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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops today here at the volume
Speaker 1: heavy Wednesday. Everybody hopeful. If you guys are having a
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Speaker 1: We're continuing our season previews with the New York Knicks
Speaker 1: today at number four in our power rankings. And then
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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So we have moved
Speaker 1: into our top tier of championship contenders. As I talked
Speaker 1: about when we started the power Ranking series, I had
Speaker 1: a group of teams that I thought were good, that
Speaker 1: didn't really have a realistic chance to win the title.
Speaker 1: And then from eleven to five that group of seven
Speaker 1: teams there, which I believe was Grizzlies, and then I
Speaker 1: think it was like it was like Suns and Lakers
Speaker 1: and Bucks, and there was the Timberwolves that were in there.
Speaker 1: The uh we had the Dallas Mavericks in there, and
Speaker 1: then there's one that I'm missing. But we hit a
Speaker 1: bunch of teams in that specific tier right then we
Speaker 1: move into this top tier of contenders. This is a
Speaker 1: group of teams that I think should all feel really
Speaker 1: good about their chances to win the title. Like the
Speaker 1: teams in that five to eleven group, they have this
Speaker 1: like thought in the back of their head, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we might be able to do this if some things
Speaker 1: go our way, you know, catch some favorable matchups, maybe
Speaker 1: we hit on a trade, Maybe this young guy pops,
Speaker 1: maybe this guy like starts playing better than he did
Speaker 1: last year. There's some pathways where things might go their
Speaker 1: way and maybe they can make a run. These four
Speaker 1: teams in no particular order, the Nuggets and Thunder out West,
Speaker 1: and the Nickson Celtics out East. Those four teams should
Speaker 1: feel really good about their chances to win the title.
Speaker 1: So why why is that the case? Why do I
Speaker 1: feel like these four teams have separated themselves in terms
Speaker 1: of a tier from that group that I had at
Speaker 1: five through eleven. So I wanted to go into some
Speaker 1: of those specific characteristics. Number One, they're elite on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. Interestingly enough, those four teams, the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: the Thunder, the Celtics, and the Knicks were the only
Speaker 1: four teams in the NBA last year to finish in
Speaker 1: the top ten for both offense and defense. And that's
Speaker 1: fascinating considering the Knicks and Thunder in particular have added
Speaker 1: a substantial amount of talent since then. But last year
Speaker 1: these were the only four teams that could confidently state
Speaker 1: they had an elite unit on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: two tons of half court shot creation. Denver has Jokic,
Speaker 1: who I think is the best offensive player in the world.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City has shake Kills with Alexander who's in that
Speaker 1: tier of offensive players, but is also surrounded by what
Speaker 1: I think is the most talented roster in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: Boston has the most talent in the NBA by a
Speaker 1: wide margin, and the Knicks have three players who have
Speaker 1: averaged twenty five points per game at some point in
Speaker 1: their career, and they're all in their prime right now.
Speaker 1: So tons of half court offensive firepower for all four
Speaker 1: of those teams. Three tons of physical side Boston's not
Speaker 1: particularly big on the front line except for when they're
Speaker 1: perfectly healthy, but Boston is huge on the perimeter. Right.
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday, big and strong, can guard up on fords.
Speaker 1: Derek White long arms is a guy that can guard
Speaker 1: a couple of different types of perimeter initiators. Right. Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown and Jason Tatum two of the most versatile defensive
Speaker 1: forwards in the league, but there are both big, strong athletes. Right.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City has the one of the best and most
Speaker 1: physical perimeter defender duos in the league with Alex Crusoe
Speaker 1: and Loudor right combined with two centers that can play
Speaker 1: alongside each other. Now, they dramatically improved their physical their
Speaker 1: physical profile in one summer, and the only weaknesses for
Speaker 1: the Thunder were like experience, which now they have a
Speaker 1: year of additional experience, and they brought in some veteran experience,
Speaker 1: and two that physical profile, which they just dramatically improved
Speaker 1: with those particular deals. Denver has Michael Porter Junior, Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon and Jokic. You're going six ten six ten seven
Speaker 1: foot on the front line, and Aaron Gordon and Nicole
Speaker 1: Jokic in particular are incredibly big and strong. Now that
Speaker 1: you add Christian Brown into that lineup too, they're actually
Speaker 1: bigger and stronger in the in the starting lineup than
Speaker 1: they were last year. That is a physically imposing group.
Speaker 1: And then the Knicks put Josh Hart, McHale, Bridges og
Speaker 1: And and Obi and Karl Anthony Towns out there. That's quite
Speaker 1: a bit, quite a bit of size and strength as well.
Speaker 1: To win four playoff series, you have to be able
Speaker 1: to win rock fights. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: win when things get ugly, and rock fights take size,
Speaker 1: strength and athleticism. That's a strength for all four of
Speaker 1: those teams. And then lastly, you have to be able
Speaker 1: to play different ways. Boston can play two centers. They
Speaker 1: can go small, they can drive and kick you to death,
Speaker 1: but they also can hunt matchups better than most teams
Speaker 1: because they have so many different guys that can initiate
Speaker 1: offense for them. On defense, they have the ability to
Speaker 1: put length at the rim with Porzingis and run drop coverage,
Speaker 1: but they also have Tatum who can guard centers and
Speaker 1: legitimately throw a wrench and a lot of other teams
Speaker 1: offensive attacks. Horford at center gives them a switch look
Speaker 1: where they can switch one through five and really shut
Speaker 1: down screening actions. They can change their defense or their
Speaker 1: offense to meet the challenge, the unique challenge that is
Speaker 1: in front of them. The Knicks, they will have Cat
Speaker 1: at center looks, and they'll have Cat at the power
Speaker 1: forward looks with an extra center on the floor. They'll
Speaker 1: have switch looks, they'll have drop books. They were one
Speaker 1: dimensional offensively last year, but by bringing in Michale Bridges
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns, that makes them much more versatile offensively
Speaker 1: this year. They will have many different ways to attack offensively,
Speaker 1: which we're going to talk about here in a minute.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City now they have a two big look, but
Speaker 1: when they go chat at the five, they still have
Speaker 1: this look with tons of speed and skill that they
Speaker 1: can go to as well. They'll even have a bunch
Speaker 1: of different looks they can go to in closing lineups.
