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Speaker 1: to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday, everybody. We have almost made it to the
Speaker 1: NBA's All Star Weekend. We are live on AMP, so
Speaker 1: if you're watching on the YouTube feed or any of
Speaker 1: our pot cast feeds, don't forget that AMP is the
Speaker 1: very first place that you guys can get these shows.
Speaker 1: We have a jam Pack show today. The red hot
Speaker 1: Calves ran into a red hot Sixers team and the
Speaker 1: Sixers kind of beat their ass, so I have some
Speaker 1: thoughts on that game. We got to see the new
Speaker 1: look Lakers for the first time ever with Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D and all the pieces they brought in at
Speaker 1: the trade deadline, and they looked fantastic, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about that as well. Um. Then the Bucks in
Speaker 1: the Celtics played a really weird game on Tuesday night
Speaker 1: that the Bucks ended up winning. An ot despite the
Speaker 1: Celtics being down four starters. I have some thoughts about
Speaker 1: that game, but I want to just dive into that
Speaker 1: particular matchup because I'm incredibly excited and hopeful that we'll
Speaker 1: see them in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. You
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Speaker 1: So let's start with calv Sixers. So the Calves were
Speaker 1: on a seven game winning streak and they went in
Speaker 1: and just got absolutely smacked by the Sixers. They were
Speaker 1: down thirty one to ten before you could even see straight.
Speaker 1: There's a little bit of a fake comeback at the end,
Speaker 1: but that tends to happen a lot in the NBA.
Speaker 1: It was more or less a beat down from the start. Now,
Speaker 1: I wanted to start with the Sixers defensive scheme because
Speaker 1: I thought that was a big part of how they
Speaker 1: really stagnated Cleveland to start this game. They ran a
Speaker 1: very exaggerated drop coverage with Joel Umbie hawking the paint,
Speaker 1: and then they were over helping off of Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: and Isaaca Cora and more or less just completely ignoring
Speaker 1: them and conceding wide open corner threes to them. Um
Speaker 1: in that third, in that first quarter, I think of
Speaker 1: at least four wide open corner threes for Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: and Isaaca Cora and they missed every single one of them.
Speaker 1: And that's what they're going to do this season on
Speaker 1: completely unguarded threes when the defenders at least six feet away.
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley is on threes, Isaaca Coro is thirty four percent.
Speaker 1: Sounds okay, but again that's on completely wide open, conceded threes,
Speaker 1: and that just puts Donovan Mitchell and Darius Gartland in
Speaker 1: a really tough spot because you know, I've talked about
Speaker 1: this a lot this season with the Lakers because they've
Speaker 1: had a lot of issues off ball and we've been
Speaker 1: covering that team a lot, and you know, I keep saying,
Speaker 1: like people get on lebron or or Russ or Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis for settling for jump shots, but like when the
Speaker 1: defense is ignoring off ball players and really packing the paint,
Speaker 1: you kind of only have two options. You can't and
Speaker 1: swing to that inferior player who's probably gonna miss the shot,
Speaker 1: or you can shoot over the top of the defense
Speaker 1: like you can. You can try to get downhill into
Speaker 1: the paint with actions and different types of things, but
Speaker 1: it's gonna be extremely difficult, labor intensive, and difficult to replicate,
Speaker 1: especially if the refs allow a lot of contact, which
Speaker 1: the more bodies are around and there, the harder it
Speaker 1: is to see things, and more contact is going to happen.
Speaker 1: And you know, in that first quarter, eventually Darius Garland
Speaker 1: and Donovan Mitchell just started taking tougher shots and they
Speaker 1: made some Like Donovan Mitchell made a nasty, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of pull up three on the right wing after
Speaker 1: the first time out when it was thirty and Darius
Speaker 1: Garland did like a tough fade away along the right
Speaker 1: baseline hit another three. Like, they hit some shots, but
Speaker 1: nowhere near enough to help them hang in the game.
Speaker 1: And you know, these offensive limitations I've been talking about
Speaker 1: the Calves in their small forward position forever. Evan Mobile,
Speaker 1: it's more or less just he's young. Like I would
Speaker 1: imagine that three or four years from now, Ivan Mobile
Speaker 1: is gonna be a very reliable perimeter shooter. I just
Speaker 1: I trust his work ethic and I trust the level
Speaker 1: of ability that he has as a naturally gifted perimeter
Speaker 1: big um. But you know, guys like guys Cora, like
Speaker 1: that's gonna be an issue until they upgrade that position,
Speaker 1: which is something I've been preaching all season. On the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, James Harden was magnificent in
Speaker 1: this game, just absolutely schooled Isaac A. Coro from the start.
Speaker 1: They put him in that on ball roll, obviously keeping
Speaker 1: Mitchell and Garland off ball where they're dealing with massive
Speaker 1: physical mismatches, which is a whole other story. But one
Speaker 1: of the things that James Harden was doing really good
Speaker 1: with Isaac a. Coro was flipping screen angles and getting
Speaker 1: him to lean one way or the other. I've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about this on this show. But like I'm
Speaker 1: guarding the ball, they're gonna come set a ball screen.
