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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason timp Podcast. Thank you guys so

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Speaker 1: much for taking time out of your day to come

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Speaker 1: hang out and talk some hoops with Tommy and I. Tommy,

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Speaker 1: how you doing, man? Uh? Fantastic, man. Coming off a

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Speaker 1: nice little weekend. We're add some hiking, gets some working out,

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Speaker 1: really positive stuff all around. I think I mentioned, uh

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Speaker 1: a while back that I'm doing like a little sober month,

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Speaker 1: So I'm feeling really good. My my brain feels all

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Speaker 1: refreshed on Mondays instead of hungover. So just just coming

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Speaker 1: through a like a life altering experience at the beginning

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Speaker 1: of each year where you're just connected to nature and

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Speaker 1: just in just all wrapped up in health. I like that, dude.

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Speaker 1: I can't. It's impossible for me because in inevitably every

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Speaker 1: spring my family ends up going on a couple of

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Speaker 1: ski trips and uh and you know, uh, my family

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Speaker 1: in particular, I don't like to do this too much,

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Speaker 1: but they like to drink on the slopes, which I

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Speaker 1: think is absolutely crazy because like it stresses me out

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Speaker 1: enough the risk of getting hurt on skis and adding

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Speaker 1: alcohol to that mix is just like deeply unsettling. Um.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, I am excited to announce that I don't

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Speaker 1: plan on going out of town for a while, which

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Speaker 1: means it will be a little bit easier for you

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Speaker 1: and I to get into somewhat of a rhythm, um

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Speaker 1: and to get a little bit better about consistently talking

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Speaker 1: in the same stretch of the week so that we

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Speaker 1: can get in a in a habit. Tonight we're gonna

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Speaker 1: do our or today we're going to do our m

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Speaker 1: v P rakings through one fourth of the season. Tommy

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Speaker 1: and I were talking and we really wanted to touch

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Speaker 1: on some specific teams. We wanted to touch on Utah,

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Speaker 1: we wanted to touch on Denver, and we wanted to

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Speaker 1: touch on Brooklyn after after the James Harden trade. And

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Speaker 1: I thought this would be a cool way to do that, because,

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Speaker 1: first of all, it's a fourth of the way through

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Speaker 1: the season, and when you really are looking at m

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Speaker 1: VP rankings, you got to remember all these chunks of

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Speaker 1: the season because they all kind of add up to

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Speaker 1: that that case at the end of the year that

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Speaker 1: ends up being you know, who ends up winning the award,

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Speaker 1: and then also gives us a great chance to kind

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Speaker 1: of branch off and talk about those teams, Um, what

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Speaker 1: we will uh not be doing today is talking about

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Speaker 1: some crazy chicks sitting courtside at a at an Atlanta

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Speaker 1: Hawks game, because I feel like there's plenty of that

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Speaker 1: talk to be had out there, and honestly, man like,

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Speaker 1: I don't even know what to say. If I can

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Speaker 1: say one thing about that. It has nothing to do

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Speaker 1: with the fan herself or Lebron fan interaction at games

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Speaker 1: as normal. I think it's expected, But my thing would be,

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Speaker 1: why are there fans sitting courtside we are I thought

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Speaker 1: it was really weird too. We are less than ten

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Speaker 1: days out from Saku Smith, one of the NBA's biggest broadcasters,

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Speaker 1: passing away from COVID complications. But we're having fans of

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Speaker 1: games just the way that that silver in the NBA

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Speaker 1: are treating this after going the whole woke route and

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Speaker 1: you know, saying that black lives matter, and then they're

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Speaker 1: turning around and doing the total opposite their true in

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Speaker 1: the NBA, how Trump treated COVID. They're saying, Oh, it's

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Speaker 1: kind of a States rights thing. If you want to

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Speaker 1: have fans in your arena, we can't stop you. It

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Speaker 1: just feels very, very hypocritical from the position that they've

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Speaker 1: taken over the summer to where they are now, where

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Speaker 1: they've claimed to be. Oh, were this big moral upstanding

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Speaker 1: lead compared to the NFL and MLB, and yet they

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Speaker 1: look exactly like those leagues. Now, I'm not blaming the

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Speaker 1: NBA for being a business at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: that's their job. What I am blaming is the hypocritical

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Speaker 1: nature of the stances they have taken and now what

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Speaker 1: they're doing, because what they're doing, they are not saying

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Speaker 1: that black lives matter, because they're putting black lives at

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Speaker 1: risk every single day. So I just wanted to hit

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Speaker 1: that real quick and get that out there. I'm not

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Speaker 1: I don't want to go to the lebron thing with

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Speaker 1: the fan at all. I just want to get it

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Speaker 1: out there that the NBA looks incredibly hypocritical right now,

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Speaker 1: especially from the stances they took over the summer with

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Speaker 1: a lot of their their social positions, and specifically Silver,

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Speaker 1: he just he gets on my nerves a lot because

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Speaker 1: he tries to be the moral standard of commissioners in sports,

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Speaker 1: and he really isn't that guy. At the end of

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Speaker 1: the day. He's worried about the bottom line, as he

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Speaker 1: should be, but he shouldn't act like he's gonna and

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Speaker 1: about other things when he's really not well. For starters, Uh,

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Speaker 1: I don't necessarily care about them, uh having fans way

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Speaker 1: up in the nosebleeds because they can space them out,

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Speaker 1: you know, ten chairs from each other, and they can

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Speaker 1: do and they're so far away from the court that

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Speaker 1: it's not even conceivable that they could cause a problem.

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Speaker 1: But I remember thinking the exact same thing, Like, as

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Speaker 1: the altercation was happening, I'm like, whoa, they look really

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Speaker 1: close to the players, you know, and like, and my

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Speaker 1: my thing was is, like, like I where I would

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Speaker 1: be upset is if if I was the Lakers, I

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Speaker 1: would be upset that this lady was pulling off her

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Speaker 1: mask and arguing, you know, fifteen feet or so away

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Speaker 1: from Lebron, even though it's technically outside of six ft.

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Speaker 1: Because it's like, it's all fun and games for the lady.

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Speaker 1: She gets kicked out, she gets to go be a star.

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Speaker 1: But Lebron like, if he gets it, he's out for

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Speaker 1: two weeks and it could literally turn around the fortunes

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Speaker 1: of the team for that season. So yeah, that was

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Speaker 1: that I thought was really weird. As for like the

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Speaker 1: what you brought up about the the whole you know,

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Speaker 1: moral posturing. You know, I think that I think that

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest lessons that I've learned in my

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Speaker 1: adult life is that there's a huge I mean, it's cliche,

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Speaker 1: but there's a huge difference between actions and words. It's

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Speaker 1: it's the it's the reality of the situation. Like you

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Speaker 1: will always meet people in the business world, you'll meet people,

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Speaker 1: and when you're trying to build relationships, you'll meet people

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Speaker 1: when you're watching movies or when you're watching sports, they're

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Speaker 1: always gonna tell you something about who they are. And

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Speaker 1: and this is a huge deal in politics, and it

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Speaker 1: drives me insane. But that just doesn't mean anything to me.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't It doesn't matter to me that you pat

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Speaker 1: someone's back on Twitter. It doesn't matter that you take

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Speaker 1: some big, you know, moral stand on Twitter. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: matter to me that you say something in an interview

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Speaker 1: on the news or anything along those lines. That's all

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Speaker 1: posturing to me. The only thing that that defines you

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Speaker 1: as a human being is what you do. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: quite frankly, like I just I'm I'm over that and

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Speaker 1: I don't care. And the other side of that is, Like,

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Speaker 1: I also don't care that the NBA is hypocritical and

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Speaker 1: that there are a big business who only has their

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Speaker 1: own best interests at heart because they're the n b A,

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Speaker 1: They're they're a professional sports organization. I don't wake up

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Speaker 1: in the morning and think about like you know, oh man,

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Speaker 1: like I'm I'm really hoping the NBA does nice things today,

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Speaker 1: Like I don't care. That's not what they are to me.

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Speaker 1: It's like it's like caring what what type of human

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Speaker 1: being Connor McGregor is. It's like the dude is literally

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Speaker 1: like trained to beat other human beings to a pulp.

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Speaker 1: He's probably not going to be the most upstanding citizen

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Speaker 1: you've met. So I think I think people need to

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Speaker 1: delineate between those two things and pay closer attention to

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Speaker 1: the people that are actually in your life and the

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Speaker 1: things they do rather than the things they say. And

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Speaker 1: who cares about any of that other stuff? Honestly, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's just the opposite or the contrast between the actions

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Speaker 1: and the words that bother me, right, Like what kind

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Speaker 1: of like you're pointing to the NBA says says one

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Speaker 1: thing that they do another. If they just want to

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Speaker 1: act like a business. Fine, that's why people love the

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Speaker 1: NFL at the end of the day, because the NFL

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Speaker 1: doesn't try to right around and say something that they're not.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, they are a business

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Speaker 1: and they operate as a business. They're always concerned about

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Speaker 1: the bottom line, as they should be. And I think

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Speaker 1: the NBA, the people would look at the n b

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Speaker 1: A in a better light if they just acted like that,

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Speaker 1: if they just said, look, we have to do what's

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Speaker 1: best for the NBA and we're always going to do that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I hear you. And and like, as the latest incident

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Speaker 1: has been this this All Star Game thing, and people

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Speaker 1: are upset about that, And what I would respond to

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Speaker 1: that is like, are you surprised? Like this whole point

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Speaker 1: of doing this season was to try to find the

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Speaker 1: safest way possible within uh, within the the goal, the

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Speaker 1: ultimate goal, which was to fulfill as much of the

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Speaker 1: TV contract as possible. It was very important to the

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Speaker 1: players that they got the chance to play in the

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Speaker 1: Olympics because of all the the international guys that feel

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Speaker 1: very loyal to their country. It was very important to

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Speaker 1: the players that they salvage the c b A and

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Speaker 1: make as much money as possible. It was very important

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Speaker 1: for the owners in the exact same respect. So it

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Speaker 1: was they made a decision to start playing basketball from

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Speaker 1: December to July, and as part of that goal, they

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Speaker 1: wanted to fulfill to the best of their ability their

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Speaker 1: TV obligations, which included seventy two regular season games, and

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Speaker 1: as part of their T and T contract, they probably

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Speaker 1: found out that they could make a great deal of

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Speaker 1: cash if they played the All Star Game. And so

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Speaker 1: what I would say is like, at least they're testing

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Speaker 1: three times a day, and they're doing these PCR tests

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Speaker 1: before the game, and they're doing at least as much

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Speaker 1: as they can. But like I'm what I'm saying is like,

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Speaker 1: if you're going to complain about what the NBA is

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Speaker 1: doing in terms of going through the season and playing

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Speaker 1: the All Star Game, you're kind of like crying into

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Speaker 1: the wilderness because they don't care. The owners don't care,

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Speaker 1: and the players don't care, and and and you're not

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Speaker 1: you're not viewing them. They're not the you know, the

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Speaker 1: moral arbiters of society. They're literally just a professional sports organization,

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Speaker 1: and so we need to stop holding them to the

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Speaker 1: standard of like, you know, someone who's in a real

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Speaker 1: position of moral authority and society, if that makes sense.

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Speaker 1: And I when with that, I think they should be

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Speaker 1: doing all the things that they're currently doing to have

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Speaker 1: this season go on. I just don't want them to

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Speaker 1: act like they're not going to and then go and

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Speaker 1: do it. That's the only part that bothers me right now.

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Speaker 1: That's the nature of it. That's the hypocrisy, and like

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Speaker 1: and that's the thing, Like I know, that's that's been

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Speaker 1: the big joke the last couple of days with the UH,

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Speaker 1: with this stuff, with the stimulus checks and the Democrats

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Speaker 1: and all that crap. It's like it's like, well, dude,

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Speaker 1: like this has literally been the way this entire business

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Speaker 1: has been the right and the left for my entire

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Speaker 1: lifetime and for centuries before that. So like stop trying

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Speaker 1: to like everyone does this. Every single business that I've

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Speaker 1: ever known goes about a pr campaign in an attempt

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Speaker 1: to try to portray some sort of humanity. But you

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Speaker 1: gotta forget about that. Those guys are about dollars and cents.

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Speaker 1: They don't care about anything else. And that even goes

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Speaker 1: down to smaller businesses. That's just the nature of the

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Speaker 1: the same goes me and my family and every other family.

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Speaker 1: Like when push comes to shove, I'm gonna look out

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Speaker 1: for my wife and I. Now, if we come into

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Speaker 1: some great deal of wealth and we have an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to to donate and to do kind things for the

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Speaker 1: great for the rest of society, sure, but I sure

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Speaker 1: sure as hell not wealthy yet and where I am

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Speaker 1: right now, like, I'm looking out for our interests, and

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Speaker 1: I would much rather to your to your point, I'm

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Speaker 1: much rather people just be honest and say that, like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're looking out for our interests right now. You know,

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Speaker 1: you know that's that's literally all I'm asking. Just be

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Speaker 1: honest about what you're doing because we can all see it.

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Speaker 1: We're not dumb. People are dumb. They can see right

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Speaker 1: through b s for the most part. So that's let's

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. So we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna

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Speaker 1: go through the m v P rankings. We're gonna start

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Speaker 1: with number one, where I think you and I are

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Speaker 1: gonna probably disagree. So to be clear, I I said

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Speaker 1: in a pod last week that I thought Joel Embiid

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Speaker 1: was the m v P. But as I was digging

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Speaker 1: into the numbers, and as Joel sat out yet another

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Speaker 1: game the other night, I've actually age did to Lebron. Now,

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Speaker 1: for starters, I am a Lebron fan, I should disclose

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Speaker 1: my bias here. However, I also think I'm right. I

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Speaker 1: think Lebron is the m v P and the reason

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Speaker 1: is is very simple. So for starters, for each of

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Speaker 1: these players, I'm gonna read out their per thirty six stats.

