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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hop.
Speaker 1: Tonight here at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all
Speaker 1: of you guys are having a great end of your week.
Speaker 1: Today is mail bag Day. We're gonna be bouncing all
Speaker 1: around the league. I appreciate you guys for dropping questions
Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments. Remember if you want to get
Speaker 1: in on our mail bags any one of our full episodes,
Speaker 1: just going of the YouTube comments, type mailbag with the
Speaker 1: colon and type your question That's how I can find
Speaker 1: them in the mix of all those comments. Drop your
Speaker 1: questions in there and we'll get to them in Fridays
Speaker 1: throughout the remainder of the season. You guys know the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight
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Speaker 1: on that front. Don't forget about our new social media
Speaker 1: feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout
Speaker 1: the year. And then, last but not least, keep dropping
Speaker 1: mail bag questions in the YouTube comments. Like I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: we get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: I believe Jannis is a capable and good defender, even
Speaker 1: won Defensive Player of the Year. If I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: you are not mistaken, But it seems he never actually
Speaker 1: defends and guards players with the ball. I watched Clippers
Speaker 1: and Blazers beat the Bucks, and he never took on
Speaker 1: the challenge of guarding Zubacher Aighton who both had great games.
Speaker 1: We have seen in the past Jimmy Butler Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: kill smaller guards, but he won't guard them, and he
Speaker 1: says just doing what coach thinks is best. Is there
Speaker 1: any particular reason Giannis has labeled such a great defender
Speaker 1: but never takes on any challenges of actually guarding the
Speaker 1: ball on players. I believe he's fully capable of defending.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Sauarro bear Down must be a Tucson guy.
Speaker 1: So when you're deploying your defensive resources, you want to
Speaker 1: deploy players into areas where their individual skill set matches best.
Speaker 1: When you're looking at a team defense, there are several
Speaker 1: different roles that need to be filled. The three that
Speaker 1: are most common and most important are your primary on
Speaker 1: ball guard, your ballscreen defender, the guy who's going to
Speaker 1: be guarding the opposing team's center, and then the guy
Speaker 1: who's in the low man position. Now there's two other
Speaker 1: jobs there, and again it differs from team to teams.
Speaker 1: Some teams have more guards, some teams have more bigs.
Speaker 1: Some teams do a lot of attacking through ISO and
Speaker 1: post up situations, and some teams run a lot more motion.
Speaker 1: Everyone's getting put through a blender. So it's not like
Speaker 1: a it's not like a just a clean answer for
Speaker 1: every situation. But the gist of it is, you gotta
Speaker 1: have a guy that guards the other team's primary ball handler,
Speaker 1: the guy who's running the most ball screens. That guy's
Speaker 1: gonna have to be quick, he's gonna have to be
Speaker 1: good at navigating screens, good at back pressure.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Then your ball screen defender. This is a guy who
Speaker 1: rides the yo yo right like he's always got to
Speaker 1: go up to the level to show against ball handlers
Speaker 1: that can shoot off the dribble, but then drop back
Speaker 1: in that coverage and then get back up to the
Speaker 1: level and then drop back into that coverage that is
Speaker 1: typically best served by a player that's good with his
Speaker 1: hands and that has great size, right.
Speaker 2: And then you have your low man.
Speaker 1: That guy's going to be playing off the ball, usually
Speaker 1: on the weakest.
Speaker 2: Offensive player in the front court for the opponent.
Speaker 1: And that's the guy that when the big man goes
Speaker 1: up to the level, that fills that gap underneath the
Speaker 1: basket and then gets back to the to the weak
Speaker 1: side whenever that big guy drops back. Right, the other
Speaker 1: two jobs are typically there's a less ball handler, right,
Speaker 1: So a guy that still runs action but not as much.
Speaker 1: You're usually gonna put your skill guard, your guard that's
Speaker 1: not as good of a defensive player in that type
Speaker 1: of matchup, think like a Damian Lillard, right. And then
Speaker 1: most teams at the three have a guy that is
Speaker 1: like a little bit of a score, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a ball handler, a little bit of a spot
Speaker 1: up shooter, kind of like a guy who's a jack
Speaker 1: of all trades but a master at none. Type of
Speaker 1: guys usually what teams have kind of operating around the three,
Speaker 1: that's where you're gonna put your other front court player.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, like, as you're determining how to use resources, as
Speaker 1: you're looking at Yannis, it's a poor use of resources
Speaker 1: to be like, I want you to guard the opponent's
Speaker 1: best post player. Why because Brook Lopez is not as
Speaker 1: good at covering ground in rotation and help in recovering
Speaker 1: situations as Yannis, but he is really big. So you're
Speaker 1: better off using Brooke to defend centers and having Yannis
Speaker 1: function more off ball as a help and recover guy.
Speaker 1: Yannis can do it, It's just not the best way
Speaker 1: to allocate Brooke and Giannis. Same goes for on ball
Speaker 1: stuff on the perimeter. For years, that used to be
Speaker 1: things something that people would talk about around like that
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one area era. Why doesn't
Speaker 1: Yannis guard perimeter ball handlers? And it's like, first of all,
Speaker 1: like Yannis is incredibly big, incredibly strong, and he is
Speaker 1: incredibly fast when he gets going, but he's not like
Speaker 1: the quickest tight space movement type of player. Like they're
Speaker 1: like a guy like an Andre Jackson or a guy
Speaker 1: like AJ Green who's been guarding ball handlers and navigating
Speaker 1: screens and doing all that for his entire life, is
Speaker 1: going to have a better time navigating that responsibility than
Speaker 1: putting Yannis on some perimeter guard and asking him to
Speaker 1: navigate screens and do all that kind of stuff. As
Speaker 1: you look at the layout of the roster, that's why
Speaker 1: the the stability that came for the Bucks defense from
Speaker 1: guys like Andre Jackson and and AJ Green kind of
Speaker 1: stabilized things. They kind of figured out the roles right,
Speaker 1: Like they put Aj Green or Ajax on the best
Speaker 1: guard to chase over the top of screens. You put
Speaker 1: Brooke in ball screen actions, coming up to the level
Speaker 1: and dropping back, Jannis is operating as a lowman. Dame's
Speaker 1: guarding the worst opponent guard, and Chris Middleton atorium Prance
Speaker 1: is guarding that third player that's on the perimeter. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's just the best way to deploy your resources. As
Speaker 1: soon as you move Giannis into a different spot, whether
Speaker 1: it's the primary ballscreen guy or the primary perimeter guy,
Speaker 1: he's going to be doing a job that he doesn't
Speaker 1: have as much practice. And guess what, Like, Yiannis at
Speaker 1: center is a look that the Bucks have had and
Speaker 1: have used. And Yannis is a capable ballscreen defender. Some
Speaker 1: of the greatest highlights that I've ever seen from a
Speaker 1: ball screen defender have come from Yannis. He's very good
Speaker 1: at that. But it's one of those things where if
Speaker 1: you use that exclusively and now you have a tough
Speaker 1: time finding something for Brooke to do right. If you
Speaker 1: put him out on the perimeter, you have a hard
Speaker 1: time finding someone to do that lowman job right. So, Like,
Speaker 1: as much as I understand and the idea of wanting
Speaker 1: to take Giannis and use him to plug holes elsewhere
Speaker 1: in your defense. He is best served as that kind
Speaker 1: of low man help side defender because the other jobs
Speaker 1: are actually more achievable for the role players than if
Speaker 1: you kind of Jerry rigged it around and you moved on.