Speaker 1: I can't just key in on James Harden and just
Speaker 1: slide as he slides. I have to prep for the screen. So,
Speaker 1: like my big man, who's behind me, So in this
Speaker 1: case Jared Allen or Evan Mobley, probably Jared Allen. He's
Speaker 1: coming up and he's telling me screen left, screen right, right,
Speaker 1: and so I'm not looking backwards, but I have an
Speaker 1: idea where this green is coming because the big man
Speaker 1: is informing me. So if there, if it's an ice coverage,
Speaker 1: I'm hopping all the way up towards the screen side
Speaker 1: to force him to reject. But you're not doing that
Speaker 1: at the top of the floor. You're actually prepping to
Speaker 1: run over the screen. So what that is if he
Speaker 1: if he says screen left, I'm like kind of peeking
Speaker 1: over my shoulder. I might have to take my eyes
Speaker 1: off James Harden temporarily to get a feel. I'm sticking
Speaker 1: this arm out to try to, uh to get a
Speaker 1: little bit of leverage as I'm starting to try to fight,
Speaker 1: and I'm picking up this left leg to take a
Speaker 1: big step over the top of the screen so that
Speaker 1: i can kind of try to wedge myself in between
Speaker 1: and try to beat James hard into that spot. So
Speaker 1: if James Harden times it right to where right as
Speaker 1: I'm starting to take that step and starting to work
Speaker 1: over the screen, if he cuts back this way, I'm
Speaker 1: engaged with the boss screen. I'm engaged with Joel Embiid there.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really difficult for me to then reverse
Speaker 1: and fight back the other way. And like you know,
Speaker 1: Isaaca core is a really good athlete, and he's got
Speaker 1: really strong hands, and if he gets physical with me
Speaker 1: at the point of attack, he's gonna be able to
Speaker 1: have some success there. But if I'm constantly navigating screens
Speaker 1: and James Harden is keeping distance between us, he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a lot of success getting separation from me. Um
Speaker 1: and then when he did get that initial separation, he
Speaker 1: was taking big escape dribbles like like uh, you know,
Speaker 1: when he would get over the screen and Isaac is
Speaker 1: trailing him, He's pushing out like twenty feet off to
Speaker 1: the right to really drag the screen defender over so
Speaker 1: that when Isaac recovers, there's that kickback pass to Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid or the defense will have to help out of
Speaker 1: somewhere else if they stay home on Joel embid which
Speaker 1: is gonna open other things in rotation. The bottom line
Speaker 1: is is in that first quarter, James was just picking
Speaker 1: them apart in pick and roll. I think at the
Speaker 1: first there was a time out of about the five
Speaker 1: minute mark or stop it around the five minute mark,
Speaker 1: and in less than seven minutes to start the game,
Speaker 1: James Harden had eight points with six assists and zero turnovers.
Speaker 1: He was awesome in this game. And then towards the
Speaker 1: end they started switching. Towards the end of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: they start and switching, and they put Evan Mobley directly
Speaker 1: onto James Harden, and he was barbecuing Evan Mobley just
Speaker 1: a straight I so just killing him with that left
Speaker 1: to right crossover, getting him to kind of hop over
Speaker 1: to his right and then uh the bringing it back
Speaker 1: over to his right hand and getting into the basket
Speaker 1: and finishing. He only had nineteen points in twelve rebounds.
Speaker 1: But I thought James Harden completely dominated this game. And
Speaker 1: then outside of that, it's kind of a physical it's
Speaker 1: a physical mismatch in general between these two teams. We
Speaker 1: we often get swayed by height in the NBA, so
Speaker 1: we think, oh man, Jared Allen and Evan Mobley, that's
Speaker 1: two big dudes. But the reality is is Joel and
Speaker 1: b just sees those guys as too skinny guys that
Speaker 1: he can bully. And he didn't even have his outside
Speaker 1: jumper going. And he had twenty nine and fourteen in
Speaker 1: this game. And you know, strength, I talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot on the show. Strength is one of the
Speaker 1: most underrated abilities in the game of basketball, Like it
Speaker 1: helps you fight in so many different spots on the floor, Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, strength helps you win box out battles. Strength
Speaker 1: helps you fight for position when you're trying to get
Speaker 1: to a certain spot so you can run a playwright,
Speaker 1: or to fight for post position, or to set your
Speaker 1: man up when you're trying to run off the screen.
Speaker 1: Strength is a big part of how you leverage guys
Speaker 1: into those positions. Um strength, driving to the rim, when
Speaker 1: guys are being physical at the point of attack, you
Speaker 1: can blow through contact if you have a strength advantage
Speaker 1: at the rim, finishing through contact as guys are hitting you,
Speaker 1: and then obviously on the defensive end, when you're allowed
Speaker 1: to use your hands a little bit, it helps. Strength
Speaker 1: was always something that helped me a lot when I
Speaker 1: was playing in college, because I wasn't very skilled when
Speaker 1: I was in college, so I was playing more of
Speaker 1: a big whereas at my older age and like a
Speaker 1: guard now. But back in college, I was basically a
Speaker 1: stretch four, and I was a lot stronger than most
Speaker 1: guys my size. I was like most six six athletes
Speaker 1: that you see even in the pros or maybe two
Speaker 1: hundred and five pounds, and I was two hundred twenty
Speaker 1: five pounds, and so like I was hanging with all
Speaker 1: the big strong, you know, six ten centers and forwards
Speaker 1: that were in our conferences just because I was stronger
Speaker 1: than them and I and I just used my leverage
Speaker 1: to get position or to box them out, or to
Speaker 1: fight two spots on the floor and things along those lines.
Speaker 1: It was a big thing that helped me when I
Speaker 1: was playing, and so it's it's just something that I
Speaker 1: believe very passionately in as a very important basketball skill.
Speaker 1: Like young basketball players out there, get in the weight room,
Speaker 1: you know, like you need to balance that with shooting
Speaker 1: so you don't get overly tight, but in ply metrics,
Speaker 1: but get in the weight room. It's such an important
Speaker 1: part of the game of basketball. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: Joe and Be just absolutely bullied Jared Allen and Evan
Speaker 1: Bobil in this game. Teen. I also really really like
Speaker 1: the dynamic of bringing Tyrese Maxie off the bench. Um. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Tyris Maxi is really good. Uh, there are some nights
Speaker 1: where he's arguably their second best player. But it's just
Speaker 1: about the distribution of responsibilities on the floor. Like Tyris
Speaker 1: max he is so good with the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: and he's made himself a good off ball threat as well.
Speaker 1: But he's so good with the ball in his hands
Speaker 1: that he brings a ton of value to bench groups.
