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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to Hops Tonight here at the Volume,
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Speaker 1: some basketball. So a quick offseason recap for the Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 1: They lost Terence Davis, Matthew Delavadova, PJ Dozer, Rashaun Holmes,
Speaker 1: and Chimezi Meto. They added Chris Duarte, who was a
Speaker 1: young scoring guard from the Pacers. Had a rough year
Speaker 1: last year, but he does have some talent. JaVale McGee
Speaker 1: is a backup center. You guys might remember me doing
Speaker 1: a scouting report. I'm not sure how many Kings fans
Speaker 1: found this, but around the shortly into the beginning of
Speaker 1: free agency, I did a full breakdown of Sasha Vazankov.
Speaker 1: He played for Olympiacos last year and he won the
Speaker 1: EuroLeague MVP. Super super exciting post player. Was devastatingly efficient
Speaker 1: in the post last year, one point two six points
Speaker 1: per possession, one hundred and fifty one. Post ups has
Speaker 1: like a ridiculous set of left shoulder fade aways. He's
Speaker 1: got kind of like a one leg fade away over
Speaker 1: his left shoulder, He's got kind of like a drifting
Speaker 1: fade away over his left shoulder, and then he's got
Speaker 1: like kind of a power fade that it hit when
Speaker 1: he gets good separation, but he knocks that down a ton.
Speaker 1: He's over fifty percent on hooks and on floaters, and
Speaker 1: he's a really good passer. He actually reminds me of
Speaker 1: like a It's funny because he plays the same position
Speaker 1: as Sabonis, right, and so your head quickly goes the
Speaker 1: direction of Sabonis. But I actually like think of him
Speaker 1: more as a Yokic type of archetype. And I don't
Speaker 1: mean he's as good as Jokic, obviously, but just in
Speaker 1: the play style, he's a much better shot maker than Sabonis.
Speaker 1: His touch away from the basket is several levels better
Speaker 1: than Sabonis is. Obviously, he's not the athlete that demonis is,
Speaker 1: but he's got this shot making piece away from the
Speaker 1: rim that Sabonus doesn't. So I kind of like the
Speaker 1: fit because it's like a scheme consistency thing, right, because
Speaker 1: they play the same position. So now when some bonus
Speaker 1: goes to the bench, you can bring in another player
Speaker 1: to run all these dribble handoffs and all these ball
Speaker 1: screens with a similar level of offensive skill, albeit a
Speaker 1: different kind of form of it. Right, with the shot making,
Speaker 1: he was fifty seven percent an effective field goal percentage
Speaker 1: on catch and shoot jumpers last year in Europe forty
Speaker 1: seven percent on pull up jump shots effective field goal percentage.
Speaker 1: You'll see him, you know, dribble the ball around the
Speaker 1: top of the key and then fake in action with somebody,
Speaker 1: and then when the guy just kind of concedes a
Speaker 1: shot a few feet back, he'll just quick turn and
Speaker 1: rise and fire from the top of the key. He's
Speaker 1: got that in his bag. He get legitimately a very
Speaker 1: very good shot maker, makes everything around the rim. Again,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be difficult to see how it translates
Speaker 1: to the NBA. That's always the question when you bring
Speaker 1: a guy over from Europe. But this dude was well
Speaker 1: over a point per possession and inverted pick and rolls
Speaker 1: well over a point per possession in ISO's well over
Speaker 1: a point per possession in the post. He was devastatingly
Speaker 1: efficient in Europe last year. So I'm really interested to
Speaker 1: see how it translates. Really, it'll just come down to
Speaker 1: what he can do defensively. Who can you guard? That's
Speaker 1: always the question when you get to the NBA. And
Speaker 1: I do like the scheme consistency having him coming in
Speaker 1: force the bonus. They also drafted Colby Jones in the
Speaker 1: early second round, big guard out of Xavier. Good physical tools.
Speaker 1: He's about six y five, has about a six to
Speaker 1: eight wingspan, reasonably strong. I think he'll put on a
Speaker 1: couple pounds too. I wouldn't be surprised if he's up
Speaker 1: around two ten by the time he gets to training camp.
Speaker 1: Uses his physical tools well like he like most big
Speaker 1: guards that you're hoping for. He plays slow and methodically
Speaker 1: gets guys trapped on his backside. Really really good floater.
Speaker 1: He was actually fifty five percent on seventy seven floaters
Speaker 1: last year. He loves to kind of like bait you
Speaker 1: into contesting a mid range shot right like he'll kind
Speaker 1: of snake the pick and roll and like get into
Speaker 1: the mid age and like hesitate back like he's gonna shoot,
Speaker 1: and then he loves to step through and shoot that
Speaker 1: little right handed floater over the top. He also was
Speaker 1: a very good catch shoot player. He was sixty four
Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot
Speaker 1: jump shots last year, and he shot sixty two percent
Speaker 1: at the rim, which is very good for a guard.
Speaker 1: Biggest weakness for him right now does not have a
Speaker 1: reliable pull up jump shot. He was just nineteen for
Speaker 1: seventy on pull up jump shots last year. But I
Speaker 1: do like to pick and I think he could immediately
Speaker 1: help the Kings kind of as like a second side
Speaker 1: creator off the bench. This is a team that's got
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that love to come flying off
Speaker 1: with screens and shoot, and guys that are taller and
Speaker 1: lankier and more off ball players. But it'd be interesting
Speaker 1: to kind of have him potentially as a long term
Speaker 1: prospect as a guard. He actually was one point one
Speaker 1: to zero points per possession in two hundred and five
Speaker 1: picking rolls last year. That's awesome, especially for a young player.
