rudy Gobert. The
Speaker 1: gist of it is the Utah Jazz have a huge
Speaker 1: void in their perimeter defense, and so they rely on
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert to clean everything up. And all of the
Speaker 1: really smart teams in the league have figured out that
Speaker 1: if you get him in rotation, even just once or twice,
Speaker 1: and get him out to the perimeter, then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you have no defense and the perimeter and
Speaker 1: then no help on the back line, and it's just
Speaker 1: a layup line. They have a history of having really
Speaker 1: good defense in the you know, aggregate Grand scheme regular season,
Speaker 1: but they struggle against really good teams. They struggle against
Speaker 1: five out teams, they struggle against teams that have a
Speaker 1: lot of guys who can dribble drive. And so I
Speaker 1: am going to have Rudy Gobert's back here. Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: is amazing, but he's not Rudy Gobert. So I think
Speaker 1: this is interesting because a lot of times people do
Speaker 1: bring up the argument of versatility, and this is always
Speaker 1: the thing with Draymond versus Rudy, and it was a
Speaker 1: thing with Ben Simmons versus Rudy. But my thought has
Speaker 1: kind of been, if you're just talking about regular season defense,
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to just the overwhelming impact
Speaker 1: that he does have as that deterrent and like the
Speaker 1: defensive on off numbers, the opponent field goal differential, it's
Speaker 1: really hard to argue against Rudy Gobert is deepoy kind
Speaker 1: of every year. But if he's not really the best
Speaker 1: defensive player on the planet when it matters most, do
Speaker 1: you think that there needs to be like a reevaluation there,
Speaker 1: or like, do you just kind of have to give
Speaker 1: it to him, because in regular season terms, you know,
Speaker 1: nobody really is more impactful most of the time. So
Speaker 1: but in in Rudy's defense, though, the Jazz defense falling
Speaker 1: apart in the postseason is not necessarily Rudy falling apart.
Speaker 1: So now if we're talking like who's better Draymond or Rudy,
Speaker 1: that's a different conversation because they're kind of different a
Speaker 1: bunch of different ways. Rudy's all length and Draymond is
Speaker 1: all physical city. You know, he's a very He's a
Speaker 1: good vertical defenders. He bumps people off of their line
Speaker 1: really really well. But like both of them have shown
Speaker 1: a propensity to get beat in straight line drive scenarios
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Neither of them are great out in
Speaker 1: the perimeter. They're just fantastic back line defenders. I would
Speaker 1: argue that Draymond's probably a little bit better of a
Speaker 1: back line communicator, Like he's a higher i Q defender,
Speaker 1: which I think might give him an edge in my book.
Speaker 1: But like again, I think I think that I think
Speaker 1: if we saw Rudy Gobert doing what Brook Lopez was doing,
Speaker 1: we would all be terrified. So for the Bucks, so
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I guess what I'm saying is I want
Speaker 1: to distance the jazz Is defense from what Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: is capable of a different as a defensive player, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Yeah, and you mentioned the Bucks, they're
Speaker 1: real quick. We have some people in the comments talking
Speaker 1: about Janice. Where do you think he figures into that
Speaker 1: conversation for defense? Yeah, in terms of depot best defender alive,
Speaker 1: So he is as a help defender the best you'll
Speaker 1: find in the league. But so Joel Embie did a
Speaker 1: really interesting bit on this with J. J. Reddick the
Speaker 1: other day in his podcast actually I think it released today,
Speaker 1: and Joel basically said, I think a big man should
Speaker 1: be Defensive Player of the Year every year. And what
Speaker 1: he pointed out, which is an interesting element to this, is,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, the back line defender. So
Speaker 1: whoever plays that Draymond, Rudy, Gobert, Brook Lopez type of role,
Speaker 1: that guy actually is the quarterback of the defense. So
Speaker 1: beyond his individual responsibilities, he's also responsible because he's behind everybody.