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Speaker 1: They're shooting percentages, and I'm gonna read their their net

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Speaker 1: rating on and off. I'm gonna do that for all

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Speaker 1: the players, just to kind of to put some context

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Speaker 1: on what we're talking about. So Lebron is twenty seven

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Speaker 1: eight and eight per thirty six minutes. He's shooting from

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Speaker 1: the field fort from three seventy from the line. The

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Speaker 1: Lakers are plus eleven point three when he's on the

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Speaker 1: court in minus one point four when he's off the court.

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Speaker 1: The Lakers are a half game out of the best

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Speaker 1: record in the league, and they currently are tied for

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Speaker 1: the second best net rating in the league. The reason

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Speaker 1: why I would pick Lebron number one, and I'm interested

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Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts on this, because I would imagine

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Speaker 1: you disagree, is for starters. He's been excellent on the

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Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor, even better than he was

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Speaker 1: last year, and it has led the Lakers to having

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Speaker 1: the best defense in the NBA. Availability. He has played

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Speaker 1: every single minute or not a minute, every single game

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Speaker 1: this season. He's been available in a way that we

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Speaker 1: didn't expect him too considering the backstory coming into the season.

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Speaker 1: So that's what I put is my third item on

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Speaker 1: my list. With circumstances, this was a team that came

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Speaker 1: off a seventy two game or seventy seventy two day

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Speaker 1: post off season and had just won a title. There

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Speaker 1: was every reason in the world for them to slip

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Speaker 1: and to come into the season not trying, and he

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Speaker 1: didn't let them. He is the reason. His effort and

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Speaker 1: focus to start this season is the reason the Lakers

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Speaker 1: are off to a hot start. And last but not least,

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Speaker 1: he's got that playoff pedigree. He's got the background that

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Speaker 1: legitimizes his regular season success in a lot of ways

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Speaker 1: that you know, say Janice doesn't have, or a James

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Speaker 1: Harden doesn't have. So am I crazy? Where where do

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Speaker 1: you win on having Lebron number one at m v P?

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Speaker 1: So I don't think you're crazy. Labron has been better

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Speaker 1: than I expected this season everything considered. I thought he

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Speaker 1: would probably struggle offensively relative to his standards to begin

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Speaker 1: the season, specifically with his shooting, and it's actually been

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Speaker 1: the opposite. Um He is probably having, all things considered,

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Speaker 1: the best shooting season of his career, even better than

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Speaker 1: that season in Miami when he shot around from three

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Speaker 1: because of the volume and his willingness to take threes um.

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Speaker 1: He has never looked as confident in his three ball,

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Speaker 1: and I thought, I think maybe some of that is

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Speaker 1: kind of that post championship glow where he's coming off

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Speaker 1: that championship. He feels as confident as ever, and he

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Speaker 1: looks as confident as ever. His control and mastery of

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Speaker 1: the game at this point is something that very few players,

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Speaker 1: I think, in the history of basketball ever have touched.

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Speaker 1: He has been phenomenal this year, and I can't sit

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Speaker 1: here and say you're crazy for picking him m v P.

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Speaker 1: I don't agree. I have him be one at this

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Speaker 1: point just because the Sixers literally just won their first

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Speaker 1: basketball game of the season without him yesterday, or I

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Speaker 1: might have been two days ago against the Pacers, but

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Speaker 1: either way, I think it comes down to how you

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Speaker 1: define m p P. Right, Lebron is having a magnificent season,

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Speaker 1: but that Lakers team is really good and really deep,

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Speaker 1: and he's playing with another top six seven player and

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Speaker 1: A d hasn't been that guy so far this year.

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Speaker 1: But the talent is still there and the reputation is

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Speaker 1: still there, which means other teams have to account for that,

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Speaker 1: and Beat on the other hand, doesn't have as much

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Speaker 1: help even though they have improved that Rosster. He's been

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Speaker 1: probably a top three defensive Player of the Year candidate,

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Speaker 1: and they don't win games without him. So if we're

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Speaker 1: going by the definition of who is the most valuable

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Speaker 1: to their team, I think it's imbeat Um. The bronze

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Speaker 1: case would be built on Obviously he's looked amazing and

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Speaker 1: then like you're saying availability, so no, I don't think

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Speaker 1: you're crazy. I would just go and Beat at this point,

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Speaker 1: But if he does continue to miss games, I think

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Speaker 1: the conversation will continue to shift towards Lebron. And it

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Speaker 1: is real quick. Let's let's read off and beads numbers.

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Speaker 1: So he's he's thirty two, thirteen and three per thirty six.

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Speaker 1: That's incredible from the old from three from the line,

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Speaker 1: the Sixers are plus thirteen point to purb one possessions

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Speaker 1: when he's on the floor and minus four point one

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Speaker 1: when he's off the floor. Um, but he's missed four

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Speaker 1: of their last twelve games. Um, he's only played in

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Speaker 1: sixteen games this season compared to twenty two for Lebron.

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Speaker 1: At a certain point, to me, that is a factor

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Speaker 1: in the m v P race. I mean, he's missed

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Speaker 1: a third of their last twelve games. That's pretty crazy.

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Speaker 1: And to your point, he's so good that they they

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Speaker 1: have really they have a lot of trouble winning when

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Speaker 1: he's not playing. And my my question would just be,

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Speaker 1: how do you factor that into an m v P race,

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Speaker 1: you know, considering you know, availability is the best ability.

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Speaker 1: As you know that cliche goes right, So his net

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Speaker 1: rating swing is ridiculous. I think that the probably the

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Speaker 1: number one thing I point you, beside the per thirty

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Speaker 1: six numbers, which are just outrageous. Um, I'm not concerned

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Speaker 1: about the availability stuff yet. If you know, if we

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Speaker 1: get sixties games into the season and he's only played forty,

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Speaker 1: then yeah, it's absolutely gonna factor in. But as the

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Speaker 1: season goes. If he stays healthy, he's only gonna have

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Speaker 1: missed six, seven, eight games, So I don't think that

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Speaker 1: will be enough miss time to really factor it into

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Speaker 1: the m v P race. I think you would have

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Speaker 1: to play less than sixty games for me to truly

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Speaker 1: factor that and say, Okay, now, he might have been

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Speaker 1: amazing for those fifty eight or so games, but Lebron

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Speaker 1: played seventy one of seventy two games, so he would

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Speaker 1: deserve it over em beat Um. So at this point

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Speaker 1: I still have em beat. If he doesn't continue to

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Speaker 1: miss more games, I think Lebron will probably overtake him.

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Speaker 1: Even though your kitchen is coming harder. I'm sure we'll

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Speaker 1: touch on very soon here. Yeah, And like the it's

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Speaker 1: all part, like we talked about at the beginning, there's

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Speaker 1: these chunks of the season, and so there's a story

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Speaker 1: of each chunk. Like if you look last year, you know,

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Speaker 1: the first chunk of the season, Lebron was right there,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the in the hunt with the honest

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Speaker 1: and then there was this like chunk in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the season, like where the Lakers went in a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a slump. They lost like four games

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Speaker 1: in a row, Janice was putting up crazy numbers and

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Speaker 1: the Bucks were winning every game, and he was like

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Speaker 1: very very available. He's playing almost every night. But then

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Speaker 1: there was like this fourth chunk of their third chunk

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Speaker 1: of the season before the season got suspended, where all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden Lebron looked better and you kind of

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Speaker 1: build this this picture. And all I'm saying is that

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Speaker 1: in this first chunk of the season and Beads, availability

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Speaker 1: has been a problem. So obviously, if that projects to

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Speaker 1: continue that way and he misses, you know, five games

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Speaker 1: each chunk of the season, then he's gonna miss twenty games,

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Speaker 1: and then we're and then we're talking about a serious

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Speaker 1: problem for his m v P case. And and I

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Speaker 1: I've you know, one of two things is gonna happen

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Speaker 1: with Lebron. Either he's gonna go full two thousand and

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Speaker 1: eighteen where he just plays every single night, or he's

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Speaker 1: gonna go through a stretch where he's having a nagging

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Speaker 1: injury and he ends up, you know, taking his foot

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Speaker 1: off the gas, and that'll all end up being part

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Speaker 1: of the part of the story down the line. Um.

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Speaker 1: The other thing I didn't go ahead. I think the

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Speaker 1: thing with the different chunks of your of the season.

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Speaker 1: As you're laying out, is we always act like these

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Speaker 1: things are decided so early, right, everybody on Twitter saying, Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's a done deal, Lebron is already gonna win. The

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Speaker 1: narratives behind him, this and that. But we saw last

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Speaker 1: year that it literally changed three times, right. I think

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Speaker 1: we jumped at conclusions and everybody wants to get mad

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Speaker 1: about of about the swirling narrative, but we just gotta

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Speaker 1: let these things play out. I would like I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: I would Stileana because that net rating swing is absolutely

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Speaker 1: nuts and they can't really win games without him, right,

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Speaker 1: Whereas I think, and this is obviously just a theory

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Speaker 1: because Lebron has a misstime, I think the Lakers would

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Speaker 1: be okay without Lebron. They wouldn't be amazing without him,

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Speaker 1: but I think they'd still be a solid team. Whereas

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Speaker 1: Philly looks almost lost when it isn't on the floor. Well,

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Speaker 1: I I do disagree with you in the sense that

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Speaker 1: I do. I think Philly's roster is extremely talented. I

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Speaker 1: think Tobias Harris, as the third best player on the Sixers,

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Speaker 1: is a much better player than the third best player

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Speaker 1: on the Lakers, which is Dennis Shrewder. Tobias is having

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Speaker 1: an amazing season. By the way, He's basically been a

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Speaker 1: Chris Middleton. So imagine if Chris Middleton was the third

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Speaker 1: best player on his team. Uh. In addition to that, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, guys like guys like Seth Curry are are

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Speaker 1: are playing extremely well this season, you know, uh uh

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Speaker 1: Tyrese Max, He's having a really good see season. The

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Speaker 1: Shake Milton has actually been playing really well. He killed

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Speaker 1: the Lakers the other night. The team has a lot

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Speaker 1: of talent. I think I think that the differences is

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Speaker 1: Lebron has been so available that we haven't had a

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Speaker 1: chance to see how the Lakers look when he doesn't play.

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Speaker 1: And for the record, there was this really weird stat

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Speaker 1: that I kept, you know, beating the drum with when

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Speaker 1: when when I was talking about having Schroeder in the

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Speaker 1: starting lineup, the Lakers are killing teams when Lebron, a D,

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Speaker 1: and Schroeder on the floor. They're killing teams when Lebron

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Speaker 1: and a D are on the floor. They're killing teams.

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Speaker 1: When Lebron and Schroeder are on the floor. They're barely

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Speaker 1: positive when it's just Lebron and when it's a D

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Speaker 1: and Schroeder, they're still negative in just the minutes that

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Speaker 1: a D and Schroeder are on the floor. So there's

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Speaker 1: some weird stuff going on there where. And it was

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Speaker 1: like this last year too, And honestly, I think it

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Speaker 1: just goes to the stuff you and I talked about

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Speaker 1: all the time about like primary initiators. I just think

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Speaker 1: that Anthony Davis is a very very very very very

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Speaker 1: good basketball player, but he's like a Lamborghini without a

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Speaker 1: key fob, Like somebody's got to bring the key fob

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Speaker 1: to get him going, you know what I mean. Yep,

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Speaker 1: I don't disagree with any of that. I have Philly

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Speaker 1: winning the East. I still have Philly winning the East.

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Speaker 1: So I do agree with the overall talent, but it just,

428
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,640
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, it hasn't worked without and be there's

429
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,880
Speaker 1: a reason they only have one win without it. Right,

430
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,080
Speaker 1: as good as Tobias has been, if he all of

431
00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:25,719
Speaker 1: a sudden has to be your second best guy, and

432
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,720
Speaker 1: that second best guys to Ben Simmons, who has a

433
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,320
Speaker 1: an absurd aversion to scoring. At this point, I think

434
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,640
Speaker 1: it looks he hasn't been on offense. He's been bad. Sure,

435
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,159
Speaker 1: he's regrets there. It's one of those things where the

436
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,159
Speaker 1: skill hasn't improved, and now he kind of feels the

437
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,080
Speaker 1: pressure of that skill not improving because he hears the

438
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,359
Speaker 1: chatter and he's so afraid to try and even score

439
00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,160
Speaker 1: around the rim sometimes at this point that it doesn't

440
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 1: make sense because he should be. He should still be

441
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 1: regardless of what the shooting looks like. He should still

442
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,480
Speaker 1: be one of the best room attackers in the game.

