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Speaker 1: Slash baseball. All right, welcome to hoops today. You're at
Speaker 1: the volume heavy Monday, everybody, Oh Bob, you guys had
Speaker 1: an incredible weekend. I am finally back from Vegas. Four
Speaker 1: nights is a long time to be there, but it
Speaker 1: was an incredible trip. It was a productive trip. The
Speaker 1: Mahakz interview was supposed to come out today, but it
Speaker 1: might end up coming out tomorrow. We're just still doing
Speaker 1: some stuff with the footage, so keep an eye on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed for that. I'll tweet it out when
Speaker 1: it's active. On Saturday night, I got to go see
Speaker 1: Dead and Company at the Sphere again. They played like
Speaker 1: the perfect set list. They played all my favorite songs,
Speaker 1: says you guys can imagine. I was on cloud nine.
Speaker 1: It was an awesome end to that incredible trip. And
Speaker 1: then yesterday I just got to kind of decompress and
Speaker 1: relax and hang out with my wife and just kind
Speaker 1: of get ready for another week. And here we are.
Speaker 1: Team USA Versus Australia is what we're leading with today,
Speaker 1: US's second exhibition since all the guys got together in
Speaker 1: Vegas a couple of weeks ago. We're going to dive
Speaker 1: into that game from a bunch of different angles and
Speaker 1: talk about their progression as they get ready for the Olympics.
Speaker 1: After that, I tweeted out asking for mailbag questions, and
Speaker 1: a bunch of you guys gave me a bunch of
Speaker 1: good ones. We're gonna be bouncing all over the league.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk some Celtics, We're gonna talk some more
Speaker 1: Land of Magic. We're gonna talk some Lakers. And Warriors.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk some Denver Nuggets. We're gonna get into
Speaker 1: a bunch of different topics around the league before we
Speaker 1: get out of here for the day. You guys had
Speaker 1: the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops
Speaker 1: and O YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of
Speaker 1: our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLTS, you
Speaker 1: guys don't miss SHO announcements. And then don't forget about
Speaker 1: a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on Hoops tonight,
Speaker 1: and then keep dropping mail back questions in those YouTube
Speaker 1: comments and we can keep hitting them throughout the rest
Speaker 1: of the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 1: if you looked at the scoreboard, you would have thought
Speaker 1: the starters played much better. Right, They were up nineteen
Speaker 1: thirteen at the first time out, very different from the
Speaker 1: twelve to four deficit they were in against Canada. But
Speaker 1: actually most of that came down to just making shots
Speaker 1: in my opinion, Like Lebron hit two threes, Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: hit three threes. They were just kind of a red
Speaker 1: hot out of the gates, and there were a couple
Speaker 1: of them that like there were good looks like there
Speaker 1: were like plays where the ball would start on the
Speaker 1: strong side and Australia would load up and it would
Speaker 1: work its way to the weak side for like a
Speaker 1: catch and shoot opportunity for Lebron or a catch and
Speaker 1: shoot opportunity for Anthony Edwards. But a lot of it
Speaker 1: was like kind of stagger. They're still dribbling the ball
Speaker 1: up that right side of the floor and kind of
Speaker 1: hanging out around the wing and either just swinging the
Speaker 1: ball to the opposite side for a post up or
Speaker 1: just running a single ball screen. They're still not really
Speaker 1: getting that five out flow from side to side that
Speaker 1: I really want to see with this group, especially with
Speaker 1: how talented their bigs are. And some of that has
Speaker 1: to do with the personnel, right, Like I talked about
Speaker 1: after game the Canada game, Anthony Edwards was the most
Speaker 1: impressive player in that game. He was the most impressive
Speaker 1: player again out the gates tonight. He had three threes
Speaker 1: and at a today I should say three threes in
Speaker 1: a driving floater, so he had eleven points before the
Speaker 1: first time out. But like that is separate from what
Speaker 1: I'm looking at in terms of plugging and playing with
Speaker 1: this particular lineup, Like as much as I love Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: he's not a great ball mover. A lot of possessions
Speaker 1: in this game where you would see the ball like
Speaker 1: two or three passes and then it would end up
Speaker 1: in Ant's hands on the wing and then it's just
Speaker 1: jab step pump fake, jab step pump fake, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna get a great look there. Right. He's Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: He's freaky athletic. He's jump shooting has just been so
Speaker 1: locked in as of late. But in order to get
Speaker 1: that true five out side to side flow, you need
Speaker 1: guys that make quick decisions and when they don't have
Speaker 1: a great opportunity, get the ball to the next player
Speaker 1: so that he can run action. Right, And like, it's
Speaker 1: not just Ant either, it's Joel Embiid two Like Bam
Speaker 1: and Ad are guys that have a lot of experience
Speaker 1: playing five out and know how to flow from side
Speaker 1: to side and know how to set good screens and
Speaker 1: roll into the middle of the floor, know when to
Speaker 1: short roll, no, when to roll harder to the rim.
Speaker 1: They have all of that stuff down, right, And Embiid
Speaker 1: like it makes sense for him in Philly in his career.
Speaker 1: He's an offensive engine He's a guy that everything gets
Speaker 1: run through him, and it's just totally different when you're
Speaker 1: playing with this level of perimeter talent, and which you
Speaker 1: really need from that center position is someone that kind
Speaker 1: of just ties everybody together, flowing from action to action.
Speaker 1: And so even though the US was up nineteen to thirteen,
Speaker 1: I still think they have a lot that they can
Speaker 1: get better at with that starting group in terms of
Speaker 1: just getting higher quality shots and getting more ball in
Speaker 1: player movement. Some of that too, is that they need
Speaker 1: more reps. They just need more reps. This is very
Speaker 1: different from other countries where it's like, these guys have
Speaker 1: been playing together forever. How many times have you seen
Speaker 1: Patty Mills in an Australia jersey right, like the like,
Speaker 1: there's so much of this that that just comes from
Speaker 1: the consistency of these international teams and how they always
Speaker 1: have the same roster versus Team USA. It's like four
Speaker 1: years ago, we're bringing kind of a hodgepodge group, and
Speaker 1: then this year we're bringing everybody, right, and then four
Speaker 1: years from now we're probably gonna bring another hodgepodge group, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's gonna be just a bunch of random guys.
Speaker 1: Maybe two or three of the higher level stars, right,
Speaker 1: So like this is kind of just how it goes
Speaker 1: with USA basketball, and so it is a little clunky,
Speaker 1: and again, like I'm I believe Tatum, Lebron, and Steph
Speaker 1: know what they need to do, and I believe they
Speaker 1: are a functioning cogs in that system. I think Ant
Speaker 1: and Embiid are where that's kind of breaking up, And
Speaker 1: it doesn't really have anything to do with what they
Speaker 1: are as NBA players, because they're perfect within what their
Speaker 1: NBA teams need. It's just more within this particular team's
Speaker 1: context and kind of like with the Celtics, it might
Speaker 1: not matter. Like I actually did think the Celtics reached
Speaker 1: a pretty high level in that postseason relative to what
Speaker 1: their potential was, Like I think they squeezed a lot
Speaker 1: out of that sponge, but they were talented enough that
Speaker 1: they could have won the title playing worst basketball, right,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing this team USA team, They might
Speaker 1: win gold, the gold medal even with clunkiness with the
Speaker 1: starting group and with embid not really looking like a
Speaker 1: great fit, and with having scoring bursts but being a
Speaker 1: ball stopper sometimes, like I think they can still win
Speaker 1: with that right there, is a threat of single elimination.
