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Speaker 1: The volume. It's Hoops Tonight presented by FanDuel. The NBA

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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented five dat here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody, although I'm recording this at Friday night

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Speaker 1: like usual, We're gonna be breaking down four games rapid

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Speaker 1: fire style tonight, and then I have four quick hitter topics.

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Speaker 1: After that, we're gonna be hitting the Lakers and their

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Speaker 1: massive comeback win against the Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors

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Speaker 1: getting a win in Cleveland against them mostly at full

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Speaker 1: strength without any of their top guys, the Atlanta Hawks,

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Speaker 1: who are red hot, getting a win against the New

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Speaker 1: York Knicks, and then Kyrie Irving with a twenty one

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Speaker 1: point fourth quarter masterpiece to beat the Utah Jazz. So

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be hitting on all that, and then I've

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Speaker 1: got a bunch of like little NBA topics that have

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Speaker 1: been going on around the league over the last couple

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Speaker 1: of days that we'll be hitting whether or not steff

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Speaker 1: Is the m v P of the last decade, John

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Speaker 1: Wall and everyone else loading up on the Houston Rockets,

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Speaker 1: the debate about whether or not rest is an issue

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Speaker 1: in the NBA. Right now, we're gonna be hitting on

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. You guys know the drill. Before

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Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so

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Speaker 1: you got is. Don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason Lts. You guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. And if, for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: you guys miss one of these shows and you can't

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Speaker 1: get back over to YouTube to finish, you can find

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Speaker 1: them wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight and

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: Lakers give up twenty four offensive rebounds, get out rebounded

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Speaker 1: sixty to forty seven overall, get mauled in the paint

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Speaker 1: to the tune of sixty four to forty four and

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Speaker 1: points in the paint, and come back from down six

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Speaker 1: with two minutes left to beat the Memphis Grizzlies twenty one.

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Speaker 1: They just never stopped attacking in transition every time they

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Speaker 1: had a chance, no matter how discouraging it got, no

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Speaker 1: matter how many big plays job made, no matter how

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Speaker 1: many offensive rebounds they gave up, no matter how many

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Speaker 1: times someone hit a big three and built the deficit larger,

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Speaker 1: they just kept going at them. I thought Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: and Dennis Schroeder in particular did a really nice job

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Speaker 1: of manufacturing transition opportunities just by going fast. There's kind

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Speaker 1: of an involuntary thing that happens defensively when a guy

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Speaker 1: has a real head of steam going towards the rim.

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Speaker 1: Everybody just involuntarily collapses, and you can generate a lot

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Speaker 1: of high quality shots by doing that. Obviously, we think

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Speaker 1: of transition the you know, rudimentary definition of transition is like, oh,

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Speaker 1: we get a miss. We have a numbers advantage, like

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Speaker 1: it's a three on two or four on three or

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Speaker 1: two on one or maybe even a one on oh,

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Speaker 1: and you're just running down the floor to try to

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Speaker 1: get a quick easy shot. But transition extends to that.

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Speaker 1: Outside of that, I look at transition as everything outside

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Speaker 1: of the static have court environment. There's runouts, there's your

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Speaker 1: two on ones, three on two, four on three, call

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Speaker 1: those advantage situations. But then there's like a semi transition phase.

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Speaker 1: That's where the defense isn't actually all the way back yet,

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Speaker 1: or maybe they're back, but they're not really in their

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Speaker 1: defensive stances and ready to go. That semi transition phase

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Speaker 1: is a great time to get ahead of steam because

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Speaker 1: if you do, the defense just won't quite be ready

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Speaker 1: to handle that. And like you know, I've been very

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Speaker 1: critical of Rob Polinka for this roster, and I believe

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Speaker 1: that's fair. Over the last two years, they took the biggest,

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Speaker 1: strongest and most physically imposing team in the NBA and

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Speaker 1: made them pitifully undersized. And I thought that was went

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Speaker 1: right in the face of everyone. Everyone else in the

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Speaker 1: league that was doing that was smart. I thought it

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Speaker 1: was a really bad decision. But one of the ancillary

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Speaker 1: fall back like trip and fall into success types of

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Speaker 1: things that Rob Polinka did is that by being small,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are super super fast. Between Dennis Schroder, Russell Westbrook,

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Speaker 1: Lebron James, you know, two of those guys, Russe and

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Speaker 1: Lebron are two of the greatest freight trains in NBA history.