Speaker 1: So like that's the gist of it. Giannis is at
Speaker 1: his best as a help defender. That's the thing that
Speaker 1: he's best at, and it's what also allows the other
Speaker 1: Bucks defensive players to slot into roles that best fit
Speaker 1: their skill sets. Was gonna subscribe at twenty two forty,
Speaker 1: but you said Quentin Grimes played good defense on You
Speaker 1: said Quentin Grimes played good defense on Desmond Bay, and
Speaker 1: we traded Grimes last year. Other than that, pretty decent content,
Speaker 1: Go Nix.
Speaker 2: This was in.
Speaker 1: Reference to our show the other day where I accidentally
Speaker 1: said Quentin Grimes instead of Duce McBride. I do hours
Speaker 1: and hours and hours of content throughout the year, hundreds
Speaker 1: and hundreds of hours. I'm gonna make mistakes. All that
Speaker 1: happened there is I just misspoke. Duce McBride is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players on the Knicks. Those of you
Speaker 1: guys who've been listening to the show the last few
Speaker 1: years have heard me talk about how much I love
Speaker 1: Duce McBride. I even talked before the season that I
Speaker 1: really liked his fit with the starters in place of
Speaker 1: Josh Hard at times. So, like you guys know, I'm
Speaker 1: a big believer in Duce McBride. I just misspoke. That's
Speaker 1: kind of part of the job that happens, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time.
Speaker 1: This is an interesting one. Our defense is catching up
Speaker 1: to the three point offensive trends to me against three
Speaker 1: point teams, it certainly feels like defenders know a drive,
Speaker 1: a drive means a kick, a perimeter pass means a
Speaker 1: swing pass is likely, etc. It feels like easier to
Speaker 1: stop now than last season. There is no doubt that
Speaker 1: in terms of defensive strategy, because like that's the way
Speaker 1: the game changes. Either a defense comes up with a
Speaker 1: new strategy that forces a offensive adjustment, or an offense
Speaker 1: comes up with a new strategy that comes up with
Speaker 1: a defensive adjustment. Right, I'll give you a couple of
Speaker 1: basic examples. Offense makes an adjustment in the sense that
Speaker 1: about ten years ago, every single guard just started becoming
Speaker 1: really damn good at pull up three point shooting off
Speaker 1: of ball screens, following in the trend of Steph Curry. Right, So,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, ball screen coverage has changed and
Speaker 1: it turned into now you actually have to chase everybody
Speaker 1: over the top of screens. That caused a boatload of
Speaker 1: problems for defenses, right, Like that was the whole Like
Speaker 1: every team starts cooking drop coverages, right like the Atlanta Hawks,
Speaker 1: for instance, with Trey Young in the Eastern Conference Finals
Speaker 1: run that they had, right Like, you have this stretch
Speaker 1: there where you have all these dudes that are just
Speaker 1: torching drop coverages.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But then the defense is adjust and they kind of
Speaker 1: figure out this concept of lowman rotation. So essentially they
Speaker 1: just started bringing the big up to the level and
Speaker 1: then using the lowman to kind of split the difference
Speaker 1: between the roleman and the guy in the weak side corner.
Speaker 1: So the way that the offense had to adjust to
Speaker 1: that is now what you're seeing is that the offense
Speaker 1: the pick and roll ball handlers that are great at
Speaker 1: the skip pass, the guys that can come off the
Speaker 1: ball screen and whip it across the court over the
Speaker 1: lowman into the corner. Where the guy the low man
Speaker 1: is supposed to be guarding is. That's where you can
Speaker 1: break down those defenses. Right, So like there's an action
Speaker 1: and equal and opposite reaction, right as the offenses and
Speaker 1: defenses are constantly adjusting to each other. As teams have
Speaker 1: looked at the analytical side of things more, they've discovered
Speaker 1: an order of operations for what makes a great shot. Right,
Speaker 1: an uncontested rim attempt is still the best shot in basketball.
Speaker 1: A uncontested three point shot is still the second best
Speaker 1: shot in basketball. But you start to work through and
Speaker 1: it turns out that, like on defense, you should have
Speaker 1: the same exact approach. You should take away the rim first,
Speaker 1: and then the very next priority should be the three
Speaker 1: point line. So like when you're closing out to the perimeter,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to close out with the intent of
Speaker 1: containing anymore obviously if you can't. If you can, if
Speaker 1: you have an athlete that's good enough, if you have
Speaker 1: a Derek Jones junior that can fly out, contest a
Speaker 1: guy and contain great But like if you have to
Speaker 1: choose between closing out short and allowing a guy to
Speaker 1: shoot while you contain him or chasing him off the line,
Speaker 1: you're gonna chase him off the line now, because if
Speaker 1: you chase him off the line, there's another step in
Speaker 1: that progression where someone can come over and help at
Speaker 1: the rim. So essentially, these defenses are saying, we're gonna
Speaker 1: take away the rim and we're gonna chase you off
Speaker 1: the three point line, and there's just gonna be a
Speaker 1: boatload of space in the middle of the floor where
Speaker 1: you can work right or you're gonna have to make
Speaker 1: multiple driving kicks, like you're gonna have to get to
Speaker 1: the rim kick, drive kick, drive kick, and then maybe
Speaker 1: at the end of the shot clock you get a
Speaker 1: good look. It's testing teams in their diligence to break
Speaker 1: down a defense through multiple driving kicks on the same possession,
Speaker 1: because teams are so good at taking away the rim
Speaker 1: and taking away the three point line now, and so,
Speaker 1: in a weird way, like I think it's been, I
Speaker 1: think it's been a little bit more of a shift
Speaker 1: towards playmaking and guys that are really good at getting
Speaker 1: into the teeth of the defense and making the next read.
Speaker 1: That's why I think a team like Boston did so well.
Speaker 1: That's why I think when you see these teams that
Speaker 1: have small ball looks and all these guards that can
Speaker 1: drive and kick well like Oklahoma City does, Like now
Speaker 1: with Cleveland having all of these different guys that can dribble,
Speaker 1: shoot and pass on the perimeter, and they've been one
Speaker 1: of the biggest assist percentage teams in the league this year,
Speaker 1: right Like, that's an important part of how the game
Speaker 1: has shifted. It's now not just about driving. It's not
Speaker 1: just about knocking down three point shots. It's about having
Speaker 1: enough aggregate ball handling, shooting, and basketball IQ on the
Speaker 1: floor to break down a defense through several attacks. I
Speaker 1: was curious, though, I just wanted to look. I wanted
Speaker 1: to see if there were any trends that statistical trends
Speaker 1: in terms of three point volume and then other trends
Speaker 1: around the league. So these are the teams with the
Speaker 1: top ten records in the NBA right now. The Calves,
Speaker 1: the thunder the Celtics, the Rockets, the Grizzlies, the Knicks,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets, the Lakers, the Bucks, and the Clippers. Those
Speaker 1: are your top ten by when percentage. Okay, the Calves
Speaker 1: are fifth and three point volume, and the Celtics are
Speaker 1: first in three point volume. The thunder or eleventh. The
Speaker 1: Rockets are twentieth, the Grizzlies are nineteenth, the Knicks are
Speaker 1: twenty third, the Nuggets are thirtieth, the Lakers are twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: the Bucks are sixteenth, and the Clippers are twenty sixth.
