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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I here

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Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Wednesday. Everybody of all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having a great week. We are continuing our

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Speaker 1: player rankings today with number seven Victor Webbin Yama. We're

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Speaker 1: going to be doing a deep dive on Victor. Also

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a deep dive into the Fox

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Speaker 1: Victor partnership, one that we didn't see too much of

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Speaker 1: last year, but that didn't look overly smooth at first,

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Speaker 1: but I'm a little bit more bullish on it. We're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about what that partnership will look like

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Speaker 1: going into next season. After that, Patrick Beverly had a

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Speaker 1: comment saying that if Paul George had played with the

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Speaker 1: Warriors instead of Klay Thompson, they would have won more championships,

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Speaker 1: which is something that I disagree with and a classic

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Speaker 1: example of value in a vacuum versus value in your

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Speaker 1: specific team. So something I want to dive into at

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Speaker 1: the tail end of the show. You guys know the

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Speaker 1: joke before we get started. Subscribed to Hoops and I

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos,

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter and underscore JSNLT. So you guys

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Speaker 1: media fees on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure

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Speaker 1: you guys follow us there. And last, but not least,

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Speaker 1: if you guys want to get questions into our mail bags,

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Speaker 1: drop them underneath these full episodes on YouTube. Just put

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Speaker 1: mail bag with a colon. Write anything you guys have

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Speaker 1: a question about. We'll get to it on our Friday

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Speaker 1: mail bags. If you disagree with anything in the player rankings,

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Speaker 1: you can tell me why, tell me where you'd put

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Speaker 1: a player. Make a little elevator pitch, and we'll get

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Speaker 1: to it in our mail bags on Fridays throughout the

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Speaker 1: remainder of the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So you know, Lebron and Wemby being in this spot

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Speaker 1: here to me kind of represents two very different types

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Speaker 1: of conundrums in the sense that either one of these

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Speaker 1: guys you could rank very low because of their age

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Speaker 1: or very high because of their seiling. It's different. Like

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Speaker 1: many young players, Victor struggles to replicate his successes and

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Speaker 1: he struggles to minimize mistakes. Like last year, Victor Wemenyama

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Speaker 1: only scored thirty points in consecutive games twice all season long,

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Speaker 1: but on any given random night, he was able to

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Speaker 1: reach preposterous highs. Victor Wemnyam had his first fifty point

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Speaker 1: playoff game this year, excuse me, his first fifty point

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Speaker 1: game this season. He had a forty two point eighteen rebound,

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Speaker 1: four block game. He had a thirty five point eighteen

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Speaker 1: rebound game, a thirty five point fourteen rebound game, a

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Speaker 1: thirty ten game where the ten was blocks. He nearly

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Speaker 1: had four triple doubles with blocks, a twenty four to

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Speaker 1: thirteen with nine blocks, a thirty and seven with ten blocks,

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Speaker 1: a twenty three and fourteen with eight blocks, a thirteen

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Speaker 1: and twelve with eight blocks. He had a twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: game with twenty three rebounds against Denver, not his first

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty believe it or not. He had a forty

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Speaker 1: twenty one game when he was a rookie. These are

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Speaker 1: all statistical explosions that only a few players in the

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Speaker 1: entire league are capable of, and when it comes to blocks, especially,

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Speaker 1: he's kind of treading new ground that we've never seen

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Speaker 1: in the modern NBA. He's basically the only player in

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Speaker 1: the league capable of those stat lines. The block stats

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Speaker 1: with Victor will break break your brain. He had twenty

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Speaker 1: eight more blocks than any other player in the NBA

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Speaker 1: last year despite playing in just forty six games. He

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Speaker 1: averaged three point eight blocks per game, which led the league,

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Speaker 1: was second place just being two point four. So to

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Speaker 1: make that very clear, he averaged more than a time

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Speaker 1: and a half as many blocks as the second best

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Speaker 1: shot blocker in the NBA. So yeah, Victor is one

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Speaker 1: of those guys where, just like Lebron, it's kind of

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Speaker 1: like differentiating between Victor's youthful inconsistency versus Lebron's age related inconsistency,

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Speaker 1: but just the ridiculous, preposterous highs that those guys were

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Speaker 1: able to hit right now with Victor women Yama, is

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Speaker 1: he the type of guy that would be super high

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Speaker 1: on my list for guys I'd want in a big

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Speaker 1: playoff game. No, he has too many offensive awards right now,

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Speaker 1: and he's a young player who makes too many mistakes.

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Speaker 1: But his overwhelming overall basketball impact will easily make him

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Speaker 1: a top five regular season player this year when he's

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Speaker 1: healthy and on the floor at least, and his highs

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Speaker 1: will literally be as high as the highest highs that

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Speaker 1: any player could ever reach on a basketball court and

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Speaker 1: as far as the playoffs go, Like, yeah, do I

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Speaker 1: have some certain concerns about his ability to manage the

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Speaker 1: possession of possession stuff and on the offensive end there, sure,

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Speaker 1: but his defensive capabilities give him a high enough floor

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Speaker 1: in the postseason to keep him very high on this

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Speaker 1: list for me. So he came in at number seven

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Speaker 1: this year. But like I said, similar to what I

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Speaker 1: was talking about with Lebron on Monday, these two guys

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Speaker 1: in particular, make sure all time great who's young, and

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Speaker 1: a current all time great who happens to be very old.

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Speaker 1: These are two of the hot, the hardest guys to

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Speaker 1: rank on a list like this. So I would understand

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Speaker 1: if either with either of those guys, if you guys

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Speaker 1: have them substantially lower or substantially higher. Now let's get

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Speaker 1: into last season in review. For Victor, he played in

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Speaker 1: just forty six games after coming down with a blood

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Speaker 1: clot issue. He was pretty regularly available before that. He

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Speaker 1: had played in forty six of fifty two games before

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Speaker 1: that point, which means in the first season and a

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Speaker 1: half of his career, he had played in one hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventeen out of one hundred and thirty four possible

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Speaker 1: NBA games, So he was on pace to play seventy

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Speaker 1: plus games two seasons in a row in two tries.

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Speaker 1: So this particular injury, this blood clot thing, it's not

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Speaker 1: a foot or a knee or a back like that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff that typically plagues super tall guys. So

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Speaker 1: I'm expecting wemb to be generally available coming this year.