Speaker 1: So I definitely like the Colby Jones pick as a
Speaker 1: long term prospect. The depth chart coming into this season
Speaker 1: at guard Deer and Fox, Malik Monk, Daveon Mitchell, Kevin Herder,
Speaker 1: Colby Jones, and Chris Duarte at Ford, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray,
Speaker 1: Trey Lyles, and Kessler. Edward's one of my favorite young
Speaker 1: wing defenders in the league, Aarreon Kessler, and then the
Speaker 1: Biggs demonis Sabonis Sashevazankov. He might end up playing some
Speaker 1: forward as well. That'd be really interesting if you could
Speaker 1: play the two of them together, especially with the weakness
Speaker 1: they had on the front line and rebounding situations, and
Speaker 1: just in general protecting the rim. Alex lenn and JaVale
Speaker 1: McGee as well. All Right, let's talk about the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor for a minute. So the Kings
Speaker 1: had the number one offense in the NBA last year
Speaker 1: by a significant margin. They averaged one hundred and eighteen
Speaker 1: point six points per one hundred possessions. That was a
Speaker 1: full one point three points ahead of second place. They
Speaker 1: also had the second best half court offense, just zero
Speaker 1: point three points per one hundred posessions, behind the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 1: They were a heavy, heavy transition team. They scored two
Speaker 1: thousand and fifty nine points last year in transition, according
Speaker 1: to Synergy, that was the third most in the NBA.
Speaker 1: They were not an efficient transition team. They scored just
Speaker 1: one point one to one points per possession in transition,
Speaker 1: which was twenty fifth in the NBA. NBA, But like
Speaker 1: we were talking about with the Memphis Grizzlies, one point one
Speaker 1: to one, which is not efficient compared to other transition offenses,
Speaker 1: is still way more efficient than even the best half
Speaker 1: court offense could ever hope to be. The MAVs were
Speaker 1: the best half court offense in the league last year
Speaker 1: at a one oh five offensive rating, So even at
Speaker 1: a one to eleven in transition, that's better than anything
Speaker 1: you're gonna get in half court, which is why teams
Speaker 1: like that hunt those opportunities so often. They were super
Speaker 1: low in volume for pick and roll compared to the
Speaker 1: rest of the league, only twenty eight times per game.
Speaker 1: Only the Warriors run fewer pick and rolls than the Kings,
Speaker 1: but that's because they run a lot of their two
Speaker 1: game as dribble handoffs, which we'll talk about in a
Speaker 1: few minutes. But they were great when they did run
Speaker 1: pick and rolls. They were one point zero five points
Speaker 1: per possession. That was the fifth highest mark in the league.
Speaker 1: Dearon Fox led the way here. You guys, remember that
Speaker 1: high volume pick and roll list I've been talking about
Speaker 1: all offseason. So like the fifteen guys who ran at
Speaker 1: least a thousand, well, dearon Fox ran nine hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety nine, so he just barely missed that list. But
Speaker 1: had he made that list, his one point zero eight
Speaker 1: points per possession would have been fourth on the list.
Speaker 1: So Dearen Fox was one of the very best pick
Speaker 1: and roll ball handlers in the league last year for
Speaker 1: all intents and purposes, even though he didn't meet my
Speaker 1: one thousand qualification. All about versatility. With Aaron Fox, he
Speaker 1: was forty six percent on pull up jump shots in
Speaker 1: the mid range, fifty four percent on floaters, so just
Speaker 1: a devastating mid range attacks short of the rim. Awesome
Speaker 1: at the rim as well. He's seventy seven percent in
Speaker 1: the restricted area on three makes per game, and he
Speaker 1: can make all the passes right so the rollman in
Speaker 1: the kickout passes to shooters as well. I thought he
Speaker 1: passed really well for the most part in the Warriors series.
Speaker 1: His only real weakness right now with Dearon Fox is
Speaker 1: his three point shooting off the dribble. He's only thirty
Speaker 1: percent on pull up threes last season, but that super
Speaker 1: diverse shot creation in pick and roll. Again, it's like
Speaker 1: we talked about three level scoring when it comes to
Speaker 1: like ISO players right like at the rim, midrange three
Speaker 1: point shots. I look at it as like four levels.
Speaker 1: With pick and roll, It's like, can you make the
Speaker 1: threes off the bounce. Can you score in the mid
Speaker 1: range of off the dribble, and then can you make floaters?
Speaker 1: And then can you score at the rim. The reason
Speaker 1: why the floaters in mid range jump shots are different
Speaker 1: in pick and roll is because of back pressure. So like,
Speaker 1: if a defender's trailing you in pick and roll, a
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot doesn't matter because you're gonna take
Speaker 1: a pull up jump shot and the guy's gonna come
Speaker 1: from behind and swipe the ball away from you. You've
Speaker 1: got to have a forward moving shot when the defender's
Speaker 1: trailing you in pick and roll, that's the floater, right
Speaker 1: So like with pick and roll scoring, I look at
Speaker 1: Moore's four levels, and right now, Dearon Fox is really
Speaker 1: sharpened three of the four levels. He's off the charts,
Speaker 1: good at the rim, off the charts, good with his floater,
Speaker 1: off the charts, good with his pull up, maybe not
Speaker 1: off the charts good, but very very good with his
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot. He just needs to tie off
Speaker 1: that three point shooting piece and then he will go
Speaker 1: up even a further level from there. Malik Monk, Harrison, Barnes,
Speaker 1: Kevin heard her all just slightly over a point per possession,
Speaker 1: which is good. Keegan Murray one point two points per possession,
Speaker 1: which is awesome, although in a small sample size, Davion
Speaker 1: Mitchell was really the only ball handler for the Kings
Speaker 1: last year that struggled in pick and roll. He was
Speaker 1: just a bit below average. But this team just has
Speaker 1: an absurd amount of ball handling and shooting talent, Like
Speaker 1: they were even the fifth best spot up team in
Speaker 1: the league. They converted spot up possessions at one point
Speaker 1: zero nine points per possession. So that's really the genesis
Speaker 1: of the King's offensive success. They've got this spolkrum right
Speaker 1: in Deerren Fox, who's this incredible high pick and roll
Speaker 1: player or drible handoff player too. Just considered it a
Speaker 1: two man game play, right, And that partnership with demonasa bonus.
Speaker 1: But then everybody around them is not just a good
Speaker 1: ball handler, but like an above average ballhander, not just
Speaker 1: a good shooter, but an above average shooter. And so
Speaker 1: these guys can run these actions against the set defense
Speaker 1: and get over a point per possession, and so there
Speaker 1: is no weak point in the offense. There's no like
Speaker 1: a weak point in that chain, right, And so that's
Speaker 1: why they're so successful. When they start driving and kicking
Speaker 1: teams to death. But this team loves to run dribble handoffs.
