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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume Friday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had an incredible week.
Speaker 1: Just gonna hit one game from last to night. The
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors losing at home undermanded without Steph Curry
Speaker 1: to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then we're gonna do a
Speaker 1: deep dive on the Oklahoma City Thunder and everything I've
Speaker 1: learned about them from my film session this morning. And
Speaker 1: then at the end of the show, I've got a
Speaker 1: bunch of mail bag questions for you. You guys know
Speaker 1: the drill before we get started. Subscribe to our brand
Speaker 1: new YouTube channel would mean a lot to me as
Speaker 1: we try to get this thing launched if you guys
Speaker 1: would scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about our podcast feed where you get your podcast under
Speaker 1: Hoops tonight. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT
Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss our film breakdowns as well
Speaker 1: as show announcements. Did another film thread from this Thunder
Speaker 1: Warriors game? You can find that at Underscore Jason LT
Speaker 1: on Twitter. And then, last but not least, keep dropping
Speaker 1: mail bag questions in the YouTube comments so we can
Speaker 1: keep hitting them at the end of these shows. Actually,
Speaker 1: I have one other announcement for you guys. So obviously
Speaker 1: this is our last show of the week because it's Friday,
Speaker 1: but my grandmother passed away last week, So my wife
Speaker 1: and I are gonna be flying to Dallas on Monday
Speaker 1: morning for the funeral, and I'm gonna be gone a
Speaker 1: good chunk of that week so I'm not gonna work
Speaker 1: while I'm over there, so we're gonna take a little
Speaker 1: bit of a break. So there's gonna be no show Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Speaker 1: or Wednesday or Thursday for Thanksgiving. So that's what six
Speaker 1: full days off. But we'll be back next Friday, breaking
Speaker 1: down basically everything that's happened in the time since we'll
Speaker 1: probably just do a Power Rankings video that day so
Speaker 1: we can hit everything. But obviously with me going out
Speaker 1: of town and then also we've just we've hit this
Speaker 1: really hard to start the season. I want to give
Speaker 1: some of my teammates here the volume of break as
Speaker 1: well so that they can enjoy the holiday. So just
Speaker 1: one show in the next week, and then when we
Speaker 1: come back the following Monday, we'll get back into our
Speaker 1: usual routine. All right, let's talk about Thunder Warriors. So
Speaker 1: this is an undermand Golden State Warriors team. Obviously you
Speaker 1: have Steph Curry out and then you know, we talk
Speaker 1: a lot about this concept of slotting, this idea that
Speaker 1: you know, when one guy is filling his corresponsibility as
Speaker 1: a superstar, creates these smaller responsibilities for everybody else. But
Speaker 1: when you remove the superstar, that huge chunk of responsibilities
Speaker 1: becomes vacated, and then other players have to step in
Speaker 1: and fill those responsibilities. Now, have we seen the Warriors
Speaker 1: win games without Steph before, Yes, But part of it is,
Speaker 1: you know, like Klay Thompson last year was having, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, the best half court creation season of his career,
Speaker 1: right and then you know, Andrew Wiggins before he left
Speaker 1: the team on the personal absence, was a guy that
Speaker 1: was giving real offensive punch to this team. And both
Speaker 1: of those guys just aren't playing very well right now.
Speaker 1: I think Clay was what won for ten last night.
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins is still not giving you much scoring Poppy.
Speaker 1: That funk that he's been in is just kind of persisting.
Speaker 1: And then Chris Paul in particulars hasn't really been much
Speaker 1: of a score to start this season. And we got
Speaker 1: what thirty two points on thirty one shots out of
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Chris Paul thirteen assists to
Speaker 1: just thirteen assists with eight turnovers. So that when you
Speaker 1: have a situation like that, everyone gets kind of like
Speaker 1: put into a position where they're doing more than they
Speaker 1: usually do, and that can typically lead to failure, and
Speaker 1: in this particular case, when these guys are already not
Speaker 1: playing well, it just kind of exacerbates that problem. Right, So,
Speaker 1: the Warriors were kind of overmatched to begin with, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, from a tactical standpoint, the biggest
Speaker 1: thing that stood out watching the film was just the
Speaker 1: huge gap in dribble penetration between the two teams. It
Speaker 1: didn't matter if it was a made basket or a
Speaker 1: transition situation or whatever in the world was going on
Speaker 1: around them on the court, The Thunder were able to
Speaker 1: pretty much just beat somebody off the dribble, make one
Speaker 1: kickout pass, maybe another close out attack from there, but
Speaker 1: just consistently generate fantastic looks on the perimeter. Not only that,
Speaker 1: when these guys were making moves, whether it was Shay
Speaker 1: or Josh Giddy or Jalen Williams, the Warriors were overreacting
Speaker 1: to it, in large part because they are more dangerous
Speaker 1: ball handlers. They're guys that can do more damage when
Speaker 1: they get downhill thest relative to what Clay Wiggins and
Speaker 1: CP three are doing at this phase in this season.
Speaker 1: Right like, there was a play after a made basket
Speaker 1: where Andrew Wiggins is at the point of attack. And
Speaker 1: you guys know what I said about Andrew Wiggins after
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two season, like, I think he's a
Speaker 1: top tier perimeter defender when he's really locked in and engaged,
Speaker 1: and and Shade just kind of hit him with a
Speaker 1: hard left handed dribble move after a made basket and
Speaker 1: got so much drible penetration, got south of the free
Speaker 1: throw line that Sarage came over and he made the
Speaker 1: kick out past to Josh Gitty who was wide open
Speaker 1: on the left wing for three. And it just was
Speaker 1: easy dribble penetration. And then you look at the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor and it's a struggle for Clay
Speaker 1: to get open. He's like, can't even get separated from
Speaker 1: Kendrich Williams. There's a bench wing from the thunder right,
Speaker 1: Like Andrew Wiggins is still struggling to really get going offensively,
Speaker 1: and it's it's been a problem. And again you go
Speaker 1: down to the other end of the floor and it's
Speaker 1: just Jalen Williams getting you know, a Kevon Looney on
Speaker 1: a switch and just beating him to the basket, just
Speaker 1: straight line drive for a layup. Or Josh Gitty coming
Speaker 1: off of a screen. He's got Corey Joseph on a
Speaker 1: switch and it's just boom boom, like right left crossover,
Speaker 1: like a double crossover, and just right past Joseph all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim for a layup. It just
Speaker 1: they had no problem penetrating that perimeter defense for Golden
Speaker 1: State and either getting good shots for themselves or driving
Speaker 1: and kicking for easy shots. And then on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor, it was just a hell of
Speaker 1: a time for Golden State's best perimeter creators to generate openings.