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Speaker 1: I didn't punish him for that on this particular list.

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Speaker 1: In those forty six games that he played, twenty four

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Speaker 1: point three points per game, eleven rebounds per game, and

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Speaker 1: four assists per game, to go with a staggering four

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Speaker 1: point nine stocks per game, which led the NBA by

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Speaker 1: country mile. As we discussed earlier his percentages, he was

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Speaker 1: forty eight percent from the field, thirty five percent from

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Speaker 1: three to eighty four percent from the line, fifty six

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Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage that's just field goal

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Speaker 1: percentage waited for threes, and fifty nine percent in true shooting,

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Speaker 1: which again is your efficiency waited for both threes and

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Speaker 1: your trips to the foul line. These were all improvements

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Speaker 1: year over year for Victor from his rookie season. Like

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Speaker 1: any superstar prospect in their first few seasons, he experienced

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Speaker 1: a new peak within the season. Often it's not like

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Speaker 1: an explosion each year. A lot of time, like Victor

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Speaker 1: actually got off to a pretty rough start to start

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Speaker 1: the season. He had that early game where Chet badly

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Speaker 1: outplayed him, if you guys remember, but from December Nintheen,

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Speaker 1: from December nineteenth to February fifth, the span of twenty

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Speaker 1: one games, he averaged twenty six points and twelve rebounds

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Speaker 1: with four point two blocks per game while shooting thirty

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Speaker 1: eight percent from three on nine attempts per game. It's

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Speaker 1: just become such an aggressive, high volume three point shoot

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Speaker 1: or something we're gonna talk a lot about when we

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Speaker 1: get further into this video. All right, let's dig into

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Speaker 1: some of the play type data. And I want to

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Speaker 1: start with Wemby as an off ball score. And the

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Speaker 1: reason why is I think this will inevitably be a

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Speaker 1: major swing factor for the Spurs moving forward because they

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Speaker 1: have Deer and Fox and Dylan Harper in such strong

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Speaker 1: play at the guard position. Stephan Castle and you know

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Speaker 1: Devin vessel Thing's players like that. Right, let's quick go

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Speaker 1: over Victor weban Yama's roleman numbers. Then we'll bring Fox

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Speaker 1: into the equation and talk about that partnership. So Victor

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Speaker 1: Weminyama logged one hundred and sixty three roleman possessions last

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Speaker 1: year and converted them at one point one seven points

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Speaker 1: per possession, which is very good. He shot just below

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Speaker 1: thirty three percent on pick and pop threes. That's obviously

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Speaker 1: not good. Strange because he was real good when he

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Speaker 1: was on the move in off screen situations, but it's

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Speaker 1: important to notice there that there's kind of a difference

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Speaker 1: in the movement. So Victor, we're gonna go over the

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Speaker 1: numbers later, but he shot really well coming off of

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Speaker 1: dribble handoffs or coming off of off ball screens from three.

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Speaker 1: So like imagine just running up to the ball, catching, turning,

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Speaker 1: and firing. In those situations, you're running towards the ball

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Speaker 1: and you have lots of steps to kind of load up.

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Speaker 1: You can run nice and low. You get your footwork

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Speaker 1: down plant that right left if you're running to your

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Speaker 1: left or your left right, if you're running to your

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Speaker 1: right and you have a chance to get all that

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Speaker 1: power up into the shot and rise and fire out

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Speaker 1: of ball screens. When you're popping out of ball screens,

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Speaker 1: you're typically back pedaling or shuffling sideways into the back right,

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Speaker 1: and as you're doing that, your momentum is going away

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Speaker 1: from the ball and away from the basket, and so

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Speaker 1: it's a little bit tougher to get your feet set

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Speaker 1: underneath you to get the lift you need to knock

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Speaker 1: down the shots. I think that is my best attempt

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Speaker 1: at an explanation for why Victor didn't shoot so well

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Speaker 1: on pick and pops, even though he shot really well

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Speaker 1: generally as a catch and shoot player, and especially coming

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Speaker 1: off of off ball screens. Right. We'll get into that

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Speaker 1: idea a little bit further when we get into the

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Speaker 1: off ball stuff, the off ball shooting stuff. He was

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Speaker 1: seventy one percent on twos out of pick and roll

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Speaker 1: as the rollman. Obviously, as great hands, he catches everything.

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Speaker 1: He's generally a great rim finisher too, like he shoots

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Speaker 1: over sixty percent on layups, which, as we've talked about,

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Speaker 1: can be a problem for some bigs in this league.

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Speaker 1: When they can't just dunk the ball. We talked about

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Speaker 1: this issue a lot with bam At Abaiyo, for instance.

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Speaker 1: He's also really good at driving closedouts. It's weird because

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Speaker 1: he's so upright and if there's a downside, he'll occasionally

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Speaker 1: turn the ball over in these situations as he tries

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Speaker 1: to kind of salal him through everybody. But he's usually

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Speaker 1: pretty good at using the threat of his shot to

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Speaker 1: get an angle on the closing defender, Like even if

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Speaker 1: they're a quick guard, he'll get that shoulder by him,

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Speaker 1: and then he just weirdly finds these angles to lollum

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Speaker 1: and euro three people and shoot layups. And he was

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Speaker 1: even fifty percent on twos driving closeouts and spot up situations,

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Speaker 1: for example, So pretty good putting the ball on the

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Speaker 1: floor when someone's sprinting at him. Now let's talk about

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Speaker 1: the Darren Fox partnership. It's important to note that because

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Speaker 1: of Victor's blood clot issue, these two just didn't get

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Speaker 1: much of a chance to gel. That's it. It didn't

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Speaker 1: look too good in the small sample. I actually went

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Speaker 1: back this morning and rewatched every single pick and roll

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Speaker 1: that Darren Fox ran with Victor Webbin Yama, and they

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Speaker 1: just didn't connect very often, especially in the pocket. There

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Speaker 1: were only about a half dozen possessions out of the

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Speaker 1: entire set of clips where Darren Fox actually managed to

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Speaker 1: successfully get the ball to Victor Wembenyama in the pocket.