Speaker 1: So if you start him and he plays even just
Speaker 1: the first six minutes of the game before he subs out,
Speaker 1: like it's kind of a waste of what he does,
Speaker 1: especially if you plan on using him, let's say thirty
Speaker 1: two minutes in a game, wouldn't you rather have six
Speaker 1: minutes stretch save for the end of the first quarter
Speaker 1: when maybe James Harden goes to the bench, I mean
Speaker 1: the early second quarter, when James Harden goes to the bench. Like,
Speaker 1: there's just a time when it makes more sense to
Speaker 1: have him out there. And then if the matchup dictates it,
Speaker 1: then you can play him in the closing group if
Speaker 1: he's one of your four best players, which he is,
Speaker 1: and you need him in that group. But I actually
Speaker 1: like staggering him and bringing him off the bench. I've
Speaker 1: been talking about this a lot with the with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: with Dennis Schroeder, I've always wanted him to come off
Speaker 1: the bench, but they've been using him as a starter
Speaker 1: because Darvin Ham trusts him as a point of attack defender. Finally,
Speaker 1: last night they moved Dennis Schroder to the bench, much
Speaker 1: more natural role in the starting lineup. Started cooking because
Speaker 1: you have a natural off ball player in that position.
Speaker 1: So you know, I d Anthony Melton for instance, like that,
Speaker 1: that's a guy who can do some stuff with the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands, but he's an excellent off ball player,
Speaker 1: and so it gives them just I actually like that
Speaker 1: fit a little bit better with Tyres Maxie coming off
Speaker 1: the bench, Philly zooming out a little bit. Um. This
Speaker 1: is a team that I've had a really good read
Speaker 1: on this year. Like I again, I always tell you
Speaker 1: guys when it comes to predictions, like, don't ever judge,
Speaker 1: you know at basketball, uh talking head or analyst based
Speaker 1: on predictions, because if we could always just predict everything
Speaker 1: that happens, we'd be down in Vegas making a ship
Speaker 1: ton of money just betting on games rather than talking
Speaker 1: about them. You get the point. But there are teams
Speaker 1: that I've had a good feel on this year and
Speaker 1: there are teams that I have not. You know, for instance, Sacramento,
Speaker 1: I had a bad feel on that team. I did
Speaker 1: not think they'd be very good, but they're scoring the
Speaker 1: ship out of the basketball and so they've been pretty good.
Speaker 1: I've had a really good read on Philly though I
Speaker 1: had a feeling James Harden would have a great season.
Speaker 1: He's had a great season. We'll talk about that in
Speaker 1: a minute. And I talked about how in December I
Speaker 1: said if they get and now that they're getting healthy,
Speaker 1: I expect them to go on a run in the spring. Well,
Speaker 1: since December nine, the Sixers are twenty six and seven.
Speaker 1: That is the best record in the NBA over that span.
Speaker 1: That's almost half the season. That's thirty four games thirty
Speaker 1: three games, and that spanned their number one an offense,
Speaker 1: eleventh in defense, second in net rating. James Harden has
Speaker 1: been fantastic. We talked about him earlier in this particular game,
Speaker 1: but he's averaging one point one points per pick and
Speaker 1: roll in over seven hundred pick and rolls. He's sixth
Speaker 1: in the league among forty one players to run at
Speaker 1: least five hundred. He's averaging one point one two points
Speaker 1: per ISSO, which is eight out of fifty two players
Speaker 1: to run at least one hundred ISOs. He's shooting fifty
Speaker 1: in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots UM,
Speaker 1: which is tenth out of thirty three players to take
Speaker 1: at least three hundred pull up jump shots. He looks
Speaker 1: every bit as good with the eye test as he
Speaker 1: has been producing on the box score as well. He
Speaker 1: looks fast, he looks strongly to play. Earlier in this
Speaker 1: game where he bullied Donovan Mitchell at the rim just
Speaker 1: kind of shrugged him off and drew Evan Mobiley in
Speaker 1: help and made a really nice kickout pass. Um. He's
Speaker 1: getting great lift on his step back three, which is
Speaker 1: good for him in ISO situations, and like I look
Speaker 1: at little things like cooking Evan Mobiley and isolation one
Speaker 1: of our better bigs in the league that can guard
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. That's a great sign, you know. I
Speaker 1: I predicted before the season that this would be a
Speaker 1: huge bounce back season for James and it absolutely has
Speaker 1: has been. He's held up his end of the bargain
Speaker 1: in that regard. Um. Moving on to the Calves after
Speaker 1: last night, they're now below five hundred against teams that
Speaker 1: are five hundred are better. We talked about this a
Speaker 1: lot with the Grizzlies the other day, but they're just
Speaker 1: like the Grizzlies, but of the Eastern Conference. They're too
Speaker 1: small in the backcourt. Um. They're also like a little
Speaker 1: thin on the front line. We talked about that earlier,
Speaker 1: so that they can struggle a little bit with some
Speaker 1: of the bully ball forwards that we have in the league.
