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

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Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had

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Speaker 1: an incredible weekend. We are also live on AMP, so

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Speaker 1: if you're listening on YouTube or on the podcast feeds,

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Speaker 1: don't forget that AMP is the very first place that

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Speaker 1: you guys can get these shows. Getting to the top

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Speaker 1: five of our top twenty five players of the last

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Speaker 1: twenty five years today with number five Shaquille O'Neil. And

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Speaker 1: then we also have a little game that we're gonna

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Speaker 1: play off the top of the show that we stole

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Speaker 1: from Uncle Colin, who runs the company here at the Volume.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore

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Speaker 1: json lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

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Speaker 1: And for whatever reason you guys miss one of these

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Speaker 1: videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish,

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Speaker 1: don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Under Hoops tonight to be doing some mail bag questions

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Speaker 1: the rest of this week and potentially into the future,

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Speaker 1: so don't forget to drop some mail bag questions in

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Speaker 1: the comments on YouTube as well. All Right, one other things,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry about the delay starting Tuesday this week. I

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Speaker 1: have not gotten sick since I caught COVID back in

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Speaker 1: late twenty twenty. I was one of the early people

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Speaker 1: that got it, and I've been on this crazy hot

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Speaker 1: streak of somehow avoiding getting like legitimately sick, like I'll

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Speaker 1: feel under the weather here and there, but like never

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Speaker 1: like truly be dead to rights like sick. And I

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Speaker 1: got hit like a truck on Thursday night and so

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Speaker 1: that kind of messed up the whole weekend and that

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Speaker 1: was why we ended up delaying to start this week.

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Speaker 1: So bear with me a little bit as well. With

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Speaker 1: my voice. I've had a pretty bad cough, so that

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Speaker 1: will be something I had to deal with a little

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Speaker 1: bit today. But glad to be here. We're just gonna

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Speaker 1: be going Tuesday through Saturday instead of Monday through Friday.

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Speaker 1: But same kind of cadence like we've been doing. So

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do a game called fake Questions, real Answers.

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Speaker 1: We're not gonna do it regularly. I'm just stealing it

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Speaker 1: today because I think it's perfect for this particular theme,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be centered around the FOBA World Cup

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Speaker 1: basketball tournament. The way this works Colin Coward does this

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Speaker 1: on his show all the time. But basically, you just

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a fake question that kind of centers

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Speaker 1: around a topic with Team USA or with Foeba, and

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Speaker 1: then I'll give you guys an answer from there. So

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Speaker 1: fake question number one, Does Team USA losing to Lithuania

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Speaker 1: mean anything for that USA World Champion debate that was

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Speaker 1: going around a couple weeks ago. As you can probably guess,

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Speaker 1: the answer is no. There are three reasons why. One.

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Speaker 1: Basketball is very high variant sport. There's a reason why

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Speaker 1: even the greatest basketball team of all time, the nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety six Bowls, lost thirteen basketball games. That's a lot

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Speaker 1: of basketball games for the greatest team ever to lose. Right,

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Speaker 1: how does it happen any of you guys who've ever

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Speaker 1: played pick up basketball or play in your men's league

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Speaker 1: or anything along those lines. You get into a game

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Speaker 1: where you're the better team, right, but you come out

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Speaker 1: and you're a little acadeiical that other team really wants

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Speaker 1: to beat you, so they're bringing a ton of effort

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Speaker 1: and energy. Maybe they get really hot from three and

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Speaker 1: make some shots early. Suddenly you look up you're down

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Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty points and you're like, oh shit, guys,

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Speaker 1: we better get it together and start playing hard. And

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Speaker 1: so then you start playing hard and you make a

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Speaker 1: run and you get back into the game. But by

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Speaker 1: the time you get back into the game, now you're

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Speaker 1: exhausted because it takes a ton of energy to get

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Speaker 1: back into the game. And then maybe they hit a

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Speaker 1: couple more shots because they're feeling good because they've been

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Speaker 1: shooting well all game, and then suddenly you look up

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Speaker 1: at the scoreboard and you're down by eight with four

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Speaker 1: minutes left, and you're like, holy shit, we're about to

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Speaker 1: lose this thing. It's a very common thing that happens

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Speaker 1: in the game of basketball, right, and that's literally what

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Speaker 1: happened against Lithuania. USA came out really slow, especially on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. Lithuania is playing with

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Speaker 1: a shit ton of force, like they were cutting hard,

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Speaker 1: they were screening hard, they're running hard in transition. Everything

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Speaker 1: they were doing with the basketball or without the basketball

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Speaker 1: was done with a ton of physical force. They really

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Speaker 1: wanted to beat the US team and US wasn't playing

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Speaker 1: The US guards in particular, weren't playing any damn defense

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Speaker 1: to start this particular game. I was tracking it this

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Speaker 1: morning because I've rewatched the entire game, and the sheer