Speaker 1: That's in three point attempts per one hundred possessions. So
Speaker 1: of the top ten records in the league, only two
Speaker 1: of them are top ten and three point volume. Now,
Speaker 1: it's worth at least mentioning so that we are being
Speaker 1: honest about the data here. It's worth at least mentioning
Speaker 1: that those two that are in the top ten and
Speaker 1: three point volume, Cleveland and Boston are two of the
Speaker 1: top tier championship contenders in the league. Right, But seven
Speaker 1: of the ten that are in the top ten in
Speaker 1: records are in the bottom half of three point attempts
Speaker 1: in this league. That is an interesting stat So I
Speaker 1: was curious. I just wanted to look around. Is there
Speaker 1: any statistical correlation with winning this year? Is there any
Speaker 1: like clear stat where like everybody use good is good
Speaker 1: at this And here's what I was able to come
Speaker 1: up with just poking around rebounding Each of the top
Speaker 1: four rebounding teams in the league. Houston, Memphis, Denver, and
Speaker 1: New York all have top ten records, and the Clippers
Speaker 1: also make that list at seven, but each of the
Speaker 1: top four all being top ten records I think is interesting.
Speaker 1: Rebounding is very important in this league. Assist to turnover ratio.
Speaker 1: This is one of the more interesting stats that I've
Speaker 1: come across in my time covering the league. This year, Boston, Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and Oklahoma City, in addition to having the three best
Speaker 1: records in the league, also have the three best assist
Speaker 1: to turnover ratios in the league. I thought that was
Speaker 1: super fascinating. So the teams that are best at playmaking
Speaker 1: for others while not turning the basketball over are also
Speaker 1: the three best teams in the league. Where this kind
Speaker 1: of comes to fruition for me as a concept points
Speaker 1: off of turnovers. Six of the top ten teams in
Speaker 1: the league in terms of record are top ten in
Speaker 1: points off of turnover, meaning they turn their opponents over
Speaker 1: and they get out and transition off of it opponent
Speaker 1: points off of turnovers. The top five in opponent points
Speaker 1: off of turnovers per game are OKC, Boston, New York, Houston,
Speaker 1: and Cleveland. That's really interesting. What is that telling us.
Speaker 1: That is telling us that if you can make plays
Speaker 1: in drive and kick without turning the basketball over so
Speaker 1: that you stay out of transition defense, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, on the other end, you play good defense,
Speaker 1: force turnovers, and get out in transition, you're winning in
Speaker 1: the modern MBA, which I think is super fascinating because
Speaker 1: of something I've been talking about almost NonStop this season,
Speaker 1: which is the concept of speed and how valuable speed is.
Speaker 1: As the game has shifted more towards transition basketball, about
Speaker 1: a fifth of these games, roughly twenty percent of these
Speaker 1: games is taking place in transition. When you play in transition,
Speaker 1: you're usually about twenty percent more efficient than you are
Speaker 1: when you play in the half court. So your ability
Speaker 1: to get out out and transition and keep your default
Speaker 1: keep your opponent out of transition are two of the
Speaker 1: biggest dynamics that's leading to wins and losses in the
Speaker 1: modern MBA. I think that's super fascinating. So just a
Speaker 1: couple of statistical trends to keep an eye on as
Speaker 1: we as we move forward with our coverage of the league. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: huge fan of the show, been watching since the beginning
Speaker 1: of your time with the volume. I did want to ask.
Speaker 1: You've mentioned before you do a little bit of coaching.
Speaker 1: Have you ever considered getting into that full time or
Speaker 1: even training guys? Yeah, so I train high school kids.
Speaker 1: I did it this morning. I do it on Monday
Speaker 1: and Friday mornings throughout the season. It's something that I
Speaker 1: can relatively easily achieve within my schedule to where I
Speaker 1: get to scratch that itch of coaching, so to speak.
Speaker 1: And I really love the group of kids that I
Speaker 1: work with, and I just enjoy it so much. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, it doesn't take so much away
Speaker 1: that I lose control of my situation with work. And
Speaker 1: also I work so much, and I have my wife
Speaker 1: behind the scenes constantly advocating for me to work less,
Speaker 1: and so like, if I took on more in terms
Speaker 1: of coaching, that would be problematic. But I also spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time playing basketball right now, so like
Speaker 1: I would imagine that in the time when I decide
Speaker 1: to stop playing, that time will be time that I
Speaker 1: then shift to devoting towards coaching.
Speaker 2: Training is cool.
Speaker 1: Skills training is probably one of the things that I
Speaker 1: have the most experienced with because it's just what I do.
Speaker 2: It's what I do for my program.
Speaker 1: I've done individual skills training as well, outside of the
Speaker 1: high school concept or context. I love skills training because
Speaker 1: it's just what I did to myself, like to become
Speaker 1: a good basketball player in my thirties. I've worked relentlessly
Speaker 1: over the last ten years on skills development, footwork, dribble combinations,
Speaker 1: scoring moves from various spots on the floor, just all
Speaker 1: of these like little different like skill things that I
Speaker 1: like to help teach the next generation of basketball players
Speaker 1: how to do. That. Said, like, ultimately, basketball coaching at
Speaker 1: the team level is what I would like to do
Speaker 1: when the time comes. I would like to get more into,
Speaker 1: Like i'd love to coach a high school team once
Speaker 1: I get to the point where I'm not playing, But
Speaker 1: it'll just have to be at a point in my
Speaker 1: life where I have more time, and right now I
Speaker 1: just don't have the time for it, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: It's definitely a big picture goal of mine. I love coaching.
Speaker 1: I think the high school level would be the most fun,
Speaker 1: and it just is more realistic with my big picture
Speaker 1: career goals in terms of sports media, So I think
Speaker 1: that's the direction will eventually end up going thoughts on
Speaker 1: Bronni's latest NBA stint. So this was the big story
Speaker 1: that was going around as Bronni got first quarter minutes
Speaker 1: and an important game for the Lakers on the road
Speaker 1: in Philly.
Speaker 2: A couple things.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different angles that come at this
Speaker 1: from first of all, I didn't think his stint was
Speaker 1: quite as bad as everyone made it sound like. He
Speaker 1: had two really bad turnovers. He had a high post
Speaker 1: entry to Anthony Davis out of a horn set where
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was not ready for the basketball, and Bronni
Speaker 1: threw it anyway, and Yabuselli just blew through AD's left shoulder,
Speaker 1: got the ball and went down the other end and
Speaker 1: got it done. Okay, that is on both guys. Though
Speaker 1: Bronnie shouldn't have thrown the pass because there was no
Speaker 1: angle for it, So that's one hundred percent on Bronnie
Speaker 1: to not make that decision. However, Yabuseli was kind of
Speaker 1: like beating Anthony Davis with physicality a lot in that
Speaker 1: first quarter, and Ad has to do a better job
Speaker 1: fighting for positions, so I won't put that one hundred
Speaker 1: percent on Bronnie. But again, your point guard needs to
Speaker 1: make sure that the players are ready before he throws
Speaker 1: a pass, so that was a mistake. And then he
Speaker 1: drove a close out on Tyrese Maxi on the left
Speaker 1: wing where Maxi reached around and poked.
Speaker 2: The ball away.
Speaker 1: Always pushed the ball forward when you beat someone off
Speaker 1: the dribble. This is a lesson for all basketball players
Speaker 1: at every level. Like if you beat someone off the dribble,
Speaker 1: whether it's in a ball screen, whether it's in a ISO,
Speaker 1: whether it's in a closeout situation, push the ball forward
Speaker 1: because the last resort for every defender is just swipe
Speaker 1: around from behind and see if they can't poke it away.
Speaker 1: As you're down in a dribble stance with the ball
Speaker 1: at your hip, that's when they can get at it.
Speaker 1: So a couple of bad turnovers. He missed a spot
Speaker 1: up three, but he also had a beautiful feed off
Speaker 1: of a back cut to Jackson Hayes, a really nice
Speaker 1: read out of a three man action where he determined
Speaker 1: that no one was on his bottom side and he
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to slip. He slipped out of it.
