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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason Tip Podcast. Make you guys so

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

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Speaker 1: hang out with Tommy and I. We still do not

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Speaker 1: have a name for the show, and you guys are

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Speaker 1: doing a bad job of sending us suggestions. We need more,

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Speaker 1: we need better. Tommy's suggestion was gunned to my head.

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Speaker 1: I'm a little iffy on that one. Have you come

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Speaker 1: up with anything better since then? Andy? I got nothing. Man,

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Speaker 1: I'm sticking with gun to my head, as terrible as

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Speaker 1: it is, out of a punishment to this podcast. If

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Speaker 1: we can't think of something better, we might have to

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Speaker 1: to go go with that one. Um Anyway, I'm super stoked.

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Speaker 1: We have just about an hour today before we gotta

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Speaker 1: lose Tommy. We're going to start with just a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a breakdown of last night's Warriors game and

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Speaker 1: just a little a thing that's been on my mind

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Speaker 1: having to do with the way we evaluate players. Then

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Speaker 1: Tommy and I are gonna give our takes on the

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Speaker 1: kind of state of analytics and basketball. I know we're

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Speaker 1: a couple of days behind on that one, but I've

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Speaker 1: had a lot of thoughts on that that I wanted

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Speaker 1: to share and then we're gonna end by talking about

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Speaker 1: what I think has been an interesting topic as of late,

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Speaker 1: which is just like the idea of the way that

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Speaker 1: the league uh portrays certain stars and the way that

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Speaker 1: the league uh portrays itself in general and in the media,

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Speaker 1: and just kind of some ideas about that. And we're

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Speaker 1: gonna bounce around to a bunch of teams in the process,

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Speaker 1: But I wanted to start with something interesting from last

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Speaker 1: night's game because we kind of get on this merrygo

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Speaker 1: round where every single time Steph loses or every single

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Speaker 1: time Lebron loses, you get the same kind of loud

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Speaker 1: criticism from one side of the equation. And I'm not

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Speaker 1: talking about what you were saying, Tommy, because I know

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Speaker 1: you had a very specific, pointed criticism about something having

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Speaker 1: to do with what's happening on the court. But it's

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Speaker 1: more I'm more just talking about the real toxic stuff

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Speaker 1: on either side. And I think this season is super

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Speaker 1: are fascinating. It's like a case study, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: of the way that of the way that we evaluate players,

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Speaker 1: because you know, we like to think that basketball is

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Speaker 1: this sport that is very you know, uh that the

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Speaker 1: individual has a great impact on which it does compared

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Speaker 1: to other team sports, but at its core, it is

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Speaker 1: still profoundly a team sport. And I think the Steph

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Speaker 1: Lebron thing is the best example of that, because if

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Speaker 1: you took a random poll of people in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eighteen and said who's like, who's better stuff for Lebron,

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Speaker 1: you have a group of them say Steph, And you

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Speaker 1: have a group of them say Lebron, And and Steph

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Speaker 1: was on a contender at that point, and Lebron was

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Speaker 1: on a middling playoff team, you know, and then this

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Speaker 1: year I would vote. I would wager if you asked

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Speaker 1: those same people, they would still say step and they

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Speaker 1: would still say Lebron, despite the fact that the roles

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Speaker 1: have been reversed and Lebron's on the Contender and Steph

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Speaker 1: is on the middling playoff team. And I think that

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Speaker 1: has to do with the fact that it's very subjective

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Speaker 1: the way that we evaluate these guys, and quite frankly, like,

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Speaker 1: I'm over the idea of saying, like so and so

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Speaker 1: is better than this guy because they wont head to

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Speaker 1: head matchup or they won this specific series, Like I

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Speaker 1: don't care, Like there's a better case for Steff over

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Speaker 1: Dame than having beat Dame in the playoffs a few times.

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Speaker 1: To me, the cases he's better off the ball, which

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Speaker 1: makes him more versatile, he's a better playmaker, he's got

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Speaker 1: better control of the game, you know, those sorts of things.

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Speaker 1: He's better defensively, or if you're making the case for Dame,

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Speaker 1: it's he gets uh, he gets he's better isolations for

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Speaker 1: he's better at the end of games as a as

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Speaker 1: a shock creator. Like, those sorts of things are more

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Speaker 1: interesting than me to me than the team results because

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Speaker 1: the team results are just so convoluted. So my question

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Speaker 1: for you is does what I'm saying make any sense

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Speaker 1: to you? And then also I'm I think this is

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Speaker 1: a good segue into what your legitimate basketball criticism of

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Speaker 1: Steff was last night. It does make sense, But I mean,

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Speaker 1: the way that we operate is all just kind of

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Speaker 1: an echo chamber of Twitter, and a lot of the

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Speaker 1: stuff that you're saying, it's just two nuance of a

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Speaker 1: conversation for Twitter, and you can't do it in two

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Speaker 1: characters or two and eighty whatever the limit is. Now. Um,

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Speaker 1: I think that's what a lot of it boils down to, right,

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Speaker 1: you you simplify, you get reductive um. Just by nature

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Speaker 1: of the platform, you can't expound on things unless you

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Speaker 1: go on these long threads. And if you're going on

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Speaker 1: a long thread, nobody's gonna read it right like you,

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Speaker 1: you really have to get lucky to have people read

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Speaker 1: each and every thought that you put out in the thread.

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Speaker 1: It's all gonna get kind of lost in the mix.

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Speaker 1: People are gonna respond to the first tweet and they're

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Speaker 1: not going to see the context of what you're saying.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, that's a better way to evaluate players, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: but you're never gonna get that if you're just basing

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Speaker 1: your entire conversation off Twitter. And to go on top

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Speaker 1: of that, I do think winning matters, Like I don't

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Speaker 1: think Steph is better than Dames solely because he's beat

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Speaker 1: him in the playoffs, But I don't think it's insignificant

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Speaker 1: that he is ten and oh in games played against

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Speaker 1: Damian Lillard in the playoffs, Like if Dame was if

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Speaker 1: the conversation was a little bit closer, I don't think

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Speaker 1: it would be ten zero. I really don't, because every

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Speaker 1: time it comes down to it and playoff game, step

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Speaker 1: has been better than Dame. It's just a wat evidence.

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Speaker 1: It's you know, or I should say it's convoluted evidence,

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Speaker 1: it's convolution. It's convoluted evidence and doesn't tell the whole story.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to argue that it does, but

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Speaker 1: I think it's it's a it's a mirror into what

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Speaker 1: the conversation should be like. He is he tennan no

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Speaker 1: better than Dame? No, he's not tenan no better? But

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Speaker 1: is he a good amount better? I still think so. Um.

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Speaker 1: But to go on top of that, I mean, last night,

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Speaker 1: one guy was better for forty five minutes and then

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Speaker 1: he wasn't better in the last three minutes. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know exactly what that point to. Yesterday he was

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Speaker 1: four for fifteen in the second half, something along those lines.

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Speaker 1: Four for fifteen and the second half, a horrendous third quarter.

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Speaker 1: I don't think you made a shot in the third quarter.

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Speaker 1: Might have made one late, um, but just a really

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Speaker 1: really bad second three at the end when they were

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Speaker 1: up three with one minute left that would ice the game.

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Speaker 1: That was get out to me. Just a shot that

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Speaker 1: he never misses, never misses, never ever says, and then

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Speaker 1: a couple of floaters. I don't know how the last

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Speaker 1: floater stayed out. That was really like he put that

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Speaker 1: basically right where it should have been. Maybe it should

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Speaker 1: have been a little bit softer off the back. Um,

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Speaker 1: so we got a couple of unlucky rolls. Ramon missed

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Speaker 1: put back? Is it that one if I remember correctly? Um? No,

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Speaker 1: the Draymond missed put back was on the three, and

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Speaker 1: then he took a floater with like he took a

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Speaker 1: floater with like thirty seconds left right before dame at

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Speaker 1: the step back to go up to he took a

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Speaker 1: floater off the board and um, it like rolled around

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Speaker 1: the rim and then sat on top of the side

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Speaker 1: of the rim for a second and rolled out. So

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Speaker 1: he got he got on lucky on a couple of them,

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Speaker 1: and then he got fouled on a drive where he

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Speaker 1: actually made a lay up. Can't like h him right

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Speaker 1: across the face and they didn't call it. Um, But

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Speaker 1: point being, he just there were too many times later

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Speaker 1: where he like looked to get off ball or look

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Speaker 1: for more screening action where it's like, dude, you just

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Speaker 1: gotta go get a bucket man like you have you're

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Speaker 1: being guarded by Rodney Hood or Robert Covington's or Carmelo Anthony,

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Speaker 1: like guys who can take one on one and you

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Speaker 1: just didn't go get a bucket, And sometimes Portland doubled

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Speaker 1: him and forced the ball out of his hands, and

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Speaker 1: that matters, Like that's not insignificant in but at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, you've got to find a way

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Speaker 1: to win that game. Your team had the lead, and

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Speaker 1: if you're the player that everybody says you are, still

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Speaker 1: you need to go win that game. And it's not

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Speaker 1: an isolated incident. This has happened multiple times as you're

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Speaker 1: happen against the Facers, against the Knicks, against the Magic,

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Speaker 1: Like it isn't a small thing. And look, he's carrying

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Speaker 1: a huge burden. Nobody's saying he isn't um It's it's

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Speaker 1: different than Portland's situation in that Golden State has put

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Speaker 1: this really good defense around Steph and they've kind of

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Speaker 1: forfeited offense, and Portland has kind of forfeited defense and

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Speaker 1: put this really good offense around Dame. Even with c

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Speaker 1: J and Nerk being out, like they still have very

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Speaker 1: capable offensive players. So it comes back to team building

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Speaker 1: in a lot of ways to like it's tougher for step,

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Speaker 1: because he really is manufacturing everything for them. But it's

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Speaker 1: not an excuse for not making shots at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game. It isn't I'm sorry, Like the game

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Speaker 1: was close, You've got to find a way to win

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Speaker 1: that one, and they could have three or four more

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Speaker 1: wins this year. You're if he had done Like it's

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Speaker 1: very similar situations the last night. So everybody got mad

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Speaker 1: at me once again, and I understand it because I've

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Speaker 1: become the the kind of blinchmen for this argument or

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Speaker 1: this talking point. But it Yeah, I was just very

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Speaker 1: disappointed and how he performed on the stretch, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think I should be I don't know, castigated for that.

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Speaker 1: So I think, uh, this is an interesting like I

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Speaker 1: we're gonna kind of uh do a little ven diagram

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Speaker 1: here over some other topics that we're gonna touch on today.