Speaker 1: And they have nowhere near enough offensive skill beyond their
Speaker 1: two guards to score in the half court against really
Speaker 1: good defense. Um, so good teams can give them, can
Speaker 1: give them a lot of problems on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor, which is why they're fifteen and sixteen against
Speaker 1: teams that are five hundred are better this year. I
Speaker 1: think they're a prime candidate for a first round exit,
Speaker 1: unless they can draw Brooklyn in that four five matchup,
Speaker 1: in which case I'd probably pick Cleveland, but I give
Speaker 1: Brooklyn a chance. They're like and I wanted to just
Speaker 1: hit a quick side note on Brooklyn here. Micaal Bridges
Speaker 1: went off for forty five points in a big win
Speaker 1: over the Miami Heat last night. I said after that trade, like,
Speaker 1: just give Micaal Bridges the ball and find out what
Speaker 1: he can do as a primary initiator. You get to
Speaker 1: see it for a playoff run here now too. But
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see what he's capable of there
Speaker 1: because he just hasn't quite had enough of that opportunity
Speaker 1: in Phoenix. Little stretches when guys get hurt, but not
Speaker 1: like serious. Hey, I'm a lead ball handler for a
Speaker 1: six month period or for an entire season, So I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to see what he can do and that
Speaker 1: that's that's what I like about taking UH chances on
Speaker 1: guys that are former lottery picks that didn't work with
Speaker 1: their previous team. Now, Michael did work with his previous team,
Speaker 1: but he worked in his smaller role as like a
Speaker 1: more of like the Andrew Wiggins role in Golden State,
Speaker 1: where he's like an aggressive score but more kind of
Speaker 1: in the flow of the offense. It's not like you're
Speaker 1: like really running stuff for him all that frequently. Um
Speaker 1: The Claxton Dorrian Finney, Smith, Mchaale Bridges defensive trio that
Speaker 1: we were all super excited did to see has now
Speaker 1: played a hundred and two possessions and has posted a
Speaker 1: nineties seven defensive rating, which is outstanding and the Air
Speaker 1: outscoring teams by eight points per one possessions. With those
Speaker 1: three on the floor, turn every Thursday into pay Day
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Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to the Pelicans and the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Last night was the most fun I've had watching a
Speaker 1: Lakers game in two years. There was a lot of
Speaker 1: things that fell into place, obviously healthy, so there's a
Speaker 1: lot of talent on the floor. Um Lebron and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis engaged. Not having that clunky Russell Westbrook fit and
Speaker 1: then Darvin Hamm did. It was almost like I joked
Speaker 1: with uh, with someone that I worked with. I I
Speaker 1: joked today that it was almost like Darvin Hamm was
Speaker 1: reading the Twitter feed, because it was like everything that
Speaker 1: all the Laker fans were screaming at ever since the deadline,
Speaker 1: screaming about ever since the deadline, was exactly who he
Speaker 1: went with as the starter. He flipped Dennis Shooter for
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley so the Dennis Shooter could run, run bench
Speaker 1: groups and put a natural off ball player. I think
Speaker 1: you could have gone with Malik Beasley or Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: they're they're both really good, and then knowing that you
Speaker 1: need Ruey Hotchamura in the bench group for ball handling
Speaker 1: and shooting. But that Jared Vanderbilt could take is a
Speaker 1: better defensive player who can take perimeter defense assignments. It
Speaker 1: made a lot of sense to move Jared Vanderbilt into
Speaker 1: that three and D role, or three and D is
Speaker 1: not the right answer because Jared I don't even think
Speaker 1: Jared's attempted three since he came to the Lakers, but
Speaker 1: I should say that primary wing defender role with that
Speaker 1: starting lineup and so he went with Dill, Malik Beasley,
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt, Lebron and Anthony Davis. And so there's two
Speaker 1: guys that I want to hit on there because they've
Speaker 1: been going with Dill, Lebron and A d as the
Speaker 1: foundational kind of piece ever since the trade. Obviously, with
Speaker 1: Lebron being out it was a little weird, but Malik
Speaker 1: and Jared are the two changes, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about how that adds synergy to
Speaker 1: those lineups. So, first of all, Millie Beasley is a
Speaker 1: great spot up player, even though he's been missing his
Speaker 1: wide open three since he came to the Lakers. But
Speaker 1: he's also a guy that you can run dribble, handoff
Speaker 1: stuff for and off screen stuff like wide pinned down
Speaker 1: stuff for, so like um, when you combine that with
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell, who can also do all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Delo has always been underappreciated as an off ball player.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons why I actually don't hate
Speaker 1: that trade. You know, if you have Delo as a
Speaker 1: primary offensive folkrum, you're gonna be disappointed sometimes. But in
Speaker 1: a situation like this where they don't need him to
Speaker 1: be that um, all of a sudden, his skill set
Speaker 1: becomes super valuable. But with Delo and Malik Beasley when
Speaker 1: and one of the weird things that happened in this
Speaker 1: particular game, and I'm not sure if you guys noticed this,
Speaker 1: but the Lakers ran a lot more in terms of
Speaker 1: offensive organization. They were coming down and running multiple interchanges
Speaker 1: on almost every single possession. Like and now they talked
Speaker 1: after the game. It wasn't necessarily by design. It was
Speaker 1: just basketball players playing basketball. They were, you know, flowing
Speaker 1: into stuff. Here's a quick dribble handoff flowing into a
Speaker 1: ball screen. Or here's a wide pinned down with Malik
Speaker 1: chasing off the screen that a d then turns and catches,
Speaker 1: which then flows into a dribble hand off with Lebron James.
Speaker 1: They were just running interchanges. And one of the big
Speaker 1: reasons why they weren't running those interchanges before the trade
Speaker 1: line is you weren't gaining any advantage there. You run
Speaker 1: sets to gain an advantage. And when all of your
Speaker 1: off ball players are guys that you can literally run
Speaker 1: an off ball drop coveragehn meaning have a d S
Speaker 1: man sag all the way back and just have whoever
Speaker 1: the guard defender is just go underneath the screen. It's
Speaker 1: it's easy to just shut those actions off. But when
Speaker 1: you have to chase those guys over the top of
Speaker 1: the screens, now all of a sudden, you're running those
Speaker 1: dribble handoffs, and you're running those wide pin downs, and
Speaker 1: you're getting separation for guys, and you're creating openings which
Speaker 1: are allowing good basketball players to extend that advantage and
Speaker 1: then get great shots. Having all that real offensive skill
Speaker 1: around Lebron and a d led to immediate results and
Speaker 1: twenty five possessions with that starting lineup last night, the
Speaker 1: Lakers posted a one forty offensive rating, and just in general,
Speaker 1: like uh like, because they looked really good too when
Speaker 1: they went to their bench and you had guys like
Speaker 1: you know, Austin Reaves come in and make plays, and
Speaker 1: Marie hud To Murder to come in and make plays,
Speaker 1: and just you know, when you I play a lot
Speaker 1: of pick up basketball these days. Obviously, I'm a former
Speaker 1: college player who just has that stupid, unrelenting itch to
Speaker 1: play the game right. And I know there are a