443
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,800
Speaker 1: And that's like a night to night thing. At this point,

444
00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 1: you don't know what Ben Simmons you're gonna get in

445
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 1: terms of attacking him. So I haven't beat especially if

446
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,719
Speaker 1: he continues to play games. He's been absolutely incredible. Um,

447
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,920
Speaker 1: I feel like an absolute idiot for not having him

448
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 1: in my top ten before the season started, because he's

449
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 1: easily he's a lot better now than he was. Like

450
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 1: he is. He he put up monster numbers in the

451
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,040
Speaker 1: first round playoff series, but he was bad for the

452
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:20,960
Speaker 1: most part. He didn't play anywhere near as well on

453
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,080
Speaker 1: defense as he usually does, and he was about his

454
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,160
Speaker 1: like he was facing double teams almost time down the floor,

455
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: almost every time down the floor, and I think he

456
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,000
Speaker 1: only averaged one assist per game in that series. So

457
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,879
Speaker 1: like he just he wasn't very very good. And now

458
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 1: as far as m beat as a player, you know,

459
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:37,960
Speaker 1: I was really I've watched him quite a few times

460
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,240
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks. He's still the one

461
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 1: downside with him and the one thing that makes me

462
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,359
Speaker 1: nervous not for him, not for a Brooklyn series, but

463
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,360
Speaker 1: more like if he ends up in some dog fight

464
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,119
Speaker 1: with Boston or Miami, or if he ends up in

465
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 1: the finals against the Lakers. He still struggles with the

466
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,680
Speaker 1: double team in terms of making complicated reads. He can

467
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 1: make simple reads against defenses that make catastrophic mistakes. So

468
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 1: for instance, you know, uh, a poorly spaced on defense

469
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,920
Speaker 1: not in a good shell drill leading into a double

470
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,920
Speaker 1: team where a guy is just completely wide open under

471
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,439
Speaker 1: the basket or completely wide open on the wing. He

472
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,439
Speaker 1: can make that kind of read. But he's struggling with

473
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,000
Speaker 1: the same reads that Anthony Davis had been struggling with,

474
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,320
Speaker 1: although he's been getting a little better this year, where

475
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,920
Speaker 1: it's like embracing the double team, taking it a little

476
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,400
Speaker 1: bit further into the double team deliberately to really get

477
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: the defense off balance, to make the more complicated reads

478
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 1: that the only like that you can only find against

479
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 1: the really good defenses. Like when you're playing a really

480
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,200
Speaker 1: good defense, you're not gonna get the butt naked guy

481
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,160
Speaker 1: under the basket or in the corner. You're you're gonna

482
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 1: have to make the difficult, complicated read to get a

483
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 1: slightly contested shot. But that in a playoff series is

484
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,639
Speaker 1: a high quality shot, if that makes sense. Absolutely, And

485
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,399
Speaker 1: I think handling double teams is an experienced thing. The

486
00:22:58,480 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 1: more you do it, the better you're gonna get at it.

487
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: As long as you can process the game quickly enough. Uh.

488
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: One of the best things that coach ever told me

489
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: was to play slow in a crowd. Right. The tendency

490
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: for a lot of guys is when they get double team,

491
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 1: they speed up and they hurry and they instantly try

492
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,520
Speaker 1: to find something because they're nervous about getting double team.

493
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 1: What Embide needs to learn how to do is when

494
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: that double comes, like you're saying, invite it, embrace it.

495
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,720
Speaker 1: He's taller than almost anybody who's coming to double him.

496
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 1: Embrace that double team, play patient, play strong, and then

497
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,240
Speaker 1: find your kickouts. What I think they can do is

498
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: they have done is they put some more shooting around him.

499
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,959
Speaker 1: Obviously with Curry and Danny Green hasn't been good this year,

500
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,399
Speaker 1: but at least he's a theoretical shooter and so Bias

501
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,400
Speaker 1: is shooting the eyes out of it. He's shooting incredible

502
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 1: this year. I think what they need to do is

503
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,400
Speaker 1: is have more guys who can make that secondary read.

504
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,600
Speaker 1: Right like Simmons can make the secondary read if MPD

505
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 1: hits him out of a double team. They need to

506
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,639
Speaker 1: find another guy kind of in that Simmons mold than

507
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 1: like a Draymond Green roll mold or an Andrea Gudala

508
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,920
Speaker 1: mold where they can make that second and third read.

509
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,120
Speaker 1: If embides only gonna make the simple one, you've gotta

510
00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: have the guy that can make that second or third

511
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:00,880
Speaker 1: read to find the open shooter, find a layup. So

512
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 1: that would be the type of guy if I'm them

513
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 1: that I'm looking for near a trade denline at a

514
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,920
Speaker 1: buy out, some of you can make those secondary passing

515
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 1: reads that will amplify their offense, because right now I

516
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: want to say they're eleventh or twelfth and offensive rating,

517
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 1: which is good, but that might be a problem come

518
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 1: playoff time. Um So I'd be looking for somebody like

519
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 1: that over the trade deadline. Yeah, I agree with you,

520
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 1: And for the record, a lot of those offensive metrics

521
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: are thrown off by the fact that in bid has

522
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: been out so much. Um. But yeah, it's funny you

523
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: brought up that thing when you were calling. When you

524
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,359
Speaker 1: were coaching. I remember my coach at Arizona Christian University

525
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 1: did what was called the tight space passing drill. And

526
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you've ever seen this, but basically,

527
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: you go stand on the h in the corner and

528
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: you you could kind of make a theoretical box that

529
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: stretches from the from the block over to the out

530
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 1: of bounds line, so it's it's roughly like ten ft

531
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: wide by like fifteen feet long, so it's a little

532
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: it's a small box. And then you play. You put

533
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 1: three three offense of players and two defensive players. But

534
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: then you encourage the defensive players to be physical and

535
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: to foul, and basically the ideas you can't dribble, but

536
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,640
Speaker 1: you have two complete passes within the circle, but there's

537
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,200
Speaker 1: always an open man. But you're getting absolutely hounded because

538
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,280
Speaker 1: you can't dribble, and the defensive players just up in

539
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 1: your grill and being extremely physical, and it forces you

540
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 1: to be really strong, clear space with your elbows to

541
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,959
Speaker 1: get to get to uh bounce pass and you almost

542
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 1: always have to throw a pass fake to get the

543
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 1: one guy to jolt to the other guys that the

544
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: third player is open. And UH, it was funny because

545
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 1: like if you actually embraced the physicality and embraced the

546
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,640
Speaker 1: past baking and embraced the the guy who's all over you,

547
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 1: it was it was an easy drill to succeed in.

548
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 1: But if you got sloppy, it was turnover city, even

549
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 1: though you have only had two defenders involved. And I

550
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: think that's that that's kind of the way I look

551
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 1: at it with Emdeed and uh with Anthony Davis as well.

552
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,199
Speaker 1: It's just really just kind of embracing the fact that

553
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,400
Speaker 1: the defense is into your hands and and being patient

554
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: with it. But yeah, I was kind of disappointed late

555
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 1: fourth quarter of that Lakers Philly game when uh, when

556
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: the Lakers actually kind of shifted their defense to have

557
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis straight up on Embiid and then they had

558
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 1: Dennis Schroeder kind of get into like a uh in

559
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: a dig position where he's kind of lunging in at

560
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 1: the ball on him beat and then they had KCP

561
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: uh kind of split the difference between the two shooters.

562
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: And it's one of those plays where if embiad was

563
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 1: strong with the ball and took one dribble into the paint,

564
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 1: he would force Dennis to commit, which would force KCP

565
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,360
Speaker 1: to make a decision. But instead, like he was hesitant

566
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:39,800
Speaker 1: and he and he and he was just immediately would

567
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: kind of like dribble away from where the dig was

568
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,400
Speaker 1: coming from so he could get to his jump shot.

569
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,560
Speaker 1: And that to me is like looking solely for your

570
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: shot in that situation instead of understanding that the defense

571
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: is compromising itself to try to stop you and that

572
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: there's some sort of opening there. And he's probably not

573
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: taking that dribble into the paint because he doesn't feel

574
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 1: confident in as a to really read the double team

575
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: and makes me play quickly out of it and strongly.

576
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 1: But it's funny you mentioned the tight space passing droll.

577
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: We actually did that same drill at Fresno City. Um,

578
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:09,560
Speaker 1: same the coach that told me, you know, play slow

579
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: in a crowd, play low and slow in a crowd. That, yeah,

580
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of days in the tight space

581
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: passing drill. My uh what my college roommate at Fresno City,

582
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: his dad was actually the creator of that drill. Mike

583
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: Dunlap coach at Metro State. Yeah, yep, coach Metro State

584
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: coach Charlotte bobcats Um coach A l M you for

585
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 1: a little bit. He's been all over. He was then

586
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: interim coach at at You have A Arizona when who

587
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,719
Speaker 1: was it that guy, Mike Dunlap. Mike Dunlap was an

588
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: interim coach at the UV. I'm trying to remember because

589
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 1: there were two interim coaches between between lud Olsen and

590
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 1: Sean Miller, and it was Dunlap and then there was

591
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: one other guy and I can't remember who it was.

592
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,400
Speaker 1: That's crazy, that's funny though. But yeah, it's the drill.

593
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 1: The drill was was genius and it's it's it's it's

594
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,480
Speaker 1: an example of just uh, the like when you're a

595
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 1: college when you're a player, you don't really understand. You're like,

596
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 1: can we just play some five on five? Like what

597
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: are we doing here? But stupid stuff like that forces

598
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 1: you to simplify what you're working on down to a

599
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: specific skill, which in this case was like being strong

600
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,119
Speaker 1: with the ball, and you could tell like the The

601
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: big part of it too, is like it's okay to

602
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: risk a turnover to potentially develop an assist. You know, like,

603
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: for instance, if you just if you get double teams

604
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: and you just kick it out one passive way to

605
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: the entry pass guy and then he lunges back out,

606
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: you didn't risk a turnover, but you also didn't make

607
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 1: the defense pay. You basically just forced the play to reset. Now,

608
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: if you take an aggressive dribble into the double team

609
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: and then drop it off under the basket, there's a

610
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 1: chance that might get tipped out of bounds. There's a

611
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: chance you might miss the guy. There's a chance you

612
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: might mishandle the ball. If you make a more aggressive

613
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 1: play to a kick out three, same thing, but if

614
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: you complete the pass, it's a wide open layup or

615
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: a wide open three. So you're it's a risk reward

616
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: factor there, And just and Anthony Davis just starting to

617
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 1: embrace that a little bit. He had two turnovers in

618
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,040
Speaker 1: the first half last night against Atlanta where he was

619
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 1: aggressively trying to make a play. I just would like

620
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 1: to see em bead make that type of play. That's

621
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: the next step for him. That's the kind of thing

622
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 1: that's going to turn him into a player that can

623
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: really become a guy who goes toe to toe with

624
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: you know, a Lebron or a kauai and or Kevin

625
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: Durant a playoff series and come out on top. Is

626
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 1: when they when they do start to figure out how

627
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 1: to double team in game five or six of a

628
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,479
Speaker 1: playoff series. How is he going to to make teams

629
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: pay for that and for what it's worth. I think

630
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: he's close. He's he's twenty six. Most guys really don't

631
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: hit their Prome eight. I think he has not only

632
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: the ability, but the kind of the mental processing of

633
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: the game capacity to actually become that guy. I mean,

634
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: he's been showing passing flashes since his time at Kansas

635
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 1: when he would barely even knew how to play the game.

636
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: He has pretty tremendous feel for a guy in his eyes.

637
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 1: If I had to bet on it, I would bet

638
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 1: on him figuring that stuff out, probably sooner rather than later. Hm.

639
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: I agree with you and uh And I think it

640
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: was important to go over that because, like and Bead

641
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: is making leap, He's going from guy in that six

642
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: to fifteen range of you know, superstars that's constantly fluctuating

643
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: up and down based on how they're playing week to week.

644
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: You know, like Damian Lillard, Like one week you think

645
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: he's the seventh best player in the world, and the

646
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 1: next week you think he's the thirteenth. And the same

647
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,239
Speaker 1: thing goes for you know, Yokich, Sometimes the same thing

648
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: goes for embiid and and uh, both Yokich and Embid

649
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 1: this season appear to be making that leap into that

650
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: like consistent top five level performer and uh, this is

651
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: where you get a nipicky with them, because you know,

652
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: those little things, little details like we talked about about

653
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,000
Speaker 1: how he handles the double team and and uh what

654
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,000
Speaker 1: he does with the double team rather than just making

655
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: the safe play. Those are the kinds of things that

656
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: separate you from being the fourth best player in the

657
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 1: world and the eighth best player in the world. Like,

658
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: those little details make a huge difference. Who did you

659
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: who'd you have at number three on your list? I

660
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 1: would have Yokich um and I could even see the

661
00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 1: case for Yoki top two. He has been he to me,

662
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 1: the only guys offensively if I'm running an entire offense

663
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: and I'm taking over him or Lebron and staff, right,

664
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 1: and that is not People are gonna get mad at

665
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: me because they're gonna think it's Kevin Durrance slander. It's not.

666
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: Duran is clearly better at him than him at the

667
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 1: skill of scoring. But Yokich is probably already the best

668
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 1: over six ten, six eleven passer and the history of basketball.

669
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: He's a point guard, but he's just six eleven anyways pounds.

670
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,240
Speaker 1: He's banana is good. Like every time I watched the guy.

671
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: It's despite the fact that they can't guard anybody, they

672
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 1: are one of the most fun basketball teams I've ever watched,

673
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: simply because of he makes everything go for them. They

674
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 1: really don't have like another even top thirty or top

675
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: forty player on that roster, and then they sacrifice defensive

676
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 1: summer for whatever reason. They got rid of their two

677
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: best wing defenders, and somehow they're still figuring it out

678
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 1: because he's that special. Offensively, he is read his staff

679
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 1: because I want to hear me, the dude is absolutely nuts. Well.