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Speaker 1: But to me, this is like a problem that I have,

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Speaker 1: one of many problems that I have with a purely

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Speaker 1: analytical approach to basketball, because I tend to have a

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Speaker 1: very middle ground approach to this kind of stuff. Like

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Speaker 1: I was listening to a great podcast what you guys

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Speaker 1: have to check Out if you haven't checked out yet,

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Speaker 1: which is the one that Jason Maples did the other day. Um,

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Speaker 1: he brought on I'm blanking on the gentleman's name right now,

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Speaker 1: Joseph gil Joseph Gillyah. He brought on a guy who

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Speaker 1: works in analytics, and they had a really smart conversation

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Speaker 1: surrounding a lot of this stuff. Um, and you've got

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Speaker 1: to check that out if you haven't done yet. That's

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Speaker 1: on on Jason Maple's podcast. But that said, uh, there's

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Speaker 1: the name of that podcast, by the way, it's Temple

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Speaker 1: of Hoo Yes, Temple of Hoop Podcasts. So the there's

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Speaker 1: this idea of what we quantify to be an open shot,

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Speaker 1: and we and we use that as kind of like

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Speaker 1: the the only measure of the shots quality or its

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Speaker 1: probability of going in, which is an issue that I

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Speaker 1: have because like so, for instance, like the example that

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Speaker 1: I've used with you several times has to do with

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Speaker 1: the two thousand nineteen finals and the shots that Steph

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Speaker 1: was getting at the end of the game against the Raptors.

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Speaker 1: And you know, uh, if it just by strictly looking

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Speaker 1: at clips, you see separation and you see Steph getting

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Speaker 1: a quality look. But what I see personally just and

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Speaker 1: you you can relate to this too because you've played

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Speaker 1: basketball as well. Is like, there's this unwritten there's this

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Speaker 1: untold part of the story, which is how much energy

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Speaker 1: it took to get you open. And and this is

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Speaker 1: something that I think is lost in a lot of

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Speaker 1: defensive metrics that it bothers me when you see like, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, one of these heavily analytics orient and to

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Speaker 1: guys be like, oh, well, this defense is actually not

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Speaker 1: as good as it looks because teams are missing threes

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Speaker 1: against them, which automatically is being quantified as luck and

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Speaker 1: not the fact that that defense wears you down so

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Speaker 1: much that even when you do get open, you're exhausted

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Speaker 1: and you can't make the shot. And that's really no

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Speaker 1: go I would I'll let you finish. But that's a

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Speaker 1: really good point. Tom Thibode's defenses always have that happen.

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Speaker 1: The teams always shoot terribly from three against them, even

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Speaker 1: on open threes. And it's exactly what you're pointing to.

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Speaker 1: Their teams are always tired against them. And it's one

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Speaker 1: thing if we're looking at a four game sample size

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Speaker 1: and we're like, okay, teams are shooting fifteen percent from three.

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Speaker 1: They're getting lucky. That's one thing. But when I've got

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Speaker 1: a season's worth, you know, a half a season's worth

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Speaker 1: of data, that tells me that even when they get

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Speaker 1: a defenses or offenses get open shots against them, they're

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Speaker 1: just not converting them at a high rate. That tells

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Speaker 1: me that you're getting your ass kicked everywhere else on

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Speaker 1: the floor, and then all of a sudden you find

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Speaker 1: yourself open and you're almost like stunned to be open,

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Speaker 1: and you're exhausted, and you're not getting the right lift

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Speaker 1: and you're leaving stuff short and you're just missing shots.

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Speaker 1: And so my point is is, like, you know, Steph

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Speaker 1: Curry going forward for fifteen, this kind of reminds me

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Speaker 1: a lot of what would happen in UH in two

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Speaker 1: thousand eighteen with lebron Is and even before that, or

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Speaker 1: would be like people would be like, oh, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: in the in the in the fourth quarter he was

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Speaker 1: two for six, and it's like, yeah, but you know,

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Speaker 1: when you are carrying the load that you're carrying, and

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Speaker 1: when you are you know, under the that intense physical

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Speaker 1: stress for forty eight minutes, it's normal to get less

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Speaker 1: lift and to be less effective at the end of games.

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Speaker 1: And and all I'm saying is like, as far as

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Speaker 1: Steph goes, you know, if you put him in a

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Speaker 1: situation where his workload is less, I believe this version

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Speaker 1: of Steph two thousand twenty one, Steph would appear to

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Speaker 1: be more in control of games, kind of to to

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Speaker 1: what you were talking about earlier. And the last example

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Speaker 1: I'll give, And then all your respond again is, you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: wide open shot is quantified as a shot that has

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Speaker 1: at least six ft is space between the closest defender

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Speaker 1: and the shot, according to what you see on NBA

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Speaker 1: dot com. So in my opinion, though, a contested shot

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Speaker 1: for me, when I'm in a smaller role or not

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Speaker 1: even necessarily smaller role, but going against an inferior defense

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Speaker 1: or whatever, it takes, a pull up three that's technically

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Speaker 1: with the defender in front of me, when I have

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Speaker 1: good legs and good rhythm, is actually a better shot

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Speaker 1: for me than if I'm wide open but exhausted for

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Speaker 1: whatever the reason. Maybe, And so from that standpoint, like,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's ever a true, you know, assertion

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Speaker 1: of a player's shooting ability to look at open versus

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Speaker 1: wide open and things along those lines. I would look

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Speaker 1: at it more, and you know, in relation to what

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Speaker 1: his workload is, I think I don't think it's a

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Speaker 1: coincidence that Lebron's three point shot has fallen apart as

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Speaker 1: he's been in an operating and less spacing and in

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Speaker 1: the bigger workload, if that makes sense. No, you're not

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Speaker 1: wrong on any of it, And a lot of it

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Speaker 1: just poils down to we have all these numbers of

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Speaker 1: available to us, but a lot of people don't know

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Speaker 1: how to contextualize them, right, Like, no context has applied

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Speaker 1: to any of these numbers. And you're right, sometimes a

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Speaker 1: pull up three with kind of a semi contested hand

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Speaker 1: in your face is actually easier than the wide open one.

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Speaker 1: But specifically pointing to Steph, he's always shot incredible sentage

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Speaker 1: percentages on wide open threes. He's just for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: this year, he's just missing those ones at a higher

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Speaker 1: rate than he ever has. And maybe it does point

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Speaker 1: to the workloade because the contested ones are going in

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Speaker 1: at basically the same rate, which is the weird part, right,

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Speaker 1: because if he's making the contested ones at the same

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Speaker 1: rate and he's missing the wide open ones, I don't

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Speaker 1: know what to attribute that to. Maybe it is defenses

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Speaker 1: being more physical and when he gets the wide open ones,

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Speaker 1: there's such like a sigh of relief and oh my god,

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Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm open that he's more likely to

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Speaker 1: miss it because he feels more pressure in a way, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: it's all human stuff that we can't we can't put

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Speaker 1: into numbers, and we probably never will be able to.

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Speaker 1: That's why as good as analytics are, and as good

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Speaker 1: as they will get in the future, like we're probably

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Speaker 1: kind of just that, you know, the tip of the

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Speaker 1: iceberg here, they're gonna get a lot better and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to to quantify even more um parts

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Speaker 1: of basketball, but there's always gonna be a human element

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Speaker 1: that we cannot quantify, and the rush to do that,

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Speaker 1: to just paint everything by numbers will ruin basketball to

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Speaker 1: a certain extent if we don't get control over it.

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Speaker 1: It's just it's just the reality of the situation. If

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Speaker 1: we continue to go down this path where numbers are God,

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Speaker 1: they can't be they never will be. Well, there's a

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Speaker 1: basic there's a basic like, uh, you know, conundrum that

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Speaker 1: takes place when we start to paint any section of

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Speaker 1: the public with the wide brush. And this is more

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Speaker 1: of like a worldview kind of thing. And when you

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Speaker 1: factor in the reality that no two situations are like

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Speaker 1: um and you know, that's why you know, any sort

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Speaker 1: of of sweeping directive that just the responds to a

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Speaker 1: specific you know, whether it's an income like income brackets.

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Speaker 1: And we talked about this a while back, having to

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Speaker 1: do with like stimulus. It's like an income bracket in Arizona,

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Speaker 1: where I live doesn't remotely resemble you know, something in

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Speaker 1: CALIFORNI on you, and so everything is relative to your circumstance.

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Speaker 1: And the same goes for for basketball analytics. And this

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Speaker 1: is something that I think, UH is tough, and that's

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Speaker 1: why I have. What I really enjoy with analytics is

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Speaker 1: you know, more scoreboard related UH measures. So for instance,

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Speaker 1: like you know, UH points per possession that is waited

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Speaker 1: to throw out garbage time or to throw out you know,

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Speaker 1: UH end of quarter heaves and stuff like that. Like

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Speaker 1: I like that sort of thing because it's the scoreboard

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Speaker 1: uh and and and it's one of those things where

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Speaker 1: you can actually uh draw a direct line between that

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Speaker 1: and winning. And I thought Joseph Gila on that podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's such a good job of explaining how that's the

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Speaker 1: number one thing that gets players paid, and it's the

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Speaker 1: it's one of the number one things that he focuses

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Speaker 1: on when he's coming up with strategy for players and

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Speaker 1: their scouting reports and things like that, because like you know,

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Speaker 1: for instance, yeah, if you you used to talk to

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Speaker 1: UH analytics guy about the mid range shot, and they

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Speaker 1: would tell you at first it was like no mid

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Speaker 1: range shot, and then there was a bunch of push

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Speaker 1: back and they responded with like okay, end of games

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Speaker 1: and the shot clock. And what I was always pushed

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Speaker 1: back on is like, you can never quantify how comfortable

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Speaker 1: an offensive player is when he's going into a shot. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, like a slightly uncomfortable three. You know, if

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Speaker 1: you may, you may attach a points possession points per

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Speaker 1: possession to that based on it being a three point

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Speaker 1: shot with a defender at a certain distance, but in reality,

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Speaker 1: it's an uncomfortable three, and there's no way of quantifying

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Speaker 1: that versus a comfortable, wonderable pull up, you know, in

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Speaker 1: a point by per a point per possession stance. If

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Speaker 1: factors in all these other fifteen footers and twenty footers

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Speaker 1: that kind of get convoluted in there. But if you're

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Speaker 1: really comfortable and in rhythm in that shot, it's not

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Speaker 1: a you know, one point per possession shot for you,

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Speaker 1: it's like an eight percent shot. Like when you're comfortable

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Speaker 1: and you're in rhythm. It's hard to quantify how like

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Speaker 1: you that shots just gonna go in and you almost

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Speaker 1: get a feel for that. And I'm sure you feel

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Speaker 1: this way too, and you watch games like you almost

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Speaker 1: can tell when a guy's going up into a shot

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Speaker 1: with his form and how confident he raises up if

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Speaker 1: it's going to go in or not, and not to effects,

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Speaker 1: but too close to that, And I think, I don't

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Speaker 1: I don't think you can ever quantify that if that

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Speaker 1: makes sense. No, I mean, I'll keep going back to step.