Speaker 1: lot of you guys who love to play as well.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm sure that when you go play
Speaker 1: pick up. There are days where you're playing with guys
Speaker 1: that don't really know how to play, and it can
Speaker 1: get discouraging because like something will open up and you'll
Speaker 1: cut back door and the guy who has the ball
Speaker 1: like won't know what to do so he'll miss you,
Speaker 1: or like you run up the floor. No one knows
Speaker 1: how to move without the basketball, or no one knows
Speaker 1: how to pass and screen away or any of those things,
Speaker 1: and so your pick up basketball game just gets really
Speaker 1: ugly and it's not fun. And I have days where
Speaker 1: I leave the gym where I'm just super discouraged because
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I just miss playing real basketball, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But then there are these days
Speaker 1: where you play and like today I met up with
Speaker 1: a couple of my buddies who both played in college,
Speaker 1: and we played together, and like we know how to
Speaker 1: play basketball. So the ball is moving and popping around,
Speaker 1: and guys were moving and screening and doing all those
Speaker 1: different things, and like there's almost like this it's almost
Speaker 1: like a flow that takes place when guys know when
Speaker 1: to do what they're supposed to do, when to cut
Speaker 1: versus one to stand still, when to look for their
Speaker 1: own shot versus when to keep the ball moving, when
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, how to angle a ball screen
Speaker 1: and when, like if you're gonna pop to the three
Speaker 1: point line or to roll to the basket, based on
Speaker 1: where there's openings on the floor. Like, having that type
Speaker 1: of offensive i Q and offensive skill just makes offense
Speaker 1: flow in a certain way. Now imagine at the NBA,
Speaker 1: it's that same effect times a hundred, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like these are you're going against really good defenses, right,
Speaker 1: So playing bad offensive basketball or having a lack of
Speaker 1: offensive skill on the floor can be massively detrimental because
Speaker 1: you're not playing pick up basketball bench against a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys that don't know how to play defense. Right,
Speaker 1: It's it's even more magnified at that level. So then
Speaker 1: when you get line ups where you've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys who know how to play together, there's just
Speaker 1: a rhythm and flow to the offense. Like Lebron. Lebron
Speaker 1: came into that game last night. All season long, when
Speaker 1: he's taking days off and he's come back, he's had
Speaker 1: to be aggressive because of the lack of offensive skill
Speaker 1: in his lack of rhythm really shows up there he'll
Speaker 1: fumble the basketball around, He'll have a bunch of turnovers,
Speaker 1: He'll miss a bunch of jump shots, like last night
Speaker 1: he went over five from three, But like he played
Speaker 1: a great game because like he wasn't taking bad shots.
Speaker 1: Everything was in the flow of the game. You took
Speaker 1: a bunch of workload off of Lebron, so he can
Speaker 1: ease his way back until he's in rhythm. There's so
Speaker 1: many advantages that come from having competent basketball players around
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. It's something I've been preaching
Speaker 1: about for literally years at this point, and it was
Speaker 1: just super refreshing to see last night. Um, Jared Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1: You know, so when when they made the Ruey had
Speaker 1: to merge, right, he talked a lot about using Ruey
Speaker 1: to guard the other teams hast forward, and I still
Speaker 1: think they've they've uh done that a handful of times
Speaker 1: this year. But Ruy's not nearly the defensive player that
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt is, and so putting Jared Vanderbilt in that
Speaker 1: specific position it helps you in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 1: First of all, for a match up like Brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: and Brandon Ingram, was awesome last night, Like he made
Speaker 1: some tough shots that were heavily contested, perfectly defended, but
Speaker 1: like he shot below for the first time in the
Speaker 1: month of February last night, And I think a big
Speaker 1: part of that is is, like, you know, two or
Speaker 1: three of those ones that he might make end up
Speaker 1: being misses because Jared Vanderbilt is six ft nine and
Speaker 1: has a long wingspan and can actually bother brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: in a way that Patrick Beverley can't when he rises
Speaker 1: up over the top to shoot. You know, he's a
Speaker 1: little bit thinner and a little bit more wiry, much
Speaker 1: more laterally quick than Ruey hat to morrow. So he
Speaker 1: navigates the ball screens and in off ball screens and
Speaker 1: things like that much better, and you know, you you
Speaker 1: live with those tough shots. Like there's a version of
Speaker 1: that night where b I is not that locked in
Speaker 1: and instead of going ten for twenty one, he goes
Speaker 1: five for twenty one and the Lakers win by thirty
Speaker 1: five points, you know what I mean. Like, it was
Speaker 1: a really impressive defensive job from Jared Vanderbilt making it
Speaker 1: hard on Brandon Ingram, and I thought it just was
Speaker 1: a much more natural fit with that starting lineup. Um,
Speaker 1: But again, just in general, the the the aggregate offensive
Speaker 1: skill really popped off the screen. I wanted, I wanted
Speaker 1: to read one more statu to you and make one
Speaker 1: more point. So Um. Coming into last night, the Lakers
Speaker 1: average twenty five assists on forty three made field goals
Speaker 1: per game. That's fifty eight percent of their mad field goals.
Speaker 1: Last night they had thirty two assists on forty four
Speaker 1: made field goals, which is sevent of their made field goals.
Speaker 1: So again, it just puts them in a situation where
Speaker 1: they have to take tough shots less often when they
Speaker 1: can play basketball with real rhythm and flow and get
Speaker 1: easier shots within the flow of the offense. The last
Speaker 1: guy I wanted to shout out there was Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: He's not a very gifted athlete. Um, he's been undersized
Speaker 1: for his position right, not a lights out shooter like
Speaker 1: he's shooting thirty seven percent this year from three out
Speaker 1: pretty high shot quality. But the guy is just an
Speaker 1: incredible connective piece for any offense. All those things I
Speaker 1: just talked about about how to fit with a basketball team,
Speaker 1: those that's his speciality, that's what he does better than
Speaker 1: anybody else in the league. He's he's like a great
Speaker 1: a closeout attacker. He's great at making reads. They can
Speaker 1: even run some primary ball handler actress. One play in
Speaker 1: particular in this game is like early fourth quarter, um
Speaker 1: C Jim McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas are guarding. I believe
Speaker 1: it might not have been Jonas, but one of the
Speaker 1: Pelicans centers was guarding Lebron and they set a ball screen.
Speaker 1: Lebron setting the screen, Austin's coming off and the Pelicans
Speaker 1: just switch it. And so when they switch it, Austin
Speaker 1: comes off, and he's around the free throw line, and
Speaker 1: you know, Lonnie Walker might just rise up and take
Speaker 1: a fifteen footer or there. But Austin not really hunting
Speaker 1: his shot all that often. He only took two shots
Speaker 1: in the game in like twenty two minutes. There's a
Speaker 1: quick Rich treat dribble kinda gathers himself and Lebron what
Speaker 1: does what a lot of teams do when things get stagnant,
Speaker 1: He just cuts to the rim. So just backcuts on C. J.
