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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented
Speaker 1: by Fandel here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I
Speaker 1: hope all of you guys had an amazing weekend. We
Speaker 1: are going to touch on five different games today and
Speaker 1: at least some capacity. We had the Kings and the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors in a very high scoring affair last night.
Speaker 1: On Saturday night, the Philadelphia is seventy sixers had an
Speaker 1: embarrassing loss to the San Antonio Spurs to drop to
Speaker 1: three and oh, we're gonna be talking about that game.
Speaker 1: Washington and Cleveland last night had a really interesting overnight
Speaker 1: overtime game excuse me. And then the Phoenix Suns went
Speaker 1: in to Los Angeles and beat the crap out of
Speaker 1: the Clippers, and then I had some follow up thoughts
Speaker 1: on the Laker game from last night. Those are the
Speaker 1: five games are gonna be hitting on. You guys know
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Speaker 1: see them live, that's where you're gonna get them, all right.
Speaker 1: So starting with Sacramento and Golden State, so a couple
Speaker 1: of rough defensive games in a row. For Golden State,
Speaker 1: they really really struggled in this particular game guarding dribble
Speaker 1: penetration from Deer and Fox and Malik monk Um. Not
Speaker 1: just in dribble drive situations. A lot of dribble drive
Speaker 1: stuff from Deer and from Deer and Fox, a lot
Speaker 1: of pick and roll stuff from the Leak Monk, but
Speaker 1: both guys were just getting downhill way too often. And
Speaker 1: as we've talked about so much on this show, when
Speaker 1: you give up dribble penetration, it's just really hard to
Speaker 1: play good defense on the back side of that. With
Speaker 1: how skilled everybody in the NBA is now, that's why
Speaker 1: I keep talking about how perimeter defense is the most
Speaker 1: important skill defensively in the league right now, particularly Jordan's
Speaker 1: Pool and Moses Moody had a tough time in my rewatch. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Moses Moody in particular, was getting kind of
Speaker 1: barbecued by deer and fox the um. I talked to
Speaker 1: you guys a lot in season about how it seems
Speaker 1: to me that over the course of this season, Golden
Speaker 1: State is willing to take a defensive hit to put
Speaker 1: Moses Moody through the ringer. It's his trial by fire.
Speaker 1: He's getting tough matchups almost every every time he checks
Speaker 1: into the game. It's clear to me that they're like,
Speaker 1: we see you as the guy that we're gonna be
Speaker 1: leaning on big time in our playoff rotation. We need
Speaker 1: you to learn how to play perimeter defense, and so
Speaker 1: so much of that is building foot foot speed and quickness,
Speaker 1: lateral quickness, which can a great way to get those
Speaker 1: reps is to practice guarding super quick and skilled offensive
Speaker 1: players and then also anticipation getting reps against all of
Speaker 1: these guys during the regular season, so you just get
Speaker 1: a little bit better at anticipating what they're going to do.
Speaker 1: That said, this was a win. There was a big
Speaker 1: late second quarter run from the Warriors in this game.
Speaker 1: Basically what happened was is moody and poor having trouble.
Speaker 1: When the starters came back in late second quarter, UH
Speaker 1: Steve curse which Andrew Wiggins onto Deer and Fox. Suddenly
Speaker 1: they got that dribble penetration under control because Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Simultaneously,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry caught a heater. What a magnificent offensive game
Speaker 1: that was from him. You could tell that left wing,
Speaker 1: that three point line, left wing extended is definitely his
Speaker 1: favorite spot to get to his off the dribble package. Um.
Speaker 1: But when you combined Wiggins finally slowing down Fox with
Speaker 1: Steph catching that heater, all of a sudden you're up eighteen.
Speaker 1: And it was kind of bizarre because to be up
Speaker 1: eighteen and a half where you gave up seventy one
Speaker 1: points is completely insane. And then from there they kind
Speaker 1: of held him off the rest of the game. The
Speaker 1: game was never really truly hum and threatened until I
Speaker 1: think they got back within four and garbage time, but
Speaker 1: really that game was over. It's an ugly win, but
Speaker 1: a win is a win in UH in an eight
Speaker 1: two game regular season. You know, the Sixers and Lakers
Speaker 1: for instance, are losing these times of ugly games, so
Speaker 1: there's definitely a worse spot to be in. UM. The
Speaker 1: defense is not where it needs to be though, and
Speaker 1: that's not a problem. It's only been three games, but
Speaker 1: it's just something to start kind of keeping an eye
Speaker 1: on as we go through the season. So here are
Speaker 1: some um. Here are some defensive metrics for the Warriors
Speaker 1: to start the season. There fifteen and defensive writing. They
Speaker 1: are twenty two in rebound percentage, meaning the total number
Speaker 1: of available rebounds that they grabbed by percentage. They were
Speaker 1: twenty feet in points in the paint allowed per one possessions.
