Speaker 1: The volume. It's the Colin Coward Podcast presented by fan Duel.
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Speaker 1: Duel app today. Hi everybody, and welcome to the Wednesday
Speaker 1: Morning Podcast. Jason Timff hoops tonight at the volume. How
Speaker 1: great is he? He is really really good. We stole him,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody else wanted him, very popular network, and
Speaker 1: we said, in your face, we're taking him other network.
Speaker 1: All right, So I want to start with this. If
Speaker 1: I get upset with my kids or my wife and
Speaker 1: I express my disappointment, the reason I do that is
Speaker 1: because I want to be heard and I want you
Speaker 1: to respond. I want some sort of visceral connection. I
Speaker 1: love you, I'm committed to you are you committed to me.
Speaker 1: I want to be heard, and everybody wants to be heard.
Speaker 1: That's why I've never taken criticism personally. If I don't
Speaker 1: want to go to a restaurant anymore, I don't write
Speaker 1: him a letter. I just stop going. When people really
Speaker 1: leave my show, they just stop listening. They don't inform
Speaker 1: me of it. I thought it was interesting that the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl had its biggest rating in years. One hundred
Speaker 1: and thirteen million people watched it, third most watched TV
Speaker 1: program in American history. This comes, of course, after the
Speaker 1: boycott from Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. All I heard
Speaker 1: for eighteen months and the words used by all the
Speaker 1: boycotters I'll never watch the NFL again. They didn't say
Speaker 1: they'd come back. Eventually, they said I'll never watch it again.
Speaker 1: They all came back. What are you going to do
Speaker 1: for twenty Sundays in the fall? What do you guys, farmers?
Speaker 1: In the end, it's the NFL. We bet it, we
Speaker 1: watch it, we love it. Many of us played it
Speaker 1: not particularly well, but you wanted to be heard. Conservatives
Speaker 1: overwhelmingly wanted to be heard. Remember when the CEO of
Speaker 1: Goya Foods g Oya Foods backed Donald Trump, there was
Speaker 1: a boycott. Liberals were outraged by the comments, we are
Speaker 1: going to boycott Goya Foods. Actually sales went up twenty
Speaker 1: two percent. In the following weeks, Goya reported sales of
Speaker 1: some beans apparently Goya loves their beans rose four hundred percent.
Speaker 1: I remember when Kaepernick did that first Nike ad ooh.
Speaker 1: People wanted to be heard. I will never buy Nike again.
Speaker 1: The stock price at the time was sixty eight. It
Speaker 1: is now eighty four percent higher at one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty six. Actually rose to almost one seventy. Nike's never
Speaker 1: been stronger. NFL's never been stronger. Goya Foods is, by
Speaker 1: the way, because of the platforms, the number of platforms
Speaker 1: I'm on today, I get more hate, more ugly comments,
Speaker 1: more threats, more boycott tweets than ever before. January was
Speaker 1: my most watched, most listened to, most downloaded month of
Speaker 1: my thirty year career. And that's okay, yell scream, call
Speaker 1: me an idiot. People want to be heard. Liberals wanted
Speaker 1: to be heard with Goya Foods. Conservatives wanted to be
Speaker 1: heard with Kaepernick and Nike in the NFL. That's why
Speaker 1: I don't take things personally when people really leave brands, restaurants, leagues, TV.
Speaker 1: By the way, teens do not watch linear TV. Teenagers
Speaker 1: don't watch it. It's down seventy four percent from I
Speaker 1: think like a decade ago. You know what I've never
Speaker 1: ever received in the history of social media, a teenager
Speaker 1: saying I'm no longer watching linear TV. I'm out. They
Speaker 1: just leave to all my media brethren, don't take the
Speaker 1: insults personally. Roger Goodell doesn't, the CEO of Goya Foods doesn't.
Speaker 1: Phil Night at Nike doesn't. All of us. When you're
Speaker 1: connected to something, when you've been a customer, a fan,
Speaker 1: of viewer, a listener, sometimes you just pissed and want
Speaker 1: to be heard on the same way. So Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: is about ready to go on his darkness retreat for
Speaker 1: four days. According to reports from legitimate sources, He's considering
Speaker 1: filming it little irony there, an isolation trip. Hey, let's
Speaker 1: make sure the camera guy's got it. The lighting eyes
Speaker 1: over here. It's supposed to be isolation. Thinking you by yourself,
Speaker 1: Aaron wants attention, ripping Adam Schefter, ripping Ian Rappaport, the vaccine.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers wants attention. He wants to feel important. Right, No, kids,
Speaker 1: never married, may not have a pet. It's why he
Speaker 1: needs to do these weekly hits. Aaron needs to be
Speaker 1: the center of attention. It just cracks me up. Like
Speaker 1: when you go on these retreats, you go to oh Hi,
Speaker 1: you're looking for peace. You're not supposed to be making
Speaker 1: another state farm commercial during your isolation trip. You know,
Speaker 1: people myself included, have odd habits. I tend to be
Speaker 1: a creature of habit. You know, three or four things
Speaker 1: for breakfast my entire life fruit, early, fish, late. I
Speaker 1: eat the same way, I exercise, the same way, same
Speaker 1: time of the day. Very much a creature of habit.