Speaker 1: McCollum and dust him and Austin because he kept his
Speaker 1: dribble alive and was paying attention to what was happening
Speaker 1: around him, was able to hit Lebron in stride with
Speaker 1: a bounce pass, and he ends up going up to
Speaker 1: the basket and getting an and one. This idea, this
Speaker 1: whole concept I've been talking about tonight. You guys have
Speaker 1: probably heard me talk about this before. In the past,
Speaker 1: I referred to it as aggregate offensive skill. But when
Speaker 1: your aggregate offensive skill rises to a certain level, the
Speaker 1: game just becomes easier for everyone else. This season, through
Speaker 1: all the crap, through all the RUSS stuff, through all
Speaker 1: the in and out of the lineup stuff, through all
Speaker 1: of the roster imbalances, if you just put Lebron, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves on the floor together, they've played four
Speaker 1: and eight three possessions and our outscoring teams by nine
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions. Excellent on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor. Just a great connective piece. Um. I think
Speaker 1: he's just as good as candidate for that starting who
Speaker 1: spot is anybody else, especially if Malik can't get his
Speaker 1: three point shot going. It's something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1: But it's a good win. I mean, I thought the
Speaker 1: Pelicans through a great punch they played a great game.
Speaker 1: They made a lot of tough shots, and the Lakers
Speaker 1: really whooped their ass and it could have been worse.
Speaker 1: Like Malik Beasley missed a bunch of wide open shots
Speaker 1: and he gives two for seven from three in the game.
Speaker 1: Mo Bamba got a bunch of of wide open above
Speaker 1: the break threes and he's shooting almost on above the
Speaker 1: break threes this year, and he went over five, you know,
Speaker 1: so like he, Uh, there's a version of this that
Speaker 1: they can even go up to another level. I think
Speaker 1: as a team that shot in the high twenties from
Speaker 1: three this game. Um so. But even despite all of that,
Speaker 1: they completely dominated the game, put up a one defensive rating,
Speaker 1: which is excellent. Um and you didn't have to wear
Speaker 1: anybody out. Anthony Davis played the most minutes out of
Speaker 1: any starter, and he only played thirty minutes and ten seconds.
Speaker 1: You know. So, for our first look of the fully
Speaker 1: healthy Lakers with all their new pieces, I thought it
Speaker 1: went pretty damn well. Um Obviously, just one game and
Speaker 1: now heading into the All Star breaks, so they're gonna
Speaker 1: have some time to practice and they have a really
Speaker 1: tough stretch of games right after that. I think they
Speaker 1: play Golden State right away after. Um, there's some tough
Speaker 1: games coming up and and you're gonna we're gonna learn
Speaker 1: a lot more. Uh pretty quickly here about the Lakers. Uh,
Speaker 1: one last note of the Lakers before we move on.
Speaker 1: I had I caught a little bit of flak yesterday,
Speaker 1: And this is kind of a natural part of the business.
Speaker 1: Like I did a thirty minute show with Colin Coward,
Speaker 1: but then a social media clip that's you know, fifty
Speaker 1: seconds long, goes out and it's completely out of context,
Speaker 1: and then and then everybody freaks out. But one of
Speaker 1: the things I said, we talked a lot about Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis with Colin Coward, and basically the topic was like, hey,
Speaker 1: like what if he breaks down again, you know, because
Speaker 1: he hasn't looked great since he came back from the injury.
Speaker 1: There's intel that he might need foot surgery in the offseason. Anyway, Uh,
Speaker 1: there was another piece of intel that came out a
Speaker 1: while back that stated that, uh, Anthony Davis, his particular
Speaker 1: injury is one that many teams would have shut him
Speaker 1: down for the season for, which is why he needed
Speaker 1: to get a second opinion when his first UH doctor
Speaker 1: visit was over like there's a lot of red. There's
Speaker 1: a lot like Anthony Davis looked fantastic last night. Um,
Speaker 1: you guys know me, I'm I'm borderline, like I'm like
Speaker 1: a hopeless romantic. When it comes to the to the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the Lebron and Anthony Davis ceiling, all you
Speaker 1: have to do is listen to the show and hear
Speaker 1: me talking about how I think they can win a
Speaker 1: championship despite being twenty seven and thirty two. You guys
Speaker 1: know how much I believe in Anthony Davis when he's right.
Speaker 1: But what I said with Colin was I said, like, hey,
Speaker 1: like if it goes south again this year, then they
Speaker 1: might have to consider trading him, and his value might
Speaker 1: be really low, so they might have to consider using
Speaker 1: him potentially as a vehicle for the Kyrie Irving trade.
Speaker 1: Didn't say I want to trade Anthony Davis, didn't say
Speaker 1: I wanted to trade him for Kyrie. Just simply said
Speaker 1: they might have to consider it if he breaks down
Speaker 1: again and again, Like Laker fans have this idea like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to flip Anthony Davis for a star. No,
Speaker 1: you won't, not if he ends the season broken down again.
Speaker 1: That would be three consecutive seasons where he failed to
Speaker 1: finish the season at an m v P level. What
Speaker 1: team is going to give away a really good young
Speaker 1: player or a star and high end draft compensation If
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is three for three and not being available
Speaker 1: to play at a high level in the playoffs over
Speaker 1: the last few years, Like I mean, he hit the
Speaker 1: Jets and really like messed up the Phoenix Suns twice
Speaker 1: in a row in the first round of playoffs and
Speaker 1: then broke down. I'm a huge believer in Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is ceiling. But if he can't be there for the
Speaker 1: next four months, what's the point. It's like with Zion Williamson,
Speaker 1: Like there's intel that he reaggravated his hamstring injury and
Speaker 1: he's gonna be out, you know, probably another month or
Speaker 1: so or more. Like if he can't return and be
Speaker 1: in peak shape for the playoffs and then it happens
Speaker 1: again next year, at what point do you go, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's three seasons in a row where he's just not
Speaker 1: available and he's young, like he should be ready. Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is twenty nine, Like this is when he should
Speaker 1: be It's not gonna like suddenly get better when he's
Speaker 1: in his early thirties. Not to be clear, I'm rooting
Speaker 1: for Anthony Davis to get back to form, and last
Speaker 1: night he was amazing, arguably the best player on the floor.