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Speaker 1: amount of wide open threes they gave up in the

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Speaker 1: first quarter was ridiculous. Like there was a little pick

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Speaker 1: and roll off the right wing, and Josh Hard is

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Speaker 1: guarding a shooter on the left wing, right on the

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Speaker 1: left wing, and instead of like staying in a position

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Speaker 1: where he can close out, he just sits down at

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Speaker 1: the foul line and the guy just makes a simple

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Speaker 1: swing pass over to a wide open shooter. It's too

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Speaker 1: much help at the nail. You got to find a

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Speaker 1: sweet spot there. It's one thing that the dude's getting toasted,

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Speaker 1: but you can't just completely ignore a shooter without really

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Speaker 1: serving any purpose, right, And there was possession after that

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Speaker 1: where Jonas Valanchuniz hit a pick and pop three on

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Speaker 1: the right wing. Anthony Edwards was literally jogging around the screen.

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Speaker 1: So as a result, I think it was Pala Boncaro

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Speaker 1: that was in the BA screen. Pallevankara had no choice

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Speaker 1: but to step up and help and ignore Jonas Valentunis,

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Speaker 1: who popped back and hit the three possession. After that,

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Speaker 1: there was a Yonas post up on the right block.

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards runs over in double teams along the baseline.

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Speaker 1: This was his double team. Just kind of went over

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Speaker 1: like this and was standing under the basket, didn't actually

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Speaker 1: get close to Yonas, didn't disrupt the pass, literally did

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Speaker 1: nothing but stand there like this, and Yonas threw a

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Speaker 1: skip pass. Jalen Brunson made the rotation, but Josh Hart

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Speaker 1: didn't make the rotation to the next guy. Swing swing,

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Speaker 1: wide open three on the left wing, like wide open,

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Speaker 1: like practice threes that these guys were making. By the way,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards had a really, really nice offensive game against Lithuania,

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Speaker 1: but he was terrible on the defensive end, especially in

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Speaker 1: the first half. Just wasn't trying and legitimately was a

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Speaker 1: big problem in their defense. The last one I put

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Speaker 1: down was there's a they ran a Spain pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: which again that's where you have a shooter underneath the basket,

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Speaker 1: you run your pick and roll and then they change

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Speaker 1: right and Anthony Edwards was guarding the shooter underneath the

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Speaker 1: basket and just ignored his man and was kind of

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Speaker 1: like just floating around in the middle of the floor.

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Speaker 1: I think Walker Kessler was in the game at this point.

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Speaker 1: Walker Kessler's in a drop coverage on the pick and

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Speaker 1: roll and he's in position to handle everything at the rim,

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Speaker 1: and Ant's just overhelp it, just floating around doing nothing.

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Speaker 1: Swing pass once again, Jalen Brunson makes the rotation to

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Speaker 1: the wing of Anthony Edwards, misses the rotation to the corner.

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Speaker 1: Wide open, stand still practice, wide open three. He knocks

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Speaker 1: it down, right, I mean, that's that's four just in

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Speaker 1: the first quarter, completely uncontested threes, and they made all

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Speaker 1: four of them. And like, you know, it's funny we

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Speaker 1: talk about we talk a lot about hot shooting, right,

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Speaker 1: what do I always say on the show, Like when

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Speaker 1: a guy makes a lot of tough shots later in

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Speaker 1: the game, usually if you go back, you can find

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Speaker 1: early portions of the game where those guys got wide

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Speaker 1: open shots. Because once you know all these professional basketball players,

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Speaker 1: they're professional basketball players, like they do this shit every

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Speaker 1: single day, and so when they feel good about themselves

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Speaker 1: and they feel confident, they can make shots, contested shots.

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Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, a basketball

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Speaker 1: player as a basketball player, contested a contest as a contest,

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Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter if it's brandon Ingram contesting you

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Speaker 1: or whoever the hell it is. If you're a great shooter,

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Speaker 1: because you're a professional basketball player and you made three

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Speaker 1: wide open threes in the first quarter and you get

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Speaker 1: a late clock situation and you're getting smothered and you

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Speaker 1: just throw some shit up. You're feeling good about yourself.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna make those sometimes, And so I think those

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Speaker 1: things are always intricately connected, right, And this is just

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Speaker 1: part of the way that the game of basketball works.