Speaker 1: Not great, but they are doing a really nice job
Speaker 1: depending defending the three point line their seventh and opponent
Speaker 1: three point makes, which coincides with the fact that they've
Speaker 1: only been allowing nineteen point three wide open threes per game,
Speaker 1: which is the eighth best number in the league in
Speaker 1: that particular metric. All this amounts to, according to Cleaning
Speaker 1: the Glass, the sixteen best half court defense in the league,
Speaker 1: so the very middle of the pack right now. And
Speaker 1: they are eighth in transition defense according to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 1: so infammation they're defending the three point line really well.
Speaker 1: They're defending in transition really well, but they're below average
Speaker 1: just about everywhere else on defense right now. And that's
Speaker 1: all amounting to a very average defense. Super early doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything. This is why I'm a big believer in
Speaker 1: tracking metrics over the eight two Over the course of
Speaker 1: a season, no matter who you are, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: nights where the Sacramento Kings lights you up because you're
Speaker 1: just not playing much defense. That's just going to happen
Speaker 1: to every single team in the league. But that's why
Speaker 1: we track those metrics. Based on all thirty teams overall
Speaker 1: eighty two games. That's an average. It accounts that for everybody.
Speaker 1: And when I'm looking at um, when I'm looking at
Speaker 1: these defenses as we progress around the season, I want
Speaker 1: to see your defensive rating in the top ten. So
Speaker 1: they're in there fifteen right now, so not a great start,
Speaker 1: but that's kind of a metric that I want to
Speaker 1: see them hit. Every contender that we're looking at, I
Speaker 1: want to see you top ten in defense. I want
Speaker 1: to see you at least great great at one of
Speaker 1: two things. Either eight at defending the three point line,
Speaker 1: are great at defending the paint. Those are the two
Speaker 1: most efficient shots in basketball. If you can be great
Speaker 1: at erasing one of those, that's a good foundation. Obviously,
Speaker 1: rebounding is important and then transition defense. That to me,
Speaker 1: rebounding and transition defensives are all about coaching and how
Speaker 1: tight you are in your details. It's hard enough to
Speaker 1: win playoff series when you're not beating yourself, so you
Speaker 1: need to find ways to not beat yourself. So let's
Speaker 1: just kind of touch base on that again with the
Speaker 1: Warriors in about a week or so and just kind
Speaker 1: of see if they make some improvement on that front,
Speaker 1: which I expect them to moving on to San Antonio, Philly.
Speaker 1: So this one I just watched the fourth quarter, so
Speaker 1: they the Spur the Sixers ended up taking a lead
Speaker 1: eight to eighty seven on a Joel and Be dunk
Speaker 1: um early fourth quarter, and you know you're feeling good
Speaker 1: at that point, like playing with your food. We just
Speaker 1: talked about this with the Warriors. That's kind of a
Speaker 1: staple of the NBA regular season. When you're playing eighty
Speaker 1: two games, it's normal to go through these stretches where
Speaker 1: you're like the Santata on a Spurs are in town, like,
Speaker 1: let's just get through this game, and you hang around,
Speaker 1: and then they take a few five point leads, and
Speaker 1: you take a few five point leads, but no one
Speaker 1: really pulls the game away, and then in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter you turn it up. You get the way you
Speaker 1: get out of tempt, right, that's the way you're you're
Speaker 1: supposed to handle that sort of thing. But right now
Speaker 1: the problem is that the Sixers aren't really playing very
Speaker 1: good basketball overall. So after Joel Embi dunks it to
Speaker 1: go up seven, the Sixers lose Doug McDermott in transition
Speaker 1: for a wide open three that he nails. Then on
Speaker 1: the very next possession, um the uh the Spurs set
Speaker 1: a back screen for Doug McDermott, and Daniel House was
Speaker 1: guarding Doug McDermott, and he tried on these next two
Speaker 1: plays that I'm referencing that he went on the opposite
Speaker 1: end of the screen. And you know that you refer
Speaker 1: to that as going under the screen, but on a backcut,
Speaker 1: it actually looks like you're going over a screen. That
Speaker 1: is a very dangerous thing to do against a shooter
Speaker 1: or with a vacated paint, because as soon as you
Speaker 1: get disconnected from a player who's going around a screen,
Speaker 1: you now have to cover more ground then that offensive
Speaker 1: player is covering. And so if you're not flying around
Speaker 1: and to make a play, you're gonna get beat. And
Speaker 1: so on this one, instead of locking and trailing McDermott
Speaker 1: so that if he caught it, you're right there to
Speaker 1: block the shot, he went under the screen or over
Speaker 1: since it was a backscreen, and ended up too late.