Speaker 1: Like you can imagine a scenario where they go with
Speaker 1: the same closing lineup as last year, but instead of
Speaker 1: having you know, Aaron Wiggins in instead of Josh Giddy
Speaker 1: Josh Giddy in there, they can have Alex Cruso in there.
Speaker 1: They can have a big lineup where they go Chetton Hartenstein,
Speaker 1: and they can decide whether they want to go to
Speaker 1: Dort or Caruso depending on the matchup and what specifically
Speaker 1: is needed there. Like, there's so many different ways that
Speaker 1: they can kind of construct things for them, and they
Speaker 1: have three different dudes who can legitimately initiate offense for
Speaker 1: them at a high level. They are very versatile. They
Speaker 1: can change to meet the challenge in front of them.
Speaker 1: And then Denver they have a good deep drop look
Speaker 1: and they have a good high drop look. Again, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people don't realize this, but Denver
Speaker 1: was top ten in defense last year. With Christian Brown
Speaker 1: in the starting group too, they're going to be better defensively.
Speaker 1: He is able to guard some bigger forwards in a
Speaker 1: way that Kentavious call what Pope was not. This is
Speaker 1: one of the things that allows them to keep Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon in help more often, which will make them even
Speaker 1: better on the defensive end of the floor. And then
Speaker 1: on offense, they have so many different ways they can
Speaker 1: attack you. Jokics post ups, Jokich Murray two man game.
Speaker 1: They have like a well rounded five out attack where
Speaker 1: they get lots of off screen stuff for Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Junior. Like look at Game one of
Speaker 1: the Finals in twenty twenty three where they just spam
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon post ups because they like a matchup. Like
Speaker 1: the Nuggets just have a ton of different ways that
Speaker 1: they can play on both ends of the four. Again,
Speaker 1: versatility wins because you have to face four likely very
Speaker 1: different types of opponents on your way to the trophy,
Speaker 1: and having that malley ability is a big part of
Speaker 1: what allows you to beat four different types of team teams. Again,
Speaker 1: these are the differentiators for these four teams, elite on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor, tons of half court shot creation,
Speaker 1: tons of size and strength in the ability to play
Speaker 1: different ways. Those are the things that these teams have
Speaker 1: that the teams in that next tier are lacking in
Speaker 1: various ways. All Right, let's start once again. Power Ranking
Speaker 1: Style number four The New York Knicks an offseason recap
Speaker 1: for them. They lost boy In mcdonovich, Alec Burkstante Di Vincenzo,
Speaker 1: ISAIH Hartenstein, and Julius Randall. They added mckail Bridges, campaign
Speaker 1: Landry Shammitt, Karl Anthony Towns, and some end of the
Speaker 1: bench guys, which we'll see how they panned out pan
Speaker 1: out over the course of the season. On the Cat Deal,
Speaker 1: I've talked about this bunch on the show we've done.
Speaker 1: I did a really deep dive with Sam Vessini on
Speaker 1: his podcast about a week ago, so you guys can
Speaker 1: check that out. We talked about it in detail during
Speaker 1: the Minnesota pod as well as the Night of the Trades.
Speaker 1: We've got lots of that content out there really quick synopsis.
Speaker 1: They needed a center, and you can't do much better
Speaker 1: than Karl Anthony Towns. He has his defensive limitations, which
Speaker 1: we're going to get into in a minute. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have a whole segment of the show. How do you
Speaker 1: guard with Karl Anthony Towns at center? We're going to
Speaker 1: get into that. But he's just one of the most
Speaker 1: talented players in the league at that position. He can
Speaker 1: shoot well enough that he can play alongside another big,
Speaker 1: so he gives you a ton of lineup flexibility, and
Speaker 1: if you can work it out with him at center,
Speaker 1: he gives you a bunch of ammo for some legit
Speaker 1: matchup problems For some of the other teams in Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: like with Philly, that pick and pop is an excellent
Speaker 1: counter for a deep drop big like Joel Embiid right
Speaker 1: for the Pacers. Same thing for Miles Turner, who's a
Speaker 1: rim protector wants to drop to the basket for Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: Same thing against Brook Lopez. Lopez and Embiid in particular
Speaker 1: can really struggle to cover ground in rotation, and that's
Speaker 1: something where having Kat's ability to pick and pop and
Speaker 1: get them in rotation consistently and have those big, slow
Speaker 1: bigs closing out at him could be something that really helps.
Speaker 1: Or if they rotate from the weakside closing out on
Speaker 1: other shooters. Right, Boston, It's complicated. It depends on whether
Speaker 1: or not you can actually get Porzingis to guard Cat.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna get into that more detail because I
Speaker 1: have a whole segment just on the matchup with Boston
Speaker 1: that we're going to do at the tail end of
Speaker 1: of this power ranking sect. But that's the thing, is like,
Speaker 1: you're just going to get legitimate matchup advantages that you
Speaker 1: didn't have last year without a stretch big, and you
Speaker 1: have a different look that you didn't have last year
Speaker 1: with two bigs that you can go to by virtue
Speaker 1: of this when Mitchell Robinson comes back, if they end
Speaker 1: up keeping him again, Mitch and Kat together that should
Speaker 1: be a very physically imposing group that still provides a
Speaker 1: decent amount of spacing the las of Devincenzo. Obviously, it hurts.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dante Devincenzo's awesome Knicks fans don't need me
Speaker 1: to tell him that. I think he's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite two way guards in the league right now. But
Speaker 1: good players are expensive, and Kat is going to do
Speaker 1: more to help the Knicks than Devincenzo. Leaving is going
Speaker 1: to hurt the Knicks in my opinion, And thank you,
Speaker 1: thankfully you have options that you can go to. Right
Speaker 1: Josh Hart is big and physical and can do a
Speaker 1: lot of switching with McHale, Bridges and oj Anoby, so
Speaker 1: that's kind of an interesting look. I love Duce McBride.