Speaker 1: Like it doesn't make sense for the point guard to
Speaker 1: call out plays because he can't see what's happening behind it,
Speaker 1: but the back line defender is essentially making a read
Speaker 1: based on what he sees as the offense is coming
Speaker 1: down the floor and he's calling out coverages. So there's
Speaker 1: a whole other element to that. So as good as
Speaker 1: Janice is and I'm not undercutting that at all, he
Speaker 1: un of factors more into that, Like he's a perimeter
Speaker 1: player who's great in help but he's not a Draymond
Speaker 1: Green like quarterback of a defense, which is a different
Speaker 1: I talked a lot today today. He's frightening. When he's
Speaker 1: closing out, he's amazing. He's you could argue in a
Speaker 1: one or two possession setting, you wouldn't want anybody else
Speaker 1: on the plan it as a defender. But in terms
Speaker 1: of the day and day out chess match type stuff,
Speaker 1: especially in a playoff series, I think I'd have to
Speaker 1: put the Rudy Goberts and the Draymond Still ahead of
Speaker 1: him because you have to factor in that quarterback of
Speaker 1: the defense element. If that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely well.
Speaker 1: I gotta say, Jason, you're just throwing me lobs with
Speaker 1: the transitions here because you mentioned em Beat on the
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick podcast Old Man in the Three that is
Speaker 1: where our next sound bite comes from. And you've been
Speaker 1: critical of em beats tendency to go out and sort
Speaker 1: of hunt fouls in an unnatural fashion. And he actually
Speaker 1: spoke out on that because j J kind of called
Speaker 1: him out about it for a second. So let's take
Speaker 1: a listen. This is a great example of what I
Speaker 1: like to call a foul baby. That's not far baby.
Speaker 1: This is what we talk about here, But you play basketball.
Speaker 1: This is basketball like you. All right, I'm in a
Speaker 1: penalty and why before that play? I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was before that play or the play after. I
Speaker 1: just knew that. You know, they had a couple of
Speaker 1: files and it's easy like that's this is basketball like you.
Speaker 1: So people are always saying flops so you know, fa
Speaker 1: bathing and all that stuff. That's just me based smart
Speaker 1: and then everybody else. So what do you think, Jason,
Speaker 1: do you agree with mbid a k A the NBA
Speaker 1: player you would least like to be slapped by. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, I loved the way that JJ went
Speaker 1: at him in that podcast. There was another clip at
Speaker 1: the very end, like right as he's signing up, he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, when you're working out with Drew Handlon,
Speaker 1: what do you say, like how often do you work
Speaker 1: on foul baiting? Like fifty of the time, like seventy
Speaker 1: percent of the time, and he's like kind of rubbing
Speaker 1: into his face. I loved it because you you know,
Speaker 1: Joel's right, He's right, it's an intelligence thing. It's a
Speaker 1: basketball like you thing. Um, the guys like Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: the guys like James Harden, the guys like Joel Embid
Speaker 1: in the league. I I admire them taking advantage of
Speaker 1: the rules. When I am mad about foul grift, NG,
Speaker 1: it's more towards the league, Like, for instance, at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, they did such a great job
Speaker 1: legislating it out, but then the refs just kind of
Speaker 1: all drifted back into their old selves as the season progressed,
Speaker 1: and I put the pressure on the league to deal
Speaker 1: with this problem. So when like, if foul grifting is
Speaker 1: not a Joel emb problem, it's an NBA problem. However,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's smart to build that into your
Speaker 1: game in such a way that is so reliable, because
Speaker 1: we know the league is attacking it. Like you literally
Speaker 1: saw this entire offseason. It was a big story. I
Speaker 1: would venture to guess that within five years, that will
Speaker 1: be a huge taboo thing in the league, the idea
Speaker 1: of doing anything that's not a usual basket ball play
Speaker 1: to try to score. So it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, like when I was in high school,
Speaker 1: I could get away with not studying, but then I
Speaker 1: got to college and the material became more complicated and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, something that I had been reliant
Speaker 1: on was no longer reliable. That's kind of the way
Speaker 1: I look at it. Like if I was James Harden,
Speaker 1: if I was Joel Embiad, if I was Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: I would be preparing for the fact that this will
Speaker 1: not be allowed soon. And I wouldn't want to be
Speaker 1: caught with my pants down and be one of the
Speaker 1: guys who's massively struggling. And I pointed this out the
Speaker 1: other day, but it's just it's just the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter. As good as Joel Embiat is, there's another