Speaker 1: And I think again it's an indicator of what is
Speaker 1: a roster or strength for the Thunder. And you know,
Speaker 1: the best point of attack guys for Golden State is
Speaker 1: aren't defending very well right now, which is kind of
Speaker 1: a team wide issue over the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Right And then on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: it's a result of slotting, is guys are being put
Speaker 1: into positions where they're going to struggle because they're being
Speaker 1: asked to do too much, exacerbated by the fact that
Speaker 1: those guys were already slumping to begin with. Another thing
Speaker 1: that the the Thunder we're doing that was working really
Speaker 1: well was the ghost screens with Isaiah Joe. So they
Speaker 1: did this three times for wide open threes for Isaiah Joe. Now,
Speaker 1: ghost screen is a way to attack a switching scheme, right,
Speaker 1: So you run up like you're about to set a screen,
Speaker 1: but you don't actually set the screen. You just quick
Speaker 1: flare out to the three point line. And what you're
Speaker 1: trying to do is because it's a guard guard action,
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna involve two perimeter defenders, and those perimeterive
Speaker 1: defenders are in all likelihood going to switch. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing, shake Yil's whether Jay Dubb did it once
Speaker 1: and then shake Yils Alexander I think did it the
Speaker 1: other two times. But like when you have a high
Speaker 1: level level ball handler there, when two guys are considering switching,
Speaker 1: they're both gonna error on the side of taking the
Speaker 1: bigger threat, in this case, the in the primary ball handler, right,
Speaker 1: and so he just Isaiah Joe's just catching him lingering,
Speaker 1: so to speak, lingering too long in that switch. They
Speaker 1: got Wiggins with it twice. Like it's just way easy
Speaker 1: for way easier for them to generate open shots in general,
Speaker 1: not just by beating people off the dribble, but just
Speaker 1: their ball handlers are more dangerous. So Golden State's overreacting
Speaker 1: in a way that the thunder are not. Like, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a play to give you the counter example, It's
Speaker 1: like there's a play where Keason Wallace is is chasing
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson off a screen and there's two shooters on
Speaker 1: the Weeks side. I think it was Chris Paul and
Speaker 1: Moses Moody, I remember correctly, and basically, as Clay's coming
Speaker 1: down off the pin down, you know, Chet Holmgren offers
Speaker 1: like a token little show, but he's not going out
Speaker 1: that far because Kassn Wallace is chasing from behind. Kayson
Speaker 1: is about is able to get all the way back
Speaker 1: in front of Clay and actually contest before he takes
Speaker 1: the shot. But even if Looney was rolling, both of
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City's defenders were just kind of nicely positioned. And
Speaker 1: I think it was Aaron Wiggins, and I want to
Speaker 1: say Jalen Williams was the other guy. And Aaron Wiggins
Speaker 1: was on the guiding the guarding the guy in the corner,
Speaker 1: and Jalen Williams is guarding the guy on the wing,
Speaker 1: and they're both just kind of like they're in the
Speaker 1: way of Looney's role, but at the same time close
Speaker 1: enough that they can recover out to the shooters. They're
Speaker 1: not throwing the kitchen sink at Clay because they're not
Speaker 1: worried about him, at least not at this point in
Speaker 1: the season. And so like it's that is the difference.
Speaker 1: Because of that, Clay Thompson ends up taking the shot
Speaker 1: right and Cassan Wallace is able to recover and get
Speaker 1: back in front and take that away. They're not panic
Speaker 1: chasing Clay, blitzing, throwing multiple bodies and giving up four
Speaker 1: on threes on the back end. And it's just that
Speaker 1: that's just the difference in that push and pull of
Speaker 1: the defense. On one side of the floor, it's straight
Speaker 1: line drives and multiple defenders going to the basketball even
Speaker 1: in those ghost screen actions. And then on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor, it's not any dribble penetration and
Speaker 1: guys guarding actions one on one, two on two, which
Speaker 1: is keeping them out of rotation and allowing them to
Speaker 1: basically force guys into tough shots and to force turnovers
Speaker 1: that way too. So again it's like Golden State's undermand
Speaker 1: doesn't mean anything about them in the bigger picture, except
Speaker 1: for the question that I continually proposed, which is basically like,
Speaker 1: can Clay, Andrew and Chris generate enough offense for this
Speaker 1: team to get over the top, and we'll see, And
Speaker 1: I think if they get to February and all three
Speaker 1: of these guys are still struggling, don't be surprised if
Speaker 1: they get aggressive to try to bring offense in at
Speaker 1: the deadline. But from I thought, it was also just
Speaker 1: a really a good showcase for all of the perimeter
Speaker 1: talent that Oklahoma City has on the roster. All right,
Speaker 1: let's do are deep dive into the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: So they are eight and four right now. That's the
Speaker 1: sixth best record in the league, eighth in offensive rating
Speaker 1: seventh and defensive rating fifth and net rating, So always
Speaker 1: a good sign for a really really good team when
Speaker 1: you're top ten in both offense and defense. On the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor, it's just a textbook case
Speaker 1: of you know, my kind of favorite version of a
Speaker 1: modern basketball team, which is basically like all five guys
Speaker 1: can dribble, shoot and pass, which makes it so that
Speaker 1: again like it doesn't really matter. We have a mailback
Speaker 1: question coming at the end of the show talking about
Speaker 1: why teams run pick and roll at the beginning of
Speaker 1: possessions so frequently, And the short answer, and we'll go
Speaker 1: into more detail when we get later, is like, that's
Speaker 1: how you get the defense in rotation. Like everything about
Speaker 1: the beginning of the possession is about getting the defense
Speaker 1: into rotation. You're very rarely expecting a team, and even
Speaker 1: in a playoff series, to be like, let's just let
Speaker 1: you continue to attack one on one with your best
Speaker 1: player against our worst defender, time and time again. Like
Speaker 1: generally speaking, it's you might score a couple buckets in
Speaker 1: your with your pick and roll guy, you might score
Speaker 1: a couple buckets out of the post, but you're really
Speaker 1: just trying to just get them to throw that third
Speaker 1: defender into the mix and pick and roll, or get
Speaker 1: them to throw that second defender in the mix and
Speaker 1: I in post up situations. From there, it's rotation basketball.
Speaker 1: It's everyone's flying around and from there. Aggregate ball handling,
Speaker 1: aggregate shooting, aggregate playmaking is what makes your offense so
Speaker 1: difficult to guard. And the Thunder have that in spades.