Speaker 1: Eighty hit him on the bounce. He drew multiple players
Speaker 1: in help. He dropped it off to Jackson Hayes Jackson,
Speaker 1: He's got a dunk. It was a really nice play.
Speaker 1: And then he also had a nice driving kick off
Speaker 1: of the right wing to Dorian Finney Smith who missed
Speaker 1: a three, but he generated an open three with a
Speaker 1: nice little clothes out attack. So like, again, there were
Speaker 1: mistakes on offense, but he also made a couple of
Speaker 1: plays on offense and on defense, Like all three shots
Speaker 1: that Tyrese Maxey made were super tough contested mid rangers,
Speaker 1: which is literally your job guarding Maxie. Like if I
Speaker 1: was talking about Max Christy guarding Tyrese Maxey, this is
Speaker 1: what I would say. I'd be like, keep him off
Speaker 1: the three point line, try to keep him from getting
Speaker 1: completely downhill towards the rim, try to force him into
Speaker 1: tough contested mid range jump shots, which is literally what
Speaker 1: Bronnie did. However, he had a weird botch switched with
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith where he kind of like jumped away
Speaker 1: and just let MAXI drive. That was a bad defensive play,
Speaker 1: and then he fouled Tyrese Maxey on a separate drive.
Speaker 1: So the point being like that was that stint looked
Speaker 1: exactly like what I would expect from a young super
Speaker 1: raw NBA prospect that has some NBA tools, but that
Speaker 1: is years away from being an NBA rotation player.
Speaker 2: Flashes of good.
Speaker 1: And mistakes that are pretty much unacceptable for a pro right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what I would have expected. So it wasn't
Speaker 1: like the complete dumpster fire that everyone made it sound,
Speaker 1: but it looked exactly like what you would expect for
Speaker 1: putting Bronnie in the game. This is where I think
Speaker 1: there is fair criticism to Levy towards JJ Reddick. He's
Speaker 1: kind of setting Bronnie up to fail there. Bronnie shouldn't
Speaker 1: be in that situation. Yes, the Lakers were down on
Speaker 1: a road trip, down bodies, specifically at the guard spot.
Speaker 1: They needed someone to step into that spot, but it
Speaker 1: should have been Cam Reddish, not Bronni. Like, there isn't
Speaker 1: a single thing that Bronni does on a basketball court
Speaker 1: better than Cam Reddish. Yet at this point in his career,
Speaker 1: maybe in the big picture, Bronni will become this on
Speaker 1: ball guard. I want to talk about that here in
Speaker 1: a minute, But like, what you do in that spot
Speaker 1: is you play Cam Reddish. Cam Reddish doesn't do much
Speaker 1: on offense. But the one thing he doesn't do is
Speaker 1: he doesn't turn the ball over, like he knows how
Speaker 1: to not do too much and make sure the ball
Speaker 1: stays in possession. With his team, Cam Reddish isn't a
Speaker 1: good spot up player, but he'll play within a role
Speaker 1: and he'll do his job. And right now, Bronnie has
Speaker 1: at no point in his career demonstrated the ability to
Speaker 1: knock down three point shots at the NBA level. So
Speaker 1: like any's shooting concerns, the same concerns are there for
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish, or the same concerns are there for Bronnie,
Speaker 1: right and then lastly, Cam is just a better defender
Speaker 1: than Bronnie at this point in his career in every vesset,
Speaker 1: So like within the context of trying to win that
Speaker 1: game and you're in a guard depth situation, the obvious
Speaker 1: call is play Cam Reddish, which is a fringe NBA player,
Speaker 1: but that is much more capable of playing a role
Speaker 1: within an NBA team right now than Bronni is. I
Speaker 1: am not like the Bronnie haters out there. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's just some nepotism case. I think he has
Speaker 1: legitimate NBA tools. I thought he was a reasonable late
Speaker 1: second round pick. Lots of guys in the second round
Speaker 1: if you put him in the NBA would look like
Speaker 1: Bronnie does. Okay, Bronni needs time, He needs years of
Speaker 1: reps before he's ready. I think he belongs, he deserves
Speaker 1: his shot. Let him take his time and figure it out.
Speaker 1: The problem I have is what I said before the season.
Speaker 1: He should absolutely never play meaningful rotation minutes. I said
Speaker 1: that because he needs to earn that right behind the
Speaker 1: scenes over the course of years, demonstrated, because like he
Speaker 1: hasn't demonstrated it in college. He started, He's shown the
Speaker 1: ability to get buckets in the G League, but he
Speaker 1: needs to do it in a larger sample, and then
Speaker 1: he needs to come to the NBA level and demonstrate
Speaker 1: in garbage time that he can play. Then he can
Speaker 1: get an opportunity. There's an order of operations to bringing
Speaker 1: Bronni into real rotation minutes, and it wasn't bring him
Speaker 1: in on the road in Philly and have him get
Speaker 1: attacked relentlessly by Tyree Smacksy when he's literally on fire. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like I disagreed, it wasn't the end of the world.
Speaker 1: They were gonna lose that game in Philly anyway, that
Speaker 1: they were banged up, Ad got hurt, they had other
Speaker 1: guys al Vanderbilt was out, Gave Vincent was out. It's
Speaker 1: a road trip long Lakers have been bad on long
Speaker 1: road trips all year long. Like I don't, I don't
Speaker 1: really take too much from the loss, but like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would recommend not playing Bronny in real rotation minutes
Speaker 1: until he shows the ability to play well in garbage time,
Speaker 1: and then I would I would consider that sort of
Speaker 1: option in a case where injuries dictate that the end
Speaker 1: of your roster plays more. One other thing I'll point
Speaker 1: out there was this weird my friend Raj who was
Speaker 1: my former co host when I used to do State
Speaker 1: of the Lakers before I worked for the volume. He
Speaker 1: covers the South Bay Lakers, and he asked Bronny one
Speaker 1: day and said, like, what do you see yourself as
Speaker 1: in terms of your role in the NBA? And he
Speaker 1: said he sees himself as an on ball guard. And
Speaker 1: I was a little concerned by that because like, I
Speaker 1: think Bronnie is years away still from being a off
Speaker 1: ball defensive guard. But he's many I think he's really
Speaker 1: far away from being like like a legitimate NBA guard
Speaker 1: that can run action for extended stretches. So like, it's
Speaker 1: kind of interesting to me in terms of like his
Speaker 1: career path. Like, to me, if Bronnie wants to look
Speaker 1: like an NBA player inside of his first contract, the
Speaker 1: pathways get really good at defense, and get really good
Speaker 1: at catch and shoot threes, get really good at making
Speaker 1: driving kickreads, short role reads like when he ran that
Speaker 1: inverted ball screen with Ad like that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of actions that I want to
Speaker 1: see Bronny get good at to where I could be like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, third year of his deal, he can play
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes a night or good NBA team. That's the
Speaker 1: path for him, in my opinion, if he wants to
Speaker 1: be a primary on ball guard, like, there are guys
Speaker 1: with way more pedigree than him that are not good
Speaker 1: enough at that he I think he's really far away
Speaker 1: from being like a okay, he's gonna be a fifteen
Speaker 1: point for assists per game guy off the bench for
Speaker 1: a good team, Like I just don't really necessarily see
Speaker 1: that in his trajectory at this point. But if that's
Speaker 1: his goal, that's fine. There's a pathway that He's got
Speaker 1: the physical tools for it, but his skill development is
Speaker 1: going to take so much work over the next few
Speaker 1: years to get to that point. And so I just
Speaker 1: hope he realizes the type of challenge that's going to be,
Speaker 1: and I hope that people around him realize the type
Speaker 1: of challenge it's going to be. Clearly a men, Thompson
Speaker 1: is not coming out of the starting lineup, But what
Speaker 1: about when Jabari Smith is.