Speaker 1: I still like to see Duce McBride with those guys
Speaker 1: quite a bit. He played alongside Brunson a lot in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year and had a pretty successful two
Speaker 1: man game with him. As a matter of fact, he
Speaker 1: logged eleven role man possessions in the playoffs and scored
Speaker 1: fourteen points on him. All of them were ghost screens
Speaker 1: with Brunson shot forty six percent on unguarded catch and
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots in the playoffs, over forty percent if
Speaker 1: I think he was like forty five percent ish on
Speaker 1: above the break threes in particular, just I think he's
Speaker 1: an interesting look for them to go to there. And
Speaker 1: then the other thing they can do is that can
Speaker 1: size up with two big so like having Dante DiVincenzo
Speaker 1: out of the lineup makes him get a little creative.
Speaker 1: But they have a bunch of different directions that they
Speaker 1: can go and most importantly, they have improved offensive flexibility.
Speaker 1: Last year was like a two thousand and one Alan
Speaker 1: Iverson esque approach to offense with Jalen Brunson. He logged
Speaker 1: a usage rate of thirty six point four percent in
Speaker 1: the playoffs that was by far the by far the
Speaker 1: highest out of anyone who played at least ten playoff
Speaker 1: games last year Luka doncitz by comparison thirty two point
Speaker 1: four percent, So like, that was pretty crazy high usage
Speaker 1: from Brunson, and as a result his efficiency suffered. He
Speaker 1: went down to fifty three point six percent true shooting
Speaker 1: in the postseason. That was about six percent down from
Speaker 1: what he was in the regular season. This year, they
Speaker 1: will not need him to do that. He can function
Speaker 1: more as a initiator, just a guy who gets the
Speaker 1: initial advantage and then all of their talent can capitalize
Speaker 1: on it. The cat two man game even above the
Speaker 1: like the pick and pop, is the most simple concept
Speaker 1: of it. Right talked about this at length. Every drop
Speaker 1: coverage involves the big having to keep the ball handler
Speaker 1: in front of them, right, and so if the big man,
Speaker 1: instead of rolling into the drop coverage, big pops out
Speaker 1: to the three point line, it's like the ultimate counter
Speaker 1: to a pick and roll coverage. You're either going to
Speaker 1: have to have your center close out from the drop
Speaker 1: coverage to the top of the key, which is a nightmare,
Speaker 1: or you have to rotate from the weak side, which
Speaker 1: can leave openings on skip passes. Right, Like the pick
Speaker 1: and pop is like just such a great weapon to
Speaker 1: have in the back, But I think they can also
Speaker 1: use it to set cat up with advantage situations. Just
Speaker 1: simple basic ISOs, right, Like this is what Tyres Max
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiid do, right, run the ball screen pocket pass,
Speaker 1: Embiid goes to work from the elbow area, right. I
Speaker 1: think you can do similar stuff with that with Kat
Speaker 1: above the break. Just have him run most of his
Speaker 1: ISOs out of two man game where he catches with
Speaker 1: the guy closing out of him. Basically, have him be
Speaker 1: an initiator who already has an advantage. We saw already
Speaker 1: in the preseason game examples of Brunson operating as a screener.
Speaker 1: You can't really do that if you don't have scoring
Speaker 1: threats off of him that can capitalize on the attention
Speaker 1: that Jalen Brunson. Gardner's right, Like, this is something they'll
Speaker 1: be able to do this year. They ran Brunson as
Speaker 1: a screener on the first play of the preseason game
Speaker 1: and almost got Ojan and Obi a wide open layup
Speaker 1: out of it. Like that's something that they'll be able
Speaker 1: to get to. Five out concepts, not a whole lot
Speaker 1: like there were five out concepts last year, just without
Speaker 1: the necessary firepower to make it really work. Having Ognnobi
Speaker 1: and Michale Bridges in there as a bunch of additional
Speaker 1: ball handling and scoring ability kind of lock some of
Speaker 1: those five out concepts. Posting switches. This was something that
Speaker 1: because of the Anonobe injury and because of the centers
Speaker 1: that the Knicks had, not something they could consistently get
Speaker 1: to last year. In the postseason, Ognobi and Karl Anthony
Speaker 1: town should be able to post mismatches in situations where
Speaker 1: they screened for Brunson and get switches. So just a
Speaker 1: ton of additional offensive flexibility compared to what they had
Speaker 1: last year. How do you build a defense around Kat?
Speaker 1: I would think of it from the perspective of the
Speaker 1: way that the Denver Nuggets defend with Nicole Yogis to
Speaker 1: a greater extent, because Jokic is a better rim protector
Speaker 1: than Kat. But don't ask a guy that's not gonna
Speaker 1: be some big vertical deterrent to protect the rim. Ask
Speaker 1: him to be active with his hands on the ball
Speaker 1: handler instead. This is where I would use him in
Speaker 1: more of a high drop, meaning I would bring in
Speaker 1: ball screens. Towns further out and ask him to primarily
Speaker 1: work on disrupting the ball handler. That leaves you in rotation.
Speaker 1: But you have lots of backside athleticism, right, So in
Speaker 1: that case, that means the role man is going to
Speaker 1: get behind Kat a lot. But if you've got ogn
Speaker 1: and Obi kind of setting up as that lowman tagging
Speaker 1: the roller and rotating, and you've got Michael Bridges and
Speaker 1: all of his foot speed and Josh Hard Orduce mcgride
Speaker 1: whoever it ends up being, or if they go big
Speaker 1: and it's precious to Chuwa or whatever it is, they
Speaker 1: have lots of speed on that backside. That is a
Speaker 1: way that you can account for Karl Anthony Towns's limitations. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it depends on the matchup. If you're playing against a
Speaker 1: team that doesn't have great guard play, they're running ball
Speaker 1: screens and you're not worried about getting torched from the
Speaker 1: mid range or torched by a dude and downhill at
Speaker 1: you at the rim, then yeah, maybe you can run
Speaker 1: a deeper drop and try to stay at a rotation.