Speaker 1: McDermott was wide open for a lap. Very next possession,
Speaker 1: Doug McDermott comes off a double wide, pinned down to
Speaker 1: shoot a catch and shoot three at the top of
Speaker 1: the key. Daniel House tried to go underneath the picks
Speaker 1: and so guess what he got disconnected from McDermott. When
Speaker 1: McDermott caught there was nobody in his airspace, and when
Speaker 1: he rose up, Daniel House contested the shot, but at
Speaker 1: that point he's already up into his release, comfortable and confident.
Speaker 1: That's not good defense. And so next thing you know,
Speaker 1: after he McDermott goes on this solo eight oh run,
Speaker 1: suddenly you're down seven. And then on the very next possession,
Speaker 1: Doug McDermott runs off another seat of a wide screens
Speaker 1: to get a shot, and Tyrese Maxie is on him
Speaker 1: this time does a night job locking and trailing McDermott,
Speaker 1: but James Harden randomly just double teams McDermott on the
Speaker 1: on the as he's coming off the screen. The Spurs
Speaker 1: just skip it across the court pass pass, and there's
Speaker 1: a wide open layup because now you're in rotation because
Speaker 1: you just doubled somebody for no particular reason. There's another
Speaker 1: play in that run where Joel embiide Um made a
Speaker 1: kickout pass to Tobias Harris in the corner that he
Speaker 1: missed but then didn't actually run back on defense, and
Speaker 1: Yako Purtle just beat him down the floor and got
Speaker 1: an offensive rebound put back. So it's like, my thing
Speaker 1: is like, it's okay to play with your food. That's
Speaker 1: kind of normal. It's gonna happen during the course of
Speaker 1: the regular season. The differences is like the Warriors played
Speaker 1: with their food but did what was necessary to win
Speaker 1: the game and had these spurts of really good basketball
Speaker 1: that put them away, like they did in the end
Speaker 1: of the second quarter when the Sixers game control of
Speaker 1: the game up eight seven, they went back to playing
Speaker 1: bad basketball. And when you start playing bad basketball just
Speaker 1: becomes about variants. You know, like Tobias Harris missed two
Speaker 1: why open threes in the right corner in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter of this game. Like that's variants. Like even good
Speaker 1: wide open shooters are gonna miss shot. Sometimes there's a
Speaker 1: player retires. Max he caught the ball in the left
Speaker 1: corner and had an easy driving layoup, but he stepped
Speaker 1: out of bounds. You know, it's bad luck. That's three
Speaker 1: possessions that you lose there. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, when you're playing bad basketball and you play
Speaker 1: with your food, you run the risk of variants beating you.
Speaker 1: And in this case, Doug mc dermocconda heater and you
Speaker 1: ended up losing a game. So I mean kind of
Speaker 1: zooming zooming out. For the Sixers, they're owing three now,
Speaker 1: they will be one in three after tonight because they're
Speaker 1: going to beat Indiana. I'd be stunned if they lost
Speaker 1: that game. Um, James Harden was awesome in the first
Speaker 1: two games, but Joel Embiad was awful in the first
Speaker 1: two games. Uh And Bead was awesome in the third game,
Speaker 1: but James Harden was awful in that game. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've obviously I've been someone who's been on the
Speaker 1: James Harden's Canna Ever revenge campaign? Um type of season,
Speaker 1: their type of a take as it as it pertains
Speaker 1: of the Sixers in their potential this year. He had
Speaker 1: a bad game. That's going to happen. Obviously, we need
Speaker 1: a lot more than three games to determine whether or
Speaker 1: not James Harden his back. I still think he looks great,
Speaker 1: but he didn't play well against San Antonio. But the
Speaker 1: problem there is not that um um, you know, James
Speaker 1: Harden played poorly once, so that Joel Embiid played im
Speaker 1: poorly twice. They both need to be better. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be a consistent theme as we're going down the line,
Speaker 1: when we're getting to Paul George and Kawhile Leonard here
Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes, or when we get to
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis when we talked about the
Speaker 1: Lakers later, Like these teams that are star late and
Speaker 1: the ones that rely on their top tier stars to
Speaker 1: lead the way. If they are inconsistent and they don't
Speaker 1: consistently find ways to dominate games, you're not you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be very good. And right now, the Sixers have
Speaker 1: two stars that can't consistently play well. They're not very good.