Speaker 1: bit later in that show where he talks about everyone
Speaker 1: says I I would only average seventeen points a game
Speaker 1: if I didn't get free throws, and he was like, well,
Speaker 1: that's part of the game, yeah, but it might not
Speaker 1: be one day, That's my point, And like, like you
Speaker 1: might have to be more reliable putting the ball in
Speaker 1: the basket. And right now you shoot like in the
Speaker 1: high forties from the field, and Janice is shooting in
Speaker 1: the high fifties, and Nikola Yoka to shooting in the
Speaker 1: high fifties, and Katie and Lebron are doing it with
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're just more efficient at putting the
Speaker 1: ball in the basket. So you don't want to be
Speaker 1: caught behind in that regard. So yeah, not not Joel
Speaker 1: Embiat's fault, but he needs to read the writing on
Speaker 1: the wall. Yeah, And to your point, I mean his
Speaker 1: first times, first two times in the postseason, I think
Speaker 1: his free throw attempts were down significantly. Another guy who
Speaker 1: people would sort of classify, probably in a similar conversation, Harden,
Speaker 1: I think his postseason career averages like at least a
Speaker 1: free throw fewer than regular season. So obviously, as that
Speaker 1: dynamic changes, like you said, you've got to be able
Speaker 1: to actually just put the ball into the basket. So alright,
Speaker 1: that is it for That's what he said. Just to
Speaker 1: provide an update on the game that I mentioned when
Speaker 1: I came on, Bowls won in double overtime. Damar had
Speaker 1: fifty so another signature performance from him. In what let
Speaker 1: me check that real quick? He said he had forty
Speaker 1: something in regular ation, right DeRos and had forty four
Speaker 1: during overtime PG had twenty two PG at twenty two
Speaker 1: did he shoot? Well, what do you shoot from three?
Speaker 1: He shot? Let's see, because I was I was blown
Speaker 1: away that he shot six for nine from three after
Speaker 1: stepping away from the game for as long as he did,
Speaker 1: missing a ligament in his shooting arm, Like it just
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense to me. And when you get
Speaker 1: away from the game of basketball and you're like you're
Speaker 1: adapting to the speed, like your jumper is the first
Speaker 1: thing that goes. So I was so impressed. So did
Speaker 1: he not play well tonight? Tonight? He did not. He
Speaker 1: was seven of twenty two of nine from deep, so
Speaker 1: the shot was not quite there. Okay, all right, Carson,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you man. We're gonna see you in just
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes, right, all right. So, um, what
Speaker 1: happened with Paul George tonight was a little more in
Speaker 1: line with what I was expecting him kind of building
Speaker 1: his rhythm back. But so the Clippers, the Clippers present
Speaker 1: a really really interesting question mark or what if coming
Speaker 1: up over the course of the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: because I'm so flabbergasted as to why Paul George, missing
Speaker 1: a ligament in his shooting elbow would not get surgery
Speaker 1: so that he could be available to work out all
Speaker 1: off season to be prepared for next season. With Kauai
Speaker 1: coming back, it just is it's beyond nonsensical. You would
Speaker 1: assume that at some point he's gonna have to get surgery.
Speaker 1: It's not like Paul George wants to finish his career
Speaker 1: missing a ligament, right, I mean, who knows. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the internal conversations are, but it was so
Speaker 1: strange to me, which got me thinking a lot about this.
Speaker 1: Why would Paul George come back? They're in the playing game,
Speaker 1: right if they win. Let's say they go to Minnesota
Speaker 1: and win and they get the seven seed, You've got
Speaker 1: to go on the road to Memphis for a playoff series.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be like, Memphis is gonna be heavily favored
Speaker 1: in that series, even with Paul George. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's just I didn't see the point. And so what
Speaker 1: I kept wondering is like, what if they know something
Speaker 1: we don't know? And so then out of nowhere we
Speaker 1: see the Clippers release a photo of the Clippers boarding
Speaker 1: the team plane yesterday and Kawhi Leonards getting on the plane.
Speaker 1: And again, it's so hard to make reads on this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff because Kauai keeps everything so close to
Speaker 1: the chest. His circle. His circle is literally as airtight
Speaker 1: as any professional athlete is, any celebrity that we've seen
Speaker 1: in the modern era, which is insane when you think
Speaker 1: about social media and the ease of access to information.
Speaker 1: So we would never know, like if Kauai was gonna
Speaker 1: play tomorrow or if he didn't plan on playing next
Speaker 1: season at all, we wouldn't know. We would find now
Speaker 1: when he put the jersey on. That's the way it
Speaker 1: would work, and so it's it's genuinely like an interesting situation.