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Speaker 1: His game last night was the perfect example of this.

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Speaker 1: He looks super in rhythm and super comfortable in that

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Speaker 1: first half and the third quarter. It was like he

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Speaker 1: was getting open looks and he was like messing up

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Speaker 1: his footwork. Um, he was kind of stutter stepping and

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Speaker 1: pump taking into shots instead of just shooting the ball.

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Speaker 1: And those shots would be you know, higher value shots,

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Speaker 1: They have a higher points per possession. You know, if

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Speaker 1: you were just measuring it by how wide open they were,

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Speaker 1: they were higher quality shots the ones that he was

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Speaker 1: getting in the in the first half and even the

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Speaker 1: ones he made in the fourth quarter. He made his

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Speaker 1: two toughest looks in the fourth quarter, but it was

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Speaker 1: all because he felt more in rhythm stepping into those shots.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's this weird thing well where the

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Speaker 1: numbers will never be able to quantify it, no matter

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Speaker 1: how granular would get and how good the tracking data

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Speaker 1: gets and how good, um, you know, the formula has become.

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Speaker 1: It's something where we can never actually nail it down

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Speaker 1: to a science because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: these are humans. These aren't robots, and it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: humans playing basketball unless there's a robot basketball league. Like,

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Speaker 1: it's just it is what it is. So yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: such a weird conversation because people in the Twitter sphere

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Speaker 1: you get painned as either like an analytics guy or

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Speaker 1: an eye test guy. And I don't think it's so

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Speaker 1: cut and dry, Like if I say one thing bad

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Speaker 1: about analytics, all of my analytics friendly followers will be like, hey,

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Speaker 1: but like, what are you talking about? Look, dude, then

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Speaker 1: they'll throw a bunch of analytics in my face. And

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Speaker 1: then if I quote something that's analytics, really a lot

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Speaker 1: of the eye test people a question where I'm coming from,

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Speaker 1: It's like, no, I'm just I'm operating on this occasion

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Speaker 1: by one of the two things, because sometimes the eye

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Speaker 1: test is more important to me, and sometimes the numbers

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Speaker 1: actually are more important. And that's why it has to

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Speaker 1: be on a case by case basis. You can't measure

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Speaker 1: any two things alike. Yeah, So that was something that

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Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting in that podcast as well

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Speaker 1: as he was talking about they were talking about how like, uh,

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Speaker 1: measuring Rudy Gobert's individual defense versus in a switch on

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Speaker 1: a particular player, and he was talking about how, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, if Rudy Gobert gets involved in a pick

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Speaker 1: and roll with Kyrie Irving, they just won't switch it,

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Speaker 1: but if he gets involved in a pick and roll

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Speaker 1: with Alex Caruso, he will switch it. So a bunch

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Speaker 1: of their individual defensive metrics are measured based on him

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Speaker 1: switching only onto these weaker offensive players. It's selection bias,

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Speaker 1: it's total selection bias. And the same goes for like

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Speaker 1: like one of the things that and that's why, like

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Speaker 1: for me, it's I lean slightly more eye test and

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Speaker 1: I and I and I evaluate metrics that makes sense

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Speaker 1: to what I'm seeing. So I'll give you an example.

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Speaker 1: When Anthony Davis to me, has been having a bad

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Speaker 1: year as a post score. Uh, he seems indecisive. He's not. Uh.

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Speaker 1: He's doing a better job attacking double teams than he

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Speaker 1: did last year, but he's feelm like great at it.

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Speaker 1: He's not making anything from the mid range, and he's

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Speaker 1: not making anything from three. He's just it's just a

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Speaker 1: really like a inconsistent season on that end. But according

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Speaker 1: to metrics on a point by a point per possession basis,

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Speaker 1: he's actually having a career year as a post up player.

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Speaker 1: And what I think is convoluting that. And I you know,

428
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,040
Speaker 1: I can't prove this unless I literally rewatch every Anthony

429
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,240
Speaker 1: Davis post up from the season, And maybe if I

430
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: lose my job or something, I'll go do that one

431
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,679
Speaker 1: of these days. But the point is is, like you know,

432
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,400
Speaker 1: from my test eye test watching, which I've watched every

433
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,399
Speaker 1: game and I've watched most of them twice. Uh, and

434
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,360
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis post up against an inferior UH defender where

435
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,680
Speaker 1: they UH like a really small guy where he has

436
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,400
Speaker 1: like an easy little, you know, drop step and put

437
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,600
Speaker 1: in those are he's converting at an extremely high rate,

438
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 1: but then he's being almost completely unaggressive in other matchups.

439
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,080
Speaker 1: If you have a reasonable post up defender and you

440
00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,600
Speaker 1: throw it into him and there's bad facing, he'll just

441
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: kick it back out. And so that's not even measured

442
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 1: as a possession in there, especially if it if they

443
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,199
Speaker 1: end up running another action. They'll only count it as

444
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,919
Speaker 1: a possession if it's like swing swing three or swing

445
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 1: three or whatever it is. And so from that standpoint,

446
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,920
Speaker 1: like I just think, you know, I if I had,

447
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,159
Speaker 1: you know, whereas like if I'm watching, as another specific

448
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,600
Speaker 1: eye test thing like oh, Lebron is leading the league

449
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 1: and points per possession and pull up threes off the dribble,

450
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,879
Speaker 1: it's like, oh wait, well, literally for two months before

451
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: he got cold here in the last few weeks, he

452
00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: was making that shot almost every time he took it.

453
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: So it's like, those are the kinds of things where

454
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 1: you know, if it makes sense to what you're seeing,

455
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:37,800
Speaker 1: you know, if you're you don't. You never want to

456
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 1: lie in the face of overwhelming evidence. A great example

457
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,120
Speaker 1: that is the Rondo stuff last year, Like if if

458
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,200
Speaker 1: there's just overwhelming evidence that when Rondo's on the court,

459
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 1: you're losing, and when Caruso's on the floor, you're winning,

460
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 1: Like that's a different story because there's just so much

461
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,200
Speaker 1: data pointing in one direction. But I think I think

462
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,360
Speaker 1: it's always important to either throw out I stuff if

463
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 1: the data overwhelmingly disproves it, or throw out the data

464
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,280
Speaker 1: if the what you're seeing overwhelmingly disproves it. If that

465
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: makes sense, Yeah, And that's where I hate when people

466
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,840
Speaker 1: use points per possession and isolation or anything like that

467
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:17,440
Speaker 1: to your actual isolation scoring. A lot of that is

468
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 1: just a player being smart enough to ISO against the

469
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 1: right guys exactly, right, And like Montrese, Montrese isn' getting

470
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: buckets against other big power forwards. He's doing it against

471
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 1: miss patches exactly And not to like come down too

472
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,120
Speaker 1: hard on step today, but a lot of times he's

473
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 1: selecting the ISO, it's against bad defenders, right, So he

474
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 1: always grades out well in isometrics, whereas some nights he

475
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,919
Speaker 1: really does struggle against really good defenders in those situations.

476
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 1: And like we saw him panic a little bit last

477
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 1: night at the end of the game. I thought Ker

478
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: ran a bad set honestly, like they try to do

479
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,919
Speaker 1: like a bunch of screening in trible handoffs instead of

480
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: just like giving him the ball and letting him go.

481
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, this is the charge play um. But

482
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 1: but like instead of just he got one on one

483
00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 1: with Rodney Hood, who he's like he killed off the

484
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 1: in the twenty nineteen Western Conference Finals. He got him

485
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,640
Speaker 1: a couple of times last night, and he like panicked.

486
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,359
Speaker 1: He was out top by himself, and he tried to

487
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,800
Speaker 1: turn the quarter too quickly instead of just backing out

488
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: and like truly ice isoing him, and he panicked a

489
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,280
Speaker 1: little bit. In an isolation situation, He's like, he's a

490
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: great is a player, not what I'm saying. What I'm

491
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 1: saying is measuring him by the pure numbers is kind

492
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: of dumb because he's really smart about who he ISOs

493
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 1: and who he doesn't. M m hm h m hm,

494
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 1: m hm mhm. Now yep, all right, we're back on.

495
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: I apologize to everyone. I've been recently moving and dealing

496
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: with a boatload of WiFi issues, and I will eventually

497
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: get them figured out. You have my word anyway. So

498
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,360
Speaker 1: one other thing I wanted to say on the analytics

499
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,359
Speaker 1: front having to do with overarching metrics, and this is

500
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: another thing that Joseph talked about in in the pod

501
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,119
Speaker 1: the other day that I thought was interesting. This idea

502
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,119
Speaker 1: that like, you know, uh, if you're looking at baseball,

503
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 1: every single player has the same goal, which is to

504
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 1: get on base in some way, shape or form, whether

505
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: it's through getting hit, getting a walk, getting home run,

506
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: whether you're a big hitter or a contact hitter, your

507
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,399
Speaker 1: your goal is essentially the same. And with basketball, it's not,

508
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: you know, like you would never uh measure it doesn't

509
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,879
Speaker 1: make sense to measure Kareem abdul Jabbar's contribution in the

510
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: same way you would measure Alan Iverson's contribution. Baseball. There's

511
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 1: like a three true they call it three true outcomes, right,

512
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 1: and that's what That's what it is in baseball. And

513
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 1: you can boil it down to that because everything is

514
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,520
Speaker 1: a one on one matchup. It's ess actually like if

515
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 1: every basketball game was just one on one and you're

516
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,920
Speaker 1: just playing isolation all game. That's basically what baseball is.

517
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: M m uh uh yeah, I can hear you a

518
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:22,840
Speaker 1: little bit, but it's still kind of like breaking up.

519
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: Oh goodness, all right, Uh, give it a second, I'm

520
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: good now, okay. Um. Anyway, my point is is like

521
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: a lot of these when you when I see some

522
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: of these metrics like Raptor and Lebron and and things

523
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: along those lines, he's like overarching metrics. The problem I

524
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: have with that is it makes no accounting for that

525
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: sort of thing. No players job is the same. So

526
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,119
Speaker 1: in for instance, I'll give you Lebron and Steph. Lebron

527
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 1: and Steph are in our opinion, the number one and

528
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 1: number two players in the entire world. And uh in

529
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: this case, even though they both are primary offensive players,

530
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: but both of their roles don't even remotely resemble each other.