Speaker 1: I was actually rewatching Game seven against the Warriors this morning,
Speaker 1: and they ran a handoff on five of their first
Speaker 1: six possessions, and they just basically toss the ball to
Speaker 1: Sabonis sometime after they've crossed half court, and Sabonis will
Speaker 1: kind of dribble up to the to the above the
Speaker 1: brake line, and then he's just turning and looking and
Speaker 1: waiting for one of these guys to come off that handoff.
Speaker 1: And the Warriors in particular were just completely ignoring Sabonis
Speaker 1: playing off of him. But he would just wait and
Speaker 1: then as the offensive player would cut off of him,
Speaker 1: he would kind of hand the ball off and then
Speaker 1: he'd pivot backwards to try to generate contact with the
Speaker 1: defender as he's trailing to play to get separation right.
Speaker 1: And guys like Keegan Murray and Kevin Herder are primarily
Speaker 1: coming off of those handoffs looking to take quick catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes, and guys like Harrison Barnes and deer
Speaker 1: and Fox and Elik Monk are more looking to put
Speaker 1: the ball on the floor. Harrison Martin will do a
Speaker 1: little bit of both, and a Malik Monk will occasionally
Speaker 1: rise and fire as well, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: those guys are looking more to get off the dribble.
Speaker 1: The Kings actually ran the most handoffs in the league.
Speaker 1: They ran one hundred and twenty nine more handoffs than
Speaker 1: the second place team, which was actually the San Antonio Spurs,
Speaker 1: and they converted handoffs at one point zero zero eight
Speaker 1: points per possession, which was the second best mark in
Speaker 1: the league. So they were basically the very best team
Speaker 1: in the league. Get running handoffs first in frequency, second
Speaker 1: and efficiency. You're not going to do any better than that. Now.
Speaker 1: The Warriors basically shut this action down, and the way
Speaker 1: they did that is they put Kevon Looney on Demona
Speaker 1: Sabonis and had him basically just lag back into the paint.
Speaker 1: And as a result, you know, as long as that
Speaker 1: guard for the Warriors could stay reasonably attached coming over
Speaker 1: the top. So Bonus wasn't looking to shoot very often,
Speaker 1: and when he did, he didn't make enough of him
Speaker 1: In that series, like Demonasbonis would occasionally like step forward
Speaker 1: and take some three off the dribble or or pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot off the dribble. Occasionally he'd turn and
Speaker 1: face Looney and attack him, but Looney was bumping him
Speaker 1: off his spots and causing all sorts of problems. So
Speaker 1: so Bonis was kind of the weak point in that
Speaker 1: dribble handoff situation. And as long as the guard was
Speaker 1: attached over the top and could funnel the guards into
Speaker 1: the lane, Kevon Looney's there waiting, and Sabonis did have
Speaker 1: some success on the offensive glass. He grabbed a shit
Speaker 1: ton of offensive rebounds in the in the series, but
Speaker 1: the total, the total package of Sabonis as a threat
Speaker 1: in that two man game ended up being a problem,
Speaker 1: and the Warriors held Kings dribble handoffs to just zero
Speaker 1: point eighty seven points per possession. That's twenty one points
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions, worse than where they were in
Speaker 1: the regular season. The bright spot in the Warriors series
Speaker 1: was the Deer and Fox and Malik Monk duo and
Speaker 1: the ability they had to consistently get dribble penetration. So
Speaker 1: anytime you take a look at a new playoff team,
Speaker 1: right and we're gonna get to see this with I
Speaker 1: think the Oklahoma City Thunder are gonna make the playoffs
Speaker 1: this year and We'll get to see what Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: can do in a playoff setting. We're gonna to see
Speaker 1: what Sga can do in a seven gamer as the
Speaker 1: number one option. Right, We're gonna see Josh Gitty, We're
Speaker 1: gonna see Chad Homer and these guys, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: find out, like will it translate? Because that's always the question, right,
Speaker 1: And there's a difference between regular season basketball and playoff basketball,
Speaker 1: and that chasm is getting bigger and bigger by the year,
Speaker 1: and so it's always intriguing when you see a new
Speaker 1: playoff team come onto the scene, like what's good and
Speaker 1: what's not because the playoffs they have a We always
Speaker 1: talk about how they expose weaknesses, and they do. If
Speaker 1: you have a great weakness, the playoffs are going to
Speaker 1: shine a light on that, but they also sign a
Speaker 1: shine a light on your great strengths because even if
Speaker 1: you do have an elite defense, and even if you
Speaker 1: do secure defensive rebounds, you go over to the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor, you're gonna face an elite defense,
Speaker 1: and what you're gonna find out really quickly there is
Speaker 1: are your offensive folkrum's actually capable of generating quality shots
Speaker 1: against playoff caliber defenses in playoff scouting situations over a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks against the same defenders, seeing them a
Speaker 1: thousand times, right, that's when you're gonna find out whether
Speaker 1: or not their top tier offensive skill is actually worth
Speaker 1: what it's capable of being worth in a playoff setting.
Speaker 1: And that was what was really intriguing and encouraging about
Speaker 1: this Kings team. Both Deer and Fox and Malikmunk can
Speaker 1: beat people off the dribble in the playoffs consistently, and
Speaker 1: that was encouraging. They were able to consistently get the
Speaker 1: Warriors into rotation by beating people off the dribble, and that,
Speaker 1: to me is a really really good foundation moving forward
Speaker 1: because you can identify the other weaknesses. Right, we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about saib Bonis in a second. I thought he
Speaker 1: was the biggest weakness in their offense. In their offense
Speaker 1: last year in the playoffs and against the Warriors, but
Speaker 1: also on the defensive end. You're gonna see these specific things,
Speaker 1: but one of the positive things that came out of
Speaker 1: it was Daron Fox and Malik Monk. That's the foundation there,
Speaker 1: So you look at that as something you can replicate.