Speaker 1: So my theory is that the Clippers are looking at
Speaker 1: this situation. They looked at how much they punished Phoenix
Speaker 1: last year. They were really really interesting matchup for Phoenix
Speaker 1: last year. They had a lot of success against them.
Speaker 1: They lost in six games, but there were at least
Speaker 1: two games that I can think of in that series
Speaker 1: that could have very easily gone the other way. So
Speaker 1: I think the Clippers are looking at the situation and
Speaker 1: they're like, we like our chances in the West. The
Speaker 1: Memphis is too young, Golden State is having injury issues,
Speaker 1: nobody else in the conference is nearly as talented, and
Speaker 1: we like our chances against Phoenix. And then we get
Speaker 1: to the finals, who knows what can happen, And I
Speaker 1: think that they're having conversations behind the scenes, and I
Speaker 1: think Kauai has been telling them that he plans on
Speaker 1: coming back. That's my theory. Again, I have nothing to
Speaker 1: support it, because Kauai is never in a million year
Speaker 1: is going to tell us anything. But I like it
Speaker 1: as an interesting kind of wrinkle here. I've talked a
Speaker 1: lot over the course of the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: especially since especially since Tyler got there, especially after what
Speaker 1: happened against Phoenix last year and then getting to the
Speaker 1: conference finals without Kauai. They they are the best team
Speaker 1: in the league in my opinion, at maximizing talent. They
Speaker 1: have the perfect mix of modern coverages and schemes mixed
Speaker 1: with traditional, reliable ones. They run, drop when they can,
Speaker 1: they switch when they can, they mix coverages up a lot.
Speaker 1: They've even thrown zone in there from time to time.
Speaker 1: They're very, very smart basketball team. It's credit to Tyler.
Speaker 1: I talked a lot about this over the course ever
Speaker 1: since the Cleveland situation. But Tyler was rigid when he
Speaker 1: was in Cleveland, and a lot of coaches struggle in
Speaker 1: their first coaching gig trying to inflict their personality on
Speaker 1: a team, and he's come to the clip person he's
Speaker 1: become one of the most malleable and open minded and
Speaker 1: ahead of the curve type of coaches that we have
Speaker 1: in the league. And here there's I'm really really interested
Speaker 1: to see because basically he's taken Reggie Jackson. You know,
Speaker 1: a couple of interesting young players like Terrence man in
Speaker 1: a mere coffee, and you know, obviously Zoo Botch is good.
Speaker 1: I did a whole video on Isaiah Hartenstein the other
Speaker 1: day and the way that he punished Rudy Gobert for
Speaker 1: helping They've got some interesting young players, but it's a
Speaker 1: lot of Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris and Nick Patum.
Speaker 1: It's not a super talented team, and they're just manufacturing
Speaker 1: wins by playing really smart basketball. And this takes me
Speaker 1: back to the whole bit that I had about the
Speaker 1: Lakers a while back. When you when you have of
Speaker 1: the playoffs as an excuse to shrink your rotation, and
Speaker 1: when you plug massive role superstars back in, it takes everything.
Speaker 1: It takes all of the bad out. So right now,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are playing a game against the Jazz and
Speaker 1: they have to fill the normal seventy two minutes that
Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis would play with vastly inferior players.
Speaker 1: So what do you think the product is going to be,
Speaker 1: especially with that team struggling so much besides and athleticism.
Speaker 1: Look at the Clippers. They've been better than the Lakers
Speaker 1: this year, significantly better than the Lakers this year, and
Speaker 1: they've taken thirty six minutes of Paul George and Kauai
Speaker 1: and replaced them with inferior players. So plugging those two
Speaker 1: guys back into the picture, slotting everybody appropriately, that not
Speaker 1: to mention the fact that they will instantly become the
Speaker 1: two best defensive players on the team. It becomes a
Speaker 1: really really interesting dynamic. And that combination of Tyler in
Speaker 1: his ability to maximize talent with proper slotting with a
Speaker 1: shrunken rotation with Kawai and PG back into the fold
Speaker 1: instantly makes them a contender. Now how much of a
Speaker 1: contender they are depends on a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: What does quite look like when he gets back, how
Speaker 1: quickly does he get his rhythm? Like I said, he
Speaker 1: might not even come back right. But in that scenario
Speaker 1: where they do come back, if they can get the
Speaker 1: fit in the field back quickly. This could be a really,
Speaker 1: really dangerous team. And as much as this team has
Speaker 1: a clear favorite in Phoenix, and they do, this league
Speaker 1: is very open in a lot of different ways. As
Speaker 1: dominant as Phoenix has been, they don't have the top
Speaker 1: tier superstars. As good as the Bucks have looked as
Speaker 1: of late, I'm still worried about their defense, as good
Speaker 1: as the Nets can be. I'm worried about their defense
Speaker 1: and their ability to handle brute force physicality as good
Speaker 1: as Golden State can be. I'm worried about their health
Speaker 1: and whether or not Stephan Draymond are gonna look like themselves.