Speaker 1: And it's hard to overstate specifically how much Chet Holmgren
Speaker 1: helps with this because he is both a legitimate, you know,
Speaker 1: defensive anchor on one end of the floor and a
Speaker 1: guy who can operate as a traditional center on the
Speaker 1: defensive end in terms of screening and popping and screening
Speaker 1: and rolling. But he's that in addition to being a
Speaker 1: very good dribble shoot pass guy, meaning like he's not
Speaker 1: a weak link in that drive in kickgang if a game.
Speaker 1: If anything, he's a strong link in that driving kick game,
Speaker 1: and that has gone so far towards just kind of
Speaker 1: like grease in the wheels, so to speak, in this
Speaker 1: thunder offense. And above that, like he's super unaggressive. I
Speaker 1: would argue that Chet could shoot more than he has,
Speaker 1: and to his credit, it's because he's just trying to
Speaker 1: fit in with the team. And honestly, like in the
Speaker 1: big picture, it's fine like this team because when he defers,
Speaker 1: it's just going to another great offensive player. So it's
Speaker 1: not like he's deferring so other guys you know that
Speaker 1: are lesser players than him can shoot. He's just been
Speaker 1: such a shoe and fit with that thunder offense. Every
Speaker 1: single ball handler that initiates offense for this team brings
Speaker 1: a different strength to the table. So like Shay for instance,
Speaker 1: is your shifty shot making guard, right, and he's the
Speaker 1: third best high volume ISO guy in the league this year.
Speaker 1: He's getting one point one six points per ISO. Out
Speaker 1: of the eight players in the league to run at
Speaker 1: least fifty to this point, he's third best. He's ahead
Speaker 1: of Jason Tatum, He's ahead of Kevin Durant. He's had
Speaker 1: a Zion Williamson who's like one of the most devastating
Speaker 1: ISO players in the league with his ability to just
Speaker 1: to beat people off the dribble. Anthony Edwards Palabancaro, He's
Speaker 1: ahead of all of those guys. Josh Giddy is more
Speaker 1: of like your big play making forward right, so like
Speaker 1: he can get size mismatches and get little shots over
Speaker 1: the top. And then he's a very good passer, although
Speaker 1: he'sruggling with the shot making a bit this year. And
Speaker 1: then Ja Dubb Jalen Williams a really good downhill athlete
Speaker 1: in terms of generating rim pressure, but he's actually a
Speaker 1: very good passer in a way that a lot of
Speaker 1: players of his archetype are not. And he's shooting really well,
Speaker 1: especially in pull up jump shot situations. For a young player.
Speaker 1: He's at fifty percent in effective field goal percentage and
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots this year, hit a huge step
Speaker 1: back three over Kevon Looney in the fourth quarter the
Speaker 1: Warriors game to Stem. I think it was Pozemski who
Speaker 1: just hit a big three at the top of the
Speaker 1: key on the other end, and he kind of knocked
Speaker 1: that off with a big step back going the other way.
Speaker 1: He's up over a point per possession and his self
Speaker 1: creation metrics, so that's ISO, pick and roll and post
Speaker 1: up all including passes, he's over a point per possession.
Speaker 1: But he brings an entirely different vibe. All three of
Speaker 1: them do. And then after that, every single role player
Speaker 1: is a good shooter. Like they have seven players shooting
Speaker 1: over forty percent from three. Five of their top seven
Speaker 1: in minutes played are all shooting at least thirty nine
Speaker 1: percent or better. And that's what it is. It's it's
Speaker 1: seven players shooting thirty nine percent or better from three.
Speaker 1: But five of the seven guys that I just mentioned
Speaker 1: are in their top seven for minutes played, and they're
Speaker 1: all shooting at least thirty nine percent from three. Right,
Speaker 1: The only two guys in that top seven in their
Speaker 1: rotation that are like leave open guys meaning like the
Speaker 1: defense off the ball would probably concede a catch and
Speaker 1: shoot three to them are Josh Giddy and Shake kills
Speaker 1: with Alexander, who usually have the ball in their hands,
Speaker 1: so you're not leaving them open in the sense that
Speaker 1: they're usually they usually have the ball in their hands, right,
Speaker 1: And then you know they do a decent job of
Speaker 1: staggering them throughout games so that they don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of overlap anyway. So like it's it's it's a complete, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, loaded roster from the standpoint of passing, shooting,
Speaker 1: ball handling, but at the same time with the off
Speaker 1: ball threats to make it all work, Like no one
Speaker 1: you can't leave them open from three, they can drive
Speaker 1: and make you know, they can expand the advantage via
Speaker 1: drive and kick. It's just an incredibly well rounded offensive roster.
Speaker 1: And then this Cason Wallace thing has been an absolute revelation.
Speaker 1: Like I scouted him for the Summer League this year,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm there watching him and it's you know,
Speaker 1: another defensive guard prospect, right, and and you're watching him
Speaker 1: and you're like, yeah, is this guy even gonna play like,
Speaker 1: because the Thunder just have so much talent, but he's
Speaker 1: just been immensely important to them. He's played in every
Speaker 1: single game. He's been an excellent point of attack defender,
Speaker 1: as was expected in his pre draft process, but he's
Speaker 1: been a Swiss Army knife for them on the offensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball. They're basically using him as a
Speaker 1: big man, which is which is weird because they everyone
Speaker 1: The big comp that everyone was throwing out with Kason
Speaker 1: Wallace coming out of college was Drew Holliday, you know, big, strong,
Speaker 1: defensive minded guard. But at the same time, you know,
Speaker 1: he actually reminds me more of Gary Payton in the
Speaker 1: way that they use him offensively, in the sense that
Speaker 1: they use him a lot in like ball screens as
Speaker 1: a guy who will set a screen for Shay and
Speaker 1: then roll to the you know, take a short and
Speaker 1: then then they have a good ball handler and good
Speaker 1: athlete who can finish at the rim making plays in
Speaker 1: those four on threes. He's a very good cutter. He
Speaker 1: works a lot out of the dunker spot. I pinned
Speaker 1: a bunch of examples of this in that Twitter thread
Speaker 1: that I made today that you guys can find. He's
Speaker 1: actually scored twenty six points on cuts and rolls this year,
Speaker 1: shooting ten for eleven from the field, and the one
Speaker 1: that he missed was in this game, the drop off
Speaker 1: pass from j Dub where he went up to dunk
Speaker 1: and I think he actually did think he was the
Speaker 1: center for a minute because he tried to like straight
Speaker 1: vert dunk and got rim stuffed. But like he there
Speaker 1: was a play where he caught. He had Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: Ymy's in the dunker spot and Chet just did a
Speaker 1: basic pump fake and ripped through Drew Clay in help
Speaker 1: and he dropped it off to Kassan Wallace at the
Speaker 1: block like behind the backboard, and he made a reverse
Speaker 1: layup on the other end off of a drop step.