Speaker 1: I mean, look at this game today. It gets down
Speaker 1: to I think Australia got it down to six, right,
Speaker 1: and they might have even got it down to three.
Speaker 1: They got it really close there in that in that
Speaker 1: mid fourth quarter. But like Patty Mills wide open corner
Speaker 1: three on kind of a chaotic sequence where he almost
Speaker 1: turned it over wide open corner three, he misses it.
Speaker 1: The US team goes down to the other end, Tyres
Speaker 1: Halliburton wide open corner three, he makes it like all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the US runs away with the game, right,
Speaker 1: but like that could very easily have gone the other way. So,
Speaker 1: like single elimination, anything can go wrong. The US team
Speaker 1: can build in more resiliency there and make themselves less
Speaker 1: susceptible to a single game kind of weird outcome if
Speaker 1: they improve on that offensive end of the floor again,
Speaker 1: I continue to be really impressed by the US defensively
Speaker 1: when they're playing hard, even with all their looks, even
Speaker 1: with their switching groups, even with their drop groups. I've
Speaker 1: been really happy with the US's defense. I just think
Speaker 1: they can still get to a higher level offensively by
Speaker 1: moving the ball from side to side again, when they're
Speaker 1: this talented, they're gonna have shifts where they make shots. Anyways,
Speaker 1: there's that awkward possession where Lebron like is dribbling at
Speaker 1: the top of the key and he kind of just
Speaker 1: hits a simple dribble move in an ISO that develops
Speaker 1: a catch and shoot three for Anthony Edwards. It's like,
Speaker 1: that wasn't really a great offensive possession, Lebron and Aunt
Speaker 1: just say it, right, Anthony Edwards a step back three
Speaker 1: before the time out. It wasn't really a great offensive possession.
Speaker 1: It was a dribble up the floor ISO. But it's
Speaker 1: like Anthony Edwards is Anthony Edwards, right. And so I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to be critical in the sense that these
Speaker 1: guys are so good they might win it all anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, in terms of giving themselves more margin
Speaker 1: for error that I think they can still improve a
Speaker 1: lot on the offensive end of the floor. And again,
Speaker 1: every single time you see that bench group come in
Speaker 1: and you see Bam and Anthony Davis out there, and
Speaker 1: you see Tyre's Halliburton and Devin Booker out there, they
Speaker 1: just immediately start to look like a more classic functional
Speaker 1: basketball team, right, Like Anthony Davis and bam Adebayo have
Speaker 1: a lot of reps running five out. They know how
Speaker 1: to run this kind of offense, and they're just a
Speaker 1: big part of it too. Is you need activity in
Speaker 1: terms of athleticism from your bigs in those looks. What
Speaker 1: that means is is like you gotta have a guy
Speaker 1: that runs into the action, executes the dribble, handoff sets
Speaker 1: a good hard screen, rolls hard slips out of it.
Speaker 1: If that's what the cut, that's the read that's available
Speaker 1: in that situation. It's a lot of quick movement. And
Speaker 1: like as much as we love Embiid, and again I
Speaker 1: do think Embid's a better player than Ad and Bam
Speaker 1: within the context of what he is for the Sixers,
Speaker 1: which is the best player on his team right, but
Speaker 1: specifically in this context, like Embiid is not an active big.
Speaker 1: He's not running into actions and slipping out of them
Speaker 1: and like quickly getting open. He's not sprinting up and
Speaker 1: down the floor. He's not making multiple efforts on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. He's not as active on
Speaker 1: the glass as an Anthony Davis is. And so when
Speaker 1: you see Bam and Ad get out there, it's like
Speaker 1: whoa look at these guys ad seventeen points and fourteen rebounds.
Speaker 1: He had seven offensive rebounds and two blocks. A thing
Speaker 1: that Bam was doing that I thought was really important.
Speaker 1: He hit a bunch of jumpers around that elbow area
Speaker 1: kind of in that like fifteen to seventeen foot range
Speaker 1: around the foul line with the coverages that Australia was using,
Speaker 1: and they used a bunch of different coverages in this game.
Speaker 1: They were dropping on Anthony Edwards, but then they were
Speaker 1: like hedging and blitzing on guys like Halliburton and Booker
Speaker 1: and Steph Curry. So like there were short role opportunities
Speaker 1: in drop coverage, there were like kind of like role
Speaker 1: opportunities around the foul line because on all drives and
Speaker 1: post ups and ISOs, the Australian team is really loading
Speaker 1: up the strong side, and so there were a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunities where you would see Bam just kind of
Speaker 1: find a soft open spot around that foul line. And
Speaker 1: that's where he needed to make them pay for not
Speaker 1: guarding him, because they weren't just ignoring shooters, they were
Speaker 1: helping off of the bigs and they were overplaying in
Speaker 1: that painted area and so rolling hard into the paint
Speaker 1: could be an issue too, because there's just so much
Speaker 1: congestion in there. There's not really a lot of room
Speaker 1: to take off and get vertical spacing opportunities. So like
Speaker 1: that short roll around that foul line is where you
Speaker 1: can make Australia pay for bringing their bigs up along
Speaker 1: the baseline to attack ball handlers and guys that are
Speaker 1: posting up and so Bam hitting those shots. Ad hit
Speaker 1: an elbow jumper kind of catching with hooks around the
Speaker 1: basket too, like just making yourself quickly available, catching and
Speaker 1: turning and fighting firing a little left shoulder hook. Both
Speaker 1: Ad and Bam hit those activity on the offensive glass.
Speaker 1: How many times in this game did we see Bam
Speaker 1: catch around the basket and like miss, but then Ad
Speaker 1: would clean up the offensive glass or vice versa. Like
Speaker 1: they're just those two guys were so active on their
Speaker 1: roles and crashing the offensive glass that it just was
Speaker 1: a huge problem for Australia and it added a layer
Speaker 1: to the offensive attack from the USA team that just
Speaker 1: made them so much harder to guard. And again, they're
Speaker 1: just more functional bigs in a five out offense. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to pick on Embiid. It's just the reality
Speaker 1: of the fact that like Embiid needs to be the
Speaker 1: best player on his team and he needs everything run
Speaker 1: through him. And you really saw that in that second half.