680
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 1: First of all, Jeremy Grant has been so so good

681
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 1: this year. That's got to be frustrating if you're done

682
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 1: very especially if the intel that they offered him the

683
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: same contract is true, then that's really frustrating. So I

684
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 1: had yokis fourth for the record, but I'm gonna read

685
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: his stats before we go back and forth. So Yoki

686
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: was twenty seven twelve and nine per thirty six fifty

687
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 1: seven percent from the field, thirty eight percent from three

688
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: percent from the line. The Nuggets are plus seven point

689
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 1: one when he's on the floor and plus zero point

690
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:33,240
Speaker 1: five when he's off the floor. They they have had

691
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 1: a rough season. I think they're twelve and eight, um,

692
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: but they're quietly up to the sixth best record in

693
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: the league right now. Um uh. And they are eleven

694
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 1: and four in their last fifteen games because they started

695
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: one in four and uh, they're in that fifteen game

696
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 1: stretch their ninth and defense, which is pretty good, especially

697
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: considering Yokich has been better. I think he's leading all

698
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 1: centers and steals, which is awesome. Um uh. And then

699
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 1: he's fourth and for the Nuggets at the fourth best

700
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: offensive rating over the last fifteen games. So the Nuggets

701
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 1: are playing significantly better their top ten in both offense

702
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: and defense. Uh. Yoki's numbers have been amazing. I agree

703
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,840
Speaker 1: with you that he's the candidate on this list that

704
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 1: is your bona fide number one, without a without a

705
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: number two, that's near his level. If you go through

706
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: every other guy that we're going to talk about today,

707
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 1: they're playing alongside someone who's considered that type of elite.

708
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 1: But a big part of that has to do with

709
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: how poorly uh Jamal Murray has been playing. Um And

710
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 1: he he's had his moments, He's hit a couple of

711
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: big shots this year. He just hasn't been bubble Jamal.

712
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 1: But I am maintaining that I want to wait, you

713
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 1: know till right around this point in the season to

714
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: start closely judging some of these teams that made it

715
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: into the late rounds of the playoffs. I'm with you there,

716
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: um I. It was a pretty harsh Jamal critic even

717
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: during the bubble, or not I shouldn't say critic. I

718
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 1: was just skeptical of how real those performances were in

719
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 1: the bubble. And I think we're at least seeing that

720
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: that's probably not the guy he's gonna be, because, like

721
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: I've said before, if he actually was that guy, he'd

722
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,239
Speaker 1: be the greatest point guard in NBA history because he

723
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 1: was scoring thirty points a game on splits. So the

724
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,360
Speaker 1: potential is there with Murray, he just it's it's always

725
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,840
Speaker 1: been the consistency with him. I think the consistency of

726
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: routine in the bubble really helped him. Right, he was

727
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: able to do the same thing every day. He's in

728
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 1: the same gym, a guy like him who was a

729
00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 1: super rhythm player, I think that really helped him. Um,

730
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:33,720
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't have enough superlatives to describe Yoki.

731
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 1: I think he's been but I have him third for

732
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,360
Speaker 1: a reason. He's been better than everybody not named Lebron

733
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 1: or Embiid, and I if his defense wasn't what it

734
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,760
Speaker 1: was or what it is relative to Lebron and Embid,

735
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 1: who are to have probably the best defensive players in

736
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 1: the league when they want to be, and they both

737
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: have wanted to be this year, I would have him

738
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,319
Speaker 1: probably number one. But I think that there's a big

739
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,720
Speaker 1: enough gap in the defense, especially if you're comparing Embi

740
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 1: and Yokich. Were embiads know a defensive Player of the

741
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 1: Year candidate that I think you have to put both

742
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: of those guys over him for now. But if if

743
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 1: they keep playing better, and if you said they've been

744
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 1: like tenth and defensive rating over the past through the

745
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:13,319
Speaker 1: last fifteen games, yeah, there you go. So if if

746
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: they can maintain that and then the offense is what

747
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,840
Speaker 1: it is, which is top three offense basically, then I

748
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: think he's going to continue to build a really strong case,

749
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: especially if they volt up to third or fourth of

750
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 1: the West, which I think is distinctly possible. The West

751
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 1: is an absolute dog fight this year. I was looking

752
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 1: at the standings last night and I still think like

753
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:31,319
Speaker 1: thirteen of the fifteen teams have a chance to make

754
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: the playoffs. The only ones that I say don't are

755
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: Minnesota and probably New Orleans. Those are the only two

756
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:38,399
Speaker 1: that I would totally count out at this point. There's

757
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,480
Speaker 1: obviously some teams that are probably on the outside looking in,

758
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,439
Speaker 1: but those two are the only ones that I would

759
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 1: eliminate right now and say they probably have no chance

760
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 1: of making the playoffs. The fourth best team in the

761
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: league or the fifth best team in the league right

762
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,360
Speaker 1: now is Denver and Milwaukee tied for fifth at twelve

763
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,320
Speaker 1: and eight. So there's only four teams that have fewer

764
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,399
Speaker 1: than eight losses right now. So I and even all

765
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,719
Speaker 1: four of those are all bump like jumbled up right

766
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: around that sixteen and five fifteen and five sixteen and

767
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 1: six right around that line. Um, but I agree with

768
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: you that. So the reason why I had Kauai third

769
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,840
Speaker 1: instead of of Yokich is flat out because of the

770
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 1: the team's success. So Kauai uh for starters. Kauai has

771
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 1: been averaging twenty seven six and six per thirty six.

772
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 1: He's shooting from the field from three and nine two

773
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 1: percent from the line, so like well above like a

774
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: healthy season. The Clippers are plus sixteen point two when

775
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 1: he's on the floor and minus two point nine when

776
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,360
Speaker 1: he's off the floor. The only two reasons I have

777
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 1: him below Lebron and Embiid are first of all, defensively,

778
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 1: he's taken a slip. The Clippers have been outside of

779
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: the top ten all season. I believe they're twelveth right now. Um,

780
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: they haven't defended nearly as well as you would expect

781
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,480
Speaker 1: them to for the amount of talent that they have.

782
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 1: The two guys in front of him on this list,

783
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 1: for both of us and beating Lebron, have both taken

784
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: the defensive end way more personally this year and have

785
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,279
Speaker 1: attacked the season more on that end. Uh. The other

786
00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,840
Speaker 1: thing to me was the offensive workload. So, you know,

787
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: Lebron's offensive workload is less than it was last year,

788
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 1: for sure, but his offensive workload is still super high,

789
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 1: especially when you factor in the fact that Anthony Davis

790
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 1: has basically like like put his car in neutral to

791
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 1: start this season. So but but seriously though, like he

792
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 1: you know, look, this should be a year where Lebron's

793
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,959
Speaker 1: coasting more offensively, but he but he's had to take

794
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: on that crazy, you know, uh, intensive offensive role. And

795
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,280
Speaker 1: then the same goes for Joe LMB. Like his usage

796
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: rate is up over thirty two. He's one of the Uh.

797
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,480
Speaker 1: Almost every possession runs through him in some way, shape

798
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,399
Speaker 1: or form, even when he ends up giving the ball

799
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 1: up out of double teams. A lot of guys are

800
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:57,359
Speaker 1: creating offense off of the attention he gets. Kauai may

801
00:37:57,480 --> 00:37:59,319
Speaker 1: or may not be the best player on his team

802
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: right now because of how good Paul George has been.

803
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:07,080
Speaker 1: And uh, we're all splitting hairs between these guys. I'm

804
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 1: not trying to say that there's some massive gap between

805
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,879
Speaker 1: Kauai and the top guys, but he has a case

806
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 1: to be up there, and the reason why I have

807
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,879
Speaker 1: him third is because his defensive slippage and because of

808
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 1: his much smaller offensive workload playing alongside Paul George. What's

809
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: the case for him over your kitch? Then team success?

810
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:28,839
Speaker 1: They have the best record purely sex Yeah, yeah, so

811
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,479
Speaker 1: the Clippers literally have the best record in the league

812
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 1: right now, and and Denver's twelve and eight, So to me,

813
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 1: that would be the bona fide m v p k's

814
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,439
Speaker 1: best player on the best team. Fair enough from there, Yeah,

815
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,959
Speaker 1: I mean I just from that standpoint, I can't argue

816
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,919
Speaker 1: with it, obviously. I just think Kauai was pretty rough

817
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 1: to start the season. Offensively, He's obviously been tremendous since

818
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,239
Speaker 1: he's shooting like fifty from the floor since the first

819
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: five or so games. Um, So it's that's obviously a

820
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: lesser portion portion of the season than what he's done since.

821
00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:01,720
Speaker 1: But he also hasn't been as available at yokish or

822
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 1: um Lebron. So yeah, I mean, like you said, we're

823
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: splitting hairs here. Um I would personally go yokich then Kauai,

824
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: then Kauai and then but I see the argument from

825
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,360
Speaker 1: the other side too. Yeah, and like the there's a

826
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 1: lot to be said about how the Clippers just look

827
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 1: more calm this year. Um. They they are making better decisions.

828
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:28,359
Speaker 1: The Nicholas Patum and Sergebaka signings have undeniably raised their

829
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:32,440
Speaker 1: offensive i Q. I don't think enough. So they've raised

830
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 1: their their offensive i Q in terms of making plays

831
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 1: in close out situations. So for instance, like you know

832
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: Betumb catching the ball in the corner, knocking down open shots,

833
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 1: are attacking that close out and then a Baka on

834
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,919
Speaker 1: the short roll and in in post up situations higher

835
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 1: i Q. But those are not primary initiations. All of

836
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 1: their primary initiations are still centered around Kawai and Paul George.

837
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,200
Speaker 1: They've done good this year, with exception of a handful

838
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,320
Speaker 1: of bad games, which no team is of witted. However

839
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 1: that I don't see the core playoff problem which is

840
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: inferior primary initiations. Uh. I don't see that problem as

841
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:15,880
Speaker 1: having been fixed. Uh. They're definitely better than last year. Um.

842
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 1: Like I said, I didn't say anything about the Tomb signing,

843
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 1: but I had. I am a big believer in in

844
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,000
Speaker 1: like relatively young veterans, so guys who are in their

845
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 1: early thirties who have been stuck on bad teams suddenly

846
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: being good. Like think of Trevor Reason when he went

847
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,280
Speaker 1: to Houston as an example. Uh, Like, these these guys

848
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:38,319
Speaker 1: they're just they're they're playing alongside crap perimeter initiators and

849
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:41,520
Speaker 1: they're on and they're not motivated. And now they get

850
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,400
Speaker 1: put in a situation where they're making plays and closeout

851
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,720
Speaker 1: situations alongside some of the best players in the league,

852
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 1: and there they have something to play for. It was

853
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 1: to me it was predictable that a guy like the

854
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,880
Speaker 1: Tune would break out. Kent Baysmore was terrible in Atlanta.

855
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: This year, he looks great with Golden State. I mean

856
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,200
Speaker 1: that that the argument. Yeah, now he's next to Steph

857
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,120
Speaker 1: and to a lesser extent, Draymond, but mostly Steph, and

858
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 1: he's shooting over from three. He looks really good and

859
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:09,960
Speaker 1: basically all of his minutes. He gets a little bit

860
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:11,400
Speaker 1: out of control sometimes, but at the end of the

861
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,440
Speaker 1: day he's a role player. But but Tombs the same thing.

862
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,160
Speaker 1: The Tombs looked really good, and I mean people thought

863
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,200
Speaker 1: his career might have been over that last year in Charlotte,

864
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,719
Speaker 1: but he just wasn't motivated funny enough, he probably would

865
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:22,279
Speaker 1: have had really a lot of fun playing with that

866
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,760
Speaker 1: team this year because the Hornets are super, super fun team.

867
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,439
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed watching them almost more than anybody this year.

868
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:32,680
Speaker 1: LaMelo is an absolute basketball savant. I can't say it enough.

869
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 1: I I don't want to go too deep into it

870
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,279
Speaker 1: because Warriors fans are gonna get mad at me for

871
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,680
Speaker 1: keep talking about LaMelo instead of wise Man. But that

872
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 1: dude is he has a chance to be an m

873
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: VP candidate if the scoring ever comes around just at

874
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,279
Speaker 1: like twenty points per game. Well, and I have a

875
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,840
Speaker 1: problem with the comments from the head coach with his

876
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,160
Speaker 1: name Barrego when he was like saying like, oh, I

877
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 1: can't have a guy in my starting lineup that's having

878
00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 1: all these turnovers. And where I would disagree with that

879
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,200
Speaker 1: is like like people are thinking too much about what

880
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,720
Speaker 1: the assist stat means as opposed to the difference between

881
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,000
Speaker 1: the specific types of assists. So like, like we were

882
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,480
Speaker 1: talking about earlier out of the post, when you make

883
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:14,120
Speaker 1: an aggressive play, an aggressive play has a has a

884
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 1: much different risk to reward than a simple swing around

885
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,840
Speaker 1: the perimeter or or different types of assists plays, like

886
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,920
Speaker 1: you know, like uh, James Harden, just like throwing swing

887
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: passes around the court that are leading to a guy

888
00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:29,920
Speaker 1: taking a twenty six ft three, and he's doing that

889
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 1: forty times a game and the guy makes seven of them.

890
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 1: So there's seven assists on his total in in plays

891
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 1: that aren't necessarily like you know, super high quality shot attempts.

892
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:43,359
Speaker 1: That's not the same to me as LaMelo ball making

893
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,359
Speaker 1: a super aggressive pass that, if completed, leads to a dunk,

894
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,480
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like that to me is

895
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,440
Speaker 1: a huge difference. And to Brego's point, it's like you've

896
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,240
Speaker 1: got to think of you know, his assist to turnover

897
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 1: ratio is different than an assist to turnover ratio for

898
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,920
Speaker 1: a James Harden type of guy, because uh LaMelo is

899
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:05,520
Speaker 1: a super aggressive passer and most of his assists are

900
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,360
Speaker 1: literally for dunks. So like, if you have six assists

901
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,360
Speaker 1: and four turnovers, that that it's as good as getting

902
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: six offense, and in his particular role, because he's just

903
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:21,440
Speaker 1: getting dunks. Like there, he's literally creating like offensive plays

904
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: with his assists. He's averaging six point one assist in

905
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:25,560
Speaker 1: two and a half turnovers the game. Right now, his

906
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,719
Speaker 1: sister turnover his assist ratio is fine, especially for a

907
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: nineteen year old rookie who really isn't physically developed yet.