Speaker 1: The Lakers have two stars that can't consistently play well.
Speaker 1: They're not very good. So that's something to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on for both of those teams. The Sixers have
Speaker 1: had stretches of great defense and stretches of awful defense. Um,
Speaker 1: they just need consistency. They consistency from their stars, consistency
Speaker 1: and defensive effort, and they'll be fine there. This is
Speaker 1: not a roster issue. I've been asked that twice in
Speaker 1: our live shows. I don't think it's a roster issue.
Speaker 1: It's just bad basketball. They need to play better basketball. Um. Specifically,
Speaker 1: they are twenty nine and transition defense according to Cleaning
Speaker 1: the Glass right now. Uh, specifically, Joel Embiid is absolutely
Speaker 1: killing them in that department by just lingering in the
Speaker 1: backcourt and trying to draw fouls and doing all sorts
Speaker 1: of stupid ship that's getting him caught up and not
Speaker 1: getting back on defense and time, and it's killing the Sixers.
Speaker 1: Big green, you know, big kind of silver lining. The
Speaker 1: Sixers are sixth in half court defense right now. According
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the Glass, so Washington Cleveland, the Calves are
Speaker 1: up by seven in this game with less than a
Speaker 1: minute left UM, and it was a pretty remarkable quick comeback.
Speaker 1: They didn't even need but twenty seconds to tie this
Speaker 1: basketball game. Chris apps porzingis stuck a nasty step back
Speaker 1: three over Jared Allen. The Calves in bound to Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 1: and Bradley Beale just rips him and then goes up
Speaker 1: to the basket, draws a foul, goes to the line,
Speaker 1: makes two free throws, and then the Calves go back
Speaker 1: into Donovan Mitchell. He brings the ball to the floor.
Speaker 1: Will Barton brings a bunch of ball pressure and he
Speaker 1: rips Donovan Mitchell and goes down and dunks it. And
Speaker 1: like everyone in theren is just looking around at each other.
Speaker 1: They can't even believe what just happened, and suddenly the
Speaker 1: game is tied. UM. So the game goes to ot
Speaker 1: and uh. Kyle Kuzman in particular was pretty sloppy and overtime.
Speaker 1: He missed a couple of free throws, and then there
Speaker 1: was another play where Bradley Beale drove baseline and Kyle
Speaker 1: Kuzma was in the week side corner and de lawn
Speaker 1: Right was in the dunker spot and as Beale was
Speaker 1: going through, you know, we we talked about this a
Speaker 1: lot off you guys remember over the summer when we
Speaker 1: did our five out Offensive Principles video and we just
Speaker 1: kind of broke down with five out offense looks like
Speaker 1: but everything about you know, these dribble drive and kick
Speaker 1: five out offenses depends on relocation. So like it's effectively
Speaker 1: like a wheel. As players are iving and kicking, you're
Speaker 1: always taking a spot and you're always causing people to
Speaker 1: leave their spot and go to empty spots around the
Speaker 1: floor and so on this play, Bill's driving baseline, And
Speaker 1: so what was supposed to happen is de lan Right,
Speaker 1: who's in the dunker spot, is supposed to vacate out
Speaker 1: to the corner, and Kyle Kuzma is supposed to vacate
Speaker 1: up to the wing, and then as Bill goes out
Speaker 1: to the corner, then they all kind of loop around right. Well, instead,
Speaker 1: what happened is Kuzma stayed parked in the corner, Delon
Speaker 1: Right ran into him, and then Kuzma pointed at De
Speaker 1: lawn Right to go up to the wing. And then
Speaker 1: Kuzma went up to the wing with him, even though
Speaker 1: he just told him to go up there. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, there's nobody in the corner, and that's your
Speaker 1: main outlet as you're driving and kicking. Like every team
Speaker 1: always wants to keep that corner, the strong side corner
Speaker 1: and the weak side corner filled with shooting or just
Speaker 1: an option, because when you're driving to the basket, it
Speaker 1: is very difficult to make cross body passes back out
Speaker 1: to the wing or to the top of the key.