Speaker 1: How many times in that second half did you just
Speaker 1: see Embiid like dribble the ball up the floor into
Speaker 1: a post up and then like try to spin into
Speaker 1: a hook shot and get blocked because he just didn't
Speaker 1: even see the double team coming, or take a really
Speaker 1: bad contested hook shot in the lane, and as he
Speaker 1: tries to run everybody over to get inside, like it
Speaker 1: it's just clunky. And that's the thing is like like
Speaker 1: Australia is like pretty hard doubling on Himbiid because they
Speaker 1: know that he's not gonna handle it particularly well, and
Speaker 1: it just it just looks clunky. And so again it's
Speaker 1: not really a commentary on Embid within the context of
Speaker 1: the Sixers. It's just strictly within this team, Bam and
Speaker 1: Ad are just more natural fits and it doesn't really
Speaker 1: matter because they're gonna need him for the Serbia matchup.
Speaker 1: Like I still think in the long run, you want
Speaker 1: Ad in that starting lineup. We got to see a
Speaker 1: little bit of the starters with Ad in the second half,
Speaker 1: but with that Serbia matchup. As much as I love
Speaker 1: Ad and he does a good job on Jokic, Jokic
Speaker 1: can still kind of bully him around on that block.
Speaker 1: He can't do that with Embiid And so he's important
Speaker 1: to have on the roster. He's a very important weapon.
Speaker 1: He's a specific adjustment that you can use against some
Speaker 1: of these bigger European front lines. But yeah, in terms
Speaker 1: of like just getting to what they want to get
Speaker 1: too offensively with their perimeter players, is just a little clunky.
Speaker 1: The late run from Australia, so they were again they
Speaker 1: were dropping on it, but then they were blitzing and
Speaker 1: hedging on Steph and Devin Booker. There were a lot
Speaker 1: of these short role opportunities for Anthony Davis and bam Adebayo,
Speaker 1: and there was just a lot of turnovers. The guys
Speaker 1: just weren't kind of cutting at the right time, and
Speaker 1: the role men weren't identifying that very well, like they
Speaker 1: would catch and turn and then there was like some
Speaker 1: of it too, is just like clunkiness. Like there was
Speaker 1: one in the late fourth quarter where eighty cot on
Speaker 1: the roll. It made like a nice move to like
Speaker 1: throw a bounce past to Bam, and Bam just like
Speaker 1: fumbled the ball right like in some of this too. Again,
Speaker 1: like I talked about earlier, the Australian team, these guys
Speaker 1: all play together, right, they play together all the time.
Speaker 1: This USA team doesn't have that continuity. They don't have
Speaker 1: that chemistry. They're still building that out that comes in time.
Speaker 1: They had eighteen turnovers today after fifteen in the game
Speaker 1: against Canada, So thirty three turnovers in two games with
Speaker 1: ten minute quarters like that obviously is not good enough,
Speaker 1: but that's to be expected given the circumstances. I understand
Speaker 1: that part is something that will improve naturally as they
Speaker 1: continue to get more reps together. But once they got
Speaker 1: into that run, the US was really deliberate. On the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, they had a post entry
Speaker 1: to Bam at a bio on the right block. He
Speaker 1: quickly drew a double team kickout pass. Devin Booker had
Speaker 1: a really nice cut from the slot to make himself
Speaker 1: available to Bam. Bam hit him there. Devin Booker made
Speaker 1: a nice extra pass to Drew Holliday at the top
Speaker 1: of the key, who made a nice extra pass to
Speaker 1: Tyre's Halliburton in the corner as Australia was in rotation
Speaker 1: wide open three knocked it down very next possession, a
Speaker 1: little ball screen action from Anthony Edwards in BAM on
Speaker 1: the left wing, and Australia helped out of the strong
Speaker 1: side corner, which happened to be Tyre's Halliburton. He knocked
Speaker 1: it down again and then the game was over, and
Speaker 1: that was a huge defensive mistake from Australia because you
Speaker 1: never want to help out of the strong side corner
Speaker 1: in general, but you definitely don't want to help on
Speaker 1: the same guy who just made a three from the
Speaker 1: same spot and I ended up being burned Australia. It's
Speaker 1: so funny how we talked about matchups and we talked
Speaker 1: about personnel and all these different things. A lot of
Speaker 1: times basketball games come down to execution, and like to
Speaker 1: the US team's credit, they executed really well down the
Speaker 1: stretch and they pulled it out. But yeah, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be covering the Serbia game on Wednesday. That one's gonna
Speaker 1: be really fun with Yokitchen there. But still I'm looking
Speaker 1: for more ball and player movement from both groups, but
Speaker 1: especially with the starters and then just kind of maintaining effort.
Speaker 1: I thought that was the other big one. They were
Speaker 1: up twenty four, and they kind of let their foot
Speaker 1: off the gas. You always got to be careful, especially
Speaker 1: in modern basketball with the three point shot, with guys
Speaker 1: getting out in transition quickly, things can flip on you
Speaker 1: pretty quickly, just like they did today.
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Speaker 1: All right, just move on to the nailbag. What is
Speaker 1: your opinion on Grant Hills. We are building a team
Speaker 1: rhetoric as we're building a team rhetoric. As a Celtics
Speaker 1: and huge Jalen Brown fan, I get the white pickup. However,
Speaker 1: I'm confused as to why Kawhi was on the team
Speaker 1: in the first place and why Embiid is playing as well.
Speaker 1: A couple of things, Uh, Embiid, I think it's playing
Speaker 1: because he's the fifth best player in the world, and
Speaker 1: I think that I think that one, he's got the
Speaker 1: just more star power than Jalen Brown, and I think
Speaker 1: that that kind of gives him a certain leg up
Speaker 1: in these discussions. Two, they absolutely need him for the
Speaker 1: Yokic matchup, Like he is a specific matchup tool that
Speaker 1: they need. Why was Kawhi Leonard on the roster? He's
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. He's you know, a guy that, when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: is considered in that same tier with all those guys
Speaker 1: at the top of the league, right Like, this is
Speaker 1: a guy that like is gonna hit fifty five percent
Speaker 1: of his pull of jumpers forty percent of its series.
Speaker 1: Is an elite defensive player like he's when Kawhi is healthy,
Speaker 1: he's better than Jaylen Brown. I don't know what else
Speaker 1: to say, Like, Yeah, if I'm a general manager, I'd
Speaker 1: rather have Jalen Brown because for an eighty two game season,
Speaker 1: I want Jlen Brown. I just trust him to be
Speaker 1: available more more right, But like in terms of their ceilings,
Speaker 1: Kawhi is a much better player than Jaylen Brown when
Speaker 1: he is healthy, and so that and also just kind
Speaker 1: of brings a certain cachet like if Kawhi Leonard call
Speaker 1: his agent, calls Team USA and goes like hey healthy
Speaker 1: and wants to play, like, they're going to answer in
Speaker 1: a different way, different way than they will for a
Speaker 1: player that's outside of that tier the way that Jaylen
Speaker 1: Brown is. As far as the Derek White piece, I
Speaker 1: didn't think it was that complicated. They're running a lot
Speaker 1: of drop coverage. I thought they'd be more of a
Speaker 1: switching team. They still do with the Anthony Davis BAM groups,
Speaker 1: but they're running a lot of drop especially with them
Speaker 1: beat on the floor. They only have one guy on
Speaker 1: the roster who's like a professional screen navigator and Drew Holliday.