908
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,359
Speaker 1: He's getting by on guile and skill like he's not

909
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,719
Speaker 1: overpowering anybody. Everything he's doing is a means of his

910
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,359
Speaker 1: basketball i Q. And then obviously his skill level, which

911
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,839
Speaker 1: is super super high. I'm not sure if I've ever seen,

912
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 1: at least in my lifetime, a nineteen year old who's

913
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 1: more just gifted with the basketball in his hands right,

914
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: every pass, every dribble. He he can shoot from a

915
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,520
Speaker 1: bunch of different platforms, even though the shots kind of funky. Um,

916
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:56,400
Speaker 1: he's got a chance to be super super special. Man,

917
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:59,479
Speaker 1: that that kid is unbelievable. Well, and Tommy and before

918
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,439
Speaker 1: the show, we were talking about like coaching and like

919
00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:06,360
Speaker 1: in the culture that surrounds coaching, particularly with the older guys.

920
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: So Tommy went to go coach at what school was

921
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,239
Speaker 1: it again, Metro State in Denver Division two school. So

922
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:13,880
Speaker 1: he went to go coach to the division school to

923
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 1: school in Denver, and he was in the business for

924
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 1: a little while and then he gave up on it.

925
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 1: And I have friends of mine that I played with

926
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 1: in college that have gone to try to coach. I

927
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:23,640
Speaker 1: have a coach, a friend of mine that was an

928
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 1: assistant when I was in Utah who frequently reaches out

929
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 1: to me and just kind of vents about the industry.

930
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 1: And it's hard. It's really really hard because these these guys,

931
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,600
Speaker 1: these guys that the head coach position is naturally such

932
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 1: a stubborn position because guys are so like stuck in

933
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,760
Speaker 1: their ways. And you know, I, I can just imagine

934
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 1: that that Brego, he's looking at the situation and for

935
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 1: whatever reason, he doesn't particularly like playing LaMelo, probably because

936
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:54,759
Speaker 1: he prefers playing a more traditional guard and uh, he's

937
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 1: probably under some pressure from the GM and the owner

938
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,360
Speaker 1: to play LaMelo. And it's kind of how he's hoping

939
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,719
Speaker 1: with it, because I cannot, for the life of me,

940
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:04,680
Speaker 1: think of a good reason for him to say what

941
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:07,239
Speaker 1: he did about LaMelo. That just seemed like so foolish

942
00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:10,720
Speaker 1: to me and aggressive and weird. It was a strange comment,

943
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:14,319
Speaker 1: especially for a rookie who's been pretty spectacular so far

944
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:19,080
Speaker 1: this year. But to Barrego's credit, I think Davante Graham

945
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,799
Speaker 1: has shown tremendous development under him. Even though Graham has

946
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:24,799
Speaker 1: struggled a little bit this year. Malik last year though, yeah, yeah,

947
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:26,919
Speaker 1: he's awesome last year in Barrego's first year, Malik Monk,

948
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: it looks like a different player this year. Um, I've

949
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:30,879
Speaker 1: been waiting on that forever. I've always been a Leiku

950
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 1: Monk fan. And then I mean, he was critical of LaMelo,

951
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 1: but LaMelo is look great. I think he's doing a

952
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 1: great job of putting LaMelo in spots where you can succeed.

953
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it might have been a contact

954
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:42,960
Speaker 1: or at a comment that got taken a little bit

955
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:45,759
Speaker 1: out of context, But yeah, it was weird either way.

956
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 1: I don't I don't see what the point of it was,

957
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:49,279
Speaker 1: especially when he's been as good as he has. And

958
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:50,799
Speaker 1: one of my biggest pet peeves and I was talking

959
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:52,719
Speaker 1: to you about this is like commit to commit to

960
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,440
Speaker 1: an era, you know, commit to a timeline, and like,

961
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 1: if your goal is to have Melo Ball be your

962
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,360
Speaker 1: point of the future, having him come off the bench

963
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,240
Speaker 1: and play in like a secondary or tertiary role doesn't

964
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,360
Speaker 1: make any sense to me. Like, unless you think you

965
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,439
Speaker 1: can win the championship this year, which I don't think

966
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 1: they can, you've got to You've got to at least

967
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,399
Speaker 1: develop him like you you can. He's he's such a

968
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:18,600
Speaker 1: willing passer. He moves, he's he's a there's he's like

969
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,520
Speaker 1: an initiating passer instead of like a reactionary passer, meaning

970
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:24,680
Speaker 1: like he's not He's not that guy that's going to

971
00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 1: bring the ball to the floor, dribble seventeen times and

972
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,240
Speaker 1: when the defense collapses on him, he's gonna throw a pass.

973
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,880
Speaker 1: He's the guy who, like actively the minute he catches

974
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 1: the ball is looking for openings and looking to push

975
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,440
Speaker 1: the ball at the floor. That that guy naturally will

976
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:38,719
Speaker 1: fit with Gordon Hayward. That guy naturally will fit with

977
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,760
Speaker 1: Miles Bridges and these other offensive players on the team.

978
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:44,879
Speaker 1: So I I would start him, but I we've gotten

979
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,640
Speaker 1: off the beating path a little bit. But anyway, at

980
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,160
Speaker 1: the bottom line, though, so you I had I had

981
00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 1: Lebron over em beat you had and beat over Lebron.

982
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,440
Speaker 1: I had Kauai over Yokich, you had Yokis. Did you

983
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:58,360
Speaker 1: have Kauai fourth? Yeah, I would have Kauai four. Just

984
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: like all the stuff you pointed to. He's been absolutely

985
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,719
Speaker 1: tremendous his last twelve or so games. I want to

986
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:05,480
Speaker 1: say it was those first five that were really bad,

987
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,640
Speaker 1: and he's played seventeen totals of the last twelve games.

988
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,480
Speaker 1: He's been incredibly good. Um, yeah, he's just he's just

989
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,839
Speaker 1: a tremendous player. He is awesome. Man. I complained about

990
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 1: him time to time because the foel hunting does get

991
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: a little bit annoying. But he's incredible. If he keeps

992
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 1: up these percentages, he's gonna have one of the better

993
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:25,080
Speaker 1: plus point per games offensive season offensive seasons ever. So

994
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:28,040
Speaker 1: he's been incredible and and uh I actually joked about

995
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 1: this with with uh Samus Fandar a couple of weeks ago.

996
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:35,600
Speaker 1: But like him, him and Paul George having great seasons

997
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,799
Speaker 1: was the most predictable thing ever. I really really do

998
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:41,160
Speaker 1: believe that when guys are embarrassed, it brings the best

999
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 1: out of him. I frequently talked about how I think

1000
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 1: how I think Lebron that two thousand and eleven meltdown

1001
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:49,560
Speaker 1: was like the best thing that ever happened to him

1002
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 1: because it made him embrace elements of his game that

1003
00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 1: he never embraced before, because he leaned so heavily on

1004
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:00,359
Speaker 1: his athleticism, and it made him get to the point

1005
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:03,359
Speaker 1: where he was talented enough to dominate the next the

1006
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:05,799
Speaker 1: next decade. He doesn't dominate the next decade if he

1007
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 1: wins in two thousand eleven, in my opinion, And so

1008
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, like I I, it was, it was

1009
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 1: predictable to me that, you know, Kauai and Paul George

1010
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:18,080
Speaker 1: had a really really embarrassing, like nightmare of an exit,

1011
00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:20,160
Speaker 1: and you don't just go home and sit on your

1012
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:23,000
Speaker 1: couch after that. It eats at you and it brings

1013
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:25,239
Speaker 1: something special out of you. And I don't think it's

1014
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,040
Speaker 1: a I don't think it's a shock to me that

1015
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 1: they're playing well. That said, like I said, you know,

1016
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:33,399
Speaker 1: I think you and I both agree that there they

1017
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:35,640
Speaker 1: still lack just a little bit of a high i

1018
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:39,560
Speaker 1: Q ball handler to help them manage like tight moments

1019
00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 1: in a playoff series when isolation shots aren't going. I'd

1020
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:44,759
Speaker 1: still try to kind of swing for the fences with

1021
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,799
Speaker 1: a Lowry move, and they have the contracts to make

1022
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:48,400
Speaker 1: it work. It would be a little bit complicated, or

1023
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:50,040
Speaker 1: they can make it a three team deal. I would

1024
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:52,200
Speaker 1: try to get lowery, especially because we know the Lowry

1025
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 1: and Kauai thing works, like they literally want a championship together.

1026
00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:57,480
Speaker 1: I think it'd be a very easy move. Lowry's on

1027
00:48:57,520 --> 00:48:59,600
Speaker 1: the last year of his contract. Toronto might be looking

1028
00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,080
Speaker 1: to tank in one way or another. They don't seem

1029
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,400
Speaker 1: like they're ready to win in any shape or fashion.

1030
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 1: Loberry doesn't fit their timeline at all, especially with a

1031
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:08,399
Speaker 1: lot of the young guys they have. I would try

1032
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:12,279
Speaker 1: to if I'm the Clippers, I'm doing almost everything I

1033
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 1: can to get Lowry at the deadline because I think

1034
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:17,759
Speaker 1: if they get him now, I would actually be a

1035
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:19,719
Speaker 1: lot more I'm sure of who's coming out of the

1036
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: Western Conference because right now I still have the Lakers

1037
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 1: by a healthy margin. I don't see any team in

1038
00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:25,440
Speaker 1: the West taking them no more than six games, and

1039
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:27,840
Speaker 1: I think even that might be being a little bit generous.

1040
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:32,359
Speaker 1: But if the Clippers get Lowry, I think that would

1041
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 1: be an absolute dog fight of a series. I'm worried

1042
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:39,040
Speaker 1: about them having the assets to give them up. Like

1043
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:42,840
Speaker 1: I and in Toronto, fans are extremely attached to Kyle Lowry.

1044
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 1: Um I I tweeted out like a fake trade the

1045
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:49,640
Speaker 1: other day with like Kyrie for for Lowry and o

1046
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 1: g and and Obi, which I thought would make both

1047
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 1: teams better. And there were a lot of there were

1048
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:57,160
Speaker 1: a lot of Toronto fans that were like, hell no, man, like,

1049
00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 1: we're not giving up Lowry. We'd rather have Lowry than Kyrie,

1050
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,760
Speaker 1: which is sanity obviously. I mean Kyrie, uh google, Lowry

1051
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:05,800
Speaker 1: maybe a better overall basketball player manufactor in his leadership

1052
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:08,600
Speaker 1: and availability and all those things, but there's a ceiling

1053
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 1: to what you could do with Lowry, and and Kyrie

1054
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:14,520
Speaker 1: had an ability to raise that ceiling and uh I,

1055
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,479
Speaker 1: but like Toronto fans wouldn't have it. So for whatever reason,

1056
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:20,040
Speaker 1: they don't seem to be open to that idea. Lowry

1057
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:21,600
Speaker 1: is their guy. Man. He went through all the playoff

1058
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 1: failures with him, he stuck with him, and then he

1059
00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:25,799
Speaker 1: brought him a championship, you know, and he was tremendous

1060
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:28,919
Speaker 1: in those finals. His game six um to win those

1061
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen finals, I think is probably one of the

1062
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:34,319
Speaker 1: more underrated finals performances really ever by like a second star.

1063
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:37,279
Speaker 1: He was just absurdly good in that game. He he

1064
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 1: came out and he absolutely set the Tony, scored like

1065
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:41,760
Speaker 1: twelve in that first quarter and was just so steady

1066
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,640
Speaker 1: that entire series. Really, and that's a guy who really

1067
00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:47,640
Speaker 1: had some massive playoff failures like at some point in

1068
00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 1: his playoff career was like walking off the floor because

1069
00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:52,279
Speaker 1: he couldn't handle the pressure of the situation. And it

1070
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:54,880
Speaker 1: was I'll never forget that. That was one of the

1071
00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:57,080
Speaker 1: craziest things I've ever seen in an NBA game. And

1072
00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:00,720
Speaker 1: then he totally people love an underdog story man. Nobody

1073
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 1: expected that from Kyle Lowry. And then he turned in

1074
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:04,560
Speaker 1: he was the second best player on the title team.

1075
00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:08,440
Speaker 1: So I I totally get the attachment. So I'm gonna

1076
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:11,399
Speaker 1: give my number five because it's something that I think

1077
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:15,280
Speaker 1: is I feel pretty passionately about after digging into the numbers,

1078
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,600
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure you probably disagree with me, but

1079
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:21,960
Speaker 1: we'll see what you end up thinking. So, uh, I'm

1080
00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,239
Speaker 1: a big believer in rewarding team success success And when

1081
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:28,000
Speaker 1: you look at the teams at the top of the league.