Speaker 1: But in terms of the tougher matchups in the league
Speaker 1: with higher quality pick and roll ball handlers, I would
Speaker 1: just bring Cat up to the level as much as possible.
Speaker 1: I think they need to do more switching two through four.
Speaker 1: In the preseason game, they were having McHale Bridges chase
Speaker 1: even in guard guard screens like that involved Josh Hart
Speaker 1: or O Jannobi. That's not something I agree with. I
Speaker 1: would not have any unnecessary screen navigation in this group,
Speaker 1: especially when you're already going to get into rotation. Some
Speaker 1: with CAT the most importantly have to contain the ball.
Speaker 1: If you contain the ball, you don't need to protect
Speaker 1: the rim as much. If there aren't straight line drives
Speaker 1: with guys really getting ahead of steam, rim protection isn't
Speaker 1: as important. This is just kind of like a general
Speaker 1: philosophy I have about basketball. It's like I always talk
Speaker 1: about things in terms of a bracket. If you have
Speaker 1: in a pick and roll coverage, if you have a
Speaker 1: great guy chasing over the top of the screen and
Speaker 1: makes the drop coverage his job easier. Right, So if
Speaker 1: mkale Bridges is chasing over the top, that makes Cat's
Speaker 1: job easier. Same thing goes with just a simple driving
Speaker 1: kick attack. The bracket of your perimeter defense versus the
Speaker 1: bracket of your ability to protect the rim, the better
Speaker 1: you are at the perimeter at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: the less there is stress on your back line to
Speaker 1: cover ground at the rim or cover vertical territory at
Speaker 1: the rim. Right. So, like again, I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of stuff involving rotation and chasing guys
Speaker 1: off the line. But I would bring Kat up to
Speaker 1: the level and use him more as a guy that
Speaker 1: is attacking the ball handler than protecting the rim. What's
Speaker 1: my outlook on this team. I think they'll win a
Speaker 1: lot of regular season games. The East is super weak
Speaker 1: and its bottom half. The Knicks have a ton of talent,
Speaker 1: all in their athletic prime. The fan base is all
Speaker 1: jazzed up. They're gonna have a great home court advantage.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna get the two seed behind Boston.
Speaker 1: I think they'll finish above Philly and Milwaukee in the standings.
Speaker 1: As for the playoffs, I think they match up super
Speaker 1: well with Philly and Milwaukee. Kat is just such a
Speaker 1: nice counter for slow footed centers. As we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: ogn andob is one of the better bodies that you
Speaker 1: can throw in the league at you be honest, McHale,
Speaker 1: Bridges and Duce McBride are a couple great options for
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard. Tyrese Maxey went off on them, but they
Speaker 1: put Ojan Andobi on him a lot, and he'd likely
Speaker 1: guard Paul George in this type of matchup. McHale Bridges
Speaker 1: is the guy that's gonna end up getting that matchup. Now.
Speaker 1: I think that's a better option for them. I think
Speaker 1: Philly probably presents more issues for them than Milwaukee does,
Speaker 1: just because of the embiid problem and them not really
Speaker 1: being able to match up with him super well. But
Speaker 1: as we saw the especially at the end of games,
Speaker 1: they were able to really swarm Embead into limit his
Speaker 1: effectiveness last year. So like I think they match up
Speaker 1: pretty well with Philly and Milwaukee. Let's talk about Boston though.
Speaker 1: Boston is why you get this aggressive. Boston is why
Speaker 1: you make these types of deals. They are the ultimate
Speaker 1: barrier to a finals run for the Knicks. Right. The
Speaker 1: main question for me in this matchup is can they
Speaker 1: get Boston in rotation? This means can they actually force
Speaker 1: Boston to consistently put two on the ball so you
Speaker 1: can get quality catch and drive, catch and shoot, catch
Speaker 1: and pass situations on the weak side. If the Knicks
Speaker 1: go with their starters. Let's talk about Cat for a second,
Speaker 1: because Cat is the key here. If they go with
Speaker 1: what they started the preseason with with Josh Hart in
Speaker 1: the lineup, we know how the Celtics will guard that.
Speaker 1: They'll put Tatum on Cat, they will switch the Brunson
Speaker 1: cat two man game, and they'll put Porzingis on Josh Hart,
Speaker 1: and they will dare Josh Hart to make above the
Speaker 1: break threes. We just know that's what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: It's what they do to everybody, right. I also think
Speaker 1: if they go with Horford at center, they'll just switch everything.
Speaker 1: But we'll get to that more here in a minute.
Speaker 1: So let's say that the Knicks counter this by going
Speaker 1: to duce McBride instead of Josh Hart. Duce McBride shot
Speaker 1: forty five percent on above the break threes in the
Speaker 1: playoffs last year, pretty decent volume, shot forty percent on
Speaker 1: above the break threes in the regular season. You put
Speaker 1: him out there, You're not putting Porzingis on duce McBride. Now,
Speaker 1: Porzingis is probably on Karl Anthony Towns at that point.
Speaker 1: Now you're opening up the pick and pop. Now Boston
Speaker 1: is putting two on the ball with Kat, with a
Speaker 1: Brunson in a ball screen with Cat. Every time down
Speaker 1: the floor. That is where you have the potential to
Speaker 1: play Porzingis off the floor. Why is it important to
Speaker 1: play Porzingis off the floor because he is one of
Speaker 1: the best switch beaters in the entire NBA. To attack
Speaker 1: your mismatches on the other end of the floor, I
Speaker 1: think the key to guarding Boston well is to switch
Speaker 1: and contain the ball. If you let them get to
Speaker 1: their easy screening actions, they're going to get you into
Speaker 1: rotation with just a ghost screen or a pick and pop,
Speaker 1: and then they're gonna pick you apart in their driving kick. Right.