Speaker 1: I think they viewed Jalen Brown as another switching forward,
Speaker 1: which they already have a lot of, and so they
Speaker 1: opted for a guard that kind of fits that specific
Speaker 1: role as like an off ball cog who also can
Speaker 1: chase over the top of ball screens and gives them
Speaker 1: two options there in case something happens with Drew Holliday.
Speaker 1: You got some flak for suggesting Canada should not have
Speaker 1: let up in the friendly against the US. Why do
Speaker 1: you think it's important for teams to push themselves even
Speaker 1: in pre tournament games. I'm just I just think about
Speaker 1: it from the competitive nature side of it, Like, if
Speaker 1: you're Canada, you want to beat USA, there's a chance
Speaker 1: that you don't even get to see them overseas by
Speaker 1: vergi of maybe just being in a different pool and
Speaker 1: in single elimination going different routes, right, So like like
Speaker 1: there's no guarantee you get to see him again. And
Speaker 1: what a cool moment, Like if you got if I
Speaker 1: was there in the arena, guys, that was a basketball moment.
Speaker 1: The arena was completely packed, there were all these celebrities
Speaker 1: and famous basketball people there. Both teams were trying super hard,
Speaker 1: Like that would have been a cool game to win
Speaker 1: if you're Canada, and I just thought it was strange
Speaker 1: that they they pulled the plug the way that they
Speaker 1: did while the game was still in reach. Again, I'm
Speaker 1: not criticizing the decision in the sense that, like I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's wrong, but as a basketball fan, I
Speaker 1: wanted to see Canada go back to their starters and
Speaker 1: then two, I just can say that I feel pretty
Speaker 1: confident that the actual Canada starters wanted to go back in.
Speaker 1: It was a decision from the staff because they are
Speaker 1: competitors and they wanted to beat the USA team. Who
Speaker 1: is the better win now player between Kaminga and Pozemski
Speaker 1: seems to me like backup point guard is a bigger
Speaker 1: need than wing depth for the of the Warriors with
Speaker 1: their current roster. Sounds like both would need to go
Speaker 1: for Lori. But if you could somehow keep one of them,
Speaker 1: who do you trust more to help Steph win? Now?
Speaker 1: I give up both of them if that's what it took,
Speaker 1: But if I had to choose keeping one, I'd keep
Speaker 1: pots Like Kaminga is going to be a better player
Speaker 1: than Pazemski in the long run. He just has too
Speaker 1: many athletic gifts. But right now, Pazemski is much more
Speaker 1: of an easy plug and play guy that like fills
Speaker 1: a very specific role, a guy who can run five out,
Speaker 1: a guy who can defend at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: a very good reboundary kind of fills that Dante DiVincenzo
Speaker 1: role from last year, right like or from two years ago,
Speaker 1: I should say like, I think Brandon Pazemski is much
Speaker 1: more capable of being a good rotation piece right now
Speaker 1: within the Warriors than Jonathan Kaminga. So take advantage of
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga's long term potential by using him as a
Speaker 1: trade piece. I know that there are still some Warriors
Speaker 1: fans that are hung up on Kaminga, but like and again,
Speaker 1: I would give up both of them if that's what
Speaker 1: it took to get LORI. But if I had to
Speaker 1: keep one, I'd keep Pazemski. I think he's just a
Speaker 1: better fit in the short term. Jason Denver fumbled big
Speaker 1: time by not winning this year. Things undoubtedly get way
Speaker 1: harder for them had they won. I think you could
Speaker 1: have put Jokic in a top twenty discussion now I
Speaker 1: think he's firmly not in that. Couple this with the
Speaker 1: fact that he may not win another ring, and then
Speaker 1: in parentheses he says would say that he doesn't so
Speaker 1: a couple things. I'm not ready to punt on Denver.
Speaker 1: I do think that they are a different basketball team. Now.
Speaker 1: One of the specific things that I've always talked about
Speaker 1: is you have to pick your poison with Denver, right,
Speaker 1: You've got to double the post, You've got to defend
Speaker 1: pick and roll three on two, you need to put
Speaker 1: your a lot of times, have a big man running
Speaker 1: that low man spot so that he can navigate the
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon problem along the baseline, right, Like, there are
Speaker 1: things that they do, but a big part of that
Speaker 1: is KCP and Michael Porter Junior on the week side.
Speaker 1: They both are just incredibly efficient spot up players to
Speaker 1: the point where if you do send extra defenders, because
Speaker 1: that's the whole dynamic, right, you let Jamal Murray Yokis
Speaker 1: played two man game two on two, you're screwed, yeah,
Speaker 1: or three man game. I would even call it with
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon on the baseline, If you defend that three
Speaker 1: on three, you're screwed. If you defend Yokich one on
Speaker 1: one in the post, you're screwed. If you switch and
Speaker 1: let Jamal Murray work on an island, you're screwed, right,
Speaker 1: But if you send extra defenders, here are these two
Speaker 1: like other worldly spot up players on the other side
Speaker 1: of the floor. With KCP it's more close out attacking.
Speaker 1: With Michael Porter Junior, it's more three point shooting. But
Speaker 1: by the numbers, the two of those guys are two
Speaker 1: of the very best spot up guys in the league.
Speaker 1: And so when you when you take a player like
Speaker 1: that and you turn them into let's say, let's just
Speaker 1: say Christian Brown. Right, if it's Christian Brown, that goes
Speaker 1: from being a like, cannot leave him open spot up
Speaker 1: guy to like somebody that's here, you go eighty second
Speaker 1: percentile for Contavious called what pope one point one six
Speaker 1: points per possession in spot up situations. That's really really good.
Speaker 1: That's hard to replicate. And so let's just say they
Speaker 1: slide Christian Brown into that spot. Now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's becomes a very simple thing. You're going to ignore
Speaker 1: Christian Brown the same way that you ignore Aaron Gordon.
Speaker 1: Those guys are still going to be active as athletes,
Speaker 1: and they're still gonna make a lot happen. But as
Speaker 1: long as you're big enough around the rim to kind
Speaker 1: of contend with those guys vertically, you won't have to
Speaker 1: worry as much about chasing Christian Brown off the line now.
Speaker 1: So there's no doubt that Denver got a little bit
Speaker 1: easier to guard with Contavious call what Pope going out,
Speaker 1: But most basketball teams have that same problem. Denver had
Speaker 1: this uniquely fitting starting five. Now they have four of
Speaker 1: those guys and they're going to have a downgrade at
Speaker 1: one of those positions, but they're still going to be really,
Speaker 1: really difficult to guard. Yolkic is still the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. The Yokich Murray two man game is
Speaker 1: still incredibly difficult to deal with. Aaron Gordon is still
Speaker 1: a handful underneath the basket. They're not going anywhere. It's
Speaker 1: just their margin for error has gone down a little bit.