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Speaker 1: And that's why you've seen your favorite NBA team lose

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Speaker 1: to a lesser team in the regular season. You've probably

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Speaker 1: seen that flow happen before. That's why we call it

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Speaker 1: March Madness in the NCAA tournament when it's single elimination,

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Speaker 1: because good teams lose to bad teams all the time

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Speaker 1: in single game sample sizes, Right, That's why the NBA

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Speaker 1: uses a seven game series so that we can truly

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Speaker 1: determine who the better basketball team was, because in any

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Speaker 1: one game sample, a team can get hot, a team

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Speaker 1: can bring better effort, an executional era, or all those

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Speaker 1: sorts of things can be a wrinkle in a one

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Speaker 1: game sample size. So does the USA losing to Lithuania

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Speaker 1: mean anything about Team USA and the world champion debate? No,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't. Reason number two international teams experience much better

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Speaker 1: continuity than Team USA does. A gold medal for Team

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Speaker 1: USA is expected rather than respected, and so as a result,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of a low reward, high risk proposition for

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Speaker 1: most NBA players. Also, the NBA season is an extremely

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Speaker 1: long season, and so a lot of guys just want

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Speaker 1: to take a break. So Team USA has a wildly

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Speaker 1: different roster for every tournament. Why does that matter? Think

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Speaker 1: about how much we talked about continuity this last year,

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Speaker 1: the last two years with Denver and Golden State. Right,

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Speaker 1: continuity matters. Players figure out their hierarchy. Your stars figure

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Speaker 1: out who's kind of like where they're at in the

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Speaker 1: pecking order. Right, all your role players get deeply familiar

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Speaker 1: with their roles and they learn how to excel in

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Speaker 1: those roles. The coaches get a really good pulse for

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Speaker 1: the team and understand the highs and lows and how

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Speaker 1: to kind of like navigate that. Right, It's really difficult,

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Speaker 1: and it's difficult in a large sample size, like we

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Speaker 1: were talking about continuity with other teams that had significantly

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Speaker 1: more time to get together. Right now, we're talking about FEBA,

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Speaker 1: and it's like you get a couple of weeks of practice,

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Speaker 1: and you get like a couple of exhibition games, then

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Speaker 1: you get five pool play games or three pool play games,

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Speaker 1: and two second round games, and then you go right

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Speaker 1: into single elimination. And so it's a significant disadvantage for

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Speaker 1: Team USA in particular that they have just different groups

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Speaker 1: of people in every single tournament, whereas for these international teams,

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Speaker 1: because literally winning a World Cup or winning an Olympic

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Speaker 1: tournament is a gigantic achievement. I would argue, if you

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Speaker 1: asked Luka Doncic, what would you rather win in your

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Speaker 1: career an Olympic medal gold medal with Slovenia or a

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Speaker 1: Foebo World Cup gold medal with Slovenia or winning a

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Speaker 1: title with the Dallas Mavericks. I bet you, he says Slovenia,

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Speaker 1: because these for these guys, it matters so much more

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Speaker 1: because if you win one of those tournaments, it's such

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Speaker 1: a remarkable achievement. There's a different level of pride playing

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Speaker 1: for your country that exists outside of that because of

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Speaker 1: that risk reward element. I don't think it's a lack

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Speaker 1: of pride for Team USA. I think it's literally just

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Speaker 1: like it's hard for them to feel the urgency that

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Speaker 1: a lot of these other teams feel, and so they

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Speaker 1: have better continuity in their roster from tournament to tournament.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge it's a significant advantage when we get

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Speaker 1: to these tournaments. I mean honestly, like guys, like even

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Speaker 1: the Team USA basketball teams that get gold medals typically

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Speaker 1: like underperform, right, I mean, like they win and then

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Speaker 1: you're like, man, but I mean it was kind of

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Speaker 1: close there with Spain for a minute, you know, or like, man,

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Speaker 1: it was close against this other team for a minute,

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Speaker 1: Like yeah, they should have won all these games by thirty, right,

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Speaker 1: And it's because of that continuity. And I would argue,

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Speaker 1: if you give one of those teams all, you know,

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Speaker 1: nine months together to build that continuity and understanding, our

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Speaker 1: Team USA teams would kick the shit out of these

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Speaker 1: these international teams. But it's it's just kind of the

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Speaker 1: nature of the beast. Right. Reason number three why Team

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Speaker 1: USA losing to Lithuania does not mean anything for the

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Speaker 1: World Championship debate a real Team USA would kick the

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Speaker 1: living shit out of the rest of the world teams.

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Speaker 1: Our starters would be Steph Curry, Jason Tatum, Lebron James,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis. Not only is that a ridiculously

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Speaker 1: talented starting lineup, but every single one of those players

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Speaker 1: in that group compliments the others extremely well. All of

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Speaker 1: them know how to play off the ball and on

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Speaker 1: the ball, all of them know how to play defense.

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Speaker 1: All of them have a consistent reputation as guys who

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Speaker 1: are willing to do the dirty work to win basketball games.

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Speaker 1: Your bench would be Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker,

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Speaker 1: Damian Lillard, bam Adebayo, Anthony Edwards, and Jalen Brown. That's ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: These are players and by the way, I just based

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Speaker 1: that off my top twenty five players list this summer.