Speaker 1: Philly lost in Detroit tonight. They've got a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of issues of their own. Miami got a big win
Speaker 1: the other last night against Boston, but they're not a
Speaker 1: very They're not a top tier contender. The league is
Speaker 1: very much open as law. As you think you can
Speaker 1: beat Phoenix, and all of these teams that have these superstars,
Speaker 1: they all think they can beat Phoenix because they know
Speaker 1: that they can if they can at least win the
Speaker 1: top the top heavy stuff, if you can outplay Chris
Speaker 1: Paul and if you cannot play Devin Booker. You give
Speaker 1: yourself a chance, and obviously Kauai and Paul George are
Speaker 1: very capable of that. One thing that would be interesting
Speaker 1: is avoiding Phoenix buys you time to get those guys
Speaker 1: back in rhythm. So they're the eighth seed right now.
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna finishes the eighth seed if they can
Speaker 1: go into Minnesota and win that playing game and catch
Speaker 1: Memphis instead. With Kawai and Paul George, that buys you
Speaker 1: an extra round two two rounds actually to potentially get
Speaker 1: your legs underneath you before you have to deal with
Speaker 1: that Phoenix matchup again. No idea what's gonna happen with Kauai,
Speaker 1: But he's a very very interesting wrinkle here. And I
Speaker 1: have a theory that that's the only reason in the
Speaker 1: world that you would bring Paul George back missing a
Speaker 1: ligament to flounder in the playing game. If that makes sense.
Speaker 1: It has to be for something bigger than that. If
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Alright, we're gonna bring my guy Carson
Speaker 1: back on for one more game before we get out
Speaker 1: of here. Jason, longtime, no see, all right, So this
Speaker 1: game pretty intuitive concept. I bet you can figure it out.
Speaker 1: It's called what's more likely. I'm gonna present you two options.
Speaker 1: You tell me which one is more likely. And you
Speaker 1: mentioned the Sixers lost in Philly tonight. James Harden was
Speaker 1: a sparkling four of fifteen from the field. So given that,
Speaker 1: given the perennial drama that surrounds him, what's more likely
Speaker 1: that he signs the MAX in Philly or is on
Speaker 1: another team next season? He's gonna be in Philly next
Speaker 1: season on the Max. But it's because Darryl Moray thinks
Speaker 1: much more highly of James harder than we do. So like, uh,
Speaker 1: I I think that it really just comes down to
Speaker 1: that at I mean, I said after the other the
Speaker 1: game the other day, when James Harden played really well,
Speaker 1: um that so much was dependent on his ability to
Speaker 1: get to the basket and I wasn't convinced that he
Speaker 1: can do that enough. And like in that same show,
Speaker 1: I said, we judge players over large sample sizes, not
Speaker 1: over short sample sizes. If you catch Taylor Horton Tucker
Speaker 1: on the right night this year, you think he's a
Speaker 1: future All Star, but his trade values lower than it's
Speaker 1: ever been. James Harden has been mostly bad this year
Speaker 1: with little flashes of good And how did he respond
Speaker 1: to one of his best games of the season, losing
Speaker 1: to the Bucks. The other day he responded by going
Speaker 1: four for fifteen against the Detroit Pistons. So, like I,
Speaker 1: I am nowhere nearest high on him. I think signing
Speaker 1: him for a four year whatever the hell that number
Speaker 1: is gonna be like two hundred forty two hundred fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars, whatever that deal is gonna be. I would
Speaker 1: stay away from that. With a ten foot poll, it
Speaker 1: is guaranteed to be an albatross at the end. But
Speaker 1: Daryl Maury's big thing is like signed the guy, and
Speaker 1: he already loves James Harden and he believes in his
Speaker 1: ability to flip contracts if he needs to. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: do it, but at this point you have to, especially
Speaker 1: when you factor in everything they just gave up to
Speaker 1: get him. Well. According to Darryl Maury, the guy that
Speaker 1: he has is better than Pique Michael Jordan offensively, so
Speaker 1: I probably does feel pretty good about that. Well. The
Speaker 1: man who showed Harden and the Sixers up tonight was
Speaker 1: Kate Cunningham. He has been playing really, really well as
Speaker 1: of late and had seven tonight. So what's more likely Jason,
Speaker 1: that Kate Cunningham or Evan Mobley is a superstar player
Speaker 1: in this league. Oh. I think they're both gonna be.