Speaker 1: A couple things. I think Christian Brown is probably spending
Speaker 1: his entire summer focusing on ball skills like the ability
Speaker 1: to run second side action, the ability to hit catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes consistently into drive closeouts, because he knows
Speaker 1: that could potentially be his role. And then who knows,
Speaker 1: like Gary Trent Junior is still out there and of
Speaker 1: all of the spots that I think, and I want
Speaker 1: Gary Trent Junior to go to the Lakers, that would
Speaker 1: be ideal because I think they need an athlete at
Speaker 1: that two guard spot. But I don't think he's going
Speaker 1: to go there. And if I was Gary Trent Junior,
Speaker 1: and I did have to take something like a veteran
Speaker 1: minimum contract, which like hopefully it doesn't end up being
Speaker 1: the case for his sake, I think he's probably gonna
Speaker 1: end up getting the tax payer mid level. But like
Speaker 1: if he ends up going to take a discount, if
Speaker 1: you were to play one year in Denver alongside Jokich,
Speaker 1: he could go on a deep playoff runt and then
Speaker 1: sign a much more lucrative deal next summer if that's
Speaker 1: what he wants. Whereas right now, Gary trentz kind of
Speaker 1: in that weird kind of limbo where if he goes
Speaker 1: next year and has kind of a tough year where
Speaker 1: he's maybe he takes more money at a mid level
Speaker 1: exception somewhere, but he's playing for some bad team and
Speaker 1: he continues to kind of show some of his bad
Speaker 1: habits that he has shown it in the last couple
Speaker 1: of seasons. That could put him in a situation where
Speaker 1: he suddenly becomes a veteran minimum guy in the future.
Speaker 1: And so, like we've seen before, guys take veteran minimum
Speaker 1: deals on really good teams that make deep playoff runs
Speaker 1: and then get more lucrative deals after We just saw
Speaker 1: it with Derek Jones junior right going to the Clippers
Speaker 1: and getting a little bit of a paycheck. And so
Speaker 1: Gary Trent's a guy that, like fingers crossed, maybe a
Speaker 1: team like Denver could get to to solidify that two
Speaker 1: guard spot. But the reality is is like it's probably
Speaker 1: the more likely outcome is it ends up being a
Speaker 1: lot of Christian Brown, and there's an upside there, Like
Speaker 1: as much as Christian Brown is not as good offensively
Speaker 1: as KCP, I actually do think with his size and
Speaker 1: strength advantage, he's a little bit more versatile defensively and
Speaker 1: he does change the athletic profile of that team in
Speaker 1: a real way, like he was the one guy in
Speaker 1: that Timberwolf series that kind of contended with Anthony Edwards athletically.
Speaker 1: And so I don't think Denver's going anywhere. They've obviously
Speaker 1: had a disappointing offseason. The Dave Ron Holmes Achilles terror
Speaker 1: is devastating. I had heard that they pretty much intended
Speaker 1: for him to play a lot of backup center next year.
Speaker 1: They viewed him as an NBA ready kind of guy,
Speaker 1: and so super super unfortunate. But don't take away from
Speaker 1: the fact that you still have Jamal Murray, you still
Speaker 1: have Michael Porter Junior, you still have Nicole Yokich, you
Speaker 1: still have Aaron Gordon, you still have the gist of
Speaker 1: what makes the Nuggets the Nuggets in house. And I
Speaker 1: also think that Jokic is going to be on a
Speaker 1: little bit of a revenge tour this year, and I
Speaker 1: think that he's going to be the best player in
Speaker 1: the world. And so I just have a really hard
Speaker 1: time writing off the Denver Nuggets, And as of right now,
Speaker 1: they're still my favorite to win the West going into
Speaker 1: next season when KD comes back, who looses the starting spot.
Speaker 1: So I think KD is the easiest plug and play
Speaker 1: guy in the league because he's such good shooters. Theres
Speaker 1: a good close out attacker, but can also run action,
Speaker 1: can also beat matchups, and he's also a very good
Speaker 1: defensive player when he wants to be. So like I
Speaker 1: would probably just slide Tatum to the two and move
Speaker 1: Kdie into the starting lineup and I'd take Aunt off
Speaker 1: the bench. Don't think we're going to see that. I
Speaker 1: just got into the starting lineup, hit a bunch of
Speaker 1: shots again today, I expect Ant to start. But if
Speaker 1: I was coaching the team, I would go with Steph Tatum,
Speaker 1: Kadi Lebron, and Anthony Davis at the five and I
Speaker 1: would switch everything, and I think that group would really
Speaker 1: get the ball moving side to side. And then I'd
Speaker 1: let Ant come in with a bench group and be like,
Speaker 1: here are the keys you and emb'd want to take
Speaker 1: turns playing one on one. Go ahead and be my guest.
Speaker 1: Do it with the bench group, right, Because I just
Speaker 1: I think that starting group needs to get more side
Speaker 1: to sideball and player movement. Since the Celtics won, do
Speaker 1: you think some of Missoula's philosophies will become more pervasive
Speaker 1: around the league, things like heavy ball and player movement,
Speaker 1: driving kick and an emphasis on getting back on defense,
Speaker 1: attacking the margins, etc. Love the show, keep up the
Speaker 1: great work, Thank you for the sport. I think you
Speaker 1: know Missoula won me over in a big way in
Speaker 1: this postseason run, and a big part of it too,
Speaker 1: was like I I didn't acknowledge enough during some of
Speaker 1: the downsides with Boston over the last couple of years
Speaker 1: that they were learning, meaning the players. Just because the
Speaker 1: Celtics went down and took five or six bad threes
Speaker 1: in a row doesn't mean Joe Mizula is in the
Speaker 1: huddle saying, dribble up the floor and take bad threes, right.
Speaker 1: Joe Mizula preaches being deliberate about setting up your spacing.
Speaker 1: Joe Mizula preaches being deliberate about getting the right matchup
Speaker 1: in the right spot of the floor to get the
Speaker 1: defense in rotation. Joe Mizula preaches attacking and playing quality
Speaker 1: driving kick basketball from there, getting paint touches, but then
Speaker 1: making good decisions when you get into the paint, chasing
Speaker 1: the great shot, not the good shot. Joe Mizula teaches
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. It just took a while for
Speaker 1: the Celtics to really embrace it the way that they
Speaker 1: did right and like their ugly moments and on it.