Speaker 1: Because that's how good of an athlete that he is.
Speaker 1: And so but at the same time, like if he
Speaker 1: needs to be in a spot up role, he's good
Speaker 1: there as well. He's fifteen for twenty five on catch
Speaker 1: and shoot jumpers. It comes out to one point seven
Speaker 1: to six points per catch and shoe jump shot that
Speaker 1: he's taken this year. So like he's he's just been
Speaker 1: a complete revelation, a really good two way player, a
Speaker 1: clean fit on the offensive end of the floor. Adds
Speaker 1: to their just like kind of unending string of guys
Speaker 1: that are quick and versatile perimeter defensive weapons that are
Speaker 1: also plus offensive players, and it's just yet another reason
Speaker 1: to be excited about this team. On the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, they're seventh in defensive rating right now,
Speaker 1: third and half court defense according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: That's really impressive. They're the thirteenth best team in defending
Speaker 1: the paint. They're an excellent transition defense. They're the third
Speaker 1: best transition defense by defensive rating according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: Third fewest fast break points allowed per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: They are sixth in opponent three point percentage. Again, we
Speaker 1: talked about that earlier, the concept of not overreacting to
Speaker 1: the ball, so staying home and offering good contests and
Speaker 1: forcing guys to make tough shots over individual defense in
Speaker 1: on ball reps. Right the biggest issues they have right
Speaker 1: now is they foul a bit too much. They're twentieth
Speaker 1: in opponent free throw to per one hundred possessions, and
Speaker 1: they really really struggle to defensive rebound. They are twenty
Speaker 1: ninth in defensive rebounding percentage. And it's not just the
Speaker 1: small lineups, Like I've dug into that data because obviously
Speaker 1: they played really small against Golden State and struggled to
Speaker 1: keep Kevin Looney off the glass, but they actually have
Speaker 1: rebounded a little bit better when chats off the floor
Speaker 1: bad in both cases. So it's just a team wide issue.
Speaker 1: They just do not have enough size to really be
Speaker 1: a good rebounding team. That's their biggest personnel weakness in
Speaker 1: my opinion. Like, if you look at their roster, you're like,
Speaker 1: do they have shot creation in space? Do they have improtection?
Speaker 1: Chets going to be better than most most guys in
Speaker 1: the league that you can get there in terms of
Speaker 1: improtection is a good option there? Do they have off
Speaker 1: ball shooting? Yes? Do they have athleticism and quickness? Yes?
Speaker 1: What is the one thing? They don't have? A big,
Speaker 1: strong forward? Remember I always talked about the two archetypes
Speaker 1: of Fords, the thinner, more perimeter oriented forward and then
Speaker 1: the bigger, stronger forward. Right, Like, the perimeter oriented forward
Speaker 1: is like your Jaden McDaniels, right, Like, that's that's your
Speaker 1: like Herb Jones, right, that's your Andrew Wiggins. There's a
Speaker 1: bunch of those kinds of guys in the league. They're
Speaker 1: usually about six to eight. They're usually a little bit thinner, slender,
Speaker 1: they're usually quicker. They're usually a little bit better offensively
Speaker 1: in terms of dribbling and shooting. And then you have
Speaker 1: your big forwards and this is like Aaron Gordon, DeAndre Hunter,
Speaker 1: Ruey Hotcha Murrah. Jeremy Grant's kind of one of those
Speaker 1: guys too, where it's like a little bit closer to
Speaker 1: that like six nine six ' ten size, but they're
Speaker 1: usually built really strong. They're usually not as quick on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, but they're usually really good in terms of
Speaker 1: guarding bigger players and switches. And then they usually are
Speaker 1: more of a power offensive game and their ability to
Speaker 1: beat mismatches in the post. Right, And there's just not
Speaker 1: a guy like that on this Thunder roster, like they're
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams is basically your fore man in this group
Speaker 1: and the starting lineup, and he's six foot six. Lou
Speaker 1: dort Is is a is a smaller, like kind of
Speaker 1: more hydrant type of wing. He's kind of more in
Speaker 1: that like like he's like a bigger version of like
Speaker 1: that Bruce Brown type of archetype, right, and then you know,
Speaker 1: Josh Gidty is not a guy that you're looking at
Speaker 1: is a big, strong forward, right. And even the guy's
Speaker 1: coming off the bench, Aaron Wiggins and Kenrich Williams are
Speaker 1: are a little too small for that. Huzman Jang is
Speaker 1: tall like that, but he's thin, and so I don't
Speaker 1: think he really qualifies either. So they don't really have
Speaker 1: a guy on the roster that fits that archetype. And
Speaker 1: ideally that's what you'd want, especially with Chat being a
Speaker 1: little bit of a thinner rim protectors. If you had
Speaker 1: a six ' nine six ' ten, big strong forward
Speaker 1: next to Chat Holmgren, that would be what would address
Speaker 1: their biggest weakness in terms of defensive rebounding in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And so again, like I'm not here saying like the
Speaker 1: Thunder need to make a trade. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: in a rush. I don't think they're in enough of
Speaker 1: a rush. Like I don't think I don't think the
Speaker 1: front office is looking at this like we need to
Speaker 1: win the title this year. So my guess is that
Speaker 1: the Thunder will just be patient. But just for fun,
Speaker 1: here's an example of a trade that would actually really
Speaker 1: like this trade for both teams, but a trade that
Speaker 1: would address the biggest weakness for the Thunder while at
Speaker 1: the same time addressing the biggest weakness for the other team.