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Speaker 1: Here are players who would get cut from Team USA's

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Speaker 1: twelve man roster. Paul George Brandon, Ingram Kyrie Irving, Jalen Brunson,

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Speaker 1: Darreon Fox, Donovan Mitchell, Trey Young, James Harden. I can

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Speaker 1: go on, in, on and on. I'm sorry, but it's

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Speaker 1: just not close like the world is catching up. Yes,

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Speaker 1: like three of the top five players in the world,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, are not Americans. Right, in the global sense,

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Speaker 1: the game is growing significantly. I don't think it'll be

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Speaker 1: long before you could make a Team World that would

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Speaker 1: beat Team USA. And arguably with the top end guys

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Speaker 1: like Yo Kitchen Jannis, Like, arguably Team World beats Team USA.

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Speaker 1: But there is no Team World, right, There's just these

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Speaker 1: other countries, right, and each of those countries are improving

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Speaker 1: little by little, but Team USA still has everybody lapped

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Speaker 1: in this department. We just don't send our best players.

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Speaker 1: So like again, like when we have these discussions, like

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Speaker 1: I think it's important to differentiate between the health of

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Speaker 1: the rest of the world when it comes to basketball.

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Speaker 1: The game of basketball is growing, and I think it's

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Speaker 1: so good. But that's not the same as the NBA

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Speaker 1: not being the best professional league in the world. It's

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Speaker 1: still the team. It's like the NBA basketball gigantic chasm.

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Speaker 1: And then you're gonna get to your euro leagues and

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Speaker 1: your you know, uh, the NBL and Australia and leagues

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Speaker 1: like that, right, Like that's where there's a gigantic chasm.

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Speaker 1: It's not the same. And that's why, Like, I'm okay

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Speaker 1: with NBA players calling themselves the best in the world

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Speaker 1: and things along those lines. I think that's a reputation

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Speaker 1: that the league has earned. All Right, our second FEBA

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Speaker 1: related fake question, Jason Austin Reeves got barbecued by Lithuania yesterday.

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Speaker 1: He gave up twelve points and five post ups. Steve

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Speaker 1: Kerr had to pull him from the game. Does that

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Speaker 1: mean the hype has gotten out of control and that

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Speaker 1: Austin isn't that good? No, doesn't mean anything. First of all,

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Speaker 1: tam USA is a unit got their ass kicked in

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Speaker 1: that game, especially on the defensive end. I just broke

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Speaker 1: down for you guys in the last segment all the

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Speaker 1: little ways that Team USA wasn't sharp defensively and was

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Speaker 1: giving up wide open shots. Just the four possessions I

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Speaker 1: broke down where as many points as Austin gave up

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Speaker 1: in post ups in that game. Right, Also, we have

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Speaker 1: a large sample size that Austin is a very good

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Speaker 1: post defender. Austin played sixteen playoff games this this year

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Speaker 1: for the Lakers. He got posted up six times and

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Speaker 1: got five stops. That's right, he gave up one bucket

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Speaker 1: in six attempts that teams tried to post him up.

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Speaker 1: Austin got posted up by the opponent thirty three times

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Speaker 1: in the regular season this year, about once every other

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Speaker 1: game and allowed just eighteen points. That zero point five

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Speaker 1: to five points per possession, when you try to post

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Speaker 1: up Austin Reeves, that's outstanding. Before the Lithuania game for

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Speaker 1: Team USA, other countries tried to post up Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: nine times and he allowed just six points, forcing four turnovers.

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Speaker 1: He had a bad game. He got absolutely flambayed, barbecue destroyed,

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Speaker 1: cooked in the post against Lithuania. That's a fact. Sorry guys.

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Speaker 1: But again, like that was, like I said, a part

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Speaker 1: of that confidence, like right, Like Lithuania makes a bunch

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Speaker 1: of shots in the first half, they're feeling themselves. I

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Speaker 1: mean Instagram yesterday was just a NonStop barrage of like

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Speaker 1: screenshots of Lithuanian players like smirking and making faces at

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Speaker 1: different American players while they were busting their ass. They

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Speaker 1: didn't lose that game because of Austin Reeves. Austin Rey's

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Speaker 1: played like shit. He played like shit. He got his

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Speaker 1: ass kicked. But you don't erase an entire year's worth

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Speaker 1: of sample size over one basketball game. It Posting up

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves has been a bad idea for professional basketball

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Speaker 1: players all year, and Lithuania having a great night does

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Speaker 1: and change that. Here's the thing with Austin Reeves, and

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Speaker 1: there's a reason why I brought him up today because

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Speaker 1: he's getting a lot of attention this summer off of

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Speaker 1: a great playoff run and off of this Tmosa experience. Right, Yes,

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Speaker 1: he's been getting a ton of attention. Yeah, he's a Laker,

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Speaker 1: and Laker fans are a lot. They're a lot, right,

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Speaker 1: They're loud, they're obnoxious. Like, you guys know, I'm not

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Speaker 1: necessarily a Lakers fan. I just root for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: because I'm a Lebron James fan. But I have a