531
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: You know, Steph brings this whole extra element with his

532
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 1: off ball play that Lebron really doesn't. And then Lebron

533
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,880
Speaker 1: brings this whole extra element with his defense that that's

534
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: definitely doesn't even even within the top echelons of the league.

535
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 1: In two of the two very very unique archetypes of stars,

536
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: their roles are still incredibly different. And so the idea

537
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 1: that you would attach one single metric to try to

538
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: paint a picture of the totality of a book. Basketball

539
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: players impact to me doesn't really make a ton of sense.

540
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,639
Speaker 1: And you can even look at players who are to

541
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: me at least somewhat similar, like a Yo Kichen his

542
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,120
Speaker 1: staff right, like incredible offensive players, like maybe the two

543
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,880
Speaker 1: best offensive players in the league, but not great on defense.

544
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 1: Even they play offense so differently that it's really really

545
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 1: tough to measure them against each other. Because step is

546
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 1: obviously the best shooter we've ever seen, and that's how

547
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,479
Speaker 1: he operates. Yokich is a big man who plays out

548
00:26:58,480 --> 00:26:59,879
Speaker 1: of the post. He can shoot the three a little bit,

549
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: but he plays out of the post primarily out of

550
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 1: dribble handoffs, and he's maybe the best passing big men

551
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:08,239
Speaker 1: we've ever seen. But measuring them by one metric are

552
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 1: thinking that they played the game even remotely the same

553
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 1: as ridiculous, right, Like, I was actually having a conversation

554
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 1: about this the other day with somebody. They I said,

555
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 1: you know, Yoki might be the best offensive player in

556
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: the league, and but of course a bunch of Warriors

557
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: pan jumps and my mentions, you're crazy, it's STEP's Step,

558
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:24,320
Speaker 1: It's Steph. And they pointed out all these things that

559
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: Yokich can't do that Steph can. I'm like, guys, you

560
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 1: have to realize there's things that Yokich a bunch of

561
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: things that Yokich can do that Steph can't do. It's

562
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,160
Speaker 1: not this one side of conversation, Well, this guy doesn't

563
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 1: bring these things at the table and this guy does. Okay,

564
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: that might be true, but the inverse is also true.

565
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: And now it comes down to what is more valuable?

566
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: And I think that's the type of stuff that these

567
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 1: metrics should try to quantify. Is okay, what is the

568
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,120
Speaker 1: most optimal way way to play? What is the most

569
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 1: valuable thing? Is? Are Yoki post ups more valuable than

570
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: steps shooting? Is his passing more valuable than steps off

571
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,959
Speaker 1: ball movement? I don't know how you quantify that. I'm

572
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:02,680
Speaker 1: not smart enough to figure that out, but I think

573
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: when analytics get really good, that's the type of stuff

574
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: they'll be able to quantify. And there is like a

575
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 1: certain amount of that you have points per possession, But

576
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: like we talked about, there there's a lot of selection

577
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: bias where it depends what the matchup is, who's on

578
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:15,920
Speaker 1: the floor, who isn't on the floor, who they're playing

579
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: with and it's just all stuff that we aren't going

580
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 1: to be able to quanify for probably a long time

581
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: in my opinion, Yeah, exactly. And and and this kind

582
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 1: of goes back to what we originally started this conversation with,

583
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 1: which is the way we evaluate players. And you know,

584
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 1: I I have said this many times and I I

585
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: really really truly believe it is on a subjective process,

586
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 1: because you know, this isn't This isn't like you know,

587
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 1: racing where you get a bunch of guys that have

588
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: the identical vehicle and one of them ends up coming

589
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 1: in first and there's this very clear cut hierarchy in

590
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 1: the way that they perform. Instead, it's it's it's almost

591
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: entirely different, like everybody's got a different race car, you know,

592
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: Like there's and and it's been interesting to me to see,

593
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 1: you know, uh know, and this is where the dishonesty

594
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 1: on both ends i'd like to call out because there

595
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 1: were so you know, there there were people last night,

596
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: including Draymond himself. You know, there was this quote that

597
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 1: went crazy last night. Who was It's like, oh, well,

598
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: our offense is kind of designed around getting shots for staff,

599
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,479
Speaker 1: and we all just kind of have to find our

600
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 1: our space there. And it's like that, that's exactly what

601
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 1: a bunch of crazy people and the Warriors side of

602
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: things used to say about Lebron. And you know, Jordan

603
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: Clarkson and Rodney Hood are struggling because they're trying to

604
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: find out where they can be successful next to Lebron.

605
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: It's like, no, actually, they're both just way better at

606
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,240
Speaker 1: basketball now than they were back in two thousand eighteen. Okay,

607
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,680
Speaker 1: Jordan Clarkson is a better basketball player now. That's why

608
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 1: he's doing better, and and and and the players that

609
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: are alongside Staff right now are not the same caliber

610
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: of players that we were seeing, you know, alongside him

611
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: in the past. And at the end of the day,

612
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: like you know, with exception of like really crazy extremes

613
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: like the James Harden situation in two thousand nineteen, where

614
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 1: it's like they're really lean into one player, most of

615
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: these guys are existing within a system that is more

616
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 1: or less distributed the way every other star is dealing

617
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: with it, where it's like they're they're mainly responsible for

618
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: generating offense. But if you're good, if you can play,

619
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: you're getting your minutes, you're getting your shots, you're getting

620
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: your attempts, like look at Dennis Shrewder. You know, no one.

621
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: I I even was a little skeptical coming into the season,

622
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 1: like how's Dennis gonna fit in, you know with Lebron

623
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 1: and a d having this give and take, And then

624
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: you find out really quickly it's like, wait, Dennis is

625
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 1: really good, and if you get him switched on to

626
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: a big he's just go and buy him to the

627
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 1: basket and and he can defend and you can do

628
00:30:35,360 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: all these other m hm h m. Jason you there, yeah,

629
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: m hmm a little bit. You come back now sostrating

630
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: never Uh, well, I think there's something going on with

631
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 1: my upload speed, but I'll get that. I'll get that

632
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: figured out. It seems like the upload just cuts out

633
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: every few minutes, but the download stay steady the whole time. Anyway,

634
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: I'll get that. I'll get that figured out. Anyway. Point

635
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: being the if if Steph's offensive talent around him was better,

636
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: they would have success around Steff. There's no systemic change

637
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: that needs to take place in my opinion. Uh, As

638
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: you know, Steph likes to play a certain style. Lebron

639
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: likes to play certain style. Good players, good offensive players

640
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,720
Speaker 1: will find a way to succeed, and more often than not,

641
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: just in the interest of being dishonest, we may blame

642
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: the stars, but to me, that's not necessarily fair, and

643
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: any sort of systemic change would end up hurting the

644
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,040
Speaker 1: stars more than it would help the role players in

645
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,320
Speaker 1: my opinion, No, totally. I mean, look, man, everybody thought

646
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 1: Lebron was washed two years ago, and then Anthony Davis

647
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: came along, and all of a sudden, he's the Finals

648
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 1: MVP again twelve months later. So I mean a lot

649
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: of it is just based on that. Like if the

650
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 1: tough part is as a Warriors fan, it's like, we're

651
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: all expecting Quai to be healthy this year, and then

652
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 1: he goes down on Draft night, like literally on Draft night,

653
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 1: we're supposed to get this number to pick, and Quaig

654
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: tears his achilles, and now you're expecting a lot more

655
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: out of this number to pick. Everything looks a lot different,

656
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 1: and people are like, oh, you can't shift the future.

657
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: You have to wait for quite to come back. Quays

658
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: coming off in the A C and achilles. You might

659
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 1: have to shift the future a little bit. You might

660
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 1: have to go all in in a way that you

661
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 1: didn't expect. I know you wanted to keep this number

662
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 1: two pick. I know you did, but that might not

663
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: be the reality anymore with a guy not playing basketball

664
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 1: for thirty months and coming off to catastrophic lower extremity injuries.

665
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,239
Speaker 1: And that's where a lot of this just boils over.

666
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 1: We all get frustrated every night because we thought we

667
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 1: were going to have a chance to be a contender

668
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: again and our second best player went down and now

669
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:58,239
Speaker 1: they can't score if he was out there. This year,

670
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 1: I think the roster actually looks okay for the most part.

671
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: It's not perfect, but it all makes a lot more sense.

672
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 1: And I mean that's the frustration that boils over every night,

673
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: and that's why I get piste basically. So that's actually

674
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 1: a really interesting, uh segue into this this lamella ball thing,

675
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: because I think it's been ridiculous that people, you know,

676
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 1: this kind of goes to what I was just saying

677
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 1: about this offensive talent, like there you know, I heard,

678
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,959
Speaker 1: you know, there's people everyone is just trying to defend

679
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: this process. And the one thing I do agree with

680
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 1: in terms of in defense of the Warriors and their

681
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: decision to take Wiseman, is it wasn't as clear cut

682
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: a gap during the draft process. Um, it was a

683
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: lot closer. There was a clear roster need in the

684
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: front court for the Warriors. LaMelo had all these question marks,

685
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: fair or not. He had all these question marks, you know,

686
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 1: coming out of New Zealand or whatever the heck he

687
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 1: was doing, or wherever the heck he was, but Australia, Australia. Yeah.

688
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 1: But the point is is that, you know, the the

689
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: we overthink these things a lot of the time. I

690
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,480
Speaker 1: can't tell you how many times we've overthought that there's

691
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: only one basketball thing, you know, for for multiple stars.

692
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: We've been proven wrong. Every single time that's been the case,

693
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: even the most horrific scenario like Chris Paul and James Harden,

694
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,279
Speaker 1: it worked. Brooklyn's giving it again right now. Brooklyn is

695
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,840
Speaker 1: giving it again right now, exactly. And so the bottom

696
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 1: line is this idea that like LaMelo wouldn't be able

697
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 1: to fit with Steph or he wouldn't be able to

698
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 1: do the same things. And and and then there's people

699
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 1: being dishonest and saying that you know, he's just doing

700
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,279
Speaker 1: it because he's in Charlotte and they're giving him the

701
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,520
Speaker 1: ball every time it's like, well, they're winning, okay, so

702
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,320
Speaker 1: they're giving him the ball every time, but they're winning,

703
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 1: so you're you're it's this is not garbage time. This

704
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: is legitimate basketball success that this kid is having. And

705
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:39,839
Speaker 1: I think it's okay to sit back and be like, man,

706
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 1: it would have been nice to have that next to Steph,

707
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: especially when you consider the fact that he does have

708
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 1: such an amazing off ball game. And I saw this

709
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 1: the other day. It this lasting. I'll say, I don't

710
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 1: have to take over, but it's like, it's like, oh, Draymond,

711
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,200
Speaker 1: you know, why would they need LaMelo? They got Draymond

712
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: to have the ball with Steff's got them. I'm like you,

713
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 1: you think it's good to have one dude who can

714
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: dribble with his head up. All staff is running around like,

715
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,000
Speaker 1: how how about two of them? Okay? Or what if

716
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 1: you know what if LaMelo and Draymond are running action

717
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,359
Speaker 1: and Steph is running around off the ball, like it's

718
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,319
Speaker 1: there's no scenario where that doesn't make that team infinitely better.