Speaker 1: They were dominant this year, but their ugly moments blowing
Speaker 1: the Cavs game, blowing the Warriors game, there they're what
Speaker 1: were they two and four against the top three teams
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference, Right, Like, their issue that they
Speaker 1: had this season primarily centered around not doing what Joe
Speaker 1: Mazzula was asking them to do, as far as like
Speaker 1: it being copied around the league. Everything has to do
Speaker 1: with your personnel. You got to be really careful with
Speaker 1: taking a coaching philosophy and inflicting it on a roster.
Speaker 1: You want to look at your roster and you want
Speaker 1: to build a coaching philosophy that fits that roster, right,
Speaker 1: And so for instance, Boston has a lot of guys
Speaker 1: that have real downhill athleticism that can beat people off
Speaker 1: the dribble and from there they've got a lot of shooting.
Speaker 1: So for them, driving kick basketball makes a ton of sense.
Speaker 1: But there are teams out there where driving kick doesn't
Speaker 1: make a ton of sense, right, And like a big
Speaker 1: part like for instance, with Dallas last year, they had
Speaker 1: all these play finishers, and so it made sense for
Speaker 1: them to you know, be a little bit more deliberate
Speaker 1: in the half court and you know, use your off
Speaker 1: ball guys more as play finishers rather than advantage extenders. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's what makes sense for that particular roster. And so
Speaker 1: that said, like I do think that more teams that
Speaker 1: have that type of roster U should embrace more of
Speaker 1: a driving kick style. I think that you will see
Speaker 1: more and more of it. Anytime you see a team
Speaker 1: hoist the trophy. It's copycat league people try to people
Speaker 1: try to pull from what's being successful elsewhere around the league.
Speaker 1: As far as the emphasis on attacking the margins, this
Speaker 1: is something that I've always been a huge believer in,
Speaker 1: and it's something that's boring to talk about, and it's
Speaker 1: something that every single player knows. It's just it's strictly
Speaker 1: a discipline thing. Like, yeah, if you become an elite
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding team because you're scrappy and you box out
Speaker 1: and you pursue long rebounds, that will help you win games.
Speaker 1: There's no dramatic schematic element to that. It's just committing
Speaker 1: to the work and doing what you need to do
Speaker 1: to be a good defensive rebounding team. Transition defense. There
Speaker 1: are some you know, kind of schematic elements to it, right,
Speaker 1: like you want to get back and stop the ball
Speaker 1: and protect the paint, and then you want to fan
Speaker 1: out to shooters from there. It's a lot of talking
Speaker 1: and communicating, but at the end of the day. It's
Speaker 1: effort got to sprint back in transition, You gotta There's
Speaker 1: gotta be a focus element of it too, when you're
Speaker 1: on offense, identifying floor balance, Like, Oh, this guy's driving
Speaker 1: in a pick and roll on the right wing. I'm
Speaker 1: on the left wing. I can't crash because the role
Speaker 1: man and the ball handler are gonna be underneath the rim.
Speaker 1: When this is over, I'm the only guy who's back.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start kind of drifting here a little bit
Speaker 1: as as soon as I identify the ball is not
Speaker 1: gonna make its way to me. Right, Like, there's a
Speaker 1: focus element, but most of it is just sprinting. You
Speaker 1: gotta put in the work to get back in transition.
Speaker 1: Like being delibered about executing offensively is an attacking the
Speaker 1: margins thing, Like the vast majority of NBA teams are
Speaker 1: more efficient when they run action versus when they freelance.
Speaker 1: Being more deliberate about running action is an easy way
Speaker 1: to kind of squeeze more out of the margins of
Speaker 1: the game. Right, Like, we can go on and on
Speaker 1: and on and like being really good with your execution
Speaker 1: on sideline and baseline out of bounds plays, like being
Speaker 1: really good with your execution in late game situations. They're
Speaker 1: all all these different areas of the game where you
Speaker 1: can kind of, you know, squeeze out a little extra right,
Speaker 1: And I just don't understand why every team doesn't do
Speaker 1: that or at least like put in a ton of
Speaker 1: effort in those areas, simply because like, those are things
Speaker 1: that are under your control. You can't control if Jokic
Speaker 1: is just better than your center. You can't control if
Speaker 1: nobody on your team can guard Anthony Edwards. You can
Speaker 1: control if you get back in transition. You can't control
Speaker 1: if you're at least a competitive defensive rebounding team. And again,
Speaker 1: there's a personnel element to rebounding too, side strength and athleticism.
Speaker 1: But as long as you do all the right things,
Speaker 1: you give yourself a better chance. And so again I
Speaker 1: love that philosophy. I do think that that's something that
Speaker 1: every team in the league can do. But as far
Speaker 1: as the specific offensive philosophy of Boston, it is kind
Speaker 1: of unique to their personnel, and there are teams that
Speaker 1: will try and fail at it because they don't have
Speaker 1: the right kind of guys. Do you think the MAVs
Speaker 1: will start nausey over Clay and have Clay be the
Speaker 1: sixth man. At some point in the season they announce
Speaker 1: that they will start play first, But to me, I
Speaker 1: feel Nausey fits better with the starters and have Clay
Speaker 1: Field the the Tim Hardaway junior role. So I've been
Speaker 1: hearing the same thing that Klay Thompson is going to start.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that works defensively at all whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of it's a concession to
Speaker 1: Clay and just his circumstance and the fact that he
Speaker 1: wants to start. But like, in the long run, you
Speaker 1: need somebody that can guard Anthony Edwards the way that
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior did, that can guard the other team's
Speaker 1: best guard, and that who's gonna guard Shake Gilds Alexander
Speaker 1: and Jalen Williams, right like it just it's a lot
Speaker 1: to ask for Clay and Kyrie Irving to do that.
Speaker 1: If you take PJ. Washington and you utilize him as
Speaker 1: your primary point of attack defender, now you've removed your lowman,
Speaker 1: right that that dynamic of the center lively in this case,
Speaker 1: being able to come up to the level of screens
Speaker 1: because PJ. Washington is behind him and that dynamic of
Speaker 1: that low man. You lose that if that becomes Clay,
Speaker 1: And Clay did not have a great season last year
Speaker 1: as a defensive rebounder and as an off ball defender,
Speaker 1: and so that like putting him in that role I
Speaker 1: think could lead to some messy results as well. Naji's
Speaker 1: not as good of a point of attack defender as
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is, but he is a good point
Speaker 1: of attack Defender's physical and can slide his feet, and
Speaker 1: then he's a much higher level offensive player than Derek Jon.
Speaker 1: Derek Jon Jr. Really good ball handler for a role
Speaker 1: player guard has some like off the dribble pop and
Speaker 1: so like, I don't know if that means Naji starts,
Speaker 1: because I don't think Nase is just like a shoe
Speaker 1: in starting caliber player. He's kind of more of like
Speaker 1: a rotational player anyway. But the moving Clay into the
Speaker 1: starters is going to lead to some issues on the
Speaker 1: defensive floor. There's no doubt. The question is can they
Speaker 1: get enough offensively out of it for it to be
Speaker 1: worth it. Feels like KCP to the magic has been
Speaker 1: completely overlooked. What are your thoughts on the move as
Speaker 1: well as them rafting Tristan da Silva. I was just
Speaker 1: talking about this earlier with the Nuggets, but KCP was one.