Speaker 1: The easiest passes are to the corners. You gotta keep
Speaker 1: them occupied. So just a couple of sloppy mistakes from
Speaker 1: kuzma Um that caused him an issue on that particular turnover,
Speaker 1: Chetty Osman ran out and got an and one, and
Speaker 1: the game was basically over huge place from calves in
Speaker 1: in O t um Carris Lavert had a really nasty
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot on Bradley Beale, like a step
Speaker 1: back at the left elbow where he got a ton
Speaker 1: of separation. And then Donovan Mitchell blew right by Delon
Speaker 1: Wright rejecting a pick and roll what got downhill and
Speaker 1: and uh Um got an and one. Delan right in particular,
Speaker 1: at a really hard time keeping Donovan Mitchell in front.
Speaker 1: Down the stretch of this game, there was a not
Speaker 1: only was he beating about the dribble, but at the
Speaker 1: end of regulation, after the catastrophe from Donovan Mitchell that
Speaker 1: caused the game to be tied, he hit his step
Speaker 1: back move on Delan Right where he exited the frame
Speaker 1: like he didn't fall, but like he was. He generated
Speaker 1: fifteen feet of separation and Donovan Mitchell was completely wide
Speaker 1: open on the right wing. He just missed the shot. So, UM,
Speaker 1: i've it was interesting that Delon Right was even in
Speaker 1: the game at that specific point. Um, I would probably
Speaker 1: gone with Monty Morris, but I I it is, it
Speaker 1: is what it is. I don't know. I haven't watched
Speaker 1: the Wizards enough to have a really good feel for
Speaker 1: how they all played together. I just thought that Delon
Speaker 1: Right kind of felt like the weak link to me
Speaker 1: in that closing lineup. Jared Allen has been the most
Speaker 1: impressive Cavalier to me so far. You know what's funny
Speaker 1: is is he I hated his contract when he signed it.
Speaker 1: Some of you guys who have been listening for a
Speaker 1: while I will probably remember that I just gotta crow
Speaker 1: on that I was completely wrong. Um, he's a lot.
Speaker 1: I hated it because I viewed him as like a
Speaker 1: very traditional shot blocking center that can roll hard to
Speaker 1: the rim and and have some vertical spacing. And I
Speaker 1: hate the idea of spending, you know, twenty million dollars
Speaker 1: a year on someone like that. But the truth is
Speaker 1: is that Jared Allen is actually a lot closer to
Speaker 1: go bear defensively than he is to like a Damian
Speaker 1: Jones for instance. He is not a stay geotypical rim
Speaker 1: protector and vertical spacer. He's one of the best in
Speaker 1: the league at it right now who also switches out
Speaker 1: to the perimeter really well. There was a play it
Speaker 1: was either late regulation, I think it was ot where
Speaker 1: he got switched out onto Bradley Beal and Bradley Bill
Speaker 1: tried to pull Jared Allen out to the corner so
Speaker 1: he could throw it down to the post, and in
Speaker 1: the process Jared Allen just pressured up and Ball pressured him,
Speaker 1: forced him to throw a very looping pass and it
Speaker 1: ended up getting turned over. And I like he did.
Speaker 1: He did well on switches throughout the game. I I
Speaker 1: was really impressed by Jared Allen in this one. UM,
Speaker 1: and now you know he's better offensively than Gobert. He
Speaker 1: can punish switches and knocked down a little hook shot.
Speaker 1: He's more, he's just he's just a damn good basketball player. UM,
Speaker 1: and now his contract looks a lot better than Rudy Gobert's. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is a better player than Jared Allen. I
Speaker 1: want to be clear about that, although I do think
Speaker 1: it's closer than people think. UM, but at his number,
Speaker 1: at his contract number, I'd certainly rather have UM Jared
Speaker 1: Allen at this point. The Uh Cleveland so far as
Speaker 1: eighth and half court defense according to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 1: despite having a pretty bad defensive backcourt. So that's a
Speaker 1: nice start for Cleveland. Moving on to Phoenix Clippers. This
Speaker 1: game was over in the first quarter. Uh, just just
Speaker 1: a clinic in perimeter defense from Phoenix. I was watching
Speaker 1: this game and I made it like four or five
Speaker 1: possessions in. I'm like, oh man, that like the Clippers
Speaker 1: are not getting downhill at all. So I started tracking it.