Speaker 1: And I understand not everybody has the same habits. You know,
Speaker 1: my kids are quirky. I'm quirky, and I've had friends
Speaker 1: that have you know, mannerisms or things that are I
Speaker 1: consider odd. But the one thing I've dropped friends and
Speaker 1: people in my social circle over high maintenance slash neediness. Fuck,
Speaker 1: Aaron is needy. He is really really needy. As a
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Speaker 1: LinkedIn dot com slash column. His name is Jason Timp.
Speaker 1: We were able to grab him a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: He's going to be with us for a long time.
Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight podcast on the Volume Network. So I was
Speaker 1: talking about this Jason, about the Kansas, the Chiefs. If
Speaker 1: you were going to beat them, it probably should have
Speaker 1: been this year. Kind of a makeshift receiving Corps. Six
Speaker 1: rookies played old line is still pretty young, not great
Speaker 1: at tackle. Now this year they've got eleven draft picks,
Speaker 1: all the rookies at running back in the secondary, we'll
Speaker 1: have a year under their belt. Mahomes is only getting better.
Speaker 1: And you know, this could have been the vulnerable year,
Speaker 1: right because they were very, very young. And I feel
Speaker 1: the same way about the Warriors last year Clay Thompson
Speaker 1: at seventy young guys weren't ready to play. Now they've
Speaker 1: got Peyton, he'll be ready by the playoffs. Clay's better
Speaker 1: pools emerged as more consistent. Dante de Vincenzo's actually a
Speaker 1: perfect fit for that system. Now they're actually really deep
Speaker 1: in the next two months, really really deep, and Kuminga
Speaker 1: is at least now a contributor. And so as they
Speaker 1: go back and four, we know they're not the same
Speaker 1: team without Steph Curry. But I really believe Milwaukee's the
Speaker 1: best team in the league. And I really believe in
Speaker 1: two and a half three months, Golden State, a team
Speaker 1: that's in Boston's head, will be second. How much of
Speaker 1: a believer or a cynic are you of these Warriors
Speaker 1: going forward? Well, generally speaking, I'm always going to be
Speaker 1: very bullish on championship cores that still have their core
Speaker 1: that we've seen show what they can do on that level,
Speaker 1: because the NBA regular season is so monotonous and boring,
Speaker 1: and they've had issues, like even the core of this
Speaker 1: team has struggled to close games this year, which is
Speaker 1: super unusual for a team that you'd expect to execute
Speaker 1: super well. And obviously they've had issues with the bench.
Speaker 1: But college did you know that there are twenty seven
Speaker 1: five man lineups in the NBA this year that have
Speaker 1: played at least two hundred minutes and Steph Clay, Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: Raymond Green, and Kevan Luney are still by far in
Speaker 1: the league. They're outscoring teams by twenty two points per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions, five and a half points better than
Speaker 1: Denver starters who are treating this season every game like
Speaker 1: it's the last game of their lives. Now, again, the
Speaker 1: bench was a little concerning, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, there's two things that give me optimism there.
Speaker 1: First of all, Gary Payton will be available for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Last year in the playoffs, they outscored teams by three
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions When Gary Payton was off
Speaker 1: the floor and by sixteen points per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: when Gary Payton was on the floor. So you know,
Speaker 1: to their credit, they made the Wiseman mistake, but they
Speaker 1: were like, hey, we're gonna undo two mistakes in one
Speaker 1: move here and bring back Gary. Now. It sucks that
Speaker 1: he's not going to be available for this next stretch
Speaker 1: of the regular season, but if he's available for the postseason,
Speaker 1: that solves a lot of problems. And then Jamichael Green.
Speaker 1: There's been all this talk about them going after a
Speaker 1: backup big, but he is shooting the laces off the
Speaker 1: basketball since he returned from injury, and that kind of
Speaker 1: alleviates that issue. Give me Gary Payton, give me Jamichael Green,
Speaker 1: Give me Jordan Poole and Dante DiVincenzo with that start
Speaker 1: lineup we just talked about in a Western conference, that's
Speaker 1: super flawed. I mean, as anybody is safer bet no
Speaker 1: I I And that's what I go back to. I
Speaker 1: do think when you have a veteran team and you
Speaker 1: have a long playoff run, you're talking about twenty more
Speaker 1: intense games. This is not Tuesday against the Pelicans at
Speaker 1: home at Oracle, right, Like these are. These are play
Speaker 1: forty minutes of playoff basketball, and so I don't think
Speaker 1: it's surprising. The Warriors were flat defensively, frankly awful defensively
Speaker 1: until about, I would say, about two weeks ago. It
Speaker 1: feels like there's moments now I think they've gotten They're
Speaker 1: not great, but they've gotten better. Probably has Kur has
Speaker 1: been barking at him, Draymond's been barking at him. But
Speaker 1: I tend to I'm with you on this, until you
Speaker 1: have a ring, teams play really hard. Those Chicago Bull
Speaker 1: teams with Derek Rose, Jesus, every game was Game seven.