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Speaker 1: lot of interactions with Lakers fans. I understand it, like,

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Speaker 1: I get it. I get what the frustration is for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people. Like they get a lot of attention,

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Speaker 1: they get all the coverage. You guys got to understand

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Speaker 1: the business side of it, right, Like, nobody does this

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Speaker 1: for free, like except for people that are trying to

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Speaker 1: get paid to do this, right, And all of the

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Speaker 1: companies out there are getting paid to do this, and

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Speaker 1: so they're gonna do what's in the best interest of

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Speaker 1: their company. And so they're gonna talk Lakers, and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk Warriors, and they're gonna talk Celtics, and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk Nicks, and they're gonna talk big markets because

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Speaker 1: that's what drives revenue. And all these people got families

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Speaker 1: to pay to feed, right, So, like it's just the reality.

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Speaker 1: You guys see it on this show, Like we do

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Speaker 1: a lot of Lakers Warriors content. We cover the rest

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Speaker 1: of the league, but we do a lot of Lakers

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Speaker 1: Warriors content, right because I got bills to pay, man, Like,

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Speaker 1: we gotta, we gotta, you know, acknowledge the realities of that,

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Speaker 1: right And so I get it. I get all the hype,

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Speaker 1: and I get that that's been frustrating. But here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: Austin's also really damn good at basketball. He scored twenty

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Speaker 1: plus point ins twenty plus points in the playoffs eight

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Speaker 1: times this year. He averaged seventeen points, four rebounds, and

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Speaker 1: five assists on sixty two percent true shooting while sharing

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Speaker 1: the court. That was all in the playoffs, by the way,

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Speaker 1: while sharing the court with Lebron, James, Anthony Davis, Dennis Roder,

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Speaker 1: and DiAngelo Russell. Splitting touches with all those guys seventeen

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Speaker 1: four and five on sixty two percent true shooting. Think

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Speaker 1: about how you guys view Desmond Bayane as a player.

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Speaker 1: He has nine twenty point playoff games in his career

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Speaker 1: in three playoff runs, and his career playoff averages seventeen points,

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Speaker 1: the same as Austin Reeves. Think about how you think

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Speaker 1: of Karl Anthony Towns. He has just seven twenty point

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Speaker 1: playoff games in three playoff runs. Think about Jordan Poole.

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Speaker 1: I bet every Warriors fan listens to the show thinks

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Speaker 1: Jordan Poole is a better player than Austin Reeves. I'd

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Speaker 1: argue Austin Reeves is better right this second, but that

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Speaker 1: Jordan Pool is going to be better because he is

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Speaker 1: all this upside. He's such a freak athlete, right, Like

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Speaker 1: Jordan Poole in the long run is going to be

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Speaker 1: a better player than Austin. But like most Warriors fans

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Speaker 1: would argue that Jordan Pool's better than Austin Right, thirty

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Speaker 1: five career playoff games, He's only scored twenty plus nine

359
00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:23,960
Speaker 1: times in those thirty five playoff games, and his career

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Speaker 1: playoff average is fourteen and a half. Austin did it

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Speaker 1: eight times in one season. Guys in half as many games.

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Speaker 1: Like Austin's legit. He's outrageously efficient. He can do it

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Speaker 1: as a primary initiator. He literally closed out the Memphis

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Speaker 1: Grizzlies in Game one in the playoffs this year, just

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Speaker 1: spamming high picking and roll. Lebron standing in the damn

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Speaker 1: corner while Austin runs the offense, like that's how freaking

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Speaker 1: good this kid is. He can do it off the ball.

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Speaker 1: He shot forty six percent on catching shoot threes in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs this year, forty percent for the regular season.

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Speaker 1: He's a very good defensive player. He broke down the

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Speaker 1: post up stuff earlier, but he always does his job.

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Speaker 1: He's not an outstanding defensive player. You're not gonna put

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Speaker 1: him on someone and shut them down. But if you

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Speaker 1: put him in a five man unit defensively, he's going

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Speaker 1: to do his job and he's gonna make plays. He's

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Speaker 1: not gonna hurt you on that end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Is he an All Star? No, I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: Is he a future All Star? Probably not. I don't

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Speaker 1: think he has the athletic upside, and the guard position

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Speaker 1: is too stacked in the NBA. But he's firmly in

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Speaker 1: that tier right below All Star and he has proven

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Speaker 1: himself on the biggest stage, or at least just shy

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Speaker 1: of the biggest. The biggest stage you can play in

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Speaker 1: as a basketball player is the is the NBA Finals,

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Speaker 1: and the dude was a reliable third option for a

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Speaker 1: conference finalists team this year. So, like, I get the

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Speaker 1: Lakers hate, I do, but don't be on the wrong

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Speaker 1: side of history with the Austin Reeves stuff. The kid

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Speaker 1: is legit, uh, And like if you if you really

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Speaker 1: watch him and just try to appreciate for him for

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Speaker 1: what he is, and just stop thinking about the Lakers

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Speaker 1: for a second and just envision him as a basketball player.