Speaker 1: But I think Evan Mobley is definitely a safer excuse me,
Speaker 1: a safer bet because the thing with Evan Mobley and
Speaker 1: scouts will tell you this, he is consistently struggled with
Speaker 1: offensive aggression. He's a very naturally giving player. He's very
Speaker 1: much like I just want to be a cog in
Speaker 1: the system, but his talent vastly supersedes that. I think
Speaker 1: he has the potential to be better than Anthony Davis Um.
Speaker 1: We'll see, but I think that he's a safer bet
Speaker 1: with his combination of physical tools and the obvious increasing
Speaker 1: aggression that's going to come from him in the coming years.
Speaker 1: I love Kate Cunningham's game. He kind of reminds me
Speaker 1: of like a a more natural American version of Luca
Speaker 1: don che Is in the sense that he's more of
Speaker 1: a traditional small forward build, but he doesn't have the
Speaker 1: overwhelming athleticism which has forced him to build out the
Speaker 1: details of his skill set. I always talked about with
Speaker 1: Luca what impresses me the most with him is he
Speaker 1: gets by people off the dribble by using his He
Speaker 1: sells every part of every move with every part of
Speaker 1: his body and as a result he gets little tiny
Speaker 1: windows of space and then that's when he uses his
Speaker 1: strength and physicality to get by people. Kate Cunningham is
Speaker 1: very similar a lot of freak athlete type of players.
Speaker 1: They don't build out those details because they can go
Speaker 1: down the floor and cross over and there by the
Speaker 1: guy anyway just because they're faster. And I've I've been
Speaker 1: super impressed with kids like very methodical approach to offense.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be a superstar too, but I
Speaker 1: would say that Evan Mobile is certainly more likely to
Speaker 1: be if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, I mean I
Speaker 1: think both these guys were I mean exceptional prospects philosophically.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that it's interesting, do you have
Speaker 1: a perspective on a guy like Mobile who did seem
Speaker 1: to be really high floor because of the freakish defensive versatility,
Speaker 1: all the things that you could already do well offensively,
Speaker 1: Versus in a guy like Kid you have potentially, you know,
Speaker 1: a complete offensive ceiling razor because of just the kind
Speaker 1: of dynamic guard that he is. Like, obviously every case
Speaker 1: by case is going to be a little bit different,
Speaker 1: But do you think that one of those two things
Speaker 1: is inherently more valuable? So I inherently think that the
Speaker 1: point forward, the big guy who can initiate everything from
Speaker 1: the perimeter, is a more valuable player. That's why I
Speaker 1: did a whole bit on this last week involving why
Speaker 1: I think Katie and Janie and Lebron are better than
Speaker 1: Yo Kitchen Embiid by a big margin. But that said,
Speaker 1: like Kai doesn't fit that physical, imposing mold like he's
Speaker 1: you know, and this it'll be really interesting to see
Speaker 1: if this affects Luca when he starts playing in really
Speaker 1: high leverage playoff series, like when Luca gets to the
Speaker 1: conference finals or Luca gets to the finals, if there
Speaker 1: is a team that can of start to wear on
Speaker 1: him physically, I'll be really curious. It hasn't happened yet,
Speaker 1: and if you if any team could have done it, it
Speaker 1: it would have been the Clippers. But like k D
Speaker 1: has this incredible frame, and then Janie and Lebron are
Speaker 1: once in a generation freight train athletes. Kate Cunningham is neither.