Speaker 1: Over the course of the rest of the quarter. We
Speaker 1: got through seven minutes of basketball before a Clipper finally
Speaker 1: got downhill. And in either engaged to help defender or
Speaker 1: or made a layup. And on the play that they did,
Speaker 1: it was a pocket passes Zoobots and I think Norm
Speaker 1: Powell cut out of the corner and Zubos dropped it
Speaker 1: down to him for a layup. But I was like, man,
Speaker 1: that's the first time in almost the entire first quarter
Speaker 1: that they got downhill And the main reason why was
Speaker 1: the mcale Bridges just absolutely locked Paul George up, like
Speaker 1: Paul George is gonna have nightmare is about Michael Bridges
Speaker 1: for weeks. And then they kept going to Marcus Morris
Speaker 1: to attack Devin Booker because of the size mismatch. Into
Speaker 1: Devin Booker's credit, he kept slidding his feet and taking
Speaker 1: contact in the chest and forcing him to take tough
Speaker 1: jump shots. He actually made a couple of them. But
Speaker 1: like overall, on the perimeter, Phoenix contained the dribble drive
Speaker 1: and if the Clippers don't get dribble penetration, their offense
Speaker 1: falls apart. And I mean, yes, Kauai wasn't playing in
Speaker 1: that first quarter, but Quaie in particular looks pretty slow
Speaker 1: right now, and he didn't look great when he came
Speaker 1: in later in the game, So just something to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on for both teams like that. For Phoenix
Speaker 1: is a legit weapon their ability to contain the basketball. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul doesn't look great yet, but they're getting so
Speaker 1: much out of Devin Booker right now. Might not it
Speaker 1: might not even matter. Phoenix very clearly is still more
Speaker 1: than talented enough to win a ton of games in
Speaker 1: this league. We'll get to them more in just a second.
Speaker 1: But with the Clippers, they early in the season. John
Speaker 1: Wall really is the only guy on the roster who's
Speaker 1: been getting consistent germal penetration, and that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: problem for them. I've talked a little bit about how
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about some of the age of their wings
Speaker 1: and if Kauai and Paul George similar to the Embid
Speaker 1: hardened things, similar to the Lebroni d thing. If Kawai
Speaker 1: and Paul George don't start playing like top fifteen players soon,
Speaker 1: the Clippers are gonna start to flounder a little bit.
Speaker 1: Um and how deep this league is. So with Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul has been off to start the year, but
Speaker 1: Booker has been so good that it doesn't matter his
Speaker 1: shot making in that first quarter was insane. Hit a
Speaker 1: nasty step back over Paul George at the left elbow.
Speaker 1: He had like a one legged, like crazy double pump
Speaker 1: short jump shot over Marcus Morris driving along the left
Speaker 1: block that was insane. He had another nasty pull up three.
Speaker 1: By around the three minute mark of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: the Clippers were blatantly double teaming Devin Booker out at
Speaker 1: half court to get the basketball out of his hands,
Speaker 1: and immediately when they did, mcilbridge just got a dunk
Speaker 1: because now you're playing four on three on the back end.
Speaker 1: But just like, if Booker is gonna be this good,
Speaker 1: Booker has been playing like a top ten player to
Speaker 1: start the season. If Booker is going to be this good,
Speaker 1: then it just doesn't matter what's going on with Chris
Speaker 1: Paul because how much talent there is on the rest
Speaker 1: of the roster um. You know, we we questioned before
Speaker 1: the season, will they, you know, flounder in the standings
Speaker 1: because of some of this drama, And I said, I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know, they might, But what I
Speaker 1: said was they have the most was like, some of
Speaker 1: the most talent on the on the entire league outside
Speaker 1: of their stars. So you know just by going out
Speaker 1: there and putting the jersey on, they're gonna win a
Speaker 1: lot of games, and so far they're off to a
Speaker 1: good start. Before we get out of here for the day,
Speaker 1: I wanted to just drop a couple of thoughts from
Speaker 1: the Lakers, um some positives to after what what everything
Speaker 1: that went down yesterday. I have not had a chance
Speaker 1: to completely rewatch this game. I'm gonna do that tomorrow
Speaker 1: during the day. Um, So keep an eye on my
Speaker 1: Twitter feed during the day tomorrow. A couple of big
Speaker 1: bright spots. The Lakers are second in defensive rating. Yes,
Speaker 1: we've been critical of their perimeter shooting for good reason.
Speaker 1: I said before the season, they're gonna be the worst
Speaker 1: in the league, but it won't be this bad. Like
Speaker 1: they're literally shooting, you know, and the twenty nine ranked
Speaker 1: shooting team in the league is just under thirty percent.