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Speaker 1: I think I counted just one lob dunk in a

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Speaker 1: pick and roll situation. It just takes time to figure

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Speaker 1: out the timing in those pick and roll partnerships, and

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Speaker 1: it's especially hard with a guy like Fox. The guys

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Speaker 1: that we talked about this with Giannis and the difference

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Speaker 1: between like the the Dame fit versus the Kevin Porter

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Speaker 1: Junior fit, where like Kevin Porter Junior was a little

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Speaker 1: bit slower and more methodical, which helped Giannis get open

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Speaker 1: on the rolls, whereas Dame kind of had one speed

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Speaker 1: downhill and that was something that caused some limitations in

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Speaker 1: their pick and roll partnership over that stretch. Dame is

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Speaker 1: obviously a better player than Kevin Porter Junior by a mile.

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Speaker 1: I'm more just talking about specifically getting the ball to

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Speaker 1: Giannis in the pocket, which was something that Kevin Porter

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Speaker 1: kind of like naturally figured out how to do with Giannis. Similarly,

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Speaker 1: Darrean Fox is very downhill, very fast, not a ton

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Speaker 1: of change of pace, And so with that being the case,

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Speaker 1: the timing is going to be critical, and so I

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Speaker 1: think it's going to take a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: of reps. So I want to give like a nice

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Speaker 1: half of the season to give those two guys the reps.

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Speaker 1: They need to kind of figure out the timing and

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Speaker 1: when to slip out of screens, when to push downhill

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Speaker 1: versus when to for Fox to slow down and wait

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Speaker 1: for Wenby to open out things along those lines. Dylan Harper,

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Speaker 1: for example, all he has a little bit more of

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Speaker 1: a change of pace shiftiness to his game than Darren Fox.

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Speaker 1: He's a rookie, so I'm not expecting him to just

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Speaker 1: be this magnificent partner for Wemby right away. But don't

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Speaker 1: be surprised if, just like the natural flow of a

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Speaker 1: Dylan Harper Victor wemen Yama pick and roll looks a

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Speaker 1: little more naturally fluid than the Fox one, just because

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Speaker 1: he changes pace a little bit more and is a

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Speaker 1: little bit slower as he comes off of those screens.

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Speaker 1: The partnership was also kind of exacerbated negatively by two

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Speaker 1: other things. One, the spurs are generally a poor jump

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Speaker 1: shooting team, and Dearn Fox hit a lot of really

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Speaker 1: really nice skip passes in ball screens that just weren't

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Speaker 1: paid off. We're going to talk about that in a minute,

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Speaker 1: because Darren Fox is actually kind of sneaky good at that.

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Speaker 1: And then secondly, Dearren Fox has had a brutal perimeter

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Speaker 1: scoring stretch to end the season with San Antonio, something

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Speaker 1: I expect him to direct by this year. He shot

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Speaker 1: horribly from three and about five percent worse on his

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Speaker 1: floaters than he did in his previous full season in Sacramento.

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Speaker 1: So all of those things added up to a lackluster

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Speaker 1: debut for the Deer and Fox Victor women. Yam a partnership,

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Speaker 1: but I am overall optimistic about the types of shots

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Speaker 1: slash Audio. I'm concerned about the rest of the roster

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Speaker 1: and whether or not they'll be able to capitalize on

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Speaker 1: those shots, which we'll get to in a bit, But

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Speaker 1: I do think that they're going to be able to

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Speaker 1: get good shots. First of all, like I mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: I expect the timing to improve with reps, and I

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Speaker 1: expect Dearon Fox to have a better season as a

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Speaker 1: shot maker. But I also think there's real potential here

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Speaker 1: for this to be an action that generates a lot

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Speaker 1: of high quality threes for San Antonio. It wasn't just

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Speaker 1: the timing that led to Darn Fox failing to get

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Speaker 1: the ball to Wemby in pick and roll when he

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Speaker 1: was rolling to the basket. It also has a lot

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Speaker 1: to do with the gravity that Wemby has on the roll.

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Speaker 1: The whole defense reacts to Victor woman Yama when he's

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Speaker 1: rolling down the lane and Deern Fox, especially if you

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Speaker 1: can get him going towards his left hand. He's sneaky.

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Speaker 1: One of the better guys in the league at skipping

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Speaker 1: the ball across the court against loaded pick and roll coverages.

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Speaker 1: So imagine, if they're icing a ball screen along the

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Speaker 1: left wing and he's dribbling towards the left corner, he'll

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Speaker 1: whip it across the court if Victor rolls into the

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Speaker 1: lane and the guy comes off of the right corner

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Speaker 1: to tag, or if he's in the right wing and

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Speaker 1: he's coming towards the middle, if he manages to get middle,

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Speaker 1: or if he's in the middle of the floor like

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Speaker 1: where they can't ice, like if he's attacking from the

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Speaker 1: top of the key in a ball screen, if he

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Speaker 1: can get to that left hand, he's gonna whip it

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Speaker 1: to the right corner pretty consistently and generally. Dereon Fox

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Speaker 1: is one of the better guard ball handlers in the

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Speaker 1: league at reading the low man and finding those open

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Speaker 1: threes that come out of it. And so with that

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Speaker 1: being the case, if Wemby's gonna draw that type of attention,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna get a lot of really good threes. And

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Speaker 1: this is where it's gonna come down to the geometry

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Speaker 1: of the floor and setting things up in a way

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Speaker 1: so that the right guys get the ball. Because the

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Speaker 1: Spurs were really poor catch and shoot team last year.

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Speaker 1: They were bottom ten in converting catch and shoot jump

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Speaker 1: shots into points at just one point zero nine points

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Speaker 1: per shot. They have since added Kelly Olynyk, who will

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Speaker 1: help a little bit there, but this still looks like

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Speaker 1: a bad jump shooting team to me. So teams are

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Speaker 1: gonna guard the action by conceding skip threes. Like if

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Speaker 1: I'm game planning for San Antonio, I'm defending the Victor

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Speaker 1: Fox pick and roll three on two and I'm daring

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Speaker 1: you to beat me from the three point line. So

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Speaker 1: this is where floor geometry will be big. You have

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Speaker 1: to set it up so that the low man that's

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Speaker 1: coming over to help in these actions is coming off

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Speaker 1: of Harrison Barnes or Devin Vessel or Kelly Olynnok, and

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Speaker 1: fewer possessions where it ends up in guys like Steph

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Speaker 1: Castle's hands or Keldon Johnson, the situations along those lines.