Speaker 1: It was an eighty second percentile spot up player last year,
Speaker 1: one of the best kind of like catch and shoot
Speaker 1: drive close out guys in the league. That was a
Speaker 1: specific weakness for Orlando, right, the ability to score from
Speaker 1: the perimeter, and that allowing Cleveland to really pack the
Speaker 1: paint against them. Right, So KCP just gives you more shooting.
Speaker 1: It's really that simple. It's just something to try to
Speaker 1: make things easier for fronts and for Pala Boncarra. He's
Speaker 1: a professional closeout attacker and that is something that will
Speaker 1: make things easier for them on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. He's also a very good point of attack defender,
Speaker 1: just a much better version of Gary Harris in somebody
Speaker 1: that it makes the magic Basically, you're just upgrading a
Speaker 1: starting position into a championship level starter, a proven championship
Speaker 1: level starter that's doing it, that's done it in two
Speaker 1: different destinations. So love the KCP pickup. I think he's
Speaker 1: going to make the magic better. As far as shist into,
Speaker 1: Silva is just kind of doubling down on what makes
Speaker 1: the magic great which is just lots of length and
Speaker 1: guys that kind of bring that versatile length on the
Speaker 1: perimeter right, just the forwards that can dribble, shoot and pass.
Speaker 1: That's what makes the magic the magic. And in testing
Speaker 1: to Silva's a natural fit there. Who do you think
Speaker 1: will rank higher at the end of their career Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards is shake Os as Alexander? I think it's more
Speaker 1: likely Ant. I just think he's a more superior athlete.
Speaker 1: I also think Ant is a more dynamic three point
Speaker 1: shooting talent, which I think will benefit him well in
Speaker 1: the long run. I think Gant can be a better
Speaker 1: defender to as things get Like I think when Ant
Speaker 1: is Shay's age, there's a decent chance that he's the
Speaker 1: best player in the world. Like that's how highly I
Speaker 1: think of Ant. So I think that Ant will be
Speaker 1: a better player than Shane in the long run. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: do you think the way Ad is playing right now
Speaker 1: in the Olympics that the Lakers realize getting a big
Speaker 1: is necessary if they want to contend for another title?
Speaker 1: And who can you see the Lakers trading for? This
Speaker 1: is tricky because what people are referring to there were
Speaker 1: some plays, the plays in this Australia game where Ant
Speaker 1: was the low man, where like Bam was up at
Speaker 1: the level of the screen dealing with like Paddy Mills
Speaker 1: coming off in action, and Ant was like tagging Roller
Speaker 1: and then closing out to a three point shooter in
Speaker 1: the corner. And yeah, it'd be great to have a
Speaker 1: d as A as a lowman, but it'd be great
Speaker 1: to have Bam at a bio too. And that's the
Speaker 1: thing is, it's probably not gonna if you get a
Speaker 1: second big to play alongside alongside Ad, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be Bam at a bio. Most importantly, you got to
Speaker 1: look at the context of the Lakers roster. They're playing
Speaker 1: Ad next to Bam without Lebron on the floor with
Speaker 1: Team USA. With the Lakers, i'd love to see an
Speaker 1: Ad at the four look that they used throughout the
Speaker 1: season is just like an inning Zeter kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is you're always going
Speaker 1: down with Lebron and Ad, and Lebron at age forty,
Speaker 1: is effectively another big. He has to play the four,
Speaker 1: he has to be the low man. And so like
Speaker 1: the way I look at it, this ship always goes
Speaker 1: down for the Lakers with AD at the five no
Speaker 1: matter what. And so while I do think it's worth
Speaker 1: looking at backup fives that are an upgrade that could
Speaker 1: make life easier for AD, I don't think it matters
Speaker 1: if it's not within the context of what they can
Speaker 1: actually use at the end of games. And so investing heavily,
Speaker 1: like investing heavy resources in a backup center, I think
Speaker 1: would be a waste. Who's the five you're going down with.
Speaker 1: You're going down with Austin Reeves at the one, Lebron
Speaker 1: and AD and then a two and a three, and
Speaker 1: that two in a three is not good enough right now.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of ruy Hatchamura losing Michael Porter Junior
Speaker 1: in a huge fourth quarter possession because he doesn't know
Speaker 1: how to play the three, and D'Angelo Russell getting out
Speaker 1: hustled for a rebound er just not doing his job
Speaker 1: on the defensive glass because he sucks at role player stuff.
Speaker 1: So like those two guys are the two upgrades that
Speaker 1: need to be made, and like any sort of resource
Speaker 1: allocation in terms of draft compensation or young players need
Speaker 1: to be directed at the two in the three, because
Speaker 1: those are the two spots that when the chips hit
Speaker 1: the when the shit hits the fan, and you're trying
Speaker 1: to get a stop against the Denver Nuggets in Game four,
Speaker 1: and it's ninety nine to ninety nine, and you got
Speaker 1: PTSD from all those times that Jamal Murray hit a
Speaker 1: game winner in your face. The group you're gonna go
Speaker 1: down with in the final five minutes of that game
Speaker 1: is eighty at the five, Lebron at the four, Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves at the one. Who are you playing at the
Speaker 1: two and three? That's where they need to invest their resources.
Speaker 1: I would not agree with spending heavy draft compensation on
Speaker 1: a guy like Wendell Carter Junior. Like I really like Wendell.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of him playing next to Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis even but I don't like it within the context
Speaker 1: of Lebron playing the three because he's forty years old
Speaker 1: and at the three point at the three right now,
Speaker 1: you need someone who can navigate screens. The Lakers need
Speaker 1: Lebron in ad to be four to five, and they
Speaker 1: need their two and three to be athletes that can
Speaker 1: chase over the top of the screen. It is a
Speaker 1: must for them in order to achieve their potential offense
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the four, and again eighty
Speaker 1: looks fantastic and Lebron's gonna be coming out of a
Speaker 1: tmusa thing, so he's gonna be like kind of geared
Speaker 1: up for this season. I'm a believer in the Lakers.
Speaker 1: If they can bolster the two and three, I don't
Speaker 1: think they're that far off, But I do not believe
Speaker 1: in their ability to do anything until they address those
Speaker 1: two positional needs. And like when we talk about I'll
Speaker 1: just skip ahead to the Laker question, how far can
Speaker 1: the Lakers get as currently constructed. As currently constructed, they
Speaker 1: are what you saw last year. They're a team that's
Speaker 1: good enough to beat anybody except for the real championship contenders.
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers would have beat a team like Minnesota.
Speaker 1: I don't think they would have beat Dallas, especially not
Speaker 1: without Jared Vanderbilt. They were one of those random teams
Speaker 1: in that matchup group where like past the past, the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: it was like Thunder, Well, the Thunder actually got the
Speaker 1: one seed, but Denver is my best team in the West.