719
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 1: Every night, the fan blase every game, every single game,

720
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,440
Speaker 1: they complain about Brad Wannamaker every single game incessantly. It

721
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: never stops and I get it. One maker has been

722
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: terrible this year, like he deserves some type of flak

723
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 1: because he was much better in Boston. A lot of

724
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: that is the role that he's playing on this team.

725
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: But that's besides the point he's complained about every night.

726
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 1: The guy who solves that problem is LaMelo Ball. James

727
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:36,960
Speaker 1: Wiseman isn't solving anything for this team right now. God

728
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,919
Speaker 1: love him, He's I think he's gonna be a good player,

729
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:40,879
Speaker 1: and else I'll keep saying that because people are gonna

730
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:42,840
Speaker 1: yell me if I don't he is going to be

731
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,800
Speaker 1: a good player. But right now, LaMelo Ball already is

732
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:47,759
Speaker 1: a good player. And it doesn't matter that he's playing

733
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,760
Speaker 1: with you know, some good teammates and Rosier and Hayward.

734
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,320
Speaker 1: Yeah great, he'd be playing with better teammates in Golden

735
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 1: State and Stephan Draymond. It would only make him look better.

736
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 1: Maybe his numbers would be a little bit lower, but

737
00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,719
Speaker 1: he would be He would be feeling a role for

738
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 1: that is needed on this team. Every night we can play. Oh,

739
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: Steve Curs said it last night. Need more scoring, need

740
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 1: more playmaking. He would have provided it, right And everybody

741
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 1: who does this for a job had him as best

742
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: player available. Everybody. By the time the draft around, everybody

743
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:19,399
Speaker 1: had him. They might have not had him one number

744
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 1: one in their mock draft or number one on their

745
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 1: board or whatever, but they all had him as VP

746
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,479
Speaker 1: a best player available. I remember the draft Express guys

747
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,359
Speaker 1: had him number one. I don't think Kevin O'Connor did.

748
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 1: But O'Connor had kill a catastrophically wrong. Yeah, I think

749
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 1: he had. I think he had ball number two though,

750
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure, but he had Wiseman six. Walserman had

751
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 1: Wiseman six, um Schmid's had Wiseman at five. Like all

752
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: of the weaknesses that Wiseman has right now weren't unknown,

753
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,399
Speaker 1: And so my frustration is not with James Wiseman, because

754
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,480
Speaker 1: these weaknesses were known. That the rebounding, the bad hands,

755
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:58,879
Speaker 1: that kind of average basketball feel, um, kind of bad

756
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 1: latera mo ability, these things were all known. Like you

757
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: could have watched a couple of college high school games

758
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,280
Speaker 1: and you would see it. And I am I blame

759
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,360
Speaker 1: the Warriors front office for putting a kid who's nineteen

760
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: years old in this situation where they're heaping the expectations

761
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 1: of a dynasty on on him. A team that won

762
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: three titles in five years. They're saying, hey, man, come

763
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: in and take this over from one of the twenty

764
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: greatest players of all time. How is that fair to him?

765
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,560
Speaker 1: It isn't. It isn't. And the way it would have

766
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 1: been more fair is if you bring in a guy

767
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 1: like LaMelo or any other guard who functionally is steps

768
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 1: back up so their role doesn't have to be that big.

769
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,600
Speaker 1: If you bring in a guy like Wiseman who's a

770
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 1: five man, and you're saying, you basically got to be

771
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: our starter from day one and be really good from

772
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: day one, the expectations only grow If you bring it

773
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: a guy that plays the same position as stephor Quay,

774
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,399
Speaker 1: It's like you can be the backup for a little

775
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: bit and then you know, come in and figure it

776
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: out on the tail end. That's what the Spurs didn't

777
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,279
Speaker 1: did with Kawai and Away. He wasn't man who's like

778
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,520
Speaker 1: exact backup, but they didn't have a you. There wasn't

779
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,160
Speaker 1: really a need at that position. It was anything that

780
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:06,319
Speaker 1: quite gave them was great. They knew he could defend,

781
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: and they said, just go do that, don't worry about

782
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 1: anything else. The Warriors are asking Wiseman to do like

783
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,000
Speaker 1: twelve different things that things that he's not ready to do.

784
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: It's just not fair to him, and so they just

785
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: I'll keep saying that they need to push all the

786
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:20,880
Speaker 1: chips in and then we can stop talking about the Warriors.

787
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:24,400
Speaker 1: But it's just the guy was there to draft LaMelo

788
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 1: Ball was the guy, and we can argue about it,

789
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: but it's very clear now he should have been the guy.

790
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: He's last sixteen games, he's like twenty six and six

791
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 1: one eighties something from the field. He's incredible. He's better

792
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: than anybody thought he would be. I'm not gonna sit

793
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 1: here and say I thought he would be this. I

794
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 1: thought he'd be, you know, like a better version of

795
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 1: Ricky Rubio to start and then eventually maybe progress into

796
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: like a dont level guy. I was by the time

797
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,120
Speaker 1: the draft world around, I had him as that as

798
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:50,799
Speaker 1: an on ball creator. The off ball stuff has been

799
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,920
Speaker 1: super surprising offensively and the defense has been way better

800
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 1: than anybody could have ever imagined. Even his most like

801
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,600
Speaker 1: optimistic supporters point being, they had the guy that could

802
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:01,400
Speaker 1: have draft it, and they didn't draft him, and now

803
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:02,880
Speaker 1: they're stuck with a guy who's not going to help

804
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:04,759
Speaker 1: them win and it's not his fault. It is not

805
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 1: his fault at all. Yeah, And hindsight is always on

806
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,239
Speaker 1: this stuff. I mean, for whatever that's worth. Like I

807
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 1: think draft pre draft stuff like I was making fund

808
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:14,360
Speaker 1: of Kevin O'Connor is second to go. Like I love

809
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connor. I think he knows the stuff, he does,

810
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:17,960
Speaker 1: his work. He just great. He got he was wrong

811
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:20,360
Speaker 1: about something and we've all been wrong. And but the

812
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 1: point is is, like you know, you're you're betting on

813
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,760
Speaker 1: a teenager. Uh, and and God knows what a teenager

814
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 1: is gonna do. I know I was completely unpredictable as

815
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 1: a teenager myself. And uh, but at the end of

816
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 1: the day, like when uh, it's hindsight and now you

817
00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 1: look back at it and you're like, huh, Like young

818
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 1: bigs are never good. You know, they had enough in

819
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 1: the front court to be serviceable and have Draymond play

820
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:47,279
Speaker 1: the five for the most the mid level on a

821
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,239
Speaker 1: big man. You could use the mid level on a

822
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: big man, Like there were things you could have done,

823
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 1: you could have used there. They had a trade exception.

824
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 1: They could have used that on a big man if

825
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 1: they really wanted to there were other avenues to to

826
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 1: get big men. It's just exactly. And the most frustrating

827
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:00,839
Speaker 1: part is the front office says, well, we still want

828
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,400
Speaker 1: to contend for titles, then why are you drafting a

829
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 1: guy that they have admitted when they drafted him. Bob

830
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,000
Speaker 1: Byers has said this, he's raw, he's untap potential. There's

831
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 1: a long way to go. You can't say you want

832
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 1: to win titles out of one side of your mouth

833
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:14,400
Speaker 1: and then try to develop a guy like that on

834
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 1: the other end. It doesn't work like that, especially if

835
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: you're asking to play a major role in what you're doing.

836
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, and uh, and it is what it is.

837
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:23,719
Speaker 1: It's like at the end of the day, there's no

838
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:26,319
Speaker 1: point in complaining about it now. And Wiseman still has

839
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,840
Speaker 1: a great deal of of value UM. Even if it

840
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: may not be the LaMelo's value, he still has a

841
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 1: great He still brings value to the table. And I'm

842
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: with you that the we've discussed that length that they

843
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,319
Speaker 1: need to move him. So before we talk about our

844
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,839
Speaker 1: last topic, I wanted to this is something I meant

845
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 1: to jut too when we got to the uh, the

846
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:48,160
Speaker 1: stuff about UM analytics and UH Um, I wanted to

847
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 1: just quick kind of circle back. So when we were

848
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 1: talking about you know, uh, you know analytics, is this

849
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,719
Speaker 1: a lot of the like the core spine of of

850
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 1: analytics is based on this outside in a coach and

851
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,319
Speaker 1: finding a way to maximize your you know, points per

852
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,000
Speaker 1: possession by doing and the three point shot has an

853
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 1: increased value which increases your point per possession. Right. Well, again,

854
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:12,400
Speaker 1: we talked about this a lot earlier. No two shots

855
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:14,360
Speaker 1: are alike, and I think this is a great example

856
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 1: to talk about the difference between a Utah Jazz team

857
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 1: and l A Clippers team. It's just like a fundamental

858
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:25,719
Speaker 1: difference in basketball. So, for instance, the the l A

859
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 1: Clippers are i want to say, twenty nine in the

860
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 1: entire NBA and shot attempts within five ft of the rim?

861
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,919
Speaker 1: Uh they are. They lean heavily on on created jump

862
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: shots off the dribble and especially from their two stars.

863
00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 1: And I think it is manifested negatively in a bunch

864
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,799
Speaker 1: of ways, mainly stagnation because one of the easiest ways

865
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: to get an offense out of a slump is to

866
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 1: get easy shots, and they kind of just rely on

867
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:57,359
Speaker 1: difficult shots eventually going and sometimes they just don't, which

868
00:41:57,400 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: I think is part of the reason why they struggled

869
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,160
Speaker 1: so much in the clutch. So this kind of is

870
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,319
Speaker 1: a great time for me to just kind of, uh,

871
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 1: you know again, kind of harp on one of my

872
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 1: core basketball philosophies, which is you can have an outside

873
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:16,279
Speaker 1: in approach that is built on pressure on the rim.

874
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: And this is what Utah does so well. Utah does

875
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 1: not dribble up the floor and take a bunch of

876
00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,879
Speaker 1: contested threes or threes off the dribble. Their guards will

877
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 1: shoot threes if you go under pick and roll, but

878
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 1: the the entire premise of their offense is putting pressure

879
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,279
Speaker 1: on the rim with Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, which

880
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,640
Speaker 1: starts a cascading effect where there are other wings. Will

881
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 1: then drive out of a close out and it's driving

882
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,320
Speaker 1: kick and driving kick, and then they find this wide

883
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,320
Speaker 1: open three and it doesn't feel like settling because of

884
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 1: the pressure that you put on the rim. And it's

885
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,279
Speaker 1: what allows a guy, a guy that's really like set

886
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,279
Speaker 1: in in and ready for a catch and shoot opportunity.