Speaker 1: So the Thunder they have a need for this type
Speaker 1: of big, strong forward, right, and they have a plethora
Speaker 1: of guys that are good perimeter defenders. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers are a team that is completely
Speaker 1: devoid of perimeter athleticism in the back court, right, and
Speaker 1: the best perimeter defenders they have right now are Cam
Speaker 1: Reddish and Jared Vanderbilt, who are both guys that are
Speaker 1: probably going to get ignored in a playoff series, which
Speaker 1: hurts them on the defensive end of the floor, right
Speaker 1: because they when they play those guys, that hurts them
Speaker 1: on offense. When they sit those guys, their offense gets better,
Speaker 1: but their defense goes to hell. It's been a big
Speaker 1: part of the story at the beginning of the season
Speaker 1: as Jared Vanderbilt's been out right. But what they have
Speaker 1: is this guy named Ruy Hachimura, and he's only played
Speaker 1: five minutes all season alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: Why because Lebron James is also a big, strong forward,
Speaker 1: and Ruy kind of slots behind him, and they don't
Speaker 1: feel comfortable playing him at the three alongside Lebron and
Speaker 1: Ad because usually at the three, you need someone who
Speaker 1: can navigate screens. You need someone who's a good perimeter defender,
Speaker 1: a guy that can chase quicker players around on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: And we saw in the Golden State series in particular,
Speaker 1: that Ruey when he was alongside Lebron, couldn't really do that,
Speaker 1: and so he became less effective in that particular series. Right,
Speaker 1: So they're in this predicament where they've got an extra big,
Speaker 1: strong forward and they are leaning more on their Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt will play a lot Tory Prince, you know, Like
Speaker 1: those are the guys that are playing the majority of
Speaker 1: those perimeter minutes alongside Lebron, James and Anthony Davis. And
Speaker 1: even when they have gone big next to Lebron and Ad,
Speaker 1: they've wanted to play Christian Wood, right. So Ruy's kind
Speaker 1: of expendable there in that way. And so this is
Speaker 1: one of those deals where it's like lou Dort for
Speaker 1: Ruy Hatchamura, even though I think both fan bases would
Speaker 1: hate that trade. And before before any of you guys
Speaker 1: think like, oh, that's bullshit, like I would never give
Speaker 1: away Ruey for Dort, or I'd never give away Dort
Speaker 1: for RUI. I've already tweeted this out, and I promise
Speaker 1: you everyone feels the same way. Every thunderfan thinks it's
Speaker 1: not worth it. Dort's too good, ru is too bad.
Speaker 1: Every Lakers fan thinks it's not worth it. Ru is
Speaker 1: too good, Dort's too bad. So like to give you
Speaker 1: an idea like this is that's kind of what makes
Speaker 1: it the perfect trade in my opinion, is like both
Speaker 1: fan bases hate it, but I think it legitimately fixes
Speaker 1: the biggest problems for both teams, and it comes from
Speaker 1: a surplus for both teams, Like Dort is a very
Speaker 1: good perimeter defender and is the guy who takes the
Speaker 1: primary point of attack assignments for Oka. See, it's an
Speaker 1: important job. But at the same time, excuse me, they
Speaker 1: have a lot of other guys that are capable of
Speaker 1: doing that job and doing it well, and I don't
Speaker 1: think that would be an issue for the roster. In
Speaker 1: the big picture, I'd argue that their defensive rebounding is
Speaker 1: a bigger problem, like they're legitimately giving up an offensive
Speaker 1: rebound on more than thirty percent of their stops right now.
Speaker 1: Think about that, like a third of the time that
Speaker 1: they actually get a stop, the other team just gets
Speaker 1: the rebound and they get to try again. It's a
Speaker 1: big weakness in this roster. Even if you look at
Speaker 1: the losses Oklahoma City's had against teams like the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: you know, with that big front line of Jonnas Valanciunis
Speaker 1: in Zion Williamson against the Denver Nuggets for instance, with
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon and Nicole Jokic. Right even the time they
Speaker 1: lost to the Warriors, I think they gave up like
Speaker 1: something crazy like like twelve thirteen offensive rebounds in that
Speaker 1: game too. They gave up a ton of offensive rebounds last night.
Speaker 1: So like it's been, that's their biggest weakness, right and
Speaker 1: so in a weird way, like for the Lakers, Lakers
Speaker 1: fans are like, they love Ruy Hachimura, they want him
Speaker 1: to stay, but right now they're having trouble finding minutes
Speaker 1: for him because he's tucked behind Lebron and they desperately
Speaker 1: need a good perimeter defender that's a plus offensive player
Speaker 1: that they could put between Austin Reeves and whoever it
Speaker 1: is that's at the three, to give them a better
Speaker 1: fighting chance on the perimeter and against athletic guards. And
Speaker 1: so like, Dort come in and solves all of the
Speaker 1: Lakers problems by giving them a plus offensive player who
Speaker 1: is also a very good perimeter defender and a great athlete.
Speaker 1: And then on the other end of the floor, at
Speaker 1: the other end of that that equation, you Slot Ruy
Speaker 1: Hatcha Mura, and you have you know, Shake gils Just, Alexander,
Speaker 1: Josh Giddy, Jay Dubb, Ruy Hatchra Mura and Chet. Now
Speaker 1: you're big. Now you're a huge lineup. Now you're Chet
Speaker 1: next to Ruy six ' nine, next to Giddy six eight,
Speaker 1: next to Jay dub at six six, elite athlete, next
Speaker 1: to Shake gils Just Alexander sixty six with great length.
Speaker 1: And now you all of a sudden become a big team.
Speaker 1: So again it's just for fun. That trade's not gonna
Speaker 1: happen in my opinion, because the Lakers do value Ruby
Speaker 1: Hatchamura a ton, even though he they don't use him
Speaker 1: as much as they probably should, And because I'm sure
Speaker 1: the thunder don't want to mess with a perfect concoction.
Speaker 1: I just thought that was like kind of an example
Speaker 1: of a trade that would actually benefit both teams a
Speaker 1: great deal. I think both teams would get better immediately.
Speaker 1: All right, let's hit the mailbag before we get out
Speaker 1: of here for the weekend. I have one, two, three,
Speaker 1: four by six seven questions for you guys. Okay, is
Speaker 1: the reason that your favorite type of player is a
Speaker 1: strong forward because they can get the most efficient shot
Speaker 1: which results to winning basically essentially, like I think most
Speaker 1: playoff series, in my opinion, kind of eventually degenerate into
Speaker 1: rock fights and matchup hunting. And when you have a big,
Speaker 1: strong forward star who can consistently get a quality shot
Speaker 1: close to the rim against smaller defenders, that I think
Speaker 1: is the best weapon that you can have in a
Speaker 1: playoff series as long as that guy can play make.
Speaker 1: And that's why I've always gravitated towards the Jokic's, the Lucas,
Speaker 1: the Lebron's, like that type of player has always been
Speaker 1: a type of player that I think is deeply impactful
Speaker 1: in the NBA postseason. If you can punished size mismatches
Speaker 1: while also being an elite playmaker, That to me is
Speaker 1: like the best version of a playoff player. All right,
Speaker 1: next question, Hi, Jason. I love watching the Palo Franz
Speaker 1: duo in Orlando, and I am bullish that they can
Speaker 1: become the next Brown Tatum. But in order to maximize
Speaker 1: their potential, I think the Magic need to fit figure
Speaker 1: out what sort of guards can play alongside them. Offensively.