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Speaker 1: He's just a kid who's trying to grind out a

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Speaker 1: spot in the NBA and he's doing a damn good

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Speaker 1: job of it. And if you're a fan of the

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Speaker 1: game of basketball, I think you guys will enjoy watching

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Speaker 1: him in the long run. All right, Last one, Jason,

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Speaker 1: does Team USA losing to Lithuania signify that Team USA

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Speaker 1: will not win the World Cup this year. So first

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Speaker 1: of all, I said before the tournament that USA should

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Speaker 1: be the favorite. They still are, but that if I

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Speaker 1: had to pick between the USA team and the field,

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Speaker 1: that I would pick the field. Why because I had

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Speaker 1: a feeling they'd be in close games. Right, we just

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Speaker 1: got one here against Lithuania. But close games can go

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Speaker 1: either way. And this is not a juggernaut type of roster. Yeah, Like,

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Speaker 1: if you send that, if you sent that team that

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Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, the actual team USA over there, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'd pick them over the field nine times out of ten, right,

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Speaker 1: Like they're gonna they're barring in absolute freakish performance from

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Speaker 1: a you know, a Yo Kitch or a Yannis or

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Speaker 1: a Luca and just a heroic defensive effort from everybody.

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Speaker 1: Like it would require the most perfect set of circumstances

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Speaker 1: for that team to lose a game. Right, But aside

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Speaker 1: from that circumstance, you know, the time, the types of

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Speaker 1: team usas that we send over there not Juggernauts. All

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Speaker 1: it takes is one close game or a couple guys

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Speaker 1: miss a couple of shots for your team and a

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Speaker 1: couple guys make a couple shots on the other team.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I picked the field over Team USA. That said,

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Speaker 1: I still think the USA has Team USA is the

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Speaker 1: best remaining team, and I still think they deserve to

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Speaker 1: be the favorite, which they still are. The quarterfinals are

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Speaker 1: said at USA versus Italy. I think, if I'm reading

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Speaker 1: the bracket correctly, that if they win, they'll play the

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Speaker 1: winner of Germany vers. Latvia and then potentially have to

427
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: play either Canada or Lithuania, Serbia or Slovenia in the finals.

428
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:39,440
Speaker 1: I think Canada should Canada should beat Slovenia is my guess.

429
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: They have just a long line of perimeter defenders to

430
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,360
Speaker 1: throw out Luca, to fatigue him. I think that over

431
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 1: the course of that game it's gonna benefit them. And

432
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 1: then also just SGA's really starting to find his groove.

433
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 1: Sga hit basically the game winner the other day versus Spain,

434
00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,760
Speaker 1: really impressive down the stretch defense. Dylan Brooks had a

435
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 1: huge three on the left wing that tied it, and

436
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 1: then Sga just textbook hard dribble, right pullback dribble knocks

437
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:08,720
Speaker 1: down basically the game winner. I think Canada is probably

438
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,359
Speaker 1: the second most likely team to win it, behind the USA.

439
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,159
Speaker 1: That's what I said earlier and I still feel that

440
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,720
Speaker 1: way again, single elimination can go either way, but for

441
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 1: right now, I still lean towards the USA. But I

442
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,919
Speaker 1: would take the field over the USA, meaning I do

443
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,399
Speaker 1: expect the bet. The more likely outcome is that US

444
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 1: that Team USA loses at some point in the elimination round.

445
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: All right, twenty two minutes later, Let's get into number

446
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:37,200
Speaker 1: five on our top twenty five players the last twenty

447
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: five years. Shaquille O'Neil accolades. Four time NBA champion, best

448
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 1: player on three championship team, second best player on one

449
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,120
Speaker 1: championship team, eight time first Team All NBA, fourteen time

450
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 1: All NBA overall. Technically, five of those selections were before

451
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, when this list is supposed to start.

452
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,840
Speaker 1: Seven of his first team selections were all in the

453
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 1: last twenty five years. Three time All Defense and two

454
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: times score champion as champion nineteen ninety five in two thousand,

455
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: won the regular season MVP in two thousand and he's

456
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 1: a three time NBA Finals MVP. His claim to fame

457
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: is he's the most physically dominant player in NBA history.