Speaker 2: Back from injury, he starts for Brooks. How do you
Speaker 2: think that.
Speaker 1: Lineup would work? Thank you for all the great content.
Speaker 1: I think Jabari Smith has got to come back to
Speaker 1: the bench.
Speaker 2: I think you have.
Speaker 1: I was talking about this with Sam Vessini the other
Speaker 1: day on his pod. What we're seeing right now from
Speaker 1: the Rockets. I mean, they ended up losing that game
Speaker 1: in Memphis last night, but like what we're seeing from
Speaker 1: Houston right now is one of the most impressive stretches
Speaker 1: of regular season basketball you'll ever see. Like they are
Speaker 1: racking up wins against great teams night in and night out.
Speaker 1: I have been talking recklessly on my show and on
Speaker 1: other people's show about how I think the Rockets need
Speaker 1: to make some sort of all in trade because I
Speaker 1: think they have a chance to win the title this year.
Speaker 1: That's how much I think this That Rockets roster can
Speaker 1: contend athletically on both ends of the floor with the
Speaker 1: top teams in the league. So like, you don't mess
Speaker 1: with that. Even for Brooks. I think Brooks has been
Speaker 1: one of the best role players in the league this year.
Speaker 1: He was a huge part of their winning Boston with
Speaker 1: his shooting. He has been great defensively all all season.
Speaker 1: He had another twenty plus point game in Memphis last night.
Speaker 1: I would leave Brooks in there, and I would just
Speaker 1: bring Jabari Smith in and guess what, He's got to
Speaker 1: fight for minutes with Cam Witmore, He's got to fight
Speaker 1: for minutes with Jayshon Taate with and he's got to
Speaker 1: earn it with those guys. In my opinion, I Jabari
Speaker 1: is a good player, but he has a tendency to
Speaker 1: settle for tough mid range shots. He hasn't converted spoted
Speaker 1: possesions as well as he needs to be. He's a
Speaker 1: good defender, but he as an athlete is just another
Speaker 1: one of the guys there. So like, I think you
Speaker 1: got to make Jabari Smith earn the right to regain
Speaker 1: his spot in that rotation. Hello Jason, just a simple question.
Speaker 1: Have you been impressed with the knicks of defense during
Speaker 1: this recent stretch of games? Yes, I have, More specifically
Speaker 1: though their transition attack. This has been something that when
Speaker 1: the Knicks have been at their best this year, they've
Speaker 1: played fast, they've gotten stops, and they've ran And I thought,
Speaker 1: specifically the Nuggets game, what won them that game was
Speaker 1: their transition pushes. They actually only turned Denver over I
Speaker 1: think fourteen times, but they scored almost every time off
Speaker 1: of those turnovers with quick runouts. And like, I've just
Speaker 1: seen so many examples of that this year when the
Speaker 1: Knicks look good, where it's og An Andobi running his
Speaker 1: lane in transition, it's Michale Bridges running to the corner
Speaker 1: in transition, it is Karl Anthony Towns trailing the play
Speaker 1: in transition. It is like this, we play defense, we
Speaker 1: get out and run, then we knock down shots. And
Speaker 1: like so much of I talk about in terms of
Speaker 1: the top teams in the league, it comes down to margins.
Speaker 1: Where are you going to find ways to win? And
Speaker 1: there are certain things that the Knicks are going to
Speaker 1: struggle with, like the defensive inconsistency this year has primarily
Speaker 1: centered around the kind of like undisciplined hedges and from
Speaker 1: guys like Jalen Brunson and from Karl Anthony Towns, like
Speaker 1: just not doing their job when teams hunt them to
Speaker 1: actively attack the ball, get back in rotation or switch
Speaker 1: and contain the ball well. Like those two guys have
Speaker 1: been the issues, They're going to continue to be the issues.
Speaker 1: Even when your defense is at its best. There are
Speaker 1: these entry points that people can go at in terms
Speaker 1: of Brunson and Cat, so you have to find a
Speaker 1: way to generate margins elsewhere. Have a unique set of
Speaker 1: offensive talent because they have a stretch five and these
Speaker 1: big rangy wings that can run the floor well, and
Speaker 1: a lot of playmaking talent that the Knicks can really
Speaker 1: be a good transition offense. And so again, like as
Speaker 1: we look at the Knicks and their potential big picture
Speaker 1: championship goals, I've view a certain number of things as
Speaker 1: non negotiable. They've got to become a more consistent defensive
Speaker 1: execution team because they need to force turnovers because it
Speaker 1: unlocks one of the most important parts of their game
Speaker 1: of their game, which is transition attack right and so again,
Speaker 1: like you've got to think of it in the big picture.
Speaker 1: It's not about beating anybody really other than Boston and Cleveland.
Speaker 1: Right now, those are your ultimate goals. To get to
Speaker 1: where you want to go, You've got to get through
Speaker 1: Boston and Cleveland. And if you're going to beat Boston
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, you're gonna have to generate margin because Boston
Speaker 1: in particular is going to relentlessly attack Karl Anthony Twons
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brunson. And where you can create margin is
Speaker 1: by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. I think
Speaker 1: those are easy ways to turn defense into offense more freely,
Speaker 1: and I thought the Denver game was a good step
Speaker 1: in that direction for the Knicks. All Right, it looks
Speaker 1: like we got five more at this point. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you could just take a minute to
Speaker 1: talk about Jason Tatum's improvement as a playmaker. I've been
Speaker 1: really impressed with him as a game manager this season.
Speaker 1: If you watch the Celtics games closely, for the most part,
Speaker 1: Jason will start games off a little more passive while
Speaker 1: their starting lineup is on the court and create shots
Speaker 1: for them. Then Missoula will usually pull most of the
Speaker 1: starters besides Tatum and Derek or Tatum and Holiday, which
Speaker 1: is when he gets really aggressive scoring because he knows
Speaker 1: he's still capable of scoring when the bench group.
Speaker 2: Is more limited.
Speaker 1: I found it interesting in last night's game against the Bulls,
Speaker 1: closing the third quarter and in the fourth quarter, that
Speaker 1: Boston was up fifteen to twenty points and every player
Speaker 1: for Boston was hitting shots, yet still every possession Chicago
Speaker 1: would send a double team at Tatum. I know about
Speaker 1: a week ago you touched on Tatum's ISO this season
Speaker 1: and how he's having one of the best ISO seasons
Speaker 1: in recent NBA history because he didn't put up stats
Speaker 1: like Sga or Jokis, because he's on such a great
Speaker 1: team and a lot of people either diminish or don't
Speaker 1: understand the actual impact he has on the game. We
Speaker 1: just saw a team that was so scared of what
Speaker 1: he would do to them in isolation, even down double digits,
Speaker 1: knowing that doubling him would open and I would result
Speaker 1: in an open shot Boston was making. For the most part,
Speaker 1: they were still willing to do it, even if it
Speaker 1: meant they were stopping him from getting to the basket.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious your opinion on how hard it'll be
Speaker 1: to stop Boston when Drew and Jalen get out of
Speaker 1: the shooting slumps thro in with Tatum basically being unstoppable
Speaker 1: when you try to match him up one on one.