1082
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:29,839
Speaker 1: The Utah Jazz right now are a half game out

1083
00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 1: of first place. UM, And when you really dig into

1084
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,160
Speaker 1: the numbers of that team, you're you know, your your

1085
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:38,440
Speaker 1: initial instinct, you're like, casual perspective may tell you, oh,

1086
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:42,200
Speaker 1: like it's Donovan Mitchell, he's the best player on the team. UM,

1087
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,240
Speaker 1: But I think Mike Connolly is the is my pick

1088
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:48,640
Speaker 1: for number five on the m v P ballot right now,

1089
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:51,080
Speaker 1: for a couple of reasons for starters. When I read

1090
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:52,880
Speaker 1: you some of these numbers, you're literally going to be

1091
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,520
Speaker 1: blown away. So first of all, he's averaging twenty five

1092
00:51:56,719 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 1: and seven per thirty six minutes. That's pretty good. It

1093
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 1: it's not quite like what a steph in two thousand

1094
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,879
Speaker 1: fifteen type of low statistical output m v P type

1095
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:09,600
Speaker 1: of season was, but it's pretty damn good. Uh. From

1096
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:15,880
Speaker 1: the field, from three from the line, the h he

1097
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,840
Speaker 1: has the second highest usage right in their starting lineup,

1098
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 1: so for all of their heavy minutes guys, he's second

1099
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:25,040
Speaker 1: in their usage, right behind Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz are

1100
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,799
Speaker 1: plus eighteen point two per one hundred possessions when he's

1101
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:33,600
Speaker 1: on the floor. They are minus ten point four when

1102
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:37,440
Speaker 1: he is off the floor, So there's literally a twenty

1103
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,960
Speaker 1: eight point swing between when he's on the floor and

1104
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:44,120
Speaker 1: when he's off the floor. He's got the best defensive

1105
00:52:44,239 --> 00:52:47,359
Speaker 1: rating of all of their rotation players at nine point six.

1106
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:49,040
Speaker 1: He's probably not the best defender on the team, but

1107
00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:52,319
Speaker 1: he's doing really well in his minutes um and if

1108
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:54,759
Speaker 1: when you and this kind of goes with what when

1109
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 1: you talk to Jazz fans, If you talk to Jazz

1110
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,200
Speaker 1: fans about what they've liked from Utah this year, they

1111
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:03,200
Speaker 1: will tell you that Mike Conley has been the steadying

1112
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:06,439
Speaker 1: presence for them, the most consistent player on the team.

1113
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:10,040
Speaker 1: So my my, my question for you is does being

1114
00:53:10,080 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 1: a twenty point guy per thirty six minutes who has

1115
00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:18,880
Speaker 1: these dramatically amazing uh net rating effect and is the

1116
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:22,080
Speaker 1: second best usage on the team for a team that's

1117
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,200
Speaker 1: a half game out of best record in the league,

1118
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:26,000
Speaker 1: is that enough to put you in the m v

1119
00:53:26,080 --> 00:53:29,920
Speaker 1: P conversation in your opinion? And if that's what you,

1120
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:31,879
Speaker 1: put some other somebody else on the Jazz in there

1121
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:33,560
Speaker 1: because I feel like somebody on the Jazz needs to

1122
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:37,560
Speaker 1: be in there. Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong, Um,

1123
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:39,680
Speaker 1: somebody should be in there. They have been tremendous this year.

1124
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:41,359
Speaker 1: It feels like more of a team thing where they're

1125
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,000
Speaker 1: just like I know, as of a couple of games

1126
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: ago when they absolutely walloped Warriors by like forty points

1127
00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:50,879
Speaker 1: and it was like twenty in the first quarter. They

1128
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:53,239
Speaker 1: are they are shooting threes at a clip and making

1129
00:53:53,239 --> 00:53:55,440
Speaker 1: threes at a clip that has literally never been seen,

1130
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,440
Speaker 1: so it feels like a team thing. But what I

1131
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:01,319
Speaker 1: would say is there probably is kind of a dearth

1132
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:02,880
Speaker 1: of a fifth candidate there, unless you want to say

1133
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. Just based on pure statistical output, um, there

1134
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:10,359
Speaker 1: obviously are some team issues there that I well, while

1135
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,759
Speaker 1: you can blame him for some of the defensive struggles,

1136
00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:14,920
Speaker 1: a lot of that is in him. It's roster construction

1137
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:17,920
Speaker 1: and how broken has decided to go about their business,

1138
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:19,920
Speaker 1: which isn't entirely on him, So maybe some of it is.

1139
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 1: But he has been the worst defense, you know. I

1140
00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:26,600
Speaker 1: I know that. I know that, But he's also averaging

1141
00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:30,040
Speaker 1: thirty points a game on like fifty two eighty something

1142
00:54:30,120 --> 00:54:33,960
Speaker 1: shooting like he is having. If this maintains, it might

1143
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,279
Speaker 1: be like the best dirty point per game season ever.

1144
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: Like at some point you have to award that just

1145
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:42,239
Speaker 1: from a pure statistical output standpoint, And I get it.

1146
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:44,680
Speaker 1: I know that the worst defense ever. I understand that

1147
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 1: that we talked, but we we knew that was going

1148
00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:51,520
Speaker 1: to be a thing. Anybody with a working brain knew

1149
00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 1: that was going to be a thing. We knew they

1150
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:55,160
Speaker 1: were going to be terrible on defense. But while he

1151
00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:57,520
Speaker 1: could be better, I don't think most of that is

1152
00:54:57,520 --> 00:54:59,960
Speaker 1: on him. I think it's Brokelyn not having any type

1153
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:04,080
Speaker 1: of defensive personnel to stop NBA level offenses. So it's

1154
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:07,040
Speaker 1: but so Kevin Durant's case would be like you're you're

1155
00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:11,200
Speaker 1: talking like Russ two thousand seventeen case, like just monster

1156
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:14,440
Speaker 1: monster numbers. But the differences is he's with James Harden

1157
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:16,600
Speaker 1: and Kyrie Irving. I think you have a really hard

1158
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:22,279
Speaker 1: time convincing people that you know, having like moderate to

1159
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:26,120
Speaker 1: below average because they they're they're like plus one or

1160
00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:29,160
Speaker 1: plus two points per one hundred possessions with this since

1161
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:32,320
Speaker 1: the hard and Harden trade, they've been not bad because

1162
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:35,080
Speaker 1: they've they've won games on the fact that they've played

1163
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:39,440
Speaker 1: some bad teams. But like they've they've they've been underwhelming

1164
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,960
Speaker 1: with a whole lot of talent, and at a certain point,

1165
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:44,759
Speaker 1: like I think that might disqualify you from this conversation.

1166
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:47,760
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you think entirely fair? But Duran

1167
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:50,000
Speaker 1: was doing the same thing before the Harden trade. He

1168
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:51,719
Speaker 1: was putting up the same type of numbers, So I

1169
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 1: don't think there has been no tangible difference in his

1170
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:57,000
Speaker 1: performance at all. I see what you're saying because the

1171
00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:00,040
Speaker 1: defense is so bad that you almost can't reward it.

1172
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:05,200
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just think there's not really a fifth

1173
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:07,719
Speaker 1: candidate right now. That would be my take. Let me

1174
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:12,000
Speaker 1: ask you this. If I swapped Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant,

1175
00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:16,560
Speaker 1: so it was Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Anthony Davis,

1176
00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:23,040
Speaker 1: would the Brooklyn Nets be a better team? Yes, and

1177
00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:27,360
Speaker 1: simple and so and so my my concern is, like

1178
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:30,000
Speaker 1: what I've said to you a half dozen times since

1179
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 1: you and I have started doing podcasts together. You know,

1180
00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:37,080
Speaker 1: there is an easy fix to the Brooklyn Nets problem.

1181
00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:40,840
Speaker 1: It's their mobile seven footer with arms that literally go

1182
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:45,040
Speaker 1: forever embracing the defensive end of the ball. That that's

1183
00:56:45,160 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 1: literally the difference between them being this laughing stock of

1184
00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:55,080
Speaker 1: a team that's trying to outscore teams and then and

1185
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:57,320
Speaker 1: then being the team that can win the NBA Championship.

1186
00:56:57,360 --> 00:57:00,400
Speaker 1: That's the difference. And like, and to me, like this

1187
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:04,040
Speaker 1: is the exact same reason why before the season, you know,

1188
00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:06,360
Speaker 1: you and I had Kevin Durant lower on our lists,

1189
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:10,359
Speaker 1: you know, even factoring in health. And I think it's

1190
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:16,040
Speaker 1: just like, you know, if if if we all predicted

1191
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:21,240
Speaker 1: you know, definitively that this team would struggle to uh

1192
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:24,240
Speaker 1: like a historical extent on the defensive end of the ball.

1193
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:29,560
Speaker 1: That to me is because we know Katie wants no

1194
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:33,600
Speaker 1: parts of that type of defensive workload. And to me,

1195
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,320
Speaker 1: that that that says everything you need to know, because

1196
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: like I told you, we are and like you said,

1197
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:42,400
Speaker 1: we would expect Anthony Davis to erase a whole lot

1198
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:44,800
Speaker 1: of their mistakes and to make that team into something

1199
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 1: worth you know, something that could be potentially dangerous. And

1200
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:51,600
Speaker 1: to me, that says that, To me, that defines you know,

1201
00:57:51,720 --> 00:57:54,400
Speaker 1: a lot of the Kevin Durant experiences, like he is

1202
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:58,200
Speaker 1: literally capable of fixing everything wrong with this team, and

1203
00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:02,840
Speaker 1: I just don't think he wants to fair. But in theory,

1204
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:04,520
Speaker 1: I think we would want a d to do that.

1205
00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:07,920
Speaker 1: But we've seen in New Orleans that if the defensive

1206
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:10,760
Speaker 1: personnel is bad, he hasn't really lifted the floor of

1207
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,080
Speaker 1: a bad defensive team like a lot of those years

1208
00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:14,640
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And maybe it was a motivation factor.

1209
00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:16,240
Speaker 1: He didn't want to play hard because his team sucked,

1210
00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:19,120
Speaker 1: but they would have like a defensive rating in the

1211
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:22,360
Speaker 1: twenties even when he was on the floor. So the

1212
00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,080
Speaker 1: defensive problems in Brokelyn go much farther than Kevin Durant.

1213
00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:28,000
Speaker 1: He is a problem, right, but I think they are

1214
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: so bad they don't have They have basically one guy

1215
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:33,800
Speaker 1: who can guard the ball in the perimeter in Bruce Brown.

1216
00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:37,040
Speaker 1: Kyrie doesn't want to, James Harden doesn't want to. Joe

1217
00:58:37,080 --> 00:58:40,160
Speaker 1: Harris can't. What is Katie is supposed to do? He

1218
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:42,560
Speaker 1: can't erase every single problem at the rim. Right, you

1219
00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:44,320
Speaker 1: can only do so much if you can't get stops

1220
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:46,520
Speaker 1: a point of attack. We've seen that time and time again.

1221
00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:49,520
Speaker 1: Like I think point of attack defense is overrated to

1222
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,240
Speaker 1: do a certain extent when people look at awards ballots

1223
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:55,760
Speaker 1: and awarding guys like maybe in Avery Bradley. But at

1224
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,960
Speaker 1: the at the same time, if you don't have that,

1225
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,680
Speaker 1: you have no chance getting stops. Right, If you can't

1226
00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:03,320
Speaker 1: go to the point of attack, you will not get

1227
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 1: stops period. And the story it doesn't matter who's on

1228
00:59:05,160 --> 00:59:07,480
Speaker 1: the back side of the defense, right. We saw that

1229
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:09,360
Speaker 1: last year. The Warriors were an awful team last year,

1230
00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:10,760
Speaker 1: but they couldn't get stopped to the point of attack,

1231
00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:12,360
Speaker 1: and it didn't matter that Draymond Dream was back there

1232
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:14,720
Speaker 1: because he was covering so many mistakes that they were

1233
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:18,240
Speaker 1: still bottom five and defensive rating. So I maybe if

1234
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:21,160
Speaker 1: Katie was more motivated, they'd be twenty second in defense

1235
00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 1: instead of all time bad. Might be enough to make

1236
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 1: them a contender. And that's my point, is like, and

1237
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:31,000
Speaker 1: for the record, like Lebron got Kyrie to defend, that

1238
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,960
Speaker 1: stuff goes from the top down, you know, Like there's

1239
00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 1: no doubt in my mind that if Kevin Durant truly

1240
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:40,960
Speaker 1: embraced what that meant to be the anchor of their

1241
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:44,000
Speaker 1: defense vocally and with what he does with his body,

1242
00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:48,000
Speaker 1: he could make James harden And and Kyrie Irving in

1243
00:59:48,040 --> 00:59:50,960
Speaker 1: them at least defend at that that number twenty in

1244
00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:53,960
Speaker 1: the league type of level. Literally, if they could get there,

1245
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:58,440
Speaker 1: they could be dangerous. Right now, they're not dangerous, like

1246
00:59:58,520 --> 01:00:00,520
Speaker 1: I think the Clippers are going to have their way

1247
01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:03,600
Speaker 1: with them tonight. Lou Williams might have fifty because their

1248
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:07,240
Speaker 1: their backcourt is so poorous defensively like that, they're gonna

1249
01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of trouble uh with any decent

1250
01:00:11,240 --> 01:00:13,520
Speaker 1: team right now because of how bad they are, And

1251
01:00:13,600 --> 01:00:15,840
Speaker 1: that to me could be fixed by Kevin Durrett all

1252
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:18,760
Speaker 1: I'm saying, look, and I'm not saying it's all his fault.

1253
01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:20,880
Speaker 1: I agree with you. But we talked about earlier when

1254
01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:23,680
Speaker 1: we were talking about with embeed being nitpicky when you

1255
01:00:23,720 --> 01:00:25,440
Speaker 1: want to be considered one of the best players in

1256
01:00:25,440 --> 01:00:26,959
Speaker 1: the league, these are the kinds of things we're gonna

1257
01:00:26,960 --> 01:00:29,960
Speaker 1: be nitpicky about. You know, Lebron is considered the best

1258
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:31,840
Speaker 1: player in the world by most people right now. I

1259
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:34,479
Speaker 1: don't think it's a coincidence that he started defending again

1260
01:00:34,560 --> 01:00:37,400
Speaker 1: last year when he wasn't defending as much, there were

1261
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:39,360
Speaker 1: a lot of people out there saying Lebron is not

1262
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 1: the best two way player in the league anymore. Kauai

1263
01:00:41,480 --> 01:00:43,440
Speaker 1: might be better than him. Now, this kind of stuff

1264
01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:46,440
Speaker 1: is the nitpicky stuff that differentiates between the top players

1265
01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:49,200
Speaker 1: in the league. And all I'm saying is, I've got

1266
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:51,480
Speaker 1: people in my mentions every day telling me Katie's better

1267
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:54,520
Speaker 1: than Lebron. I've got the usual suspects on Twitter preaching

1268
01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:57,400
Speaker 1: about it every day. But for some reason, he's not

1269
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,840
Speaker 1: held to the same standard that Honest has held to,

1270
01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:03,919
Speaker 1: that Lebron has held to, that Joel Embiide has held

1271
01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:06,760
Speaker 1: to because he's so pretty when with what he's doing

1272
01:01:06,800 --> 01:01:10,240
Speaker 1: off the dribble, and dude, like, I love it too.