Speaker 1: You'd go into the United Center and Lebron would go
Speaker 1: in there, and then the playoffs show up and Lebron
Speaker 1: shut down de Rows. Speaking of Lebron, I had a
Speaker 1: scout I trust say the body language by Ad wasn't
Speaker 1: a coincidence. He's had, as you've pointed out on your podcast,
Speaker 1: a series of bizarrely ineffective games, like strangely ineffective first
Speaker 1: half against the Warriors was weird, like not there. And
Speaker 1: I had a scout tell me last week Dallas is
Speaker 1: going to make a run at him. Anthony Davis has
Speaker 1: sort of kind of believes he's lost the trust of Lebron,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm hearing, and that they're going to try
Speaker 1: to get their way into the playoffs. And I do
Speaker 1: think if you if you gave me Lebron and that
Speaker 1: roster seven gamer playing, let's get that's a series against Denver,
Speaker 1: I'd take my chances with Lebron. What do you believe
Speaker 1: of somebody that watches every minute for the Lakers? What
Speaker 1: do you make of the last five to six games
Speaker 1: of Anthony Davis? The Anthony Davis thing is truly bizarre
Speaker 1: because all of the intel is is that his foot
Speaker 1: is fine. Now generally speaking, with foot injuries, there's a
Speaker 1: difference between fine and I trust myself to explode off
Speaker 1: of this foot one I need to. The numbers are
Speaker 1: really bad. So he's been back for nine games, twenty
Speaker 1: two points and thirteen rebounds, which is the weird thing
Speaker 1: with Lebron and AD there's always such a disconnect between
Speaker 1: what their box score production is and what you actually
Speaker 1: see on the floor. Because I think he's been bad
Speaker 1: by his standards. He's shooting just sixty one percent in
Speaker 1: the restricted area since coming back, which is awful for
Speaker 1: a big that's okay for a point guard. To give
Speaker 1: you some perspective, DeAndre Eighton is shooting seventy nine percent
Speaker 1: in the restricted area this season, so he's just getting
Speaker 1: manhandled around the basket. He's not running up and down
Speaker 1: in transition. He's losing box outs everywhere, right and left.
Speaker 1: Now if he's dealing with something up here. The reality
Speaker 1: is is this roster is so Allan did now because
Speaker 1: they've they've really addressed their two biggest weakness backcourt offensive
Speaker 1: skill size on the perimeter with the with Ruey Hotchmer
Speaker 1: and Jared Vanderbilt. So yeah, if they if they get
Speaker 1: Lebron back and he's playing at an MVP level at
Speaker 1: a certain point, ad will have no choice but to
Speaker 1: lock back in. And I believe that he will, but
Speaker 1: you know if he does not, because one of the
Speaker 1: biggest subplots of this Laker's era is Anthony Davis's inability
Speaker 1: to remain at his ceiling. Since the twenty twenty playoffs,
Speaker 1: it's been like two games against the Suns in the
Speaker 1: first round where he looked really good, like maybe ten
Speaker 1: fifteen games earlier this season, but that's about it. And
Speaker 1: if he can't stay at that level, the Lakers will
Speaker 1: have to look seriously at whether or not he can
Speaker 1: be a foundational piece for them. Well, the source told me,
Speaker 1: Dallas will make a run on him because Kyrie and
Speaker 1: Luca have huge defensive efficiencies and they don't trust Christian.
Speaker 1: Would it would make sense. What can you get in
Speaker 1: your opinion for an Anthony Davis at the end of
Speaker 1: the year. Man. Okay, So if he does not ever
Speaker 1: in this season return to Form, I think he becomes
Speaker 1: He's got similar value to Lebron James, meaning like you're
Speaker 1: looking at him and you're like, yeah, like I might
Speaker 1: get some top tier superstar production here, but I also
Speaker 1: might not. I'm not going to give away three four
Speaker 1: first round picks and two three swaps and a good
Speaker 1: young player I was. I actually pitched this idea to Ryan,
Speaker 1: our producer, earlier today. But like, if if ad cannot
Speaker 1: return to Form, you start to look at potentially him
Speaker 1: being the vehicle for a Kyrie Irving sign in trade,
Speaker 1: which kind of which satisfies both needs. Maybe you get
Speaker 1: a Josh Green out of Dallas as well. Maybe you
Speaker 1: get one other first round pick and the two you know,
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt, such a good work hard forward for them.
Speaker 1: If they can get one other center, you start to
Speaker 1: look at them as a more offensively focused team behind
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Lebron. And Lebron when he's surrounded by really
Speaker 1: good ball handlers and shooters, he does devote more energy
Speaker 1: to the defensive end of the floor and he can
Speaker 1: be really impactful there. Just look at the twenty sixteen calves.
Speaker 1: So that would be an interesting direction for them to
Speaker 1: look if Anthony Davis can't return to form. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing called if I asked you, what are the
Speaker 1: percentage chances that Anthony Davis returns to MVP form before
Speaker 1: the end of the season, It's like a coin flip
Speaker 1: or worse. Oh, absolutely it is. And I think, as
Speaker 1: you pointed out, it may be a little physical, some
Speaker 1: of it's mental, and I think that's where he struggled.