Speaker 1: So on that as game plan, Like if I was
Speaker 1: game planning for the Celtics, it depends on the roster
Speaker 1: that I have. If I have excellent defensive personnel across
Speaker 1: the board, guys that can all kind of guard in space,
Speaker 1: and I've got good backside help defenders, I'm going to
Speaker 1: want to switch contain and force them into ISOs and
Speaker 1: hope that they settle for bad jump shots instead of
Speaker 1: trying to go through my players. Right, But if I've
Speaker 1: got some weak defensive personnel on the floor like Chicago does,
Speaker 1: when you've got to Josh Giddy or Nicolavusevich that kind
Speaker 1: of thing on the floor, you put yourself in a
Speaker 1: situation where you can't really guard in space that well.
Speaker 1: So then you start to make a simple calculation at
Speaker 1: Boston's three point percentage, no one is really shooting that
Speaker 1: well this year compared to last year except for Peyton Pritchard. Right,
Speaker 1: So Tatum's this like all world ISO player, Boston's perimeter
Speaker 1: shooters have not been that good this year. As a
Speaker 1: game plan, you might think, if you have that type
Speaker 1: of roster, that your best bet is to get the
Speaker 1: ball out of Tatum's hands and force other people to
Speaker 1: make shots. That said, inevitably, this story ends with Boston
Speaker 1: running into a team that doesn't double that feels comfortable
Speaker 1: leaving Tatum and Jaylen Brown one on one. When that happens,
Speaker 1: it will be incumbent on Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: to find ways to draw two to the ball. The
Speaker 1: only way they're going to be able to do that
Speaker 1: is if they score so effectively in those one on
Speaker 1: one matchups at the rim, because if you do it
Speaker 1: from the perimeter streaky, you'll have stretches where you make
Speaker 1: two or three tough pull up jump shots in a row,
Speaker 1: and then you'll miss two or three in a row.
Speaker 1: But if they get consistently, if they have better balance
Speaker 1: between settling and attacking, and they attack those, it will
Speaker 1: become untenable for the defense to leave one on one coverages.
Speaker 1: That's when they can bring two to the ball or
Speaker 1: they can drive past that first guy and draw helpers
Speaker 1: and they can make driving kick passes to get those
Speaker 1: wide open threes again, Like it's you got to think
Speaker 1: of it beyond the Chicago problem and more like what
Speaker 1: about the OKC problem? Like what about what if they
Speaker 1: run into a Knicks team and a Knicks team does
Speaker 1: more switching, you know, like that sort of thing, Like
Speaker 1: it's gonna be like you can't take Jalen Brunson and
Speaker 1: settle for pull up jump shots. You've got to take
Speaker 1: his ass to the basket. You can't take Carl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns in space and just take step back threes. You've
Speaker 1: got to take him to the basket. Like there's Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City is the real one that I would worry about
Speaker 1: for Boston there because they have the personnel to switch
Speaker 1: more effectively. But like that's gonna be the real issue.
Speaker 1: I have been really impressed by Tatum as a playmaker
Speaker 1: this year, and you can't deny the isolation numbers and
Speaker 1: the jump shooting has been a really nice improvement. But
Speaker 1: make no mistake, the reason why the Celtics beat the
Speaker 1: shit out of the Mavericks last year was because Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum and Jala Brown drove past Luka Doncic didn't shoot
Speaker 1: over Luka doncicch and so like again like, I think
Speaker 1: the doubling will be something that Boston will see from
Speaker 1: time to time in the postseason of Tatum, but inevitably
Speaker 1: they will run into a matchup where Tatum and Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown are gonna have to break these defenses down in
Speaker 1: more one on one situations. What do you think about
Speaker 1: Adam Silver saying he's a fan of four to ten
Speaker 1: minutes four ten minute quarters in basketball? How do you
Speaker 1: think this would impact the NBA? Are you four or
Speaker 1: against it? Thanks for doing a great job and always
Speaker 1: dropping insightful content. I'm a big fan of your show.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for supporting the show. It means
Speaker 1: a lot to me. I think shortening the quarters is
Speaker 1: really stupid. The NBA has one problem, one big problem
Speaker 1: with our television situation urgency. This is something I've been
Speaker 1: harping on NonStop. There are lots of things that could
Speaker 1: be better. Officiating could be a little better. Yeah, right
Speaker 1: now teams are taking a lot of threes, but I
Speaker 1: do think defenses will force teams to adapt. There there
Speaker 1: are things with the broadcasting where it can be a
Speaker 1: little podca has to eat in a little less. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the game. There's a little like media companies
Speaker 1: focusing on player movement instead of the quality of the basketball.
Speaker 1: I'm there for all that stuff, but those are those,
Speaker 1: to me are small issues compared to the much larger issue,
Speaker 1: which is that since the year, since the year MJ
Speaker 1: retired in nineteen ninety eight two, now we went from
Speaker 1: having there's almost nothing on TV. You sit on your
Speaker 1: couch on a Wednesday night and the NBA game that's
Speaker 1: on is one of the few options to watch, and yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna watch that game. But now there are thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands of television options, thousands and thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands of smartphone options. You're having a hard time
Speaker 1: getting people's attention. That said, sports still is one of
Speaker 1: the biggest draws when it comes to people's attention.
Speaker 2: The NFL is a great example of this.
Speaker 1: The NFL continues to put up monster television ratings even
Speaker 1: though there have been so many more options that have
Speaker 1: risen to the surface. Why urgency Every regular season game
Speaker 1: feels huge, Every postseason game is single elimination. The urgency
Speaker 1: is off the charts. Okay, the bottom line is an
Speaker 1: NBA team can lay an egg three games in a
Speaker 1: row and it really doesn't matter. I rooted for the
Speaker 1: Lakers as they have dicked around at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the standings for two consecutive years and barely crawled up
Speaker 1: to the seven or eight seed and got into the
Speaker 1: playoffs at the end, and they haven't cared. This year
Speaker 1: has been a little bit better on that front. But
Speaker 1: like the reality is is, you can afford to be
Speaker 1: bad for a while in the NBA. The Pacers were
Speaker 1: awful to start the year, didn't matter. The mass have
Speaker 1: been pretty bad this year because of injuries. If Luca
Speaker 1: and Kyrie come back, it's not gonna matter. Like there's
Speaker 1: the Suns got off to a great start, now they're terrible.
Speaker 1: The Warriors got off to a great start, now they're terrible.
Speaker 1: Like both of those teams could easily rebound with a trade.
Speaker 1: The NBA regular season is too damn long. I believe
Speaker 1: that the NBA regular season to sixty six games will
Speaker 1: space the games out more so that more players play
Speaker 1: more often in every game than has about twenty percent
Speaker 1: more urgency. And then if you want to do a
Speaker 1: play in tournament, fine, but don't let twenty teams in
Speaker 1: You got to get that back down to sixteen. There
Speaker 1: has to be a more realistic like, oh, half the
Speaker 1: teams don't make the playoffs instead of oh, two thirds
Speaker 1: of the teams do make the playoffs. Urgency is the problem.
Speaker 1: It's the number one thing that could be that can
Speaker 1: be addressed to actually lead to tangible results. People do
Speaker 1: want to watch our best athletes compete when it matters,
Speaker 1: but it just doesn't matter enough in the NBA, and
Speaker 1: that is that is the main issue.
Speaker 2: Guys like us, people who.
Speaker 1: Really enjoy the game, We're going to get a great
Speaker 1: deal of enjoyment and appreciation out of the NBA regular season.
Speaker 1: The casual fan is going to tune in and out
Speaker 1: based on when they think things matter, and there's just
Speaker 1: not a lot of times where.