Speaker 1: So I do naturally gravitate towards the archetype of Kate
Speaker 1: Cunningham in the sense that I look at those guys
Speaker 1: as more valuable, But in this specific case, I I
Speaker 1: would lean towards Mobley because I don't think Kid can
Speaker 1: get to the same ceiling as a lebron A D
Speaker 1: or Janice. I view Kid is a guy that if
Speaker 1: things really go well for him, he'll be a persistent
Speaker 1: top ten player in the NBA, But I don't think
Speaker 1: he could ever crack the top five, whereas I believe
Speaker 1: Evan Mobile very much could. And another one last note
Speaker 1: on Mobile, he has significantly quicker feat than Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: which is a huge part of what will eventually guide
Speaker 1: his offensive ceiling, because the big reason why a D
Speaker 1: can't be honest, the big reason why a D can't
Speaker 1: initiate from the perimeter, is he actually has a slow
Speaker 1: first step, and so he can beat guys off the
Speaker 1: dribble when they're big plotting centers. But if you put
Speaker 1: like if you put Chris Middleton on Anthony Davis, like
Speaker 1: Chris is gonna make him shoot over the top, He's
Speaker 1: gonna slide his feet, you know, But I think Evan
Speaker 1: Mobley has some of that potential to be a perimeter
Speaker 1: initiator because he'll be able to make quick moves that
Speaker 1: generate more separation because he's quicker in my opinion. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: as we talk about some of the great young players
Speaker 1: that we have in the league right now, obviously Luca
Speaker 1: is you know, as respected and promising as any. So
Speaker 1: what's more likely Jason Luca don Chech wins multiple m
Speaker 1: vps or no m vps in his career. I I
Speaker 1: think it's far more likely that gets multiple m vps.
Speaker 1: We have not given Luca enough credit for floating a
Speaker 1: pretty untalented situation, and I think he's aware of these details.
Speaker 1: In his podcast with J. J. Reddick that he did
Speaker 1: the other day, he directly attributed their recent success to defense,
Speaker 1: and it's an interesting indicator of where Luca's headspace is
Speaker 1: at because there's this year they have a gimmicky defense.
Speaker 1: I think I think their top ten still if I
Speaker 1: remember correctly. They've slipped a little bit of late, but
Speaker 1: they've been a pretty good defensive team of late. But
Speaker 1: they do not have defensive personnel, you know, Max and
Speaker 1: Cleveland is not a dominant back line defensive player. Dorian
Speaker 1: Finney Smith is an excellent defensive wing, but he's pretty
Speaker 1: much the only guy like that they have on the roster.
Speaker 1: The rest of these guys Spencer did it, did what
Speaker 1: he Jalen Brunson. They're bringing in a lot of lesser
Speaker 1: defensive players. There is going to be a stretch of
Speaker 1: time in Luca's career where he plays five to seven
Speaker 1: years in a row with an elite defense and a
Speaker 1: great secondary ball handler that can create when he's off
Speaker 1: the floor. And when that happens, they're gonna win a
Speaker 1: ship ton of games. And I don't see any universe
Speaker 1: where he doesn't win a couple of m vps. What
Speaker 1: do you think? Oh? Yeah, I I absolutely agree. I mean,
Speaker 1: he entered this year as the betting favorite going into
Speaker 1: year four with the team that like did not have
Speaker 1: contender level personnel, and the raw production is always going
Speaker 1: to be there. I mean, he's walking nine and nine
Speaker 1: pretty much, So I completely agree. And he's continued to
Speaker 1: add to and refine his game like year in year out,
Speaker 1: so I'm totally with you. I'd be shocked if he
Speaker 1: doesn't win an MVP, all right, Jason, I have one
Speaker 1: I have one last note on Luca really quick. This
Speaker 1: dude is getting it done right now, almost entirely unnatural
Speaker 1: ability and feel for the game. There will also be
Speaker 1: a stretch for he embraces taking care of his body
Speaker 1: and he embraces a hard work out of it. He
Speaker 1: literally said it the J. J. Reddy podcast that he
Speaker 1: did a step back randomly in a EuroLeague game and
Speaker 1: the coaches were like, you should do that more often.
Speaker 1: It's not like this dude was practicing it. So my
Speaker 1: thing is is like, there will be a phase of
Speaker 1: his career, probably late twenties, early thirties, where he kind
Speaker 1: of has all those details figured out, and that's when
Speaker 1: it could get really ridiculous with that guy. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: that is a terrifying concept because I mean, like you said,
Speaker 1: he's already among the best players of his age we
Speaker 1: have ever seen, has been for the last a few years.