Speaker 1: You can count on that next year when you get
Speaker 1: to that first round series again, whoever it is you're playing,
Speaker 1: Daron Fox and Milik Monk will be able to beat
Speaker 1: people off the dribble. Okay, how do we build out
Speaker 1: the rest of it? How do we figure out how
Speaker 1: to get enough stops? How do we figure out how
Speaker 1: to fix the problem with Simonis in the two man game? Right? So,
Speaker 1: like we got a foundation, now we can move forward
Speaker 1: and look at the rest of the roster from there. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about Sibonus because I thought he was the
Speaker 1: biggest weakness in the Kings offense during that playoff series.
Speaker 1: So a two man game requires both players to be
Speaker 1: a threat, otherwise it's not a two man game, right.
Speaker 1: So as much of a threat as the guards were,
Speaker 1: as good as Malik Munk and Darren Fox were, Darren
Speaker 1: demonas Sabonis was actually kind of a problem. His jumper
Speaker 1: was completely ineffective. He only took twenty three of them
Speaker 1: in the series, despite the fact that the Warriors were
Speaker 1: basically leaving him unguarded, and he converted those twenty three
Speaker 1: jump shots into just nineteen points. That's zero point eighty
Speaker 1: three points per possession. So leaving him open was a
Speaker 1: win for the Warriors. That he wasn't able to convert
Speaker 1: those enough frequently, He wasn't he didn't want to take them,
Speaker 1: and then even when he did, he wasn't converting them enough,
Speaker 1: and then he couldn't finish around the rim. He really
Speaker 1: really struggled to finish over Kevon Looney and Draymond Green
Speaker 1: at the rim. As a matter of fact, after shooting
Speaker 1: sixty nine percent at the rim in the regular season,
Speaker 1: Sabona shot is fifty six percent at the rim against
Speaker 1: the Warriors. And this is an interesting outcome that I've
Speaker 1: seen a lot in NBA history biggs that don't have
Speaker 1: like unbelievable supreme gifts. And like, here's the thing. Sabonis
Speaker 1: is not small, but he's not way bigger than everybody, right,
Speaker 1: Like jokicch is so much bigger than everybody at the
Speaker 1: position that he can play bullyball and it works, right,
Speaker 1: Like Lebron James is so much bigger than everybody who
Speaker 1: plays his position that he can bullyball. He can play
Speaker 1: bullyball all game long. Right. But when you and that,
Speaker 1: and that's why even in everything that Lebron struggled with
Speaker 1: in last year's playoffs, he was good in the post. Right.
Speaker 1: That's the way I look at the situation with these
Speaker 1: power players that don't have the supreme uh like strength advantage. Right,
Speaker 1: Look at Kevin Love over the years, Look at like
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin and what would happen to him? Sometimes when
Speaker 1: you get to the playoffs, look at Julius Randall and
Speaker 1: what's been happening to him in the last few playoff runs? Right,
Speaker 1: And then it's happening with Sabonis as well. These big
Speaker 1: forward centers that are that play bullyball during the regular
Speaker 1: season and can bury people under the rim and finish
Speaker 1: around the rim during the regular season. You get to
Speaker 1: the postseason, you facet utter defensive front courts. More physicality
Speaker 1: is allowed, guys are able to shove and push on
Speaker 1: you more, and suddenly that bully ball doesn't work as well.
Speaker 1: And so then you'll see Kevin Love run into Thaddeus
Speaker 1: Young and get his ass kicked, right, or Draymond Green
Speaker 1: used to kill him too, Or you'll see Demanda Sabonis
Speaker 1: run into Kevon Looney and have problems Like you'll see
Speaker 1: Julius Randall run into bam Adebayo and suddenly he can't
Speaker 1: bully him, and now his lack of touch gets exposed.
Speaker 1: Like if you don't have top tier touch in those situations,
Speaker 1: it can be a problem. Like at least for Kevin
Speaker 1: Love when it was failing, when his post up attack
Speaker 1: was failing, he could run pick and pop and spot
Speaker 1: up to the weekside corner and be a threat, which
Speaker 1: is why Kevin Love still had some offensive impact even
Speaker 1: after his low post game was removed in specific matchups. Right,
Speaker 1: But for Sabonis, he shoves people around in the regular season,
Speaker 1: gets wherever he wants to go, makes everything around the rim,
Speaker 1: and then he gets to the postseason and suddenly he
Speaker 1: can't make anything. He went from nineteen points per game
Speaker 1: on sixty seven percent true shooting in the regular season
Speaker 1: to sixteen points per game on fifty two percent true
Speaker 1: shooting in the playoffs. And this has been a career
Speaker 1: long problem for them for him. He has a career
Speaker 1: sixty one percent true shooting in the regular season and
Speaker 1: fifty four percent in the playoffs. That's a seven percent
Speaker 1: decline over his entire career. And there's four playoff runs
Speaker 1: in there at this point. So like that's the reality
Speaker 1: right now, is Sabonis is not a good enough jump
Speaker 1: shooter to be a threat away from the basket, and
Speaker 1: his bully ball rim attack doesn't work in the postseason.
Speaker 1: And so when you combine that with the fact that
Speaker 1: he's not a good defensive player, his impact craters when
Speaker 1: he gets to the postseason. But here's the thing. That
Speaker 1: problem is not going away because demonas Sabonis just signed
Speaker 1: a four year, one hundred and eighty six million dollar extension.
Speaker 1: So that's something that they're going to have to learn
Speaker 1: how to overcome. So let's go back to what we
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier. We have our foundation, right, Fox
Speaker 1: and Monk beating people off the dribble are The second
Speaker 1: piece of our foundation is our overwhelming offensive skill, right,
Speaker 1: So it's all of the ball handling and shooting down
Speaker 1: the roster from guys like Keegan Murray, Kevin Herder, and
Speaker 1: Harrison Barnes, Right, And he throws the bonus in there too.
Speaker 1: So you got all this offensive skill, Well, those guys
Speaker 1: all shot like shit, right, Like especially Harrison Barnes and
Speaker 1: Kevin Herder really struggled to shoot in that in that
Speaker 1: playoff series against the Warriors as a team, as a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, the King shot just thirty one percent. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's just take a glass half full approach there
Speaker 1: and say they were a little nervous first playoff run
Speaker 1: for that group in general, Harrison Barnes hadn't had a
Speaker 1: playoff run in a few years. Let's just call that
Speaker 1: a fluke and say they're all gonna shoot better next year. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's accept that. And for the record, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that's gonna happen, but let's just accept that for
Speaker 1: the sake of this argument. So I've got my offensive
Speaker 1: foundation and my shot creators. I've got this overwhelming offensive skill.