887
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:00,720
Speaker 1: You know, that kind of three point it's tempt carries

888
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 1: so much more value than in off the drooble attempt

889
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: because of the rhythm and because of the pressure that

890
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 1: you put on the rim and the way you're fatiguing

891
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: the defense instead of the other way around. And I

892
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:13,800
Speaker 1: do think it's a it's an interesting difference that you

893
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: see between the Clippers and the Jazz and the way

894
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 1: they generate their jump shots because both teams are considered

895
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 1: jump shooting teams, and the Jazz, for the record, I

896
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 1: think are twenty in shot attempts within five ft of

897
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: the room, so they also lean heavily on jump shooting.

898
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,720
Speaker 1: But to me, and you can tell me if you disagree,

899
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,160
Speaker 1: I just feel like they're like fundamentally in the way

900
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:36,760
Speaker 1: that they've discover and search out those types of shots.

901
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 1: It's an it's an inside out approach, if that makes sense. No,

902
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:43,320
Speaker 1: it definitely is. And they use Gobert's roll gravity to

903
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: do that too, like they you know, they have them

904
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,439
Speaker 1: constantly rolling to the rim to suck ind week side

905
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: defenders and then kick out the shooters on the weak side.

906
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:51,800
Speaker 1: And then they're, like you're saying, they're re driving it

907
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:55,759
Speaker 1: with their wings. I don't fundamentally disagree where it's where

908
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,800
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I keep going back and forth on this

909
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:01,120
Speaker 1: Utah team. Some nights I think, man, maybe they can

910
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:03,400
Speaker 1: win the championship. Like for the first half last night

911
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,879
Speaker 1: when they were playing the the Sixers, I was like, God,

912
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:08,319
Speaker 1: they look so good, like they are getting any look

913
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 1: they want. Donovan Mitchell is getting any look he wants.

914
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,440
Speaker 1: He's abusing Ben Simmons, just absolutely taking him to task.

915
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 1: And then that second half of that fourth quarter happens,

916
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:19,680
Speaker 1: and You're like, oh, there it is. They can't get

917
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,720
Speaker 1: any good looks late, like or Donovan Mitchell isn't willing

918
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 1: to shoot the good looks, like he kept coming off

919
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:29,320
Speaker 1: picking rolls late in that game, and and he was

920
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:33,360
Speaker 1: playing like a pretty heavy drop coverage, and Mitchell just wouldn't.

921
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:35,320
Speaker 1: He wouldn't either just take an easy pull up or

922
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:37,239
Speaker 1: drive harder and beat and sucked the week side in

923
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,560
Speaker 1: to get kind of that driving kick action going. So

924
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 1: it's interesting because I think the Jazz are, like on

925
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 1: equivocally a better regular season team and the Clippers, but

926
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: in a playoff matchup, the Clippers kind of survive on

927
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: those tough shots. And if I would trust them more

928
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,959
Speaker 1: to make those tough shots, because eventually Utah is gonna

929
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 1: have to make those tough shots, and it's probably just

930
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,880
Speaker 1: gonna come down to Donovan Mitchell making them right. I

931
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,440
Speaker 1: don't really see another guy who can do that for them.

932
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:04,840
Speaker 1: Maybe Bogdanovitch a little bit. He's got a nice little

933
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 1: mid range game and post game and he can he

934
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,440
Speaker 1: can get kind of crafty with how he scores. But

935
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: if he's going up against Kawai and Paul George, I

936
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,200
Speaker 1: think the Clippers are winning that battle. So it's just

937
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 1: this really interesting conversation in how much should we value

938
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:23,279
Speaker 1: regular season success? And we talked about it all the time.

939
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 1: But yeah, they definitely are different place styles though to

940
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 1: your point, they totally are, even though they are, on

941
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 1: their face both shooting a lot of jump shots. Well,

942
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,480
Speaker 1: like even just something silly like James Harden putting pressure

943
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: on the rim as a as an as a pick

944
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,800
Speaker 1: and roll an isolation guy, completely changes the complexion of

945
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 1: Brooklyn's offense compared to the Clippers. Um, but it's just

946
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:47,640
Speaker 1: you know, but you're right, you need to be able

947
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,040
Speaker 1: to do both. And that's what makes the Clippers so

948
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:52,360
Speaker 1: scary is if they if they always stay in a

949
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,080
Speaker 1: rhythm for a playoff series, good luck beating them. But

950
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,239
Speaker 1: like you know, That's why I'm always going to lean

951
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,359
Speaker 1: on teams like the Lakers in the sixth is as

952
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,480
Speaker 1: the most dangerous teams in the league because they do

953
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 1: they cross all of the they check all the boxes.

954
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: You know, they defend at an extremely high level. They

955
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: have individual defenders that can stifle your stars like Lebron,

956
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,319
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Ben Stimmons are all players that if

957
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:18,600
Speaker 1: you put them on Kawhi Leonard, like kawais in for

958
00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 1: a hell of a night, you know what I mean.

959
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 1: And those those are those are advantages. And then they're

960
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,640
Speaker 1: versatile defensively too, because they don't, you know, rely on

961
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:29,239
Speaker 1: one specific type of defense. For instance, the Jazz rely

962
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:31,680
Speaker 1: so much on Rudy Gobert and the paint If you

963
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,600
Speaker 1: put a stretch big on him, and it's a stretch

964
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:36,800
Speaker 1: big that Rudy has to respect and Pep won't just

965
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:39,600
Speaker 1: leave open, there's a there's it changes the complexion of

966
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:42,520
Speaker 1: their defense, whereas like the Lakers can defend and scramble

967
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,320
Speaker 1: and you know, the six are same thing, and you know,

968
00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:48,560
Speaker 1: but then there's the offensive side of the ball, and

969
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:51,160
Speaker 1: it's like the Lakers and the Sixers both put immense

970
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:54,120
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim to generate three point shots. Now,

971
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,759
Speaker 1: the Lakers for the record not shooting well lately, but

972
00:46:56,880 --> 00:46:59,760
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a big part of that is Lebron

973
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:02,759
Speaker 1: kind of taking it easy and Anthony Davis being out

974
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 1: so they're not pressuring the rim like they're just not

975
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: pressuring the rim the way they do in a playoff series.

976
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:10,520
Speaker 1: I believe the reason why the Lakers made shots when

977
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,719
Speaker 1: it counted in the playoffs last year was the quality

978
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,919
Speaker 1: of three point shots that they were getting when things

979
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,560
Speaker 1: mattered was extremely high because Lebron and A d were

980
00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:23,600
Speaker 1: one engaged and pressuring the rim, and it was generating

981
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,800
Speaker 1: those types of shots. But then the Sixers with m

982
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:28,920
Speaker 1: B being as good as he is, and then the

983
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,440
Speaker 1: Lebron Anthony Davis effect. Those teams can also to the

984
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:34,719
Speaker 1: teams that are shutting off the rim or packing things

985
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,799
Speaker 1: in and jumpers aren't following on the other with from

986
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 1: the spot up shooters. They have these guys that can

987
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 1: create extremely difficult shots in isolation as well, so they

988
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 1: kind of check all three boxes. If you go to

989
00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:48,319
Speaker 1: any of the other teams like Brooklyn, they don't bring

990
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,480
Speaker 1: it on the defensive end of the ball. The Clippers.

991
00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 1: They don't pressure the rim enough. You know, Utah they

992
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:58,919
Speaker 1: lack that elite high end shot creation. Uh defense, They're

993
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:01,279
Speaker 1: gonna struggle to lock players down in the playoffs if

994
00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 1: we just used last night's game as an example first

995
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:06,239
Speaker 1: of all, and be dominated Gobert, Who's probably gonna win

996
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:08,680
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year again, which is just ridiculous.

997
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: But indeed, I mean it's within a week. I think

998
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:13,840
Speaker 1: embiad and Yo Kitcher some other big men have just

999
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:16,680
Speaker 1: absolutely just how dumb does that John hollingder really go

1000
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:18,560
Speaker 1: bear m v P piece? Look? I thought about that

1001
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 1: last night. I almost texted you about it, and I

1002
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 1: was like, I'll just talk. I tweeted it. I tweeted it.

1003
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,200
Speaker 1: I said, we need to send John Hollinger to Mars

1004
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,760
Speaker 1: for saying Uncle Bart's the top three m VP candidate.

1005
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:30,520
Speaker 1: But told Bias Harris was dominating the Jazz Wings last

1006
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 1: night late in that game. So Bias is a really

1007
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:35,239
Speaker 1: nice player. I don't want to take anything away from him.

1008
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: What's that gonna look like when it's Kauai or Paul

1009
00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 1: George or Lebron James. It's gonna get really ugly for

1010
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:43,800
Speaker 1: Utah and that's where as much as I want to believe,

1011
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:45,439
Speaker 1: I really do want to believe in that team because

1012
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 1: they're I think they're doing things in a very unique way.

1013
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,200
Speaker 1: They've actually, as I've said, they've tried to do the

1014
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:52,480
Speaker 1: three point thing the correct way. They've actually gotten good

1015
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:54,359
Speaker 1: shooters to do it. At the end of the day,

1016
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:56,879
Speaker 1: it's probably not gonna matter because they one they don't

1017
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 1: have the perimeter defense to get it done, and too

1018
00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:00,880
Speaker 1: they don't have the high and shock creader to get

1019
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: it done. Um, where are you at on Philly right now?

1020
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 1: Because I thought that was a huge win for them

1021
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,279
Speaker 1: last night, but it also took basically everything they had

1022
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 1: to get that win. So again I I put them

1023
00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:15,280
Speaker 1: there in my top three. I I have Lakers, Philly

1024
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 1: and Brooklyn as my top three. I Philly has struggled

1025
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,359
Speaker 1: a little bit, especially against really good teams this year,

1026
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 1: so they're far from perfect. Um, but the reason why

1027
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 1: I view them is dangerous is those three things. Like

1028
00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 1: I said, I think what will eventually get them beat

1029
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 1: And the reason why I'm not sure if they can

1030
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 1: beat Brooklyn is at the end of the day, their

1031
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,040
Speaker 1: offense is going to degenerate into Joe l Embiid, which

1032
00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:39,279
Speaker 1: is what happens to all of the best teams. Like

1033
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:43,080
Speaker 1: all the Brooklyn offense looks so free flowing and nice.