Speaker 1: You know, there's some things you can teach and some
Speaker 1: things you can't. Passion like Patrick Mahomes visibly in intense
Speaker 1: pain during the Super Bowl and sprints for twenty six
Speaker 1: yards in my opinion, his greatest moment as a pro player,
Speaker 1: and he is wincing. Pain tolerance is a skill. Playing
Speaker 1: through injuries is a skill. Dwyane Wade was banged up
Speaker 1: almost the last ten years of his career. He was
Speaker 1: constantly on the deck. So let me start with this premise.
Speaker 1: I think Milwaukee when healthy's the best team in the league.
Speaker 1: Do you agree? I do. I just don't trust Boston
Speaker 1: to close games. And then everybody in the West is
Speaker 1: significantly more flawed, and Milwaukee kind of float under the
Speaker 1: radar as they were consistently near the top of the
Speaker 1: standings despite Chris Middleton being out and Drew Holiday being
Speaker 1: in and out of the lineup, like Janis has been sneaky,
Speaker 1: like a favorite, one of my favorites for MVP this
Speaker 1: year and not getting enough credit for it because he's
Speaker 1: been floating a really limited roster. And so yeah, again,
Speaker 1: it's to me, it's about the safeness of the bet,
Speaker 1: and I just can count on Milwaukee in a way
Speaker 1: I can't anybody else out East. So that brings me up. Two.
Speaker 1: And you watch the NBA and a more consistent level,
Speaker 1: because I'm kind of a generalist than half the cherry
Speaker 1: pick stuff. But I've watched the Celtics. I get on
Speaker 1: a treadmill and I watched them as much as I can.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch them tonight when I we hang up
Speaker 1: here and I'm gonna go watch their backups play Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: My daughter's actually at that game totally about the health.
Speaker 1: Things aren't starting anybody. So one of the things I've
Speaker 1: noticed in a game that a lot of people watch
Speaker 1: was the Laker game, which was a fantastic night of
Speaker 1: NBA basketball, it felt like a playoff game is that
Speaker 1: I think Golden State remains in Boston's head is even
Speaker 1: though they won that game and that had a playoff
Speaker 1: feel to it. This is and you played college basketball
Speaker 1: at a high level, more good late in the shot clock,
Speaker 1: in late in games, the body language tells me that
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is really the alpha. He wants the ball.
Speaker 1: He's more aggressive seeking the ball. Now when they design
Speaker 1: or set screens for Jason a play, he'll come get it,
Speaker 1: but he won't take over a possession. I always feel
Speaker 1: like Jalen's the alpha. Tatum's more talented, and I think
Speaker 1: when you get into these huge games that may only
Speaker 1: rear its head three possessions in the last six minutes,
Speaker 1: that's the difference between beating the Warriors and not. There's
Speaker 1: something it's almost like Tatum's too nice a guy. That's
Speaker 1: my takeaway. It's like, I don't want that when Steph
Speaker 1: wants to score, there's nobody else on the floor. Steph.
Speaker 1: Do you see this ever with the Celtics in big
Speaker 1: possessions in key spots, some of it is skill set,
Speaker 1: Like I think Jalen Brown is much more of an
Speaker 1: improvisational score. He can score in the sense that, like
Speaker 1: every basket looks different than the last, Jason Tatum is
Speaker 1: very much your modern MBA analytical offensive approach. Like he's
Speaker 1: he's toned way back on his mid range jump shooting,
Speaker 1: He's taken a ton of threes, he's finishing better at
Speaker 1: the rim than he used to be. But he's kind
Speaker 1: of becoming a more predictable offensive engine. And at the
Speaker 1: end of games, nothing goes the way you want it too.
Speaker 1: There's so much contact that goes on called there's random
Speaker 1: double teams and weird schematic things, and having a player
Speaker 1: that's an improvisational score, a guy that can take and
Speaker 1: make weird shots ends up being a huge advantage there,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a huge part of why Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown thrives so much in those settings. But it's funny
Speaker 1: because I would agree with you that Golden States in
Speaker 1: their head, which even when they won this last game,
Speaker 1: they kind of backed into that win. Yeah, they won,
Speaker 1: because Golden State also made a bunch of mistakes, like
Speaker 1: even on that final possession when Jalen Brown got open,
Speaker 1: it was a transition cross match and Jordan Poole got
Speaker 1: lost and they left Jalen Brown open. Like again, we
Speaker 1: talked about this earlier, but Golden State has struggled with
Speaker 1: like game execution. Jason Tatum was awful down the stretch
Speaker 1: and regulation of that game, including having Steph Curry on
Speaker 1: a switch on the left wing. No double team, dude,
Speaker 1: you've got the advantage, and he ended up just like
Speaker 1: kind of like trying to step sideways into a three,
Speaker 1: and Steph was all over it, and he ended up
Speaker 1: turning the basketball over. And you can tell there's something
Speaker 1: going on up there. To be clear, Boston's even better
Speaker 1: than they were last year. Malcolm Brogden, we talked a
Speaker 1: lot after the NBA Finals about them needing backup ball handling.