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Speaker 1: That's the kind of floor geometry stuff that I think

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Speaker 1: will be important to make sure that the action is

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Speaker 1: as fruitful as it needs to be. And again, Dylan,

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Speaker 1: Dylan Harper, don't be surprised if he's more of a

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Speaker 1: natural fit right away with Wemby, even though he's not

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Speaker 1: going to be as NBA ready obviously is a guy

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Speaker 1: like Darren Fox is as a veteran. But I think

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Speaker 1: there will be some natural change of pay stuff there

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Speaker 1: that'll mesh nicely with Wemby. But with the Fox Wemby partnership.

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Speaker 1: If Fox shoots the ball well and if he can

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Speaker 1: skip the ball effectively enough and the Spurs can make

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Speaker 1: them pay enough, that's where it could open up those

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Speaker 1: opportunities for Wemby on the role. And then another thing

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Speaker 1: too is breaking out the pop again. Wenby didn't shoot

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Speaker 1: very well on picking pops last year. If you can

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Speaker 1: fix that, then you can start pop out of those

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Speaker 1: screens and it gets a lot harder to tag him

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Speaker 1: in those situations, and it just becomes a situation where

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Speaker 1: the paint's going to be more open for dearon Fox

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Speaker 1: to get downhill. Let's take into the rest of the

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Speaker 1: play type data first, the rest of the off ball scoring.

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Speaker 1: So Victor was excellent as a catch and shoot player

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Speaker 1: overall last year. He was thirty nine percent overall on

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00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,679
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jump shots, forty point three percent on

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty four unguarded catch and shoot jump shots.

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Speaker 1: It was really his like Iso face up off the

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Speaker 1: dribble stuff where his jump shot fell apart. Most of

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Speaker 1: his off the catch stuff was really efficient. He also

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00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,359
Speaker 1: shot exceptionally well as the trailing big in transition. He

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Speaker 1: shot forty two percent on eighty three attempts trailing the

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Speaker 1: play in transition from three. This goes back to that

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Speaker 1: footwork element we were talking about earlier, running towards the

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Speaker 1: ball momentum going towards the basket. As we mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: he shot the ball absurdly well when he was running

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Speaker 1: off of any of those off ball actions as well,

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Speaker 1: right coming off of a DHA, coming off of a

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Speaker 1: wide pin down, he shot over forty percent. He was

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Speaker 1: twenty five for sixty two from three running off of

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Speaker 1: off ball screens in DAH shows, which is funny because

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Speaker 1: like when I look back, if you guys remember when

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Speaker 1: the when his European team played against the G leagueing

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Speaker 1: Night team the Scoot Henderson Showcase where they played twice.

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Speaker 1: We did a video right after that and if you

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Speaker 1: guys remember, like my first big takeaway is that this

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Speaker 1: guy's like natural basketball inclination is to be like a

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Speaker 1: seven foot three inch tall Klay Thompson, like a guy

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Speaker 1: who's really comfortable running into shots, and that requires a

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Speaker 1: great deal of effort in footwork, and it requires a

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Speaker 1: great deal of effort in the weight room to build

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00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,159
Speaker 1: the leg strength in order to get the lift you

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00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: need to knock those shots down to be clear. A

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00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,240
Speaker 1: lot like this is not to say that Wemby won't

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Speaker 1: show off the dribble pop in his career. Of course

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Speaker 1: he will. I expect him to get better over the years,

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Speaker 1: but many super tall guys, including Kevin Durant, have had

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Speaker 1: this problem over the years, where like dribbling against active

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00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,199
Speaker 1: defenders or dribbling through traffic with the ball is just

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00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: harder to do because the ball has to travel so

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00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,200
Speaker 1: much further from the ground up to your hand every time,

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Speaker 1: and because they're thin, they're more susceptible to physicality. And

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Speaker 1: so that's a big part of why KD is such

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Speaker 1: a quick, decisive attacker, and why KD attacks off of

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00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,600
Speaker 1: so many off ball screens, and why he likes to

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Speaker 1: attack out a triple threat. Often those are situations that

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00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,639
Speaker 1: make it easier for KD to protect the ball. I again,

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00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:40,800
Speaker 1: I know that Wenby will get better as an off

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00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,639
Speaker 1: the dribble player, But to me, his ability to like

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00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,040
Speaker 1: just sprint into jump shots both in transition and in

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00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,800
Speaker 1: the half court coming off of screening action, that to

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00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 1: me is just an insane foundational offensive gift that should

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00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,359
Speaker 1: make him a very efficient scorer in this league for

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00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: a long time. Now, let's take a look at the

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00:20:58,000 --> 00:20:59,879
Speaker 1: on ball stuff kind of continues to fall into the

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Speaker 1: what I was just talking about between the difference of

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Speaker 1: like protecting the basketball with a live dribble or facing

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Speaker 1: the defender versus protecting the basketball when your back is

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00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 1: to the basket. So in ball screen situations, he ran

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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty six ball screens including passes, and

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00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,600
Speaker 1: generated one hundred and thirty three points. That zero point

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Speaker 1: nine to eight points per possession, which is slightly above average.

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Speaker 1: But interestingly enough, it came almost entirely down to his

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00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:29,240
Speaker 1: passing ability. Victor is a very natural read and react player.

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00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 1: His turnover issues mostly come down to dribbling through traffic

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Speaker 1: and physicality. He sees the floor very well. It's not

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Speaker 1: like he doesn't see help defenders and is just throwing

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00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 1: the ball away. It's a dribbling through traffic issue for

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00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: him in terms of the turnovers, but he sees the

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00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,720
Speaker 1: floor really well and in pick and roll, like when

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00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 1: he is running those inverted screens where guards are screening

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00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: for him, he's very good at hitting the guards slipping

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00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,280
Speaker 1: out of the screen, which generated a lot of advantage

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00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,239
Speaker 1: sequences for the Spurs last year. That paid off and

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00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 1: it extends to everywhere on his on his drives, he's

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00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: very good at hitting cutters along the baseline as helpers

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Speaker 1: react to out of the post. Very good at hitting

431
00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,160
Speaker 1: three point shooters as well as cutters along the baseline.