Speaker 1: The third pieces, they have to find a way to
Speaker 1: get stops, and that was never a priority for them.
Speaker 1: Last year. They were twenty fourth in defense on the season,
Speaker 1: twenty eighth and half court defense. According to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: The only two worst half court defenses than the Kings
Speaker 1: last year's last year were the Rockets and the Spurs,
Speaker 1: two teams that were deliberately trying to lose games. They
Speaker 1: were twenty fifth in paint defense. They allowed fifty three
Speaker 1: points in the paint per one hundred possessions. They allowed
Speaker 1: teams to shoot sixty nine percent in the restricted area
Speaker 1: that was twenty fifth in the league. They were eighteenth
Speaker 1: in defending the three point line in the amount of
Speaker 1: made three pointers they allowed per one hundred possessions, and
Speaker 1: they were seventeenth and rebounding. The only thing they were
Speaker 1: good at on defense was transition. They were third in
Speaker 1: transition defensive transition defense frequency and eighth in transition defense efficiency.
Speaker 1: But outside of that, they were bad everywhere on defense,
Speaker 1: and it was everywhere in the personnel as well. So
Speaker 1: Bonus not a good rim protector, Harrison Barnes not a
Speaker 1: good low man help defender, right, And these guys are
Speaker 1: capable of being better than they were for the record,
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about what they were last year. Herd
Speaker 1: her Murray not good perimeter defenders. Darren Fox capable of
Speaker 1: being a good defender, had moments of being a good
Speaker 1: defender in the Warrior Series, but didn't over the course
Speaker 1: of the season establish himself as a good perimeter defender right.
Speaker 1: So down the line, it was a personnel issue, and
Speaker 1: when you're not bothering anybody around the rim like Barnes,
Speaker 1: Sabonis is one of the worst defensive front courts in
Speaker 1: the NBA. When you're not bothering anybody around the rim,
Speaker 1: and you're not containing anybody on the perimeter. You're just
Speaker 1: gonna give up driving lanes all game long. I watched
Speaker 1: a ton of King's pick and roll defensive possessions this
Speaker 1: year because I was trying to get a feel for
Speaker 1: their scheme, and their scheme was very aggressive, Like Sabonis
Speaker 1: was showing high on almost every ball screen, So like
Speaker 1: you would see when the ball screener is going up
Speaker 1: to set a screen for the pick and roll ball
Speaker 1: handler for the other team, Sabonus is coming way out
Speaker 1: to the top of the key and he's basically trying
Speaker 1: to catch the ball handler as he's coming off and
Speaker 1: contain him until the guard recovers, and then he goes
Speaker 1: back and if the guard doesn't recover, he'll hang for
Speaker 1: a switch and then the guard will peel off and
Speaker 1: try to box out the big man rolling into the basket.
Speaker 1: But Sabonis was getting toasted up there a lot, like
Speaker 1: getting just flat out beat off the dribble as he
Speaker 1: would rise up to contain right and teams weren't just
Speaker 1: doing that to Sabonis, they were doing it in guard
Speaker 1: guard actions like they would like call Kevin Herder's man over,
Speaker 1: and Herder would like hard show like catch heads, try
Speaker 1: to like contain the ball for the guy to recover,
Speaker 1: and then he would just get beat like with a
Speaker 1: with a split back towards the screen or or the
Speaker 1: hard dribble around and they just every single ball screen
Speaker 1: they were giving up dribble penetration. And so I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't really have a good answer for the off
Speaker 1: ball actions with the with the guards, right, So, like
Speaker 1: if they're gonna bring Herd her into the screen and
Speaker 1: he can't contain either, there's really no answer there. Like
Speaker 1: if Herder can't keep the ball in front of him,
Speaker 1: there's not really anything you can do. But at least
Speaker 1: in the Sabonis situations, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd
Speaker 1: tinker with that a little bit and maybe consider dropping
Speaker 1: Sabonis a little bit deeper, because maybe it'd be better
Speaker 1: to give up more pull up jump shots and floaters
Speaker 1: than all of these easy layups they're giving up at
Speaker 1: the rim. But it has to be a commitment thing
Speaker 1: from the top down. There are good perimeter defenders on
Speaker 1: this team. Dearn Fox is capable of being a good
Speaker 1: perimeter defender, Davion Mitchell is capable of being or Davian
Speaker 1: Mitchell is an excellent perimeter defender. Kessler Edwards is capable
Speaker 1: of being a very good perimeter wing defender with good size. Right. So, like,
Speaker 1: if you don't have rim protection, you have to be
Speaker 1: elite at the point of attack. And so one of
Speaker 1: the things you saw Mike Brown do in the series
Speaker 1: against the Warriors is he just started taking Herder and
Speaker 1: Murray out of the game and playing other guys who
Speaker 1: were more willing to defend. And so at a certain
Speaker 1: point you have to wonder if maybe Mike Brown needs
Speaker 1: to do that from a cultural standpoint from the start
Speaker 1: of camp, like, Hey, Kevin Herder, you're our guy. Keegan Murray,
Speaker 1: you're our guy. Harrison Barnes, you're a guy. I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to to discount any of that and what we
Speaker 1: have planned for you, and obviously we want you to
Speaker 1: have these spots, but if you don't defend, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to give a portion of your minutes, a bigger
Speaker 1: portion of your minutes to guys like Davion Mitchell, to
Speaker 1: guys like Kesler Edwards, Right, guys that are at least
Speaker 1: going to try to compete on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the four right, And so I think that's something that
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to culturally set from the beginning of
Speaker 1: the year. Because here's the deal are the Do the
Speaker 1: Kings have bad defensive personnel? Yes? Do I expect them
Speaker 1: to be even capable of ever having a top ten
Speaker 1: defense with Sabonis as the rint protector, No, obviously not.