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden was a home run trade. He's been amazing
Speaker 1: for them, But at the end of these games, if
Speaker 1: I would feel so much better about Boston. If they
Speaker 1: just kicked Golden State's ass in those two games, I
Speaker 1: would be in a completely different place mentally with them
Speaker 1: if they just closed the deal in those two games emphatically,
Speaker 1: and instead they lost one and they fell ass backwards
Speaker 1: into a win and the other, and so that just
Speaker 1: puts me in the same position where it's the same
Speaker 1: type of flaw when they get to that big stage. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's why Golden State. Golden State picks its spots
Speaker 1: the Boston game, that Memphis game. You know this, there's
Speaker 1: about for defending champions. There's about six nights a year
Speaker 1: their national TV games, or they're the cocky upstart Memphis.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, guys, don't have to be talked into it.
Speaker 1: So I think everybody. I've probably seen Phoenix play six
Speaker 1: times this year. Chris Paul is not what he was
Speaker 1: two years ago. Let's start with that. Mikhail Bridges really
Speaker 1: valuable wing defender, no question, that's where they're not as good.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant remains. However, when healthy about the best easiest
Speaker 1: bucket in the league, I tend to think it's going
Speaker 1: to work. Because in the NFL, I always feel in
Speaker 1: pro football, an offense needs an identity can overcome lack
Speaker 1: of personnel. If you have a New York Giants won
Speaker 1: a playoff game, they knew what they were and what
Speaker 1: they weren't. I don't worry about that. In the NBA,
Speaker 1: what I worry is, do you have elements? Two great wings,
Speaker 1: a big that runs the floor, a smart distribution, veteran
Speaker 1: point guard, a respected coach. Situationally, I look at Phoenix
Speaker 1: and I think there's a lot of elements here. I like, now,
Speaker 1: they're not deep, but you know, Golden State plays eight
Speaker 1: guys like depth is a tad overrated. I think Phoenix
Speaker 1: could move through some of these teams in about five
Speaker 1: six games. I think the Suns it works for me.
Speaker 1: But now in three years this could be a disaster
Speaker 1: if they fall apart. But just for this year, does
Speaker 1: it work for you? Well? Overnight they have the most
Speaker 1: talented top four in the NBA in my opinion, I
Speaker 1: putting them ahead of Philly in Boston. There's also schematically
Speaker 1: a supernatural fit for Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant has been
Speaker 1: by far the very best pick and roll ball handler
Speaker 1: this year. He is having one of the very best
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting seasons in NBA history. In all
Speaker 1: pick and roll coverages in the NBA concede pull up shots,
Speaker 1: so every team in the league has just been like,
Speaker 1: let's just double KD and play four on three in
Speaker 1: the back end, which is why the Nets have been
Speaker 1: so good this season when he played. Phoenix is the
Speaker 1: pre eminent pick and roll team in the NBA. That's
Speaker 1: what they run every single possession down the floor. They
Speaker 1: run a variation of it called Spain pick and roll
Speaker 1: where they include a shooter that replaces to the time
Speaker 1: the key while Aton is rolling. So KD offensively is
Speaker 1: a just an incredibly natural fit with him. He's also
Speaker 1: probably the best plug in play star in NBA history
Speaker 1: because his off ball offensive talent is every bit as
Speaker 1: effective as his on ball offensive talent, and he makes quick,
Speaker 1: predictable decisions, like compared to Luca, where it's like there's
Speaker 1: nine seconds of dribbling and you don't necessarily know where
Speaker 1: he's going. That can be tough to play with sometimes,
Speaker 1: but when you're playing pickup basketball and there's that dude
Speaker 1: where you know exactly what he's gonna do and he
Speaker 1: makes that decision quickly, it makes it easy to play
Speaker 1: with that type of guy. So that's why he plugs
Speaker 1: in so well. On the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: He's actually having one of his better defensive seasons of
Speaker 1: his career as a help defender on the back line
Speaker 1: with his length and DeAndre Ayton. One of his biggest
Speaker 1: issues is he can be a kind of up and
Speaker 1: down defensive player from his motor. From the perspective of
Speaker 1: his motor. Now, they're not a perfect team. They're going
Speaker 1: to be probably the worst perimeter defense team out of
Speaker 1: the high level playoff teams, and that will put them
Speaker 1: in some trouble against dry can kick teams like the
Speaker 1: Clippers or Golden State. With Jordan Poole constantly putting downhill
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim, they're gonna have some issues. But
Speaker 1: again I go back to what I said with Golden State.