432
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 1: Has really good chemistry with Jeremy Sohan as a baseline

433
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:16,320
Speaker 1: cutter when he uncuts rolls in post up situations. But

434
00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: his one on one stuff is a mixed bag because again,

435
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,640
Speaker 1: even shooting out of pick and roll, like when he

436
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 1: was on the ball in pick and roll and tried

437
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 1: to do something himself rather than pass the ball, he

438
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 1: got to zero point seven to three points per possession

439
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:34,359
Speaker 1: with a twenty percent turnover rate. Again, that falls in

440
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: line with dribbling the basketball in traffic, the ball being

441
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,720
Speaker 1: in front of him right in ISO, he got to

442
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,400
Speaker 1: zero point six y nine points per possession when shooting

443
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 1: out of iso just hard to dribble at his height

444
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,959
Speaker 1: in traffic, and he just the other piece of that

445
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: is he just isn't a very good off the dribble

446
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,359
Speaker 1: jump shooter yet, But that I think will come in time.

447
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: I think the turnover issues to a certain extent, will

448
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: be something that he has to deal with throughout his

449
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,880
Speaker 1: career and he'll just have to be very diligent about

450
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,159
Speaker 1: the way that he looks to attack. But when he

451
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 1: was able to put his back to the basket, he

452
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,919
Speaker 1: was really good. Even with turnovers against physicality, even when

453
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: you factored those in, he just shot so efficiently that

454
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,679
Speaker 1: he was still just a hyper efficient post up player.

455
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,080
Speaker 1: He personally shot fifty nine percent out of the post.

456
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 1: One of the things that really helped over the tail

457
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: end of the season is he just got really quick

458
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 1: and decisive on the catch out of the post, and

459
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: he used fewer dribbles. If he had space, he would

460
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 1: just catch and turn right over his right shoulder, sometimes

461
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,879
Speaker 1: a simple right shoulder fade, sometimes a little one like

462
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: fade away over his right shoulder, but he would just catch,

463
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 1: turn fire, catch, turn fire, No waiting for the defense

464
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,160
Speaker 1: to react, no trying to make things overly complicated. If

465
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 1: he got a small guy on his hip, he would

466
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,800
Speaker 1: just like kind of pour Zingis esque, just turn directly

467
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,120
Speaker 1: into him and go straight up and down rather than fading.

468
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:55,360
Speaker 1: If he took a dribble, he would just take one

469
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: dribble bump and then go rather than dribbling too much.

470
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: He got much better at that towards the tail end

471
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: of the season. That is what allowed him to be

472
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,720
Speaker 1: fifty nine percent shooting out of the post. Including passes,

473
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,680
Speaker 1: he got one point one to one points per possession,

474
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,200
Speaker 1: even with a high turnover rate out of the post.

475
00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 1: That's sixty ninth percentile, so very very efficient as a

476
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: post player. His post passing is just super impressive, There's

477
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: no way around it. He is very good at finding cutters.

478
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: I mentioned that he has great chemistry with Steph Castle

479
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,640
Speaker 1: and Jeremy Sohan on cuts. He's very good at spraying

480
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 1: out to three point shooters against double teams. Just awesome

481
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: out of the post. The main area is that Wenby

482
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: needs to improve on offense in order to become a

483
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 1: bona fide top tier superstar. Couple of fundamental things handling

484
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,560
Speaker 1: physicality without turning the ball over guys just get up

485
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,679
Speaker 1: in his business and attack the basketball because they know

486
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 1: he's thin and they know he's upright. I think this

487
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 1: will always be somewhat of an issue for him, like

488
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 1: it's still an issue for Kadi, even at his age,

489
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: even as he has put on a little bit of

490
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 1: strength and as he has become more comfortable playing in

491
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 1: the WNBA or in the WNBA. Sorry, we have a

492
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 1: WNBA segment for a mail bag, so that has been

493
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 1: in my head. But Katie's been in the NBA a

494
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 1: long time and he's become comfortable. But he still deals

495
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:15,239
Speaker 1: with occasional turnover issues from his physicality, right, But you

496
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: can mitigate that by being very quick and decisive and

497
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: using more protected sequences. So coming off of off ball action,

498
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,400
Speaker 1: for example, you're not going to turn the ball over

499
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: there in the post. He can limit his turnovers there

500
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:29,239
Speaker 1: if he just continues to do what he did at

501
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,400
Speaker 1: the end of the season, which just being really quick

502
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 1: and decisive off the catch, trying not to dribble too

503
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: much through traffic, which is where things are going to

504
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,959
Speaker 1: go south. Secondly, he just needs to improve as an

505
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: off the dribble shot maker. He's a very good movement

506
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: shooter already, so the ability to shoot on the move

507
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 1: is not an issue. He just needs to connect that

508
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 1: dribbling to the shooting element. So it's like a fluidity

509
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,119
Speaker 1: piece that'll just come in time with lots of repetition.

510
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: I expect Victor to get better at that. And then

511
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier just the footwork piece of shooting out

512
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 1: a pick pop where he's like kind of shuffling and

513
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: backpedaling more than sprinting into shots. Improving his shooting in

514
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 1: that specific situation will help him a lot. The only

515
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 1: real big picture thing I have my eye on with

516
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 1: Wemby over the years is his ability to find a

517
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: reliable go to move. He is relying pretty heavily right

518
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: now on long distance jump shooting. So, for example, fifty

519
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 1: seven percent of Victor's shot attempts last year or at

520
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: least sixteen feet away from the basket, and he's actually

521
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,159
Speaker 1: trending further in that direction. As a rookie that was

522
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 1: only forty one percent, So he went from the majority

523
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 1: of his shots being inside of sixteen feet to now

524
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: the majority of his shots being outside of sixteen feet.

525
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: It's important to mention that he was efficient here because

526
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: he shot forty percent on long twos, and because he

527
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: shot well enough from three, he got one point zero

528
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: three points per shot on all those long jump shots.

529
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: That's fine, that's a reasonably efficient shot for him. But

530
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,639
Speaker 1: like we always talk about, there's a certain element of

531
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 1: variants that comes in that type of long distance jump

532
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: shooting on single possessions. Towards the end of games, you

533
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 1: want to have something reliable that you can go to

534
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 1: that is a short range scoring move that is less

535
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 1: susceptible to that variance. So, for instance, last year, Victor

536
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 1: took just forty nine jump shots inside of seventeen feet

537
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: and he shot just thirty two point seven percent on them.