Speaker 1: So like, yeah, I don't think shooting is going to
Speaker 1: be a strength of this team unless they make a deal,
Speaker 1: which they will hopefully eventually. But the truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is is they're they're gonna shoot closer to thirty
Speaker 1: percent and closer to with the number two defense in
Speaker 1: the league is going to be enough to bump their
Speaker 1: offensive rating down up from the worst in the league
Speaker 1: to something closer to the middle of the pack. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, I had a couple of people in the
Speaker 1: comments yesterday saying, like, how could you view this team
Speaker 1: as a second tier contender? Again, if you are a
Speaker 1: top five defense and you are a top fifteen offense, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're around fifteen in offense, you absolutely are right
Speaker 1: up there with the Phoenixes and the Denvers and the
Speaker 1: sixers of the league. That's that's that second tier of contenders. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not talented enough to be a Slippers Celtics, Bucks
Speaker 1: Warriors type of team. That goes without saying they would
Speaker 1: need an enormous amount of luck in the trade market
Speaker 1: and in the buyout market to reach that point. But
Speaker 1: if they are a top five defense, they have Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis scrounging out a top fifteen offense.
Speaker 1: That's a simple math. You're going to be a team
Speaker 1: that's capable of beating anybody in the league on the
Speaker 1: right night. Now, so much of that is going to
Speaker 1: depend on them getting that shooting back up to where
Speaker 1: it was and getting Russ out of the rotation. Particularly
Speaker 1: and crunch time, because you're gonna lose some games that way.
Speaker 1: But I just wanted to draw put a little bit
Speaker 1: of positivity on this because for being oh and three,
Speaker 1: to have a couple of specific things you can point
Speaker 1: to as big positives, like being a great defensive team,
Speaker 1: that's something you can cling to, especially in that locker
Speaker 1: room when you're trying to keep people bought in when
Speaker 1: the winds aren't actually following the work that you're putting in.
Speaker 1: Here's another really good stat The Lakers have played thirty
Speaker 1: eight possessions so far this year with Lebron and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis on the floor without Russell Westbrook have a plus
Speaker 1: thirteen point two net rating, meaning they're beating teams by
Speaker 1: thirteen point two points per one possessions. And they've been
Speaker 1: awesome on both ends of the floor. So and that's
Speaker 1: too that to me is with Lebron and a d
Speaker 1: still not really playing that well. Like, I think they've
Speaker 1: each had two great halves of basketball. I think Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis was great in the first half against the Warriors.
Speaker 1: I thought Lebron was great in the second half against
Speaker 1: the Warriors. And I thought both of them were great
Speaker 1: in the second half against the Blazers, but everything else
Speaker 1: has been pretty average by their standards, so they still
Speaker 1: have a lot that they can improve on. But even
Speaker 1: in spite of that, the two of them without Russ
Speaker 1: have been a dominant basketball team. That's a legitimate plus
Speaker 1: that you can take from this. And then the last
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to say, I think it's time to
Speaker 1: send Russ home. Okay, So you want to play it cool,
Speaker 1: and you want to be patient, and you want to
Speaker 1: wait for the right trade. I get that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't get it at the expense of having Russ
Speaker 1: in the law locker room, but I get that. Now
Speaker 1: on the court, you have immense depth in the back court.
Speaker 1: You actually don't need what Russ brings you. Troy Brown Jr.
Speaker 1: Came in yesterday and basically played the Russ role through,
Speaker 1: you know, the most of that second half run, you know,
Speaker 1: just just doing the things that they're asking Russ to do.
Speaker 1: Defend a little bit, bigger wings, you know, push the
Speaker 1: ball in transition, play off of Lebron and a d.
Speaker 1: He did all of those things and did them better
Speaker 1: than Russ does, because that's what he's been doing his
Speaker 1: whole career. He's been a role player his whole career.
Speaker 1: Russ is trying to learn how to be a role
Speaker 1: player on the fly. So you're better without Russ. The
Speaker 1: numbers show that, Everything shows that. So rather than like, guys,
Speaker 1: that's toxic. After the Clippers game, I'm pretty sure a
Speaker 1: fan like cussed Russ out as he's walking out into
Speaker 1: the locker room. Yesterday, Lakers players are answering questions about
Speaker 1: the Russ crunch time thing. Lebron's having to tell reporters like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna tell you what you want me to say.
Speaker 1: You know, we had one Toscano Ander Sin having to
Speaker 1: defend Russ in the locker room after the Clippers game.
Speaker 1: The media is doing their job. They're asking those questions
Speaker 1: because it's their job. One of the biggest stories early
Speaker 1: in the season is how clunky the rust fit is,
Speaker 1: and it literally cost them a game on Sunday against
Speaker 1: the Blazers. So we can pretend all we want that
Speaker 1: it's not a big story. It is. It is the
Speaker 1: biggest story. It's the biggest story with this Lakers team.