Speaker 1: All Right, Jason, what's more likely that the Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: win the Eastern Conference or that they lose in the
Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs. Oh, this is a really
Speaker 1: tough one because I am picking Brooklyn to win the East,
Speaker 1: but their series is in the first round. If they
Speaker 1: faced Milwaukee or um Boston. I think it's a six
Speaker 1: or seven game series, which could go either way. So
Speaker 1: like that's literally what I think is gonna happen. They're
Speaker 1: either gonna lose in the first round or they're gonna
Speaker 1: win the whole damn thing. So I would say, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it's more likely that they win, But
Speaker 1: it's barely over a coin flip, because it's all about matchups.
Speaker 1: Like if they if they catch Miami or Philly in
Speaker 1: the first round, they're gonna cruise through the first round,
Speaker 1: which buys you an extra two weeks to get Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons back. Potentially, Ben Simmons is a supernatural fit to
Speaker 1: just plug in there because they don't need him to
Speaker 1: do anything other than defend and to make reads out
Speaker 1: of a short roll or maybe out of the dunker spot. Right,
Speaker 1: So like it's they any Like if they get a
Speaker 1: good draw and they get bought a lot of extra time,
Speaker 1: that could be devastating for the rest of the league
Speaker 1: because they'll be really clicking by the time they get
Speaker 1: to a Milwaukee or to a Boston. But then they
Speaker 1: could catch Milwaukee in the first round not have Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons not have some of their defensive details work out
Speaker 1: and the losing So I could see it going both ways,
Speaker 1: but I'd leaned towards them winning all right, last one
Speaker 1: here and unquestionably, unquestionably the most important. Star Wars has
Speaker 1: announced that it's moving the release state of Obi Wan
Speaker 1: Kenobi to May. Is it more likely that the show
Speaker 1: is excellent or terrible? Wait? They moved it back and
Speaker 1: within the same way it was supposed to be early May, right,
Speaker 1: so they moved in just a couple of weeks. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's really strange. Oh man, um So, I I expect
Speaker 1: to enjoy it no matter what, but anytime you hear
Speaker 1: reshoots or delays, that's scary. And this is a really
Speaker 1: weird timeline they're working in. Them trying to do this
Speaker 1: series directly goes against some core plot points in Star Wars,
Speaker 1: and so from that standpoint, like, I expect to be
Speaker 1: frustrated a lot during it, and reshoot scare me. I
Speaker 1: expect to enjoy it, but I don't expect to like
Speaker 1: appreciate its place in the Star Wars story. And I
Speaker 1: love that you asked me a Star Wars question, Thank you, Carson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, man, I gotta get you right in your bag.
Speaker 1: And it's actually even weirder. They moved two days, but
Speaker 1: they're doing the first two episodes at once, so huh.
Speaker 1: Who knows what's going on? That could be as simple
Speaker 1: as them thinking that the cliffhanger at the end of
Speaker 1: episode one isn't good enough, or that this episode two
Speaker 1: will be the one that really captures the audience. Like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. It's like with you guys when it
Speaker 1: comes to production stuff, I'm leaning entirely up. I know
Speaker 1: the basketball, that's my bread and butter. I leave the
Speaker 1: production stuff to you guys. The people promoting this show
Speaker 1: know exactly what they're doing, and I will trust them
Speaker 1: to figure it out. As a Star Wars fan, I
Speaker 1: have to enjoy it. I'm just gonna say I don't
Speaker 1: appreciate the fact that they're gonna step on their own
Speaker 1: plot lines there they There's been a lot of disrespecting
Speaker 1: George Lucas done by Disney, but that's a whole other story.
Speaker 1: You did get in the Hollywood mindset there for a second, though,
Speaker 1: because I think this is pretty good rationalization that you
Speaker 1: gave up why they would have made that move, So
Speaker 1: you know, don't sell yourself short. All right, well, thank
Speaker 1: you Carson. I appreciate you coming on man. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all we have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys coming to hang out. We will be back
Speaker 1: tomorrow after the final buzzer of Lakers Pelicans. I'm extraordinarily excited.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna see some good Laker basketball and
Speaker 1: a little flash in the pain of greatness from those guys.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys support as always, and I will
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow night. The Volume