538
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: He made just ten hooks and floaters all year on

539
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: just over forty percent. It's basically not a part of

540
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 1: his game. Right now, you want to know how Jokic

541
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: made fifty clutch shots last year on fifty six percent

542
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: from the field. It wasn't all just bullying dudes to

543
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 1: the rim. He also has a super reliable set of

544
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 1: short range scoring moves hooks, floaters, and short jump shots.

545
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,159
Speaker 1: We talked about similar things with guards guys like Kevin Durant,

546
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, shake yelj As Alexander. That's what drives their

547
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 1: reliability at the end of games. They can get to

548
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: inside of seventeen feet and they can knock those shots

549
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 1: down more than half the time. I've been critical of

550
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 1: Luca over the last year for seemingly moving away from

551
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 1: that part of his game after it carried him to

552
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,719
Speaker 1: a finals run in twenty twenty four. Wemby this season

553
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: was seventeen for forty six in the clutch, just thirty

554
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 1: seven percent, just five for twenty one on threes. Now,

555
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,119
Speaker 1: there's variance with long distance shooting under any circumstance, but

556
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 1: those shots, especially at the end of games, they just

557
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: get incredibly hard to make consistently. You're exhausted, there's a

558
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 1: ton of physicality, you're playing a truly locked in defense,

559
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,439
Speaker 1: playing their hardest defense of the game. The refs are

560
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 1: allowing more contact or swallowing their whistles. It's hard to

561
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: shoot from the perimeter in those situations. Okay, so what

562
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 1: does that look like for Wemby. What does the reliable

563
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 1: bit of short range shot making look like for Wemby?

564
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: To me, I think it's pretty clearly just that short

565
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: fade away over his right shoulder fighting for a position

566
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: in that ten to twelve feet away zone, or if

567
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 1: he's attacking with a lie dribble, just getting into some

568
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 1: contact in that eight to nine foot range and then

569
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: pounding into his spin by being able to shoot over

570
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: that right shoulder with that little short like thirteen fourteen

571
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: foot fade away. That's the kind of shot that I

572
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: think he could easily get up over fifty to fifty

573
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,719
Speaker 1: five percent on. He's already pretty naturally good at that shot.

574
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: He just needs to really increase the number of reps

575
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: so that it becomes more reliable for him in that situation.

576
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: From there, he just needs a counter. If guys are

577
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 1: going to overplay the right shoulder, he needs something he

578
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: can do over his left shoulder. An easy one there

579
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: is just a left shoulder hook or a left shoulder

580
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: fade if he prefers to shoot jump shots in that situation.

581
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: But getting something a basic move, counter move sequence that

582
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: he can use at the end of games out of

583
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 1: the post, just turning and out of iso, a hard

584
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: drive to the right, wait for the guy to cut

585
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: him off, just pound into that spin over his right shoulder.

586
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: Those are the types of moves that I think will

587
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: become really dependable for him over the years. What I

588
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 1: don't want to see is when we go the Tatum

589
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: route of over indexing towards large sample efficiency. The analytics

590
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: guys love that stuff. You put up some sick ass

591
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: basketball reference numbers when you do that sort of thing,

592
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: But those guys have a tendency to go insanely cold

593
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 1: in big spots, kind of like Tatum did in Game

594
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: one and two of the knickt series. Tatum went cold.

595
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 1: Team blew the series as a result. Like that, you

596
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: can't have your best player going that frosty cold in

597
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: such a big moment. But when you rely so heavily

598
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: on tough off the dribble three point shooting, it just

599
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 1: becomes really difficult to have game to game consistency. You're

600
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: susceptible to that sort of thing. There is a place

601
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: for that sort of thinking, meaning that the high volume

602
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: three point shooting. I believe in the value of the

603
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: three point shot. I'm not an idiot. I also think

604
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: taking them a lot to help boost efficiency is smart.

605
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: It just can't come at the expense of a well

606
00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: rounded approach to skill development, and you definitely need to

607
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 1: sacrifice a certain number of possessions each year, game to

608
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: game so that you can maintain some short range scoring rhythm,

609
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: especially right now, and Victor's not particularly good at it.

610
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: He's got to get good at it, and that's going

611
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: to come through repetition, and so I would be willing

612
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: to sacrifice a certain number of possessions, you know, three

613
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 1: four times a game where Victors go into that little

614
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 1: right shoulder fade away, maybe even a little bit more,

615
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: so that he can get really reliable with it so

616
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 1: that he can lean on it more at the tail

617
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: end of games. We talked about Wemby shop blocking earlier,

618
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 1: but I just want to go a touch deeper on

619
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 1: how incredibly gifted Victor wemen Yama is as a defender.

620
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: As I mentioned in the Anthony Davis video last week,

621
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: I think Wemby is far and away the best defender

622
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,840
Speaker 1: in the world at this point. Victor made a bad

623
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: defensive roster looked like a good defense when he was

624
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 1: on the floor. Last year, the Spurs played seven and

625
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: fifty possessions with Victor wemen Yama off the floor, according

626
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the Glass last year, and they posted a

627
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: one twenty two defensive rating in those possessions for perspective,

628
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz posted the word defensive rating in the

629
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: league last year at one to nineteen point four. Take

630
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 1: that same group of defensive talent, add Victor women Yama

631
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: three and forty one possessions a one to twelve point

632
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: four defensive rating. Her perspective, the Pistons ranked tenth in

633
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 1: defense last year at one twelve point five. So, in

634
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: other words, Victor women Yama's defensive talent is enough to

635
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 1: take effectively the worst defense in the NBA and turn

636
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 1: it into a top ten defense. The scheme versatility is

637
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 1: off the charts. He can defend in any pick and

638
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: roll coverage like He's insanely good as a drop coverage big,

639
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 1: but he can also come up to the level and

640
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 1: bother pull up shooters. His ISO numbers were a little

641
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 1: tricky because of his issues with Biggs, which we'll get

642
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: into in a minute, but guards in pick and roll

643
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: and switches he did very well on. He's insanely good

644
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,280
Speaker 1: as an off ball helper, like you'll just see these

645
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: highlights where a guy gets blocked at the rim and

646
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: he didn't even know Victor was in the play. He