Speaker 1: In a Western conference where everybody is flawed, you'd be
Speaker 1: foolish to write them off. And you're you gotta look
Speaker 1: at the buy out market, Like they snatched Terrence Ross
Speaker 1: away from Dallas, I would be surprised if they go
Speaker 1: after someone like Patrick Beverley as well. Like they're gonna
Speaker 1: be there, and I think Kevin Durant might be the
Speaker 1: best player in the world right now, So they're gonna
Speaker 1: be a pain in the ass for everybody. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I I think you really put it well, m he's
Speaker 1: the best plugin play guy in the world, Like I
Speaker 1: love Lebron or Janis, but you have to sort of
Speaker 1: build around them, Luca, because he's so ball centric, you
Speaker 1: can he's he I think he's a much better not
Speaker 1: much better. He's a better version of Harden, but I mean,
Speaker 1: at his best, James was hard to play with. Like
Speaker 1: Chris Paul for all the misgivings, kind of works in
Speaker 1: every era. He would have worked in the seventies, he
Speaker 1: works now in the three ball here and doesn't shoot
Speaker 1: him like. He's a really effective player with a lot
Speaker 1: of personalities. I mean, Blake Griffin to me sort of
Speaker 1: disappeared when Chris Paul left his side DeAndre Jordan, that
Speaker 1: offense dried up. Looking to get more out of the
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Speaker 1: I'll give you a team. I want you to give
Speaker 1: me a team that you just don't buy. Okay. I
Speaker 1: love watching Memphis, but of Jaws off and I just
Speaker 1: had dinner or the other night with an NBA scout.
Speaker 1: Jaws probably a better. I don't like hyper athletic guards
Speaker 1: that can't shoot. Never like John Wall, don't like Westbrook.
Speaker 1: Derek Rose wore me out. I think Jaws a better
Speaker 1: shooter than those guys. But Jason, he's one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy eight pounds. He's tiny. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: buy Memphis. I just I like their depth, I like
Speaker 1: their coach. Dot. I don't buy this team as a
Speaker 1: championship contender, do you. Yeah? Memphis is who I put
Speaker 1: down as my most overrated team in the league. So
Speaker 1: to give you an idea, these are the top four
Speaker 1: teams in the league and their records against teams that
Speaker 1: are five hundred or better. Boston is twenty two and
Speaker 1: nine against winning teams, Milwaukee twenty one and ten, Denver
Speaker 1: nineteen and eleven, Phillies sixteen and ten, Memphis sixteen and
Speaker 1: fifteen once again against Boston. On Sunday, shortly before the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, they competed. They were in the game, it
Speaker 1: was close late, and they backed way off of Jaw
Speaker 1: and made him shoot threes that he couldn't make you
Speaker 1: one over four. And on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: they could not contain Derek White driving to the basket,
Speaker 1: which put them in rotation, non stopping. They gave up
Speaker 1: a bunch of wide open threes and they lost. This
Speaker 1: is a phenomenon I've seen several times in NBA history
Speaker 1: where there's a team that has an outstanding regular season
Speaker 1: machine to produce wins. My favorite example of this is
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty one Jazz. They were third in defensive
Speaker 1: rating in the regular season, and then they ran into
Speaker 1: the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard and it turns out that
Speaker 1: it turns out Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell couldn't guard anybody.
Speaker 1: They gave up one hundred and twenty eight points per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions against the Clippers and lost. And so
Speaker 1: what happens is in the regular season, you can set
Speaker 1: up a baseline scheme and you can hide guys, But
Speaker 1: then you get to the playoffs and it becomes so
Speaker 1: the game slows down and it just teams target your
Speaker 1: entry points. And what it is is John Morant is
Speaker 1: one of the easiest entry points in the NBA to
Speaker 1: a defense. If you attack him, you can quickly at
Speaker 1: them in rotation, and then it doesn't really matter what
Speaker 1: kind of personnel you have in the back end if
Speaker 1: you're playing four on three, and then on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor, they just don't have any shot
Speaker 1: creation behind Jaw, and so they're actually a bottom ten
Speaker 1: half court offense in the NBA according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: And so if they can stay up and down in
Speaker 1: transition and in funnel guys to Jaren Jackson in the
Speaker 1: regular season, they're fine. But they get to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: the game slows down. It's entirely in the half court.
Speaker 1: On both ends, they're attacking Jaw, they're on the other end,
Speaker 1: they're back and way off of him, and that's why
Speaker 1: they struggle against good teams. Those clutch situations and those
Speaker 1: games against the good teams, those are what mimic the
Speaker 1: playoffs most closely. And this is the final stat I'll
Speaker 1: give you. The Jazz are third in regular season defensive
Speaker 1: rating this year. They are twenty fourth in clutch defense
Speaker 1: this season. So when the game slows down at the end,
Speaker 1: they just can't get stops. Well, this was always my
Speaker 1: knock on Westbrook is that in the regular season, if
Speaker 1: you face Westbrook and you played the night before and
Speaker 1: he has two games asked, you're ft is he's going
Speaker 1: to get sixteen points in transition? And then I mean,
Speaker 1: but in the playoffs, we're all equally rested and I
Speaker 1: can attack his flaws over and over and frustrate him.
Speaker 1: And so Westbrook, Derek Rose, these are remarkable regular season players,
Speaker 1: and they have their moments. I mean, you can't stop
Speaker 1: all transition. A team misses you're good in transition. This
Speaker 1: has always been my knock on Westbrook, and he's gotten worse,
Speaker 1: is that he doesn't have good hands. He won't set
Speaker 1: a pick. He's become a terrible defender. He can't shoot
Speaker 1: midranger outside. So when you take the sloppy transition points
Speaker 1: away for the team, you know, I wonder if in history,
Speaker 1: if you look at Westbrook against the team without equal rest,
Speaker 1: he's just he's a handful. He's just too much athletically
Speaker 1: in the half court. And that's always been my knock
Speaker 1: on Westbrook. The playoffs are a different sport. It's not
Speaker 1: a coincidence he struggles when we're all equally rested. I
Speaker 1: do think he's a good guy. I do think he's
Speaker 1: well meaning. But I mean, you and really critical of him.