Speaker 2: In the NBA regular season. Hey, Jason, big fan of
Speaker 2: the show, and I feel you're the best in the business.
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's a very kind thing to say. My
Speaker 2: question is in regards to.
Speaker 1: The Lakers starting five, what do you think of a
Speaker 1: lineup of Lebron Austin, Dorian Finney, Smith Ruey, and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 2: I feel that.
Speaker 1: Lineup would be good able to switch one through five
Speaker 1: and allow Ruie to shift back to his original position.
Speaker 1: You talk about how great Lebron is as a hub
Speaker 1: for the offense, and with him and Austin trading point
Speaker 1: guard duties, I feel like this could work well. Plus
Speaker 1: it allows them to play big and even if Lebron
Speaker 1: doesn't commit to defense every night, they are a bigger
Speaker 1: team and Lebron still has the quickness to handle guards
Speaker 1: but could still but could also punish teams with the
Speaker 1: size of that position. What also, would love to know
Speaker 1: your thoughts and keep up the work. So here's the
Speaker 1: thing it. I talked about this with the Bucks earlier.
Speaker 1: There are these the defensive responsibilities you want to fulfill.
Speaker 1: The Lakers are not good as a switching unit in
Speaker 1: the regular season because Lebron and Ruy. Lebron is a
Speaker 1: great rebounder and great defender who doesn't try the vast
Speaker 1: majority of the time in the regular season, and Ruy
Speaker 1: Hachimura is a mediocre to bad defender and a mediocre
Speaker 1: to bad rebounder. So when you couple that with Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves who's athletically limited, and you put all three of
Speaker 1: those guys on the floor at the same time, and
Speaker 1: you start switching, you start end up being ending up
Speaker 1: in situations where Anthony Davis is on the perimeter. When
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is on the perimeter, you need Lebron and
Speaker 1: Rui and Austin to be athletic around the rim as
Speaker 1: helpers and as rebounders.
Speaker 2: And it's just a lot to ask.
Speaker 1: So, like, I actually think that this is why the
Speaker 1: Max Christi into the starting lineup thing has worked as
Speaker 1: well as it has. It's allowed the Lakers to do
Speaker 1: less switching with their five man because Max is more
Speaker 1: capable of chasing over the top of screens. It allows
Speaker 1: them to basically keep into more favorable men, keep Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis closer to the ram where he can defend and rebound. Now,
Speaker 1: to your point, I don't Let's say the Lakers trade Ruie,
Speaker 1: which I think is still a good chance before the deadline.
Speaker 1: Let's say a different version of that lineup, so it's Austin,
Speaker 1: Dorian van do Do Lebron ad. Could I see them trying
Speaker 1: switching in the postseason. Yeah, with that type of lineup, sure,
Speaker 1: because all those guys can switch, and because those guys
Speaker 1: would be able to end the postseason, because Vando is
Speaker 1: an excellent defender and an excellent rebounder, you suddenly have
Speaker 1: more of that kind of talent on the floor. Lebron
Speaker 1: now in the playoffs is trying harder, so he becomes
Speaker 1: an excellent defender, excellent rebounder. Now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you have the personnel to pull off that type of look.
Speaker 1: But that's why I've been talking about that with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: Like I think there's one through five switching should be
Speaker 1: more of a situational thing and not like a base
Speaker 1: scheme because of the fact that they're just not good
Speaker 1: at it. Good at it in the regular season. Since
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy's injury, Cade's usage and turnover rate have skyrocketed,
Speaker 1: and while initially we got away with it, the last
Speaker 1: few L's have all had the same thing, teams realizing
Speaker 1: no else can dribble or break down the d from
Speaker 1: half court, so they end up trapping and blitzing him
Speaker 1: in every pick and roll. I don't believe this is sustainable.
Speaker 1: If the Pistons are so serious about making the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Cad will wear out and we don't have the high
Speaker 1: end talent to keep losing the turnover differential and expect
Speaker 1: to keep winning games. I think a trade for CJ,
Speaker 1: McCollum or Sexton using Tim Hardaway Junior's expiring plus seconds
Speaker 1: is a cost effective solution to add ball handling, slash
Speaker 1: scoring punch without sacrificing the future. But no one in
Speaker 1: the Pistons community really knows how tradeing will approach this deadline.
Speaker 1: My question is would you make this deal for CJ
Speaker 1: and Sexton to ease the load off of Caid and
Speaker 1: if not, what can be done from a coaching schematic
Speaker 1: standpoint to cut down on his usage turnovers. Thanks as
Speaker 1: always for your content. So I was watching the Pacers
Speaker 1: game this morning, actually is a game I wanted to
Speaker 1: get back to, and so Kid's not actually facing blitzes
Speaker 1: or traps very often, He's facing a lot of like
Speaker 1: traditional coverages that are just the way traditional coverages look
Speaker 1: against really good offensive players. There's a thing that happens
Speaker 1: when you get upgraded in terms of your level of
Speaker 1: respect around the league, where you face aggressive traditional coverages,
Speaker 1: whereas there's a thing that you face around the league
Speaker 1: when people don't really fear you, where you face passive
Speaker 1: traditional coverages. A really basic way to look at that
Speaker 1: is the size the type of drop coverage that they face.
Speaker 1: He's not facing traps, he's facing big at the level.
Speaker 1: That's a aggressive traditional coverage, meaning the guy guarding the
Speaker 1: screener is showing at the level of the screen and
Speaker 1: then recovering back. He spent a lot of time attacking
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton in the Pacers game using Malik Beasley. They're
Speaker 1: using a basic hedge in recover scheme. That's literally what
Speaker 1: the Pacers use with Tyre's Halliburton against all primary ball handlers.
Speaker 1: They'll have Tyree's hedge out, meaning briefly put two on
Speaker 1: the ball and then Tyree's is going to recover and
Speaker 1: keep his hands up and try to deflect that pass.
Speaker 1: You got to steal on Kate Cunningham on one of those, right,
Speaker 1: But Malik Beasley's gonna go like he's gonna set the screen,
Speaker 1: he's gonna slip, and he's gonna run out to the
Speaker 1: three point line. He's gonna catch a pass there. By
Speaker 1: the way, Cad did hit Malik on that multiple times
Speaker 1: in the first half. He just missed them, right. That's
Speaker 1: part of basketball. But when you're facing a bad offensive
Speaker 1: player or an offensive player that no one's really scared of.
Speaker 1: They are gonna be like, let's run a deep drop,
Speaker 1: stay out of rotation. Like, okay, now Malik Beasley's going
Speaker 1: to set a screen. Tyrese might linger for a second,
Speaker 1: but he's not gonna hard hedge because he doesn't fear you,
Speaker 1: because there's not that level of respect. Caid has now
Speaker 1: entered into the star ball handler tier, where now he
Speaker 1: is gonna see a big at the level every single
Speaker 1: time he runs a ball screen, he is gonna see
Speaker 1: a hard hedge every single time he attacks a guard
Speaker 1: in a ball screen. That's just part of the job. Now,
Speaker 1: to your point, I still think Kaid's been navigating that
Speaker 1: pretty well. But there's something to be said about you're
Speaker 1: talking about, which is there's not enough skill on the
Speaker 1: court to quickly translate that into buckets. There were a
Speaker 1: couple of, for instance, kickout passes that Caid ran in
Speaker 1: ball screens that end up in Ron Hollins's hands. And
Speaker 1: Ron Hollind's gonna make some threes, but he's gonna miss
Speaker 1: some threes, right, Like, he's gonna probably miss more than
Speaker 1: he makes by a lot, right, So, like that's just
Speaker 1: a reality of this roster now, to your point, do
Speaker 1: I think that the Pistons could benefit from a secondary
Speaker 1: ball handler, Yes, Would I do anything that sacrifices future
Speaker 1: second flexibility for that, No, that's where like, Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you can get a CJ. McCollum, I think Sexton might
Speaker 1: be a little bit more expensive. But let's say you
Speaker 1: can get a CJ.