458
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,120
Speaker 1: This is how crazy this is. We talk a lot

459
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:15,800
Speaker 1: about MJ right the other day when we did our

460
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: MJ Lebron kind of mail back question and we talked

461
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: about dominance, right, and had the fact that what MJ

462
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: did in the nineties is kind of like unprecedented. And

463
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,360
Speaker 1: you know, obviously Bill Russell and the Celtics won eight

464
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 1: consecutive championships, but that was an forever ago. The league

465
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: was incredibly tiny. That Celtics team was freaking stacked. Like

466
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:42,399
Speaker 1: there was debate over whether or not Wilter Bill Russell

467
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: was better. I mean, most people would agree Bill was

468
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: slightly better, but it's not It wasn't the same type

469
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,719
Speaker 1: of thing as what MJ did in the nineties. Right, Well,

470
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,400
Speaker 1: there's one other player in NBA history who has won

471
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,679
Speaker 1: three consecutive NBA Finals MVP Awards, and that's Shaquille O'Neill.

472
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: Seven foot one, was well over three hundred pounds. Everything

473
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,480
Speaker 1: that shaq did came down to footwork. You talked about

474
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: this a lot with Yokics, but like, being big is

475
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: only half the battle, right, There are a lot of

476
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: big human beings in the world. All you have to

477
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 1: do is look at these FEBA games and look at

478
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 1: how many non NBA players are between six ten and

479
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,919
Speaker 1: seven to two that having good jump hook and can

480
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,000
Speaker 1: make free throws and do all that kind of stuff. Right, Like,

481
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 1: there's a lot of big dudes in the world. But

482
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: that coordination, especially as it pertains the footwork, is everything,

483
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 1: because your footwork is what allows you to inflict your

484
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 1: physicality on your opponent, right cause your base is constantly moving.

485
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,000
Speaker 1: Right If you guys ever had that have done that

486
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 1: test where like you stand with your feet together and

487
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:38,959
Speaker 1: then someone like pushes you on the shoulder and you

488
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 1: like fall down or like you lose your balance. But

489
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,679
Speaker 1: then if you stand in like an athletic stance, like

490
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: with your feet spread out to your shoulders, if someone

491
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,640
Speaker 1: pushes you on the shoulder, like you won't move because

492
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: when you have your base wide and established, it's much

493
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 1: harder to move you off your base. Well, that same

494
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: principle applies in every facet of basketball, but especially in

495
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 1: post defense. Why because there's a a lot more contact

496
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,120
Speaker 1: in post offense defense matchups. Right, So on the perimeter,

497
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 1: sometimes you can be off balance and a dude can

498
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 1: nudge you, but they might call a handcheck, or they

499
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: might call you for hipchecking or something along those lines.

500
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I think the league calls

501
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,639
Speaker 1: that too much these days. Right, But in the post,

502
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,959
Speaker 1: there's a lot of contact that's allowed. So guys are

503
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: constantly pushing on each other, and it's a two way battle, right,

504
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: like the post players trying to back down and the

505
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 1: post defenders trying to like Chuck with his forearm and

506
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: hold his ground on the backside, right, And so who

507
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: has the best leverage ends up winning that battle most

508
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,359
Speaker 1: of the time. And so as the post player, you're

509
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: constantly feeling on your shoulder blades where the defender is,

510
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 1: and you're trying to change your footwork either by taking

511
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,439
Speaker 1: a drop step or a pivot of some kind to

512
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,120
Speaker 1: get to a position where then you can get separation

513
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,359
Speaker 1: from the post defender for a shot. And so having

514
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 1: really sharp footwork and being really polished with your coordination

515
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 1: with your feet in that particular element of offense is

516
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: the difference between a player being able to physically dominate

517
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: a place or get pushed off of his spot. I talked

518
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: about this a lot with Yokis, But Yo Kic sometimes

519
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,399
Speaker 1: you'll watch him and he'll chop his feet a lot.

520
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: He's really good at resetting his base. He's in that

521
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,679
Speaker 1: post backup position. As he's dribbling, he's constantly shuffling his

522
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: feet and resetting his base. Why because he doesn't just

523
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: hit you once. He's hitting you once twice, three times,

524
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 1: four times, maybe even five times before he takes a shot,

525
00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 1: and he needs to constantly reset his base so that

526
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 1: when he bumps you, he moves you, Whereas if he

527
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: doesn't have his base set that second contact, maybe he

528
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 1: loses that battle and he loses ground away from the basket. Right,

529
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: Shack had really really sharp footwork. His drop step was immaculate.

530
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,719
Speaker 1: We've all seen tons of videos of Shaq getting that

531
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: drop step foot past the defender's foot and then pivoting

532
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: and as he pivoting, just throwing the defender out of

533
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,439
Speaker 1: the way as he goes up and dunks it right like.

534
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 1: He added a couple of basic simple post moves as well.

535
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,719
Speaker 1: Everything starts with the bullyball right, the footwork, the drop steps,

536
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: trying to get dunks at the basket. But when he

537
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,160
Speaker 1: did get stood up or when there was a defender

538
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,120
Speaker 1: waiting on the back line that he wanted to avoid,

539
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:09,959
Speaker 1: Shaq had two moves that he basically went to consistently

540
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 1: from both blocks and that was a right handed hook

541
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,679
Speaker 1: over his left shoulder, and like Shaq would call it

542
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: like a turnaround fade away, but it was kind of

543
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: like a one handed push shot over his right shoulder,

544
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: So he'd turn over the shoulder and instead of shooting

545
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: like a post player with two hands, he would just

546
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: kind of reach up with one hand and shoot essentially

547
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: like a turnaround jumper with one hand. I don't even

548
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,119
Speaker 1: know what you want to call it, push shot, a

549
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,639
Speaker 1: kind of like a turnaround floater or whatever it was.