Speaker 1: Been having an argument with a pretty passionate Magic mate,
Speaker 1: and I'd love you to settle to score. I think
Speaker 1: guards that can set up the offense and put Franz
Speaker 1: and Pollow in spots to attack aka the Fred van
Speaker 1: Vliet player archetype, would allow them to just focus on
Speaker 1: scoring and secondary playmaking and let the other role players
Speaker 1: feed off of that initiator my friends. My friend thinks
Speaker 1: Franz in particular can develop into a true point forward
Speaker 1: and Palow enough of a dho high post passer that
Speaker 1: the guards they should target our more off ball shooter
Speaker 1: slash cutters aka the zach Lavine player archetype, and let
Speaker 1: the combined aggregate ball handling you talked about before this
Speaker 1: before sort out the team offense. Obviously, the dream situation
Speaker 1: is a guard that can do both, but those guys
Speaker 1: don't grow on trees. So a couple different things here,
Speaker 1: very good question for the record, I tend to think
Speaker 1: that in this particular case, your two stars are going
Speaker 1: to inevitably be the offensive engines and the big picture,
Speaker 1: I absolutely think that Franz can develop into a true
Speaker 1: point forward, and I absolutely do think that Palo can
Speaker 1: kind of spell him in the same way that Julius
Speaker 1: Randall spells Jalen Brunson essentially as this big bully ball forward,
Speaker 1: and I think he can be a lot better than
Speaker 1: Julius Randall. Obviously in the back court, it's always a
Speaker 1: tough battle because like there's always a given a take right,
Speaker 1: Like you're probably a little bit frustrated with some of
Speaker 1: the stuff with with like Jalen Suggs and and Markel
Speaker 1: Foltz offensively, but those two guys are really good athletes
Speaker 1: and really good defensive players at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: And so it gets tricky because if you, you know,
Speaker 1: if you go, let's say you were like, let's bring
Speaker 1: in offensive skill to help organize Franz and Polo, it's
Speaker 1: like then your point of attack defense takes a hit,
Speaker 1: and you is Wendell Carter Junior enough of a rim
Speaker 1: protector to hold things down, probably not right, Like I
Speaker 1: like that that's always the give and the take, and
Speaker 1: so honestly, as of right now, I kind of like
Speaker 1: the physical, bullyball nature of the magic with the backcourt
Speaker 1: that they have. And I know it sounds crazy because
Speaker 1: like right now they're just not good enough offensively. That
Speaker 1: goes without saying, but like, don't rush this situation. Like there,
Speaker 1: this is not a team that needs to accomplish everything
Speaker 1: this year. It's actually worthwhile to see if Jalen Suggs
Speaker 1: in a few years can be you know, like a
Speaker 1: top tier two way defensive minded guard that can also
Speaker 1: shoot and slash off of the attention that Fronz and
Speaker 1: Pola generate, right, And same goes from Markelle Fultz, Right,
Speaker 1: So I think I think in the in the short term,
Speaker 1: it actually makes sense to just kind of continue to
Speaker 1: give these guys as much reps as possible, and when
Speaker 1: you get closer to this being more of a win
Speaker 1: now situation, maybe two years from now, you could take
Speaker 1: a look at at some of the more intricate details
Speaker 1: of whether or not the offense is clicking at a
Speaker 1: high and a freight, right, and and then you find
Speaker 1: out in the big picture, because like, obviously I think
Speaker 1: Franz can be a star perimeter initiator, but that's still
Speaker 1: somewhat up in the air, right, and so you need
Speaker 1: more data, and the only way to get more data
Speaker 1: is with more time. So like again, like I understand, okay,
Speaker 1: see is an example of a team that's getting to
Speaker 1: the point where they need to start making some decisions
Speaker 1: because they're that good and their window is entering into
Speaker 1: the right now right, But Orlando's is not there yet,
Speaker 1: and so in my opinion, it makes more sense to wait.
Speaker 1: But I like good physical point of attack defenders next
Speaker 1: to Palo in France, because I don't think they're a
Speaker 1: great rim protection team compared to some of the top
Speaker 1: tier rim protection teams in the league. So I like
Speaker 1: having that point of attack defense. And then also just
Speaker 1: in general, I like having an identity, and Orlando's identity
Speaker 1: is they're bigger and stronger than you and they're going
Speaker 1: to be a pain in the ass to deal with
Speaker 1: in the physicality areas of the game, and that to
Speaker 1: me is worth just as much in a positive way
Speaker 1: that their wee half court offense is worth in a
Speaker 1: negative way. If that makes sense, Jason, Why do NBA
Speaker 1: teams rely so much on traditional pick and roll every
Speaker 1: possession to start an offense, to start offense instead of
Speaker 1: actually running play slash sets that are effective. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: a brute force offense, but didn't you also say that's
Speaker 1: something you really need in that playoff crunch time when
Speaker 1: things are tight. So in general, it does, like again
Speaker 1: when it comes to at the beginning of possessions, like
Speaker 1: we talked about at the beginning part of the show.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's all about getting the defense into rotation,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't really matter how you do it. Like
Speaker 1: some teams are gonna do that by attacking in the post, right,
Speaker 1: Like you know the Lakers when they get into the
Speaker 1: playoff series, they'll post Ad and Lebron a lot more. Right.
Speaker 1: We see the Rafters do this a ton where it's
Speaker 1: like og and andob or Scottie Barnes just just bullying
Speaker 1: their way to the basket until they get the defense
Speaker 1: in rotation. Right, and then there are teams that can
Speaker 1: do it through five out offense. Right. This is a
Speaker 1: lot of the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, where it's
Speaker 1: like heavy ball movement actions and sets, and that's another
Speaker 1: way to do it. And then there's your brute force
Speaker 1: teams that like Dallas for instance, that are doing it
Speaker 1: through pick and roll. But like, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it doesn't really matter how you do it.
Speaker 1: It's more about once you get the defense in rotation,
Speaker 1: can you finish plays like by having top tier play
Speaker 1: finishers or being a great driving kick team, and like,
Speaker 1: those are the kinds of questions that kind of push
Speaker 1: you over the edge offensively. But essentially the reason why
Speaker 1: you see pick and roll as the majority of the
Speaker 1: time what teams will do is because outside of a
Speaker 1: you know, select few archetypes of players in the league
Speaker 1: that can get the defense and rotation in other ways.