647
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: just can shock people with his ability to cover ground,

648
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: any race mistakes from his teammates, and again, like if

649
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 1: you look at the ISO numbers, there are examples of

650
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis overpowering him, Jaron Jackson overpowering him. Jokic

651
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 1: obviously had some success against him one on one, but overall,

652
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: even with those guys, like there's random possessions and the

653
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: regular season games where those dudes just dropped their shoulder

654
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: and just went right through Victor women Yama. But then

655
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: he'll lock in at the tail end of a game

656
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: and get really physical and his length just becomes such

657
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: a factor that I still think he's pretty good at

658
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: defending those guys in a big spot anyway, even with

659
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 1: the giving up all the weight, Like there was a

660
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,520
Speaker 1: game against Denver last year, the one where they won

661
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 1: in Denver where Jokic was given gonna be a lot

662
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 1: of issues to get a lot of deep seals, getting

663
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: a lot of layups, but then two possessions at the

664
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 1: tail end of the game on the right block, he

665
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 1: played phenomenal defense, one where he absorbed the contact well,

666
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 1: stayed in front, and forced Jokich into an incredibly difficult

667
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: hook shot that Jokic made because he's fucking crazy good.

668
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: And then the next possession they went right back to

669
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 1: Jokic on the right block and Wemby smothered him so

670
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: bad that Jokic just threw the ball away and the

671
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 1: next thing you know, Devin Vessel was icing the game

672
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: with a dunk at the buzzer on the other end

673
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: of the floor. Like, even with those one on one

674
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,359
Speaker 1: situations where he's had some issues, I like, if there's

675
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: a five minute stretch at the tail end of a

676
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:27,200
Speaker 1: game where Victor needs to guard Jaron Jackson, this year,

677
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 1: I think he's going to figure out Jaron Jackson. You know,

678
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 1: he's just he's skinny, And there were times where it

679
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: was almost like he got caught off guard as one

680
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: of those dudes is just like I'm plowing through you

681
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,880
Speaker 1: right now. And so yeah, ISO numbers weren't great statistically

682
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 1: this year, but overall, he defended guards extremely well, and

683
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,360
Speaker 1: switches he defended well in every coverage. He defended as

684
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 1: an off ball defender extremely well. Even if you factor

685
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,759
Speaker 1: all that stuff in his overall like, even if we

686
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 1: want to get nitpicky, his overall total impact as a

687
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: defensive weapon is far and away way the best in

688
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 1: the league to me, so it feels lame to even

689
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: focus on that specific element of it. He gets shoved

690
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 1: around sometimes and he'll still break your offense, and that's

691
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 1: ultimately what sets him apart. And just wait until they

692
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,399
Speaker 1: actually surround him with some competent defensive players. That's when

693
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 1: you're really going to see a crazy level of defense

694
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: at a Victor womenyam in the Spurs. I'm not super

695
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: high on the Spurs this year. I don't think they

696
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 1: have very much talent on their roster compared to the

697
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 1: other top NBA teams. They're a really poor off ball

698
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 1: shooting team, and they don't have enough defensive talent to

699
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: be reliably great on that end night tonight. I think

700
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 1: they'll be a play in team this year. But I

701
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: am super high on Victor Woman Yama, and I think

702
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 1: he has the potential to explode onto the superstar scene

703
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 1: this year. He comes in at number seven in this

704
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: year's player rankings. All right, before we get out of

705
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 1: here today, Patrick Beverly said, quote, if you put Paul

706
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,719
Speaker 1: George in that role as Klay Thompson playing with Steph

707
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: Draymond Green and Iguadala, I think that golden State probably

708
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 1: wins more championships. I completely disagree with this, and I

709
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: don't mean it as an attempt to say that Clay

710
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,359
Speaker 1: was a better basketball player than Paul George at his peak.

711
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,320
Speaker 1: I don't think you can make that case. Paul George

712
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,839
Speaker 1: once finished third in MVP voting. He has three times

713
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 1: as many All NBA selections, including a first team All

714
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 1: NBA selection. But specifically, when you look at Klay Thompson's

715
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:32,000
Speaker 1: role on the Warriors and what they specifically needed from him,

716
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 1: I thought Clay was every bit as impactful in that

717
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: role as Paul George could have been, possibly even more so.

718
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 1: For starters. Klay Thompson is one of the most underrated

719
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,000
Speaker 1: defenders of all time. He only has one All Defense

720
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 1: selection in twenty nineteen he made second Team, but for

721
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: the entirety of his prime with the Warriors, he was

722
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 1: an excellent perimeter defender. He has great size and strength

723
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 1: for position. He can guard up and down. He could

724
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: guard Kyrie Irving well, but he could also guard Big

725
00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: Foard as well as well. Is good lateral quickness, can

726
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: slide his feet, excellent instincts. This is the big thing

727
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: that sets him apart. He was just always really good

728
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: at anticipating which ways guys would go and then beating

729
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: them to spots, getting good contests, taking contact, just getting

730
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 1: a good contest, Like I thought the Jalen Brown series

731
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two was a great example of this.

732
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: Like this was after his acl and achilles injuries. He

733
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,359
Speaker 1: struggled early in the series, so much so that they

734
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,880
Speaker 1: briefly switched Draymond Green onto Jalen Brown. But towards the

735
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: tail end of the series, especially in Game four and

736
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 1: in Game five, Clay guarded Jalen Brown phenomenally well and

737
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,880
Speaker 1: was just starting to anticipate his moves and was beating

738
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,640
Speaker 1: him to spots and taking that contact in the chest

739
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 1: like I think Clay is like. Don't get me wrong,

740
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 1: Paul George probably at his peak was a better defender

741
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,680
Speaker 1: than Clay, but that gap is much closer than we think,

742
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 1: and I don't think Paul George could have done much

743
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: better for the Golden State defense in this specific role

744
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 1: than Clay did over those years. And then on offense again,

745
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 1: it's important to look at what they needed out of

746
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 1: that role alongside Steph. Yes, Paul George in his prime

747
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 1: certainly would have been a much better lead option to

748
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: run an offense than Klay Thompson. But it's important to

749
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,239
Speaker 1: knowledge first of all, even then Paul was probably still

750
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: not good enough to do it at a championship level,

751
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 1: and we're discussing it. In the role of playing alongside Steph,