1034
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:47,000
Speaker 1: Guess what it's gonna turn into elite high end shot

1035
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:49,960
Speaker 1: creation from their best players. It's gonna get stagnant. Same

1036
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 1: thing goes for the Lakers. And I'm just referring to

1037
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,160
Speaker 1: the late rounds against the best of the best on

1038
00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:57,279
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the ball. But who do you

1039
00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:01,000
Speaker 1: trust more in those moments? Like I know Brown is

1040
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:03,800
Speaker 1: going to find a way to to kind of like

1041
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:07,239
Speaker 1: decipher that to some extent, you know. And the same

1042
00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:11,800
Speaker 1: goes for the Kevin Duran, Kyrie James Harden trio. Joel Embiid.

1043
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 1: I can't remember this off the top of my head,

1044
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: so I don't want to mess it up. But I

1045
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 1: believe he's averaging more turnovers than assists this year. I

1046
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 1: might need to double check that. But but he's not

1047
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:27,960
Speaker 1: He's not great and in the at deciphering the defenses

1048
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: when they really load up on him. And in almost

1049
00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: every matchup that I've seen, he's incredible. For the record,

1050
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:35,640
Speaker 1: like his little his little step back three that he

1051
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:37,520
Speaker 1: made over I think it was but Bogdanovitch at the

1052
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: end of game last night. That literally reminded me of

1053
00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:41,880
Speaker 1: one of those memes that makes fun of the big

1054
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,160
Speaker 1: guy who runs the three point line. Have you ever

1055
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:45,800
Speaker 1: seen that mean where they're talking about the different players

1056
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:47,000
Speaker 1: and they like throw the guy to the ball, to

1057
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:48,479
Speaker 1: the guy in the post, and then he just runs

1058
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: to the three point linetitudes like, that's what in B

1059
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,000
Speaker 1: did on that play. It was funny like and beats incredible.

1060
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,319
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to undercut him in any way, shape

1061
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,120
Speaker 1: or form, but when you're nitpicking amongst the very top

1062
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:02,160
Speaker 1: of the league, you know, Brooklyn in l A, They're

1063
00:51:02,360 --> 00:51:04,480
Speaker 1: They're not a team you can double out of existence.

1064
00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's just not gonna happen. They're going to

1065
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,360
Speaker 1: find a way to continue to counter and beat that.

1066
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:14,719
Speaker 1: Whereas whereas I've really seen Philly struggle when embaid when

1067
00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:17,440
Speaker 1: the defense really loads up on embeat at the end

1068
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 1: of games. Uh. And it's something that that I that

1069
00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:22,279
Speaker 1: has been a problem in the past, and it's just

1070
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: something to keep it on. Did you have been looking

1071
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:25,680
Speaker 1: the up the m B. Yeah, it's he's one to one,

1072
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:27,880
Speaker 1: it's three point three. Is since three point two turnovers.

1073
00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:31,880
Speaker 1: And that's basically it's not very good. No, it's terrible

1074
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,520
Speaker 1: that and that spells trouble for because here's the thing.

1075
00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:37,680
Speaker 1: In the playoff series, they're gonna make him pass. I'm sorry,

1076
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:40,400
Speaker 1: And in every matchup I've seen this here against the

1077
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:44,279
Speaker 1: best of the best defenses, they've made him pass, you know, yep,

1078
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:46,920
Speaker 1: And especially when you're best passer. Simmons, who is a

1079
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,400
Speaker 1: really really good passer, he can't really operate in the

1080
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:51,760
Speaker 1: half court well when he doesn't dictate the double teams.

1081
00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 1: Like that's the thing, Like he he can dictate it,

1082
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:56,800
Speaker 1: like he can pass, but can't dictate the double teams.

1083
00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:58,600
Speaker 1: Joan and b can dictate the double teams, but he

1084
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:01,239
Speaker 1: can't pass. So it's kind of like this like kind

1085
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:03,640
Speaker 1: of that's the worst of both worlds. Should it's it'd

1086
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:05,360
Speaker 1: be tough to do because the beat has gotten so

1087
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:08,000
Speaker 1: good as an isolation score. His his isolation game is

1088
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:10,200
Speaker 1: like so much smoother this year. He's he's like really

1089
00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:12,880
Speaker 1: working at a triple threat. Well, he's basically dictating to

1090
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 1: any one on one matchup exactly what he wants. He

1091
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:17,520
Speaker 1: gets what he wants anytime unless they bring a double

1092
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:19,880
Speaker 1: right so it'd be really tough to do this, but

1093
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:23,400
Speaker 1: like you almost want to look at posting up Simmons

1094
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 1: a little bit late in those games situations and having

1095
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:27,359
Speaker 1: him beat spot up because his three ball is real

1096
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:30,520
Speaker 1: this year. I want to say he's still around from

1097
00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:32,880
Speaker 1: three on the year. He's had his shooting performance that

1098
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:35,320
Speaker 1: looks like Anthony Davis last year where it's like you're like,

1099
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:37,960
Speaker 1: is he making a leap? You know, like a here

1100
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:42,520
Speaker 1: like that exactly, so you could you know, they do

1101
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,759
Speaker 1: have maybe enough shooting around like a Simmons post up

1102
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:48,840
Speaker 1: to work. You could put and beat Curry and Tobias

1103
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:50,920
Speaker 1: on the perimeter with one more guy, maybe thigh bol

1104
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:52,520
Speaker 1: just because he's a good cutter and he's a good

1105
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,440
Speaker 1: defensive player. Finished with those five post up Simmons a

1106
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 1: little bit more because he would be really good working

1107
00:52:57,000 --> 00:52:58,480
Speaker 1: out of those double teams. You get some cutters of

1108
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:01,000
Speaker 1: the rim, you have guys spotting up. Maybe the the

1109
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:02,840
Speaker 1: late game offense looks a little bit better against the

1110
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:04,759
Speaker 1: best teams. But then and Bead has been so good

1111
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:06,480
Speaker 1: this year, how do you tell them that? And that's

1112
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:08,759
Speaker 1: a human part of coaching, where how do you tell

1113
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 1: a guy who's averaging just observed number like twenty eight

1114
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:13,600
Speaker 1: and twelve, and he's doing everything for you. How do

1115
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:15,360
Speaker 1: you tell him, hey, man, we're gonna go to somebody

1116
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,640
Speaker 1: else down the stretch, especially a guy who scores like

1117
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:19,879
Speaker 1: fifteen a game. Good luck, Like he's not gonna listen

1118
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:24,200
Speaker 1: to that. So, yeah, they just Philly feels like a

1119
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:26,359
Speaker 1: team to where if they're ever gonna get it done,

1120
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:28,120
Speaker 1: Like if they're ever actually gonna win a title with

1121
00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:31,120
Speaker 1: this corp of guys, with them beating Simmons, they're probably

1122
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:33,400
Speaker 1: still a year away, Like they're probably still one or

1123
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 1: two good roster moves away, and they're just they're getting

1124
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,359
Speaker 1: to the point where, yeah, they can beat really good

1125
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,439
Speaker 1: teams right there there there. But typically when you see

1126
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:47,719
Speaker 1: a true title team, they're blowing out most opponents and

1127
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:49,800
Speaker 1: they're like putting the beat down on a lot of

1128
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:52,239
Speaker 1: good teams. Like they're not just beating good teams, they're

1129
00:53:52,239 --> 00:53:55,040
Speaker 1: beating them soundly, and Philly is not really doing that yet.

1130
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,520
Speaker 1: And you know, they're probably not at that point yet.

1131
00:53:57,520 --> 00:53:59,799
Speaker 1: And Beads only twenty six years old. Most guys don't

1132
00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:02,920
Speaker 1: until eight when they're winning a title, right. I think

1133
00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:07,560
Speaker 1: Jordan same with Lebron, so by no means should be

1134
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 1: closing the book on Philly as a whole, but just

1135
00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:12,240
Speaker 1: just from watching them a little bit more closely, because

1136
00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:14,480
Speaker 1: I still have them tentatively as my pick out of

1137
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:17,040
Speaker 1: the East. I still think they're probably about a year away,

1138
00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:19,840
Speaker 1: like in terms of actually winning an NBA championship, unless

1139
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,040
Speaker 1: some injuries happened this year. I think they're a year

1140
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 1: away this year. To me, anything can happened. It's weird,

1141
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,640
Speaker 1: Like I mean, even with the Brooklyn thing, Like, uh,

1142
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:30,120
Speaker 1: Brooklyn kind of reminds me a little bit about of

1143
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:32,960
Speaker 1: the two thousand sixteen Warriors, where they're a little bit

1144
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:37,200
Speaker 1: uh scheme proof in the regular season, but it's something

1145
00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:39,000
Speaker 1: a team that's a little easier to game plan for,

1146
00:54:39,160 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 1: Like I don't think the Warriors, like I don't think

1147
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 1: the Warriors were as good as like everyone appoints to

1148
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,080
Speaker 1: the Oh Lebron beat the seventy three one team. Oh

1149
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,319
Speaker 1: Lebron w bet the seventy three one team. And don't

1150
00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 1: get me wrong, that team was really really good. But

1151
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:53,080
Speaker 1: I think that team's record was a little bit better

1152
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:55,680
Speaker 1: than what they projected to be in the playoffs, and

1153
00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:57,480
Speaker 1: I think that showed and and I think that's why

1154
00:54:57,560 --> 00:54:59,640
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City gave them so many problems as well, Like

1155
00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:02,880
Speaker 1: just this basic idea that you had this guy that

1156
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:04,800
Speaker 1: you had to guard in a way that was different

1157
00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:08,319
Speaker 1: than anybody had ever guarded. And then suddenly Oklahoma City

1158
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:10,960
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, when they had time to game plan for him,

1159
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:13,600
Speaker 1: found out a way to make him a little more uncomfortable.

1160
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 1: That kind of reminds me of Brooklyn's defense, where it's like,

1161
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:18,680
Speaker 1: in the regular season, no one can figure out how

1162
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:21,600
Speaker 1: to attack the switching defense. No one can figure out.

1163
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:24,399
Speaker 1: But but at the in a playoff series, when there's

1164
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:28,720
Speaker 1: extensive watching of tape and really really smart offensive players,

1165
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,160
Speaker 1: whether it's a Kai or a Lebron or an Anthony Davis,

1166
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:33,800
Speaker 1: Paul George or you know, a Joel Embiat or whoever

1167
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,239
Speaker 1: it is, Jimmy Butler even might like Jimmy Butler, might

1168
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:38,440
Speaker 1: find a way to like and dam might find a

1169
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:41,759
Speaker 1: way to relentlessly attack that that Brooklyn defense. I just

1170
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:44,840
Speaker 1: don't think, you know, I don't think anybody on a

1171
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:49,360
Speaker 1: random Tuesday night, in one forty eight minute sample cannot

1172
00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:53,160
Speaker 1: be thrown off by the Brooklyn defense, if that makes sense.