550
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 1: But he was pretty good with those two particular shots,

551
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: and that was enough with his physical frame to just

552
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 1: utterly obliterate every front line in the NBA over that

553
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,639
Speaker 1: late nineties early two thousand stretch right and essentially, like

554
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: he was so dominant over that time that like every

555
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 1: single team had to load up with three or four

556
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,120
Speaker 1: centers just to commit fouls on him. The strategy around

557
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: the league basically be came the same. If you were

558
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: guarding Shack and he went for a hook shot or

559
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: a turnaround, you would try to contest without fouling. But

560
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: if he made any sort of physically aggressive move towards

561
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: the basket, it was wrap his ass up you had

562
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,919
Speaker 1: to because he was a career fifty I think he

563
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: was like fifty three percent career free throw shooter, and

564
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: so that ended up being your best opportunity to get stops.

565
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,359
Speaker 1: But that was what you did. You tried when he did.

566
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,600
Speaker 1: When he did bless you with a crazier shot that

567
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 1: was further away from the basket, you would sit there

568
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 1: and pray that he'd miss, and then when he was

569
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: physically aggressive, you'd foul. And then that led to his

570
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: crowning achievement, which was his three peat. In the early

571
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: two thousands with the Lakers, he averaged twenty nine to

572
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 1: fourteen to four with three blocks per game over that

573
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: three year span one MVP in two thousand, finished third

574
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 1: place in the MVP voting. The next two years averaged

575
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 1: thirty to fifteen and three in the playoff runs they

576
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 1: lost just that Lakers team lost just thirteen playoff games

577
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 1: in three years. They were forty five and thirteen in

578
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Think about how insane that is. In fifteen

579
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 1: NBA Finals games, he averaged thirty six points, fifteen rebounds,

580
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 1: and four assists per game with three blocks on sixty

581
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: percent shooting. In won all three finals MVPs. It was

582
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: one of the most dominant stretches of basketball by any

583
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 1: single player in NBA history. Biggest one if of Shack's career.

584
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: What if Shack had taken better care of his body.

585
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: The decline for Shack came very quickly when he got

586
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: to his thirties. Two thousand and three was his fourth

587
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: consecutive season averaging at least twenty seven points per game.

588
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 1: For the rest of his career after that, he never

589
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: averaged over twenty three points per game. It was like

590
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: an immediate fall off of the cliff. He had this

591
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 1: like toe issue, this like arthritis toe thing. You guys

592
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: probably remember Shaq going to training camp and getting surgery

593
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: in season because he got injured on company time, so

594
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 1: he was going to recover on company time, right Like

595
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 1: that was kind of the beginning of the end for him. Athletically.

596
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: He did win an the championship with the Heat in

597
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, but it was more of as

598
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: more of a supporting player. He scored twenty plus points

599
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 1: just nine times in their twenty three game playoff run,

600
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 1: and Dallas held him to single digits twice in the finals,

601
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: So it's much more of a supporting type of player.

602
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 1: He just he was. He was a supremely gifted athlete

603
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,520
Speaker 1: when he was younger, and once that faded and he

604
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: put on the weight, it just he just wasn't the

605
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 1: same type of dominant force that he was when he

606
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 1: was younger. We didn't even talk about the Orlando years.

607
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 1: Like I watched, I went back and watched this morning,

608
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety five series with Chicago, and I watched

609
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: game one of that series, and I was watching Shack

610
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: and literally Chicago had to go to their third string

611
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 1: center in the first quarter, and he was making all

612
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: of his free throws in that game too, which which

613
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: was which was causing problems at least at the beginning

614
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: of the game. But like you watch the way he

615
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 1: moved up and down the floor. He's moving like a wing,

616
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: and so it's just it's, you know, it's crazy because

617
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 1: like it's you start to think about how good he

618
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 1: could have been, because he's easily, you know, top fifteen,

619
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 1: top ten in NBA history, regardless of position, depending on

620
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: who you ask. A lot of people have him higher

621
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 1: than that. I have him fifth in the last twenty

622
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 1: five years. Imagine how good he could have been if

623
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: he had taken better care of his body. Very very

624
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 1: interesting career shack and very difficult to rank him compared

625
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: to his peers. All right, guys, that is all I

626
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: have for today. We will be back tomorrow with number four.

627
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: Don't forget to drop some mailback questions in the comments.

628
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 1: I will see you guys. Then the volume