Speaker 1: Like one of the why does Golden State's five out
Speaker 1: offense work because you have Stephen Clay. Why does Sacramento's
Speaker 1: five out offense work because you Malik Monk and Deer
Speaker 1: and Fox. They do it in a different way, But
Speaker 1: that's that's why it works. And so you kind of
Speaker 1: have to do it based on your personnel, and most
Speaker 1: teams the easiest way to get the defense and pick
Speaker 1: and roll is let me give you an example, like
Speaker 1: the Lakers in a bench group with Austin Reeves and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Christian Wood just for an example, like
Speaker 1: and Ad hasn't been posting up as much this year.
Speaker 1: So like, give Austin spread floor, two shooters in the
Speaker 1: weakside corners, shooter on the or two shooters in the corners,
Speaker 1: shooter on the weak side wing, and Ad comes up
Speaker 1: and sets a ball screen. Chances are he probably can
Speaker 1: get one of the weakside defenders to lean in. Now
Speaker 1: it's kickout pass, now di'angelo, Rustler, Torrey Prince, wherever it
Speaker 1: is attacking a close out there, Like, that's how they
Speaker 1: do it. They their their main goal there is just
Speaker 1: to get a close out opportunity for somebody. That's how
Speaker 1: they start the possession right. So again, like it's just
Speaker 1: an easy way to do it. And the main reason
Speaker 1: why you see ball screens in particular is not only
Speaker 1: are guys like Austin and the rest of the guys
Speaker 1: in the league that's where they're most comfortable, but also
Speaker 1: when you look at the way coverages are built, with
Speaker 1: a lot of teams going with high drop and backside help,
Speaker 1: it's just the easiest way to get baked in rotations
Speaker 1: by the coverage. Like, so many teams that I've covered
Speaker 1: this year are engaging the low man on the role
Speaker 1: man every single time inning. They're bringing the screen defender
Speaker 1: up high to help corral the ball. They're conceding the
Speaker 1: pocket pass, but they're tagging over with that with that
Speaker 1: weak side guy. So if they're they're either conceding the
Speaker 1: pocket pass right into a defender or they're denying the
Speaker 1: pocket pass with the low man and conceding that skip
Speaker 1: pass right, they're defending the action three on two. And like,
Speaker 1: so if you can just run an action and automatically
Speaker 1: have an open man, why not just do that? And
Speaker 1: so it's a way to kind of like begin the possession.
Speaker 1: And for the record, every team runs sets. They do.
Speaker 1: It just depends on how frequently they do, and some
Speaker 1: teams run it more than others run sets more than others.
Speaker 1: But like if a team dribbles about the floor and
Speaker 1: just runs a pick and roll, they're doing it to
Speaker 1: try to get the defense in rotation and then they're
Speaker 1: trying to play driving kick basketball out of that next question,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how the mailbox questions work, but I
Speaker 1: would love if you could talk about if you feel
Speaker 1: that Devin Booker out playing ants so heavily means anything,
Speaker 1: or if it was just a bad game, frant I
Speaker 1: never will react to one single regular season game as
Speaker 1: a indicator of who's better. Never forget last year in
Speaker 1: the regular season. I remember because I was coming back
Speaker 1: from a ski trip in Colorado when I was watching
Speaker 1: the game in some dive bar in like Golden Colorado
Speaker 1: or something like that. But literally, Joel Embiid just utterly
Speaker 1: obliterated Niccolo Kich just obliterated in for the world to
Speaker 1: see on national television. Anybody here think Jokic is not
Speaker 1: better than Embiid, like obviously he is. So I would
Speaker 1: never overreact to one single regular season game, not to
Speaker 1: mention like the one of the guys in the comments
Speaker 1: pointed out something that I didn't even realize, which is
Speaker 1: that the Timberwolves were on an incredibly difficult stretch their
Speaker 1: schedule that had basically brought them to the edge of
Speaker 1: fatigue in a lot of ways. Doesn't mean Devin Booker,
Speaker 1: I believe. I believe Devin Booker is probably a little
Speaker 1: bit better than Aunt right now. I think it will
Speaker 1: pass him very soon. But I'm just saying I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna use that particular game as an indicator. Next question.
Speaker 1: You talk a lot about typical young guard mistakes like
Speaker 1: shot selection and turnovers. Is there a way for young
Speaker 1: guards to limit them, for example, diving into a ton
Speaker 1: of tape? If yes, why don't they If you cannot
Speaker 1: learn those things on tape, you just got to play.
Speaker 1: As a fan who's never seriously played, I always wonder that. Honestly,
Speaker 1: the guys are doing everything. They've got coaches in their ears.
Speaker 1: They're showing them like, hey, you're missing this read like,
Speaker 1: hey you're over dribbling here. Hey, this is over penetration.
Speaker 1: Hey is a bad shot. We don't really need to
Speaker 1: take the shot. Hey, defensively, you need to do this.
Speaker 1: Hey you need to sprint back. Hey you need to
Speaker 1: be in this position and help. Hey you need to
Speaker 1: do a better job fighting over screens. Like they're telling
Speaker 1: them all this stuff. It's just as with everything, it's
Speaker 1: incremental improvement. It's not like you go have a film
Speaker 1: session you're like, oh, I just got to do that differently,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly you're a way better player. Like that's
Speaker 1: not how it works. Like everything, when it comes to
Speaker 1: the lightning quick decision making and real five on five
Speaker 1: basketball is incremental progression. You're always just getting a little
Speaker 1: bit better. For example, like I when I was in college,
Speaker 1: I was just an athlete, so I just guarded the
Speaker 1: other team's best player shot open threes and juco I'd
Speaker 1: had to guard bigs because I was like the only
Speaker 1: big on my team. So like, like that that was
Speaker 1: what I did. But as I've gotten older, I've become
Speaker 1: a perimeter player. And I was a late bloomer, right,
Speaker 1: so I didn't play in high school and so I
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't even play in college until my third
Speaker 1: year of college. And so I in my development, I
Speaker 1: am in a I got to phases that other people
Speaker 1: hit much earlier. So like when I was in my
Speaker 1: when I was twenty five, I was starting to kind
Speaker 1: of play a lot on the perimeter, and like I'm
Speaker 1: starting to kind of figure out how to make reads
Speaker 1: and to play five and five basketball and to be
Speaker 1: a part of a team. And then twenty six I
Speaker 1: got a little better, twenty seven I got a little better,
Speaker 1: twenty eight I got a little better, twenty nine I
Speaker 1: got a little better. Right like now, at age thirty two,
Speaker 1: I feel really comfortable and confident as a perimeter player.