Speaker 1: But should they be the twenty eighth ranked half court
Speaker 1: defense in the league better than just the Rockets and Spurs.
Speaker 1: Obviously not. That's just laziness. And so as I look
Speaker 1: at the Kings this season, your goal needs to be
Speaker 1: basically the way Denver approached defense. If you're an offensive team,
Speaker 1: that you think you're gonna be unguardable. And for the record,
Speaker 1: I do not think the Kings are close to as
Speaker 1: good offensively as the Nuggets. We saw the Warriors contain
Speaker 1: them to an offensive rating below one to ten in
Speaker 1: that playoff series. They can be stopped to a much
Speaker 1: greater extent than the Denver Nuggets can because they have
Speaker 1: a truly unstoppable offensive weapon in Nikola Jokic, and as
Speaker 1: good as Daron Fox is, it's not in the same
Speaker 1: stratosphere offensively as Nikolea Jokic. Right, So, I think this
Speaker 1: idea is dead on arrival. But even if you do
Speaker 1: think that your offense is capable of getting you over
Speaker 1: the top, you've got to get to fifteen in the
Speaker 1: defensive rating, and by establishing good habits by being a
Speaker 1: good transition defense, which you already are, by improving your
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding, which by the way, a deeper drop could
Speaker 1: help with as well, by by containing better on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: by just by doing those things, by rotating better when
Speaker 1: the defense gets in rotation, chasing shooters off the line.
Speaker 1: Better commitment in those areas could bump you up to
Speaker 1: fifteenth in defensive rating, which is going to give you
Speaker 1: the habits that you need to have a fighting chance
Speaker 1: when you get to the postseason, especially if your shooters
Speaker 1: do shoot better in the postseason, especially if Sabonis does
Speaker 1: play better in the postseason, then you can mess around
Speaker 1: and beat some people. But to be clear, as of
Speaker 1: right now, even though I like that foundation of deeron
Speaker 1: Fox Round by shooting and playing with the skill big like,
Speaker 1: even though I like that foundation, this team cannot win
Speaker 1: a championship as currently constructed there two week defensively in
Speaker 1: the front court and not good enough offensively to make
Speaker 1: up for it. But they have a chance to compete
Speaker 1: within this season and win a playoff series or two
Speaker 1: if they at least establish good defensive habits and get
Speaker 1: better offensive performances out of their role players. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the mail bag. So first I
Speaker 1: wanted to so yesterday that random take I had about
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson and John Moran went all over the place,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately it was I had hit it in passing
Speaker 1: in the Knicks video, So I didn't really dive into
Speaker 1: the basketball, which is always a bummer because like, here's
Speaker 1: the thing, I can stand on whatever opinion I take,
Speaker 1: no matter what, because I do the requisite research. But
Speaker 1: in that specific video, I didn't really break down the
Speaker 1: basketball reasons why I view Jalen Brunson as a slightly
Speaker 1: better player than John Morant in the immediate future. And
Speaker 1: so I wanted to talk about that really quick, because like, again,
Speaker 1: this to me falls into that classic debate that we've
Speaker 1: seen throughout NBA history about the young up and comer
Speaker 1: versus the established guy who kind of already has the
Speaker 1: polish right. So, for instance, like Kobe versus Lebron in
Speaker 1: the late two thousands, like eight nine, twenty ten, Lebron
Speaker 1: fans all swore that Lebron was better because he put
Speaker 1: up better numbers and he was winning more awards, and
Speaker 1: he's back to back MVP and all this stuff. But meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Kobe's winning playoff series, albeit with a better team, but
Speaker 1: winning playoff series because he was a better half court
Speaker 1: shot creator at that point. This is a fact, Like
Speaker 1: he was just a little better at navigating the playoff
Speaker 1: environment than Lebron was at that point. So I actually
Speaker 1: think Kobe was better than Lebron in the late twenty tens.
Speaker 1: Then come twenty twelve, I think Lebron took that mantle
Speaker 1: and I don't think anybody passed him. Right. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm saying the same thing about Giannis. Everyone's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Jannis is the best player in the league in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, Like, Lebron is just way better
Speaker 1: at navigating the playoff chess match than Giannis is right now,
Speaker 1: he's a better player. That's kind of the way I
Speaker 1: look at the Jalen Brunson thing. John Moran is unquestionably
Speaker 1: going to be a better player than Jalen Brunson in
Speaker 1: the long run. John Morant. Obviously, if I'm the Knicks
Speaker 1: GM and Memphis calls me and goes, hey, I want
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson for John Morant straight up, which I don't
Speaker 1: even think the salaries work, but of course I'd be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like give me John Moran. I want John Moran. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be a better player in the long run. That
Speaker 1: wasn't the point of what I was talking about. What
Speaker 1: I was talking about is right now, in the half
Speaker 1: court setting that you most frequently encounter in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson is a better and more versatile shot creator.
Speaker 1: He can score out of the post, He could score
Speaker 1: in isolation, He could score in pick and roll. He
Speaker 1: was one of the very best pick and roll ball
Speaker 1: handlers in the league last year, a better one than
Speaker 1: John Morant. He was one of the best post up
Speaker 1: guards in the league last year, one of the best
Speaker 1: ISO guards in the league last year, and so he
Speaker 1: was able to against Cleveland when even Donovan Mitchell was
Speaker 1: against that defense. He was able to against the Knicks defense,
Speaker 1: which was a lesser defense against the number one defense
Speaker 1: in the league. And again we talked about all the
Speaker 1: offensive issues that Cleveland was having, but against the number
Speaker 1: one defense in the league, Jalen Brunson was able to
Speaker 1: slowly and methodically find the good shots that existed within
Speaker 1: those games. He was able to pick on Cheeddy Osman
Speaker 1: in switches. He was able to identify when he'd have
Speaker 1: Darius Garland don him and try to put him into
Speaker 1: pick and roll to get a good shot right like,
Speaker 1: he was able to attack the mismatches, and so as
Speaker 1: a result, when the game slowed down into those situations,
Speaker 1: Jalen was better. He was the best player on the floor.