1273
01:01:10,280 --> 01:01:12,200
Speaker 1: As a basketball fan. When I go to the court,

1274
01:01:12,760 --> 01:01:16,040
Speaker 1: I'm practicing what Katie does, not what Lebron does. That's

1275
01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:18,840
Speaker 1: not the same as being a better basketball player. And

1276
01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:20,760
Speaker 1: and that's the that's the thing that I wish that

1277
01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:25,680
Speaker 1: we could delineate here because like, like it, literally it's

1278
01:01:25,720 --> 01:01:30,400
Speaker 1: not his fault. But if I dropped Lebron into that scenario,

1279
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:33,800
Speaker 1: he's trying to fix the defensive culture on that team,

1280
01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:35,920
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure that Kevin Durant is. Are we

1281
01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 1: sure Lebron is trying to do that? We've seen him,

1282
01:01:39,040 --> 01:01:41,280
Speaker 1: I think. I think the last two years in Cleveland

1283
01:01:41,320 --> 01:01:43,440
Speaker 1: tell you that he's trying to do that. Okay, so

1284
01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:46,000
Speaker 1: two out of the past fifteen years he had bad

1285
01:01:46,040 --> 01:01:49,360
Speaker 1: defensive seasons and you're gonna to define his career like that.

1286
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:52,240
Speaker 1: I'm not defining his career like that. What I'm saying is,

1287
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:55,560
Speaker 1: as he's gotten older and he has less energy for crap,

1288
01:01:55,960 --> 01:01:58,560
Speaker 1: and he has bad defensive personnel, he hasn't tried on

1289
01:01:58,640 --> 01:02:01,040
Speaker 1: that end. When he got l A tried again because

1290
01:02:01,040 --> 01:02:04,160
Speaker 1: they actually had good defensive personnel. That's what Kevin Durant

1291
01:02:04,200 --> 01:02:05,920
Speaker 1: is a smart enough guy to realize, we don't have

1292
01:02:06,120 --> 01:02:08,680
Speaker 1: anybody that can guard. We don't have anybody that can

1293
01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:10,439
Speaker 1: I think a lot of guys on that Laker team

1294
01:02:10,440 --> 01:02:12,840
Speaker 1: were considered bad defenders before Lebron got there with a

1295
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:17,480
Speaker 1: d uh like Avery Bradley was considered completely washed. Rondo

1296
01:02:17,600 --> 01:02:21,080
Speaker 1: was considered washed. A lot of these guys were. Cukuzma

1297
01:02:21,200 --> 01:02:23,880
Speaker 1: was a god awful defensive player, you know, Dwight Howard

1298
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:27,560
Speaker 1: was considered washed. JaVale McGee like is flawed. I guess

1299
01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:30,920
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is is like, you know, also with Lebron,

1300
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 1: a couple of things. First of all, when he was

1301
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:35,040
Speaker 1: in those those bad defensive seasons, one of the important

1302
01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:37,680
Speaker 1: details is I truly think Lebron thought he couldn't win.

1303
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:43,160
Speaker 1: And I think that I think that he and this

1304
01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:45,280
Speaker 1: is a flaw in his game for the record, I

1305
01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:48,760
Speaker 1: think he embraced the fact that he couldn't win, and

1306
01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:53,000
Speaker 1: so he wanted to put unbelievably monster offensive numbers up

1307
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:56,760
Speaker 1: and crazy highlights to try to like maintain some like

1308
01:02:56,880 --> 01:02:59,240
Speaker 1: mystique about how good he is. Because he knew he

1309
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:01,360
Speaker 1: was gonna lose to the Warriors. I honestly think that's

1310
01:03:01,400 --> 01:03:03,680
Speaker 1: the way it was. I don't think it's a coincidence

1311
01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:07,040
Speaker 1: that his efficiency was like super high those two seasons

1312
01:03:07,080 --> 01:03:09,920
Speaker 1: that he didn't defend. It's like the Lakers are the

1313
01:03:09,960 --> 01:03:11,640
Speaker 1: number one defense in the league right now, but they're

1314
01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:14,440
Speaker 1: like seventh in offense. It's because defense is tiring and

1315
01:03:14,560 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 1: it wears you out. That it's extremely rare to see

1316
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:19,400
Speaker 1: a team who's like the number one defense and the

1317
01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:23,400
Speaker 1: number one offense, because teams that are lacks daisical on

1318
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:25,880
Speaker 1: that end inevitably score million points because they got legs

1319
01:03:25,880 --> 01:03:28,640
Speaker 1: on the other end. You know what I mean, I

1320
01:03:28,720 --> 01:03:32,040
Speaker 1: hear you. I just don't I think without a good

1321
01:03:32,080 --> 01:03:34,000
Speaker 1: fifth candidate, and and you know what I I do

1322
01:03:34,040 --> 01:03:35,880
Speaker 1: appreciate you give him calmly some props because he has

1323
01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:38,440
Speaker 1: been amazing this year, especially relative to last year when

1324
01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:41,080
Speaker 1: people were like, oh man, this dude might be washed.

1325
01:03:41,080 --> 01:03:43,640
Speaker 1: What a terrible trade for Utah, And now it looks like,

1326
01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:45,360
Speaker 1: you know what, they might have made the right decision.

1327
01:03:45,520 --> 01:03:47,240
Speaker 1: And I think Memphis is happy with the decision too.

1328
01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:49,600
Speaker 1: So I think both parties ended up winning. Um, so

1329
01:03:49,920 --> 01:03:51,840
Speaker 1: it I think it is nice to give calmly a

1330
01:03:51,920 --> 01:03:54,200
Speaker 1: not especially a guy who has never made an All

1331
01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:56,320
Speaker 1: Star Game, who has probably been deserving and would have

1332
01:03:56,360 --> 01:03:58,160
Speaker 1: made some of you was in the East at some

1333
01:03:58,200 --> 01:04:02,240
Speaker 1: point in his career. But I just Durant has been

1334
01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:09,680
Speaker 1: so good offensively, like indescribably good offensively, literally better than

1335
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:14,680
Speaker 1: ever coming off in Achilles. So I can't not reward

1336
01:04:14,760 --> 01:04:17,640
Speaker 1: that he's been that good offensively. Like if he had

1337
01:04:17,680 --> 01:04:19,480
Speaker 1: just been even a little bit worse offensively, he was

1338
01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:22,320
Speaker 1: just having one of his normal offensive seasons like six

1339
01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:26,120
Speaker 1: five and five on shooting thirty five percent from three

1340
01:04:26,640 --> 01:04:28,720
Speaker 1: percent from the line, I wouldn't have him there. But

1341
01:04:28,800 --> 01:04:31,800
Speaker 1: he's been so good offensively that you can't deny it.

1342
01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:35,960
Speaker 1: Brooklyn's problems don't start with the rent. They start with

1343
01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:38,600
Speaker 1: the roster construction, Like it's it's not his fault. They

1344
01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:40,560
Speaker 1: constructed the roster in that way. And maybe, I mean,

1345
01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:42,720
Speaker 1: maybe some of the Harden trade is his fault, but

1346
01:04:43,640 --> 01:04:46,320
Speaker 1: his on court play has been enough to at least

1347
01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:51,520
Speaker 1: I would vote for the guy, you know, Yeah, maybe

1348
01:04:52,560 --> 01:04:54,520
Speaker 1: if there's still five d at the end of the year,

1349
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:56,240
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't, But I think they're going to figure

1350
01:04:56,280 --> 01:04:58,880
Speaker 1: some things out. There's a history of of m v

1351
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:02,160
Speaker 1: P voters punishing and guys who relax on the defensive

1352
01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:06,000
Speaker 1: end and put up monster numbers. The uh, the Calves

1353
01:05:06,040 --> 01:05:09,480
Speaker 1: in two thousand seventeen or fifty one and thirty one,

1354
01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,600
Speaker 1: so better than the the nets are on paceful right now.

1355
01:05:12,600 --> 01:05:15,080
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I'll have to look at the standings.

1356
01:05:15,080 --> 01:05:16,960
Speaker 1: I can't remember, but I think the Calves are a

1357
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:19,880
Speaker 1: little bit better in the standings. And Lebron had just

1358
01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:24,400
Speaker 1: an unbelievable offensive season and he finished fourth in the

1359
01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:27,200
Speaker 1: m v P voting and so that season, and so

1360
01:05:27,520 --> 01:05:29,840
Speaker 1: I guess the idea is is, like you know, I

1361
01:05:29,840 --> 01:05:31,920
Speaker 1: would imagine over the course of the season, they'll win

1362
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,720
Speaker 1: enough games that that he'll end up getting votes. And

1363
01:05:34,880 --> 01:05:36,960
Speaker 1: for the record, Mike Connolly is not going to get

1364
01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:39,680
Speaker 1: a top five MVP finish. I'm just saying like, there's

1365
01:05:39,800 --> 01:05:41,720
Speaker 1: there's a case for him to deserve it, and it's

1366
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:46,080
Speaker 1: him being the arguably the best player on on arguably

1367
01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:47,680
Speaker 1: the best team in the league right now in terms

1368
01:05:47,720 --> 01:05:49,760
Speaker 1: of the standings, because they're only half came out, and

1369
01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:53,920
Speaker 1: my god, those those net rating numbers are just absolutely

1370
01:05:53,960 --> 01:05:58,520
Speaker 1: absurd that that I'm just that step furry two fifteen

1371
01:05:58,600 --> 01:06:01,600
Speaker 1: sixteen levels where it's like US twenty net rating, which

1372
01:06:01,640 --> 01:06:05,640
Speaker 1: is like impossible almost, Yeah, it's it's insane and and

1373
01:06:05,640 --> 01:06:07,240
Speaker 1: and as far as the Katie stuff goes, I'm just

1374
01:06:07,360 --> 01:06:10,280
Speaker 1: venting because, like I just it's it's crazy because a

1375
01:06:10,320 --> 01:06:12,320
Speaker 1: lot of times I get portrayed as a Katie hater,

1376
01:06:12,720 --> 01:06:16,640
Speaker 1: and like I literally I love Katie's game. I I

1377
01:06:16,640 --> 01:06:18,880
Speaker 1: I'm terrified of him every time he goes up for

1378
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:21,160
Speaker 1: a shot. When I'm rooting against him. I have the

1379
01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:26,240
Speaker 1: utmost confidence in his ability. I just if it bothers

1380
01:06:26,280 --> 01:06:30,480
Speaker 1: me that he is held to like a completely different

1381
01:06:30,520 --> 01:06:35,280
Speaker 1: standard than his peers, like in almost every way. That's why.

1382
01:06:35,320 --> 01:06:37,480
Speaker 1: That's why I have him fifth. He spit on, he

1383
01:06:37,560 --> 01:06:40,200
Speaker 1: spent on my list. He's not first. I wouldn't. He

1384
01:06:40,240 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 1: has no argument for any of the above, any of

1385
01:06:42,880 --> 01:06:45,400
Speaker 1: the top four guys. He doesn't. But I think after

1386
01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:48,040
Speaker 1: this pretty because A D has been pretty bad this season.

1387
01:06:48,280 --> 01:06:52,040
Speaker 1: Yeah no, I'm just saying purely um m v P. Yeah,

1388
01:06:52,120 --> 01:06:53,880
Speaker 1: just purely m VP. I don't see a good fifth

1389
01:06:53,880 --> 01:06:56,480
Speaker 1: candidate right, like, be honest, hasn't been Does there anybody

1390
01:06:56,480 --> 01:07:00,040
Speaker 1: were missing other than calmly Durant? Uh No? Because the

1391
01:07:00,080 --> 01:07:02,280
Speaker 1: season has been weird and hardened. Who's almost always on

1392
01:07:02,320 --> 01:07:07,520
Speaker 1: these list is not Um. Let me uh really quickly

1393
01:07:07,560 --> 01:07:09,400
Speaker 1: before we call it a day. Let me pull up

1394
01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:13,280
Speaker 1: just a of rankings. We can see if there's anybody

1395
01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:15,520
Speaker 1: we missed. So this is just basketball reference, so these

1396
01:07:15,520 --> 01:07:19,280
Speaker 1: are based almost purely on stats. But Yogurts and be Kauai,

1397
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:23,840
Speaker 1: Lebron Durant, Janice Uh. The weird thing with Joannice is

1398
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:27,240
Speaker 1: the defense has fallen off of a cliff. Um. He's

1399
01:07:27,280 --> 01:07:30,240
Speaker 1: putting up incredibly monster numbers, as is always the case,

1400
01:07:30,600 --> 01:07:32,880
Speaker 1: but I think that I think public confidence with him

1401
01:07:32,920 --> 01:07:34,520
Speaker 1: is at an all time low, and I think that's

1402
01:07:34,520 --> 01:07:37,720
Speaker 1: what's destroying him. Anthony Davis, I don't think has any

1403
01:07:37,800 --> 01:07:40,320
Speaker 1: legitimate case. I think he's only averaging like twenty two

1404
01:07:40,360 --> 01:07:42,600
Speaker 1: points a game. His defense has fallen off a cliff,

1405
01:07:42,640 --> 01:07:46,080
Speaker 1: although he's had a couple of monster defensive games. Paul

1406
01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:51,560
Speaker 1: George we talked about earlier. Damian Lillard. The Blazers are

1407
01:07:51,600 --> 01:07:54,200
Speaker 1: only ten and nine, and then the other name on

1408
01:07:54,280 --> 01:07:56,520
Speaker 1: the list is Rudy Gobert. But I couldn't in my

1409
01:07:56,600 --> 01:08:00,959
Speaker 1: right mind vote for Rudy Gobert ever, in a million years.