Speaker 1: Anything you have to hedge or drop against, they're gonna
Speaker 1: get you in rotation. But if you can switch and
Speaker 1: you can contain the basketball, that's where you can potentially
Speaker 1: get them to settle for jump shots, maybe take some
Speaker 1: lower quality threes, go cold, and then you have the
Speaker 1: opportunity for brunts and to potentially alpha dog them on
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor. Right then on the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, you can turn it into
Speaker 1: take them trying to attack Cat and Iso Tatum trying
Speaker 1: to attack Brunson and Iso, and then you have Michael Bridges,
Speaker 1: Oh Jan Andobi, guys like Juce McBride that can cover
Speaker 1: ground in rotation on the weak side when they get
Speaker 1: beat right. But if Porzingis is off, the Celtics will
Speaker 1: likely go to Horford at center, and with that group
Speaker 1: they switch everything. And now Brunson's probably going to have
Speaker 1: to attack Horford every time. And Boston, similar to the Knicks,
Speaker 1: has a lot of length and speed on the back
Speaker 1: end to rotate as well, with Derek White, Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, and Jaylen Brown. So honestly, like, the more
Speaker 1: and more I try to talk myself into a Knicks
Speaker 1: defeat of Boston, the more and more I just think
Speaker 1: Boston is the better team. I think Kat is a
Speaker 1: slightly better player than Porzingis, but Porzingis is better at
Speaker 1: some specific things that make him particularly valuable to Boston.
Speaker 1: For instance, Porzingis is better at posting switches than Kat.
Speaker 1: That's a significant thing that Boston can use in the
Speaker 1: playoffs when things bog down in the half court. He's
Speaker 1: also better at protecting the rim than Kat. O Jan
Speaker 1: Andobi and Michale Bridges are two very good forwards, but
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown are substantially better, and Jalen Brunson is
Speaker 1: obviously better than Boston's guards. But the two Boston guards together,
Speaker 1: Jew Holiday and Derek White, they kind of keep that
Speaker 1: battle pretty close. Brunson is the key. He's the one
Speaker 1: guy who's capable of out executing Jason Tatum in the
Speaker 1: half court at the end of these games. But the
Speaker 1: Knicks have to keep it close for that to be
Speaker 1: a possibility. And Tatum is no slouch. He's just as
Speaker 1: capable of out executing Brunson in those situations. So there's
Speaker 1: a path. You can see the path right play play
Speaker 1: chrisops porzingis off the floor, get into a lot of
Speaker 1: switching on defense, bait Boston into taking bad shots. Brunson
Speaker 1: starts picking on Horford on the other end, keep the
Speaker 1: games close. Brunton out executes Tatum in the clutch. That's
Speaker 1: kind of like the pathway, but it feels like a
Speaker 1: very slim pathway among all the possible outcomes. The Knicks
Speaker 1: are certainly closer to Boston than they were, and I
Speaker 1: think they do have, in all likelihood the best chance
Speaker 1: of getting this done, but the talent is stacked against them.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a challenge. So how can the
Speaker 1: Knicks increase their chances? How can the Knicks make it
Speaker 1: more likely that they catch the smaller of those outcomes,
Speaker 1: which is them finding that pathway to victory. I would
Speaker 1: just attack the regular season like nobody's business. Boston is
Speaker 1: the defending champion, they have massive talent advantage over the
Speaker 1: rest of the league. It's possible that they approach the
Speaker 1: season with a little bit more of a lackadaisical attitude.
Speaker 1: I personally think Boston will stay locked in. I think
Speaker 1: they're pissed off at everybody because they're not getting enough
Speaker 1: respect for their title. But there's a chance that they
Speaker 1: come into the season with a more lackadaisical attitude. You
Speaker 1: have to be playing better basketball than Boston will when
Speaker 1: you get to that matchup in May, in early May
Speaker 1: or late May, right, and that's going to require an
Speaker 1: obsessive attention to detail that starts now. One of the
Speaker 1: big things I'm gonna be looking at with the Knicks
Speaker 1: early in the season is just how dominant they are.
Speaker 1: The example I want you guys to think of is
Speaker 1: Houston in twenty eighteen. They were sharper than Golden State
Speaker 1: all year. We all knew Golden State was better, but
Speaker 1: they were sharper than Golden State all year. They stayed
Speaker 1: significantly above them in the standings. They had the best
Speaker 1: record in the league. If I remember correctly, I think
Speaker 1: they won sixty five games, and so when they ran
Speaker 1: into Golden State they were able to jump them a
Speaker 1: little bit. Now they ended up losing, but maybe if
Speaker 1: CP three doesn't get hurt, it goes differently. I think
Speaker 1: Golden State so wins no matter what. But Houston gave them,
Speaker 1: gave themselves a really good chance to win by just
Speaker 1: taking the regular season more seriously than Golden State did.
Speaker 1: And I don't think these Celtics are really good. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're as good as the KD Staph Warriors.
Speaker 1: So like control the controllables, attack the regular season, be
Speaker 1: sharper and jump Boston when you get there in May.
Speaker 1: That I think is the best way for them to
Speaker 1: increase their chances, just attacking the regular season and being
Speaker 1: one of those truly dedicated day in, day out types
Speaker 1: of teams. All right, let's move on to our mail.
Speaker 1: Bick Melbag I think Dre needs to play the five
Speaker 1: most of the season when he's paired with Trace or Loon,
Speaker 1: there's not enough shooting on the court. Maybe in three
Speaker 1: guard lineups with Steph Healed and whoever their third best
Speaker 1: shooter is, but you put Dre at the five, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of space for JK Wigs, Steph and
Speaker 1: the other guard to operate. The Warrior season crumbled last
Speaker 1: year with dray and Lune playing together without enough shooting,
Speaker 1: too easy to double off them. Trace might pair a
Speaker 1: little better with Dre, given he's a lop threat, but
Speaker 1: it still gives two players defenders that can that defenders
Speaker 1: can ignore and focus on Steph. So we all agree
Speaker 1: that I think most Warriors fans agree that Draymond at
Speaker 1: center is going to be their best look, there's no doubt,
Speaker 1: and they're going to close games with that. It'll be
Speaker 1: Wiggins coming and Draymond and Steph and whichever guard makes
Speaker 1: the most sense, whether that's you know, Buddy Heal's red
Speaker 1: hot tonight he's closing, or it's the Anthony Melton, or
Speaker 1: it's Brandon Patiemski, whoever ends up being. They're going to
Speaker 1: do some combination of that, right, But it's about eating
Speaker 1: innings in the regular season. When you're smaller, you have
Speaker 1: to compensate with obsessive effort because you're constantly covering ground
Speaker 1: to make up for it, whether it's in transition or
Speaker 1: in rotation. But when you're big, you're big no matter what.