Speaker 1: He outplayed Donovan Mitchell in that series. And so to me,
Speaker 1: that's kind of the differentiator. Like John Morant is going
Speaker 1: to have all the highlights, He's going to fill the
Speaker 1: box score, just like Giannis could fill the box score
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, just like Lebron could fill the box
Speaker 1: score in two thousand and nine. No one's questioning the accolades,
Speaker 1: no one's questioning what he's capable of, no one's questioning
Speaker 1: the potential in the law run. But right if I
Speaker 1: had to start a playoff series tomorrow with equal supporting
Speaker 1: casts on both sides, and Jalen Brunson is navigating one
Speaker 1: team and John Morant's navigating the other team. I think
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson wins that series because as of right now,
Speaker 1: at this moment in time, he is a more dynamic
Speaker 1: half court shot creator in the slow down, physical playoff
Speaker 1: environment then on the other end of the floor. Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson is not a good defensive player, but he's not
Speaker 1: gonna hurt you there most of the time. Like I
Speaker 1: didn't think he had a good playoff or excuse me,
Speaker 1: I didn't think he had a good defensive run with
Speaker 1: Team USA that I thought that was a commitment thing
Speaker 1: that went down the roster. Obviously, he's not a great
Speaker 1: defensive player, but he as long as he's as long
Speaker 1: as he's surrounded by good personnel, he's not going to
Speaker 1: hurt you defensively in a playoff series. Because he's big
Speaker 1: and he's strong. You're not gonna be able to bully
Speaker 1: him in the post. You're not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: consistently beat him off the dribble. Right John Morant literally
Speaker 1: is an atrocious defense under right now, he can make
Speaker 1: defensive plays, He's a defensive playmaker. He'll block a big
Speaker 1: shot here or there right or he'll jump a passing
Speaker 1: lane here or there. But right now, he's not a
Speaker 1: good defensive player. As a matter of fact, the one
Speaker 1: time they won a playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: one of the best bits of offense that the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: had was tossed the ball to Patrick Beverly and let
Speaker 1: him attack John Moran off the bounce, and he was
Speaker 1: having a lot of success that way. So that's the thing. Like,
Speaker 1: right now, John Morant's a bigger defensive liability and a
Speaker 1: lesser half court shot creator. So I think Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: is a slightly better basketball player right now. Within the
Speaker 1: next couple of years, Jaw's going to improve as an
Speaker 1: off ball defender. He's going to put on a little
Speaker 1: bit muscle so he can improve as an on ball defender.
Speaker 1: He's going to get better at deciphering playoff defenses, identifying
Speaker 1: the types of counters that defenses employ against him in
Speaker 1: a series to try to make him uncomfortable, like he
Speaker 1: really struggled with the Lakers pick and roll coverage. He's
Speaker 1: gonna have opportunities to figure those things out and then
Speaker 1: he will become a much better player than Jaylen Brunson.
Speaker 1: But that was the only point I was trying to make.
Speaker 1: I was explaining why I had the Knicks above the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies in my rankings and explaining why I view Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson as a slightly better player than John Moran in
Speaker 1: the short term. But I wanted to have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to actually talk about the basketball reasons for that. So
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got to do that today. All right,
Speaker 1: for mail back questions, and a couple of them are
Speaker 1: gonna be quick. Any plan, Oh, it actually only have
Speaker 1: three mail back questions. That's my bad. So from Andy,
Speaker 1: any plans for a weekly NBA round table podcast once
Speaker 1: the season starts would be great to see you interact
Speaker 1: with other volume guys, breaking down games, plays in the league,
Speaker 1: et cetera. So I'm not gonna get into details here
Speaker 1: because we have to finalize some stuff, but we have
Speaker 1: at least two things that we're working on that will
Speaker 1: add some kind of wrinkles to the regular season in
Speaker 1: the way that we do the show. I do plan
Speaker 1: on working with guests more frequently this year, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. This show is, at its
Speaker 1: core is always going to be just me breaking down games.
Speaker 1: For those of you guys who have been hump fans
Speaker 1: of the show over the summer, like this is very
Speaker 1: different than what our show is normally like like we do,
Speaker 1: although these, uh, these season previews are a little bit
Speaker 1: more like what we like to do. But the player
Speaker 1: rankings lists and the all time rankings lists, and that's
Speaker 1: all stuff just designed to get through the summer, right.
Speaker 1: It just gives us an excuse to talk about basketball
Speaker 1: and a bigger picture for fun in the in the
Speaker 1: dregs of the NBA off season, but in the regular season,
Speaker 1: it's a pretty consistent theme. I will wake up every day,
Speaker 1: watch the games from last night, give you a breakdown
Speaker 1: of the games, and then two or three nights a
Speaker 1: week for major national TV games, will go live right
Speaker 1: after the games. But at its core, this is breaking
Speaker 1: down games. But what we're gonna try to do is
Speaker 1: add like a once the once a week type of
Speaker 1: thing where we bring someone on and talk more big
Speaker 1: picture stuff. So that's kind of the game plan. I'll
Speaker 1: keep you guys posted once we finalize stuff. Next mail
Speaker 1: back question, why don't teams in the NBA utilize more
Speaker 1: plays outside of picking role. Isn't the consensus. When the
Speaker 1: ball moves more, the game is more exciting to watch. Also,
Speaker 1: this should give teams that have a tougher offense, So
Speaker 1: I'm trying to read this properly. Also this this should
Speaker 1: give teams a tougher offense to pit against the defense.
Speaker 1: I'm removing one of the words there. So this is
Speaker 1: an interesting dynamic. So, first of all, there's a reason
Speaker 1: why teams have gone away from running sets to the
Speaker 1: extent that they used to. And the main reason why
Speaker 1: is just players are so much better now in terms
Speaker 1: of skill. Our skill development has reached a point now
Speaker 1: where we have probably like a solid fifty players in
Speaker 1: the league that are really good at making tough shots,
Speaker 1: right pull up jump shots off the dribble, tough floaters,
Speaker 1: shots out of the post, shots at isolation. So like
Speaker 1: it's gotten to a point now where any NBA offense
Speaker 1: can get a pretty decent look that a guy can
Speaker 1: make a good percentage of the time without having to
Speaker 1: do anything too crazy. And so for instance, like let's say,
Speaker 1: for instance, I've got Damian Lillard on my team, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a slow down situation. We gotta stop.