Speaker 2: McCollum. If you can get a c.
Speaker 1: J McCollum without including any first round draft compensation in
Speaker 1: giving up only one of these veteran players that's on
Speaker 1: a contract, I do think it would be worthwhile because
Speaker 1: you are probably going to end up in a playoff
Speaker 1: series with Kid. If you're gonna end up in a
Speaker 1: playoff series with Kid, you want to see what it
Speaker 1: looks like if he doesn't have to do absolutely everything.
Speaker 1: So it's not about winning the title. It's about getting
Speaker 1: good experience for Kate. And one of the best ways
Speaker 1: to do that is give him a legitimate experience in
Speaker 1: the sense that he needs a secondary ball handler that
Speaker 1: can spell him when he's on the bench and run
Speaker 1: second side action make life a little bit easier for him. Also,
Speaker 1: guess what if it's CJ. McCollum that is setting that
Speaker 1: screen and slipping out of it. He's going to have
Speaker 1: a opportunity to create with an advantage, and he's a
Speaker 1: better ball handler playmaker type, so he'll be able to
Speaker 1: help capitalize on those situations better than a Malik Beasley
Speaker 1: can when the shots not falling right. So, like again,
Speaker 1: I'm not opposed to that kind of move, just everything
Speaker 1: has to be within the concept, the context of the
Speaker 1: big picture goal, which is this team has real potential
Speaker 1: in the long run, because Kate is a superstar in
Speaker 1: the making, because I do like Jade and Ivy, because
Speaker 1: I do like the pieces that they have around him.
Speaker 1: So it's about being delicate and cheap in that regard.
Speaker 1: But yes, if you can get CJ. McCollum for cheap,
Speaker 1: I do think that's a move that would allow the
Speaker 1: Pistons a little bit more of a traditional ball handling
Speaker 1: structure as they head into the postseason. Last one, Jason,
Speaker 1: you've been advocating for Cam Johnson to be traded to
Speaker 1: Golden State to fill the second option role. Laughing my
Speaker 1: ass off, Like what, Cam is a great shooter, but
Speaker 1: he can't even average over twenty points per game on
Speaker 1: the nets. That's why we've been calling you crazy for
Speaker 1: the Cam Johnson obsession. Zach Lavine is the obvious ideal option,
Speaker 1: even if it costs more. Problem with going with the
Speaker 1: zach Lavine type is you have to include Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: Draymond Green. That just makes it infinitely more difficult. Also,
Speaker 1: just as you get into those big salaries, because the
Speaker 1: Warriors have six players that make between five and ten million,
Speaker 1: you just have to piece too many of them together
Speaker 1: and it becomes a depth a problem with your the
Speaker 1: amount of depth that you're losing. I'm not saying don't
Speaker 1: make a zach Lavine deal. I'd be happy to make
Speaker 1: a zach Lavine deal. I think a Jimmy Butler deal
Speaker 1: would be good too. I'm not disagreeing. I'm saying Cam
Speaker 1: Johnson is also an option. The reason why is I
Speaker 1: think Cam Johnson has an offensive skill set that works
Speaker 1: really well in Golden State system. So a couple things.
Speaker 1: First of all, came Johnson's better on the ball than
Speaker 1: you think. He's run one hundred and seventy six actions
Speaker 1: this year, so ball screens, post ups ISOs. He's run
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy six actions with passes and generated
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty five points. It's good amount over
Speaker 1: a point per possession. That's really solid. Of the ninety
Speaker 1: one players in the league this year to take at
Speaker 1: least one hundred pull up jump shots off the dribble,
Speaker 1: he ranks thirteenth out of those ninety one. In EFFECTI
Speaker 1: field goal percentage at fifty four percent, he gets one
Speaker 1: point zero eight points per pull up jump shot. That's
Speaker 1: really good. He's also shooting fifty two percent from the
Speaker 1: field coming off of off ball screens, seventy one percent
Speaker 1: in effective field goal percentage when you weigh it for threes,
Speaker 1: one point four points per shot. Of the twenty eight
Speaker 1: players in the NBA that have run at least fifty
Speaker 1: actions off of screens and taken shots, So coming off
Speaker 1: of an off ball screen and shooting of the twenty
Speaker 1: eight players have done that at least fifty times, he
Speaker 1: ranks number one in the entire NBA at it. That
Speaker 1: is a specific skill set that perfectly fits into Golden
Speaker 1: State system. So he is real on ball pop, great
Speaker 1: pull up shooter, and a great off screen shooter. I
Speaker 1: keep talking about the concept of value for a team
Speaker 1: versus value in a vacuum. The example I always use
Speaker 1: is Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray's value to the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 1: is much greater than it would be elsewhere in the
Speaker 1: league because his pull up shooting over the top is
Speaker 1: so immensely valuable. His ability to score against switches with
Speaker 1: Jokichen the two man game is so immensely valuable. But
Speaker 1: put him in another situation where he's with a less
Speaker 1: dynamic ballscreen partner and where he's actually depended on night
Speaker 1: and night out to be great, You're gonna be wishing
Speaker 1: for more from Jamal Murray. Right if Cam Johnson was
Speaker 1: the best player on a really good team, or if
Speaker 1: he was in a situation where they already had a
Speaker 1: bunch of ball handling and they just need him to
Speaker 1: take catch and shoot threes and to drive closeouts and
Speaker 1: to play a little bit of defense. His salary slot
Speaker 1: doesn't even make sense that point. But on a Warriors
Speaker 1: team that could really use a guy that is consistently
Speaker 1: good as a scorer coming off of action off ball
Speaker 1: and on ball, he is such a perfect shoe in
Speaker 1: fit in the Warriors system that I think his value there,
Speaker 1: especially on a team that is so utterly devoid of
Speaker 1: scoring talent at the top He's such a natural fit
Speaker 1: there that his value would be greater there than it
Speaker 1: would be elsewhere in the league. That's why I'm advocating
Speaker 1: for Cam Johnson. If you could do that and not
Speaker 1: give up Wiggins and not give up Jonathan Kaminga, now
Speaker 1: we're talking about a roster that has some real upside.
Speaker 1: I like that as an option. I like Levine as
Speaker 1: an option. I like Jimmy as an option. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: don't discount Cam Johnson as an option because he's a
Speaker 1: better offensive player than you probably think he is. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: that's all I have for today. I'm also out of
Speaker 1: town for the weekend. I'm going skiing. I'm leaving tomorrow
Speaker 1: for my annual ski trip to Breckenridge. I will be
Speaker 1: back in time for the trade deadline, so I will
Speaker 1: have a trade deadline reaction when I get home. I
Speaker 1: also bring my to go gear, so like if I
Speaker 1: end up in Breck and a trade goes down, I
Speaker 1: will record something at that point. But there's a chance
Speaker 1: if nothing goes down that I won't see you guys
Speaker 1: until Wednesday. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show, and I will see
Speaker 1: you guys then the volume. What's up guys, As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.
Speaker 1: It would actually be really helpful for us if you
Speaker 1: guys would take a second and leave a rating and
Speaker 1: a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
Speaker 1: but if you could take a minute to do that,
Speaker 1: I'd really appreciate it.