Speaker 1: And so the idea behind going big is you make
Speaker 1: it easier on a night in and night out basis
Speaker 1: for you to do your job because you don't have
Speaker 1: to cover as much ground when you're big. Just being
Speaker 1: big vertically, by just standing, you're able to get to
Speaker 1: more defensive rebounds, You're able to protect the rim a
Speaker 1: little bit better, You're able to absorb contact a little
Speaker 1: bit better. So that's the idea. It's about being big
Speaker 1: for the sake of eating innings over the course of
Speaker 1: eighty two games, which I understand. Again, we all know
Speaker 1: that what they have to do when it comes down
Speaker 1: to winning time. But this is just about treating the
Speaker 1: eighty two game season with the appropriate level of like
Speaker 1: conservative nature to make sure that you have all your
Speaker 1: guys when you need them, and that I do understand.
Speaker 1: I do lean Tray Jackson Davis over Kevon Loony just
Speaker 1: because I think Trace brings motor and I think he
Speaker 1: brings speed, and I think that gives them the ability
Speaker 1: to kind of convert defense into offense. And I do
Speaker 1: think this team is going to be able to force
Speaker 1: a lot of turnovers and get out on transition, especially
Speaker 1: with Draymond playing helpside defense more this year as a
Speaker 1: four man. So I am curious to see how it
Speaker 1: all turns out. But I do understand why they have
Speaker 1: to go big to start the year. I genuinely cannot
Speaker 1: fathom how the Nuggets are above the MAVs, So let
Speaker 1: me just explain why I have the Nuggets above the MAVs.
Speaker 1: I just think the Nuggets are a more talented team.
Speaker 1: I think Jokic is slightly better than Luca. I do
Speaker 1: think Kyrie is slightly better than Jamal Murray, but I
Speaker 1: do think that Murray and Jokic compliment each other a
Speaker 1: little bit better and have more pop as a two
Speaker 1: man game, So I'm gonna give them the slight edge
Speaker 1: after that though, I think Gordon is a better player
Speaker 1: than PJ. Washington. I think Michael Porter Junior, at this
Speaker 1: point in his career, is a better player than Klay
Speaker 1: Thompsonnuggets will have a better defense than Dallas this year.
Speaker 1: I think Mike Malone is a better coach than Jason Kidd,
Speaker 1: So like, I also think the Nuggets just present more
Speaker 1: matchup issues to teams because of the Jokics problem. So
Speaker 1: I just think the Nuggets are a better basketball team.
Speaker 1: That's why I have the Nuggets over Dallas right now.
Speaker 1: This guy refused to explain how the Nuggets and Thunder
Speaker 1: beat Dallas and instead goes on about the Celtics, who
Speaker 1: they can only play in the finals. Denver ran into
Speaker 1: a matchup issue with Minnesota, and that was exacerbated by
Speaker 1: the fact that both KCP and Jamal Murray got hurt
Speaker 1: in the Lakers series, and the Nuggets were a bit
Speaker 1: worn down, a bit like worn down just by a
Speaker 1: long playoff run the year before, long season hard series
Speaker 1: against the Lakers in the first round. Right, like they
Speaker 1: get worn down, they break down officially in that Minnesota series,
Speaker 1: Like imagine that too, Like your guards are how you
Speaker 1: navigate Minnesota's ball pressure. And both of them were dealing
Speaker 1: with bad wheels and then KCP was an ankle and
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray was a calf. Just makes things harder, right,
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, they were still up twenty in
Speaker 1: Game seven. They just blew it right. If they had survived,
Speaker 1: I would have picked them against Dallas because Dallas doesn't
Speaker 1: have a soul who can remotely guard Jokic and Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon is one of the best options in the league
Speaker 1: to throw at Luka Doncic. So like Okay and then
Speaker 1: as far as Oklahoma City goes, Oklahoma City was a
Speaker 1: free throw away from playing Dallas in Game seven at home.
Speaker 1: They had a lot dunked to Chet that put them
Speaker 1: up by one heading into the final possession. In Game
Speaker 1: six in Dallas, Dallas one, Dallas one, fair and square,
Speaker 1: Luca made a play. PJ. Washington got fouled. He made
Speaker 1: the free throws game over right, but that was a
Speaker 1: very small margin. If Oklahoma City gets a stop on
Speaker 1: that last possession, we're heading to Oklahoma City for Game seven,
Speaker 1: where they're favored. And they added this summer two additional
Speaker 1: role players that are high level veterans that will help
Speaker 1: them on both ends of the floor and address specific
Speaker 1: needs for them. I think Oklahoma City would beat Dallas
Speaker 1: in a series this year, So there you go. Like
Speaker 1: I I didn't explain it in the last one, but
Speaker 1: I think the Nuggets present more matchup issues for Boston.
Speaker 1: I would pick Denver over Dallas right now. I would
Speaker 1: pick Oklahoma City over Dallas right now. And I just
Speaker 1: gave you some of the basketball reasons why. There was
Speaker 1: an interview with Jason Kidd this week in which he
Speaker 1: talked about applying some triangle offense concepts with the MAVs
Speaker 1: after visiting Phil Jackson. He really specifically emphasized less dribbling
Speaker 1: and more quick passes instead of holding the ball as
Speaker 1: a key takeaway. Besides that, he also mentioned wanting someone
Speaker 1: other than Luca to bring the ball up and to
Speaker 1: have Luca attack from different areas on the court. Beat
Speaker 1: writers have speculated this might mean more mid post and
Speaker 1: low post touches for Luca, as well as more handoffs.
Speaker 1: Since Kyrie and Luca ranked first and second among fifty
Speaker 1: seven players are ran at least three hundred handoffs last year.