Speaker 1: Are you ever surprised, or I should say, how surprised
Speaker 1: at the pushback you get when it appears his flaws
Speaker 1: are so obvious and counterintuitive to really good, solid, playoff
Speaker 1: level basketball. Right, it seems obvious he can't play off
Speaker 1: the ball. My time covering Russell Westbrook with the Lakers
Speaker 1: has been one of the more confusing experiences as a
Speaker 1: basketball fan, because it goes beyond even just the crazy
Speaker 1: angry fans. There's also really smart basketball people that I
Speaker 1: know that don't see it. And for the record, like
Speaker 1: I do see the positives with Russ He's excellent at
Speaker 1: pushing the pace. He actually had a lot of success
Speaker 1: this year in the middle portions of games against inferior
Speaker 1: bench guards when the game had a more up and
Speaker 1: down flow. Yeah, I do believe that he could help
Speaker 1: a team if he ended up in a situation where
Speaker 1: he was only in those types of situations. That's why
Speaker 1: I actually like him for the Flippers, as long as
Speaker 1: Tyler wouldn't play him in crunch time they have so
Speaker 1: much shooting. Give him a big who runs the floor,
Speaker 1: put him in those middle portions of the game, running
Speaker 1: up and down, pushing the pace. He can bring a
Speaker 1: lot of value. But the problem is there's a there's
Speaker 1: a disconnect between the way league personnel view Westbrook, at
Speaker 1: least in terms of the coaching staffs and the players
Speaker 1: around the league, and the way the really smart basketball
Speaker 1: players see him. Because what would happen is is you
Speaker 1: get in these situations and like Darvin Hamms, like I
Speaker 1: need Russ out there and crunch time, and I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that Tyler wouldn't make the same mistake, and so like,
Speaker 1: if I could create the perfect set of circumstances for
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, He's still a very productive NBA player. But
Speaker 1: the problem is is like everything about the playoffs is
Speaker 1: not the perfect set of circumstances. It's about being adaptable,
Speaker 1: it's about having versatility, which is everything that Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: is not. And it was just a frustrating experience because
Speaker 1: it wasn't like people would be like, oh, you're hating
Speaker 1: on Russ for the ratings. No one cares. Like no
Speaker 1: one cares. It's like it's authentic. I just as a
Speaker 1: basketball fan, and I've always been a big Lebron fan,
Speaker 1: so I've been covering the Lakers and I've been rooting
Speaker 1: for that team. It was like pulling my hair out
Speaker 1: trying to watch the guy. And I'm just thankful that
Speaker 1: he's hopefully going to end up in a better basketball
Speaker 1: situation now because of all the places to have that
Speaker 1: loud and that critical of a fan base. In the
Speaker 1: worst possible basketball fit Anthony Davis who doesn't like to
Speaker 1: run the floor and a complete lack of shooting, Like
Speaker 1: it was the worst possible basketball fit, you get scripted
Speaker 1: for him. You know what, I I'll explain it to you.
Speaker 1: So in baseball, where personality is often seen as a negative,
Speaker 1: there's a way to play the game. If you don't
Speaker 1: work analytically, you don't work. Seamheads push back. They don't
Speaker 1: care how cool Cody Bellinger's swing is and how cool
Speaker 1: he is. If you don't work analytically, you don't work.
Speaker 1: Basketball has always had an allure to the aesthetic. Style matters.
Speaker 1: I never trusted Doctor j shooting a free thrower, hitting
Speaker 1: a jumper, but god, I love watching him and he's
Speaker 1: absolutely crucial to the NBA story. World B Free. I
Speaker 1: loved World b Free, Marbury, Stevie Francis. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know what their analytics are. They have to be
Speaker 1: really suboptimal. But style matters, fashion matters, cool matters. That's
Speaker 1: why I love the NBA. There's always these weird, quirky
Speaker 1: players who are completely limited and can be marginalized. I
Speaker 1: love watching them. It doesn't work that way in baseball.
Speaker 1: Personality is seen as a weakness, a liability, disrespectful to
Speaker 1: the game. So I get the Westbrook. Like I always said,
Speaker 1: Zach Levine. He's not a winning player, but he has
Speaker 1: fun to watch. Hell yeah, So I do think a
Speaker 1: lot of it is if you love basketball. You know
Speaker 1: I'm old now, man. I watched Wilt in seventy two.
Speaker 1: Will it was a flake, but Will it was cool
Speaker 1: like Wilt. There was value to Wilt being Wilt. And
Speaker 1: Moses Malone was amazing, but his game was boring. It
Speaker 1: was offensive, rebounding, you know, Paul Silas, a lot of
Speaker 1: these guys just they're just not vertical players. So that
Speaker 1: I guess that's my explanation is basketball has this unique
Speaker 1: relationship with its fan base that style matters. And I
Speaker 1: mean just I just since I've been a kid, I
Speaker 1: loved Spencer Haywood, doctor J World, b Free. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's way, way a long time ago. Alex Alex English
Speaker 1: led the damn League in scoring in the eighties. There's
Speaker 1: no such thing as an Alice Alex English fan club.