Speaker 1: It's the you know, two minutes left in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: like Day might just dribble the ball up the floor,
Speaker 1: up the left wing, and guys will run to the corners,
Speaker 1: and a guy will run to the right wing, and
Speaker 1: then Nurkic will come up and set a pick and
Speaker 1: he'll come off the screen and if he gets some
Speaker 1: wide open threes, pull up three, he's gonna take it.
Speaker 1: If he gets a floater, he's gonna take it. If
Speaker 1: they help, he'll make the key out pass, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna get a good shot. They're gonna get a shot
Speaker 1: that they can make. That is brute force offense. You
Speaker 1: hear me talk about this on the show. Brute force
Speaker 1: offense works even in the playoffs, and the reason why
Speaker 1: is because players are so damn good. Now. But I
Speaker 1: agree in the sense that, like I think teams should
Speaker 1: not use that as an excuse to not run sets.
Speaker 1: The reason why you don't run sets that often is
Speaker 1: not just that players are better. It's a scouting thing.
Speaker 1: You get to the postseason and all those five out
Speaker 1: sets at the Warriors run don't work as well. Right,
Speaker 1: you get to the postseason, in those dribble handoss that
Speaker 1: the Kings run, they don't work as well. Right, That's
Speaker 1: that's a pretty consistent theme in NBA history. So at
Speaker 1: that point, the brute force offense actually becomes the most
Speaker 1: reliable offense. My thing is, why can't you do both?
Speaker 1: Why can't it be brute force offense coming off of action,
Speaker 1: even if it buys you just a tiny bit more
Speaker 1: of an advantage, right, even if they scout the sets
Speaker 1: and they're ahead of them, but you just have a
Speaker 1: like you have just a half a step on your
Speaker 1: on ball defender every time, as opposed to attacking a
Speaker 1: stagnant on ball defender. Maybe over the course of forty
Speaker 1: pick and rolls in a game, that is an extra
Speaker 1: you know, tenth of a point per possession. That's what's
Speaker 1: that four points? That's four points in a game, in
Speaker 1: a playoff game that might be decided by four points. Right, So, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in like running complications, doing things
Speaker 1: to flow into your pick and roll. Like, if Dame
Speaker 1: wants to run a pick and roll with Nurkic, why
Speaker 1: not bring the ball up the floor, pitch it to
Speaker 1: Anferny Simons run to the corner, and then have Infernty
Speaker 1: Simons run into you with the dribble handoff as you
Speaker 1: flow off of the Nurkics pick and roll. Why not
Speaker 1: do that just to keep the defense a little bit
Speaker 1: more off balance, right, But the reason why is simple.
Speaker 1: It's fatigue. Guys get tired in the game and you
Speaker 1: realize that, hey, we can get a good look without
Speaker 1: having to run something. So I'll just run to the corner.
Speaker 1: Dame will run his pick and roll and take a
Speaker 1: pull up three, you know, rather than us do something
Speaker 1: to get into that, Let's just do that and then
Speaker 1: we'll run back and save our energy for defense. That's
Speaker 1: the reason why they do it. I just don't necessarily
Speaker 1: think it's the right process, and I do think that
Speaker 1: teams that run complications are more effective offensively for that reason,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets are a team I give credit for that. Like,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets are typically going to run some sort of
Speaker 1: interchange into their brute force offense, and I think that
Speaker 1: that's a force multiplier. It makes your offense that much
Speaker 1: more impactful. All right, last one from Bob Hi Jason,
Speaker 1: great show. What are your thoughts on seeding? For example,
Speaker 1: if the Nuggets are Warriors, finished with the five or
Speaker 1: six seed in the regular season, well you still have
Speaker 1: them as title favorites based on previous success or they
Speaker 1: bumped down in it contendered here. So this is gonna
Speaker 1: be an interesting thing throughout the season. I am not
Speaker 1: gonna care much about seeding. The main thing that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna care about is how good you look as a
Speaker 1: basketball team when you are healthy. Because there are gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of teams that fall to five and
Speaker 1: six because their star has some nagging injury and rather
Speaker 1: than playing him through it, they're just gonna rest him
Speaker 1: for a little while. Right, You're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of teams that are especially after the last postseason, in
Speaker 1: the last several postseasons, where we're seeing that teams that
Speaker 1: don't take the regular season super seriously or that struggle
Speaker 1: through the regular season can still reach their ceiling when
Speaker 1: they get to the postseason. That shows us that the
Speaker 1: regular season does matter less than ever. I do think
Speaker 1: it does matter, though, And as we go back through
Speaker 1: NBA history, it is top seed that end up winning.
Speaker 1: Who won last year, the one seed Denver Nuggets who
Speaker 1: won the year before that, the Golden State Warriors who
Speaker 1: started fifteen to one and won a shit ton of
Speaker 1: games until Steph got hurt, right, who won the year
Speaker 1: before that? The Milwaukee Bucks, who wont to shit ton
Speaker 1: of games, who won the year before that? The Lakers
Speaker 1: who want to shit ton of games. So like, the
Speaker 1: regular season does matter. And obviously, good veteran teams that
Speaker 1: have proven playoff history that are also top seeds, those
Speaker 1: are the teams that I'm going to believe in the
Speaker 1: most in the postseason. But if I have to choose
Speaker 1: between a top seed that is an unproven playoff team
Speaker 1: or a sixth seed that I've seen succeed in the
Speaker 1: playoffs and within this season I've seen look dominant with
Speaker 1: their core players, I'm obviously gonna trust that team more.
Speaker 1: But let's be clear, if we get to June, or
Speaker 1: if we get to mid April and the Lakers are
Speaker 1: the one seed, I'm gonna pick them to win the title.
Speaker 1: If we get to April and the Phoenix Suns are
Speaker 1: the one seed, gonna pick them to win the title,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets are the one seed, gonna pick them to
Speaker 1: win the title, the Celtics or the Bucks. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm obviously going to think of good like proven teams
Speaker 1: that are also dominating the regular season are gonna get
Speaker 1: the most amount of faith. And then I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with veteran teams over young, successful teams beneath them. The
Speaker 1: volume