Speaker 1: Do you think these are things that are beneficial ways
Speaker 1: to improve the Dallas offense. As for defense, I think Dallas'
Speaker 1: potential woes have been a little overstated. Clay is no
Speaker 1: longer elite defensively, but he isn't below average or a cone.
Speaker 1: By the way, I know, MAVs fans sound a little
Speaker 1: salty in the comment, but it's because it feels like
Speaker 1: everyone is underrating the moves we made and our chances,
Speaker 1: just like last season. Hope you aren't too annoyed with
Speaker 1: the comments, Jason, thanks for the breakout. Don't worry about
Speaker 1: the comments. I've been doing this for like what two
Speaker 1: and a half years now. February first will be three
Speaker 1: years since I started with the volume, so I'm kind
Speaker 1: of used to it at this point. I've just basically
Speaker 1: learned that every fan base is mad all the time.
Speaker 1: Like literally every video up to this point has had
Speaker 1: fans complaining about where teams are ranked. So like it
Speaker 1: is what it is, like, go look at the Minnesota
Speaker 1: video or like the Milwaukee video, Like everyone's pissed off
Speaker 1: all the time. I'm kind of just used to it.
Speaker 1: Every fan base thinks their team gets unfair coverage, so
Speaker 1: I never take that sort of thing personally. Also, I
Speaker 1: know that for every one person who complains in the comments,
Speaker 1: there's you know, a thousand or so that actually watched
Speaker 1: the video and don't complain, so I try not to
Speaker 1: read too much into that. I do love the idea
Speaker 1: of having Lucas start possessions off the ball and specifically
Speaker 1: coming off of handoffs. This is actually a five out concept,
Speaker 1: and this is an example of an easy five out
Speaker 1: concept they could add this year to kind of juice
Speaker 1: things up for them offensively. It saves wear and tear
Speaker 1: from ball pressure. There's just no reason to have Luca
Speaker 1: bring the ball up the floor against the guy who's
Speaker 1: gonna turn him once or twice and make him make
Speaker 1: all those additional cuts over the course of a game.
Speaker 1: That's another forty another fifty cuts that can wear a
Speaker 1: guy down. I'm not saying you don't have him bring
Speaker 1: the ball up at all, but I think it is
Speaker 1: helpful to have Lucas start some possessions in the corner
Speaker 1: and then literally have the ball handler bring up the
Speaker 1: floor the ball at the floor, and then just run
Speaker 1: that like kind of five out delay action, like a
Speaker 1: Chicago action where like Kyrie brings the ball up the
Speaker 1: left wing, Luca's in the right corner, Klay Thompson is
Speaker 1: on the right wing. You have Kyrie bring it up
Speaker 1: the left wing, you dump it to Lively who's trailing
Speaker 1: at the top of the key. Derek Glively turns towards
Speaker 1: the right corner, Klay Thompson pins down and screens for Luca.
Speaker 1: Luca then comes off of Clay and off the dribble
Speaker 1: hand off and comes downhill into the lane. It's the
Speaker 1: same type of reads that Luca makes in his ball screen, right,
Speaker 1: like Lively's rolling off that dribble handoff going to the
Speaker 1: rim for a dunk. Inevitably, by virtue of Chicago action,
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson is probably going to be open on a
Speaker 1: skip back, right. Like, I love involving Clay in screening
Speaker 1: actions with Luca as much as possible, but it's just
Speaker 1: a simple way to like save him wear and tear
Speaker 1: and ball pressure, have him attack with a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a complication. And once again one of the
Speaker 1: things I talked about yesterday, Remember, running action just makes
Speaker 1: it so that there's more like more likelihood that the
Speaker 1: defense will make a mistake. If you bring the ball
Speaker 1: to the floor and just run a ball screen. It
Speaker 1: all of a sudden just becomes entirely about Luca's superpowers.
Speaker 1: And we all know that Luca has great superpowers, but
Speaker 1: running offense is what forces defense to make lots of
Speaker 1: decisions which can lead to more mistakes. Well, what I
Speaker 1: want to see is I want to see lucas superpower
Speaker 1: combined with defenses making mistakes. That's what I want to
Speaker 1: see because that's where I think you can squeeze a
Speaker 1: little bit more out of that sponge. So, like, I
Speaker 1: think that makes a lot of sense. You can always
Speaker 1: default back to Luca ball at the end of possessions.
Speaker 1: You run some stuff doesn't work, Oh there's ten on
Speaker 1: the shot clock. Throw it to Lucas at a ball screen.
Speaker 1: Now we're playing, right. But like, I think, just exploring
Speaker 1: more of those five out concepts will just help juice
Speaker 1: their off a little bit, might increase their pace a
Speaker 1: little bit too, because Luca tends to bring the ball
Speaker 1: to the floor a little slowly. Have someone else bring
Speaker 1: up the ball at the floor. That might be a
Speaker 1: little bit more pace to the offense. It's so fun
Speaker 1: to watch the Lakers actually drop plays instead of freestyling
Speaker 1: all season. So a couple things. The Lakers actually ran
Speaker 1: plenty of action last year. In fact, even though JJ
Speaker 1: Redick has added some stuff, those those dribble weave concepts
Speaker 1: we were talking about in the Monday Show, a lot
Speaker 1: of the stuff they ran in the first two preseason
Speaker 1: games were the same concepts that they were running last year,
Speaker 1: some like post up split cut stuff and some like
Speaker 1: horn sets that they run Like a lot of that
Speaker 1: was the same stuff they were running last year. The
Speaker 1: key is running action more frequently, which they have, and
Speaker 1: two adding complications and counters, which will take time. These
Speaker 1: are like little wrinkles that you add to sets, both
Speaker 1: on and off the ball, depending on what a defense
Speaker 1: is doing to cover it. Right, Those are things that
Speaker 1: take time though to implement, and then most importantly overall
Speaker 1: attention to detail and accountability. So like, for instance, one
Speaker 1: of the things that JJ Reddick's been talking a lot
Speaker 1: about in his press conference is a screening. So like
Speaker 1: one of the things I talk about all the time is, like,
Speaker 1: you know, focusing on sets is important because they obviously
Speaker 1: bring value and all the things we talked about by
Speaker 1: promoting more mistakes from the defense, things along those lines, right,
Speaker 1: But like the most important thing is how well you
Speaker 1: actually run the set. Like if we run a basic
Speaker 1: ball screen, but my guard does a really good job
Speaker 1: of setting his man up for the screen by selling
Speaker 1: one way to then come back the other way, and
Speaker 1: I get a really good screen, Like a really good screen,
Speaker 1: Like that's gonna get me better offense than if we
Speaker 1: run a beautiful five out set but no one fucking screens, right, Like,
Speaker 1: those are little details that matter. Setting up your man
Speaker 1: for a screen screening properly, actually coming off of that
Speaker 1: screen with power, like coming off with force. If you
Speaker 1: come off the screen soft, you're not gonna engage the
Speaker 1: screen defender. There's all these like little details that make
Speaker 1: sets effective. And that's the thing. Like they can run
Speaker 1: the same shit they ran last year as long as
Speaker 1: they run it better with more attention to detail and
Speaker 1: more frequently, and so like those are all these like
Speaker 1: little details that get Like basketball at its very core
Speaker 1: is fundamental. If you like literally just run your lanes
Speaker 1: and transition really hard, make kickout passes when they're available,
Speaker 1: and drive closeouts properly. You can get good shots. Just
Speaker 1: by playing drive in kick and transition push basketball. You
Speaker 1: can be successful, like we talked about in spamming ball screens,
Speaker 1: if you're just really good with your details in the
Speaker 1: ball springs. Details matter, and so you have to coach details.