Speaker 1: That's the reality. Okay. The second biggest story is probably
Speaker 1: the shooting issue. The shooting issue. The only way they
Speaker 1: can resolve it is by trading Russ, So everything comes
Speaker 1: back to us at the end of the day. The
Speaker 1: reporters are just doing their jobs by asking those questions.
Speaker 1: The real culprit here is Robin Genie for not knowing
Speaker 1: somehow or just choosing to not accept the truth that
Speaker 1: if they brought Russ back, the basketball would be clunky,
Speaker 1: the fans would have a huge problem with it, and
Speaker 1: the media would would help stoke that fire because it's
Speaker 1: good for media success. All of that is fact, and
Speaker 1: they knew that we had tons of evidence to show
Speaker 1: that last year, and they brought Russ into this anyway.
Speaker 1: They did this to him. He is a victim of
Speaker 1: what Robin Genie have done to him. The media is
Speaker 1: doing their job. Russ is the story. The fans have
Speaker 1: every right to be upset. Their team is struggling because
Speaker 1: because of the Rush trade and the rust fit is
Speaker 1: clunky and is hurting the team right now. All of
Speaker 1: that is true, but they also are playing well without
Speaker 1: Russ and have enough depth in the backcourt that they
Speaker 1: don't need him. So spare everybody the trouble. Let him
Speaker 1: go home to his family, Let him stay in shape
Speaker 1: and condition, he'll get moved somewhere. The next time he
Speaker 1: plays basketball will be for a team that wants him
Speaker 1: there and that wants him to have the basketball in
Speaker 1: his hands. And or he'll be out of the league
Speaker 1: long enough that he'll embrace the role player things and
Speaker 1: at that point he can play basketball in a less
Speaker 1: toxic environment. Then the Lakers can patient. If they want
Speaker 1: to wait till the deadline to make a deal, they can,
Speaker 1: but at least in the meantime they've got all players
Speaker 1: that fit alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and they
Speaker 1: have time to build continuity with those lineups, because when
Speaker 1: you make the Rush trade, all you'll be doing is
Speaker 1: bringing in more players to help supplement that. There's just
Speaker 1: no reason to keep him around at this point, Darvin Ham,
Speaker 1: you got to save him from himself. He can't help himself.
Speaker 1: But put Russ into the game for whatever reason, Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham said after the game. Why they asked him, why
Speaker 1: did you go with Russ and Crunch time when that
Speaker 1: lineup was playing so well? He said, I wanted more athletic.
Speaker 1: I wanted another athletic perimeter defender out there. Troy Brown
Speaker 1: is a better athletic perimeter defender than Russ. Right now,
Speaker 1: that's that that that he played better defensively in that
Speaker 1: game yesterday. So Darvin Ham is not seeing it or
Speaker 1: is willingly going against it. For the sake of Russ's ego,
Speaker 1: you have to save Darvin from himself by getting Russ
Speaker 1: out of the locker room. If Rob Polinko wants to
Speaker 1: methodically work out and have an opportunity to prove to
Speaker 1: us that patience was the right strategy to the Rush trade, fine,
Speaker 1: but don't subject Russ to this anymore. Don't subject the
Speaker 1: basketball team to this anymore. Send him home like it'll
Speaker 1: be better for literally everyone involved, and then not to
Speaker 1: mention it will help you regain leverage and negotiations when
Speaker 1: the Russ basketball is like right now, you look desperate
Speaker 1: because Russ is out there hurting your team. Send him home.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you take two three months to
Speaker 1: make a trade at that point. At the very least,
Speaker 1: let this team, this group learn how to play with
Speaker 1: each other. Then you can bring in reinforcements when you're
Speaker 1: ready to make a deal. That's where I'm at with
Speaker 1: the Lakers right now. Alright, So, like I said, you
Speaker 1: guys know the drill. Tomorrow we're gonna be doing our
Speaker 1: first AMP show. Um, I believe it's after the um
Speaker 1: the evening game. I'll tweet out exactly which game we're
Speaker 1: going after, but we'll be doing a live show there
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna be on YouTube after the final
Speaker 1: buzzer of the Warriors game tomorrow night. So I think
Speaker 1: it's Warrior Sons if I remember correctly. So make sure
Speaker 1: you get over to my Twitter feed and download the
Speaker 1: AMP app and then follow hoops tonight there and then
Speaker 1: definitely be on my twitter feeds you guys can get
Speaker 1: an idea of where things are going to be in
Speaker 1: terms of show scheduling. All right, As always, I sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate your guys a sport and I will see you
Speaker 1: times too Tomorrow. The volume