1410
01:08:01,600 --> 01:08:05,080
Speaker 1: UM the one guy who I think might put his

1411
01:08:05,160 --> 01:08:07,600
Speaker 1: name in the in the race after a while. As

1412
01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:11,280
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, He's looked a lot. He struggled with consistency

1413
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:12,680
Speaker 1: this year, and this is coming from a guy who's

1414
01:08:12,680 --> 01:08:16,160
Speaker 1: watched of Warriors games. So far, he has struggled to

1415
01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:19,280
Speaker 1: be consistent. But the last ten games his splits are

1416
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:21,760
Speaker 1: back to where they normally are. He's back attent from

1417
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:23,800
Speaker 1: the field for the year forty one from three after

1418
01:08:23,840 --> 01:08:27,400
Speaker 1: a horrendous start from the line average points a game.

1419
01:08:27,640 --> 01:08:31,400
Speaker 1: If the team's success come comes, he will be in

1420
01:08:31,439 --> 01:08:34,519
Speaker 1: the race absolutely because the numbers are already there. It's

1421
01:08:34,520 --> 01:08:36,599
Speaker 1: just a matter of can they win enough games to

1422
01:08:36,640 --> 01:08:38,439
Speaker 1: get his name in the race, and I think I

1423
01:08:38,479 --> 01:08:40,479
Speaker 1: think they eventually will if they can never get healthy.

1424
01:08:40,479 --> 01:08:43,679
Speaker 1: How do you feel about that team right now? Um?

1425
01:08:44,280 --> 01:08:47,120
Speaker 1: They are fourth in defensive ratings since Draymond Green has

1426
01:08:47,120 --> 01:08:51,960
Speaker 1: returned yep so in the fifth fourteen or fifteen games

1427
01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:55,320
Speaker 1: he's played. Their fourth in defensive rating. UM. I would

1428
01:08:55,320 --> 01:08:58,679
Speaker 1: feel a lot better if they had a couple more

1429
01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:01,559
Speaker 1: big men on the roster. UM. I would like for

1430
01:09:01,600 --> 01:09:04,479
Speaker 1: them to move Uber for Alonso. I think that would

1431
01:09:04,479 --> 01:09:08,479
Speaker 1: be a fantastic move for actually both parties, because it

1432
01:09:08,479 --> 01:09:11,479
Speaker 1: seems like New Orleans doesn't want to extend Lonzo at

1433
01:09:11,520 --> 01:09:15,360
Speaker 1: the number he's gonna command, and Uber is an expiring contract.

1434
01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:18,519
Speaker 1: And I think the Warriors would love one love Alonzo.

1435
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,000
Speaker 1: He would fit in so many ways. He fits that

1436
01:09:21,680 --> 01:09:25,439
Speaker 1: John Livingston, Andre Goodala play connector Great Defenders, smart high

1437
01:09:25,439 --> 01:09:28,839
Speaker 1: i Q player um that they crave in their system.

1438
01:09:29,439 --> 01:09:32,080
Speaker 1: It's still all tv D just because, like I said,

1439
01:09:32,120 --> 01:09:34,200
Speaker 1: Steff hasn't been consistent enough yet. If he finds that

1440
01:09:34,280 --> 01:09:37,080
Speaker 1: normal level of consistency, I think they'll end up winning

1441
01:09:37,439 --> 01:09:40,920
Speaker 1: forty games probably, and then they'll be there'll be a

1442
01:09:40,920 --> 01:09:42,720
Speaker 1: team that people probably don't want to see in the

1443
01:09:42,720 --> 01:09:46,320
Speaker 1: playoffs unless your names starts with an l A, Right.

1444
01:09:46,360 --> 01:09:49,120
Speaker 1: I still feel the same about them in terms of

1445
01:09:49,479 --> 01:09:54,080
Speaker 1: eventual playoff ceiling. Nobody scares me besides the l A teams,

1446
01:09:54,280 --> 01:09:56,000
Speaker 1: just because of of whose step can be in a

1447
01:09:56,040 --> 01:10:00,880
Speaker 1: playoff series, which is better than of the league. Well,

1448
01:10:00,920 --> 01:10:04,000
Speaker 1: I said this before, and uh to you and and I,

1449
01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:06,280
Speaker 1: and it's been really interesting to see this how this

1450
01:10:06,360 --> 01:10:09,360
Speaker 1: has gone. I saw that I saw two potential scenarios

1451
01:10:09,400 --> 01:10:11,760
Speaker 1: for Steph Curry this year in the Warriors. I saw

1452
01:10:12,120 --> 01:10:15,280
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen Lakers or two thousand eighteen Gaves, and

1453
01:10:15,320 --> 01:10:18,360
Speaker 1: I thought it entirely dependent on health. UM. I thought

1454
01:10:18,400 --> 01:10:21,559
Speaker 1: that the difference between the two thousand nineteen Lakers making

1455
01:10:21,560 --> 01:10:24,280
Speaker 1: a deep playoff run and them not was health, not

1456
01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:26,680
Speaker 1: just for Lebron, but for the whole team. And in

1457
01:10:26,680 --> 01:10:29,880
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, Lebron played every single game and it's

1458
01:10:30,160 --> 01:10:32,800
Speaker 1: and and it's been super impressive to see Steph Curry

1459
01:10:32,840 --> 01:10:35,280
Speaker 1: embrace that this year because I think in the past

1460
01:10:35,320 --> 01:10:37,240
Speaker 1: he's had the flexibility when he's a little banged up

1461
01:10:37,240 --> 01:10:40,160
Speaker 1: to sit out, and that's that hasn't been the case

1462
01:10:40,240 --> 01:10:42,920
Speaker 1: this year. And to his credit, he's embraced that. He's

1463
01:10:42,920 --> 01:10:46,280
Speaker 1: played every single uh minute that his team has needed

1464
01:10:46,320 --> 01:10:49,800
Speaker 1: him to play. And UH, for the record percent agree

1465
01:10:49,800 --> 01:10:51,599
Speaker 1: with you in terms of that playoff run. I I've

1466
01:10:51,640 --> 01:10:54,519
Speaker 1: said on many occasions that I thought that the two

1467
01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:57,479
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen Calves would have beat that Rockets team. UM,

1468
01:10:57,520 --> 01:11:00,280
Speaker 1: just because I trust Lebron's ability to solve that defense

1469
01:11:00,360 --> 01:11:02,800
Speaker 1: and and for the same reason you trust Steph and

1470
01:11:02,800 --> 01:11:05,000
Speaker 1: a lot of these playoff matchups, I just felt like,

1471
01:11:05,400 --> 01:11:08,040
Speaker 1: if when push came to shove, that team would figure

1472
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:10,000
Speaker 1: out a way to defend at at a high enough

1473
01:11:10,080 --> 01:11:12,880
Speaker 1: level to where Lebron could carry them over the top offensively.

1474
01:11:13,240 --> 01:11:16,280
Speaker 1: That's the way I feel about about Steph Curry. However,

1475
01:11:16,360 --> 01:11:18,559
Speaker 1: I do think there are so many good teams this

1476
01:11:18,640 --> 01:11:21,280
Speaker 1: year that a team like Philly I think would give

1477
01:11:21,439 --> 01:11:24,760
Speaker 1: Golden State problems, and a team like Brooklyn would give

1478
01:11:24,800 --> 01:11:27,240
Speaker 1: them problems. That you know, a team like Boston would

1479
01:11:27,240 --> 01:11:30,120
Speaker 1: give them problems. Teams that could really really defend at

1480
01:11:30,120 --> 01:11:33,599
Speaker 1: a super high level and and physically wear down um

1481
01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:36,840
Speaker 1: Golden State. But I in the Western Conference though, a

1482
01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:39,840
Speaker 1: lot of those teams are really finesse and and Steff

1483
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:42,160
Speaker 1: is just gonna outfinesse you and to your point that

1484
01:11:42,479 --> 01:11:45,360
Speaker 1: they're defending at a high level. So yeah, I would,

1485
01:11:45,400 --> 01:11:48,280
Speaker 1: I would. I would pick them. Like that's the ironic

1486
01:11:48,320 --> 01:11:50,759
Speaker 1: part about about playing Steff every game to try to

1487
01:11:50,800 --> 01:11:53,160
Speaker 1: fight for the standings is you know, if they get

1488
01:11:53,240 --> 01:11:55,640
Speaker 1: up there where there's somehow and that's you know, like

1489
01:11:55,800 --> 01:11:59,040
Speaker 1: six seed and and they have a gap between six

1490
01:11:59,080 --> 01:12:01,759
Speaker 1: and seven, I would asked him a little bit because

1491
01:12:01,760 --> 01:12:03,519
Speaker 1: as long as you can avoid those l A teams

1492
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:06,960
Speaker 1: in the first round, I really think that Steph's health

1493
01:12:07,080 --> 01:12:10,439
Speaker 1: needs to be become a priority at some point. Absolutely, No,

1494
01:12:10,640 --> 01:12:13,280
Speaker 1: I mean my feelings haven't changed that much. I thought

1495
01:12:13,280 --> 01:12:15,040
Speaker 1: they were really going to struggle through twenty games. They

1496
01:12:15,040 --> 01:12:17,040
Speaker 1: honestly have a better record than I thought they would.

1497
01:12:17,040 --> 01:12:18,600
Speaker 1: I thought they'd probably be under five hundred at this

1498
01:12:18,600 --> 01:12:20,360
Speaker 1: point of the season, but there are eleven and nine.

1499
01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:23,479
Speaker 1: They've stolen some wins. As I've said before, Now it's

1500
01:12:23,640 --> 01:12:26,000
Speaker 1: can they put together consistent performances, because some nights so

1501
01:12:26,040 --> 01:12:28,000
Speaker 1: look awesome. They beat the Spurs by like thirty. They

1502
01:12:28,040 --> 01:12:30,840
Speaker 1: just crushed Detroit, who for their record, They've been playing

1503
01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:32,439
Speaker 1: teams really tough. They gave the Lakers, but they beat

1504
01:12:32,479 --> 01:12:35,920
Speaker 1: the Lakers a couple of games ago, like they are. Yeah,

1505
01:12:35,960 --> 01:12:38,959
Speaker 1: they played teams really tough, and the Words absolutely walloped

1506
01:12:39,000 --> 01:12:42,360
Speaker 1: them on Saturday. So they have some really impressive wins,

1507
01:12:42,360 --> 01:12:44,479
Speaker 1: but they also have some terrible losses. They're just they're

1508
01:12:44,479 --> 01:12:46,600
Speaker 1: an inconsistent team with a lot of young guys, and

1509
01:12:46,640 --> 01:12:49,639
Speaker 1: I think if if they find they have so many

1510
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:51,760
Speaker 1: bad center minutes at this point, their center rotation might

1511
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:54,200
Speaker 1: be the worst in the entire league. And the Ubery

1512
01:12:54,280 --> 01:12:56,960
Speaker 1: minutes have just been absolutely killer. He's been he's having

1513
01:12:56,960 --> 01:12:59,160
Speaker 1: the worst season of his career by like a wide margin.

1514
01:12:59,160 --> 01:13:01,160
Speaker 1: He's been a little bit better lately, but if they

1515
01:13:01,160 --> 01:13:02,559
Speaker 1: can just find a way to shore up some of

1516
01:13:02,560 --> 01:13:04,479
Speaker 1: those minutes, I think they're they're still gonna be a

1517
01:13:04,560 --> 01:13:07,439
Speaker 1: dangerous playoff team just because Steph Curry is Steph Curry

1518
01:13:07,479 --> 01:13:09,680
Speaker 1: is still one of the three best offensive players in

1519
01:13:09,680 --> 01:13:11,160
Speaker 1: the league and one of the greatest offensive players of

1520
01:13:11,200 --> 01:13:13,000
Speaker 1: all time. I'd be more scared of them than I

1521
01:13:13,000 --> 01:13:14,720
Speaker 1: would be of Denver if I was a Laker fan.

1522
01:13:14,840 --> 01:13:18,320
Speaker 1: So agree with you all right? Man? Well, um, I

1523
01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:19,840
Speaker 1: feel like we hit on everything that we wanted to

1524
01:13:20,640 --> 01:13:22,800
Speaker 1: touch on. Um, we'll have to come up with a

1525
01:13:22,800 --> 01:13:25,519
Speaker 1: couple of more obscure teams that we can touch on

1526
01:13:25,560 --> 01:13:28,280
Speaker 1: next week to kind of keep with the theme of things. Um,

1527
01:13:28,320 --> 01:13:30,760
Speaker 1: But thank you to everybody who tuned in. This will

1528
01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:33,519
Speaker 1: be up in podcast format the entirety of it here,

1529
01:13:33,560 --> 01:13:35,879
Speaker 1: probably in about twenty minutes, but as usual, I appreciate

1530
01:13:35,880 --> 01:13:37,760
Speaker 1: you guys a support, and Tommy, I'll see you next week. Man.

1531
01:13:38,040 --> 01:13:38,720
Speaker 1: Sounds good, Man,