Speaker 1: You have to hold people accountable on details. You have
Speaker 1: to that. That is the type of obsessiveness that every
Speaker 1: good basketball team has. All right, last one at some point,
Speaker 1: this guy needs to be honest about the Lakers. Here
Speaker 1: are the facts. Lakers twenty twenty three twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: season offense was not good. Playing team swept first round.
Speaker 1: Offensive rating one sixteen fifteenth out of thirty, defensive rating
Speaker 1: one fifteen sixteenth out of thirty, Net rating plus point
Speaker 1: zero six nineteen thoutd of thirty. Again, this is just
Speaker 1: a really dishonest way to characterize the Lakers season. Over
Speaker 1: the Lakers last forty six games, they had the fourth
Speaker 1: best record in the league in the third best offense.
Speaker 1: That's not just a stretch run. That's not just the
Speaker 1: end of the year when the best teams are preparing
Speaker 1: for the postseason and the bad teams are tanking. That's
Speaker 1: forty six games. That's fifty six percent of the entire season.
Speaker 1: And that's not just stacking wins against bad teams. That
Speaker 1: seventeen wins against the top ten in point differential teams,
Speaker 1: which is tied with Boston for the most in the NBA.
Speaker 1: And that's bracketed on the other end by them winning
Speaker 1: the nd season tournament. They were bad for less than
Speaker 1: a month. Now here's the thing. A three to ten
Speaker 1: stretch in a remarkably talented Western conference will be very damaging.
Speaker 1: And that is what colored the Lakers the way they did,
Speaker 1: and that's why most of the casual fans who weren't
Speaker 1: watching them very closely didn't think they were very good.
Speaker 1: But they were very good in all of the games
Speaker 1: spanning that Just again, you can't afford to go three
Speaker 1: to ten out west forty seven games though. Just look
Speaker 1: at that three and ten, right, that's thirteen games. Let's
Speaker 1: say that they just go like with their normal win
Speaker 1: percentage of the season. So let's say they go seven
Speaker 1: and seven and six. That's less than their normal winning
Speaker 1: percentage of the season. Let's just say they go seven
Speaker 1: and six, so barely over five hundred in that three
Speaker 1: and ten stretch. Now they're a fifty one win team.
Speaker 1: And again, during that stretch, they were actively trying to
Speaker 1: get their coach fired, like pouting, not playing hard, leaking
Speaker 1: stuff to the press. It was an ugly stretch, I'm
Speaker 1: not debating that, but it was a forty six game
Speaker 1: stretch after that where they took off and were awesome.
Speaker 1: Not to mention the fact that it had a lot
Speaker 1: to do with the fact that they started using a
Speaker 1: lineup that never played before January. The lineup of Austin Dilo,
Speaker 1: Rui Braun and Anthony Davis, the one that carried them
Speaker 1: to that forty six game stretch, did not play at all.
Speaker 1: In the first half of the season, did not play.
Speaker 1: So here's the truth. They were bad for less than
Speaker 1: a month, but they were mostly awesome the majority of
Speaker 1: the season. Are the Lakers in the inner circle contenders? No,
Speaker 1: they have too many flaws, but they absolutely belong in
Speaker 1: that next tier of teams. And I've been consistent about that.
Speaker 1: I didn't say I picked the Denver Nuggets to beat
Speaker 1: the Lakers last year in the postseason. I don't have
Speaker 1: any delusions of grandeur with the Lakers. I think that
Speaker 1: they're another one of the good teams below the contender tier.
Speaker 1: But they have a really strong foundation in Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis. So if they can hit on a trade,
Speaker 1: if they attack the season with the appropriate level of
Speaker 1: attention to detail, they can crack into that group potentially
Speaker 1: if some things go their way, which is the same
Speaker 1: thing that can be said about every other team that's
Speaker 1: in that tier. All right, guys, that's all I have
Speaker 1: for today as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 1: supporting the show. We will be back. I'm actually later
Speaker 1: this afternoon recording with Claire Dalon about the GM survey
Speaker 1: that's coming out on Friday. Tomorrow is going to be
Speaker 1: a bunch of preseason reactions, So preseason reaction tomorrow, GM
Speaker 1: Survey stuff on Friday. Then we have one more week
Speaker 1: before we get into the regular season. Again, as always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys, and I'll see you tomorrow the
Speaker 1: volume What's Up guys? As always, I appreciate you for
Speaker 1: listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would actually be
Speaker 1: really helpful for us if you guys would take a
Speaker 1: second and leave a rating and a review. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could
Speaker 1: take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.