Speaker 1: He led the damn League it's scoring for and by
Speaker 1: the way, a good decade the eighties. He wasn't vertical.
Speaker 1: He hit elbow jumpers. So I just think it's it's
Speaker 1: it's why I loved the NBA, but one sometimes why
Speaker 1: it's maddening to argue about players. Yeah, you know, and
Speaker 1: I wish people could understand that. Me being critical of
Speaker 1: the way Russ is playing for the Lakers when they
Speaker 1: have a championship expectation, which sounds hilarious with the way
Speaker 1: they've performed. But that is not the same as me
Speaker 1: disliking Russ as a person or not having an appreciation
Speaker 1: for his career. I have so much appreciation for Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook's all time resume in his accomplishments in this league.
Speaker 1: It's also true that he never adapted to become a
Speaker 1: functional off ball player. It's also true that in a
Speaker 1: league that has been dominated by skill guards in recent years,
Speaker 1: which if literally the skill of guards has completely changed
Speaker 1: the landscape of the NBA. It's changed every pick and
Speaker 1: roll coverage in the league. It's changed the geometry of
Speaker 1: NBA defense. Everything is different because of what Dame does
Speaker 1: and what Kyrie Irving does and what Steph Curry does.
Speaker 1: And in a league where all those guards have gone
Speaker 1: this way, Russell Westbrook could be left completely unguarded by
Speaker 1: himself all season long and shoot twenty nine percent from
Speaker 1: three like at a certain point, like me saying like, hey, dude,
Speaker 1: you didn't adapt is not the same as like I
Speaker 1: am now tossing away Russ's entire career resume. Huge Russ
Speaker 1: fan loved watching him play when he was in Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: it was rough for the Lakers. Man, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to tell you. Yeah, no, I mean, and some
Speaker 1: of it is Russ. I don't think it's lack of effort.
Speaker 1: Derrick Rose shot had a weird spin to it. Russ
Speaker 1: has bad handles, like for a guard, he's got nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy four power forward hands. He can't catch. And I
Speaker 1: just think he was even at UCLA, Jason, he was
Speaker 1: just an athlete. He was They didn't know what to
Speaker 1: do with him. I don't think Oklahoma City for the
Speaker 1: first two years, nobody knew what to do with him.
Speaker 1: But he was too damn athletic to keep off the floor.
Speaker 1: And again in the regular season and transition, it's like
Speaker 1: John Wall. You just can't. You couldn't stay in front
Speaker 1: of him. And now Russell comes in when they eliminate
Speaker 1: the hand check, so forget it. He's just gonna score
Speaker 1: at the rim. I mean, hell, Lebron still gets to
Speaker 1: the rim in year twenty. You can't stay in front
Speaker 1: of him. I mean really, so anyway, folks, for those
Speaker 1: of you, and of course, if you watch the volume
Speaker 1: in the YouTube, you know who Jason timp is. But
Speaker 1: I think it's the smartest basketball breakdown. We're so happy
Speaker 1: to have him. I don't know if it's official yet,
Speaker 1: but he's going to be with us for a long time.
Speaker 1: He just loves the game, played the game. Absolute pleasure
Speaker 1: to have. You. Teaches me stuff every time we talk.
Speaker 1: Keep crushing and go to our YouTube page. It's hoops tonight.
Speaker 1: It's on the Volume Network. Nobody at our company works
Speaker 1: harder more consistently. You know, I love you. Your work's fantastic.
Speaker 1: You make everybody, including me, much smarter. Thanks buddy. Hey Colin,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to really quickly say congrats on two
Speaker 1: years with the Volume. Hey man, I know it's been
Speaker 1: a successful business venture, but it's also created or a
Speaker 1: bunch of really cool opportunities for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: including myself, and being with the Volume has completely changed
Speaker 1: my life. So I wanted to say congratulations, but also
Speaker 1: I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done. Man. Listen,
Speaker 1: as you age as a sportscaster, the coolest thing is
Speaker 1: passing the ball. I'm like Chris Paul, I can't shoot
Speaker 1: from three anymore. I really can't defend on back to
Speaker 1: back nights. You know what, I mean, I can give
Speaker 1: you about twenty six decent minutes, but I can still dish,
Speaker 1: I can still deal, and it's just been great. I
Speaker 1: love having you as a teammate. You can finish the
Speaker 1: fast break for us, buddy, I appreciate it. Thanks, Colin,
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time man the Ume. Make sure
Speaker 1: to check out The draam On Green Show. I brought
Speaker 1: Draymond Green into the Volume because one of the more
Speaker 1: entertaining voices in sports. Unique perspective understands behind the rope
Speaker 1: also chops up with guests like Gary Peyton, Zach Levine,
Speaker 1: Tracy McGrady. Make sure download The Draymond Green Show wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, only on the Volume podcast Network.