Speaker 1: But if they need him to be that all the
Speaker 1: way through June and and if he breaks down or
Speaker 1: can't play at that level, then guess what, he doesn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of value around the league. And again
Speaker 1: I'm not upset about it because it's just kind of
Speaker 1: this is one of the things you'll learn about this business.
Speaker 1: Does people take stuff out of context all the time.
Speaker 1: It's kind of just part of the deal. But it
Speaker 1: comes to Anthony Davis. I want him to stay a Laker.
Speaker 1: I want him to play like a superstar. If he does,
Speaker 1: hell no, you're not trading him this summer. You're keeping
Speaker 1: him and you're running it back with this group next year.
Speaker 1: That's what I want. I don't want to trade a
Speaker 1: d But if he breaks down again, then at a
Speaker 1: certain point, like you've got to like, how can you
Speaker 1: plan for the future of your franchise if Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is unavailable for you? I pointed out this that yesterday
Speaker 1: and it's it blows my mind. Jayson Tatum played in
Speaker 1: a hundred NBA games last year. Since the bubble, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis has played in a hundred and sixteen. That's over
Speaker 1: three seasons, and they're fifty eight and fifty eight. Because
Speaker 1: for a lot of those hundred and sixteen games, he
Speaker 1: hasn't looked like Anthony Davis. There's kind of a recurring theme.
Speaker 1: It's like he gets hurt, then when he comes back,
Speaker 1: there's like another month where he's not great, and then
Speaker 1: maybe if if he can stay on the floor long enough,
Speaker 1: he'll click in the rhythm and then you'll get that ceiling.
Speaker 1: And then you're just hanging on for dear life, hoping
Speaker 1: he doesn't get hurt again. I'm as big a fan
Speaker 1: and a believer in the Lebron and Anthony Davis ceiling
Speaker 1: as you'll find. But the unfortunate reality is last night
Speaker 1: has been an exception, not the reality of the Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis experience over the last three years. And when you
Speaker 1: set those emotions aside and you look at the situation,
Speaker 1: you might have to make that move if he does
Speaker 1: get hurt, you take a look at the landscape, you
Speaker 1: start making calls if you can get something great, then great.
Speaker 1: But if you can't get something great, if teams are
Speaker 1: like two first round picks and you know, maybe a
Speaker 1: rotation player or two, at what point do you just say, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'd rather have Kyrie Irvitt. You know That's what I meant.
Speaker 1: And when it comes to Anthony Davis, I do think
Speaker 1: there's a disconnect for Laker fans between what his actual
Speaker 1: value is around the league as an injury prone player
Speaker 1: versus what Lakers fans value him as when it goes
Speaker 1: to his ceiling, which again we all, we all are
Speaker 1: fans of Anthony Davis when he's out his ceiling. All right,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, let's talk some Bucks Celtics.
Speaker 1: So they play on Thursday night. I didn't cover the
Speaker 1: game because four Celtics starters were missing. You got you
Speaker 1: guys know me like I'm I, I'm really looking through
Speaker 1: everything through the playoff lens um. I think that playoff
Speaker 1: basketball is so different from regular season basketball, And even
Speaker 1: when I'm watching regular season games, I'm kind of just
Speaker 1: trying to pick up little things that I think will
Speaker 1: translate to the playoffs so that I can help you
Speaker 1: know that, So that it can help almost covering the
Speaker 1: teams in the playoffs. Um, but I did watch some
Speaker 1: of the game. I watched most of the end of it.
Speaker 1: The Celtics played really well. They're deep team, they have
Speaker 1: a lot of talent when you get past those four
Speaker 1: guys who were out, and so the Bucks had to
Speaker 1: really grind out a overtime win, largely on the strength
Speaker 1: of Holiday making a lot of threes at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. Um, but what I'd rather do today
Speaker 1: is I'd rather, uh like back out a little bit
Speaker 1: and just talk about both of these teams in the
Speaker 1: big picture and talk a little bit about what their
Speaker 1: matchup will look like in the Fine Eastern Conference Finals
Speaker 1: if they get there. So, first of all, with the Celtics,
Speaker 1: I think they have the higher ceiling, no question, I
Speaker 1: think they I think they had the most talented roster
Speaker 1: in the league last year, and both Jayson Tatum and
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown have both gotten a little bit better. Um.
Speaker 1: The Malcolm Brogden trade was literally the perfect piece to
Speaker 1: improve their ball handling situation. Derek White is playing some
Speaker 1: of the best basketball of his career. Over the last
Speaker 1: eleven games, He's averaging twenty points per game um, averaging
Speaker 1: over seven three point attempts per games, shooting on those.
Speaker 1: He torched the Memphis Grizzlies the other night just by
Speaker 1: beating people off the dribble. You know they're they're, they're
Speaker 1: This team is freaking insanely good. Robert Williams will be
Speaker 1: much healthier in this playoff run. He was on a boky,
Speaker 1: a balky knee last year. Looking at the Bucks, they're
Speaker 1: also really good. One eleven in a row. Janice is
Speaker 1: averaging six in that span. I saw the Tim Bontemps
Speaker 1: straw pole come out today and yo Ki looks like
Speaker 1: he's running away with m v P. Now this is
Speaker 1: not a Yoki take, because I think Yoki is a
Speaker 1: deserving m VP candidate, but like Janice has clearly reached
Speaker 1: the point that Lebron point where people are just numb
Speaker 1: to his winning impact like this is. This is Janice's
Speaker 1: MVP case. The Bucks have a higher winning percentage than
Speaker 1: Denver this year despite having a lesser roster in my opinion,
Speaker 1: especially with Chris Middleton being mostly unavailable and Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: being in and out of the lineup for the season.