Speaker 1: But even then, like I'm still every time I play,
Speaker 1: I just get a little better at making the reads,
Speaker 1: a little better at reading at kind of like feeling
Speaker 1: the flow of a game and knowing when it's time
Speaker 1: for me to be aggressive as a score versus when
Speaker 1: it's time for me to look to pass right, Like
Speaker 1: I've got so much better since COVID at building out
Speaker 1: a post game. I just was like not good at
Speaker 1: scoring in the post, and now it's like a strength
Speaker 1: in my game, and you can't put a small defender
Speaker 1: on me. Like it's just everything is like little tiny improvements.
Speaker 1: Everything is incremental. I'm never expecting a young guard to
Speaker 1: have two or three film sessions or two or three
Speaker 1: good ball handling workouts and then directify all their problems.
Speaker 1: Like everything is like you're always trying to just get
Speaker 1: one percent better, If that makes any sense. Can you
Speaker 1: break down how the Bucks can build off of Dame's
Speaker 1: huge game without Yannis? So I didn't actually watch this game,
Speaker 1: but I saw the highlights. Dame to start this year
Speaker 1: is just not been the same guy in terms of
Speaker 1: a shot making right and in general it's caused of
Speaker 1: a boatload of problems in terms of just how easy
Speaker 1: it is for them to score things like the Dam
Speaker 1: Giannis pick and roll, like just the way teams are
Speaker 1: guarding Dame. He needed to get into the habit of
Speaker 1: not in the habit, but get into a rhythm where
Speaker 1: he's making a lot of his pull up jump shots
Speaker 1: to actually drive the aggressive coverage that will open things
Speaker 1: up for them offensively. And as I said at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, like it was pretty clear to
Speaker 1: me that Dame came into camp out of shape and
Speaker 1: was leaving a ton of his pull up jump shots short.
Speaker 1: But what's inevitably going to happen. Dame didn't just get
Speaker 1: bad at basketball. He's eventually going to get his legs
Speaker 1: underneath him and he's going to start making shots. And
Speaker 1: I thought that game was a huge indicator of Dame
Speaker 1: progressing in the right direction on that front. And then
Speaker 1: Giannis comes back, That's where you can start kind of
Speaker 1: leaning into that action a little bit, and as teams
Speaker 1: get terrified of Dame making those shots, that's what will
Speaker 1: open up those short role opportunities for jannest All Right,
Speaker 1: last question, what is Steve Kurr's problem with Moses Moody.
Speaker 1: Even when Moody is bawling, Steve will put in inferior
Speaker 1: players over him, I e. Anthony Lamb last season and
Speaker 1: this year, Corey, Joseph, and to a lesser extent, Clay
Speaker 1: when he's clearly struggling. First of all, you gotta stick
Speaker 1: with Clay because if you're gonna have any chance of
Speaker 1: winning the title, you need him to be, you know,
Speaker 1: the type of semi reliable offensive player that he was
Speaker 1: in the playoffs in twenty twenty two, right, and for
Speaker 1: most of the regular season last year. But above and
Speaker 1: beyond that, they're like, there are some confusing ones like Joseph.
Speaker 1: I mean, Cory jos is a good NBA player, but
Speaker 1: I don't I that's the one guy where I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't understand why he is in particular out there,
Speaker 1: but in this particular case, curse trying to find who
Speaker 1: he trusts. And one of the tricky things with Moody
Speaker 1: in particular, in my opinion and just my time watching him,
Speaker 1: I really like him in the playoff rotation when the
Speaker 1: rotation is shrunk because he's always playing alongside good veteran players,
Speaker 1: and in those situations when he's just focusing on point
Speaker 1: of attack defense and he's in limited minutes so he
Speaker 1: can foul and it's not as big of a deal.
Speaker 1: And just taking wide open catch and shoot threes off
Speaker 1: of you know, pick and roll actions where he's getting
Speaker 1: great looks like, that's where he's really good. It's when
Speaker 1: he's in some of these groups where multiple young players
Speaker 1: are on the floor multiple like the where they're during
Speaker 1: the regular season rotation, when there's like ten to eleven
Speaker 1: guys in the rotation and he's playing with three or
Speaker 1: four other bench guys and he has to do more
Speaker 1: off the bounce like and the overall defensive talent is
Speaker 1: and is good. That's where I can see him struggling
Speaker 1: and so in a weird way in moments like this
Speaker 1: where it's a regular season game, excuse me, and Steph
Speaker 1: Curry's out, those are the times when Moody hasn't looked
Speaker 1: as good. Right. So, But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr, you know, every coach has the people that
Speaker 1: they trust, and then you know they have stretches where
Speaker 1: they have heavy trust in a player and they lean
Speaker 1: on him heavily, and then sometimes that trust gets broken
Speaker 1: and then suddenly they get removed from the rotation, and
Speaker 1: you know, young guys in particular are going to go
Speaker 1: through that, and that's one of the downsides of being
Speaker 1: a lottery pick playing with a with a team that
Speaker 1: has championship expectations, you know what I mean. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, this is what I would
Speaker 1: tell you, know, cause I have Lakers fans that do
Speaker 1: this all the time. They're like, we need Max Christy
Speaker 1: to get more minutes, and like, you know, Camera just
Speaker 1: should get more minutes, like less Tory and Prince more
Speaker 1: of this guy. And it's like, if you really think
Speaker 1: that more minutes for the seventh or eighth best player
Speaker 1: on your team is the difference between you being good
Speaker 1: or bad, I'm going to disagree with you, like generally speaking,
Speaker 1: like that's not going to be the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that separates success from failure in my opinion. Like should
Speaker 1: Moses Moody play a little bit more? Yeah, probably, but
Speaker 1: they're still six and seven or whatever if they do, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's turning the page on a lot
Speaker 1: of these things. Like the Lakers, finally, because of injuries,
Speaker 1: played a lot of Max Christy and he looked like
Speaker 1: a young player you know, and so again like I
Speaker 1: don't think, I think that those are conversations worth having,
Speaker 1: but they're not big picture conversations and they don't have
Speaker 1: any real bearing on the success of the team in
Speaker 1: my opinion. All Right, guys, that's all I have for
Speaker 1: this weekend. Remember taking Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Speaker 1: Thursday off for Thanksgiving as I go out of town
Speaker 1: to Texas. And then when I get back, we'll cover
Speaker 1: that week's worth of games on Friday. There's always I
Speaker 1: appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you. Then the volume