1173
00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:55,520
Speaker 1: And and so I don't find them as scary as

1174
00:55:55,600 --> 00:55:59,160
Speaker 1: they've looked. And then Utah, we've discussed that length. You know,

1175
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:02,600
Speaker 1: the Lakers have looked overly dominant this year. I looked

1176
00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:05,960
Speaker 1: like the two through I want to say, the two

1177
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:08,719
Speaker 1: through six seeds are all a half game apart right now.

1178
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:13,400
Speaker 1: Overall overall in the entire league, like there's just everyone is,

1179
00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:17,360
Speaker 1: you know, like everyone's not very good. It seems like

1180
00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:19,520
Speaker 1: that's the weird part to me. A lot of it

1181
00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:22,200
Speaker 1: is just injuries and COVID, Like said, teams have just

1182
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:24,279
Speaker 1: been really banged up this year. Like and just from

1183
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,719
Speaker 1: an injury standpoint, even if COVID wasn't a thing, I

1184
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,000
Speaker 1: think it would still be really jumbled because there have

1185
00:56:29,120 --> 00:56:30,960
Speaker 1: been just a lot of injuries, two key players for

1186
00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:33,719
Speaker 1: a lot of teams. So it's eight out of ten

1187
00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:35,680
Speaker 1: and it's I want to say, six out of eight,

1188
00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:38,160
Speaker 1: and it's because they've been missing all their guys. Like

1189
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:40,279
Speaker 1: I don't know what to tell you. It is what

1190
00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:42,400
Speaker 1: it is. There's nothing you can do if all your

1191
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,879
Speaker 1: best players are out. So it's just a weird year.

1192
00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:47,880
Speaker 1: It's just a weird year. And I still tendively have

1193
00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:50,200
Speaker 1: the Lakers is the favorite but we'll see what happens.

1194
00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:53,560
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a default at this point. I think

1195
00:56:53,600 --> 00:56:55,839
Speaker 1: the picture will get I think the picture will get

1196
00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:58,280
Speaker 1: a lot clearer after the All Star break. Hopefully teams

1197
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:00,560
Speaker 1: get healthy. Nobody comes back from All Are with COVID,

1198
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:03,120
Speaker 1: which we'll see what happens. That could be really messy

1199
00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:07,560
Speaker 1: down there. Um And if that happens, hopefully teams are healthier.

1200
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:11,000
Speaker 1: Maybe COVID cases continue to go down, and we get

1201
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:13,680
Speaker 1: like a more regular second half of the NBA season,

1202
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:15,719
Speaker 1: But we'll see. I think it's all gonna be. It

1203
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:17,960
Speaker 1: still has a chance to be all really jumbled heading

1204
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:20,560
Speaker 1: into May real quickly before I let you go, like,

1205
00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:22,880
Speaker 1: I think that's been one of the interesting things to

1206
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:26,640
Speaker 1: me is every team this year has had a stretch

1207
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:31,520
Speaker 1: where they looked over like dominant, with exception of Utah

1208
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:33,520
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and I'm not talking about in the record.

1209
00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:36,560
Speaker 1: I'm talking about like really convincing wins. So for instance,

1210
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,520
Speaker 1: like Philly, do you mean over good teams? Yeah, like

1211
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:42,320
Speaker 1: really really good teams. So for example, Utah went through

1212
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:44,640
Speaker 1: this stretch here where every time they played a contender

1213
00:57:44,720 --> 00:57:48,160
Speaker 1: they were down stars and then they finally play Philly,

1214
00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:51,200
Speaker 1: and they lose. You know, they finally play the Clippers

1215
00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:54,240
Speaker 1: with Kawai and Paul George and they lose. So uh so,

1216
00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:57,040
Speaker 1: for instance, like Philly, they can look at themselves in

1217
00:57:57,040 --> 00:57:58,840
Speaker 1: the mirror and be like, we beat the Lakers and

1218
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:01,400
Speaker 1: Jazz at full strength. You know, the Lakers can look

1219
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:03,680
Speaker 1: themselves in the mirror. They have a bunch of convincing

1220
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:06,280
Speaker 1: like they beat the living ship out of Denver, they

1221
00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:09,600
Speaker 1: went into uh went into Milwaukee and they were really dominant.

1222
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,960
Speaker 1: I'm missing off the top of my head. But or

1223
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:13,480
Speaker 1: they can at least fall back on what they did

1224
00:58:13,560 --> 00:58:15,640
Speaker 1: last year, you know, like, okay, we had this success

1225
00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:17,439
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. The Clippers have a bunch of really

1226
00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:20,920
Speaker 1: convincing wins. They were the ones that beat Utah. For instance.

1227
00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:23,160
Speaker 1: If you go out East Brooklyn can look at them

1228
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:25,800
Speaker 1: and be like, look, we lost Kadie and we ran

1229
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 1: through all these teams. We beat both l A teams

1230
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:30,520
Speaker 1: in l A. You know, we we were dominant. We

1231
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:32,080
Speaker 1: went to Phoenix and we won, and we did all

1232
00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:36,200
Speaker 1: this stuff. You know. The Utah It's weird because the

1233
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:38,680
Speaker 1: two times that they've played a contender at full strength

1234
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:40,840
Speaker 1: in the last couple of months, they lost, you know,

1235
00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:42,680
Speaker 1: and that's where it gets a little tricky in the

1236
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:45,480
Speaker 1: sense that you know, I compare them a lot with

1237
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,080
Speaker 1: you to the to the Bucks last year, but there

1238
00:58:49,080 --> 00:58:51,560
Speaker 1: are much less impressive version of them in terms of

1239
00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 1: what they've actually accomplished on the court. Yeah, it's it

1240
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:56,640
Speaker 1: sucks for Utah because they also get the two thousan

1241
00:58:56,720 --> 00:58:59,960
Speaker 1: fifteen Hawks comparison a lot. Yeah, and they're they're they're

1242
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:02,360
Speaker 1: better than that. They're better than that Hawks team. That's

1243
00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:04,120
Speaker 1: what sucks. Like if they were in the East and

1244
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:06,040
Speaker 1: two dollar fifteen, maybe they come out of the East,

1245
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:08,520
Speaker 1: but with as good as the West is right now,

1246
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,640
Speaker 1: they might be a second round exit. After winning, you know,

1247
00:59:12,120 --> 00:59:14,920
Speaker 1: fifty five to sixty games in a seventy two games season.

1248
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:17,280
Speaker 1: They're gonna have an outstanding regular season, whether they keep

1249
00:59:17,320 --> 00:59:20,240
Speaker 1: losing the good teams or not. Um, But yeah, it

1250
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:22,800
Speaker 1: just sucks that they're probably gonna have this spectacular regular

1251
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 1: season then they're gonna flame out in the playoffs and

1252
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:26,600
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to do the whole referendum on three

1253
00:59:26,640 --> 00:59:28,760
Speaker 1: point shooting thing again. Like it's just it's just one

1254
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:31,800
Speaker 1: big cyclical conversation that we're never gonna stop having until

1255
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:33,680
Speaker 1: the team like Utah wins one if they ever do,

1256
00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:36,560
Speaker 1: which they probably won't. Well and we we we everybody's

1257
00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:38,760
Speaker 1: a fraud when they lose, which is so unfair, Like

1258
00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:42,040
Speaker 1: that's the thing. It's it's like the uh uh, the

1259
00:59:42,160 --> 00:59:44,960
Speaker 1: stupid simple fact that twenty nine of the thirty teams

1260
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,160
Speaker 1: are gonna lose and every one of them is going

1261
00:59:47,200 --> 00:59:48,920
Speaker 1: to have this massive referendum on what they do, like

1262
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:51,360
Speaker 1: get ready, Like the Lakers I think are the best team,

1263
00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:53,800
Speaker 1: but there's a good chance they lose this year and

1264
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:57,080
Speaker 1: if they do, immediately, it's gonna be time to throw

1265
00:59:57,160 --> 01:00:00,120
Speaker 1: out last season as as like a team that is

1266
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:03,200
Speaker 1: an extremely lucky team and what they've been and fitted

1267
01:00:03,240 --> 01:00:05,880
Speaker 1: from in circumstance, And it's just unfortunate because that's the

1268
01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:07,760
Speaker 1: way we are. And we talked about this earlier, like

1269
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:10,400
Speaker 1: Twitter is just you know, a place that lacks context

1270
01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:13,080
Speaker 1: and nuance and all that good stuff. But anyway, dude, hey,

1271
01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:15,040
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you taking the time to hop on today.

1272
01:00:15,080 --> 01:00:16,560
Speaker 1: I need to get you out of here for your

1273
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:19,920
Speaker 1: meeting everybody. I'm really really sorry about the WiFi stuff.

1274
01:00:20,120 --> 01:00:22,680
Speaker 1: Promise I'll get it figured out. Going through a move

1275
01:00:22,840 --> 01:00:24,919
Speaker 1: right now. So it's a little complicated, but I will

1276
01:00:24,960 --> 01:00:26,600
Speaker 1: get it figured out. I feel bad for Tommy because

1277
01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:28,240
Speaker 1: he's over there just looking like what am I supposed

1278
01:00:28,240 --> 01:00:30,960
Speaker 1: to do? We're good. We're good now. I think I

1279
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:34,040
Speaker 1: think we can have some fun conversations around uh small

1280
01:00:34,080 --> 01:00:35,600
Speaker 1: star stuff next week if we want to do that.

1281
01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:38,360
Speaker 1: So just some some halfway awards stuff like that, some

1282
01:00:38,440 --> 01:00:40,880
Speaker 1: stuff that's pretty fun. Um, talk about how the league looks,

1283
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:42,360
Speaker 1: all that good stuff, and maybe touch on some teams

1284
01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:44,000
Speaker 1: that we haven't yet, some of the uh the more

1285
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:46,360
Speaker 1: middling teams in the league. Yeah, we could do some

1286
01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:49,000
Speaker 1: like half season grades or something. There we go. Um.

1287
01:00:49,360 --> 01:00:52,080
Speaker 1: I also need a name for the podcast. Please send

1288
01:00:52,120 --> 01:00:55,160
Speaker 1: me some stuff. Okay, all right, everybody, enjoy the rest

1289
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,480
Speaker 1: of your weekend. I am on with Raj tomorrow morning

1290
01:00:57,520 --> 01:01:01,040
Speaker 1: at eight am. Hopefully the WiFi supports me in that regard. Tommy,

1291
01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:05,760
Speaker 1: have a good night, man, I'll talculator. Thanks everybody. M