Speaker 1: He's averaging thirty three twelve and six, and he's a
Speaker 1: much much better defensive player than Nikolayokich. I think he's
Speaker 1: by far the best player in the world. So in
Speaker 1: my opinion, if you're doing an m VP breakdown like
Speaker 1: it's Johannese and Yokis together and embeat, it's pretty damn
Speaker 1: close to the idea that Yokis is just heading shoulders
Speaker 1: above these guys, which again, that train is full speed
Speaker 1: ahead and there's nowhere near enough time left to knock
Speaker 1: that train off the tracks. Like Nicola, Yoki is going
Speaker 1: to win m v P. He's a heavy favorite on
Speaker 1: fan duel and Tim Bond taps his uh straw pool
Speaker 1: poll is like gospel when it comes to the m
Speaker 1: v P pick um. But I just don't I I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think it's fair, and I think a big
Speaker 1: part of it is a good chunk of m VP
Speaker 1: voters lean heavily on catch all metrics, which is something
Speaker 1: that I passionately disagree with um, and those kinds of
Speaker 1: things are just not gonna favor a guy like Joel
Speaker 1: Embide nearly as much, and they haven't favored, be honest
Speaker 1: in this particular season in a large part, and because
Speaker 1: I think the Eastern Conference is a little bit tougher,
Speaker 1: and his percentages have gone down because of the fact
Speaker 1: that he's been down all of his spot up guys
Speaker 1: all season. So I don't think ya should win, but
Speaker 1: I think you should absolutely have a chance. And I
Speaker 1: have to be honest with you, if the Bucks finished
Speaker 1: with the Beckard better record, I would give the awardy
Speaker 1: on this um. A couple of other notes on the Bucks.
Speaker 1: The trio of Janice with Drew Holiday and Joe Ingles
Speaker 1: is plus thirteen net in three d and seven possessions
Speaker 1: so far this year, throwing Chris Middleton and their plus
Speaker 1: seventeen nets and fifty four possessions. So that's a great
Speaker 1: example of what I've been talking about, which is get
Speaker 1: real spot up talent, real offensive skill around Janice, and
Speaker 1: that makes them completely unstoppable on offense. As for the
Speaker 1: matchup between the Bucks and the Celtics UM potentially in
Speaker 1: the conference finals, what I'd like We we know a
Speaker 1: lot of things from last year. For instance, we know
Speaker 1: Janice is gonna go super saying and just try to
Speaker 1: bully his way to the basket every time down. That's
Speaker 1: literally what he did last year. We also know that
Speaker 1: Boston is probably going to guard him with a steady
Speaker 1: diet of Al Horford and Grant Williams, and those guys
Speaker 1: did it, did a pretty decent job on him last year.
Speaker 1: Then on the other end of the floor, the Bucks
Speaker 1: are gonna keep brook Lopez right under the rim and
Speaker 1: concede open threes, probably too h al for or leave
Speaker 1: um Robert Williams unguarded in the dunker spot, and they're
Speaker 1: going to try to force Boston to make good reads
Speaker 1: and driving kick. And if Boston drives in and tries
Speaker 1: to finish over brook Lopez all the time, they're gonna
Speaker 1: miss a lot of shots. They're gonna fall down and
Speaker 1: complain at the refs, and the Bucks are gonna beat
Speaker 1: them down the floor and transition all game long. But
Speaker 1: if they drive and kick, they're gonna get a boatload
Speaker 1: of really good threes and they're probably going to win.
Speaker 1: So this game is, this particular series will come heavily
Speaker 1: down to execution. You know, Boston has to take care
Speaker 1: of the basketball and get good shots or Janice is
Speaker 1: gonna get out in transition and just murder them. Um.
Speaker 1: I remember last year during that series, if you looked
Speaker 1: at the Dynamics. Like Boston was a much better half
Speaker 1: court offense than Milwaukee was, but Milwaukee just destroyed Boston
Speaker 1: in transition and that's how they pushed that series to
Speaker 1: seven games. Um, we also have to factor in the
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton shot making element that wasn't or last year,
Speaker 1: in his ability to hit the shots over smaller defensive players.
Speaker 1: We have to factor in Joe Ingles as a real
Speaker 1: second side creator in a better spot up threat. Like,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be fun, and again it's not guaranteed. I
Speaker 1: think that I think that Philly has a decent chance
Speaker 1: to beat one of these teams in the second round. Um,
Speaker 1: fighting for that one seed suddenly becomes super important because
Speaker 1: you'd much rather face Cleveland in the second round than
Speaker 1: you would face Philly. So look for a real race
Speaker 1: between Boston and Milwaukee here down the stretch to face
Speaker 1: for that one seed. But I'm hoping that we get
Speaker 1: that in the conference finals, because that is just gonna
Speaker 1: be a super interesting matchup between two very different styles,
Speaker 1: two really really good teams. Um. But at this particular
Speaker 1: moment in time, after everything I've seen this season, I
Speaker 1: still lean ever so slightly towards Milwaukee. Mainly just because
Speaker 1: I don't trust Boston still on the biggest stages to
Speaker 1: execute properly. UM in their big games this year, I've
Speaker 1: still seen them struggle just a little bit it and
Speaker 1: then obviously that was a huge problem for them in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. Al Right, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: I have for today and all I have for the
Speaker 1: rest of this weekend. We might have one bonus video
Speaker 1: coming out on the Lebron passing Kareem uh in the
Speaker 1: all time scoring record. We might have a video coming
Speaker 1: out about that tomorrow. I'm not a percent sure if
Speaker 1: that's still on target, but we'll probably have something on
Speaker 1: Monday morning breaking down a little bit of the All
Speaker 1: Star weekend, and then we're gonna do one last like
Speaker 1: kind of like zoom out Contender Tears thing, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a video with Carson when we break
Speaker 1: down the top tier draft prospects in this year's NBA draft. UM,
Speaker 1: But looking forward to taking a little bit of a
Speaker 1: break here. It's been one hell of a sprint over
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. I'm going to enjoy this
Speaker 1: time off. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys support
Speaker 1: and I'll see you on Monday. The Volume two