Speaker 1: It was like Thunder, Timberwolves, Mavericks, Clippers, Sons, Lakers. Those
Speaker 1: teams were all on the same tier in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and they were all matchup oriented. It just turned out
Speaker 1: that Minnesota had a really strong matchup advantage against Denver
Speaker 1: in particular, but Minnesota sucks against rim protection. They got
Speaker 1: their butts kicked by Dallas. They would have gotten there.
Speaker 1: I think they would have gotten their butts kicked by
Speaker 1: the Lakers. I think it would have been the exact
Speaker 1: same thing. I think they would have just loaded up
Speaker 1: the strong side. Anthony Davis would have shut down the
Speaker 1: paint the same way that Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford
Speaker 1: did against Anthony Edwards. I think that the same strength
Speaker 1: advantages that Lebron and Anthony Davis have would have caused
Speaker 1: the same problems for Minnesota's defense that Luka Doncic did.
Speaker 1: Like those teams were all beaten each other. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, we know the lakers particular weakness was
Speaker 1: teams that could really manipulate their spacing and take advantage
Speaker 1: of the weak side could beat them because of their
Speaker 1: lack of perimeter defenders. I think Luca would have picked
Speaker 1: the Lakers apart. I think that would have been an
Speaker 1: issue right Like had the Lakers run into a playoff series,
Speaker 1: against really quick perimeter teams like the Sacramento Kings, I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers would have lost that series right So,
Speaker 1: like right now, the Lakers are capable of beating everybody
Speaker 1: except for the really good teams, but they're even vulnerable
Speaker 1: within that matchup tier in the middle of the league.
Speaker 1: I think if they accentuate that two to three spot,
Speaker 1: if they turn that shooting guard spot and that small
Speaker 1: forward spot into athletes that can defend and at least
Speaker 1: are competent on the offensive end of the floor, that's
Speaker 1: where I think the Lakers have the potential to enter
Speaker 1: into that top tier in the Western Conference. A guy
Speaker 1: like Bruce Brown at the two I think would be huge.
Speaker 1: A guy like Dorian Finney Smith at the three, literally,
Speaker 1: if they just pulled those two moves off. I know,
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith and Bruce Brown are not necessarily that
Speaker 1: much better basketball players than and Ruey Hachimura. It's specifically
Speaker 1: about the fit. D Loo and Ruey are redundant. Dlo
Speaker 1: is redundant with Austin. Ruey is redundant with Lebron. Dorian
Speaker 1: Finney Smith is a three, a real three. Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: is a two, a real two. Those guys, and Bruce
Speaker 1: Brown needs to be a two next to a real
Speaker 1: skill guard like a Jamal Murray or in this case
Speaker 1: in Austin Reeves. That makes sense. Dorian Finney Smith. He's
Speaker 1: not a high level offensive player, so he needs to
Speaker 1: capitalize on advantages. He needs to be the three next
Speaker 1: to multiple ballhandl Fulcrum's well, ad Lebron and Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: have you covered there? And so those are the kinds
Speaker 1: of moves that I think could like on the margins
Speaker 1: that can move the Lakers into a more serious level
Speaker 1: of basketball on both ends of the floor. I'm worried
Speaker 1: about the Lakers doing that because in order to get
Speaker 1: good basketball players, you have to spend draft compensation. How
Speaker 1: did the Dallas Mavericks get Daniel Gafford in PJ Washington
Speaker 1: draft compensation? Are the Lakers willing to pay what it
Speaker 1: costs to get high level role players that accentuate what
Speaker 1: their best players do. That's going to be the question
Speaker 1: We're going to find out the answer to over the
Speaker 1: course of the rest of the summer. Two more quick
Speaker 1: ones and then we'll get out of here. Tatum shooting
Speaker 1: percentage in his pull up jumper efficiency has decreased in
Speaker 1: each of the last three or four post seasons. And
Speaker 1: You've said it's just the peaks and valleys that come
Speaker 1: with shooting variants, But I think it's it's what he
Speaker 1: does in the offseason and all the weight training. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing, it didn't really matter how much you lift
Speaker 1: weights as long as you continue to polish up your shot.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of really buff guys around the
Speaker 1: league that can shoot. That to me is a cop out.
Speaker 1: I mean Desmond Bane literally like looks like a cartoon
Speaker 1: character with how big his arms are on his body,
Speaker 1: and the dude's like just an absolute laser from the
Speaker 1: three point line like that. Kawhi Enard has built like
Speaker 1: an absolute truck and he can shoot like crazy. Right So, Like,
Speaker 1: to me, it's just right now, Tatum's going through some
Speaker 1: stuff with his form. He's got a little bit of
Speaker 1: a hitch right now. You could tell he's a little
Speaker 1: bit just generally slumping in terms of his confidence. He
Speaker 1: airballed to a corner three in the USA Australia game today,
Speaker 1: So like, I think he'll get out of it. But
Speaker 1: right now, the big thing for me is I just
Speaker 1: see a little bit of a hitch as he's gathering
Speaker 1: his shot, as he's kind of coming up in front
Speaker 1: of his chest into a shooting pocket. He's just a
Speaker 1: little bit hitchy there, and that's the thing he's got
Speaker 1: to work out. Last question, do you think Luca can
Speaker 1: be considered the second best player on the planet after
Speaker 1: getting exposed for all time bad defense in the finals
Speaker 1: and then he put in parenthes. He's so bad it's
Speaker 1: impossible to win with one thing here, Boston. Let's credit
Speaker 1: Boston in the sense that they are uniquely equipped to
Speaker 1: punish teams that typically need to hide one of their
Speaker 1: lesser defensive players. I think there are a lot of
Speaker 1: stars in the league that would have struggled against Boston.
Speaker 1: I think Yok would have struggled on defense against Boston.
Speaker 1: I think a guy I think a guy like a
Speaker 1: like a Steph Curry might have struggled against Boston defensively.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that a lot of like
Speaker 1: the slower footed players would have struggled, right Like, I
Speaker 1: don't think they would have been as bad as Luca.
Speaker 1: I think Luca was exceptionally bad, and I think that's
Speaker 1: something that he needs to deal with. But I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna deal with it this summer too. Like I
Speaker 1: think that was kind of a humbling experience for him,
Speaker 1: but I think Boston in general just kind of made
Speaker 1: that situation look look worse than it actually was. And
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to bail on Luca as one of
Speaker 1: the best players in the world because he had a
Speaker 1: bad playoff series. A lot of really good players before
Speaker 1: him had that bad playoff series and never rebounded. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: that's all I have for today. We're gonna run this
Speaker 1: mail bag as a breakout tomorrow. I'll be back on
Speaker 1: Wednesday morning. We're gonna break down Serbia versus the USA,
Speaker 1: Jokis versus b That would should be a ton of fun.
Speaker 1: I will see you guys.
Speaker 2: Then the volume