752
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 1: the Warriors offense was all about read and react basketball,

753
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 1: quick decision making, very little dribbling, playing with an advantage

754
00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,320
Speaker 1: when Steph was off the floor. Clay was able to

755
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: provide a reasonable facsimile of what Steph did as an

756
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: off ball shooting gravitational force so that the Warriors could

757
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:42,880
Speaker 1: run the same offense and essentially kind of keep some

758
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 1: continuity there. And he was an absolute monster on the

759
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:49,279
Speaker 1: floor alongside Steph, benefiting from his gravity bringing much of

760
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,400
Speaker 1: his own kind of a counterbalance effect like in that

761
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:54,280
Speaker 1: role is so important. I mean, look at the job

762
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: that we've seen guys, Like when Buddy Heal played well

763
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,800
Speaker 1: last year on the Knights. That Buddy Heield played well,

764
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 1: they looked like old Warriors teams. It was Buddy Heeld's

765
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,800
Speaker 1: inconsistency that ended up being a problem, right, But Clay

766
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 1: Thompson brought that pretty consistently every night during that era.

767
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,919
Speaker 1: And that was what allowed that Warriors offense to reach

768
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: the level that they did. Clay wasn't as good as Steph,

769
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: but his shooting ability was immensely valuable to that Golden

770
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 1: State team. Now, could Paul George have won a title

771
00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 1: with Steph? Sure, But I just pushed back on the

772
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,960
Speaker 1: idea that they somehow would have been better or that

773
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,760
Speaker 1: they would have won more. That's just not how basketball works.

774
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,920
Speaker 1: It's so much more complicated than that. Your value as

775
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,879
Speaker 1: a player is unique to your role, unique to what

776
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,880
Speaker 1: the team needs out of you. I actually found this

777
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 1: concept generally within modern team building to be very interesting.

778
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,319
Speaker 1: We've talked about it with Luca, and the idea like

779
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:53,319
Speaker 1: essentially that when you have a supreme offensive engine, you

780
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: don't need to track down another top tier superstar to

781
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 1: push you over the top. When you have a supreme offense,

782
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 1: the game is so easy that you can rely on

783
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: just a really really good star and then really high

784
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:11,000
Speaker 1: level role player talent around them, right like Lebron James

785
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,560
Speaker 1: with Kyrie Irving, for example, or Steph Curry with Klay Thompson,

786
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,960
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokic with Jamal Murray. Luka Danci hasn't won a

787
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 1: title yet, but he got close with Kyrie, right, I

788
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: do believe that Luca could win one without a superstar teammate.

789
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 1: They certainly need to be surrounded by talent. I'm not

790
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 1: trying to say you don't need talent, but you open

791
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: yourself up to being able to surround those guys with

792
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: really high level role players, because those offensive initiators generate

793
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,880
Speaker 1: such insane advantages that even high level role players can

794
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:47,439
Speaker 1: fill a real role on offense, Like Draymond Green's role

795
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 1: on offense was unlocked by Steph's shooting gravity. It's what

796
00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:56,880
Speaker 1: made that work the guys like Luca and Lebron. There

797
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:58,680
Speaker 1: are not a lot of teams where you can just

798
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 1: surround one guy with a bunch of shooters and the

799
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,880
Speaker 1: offense is great. It worked with those guys because they

800
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: were setting those guys up with such high quality three

801
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,840
Speaker 1: point shots and because they were able to absorb so

802
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:13,400
Speaker 1: much usage. And again, Luca hasn't done it at a

803
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: championship level yet, but I believe he eventually will, and

804
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:20,880
Speaker 1: Lebron did. Right, They need some support, right, Steph doesn't

805
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: win the title without Klay Thompson. Lebron James doesn't win

806
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 1: the title without Kyrie Irving, Luka donor excuse me, Nikole

807
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,919
Speaker 1: Jokic doesn't win the title without Jamal Murray. But those

808
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: are guys that are like clearly off of that superstar tier,

809
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 1: that are really good at one thing. For Klay Thompson,

810
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 1: it's nuclear shooting. He's probably the second best shooter of

811
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 1: all time. And with Kyrie Irving and Jamal Murray, it's

812
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 1: that just bucket getting. It's the random possession here or

813
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: there where you just need that guy to create a

814
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 1: great shot. Having these elite offensive engines gives you the

815
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: ability to build a roster that is open to more

816
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: of that depth of role player talent and less dependent

817
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 1: on superstar. So you give those guys a legit superstar

818
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: and they're just gonna win easy right, Like Steph got

819
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: KD he won two easy ones. Lebron had Anthony Davis

820
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: as a top five player one season after that year,

821
00:42:14,239 --> 00:42:17,280
Speaker 1: AD declined pretty quickly into that like second tier of stars.

822
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:20,240
Speaker 1: But when Lebron had Ad as a top five player,

823
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,720
Speaker 1: that was the easiest title he won. No one threatened

824
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,719
Speaker 1: to that team in twenty twenty because you had two

825
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,040
Speaker 1: players at that level. If you gave Jokic, Shake Gildess, Alexander.

826
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,919
Speaker 1: They're winning the title this year easy. But those guys

827
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 1: don't need that. They are capable of winning with really

828
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,480
Speaker 1: high level role player talent because of their ability to

829
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: generate such easy offense for their teams. I just think

830
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,759
Speaker 1: like I just think Pat's comments are both a lack

831
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:51,080
Speaker 1: of understanding of what made the Warriors great, which started

832
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 1: with Steph creating easy roles for everyone, and then I

833
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 1: think it under sells what Clay did there, his ability

834
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: to impact games kind of at the level of that

835
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:03,719
Speaker 1: of a superstar in his role. Some of the craziest

836
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,200
Speaker 1: moments in Warrior's history were off the fingers of Klay

837
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,719
Speaker 1: Thompson when he would just get blazing hot, or when

838
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 1: he would sit down in his stance and play incredible

839
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 1: on ball defense against a star on the other team.

840
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:17,520
Speaker 1: And I just think he deserves more credit for what

841
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 1: he accomplished there. All right, guys, That's all I have

842
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:21,680
Speaker 1: for today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys for

843
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:23,799
Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back

844
00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:26,279
Speaker 1: on Friday with our mailbag. I will see you guys there.