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Speaker 1: Dennis is a downhill speed guard. Thomas Bryant, for all

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Speaker 1: of his shortcomings defensively, is a big that runs the

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Speaker 1: floor extremely well. When you in Gabriel runs the floor

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Speaker 1: extremely well. So one of their few advantages from a

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Speaker 1: personnel standpoint that they have is speed and them just

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Speaker 1: leaning into that speed in the fourth quarter of this game,

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Speaker 1: really throughout this game, really throughout this entire stretch since

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis went down, has allowed them to manufacture a

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Speaker 1: fac similarly of coherent basketball. And then from the end

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Speaker 1: of these games, it's coin flips that can go either way,

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Speaker 1: and they've lost those coin flips a lot. But you know,

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Speaker 1: credit the Lakers. They are now ten and nine since

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis went down in that Denver Nuggets games game

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Speaker 1: with a win over the Nuggets, win over the Miami

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Speaker 1: Heat without Lebron, win over the Sacramento Kings, and now

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Speaker 1: win over the Memphis Grizzlies, who are on a double

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Speaker 1: digit win streak. So I don't think you can possibly

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Speaker 1: look at this situation with Anthony Davis going down and

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Speaker 1: think anything less than this has been an absolute home

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Speaker 1: run from the standpoint of the way the guys in

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Speaker 1: that locker room have fought. I talk a lot on

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Speaker 1: this show about basketball character. To me, basketball character is

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Speaker 1: what you're made up, made up, made up of is

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Speaker 1: as it pertains to your commitment to the details and

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Speaker 1: your willingness to fight, your resiliency. It's all of those

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Speaker 1: intangible things that make a basketball player and a basketball team.

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Speaker 1: And you know, getting rid of a lot of the

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Speaker 1: older veteran players on last year's roster and leaning into

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Speaker 1: youth has given this team a a relentless energy that

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Speaker 1: has never really stopped. And you know, there's been so

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Speaker 1: many heartbreaking losses this season, just absolute gut wrenching victory

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Speaker 1: snatched away at the last minute type of losses this year,

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Speaker 1: whether it's Portland earlier in the season, or whether you

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Speaker 1: know it's that Boston Celtics collapse. But there's I could

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Speaker 1: literally go on there, the Dallas Mavericks double overtime game,

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Speaker 1: you have multiple three point leads late. There's just been

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Speaker 1: dozens dozens of of collapses. Are probably roughly around a

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Speaker 1: dozen collapses this year, and all of them were a

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Speaker 1: great reason for that team to give up hope, especially

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Speaker 1: given the personnel shortcomings they have, especially considering the Anthony

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Speaker 1: dave S injury. They had a million reasons to let

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Speaker 1: go with a rope and they just haven't done so.

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Speaker 1: And so when I really look at the Lakers kind

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Speaker 1: of zooming out really quick before we move on, they

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Speaker 1: have outstanding basketball character. They are a team that fights

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Speaker 1: and competes, which is an important part of what makes

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Speaker 1: a championship contender. And they have to top ten players.

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis when they are healthy, are

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Speaker 1: top ten players in this NBA. No other team in

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Speaker 1: the league can say that, not even Jalen Brown and

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Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum. I think Jaylen Brown's closer to eleven or

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Speaker 1: twelve right now. So the reality is they have a

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Speaker 1: lot of the things that you need to compete for

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Speaker 1: a title. They just need some pieces on the fringes

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Speaker 1: to round out their role players so that they're slotted

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Speaker 1: properly for size. That's why I think they need to

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Speaker 1: be doing everything they can to get Kyle Kuzma or

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Speaker 1: Boy and Macdonovich at the deadline. A real shooting forward

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Speaker 1: like that just fixes so many issues for this team.

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Speaker 1: Slot so many guys properly gets guys competing with guys

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Speaker 1: with similar size instead of trying to battle way above

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Speaker 1: their size. Anthony Davis coming back, well, aligne thing is

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Speaker 1: in the front court better. Everything is kind of coming together.

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Speaker 1: Robin Genie just have to do their part at the deadline. Now.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough because they didn't do it in

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Speaker 1: the off season. They're gonna be competing against everybody now.

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Speaker 1: It's a seller's market. The values are through the roof

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Speaker 1: for these players. It's going to be difficult and they

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Speaker 1: might not even be able to get anything done now

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Speaker 1: at this point, just because of how competitive the bidding

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Speaker 1: war is going to be. But Robin Genie have to

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Speaker 1: do everything they can in February to try to bring

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Speaker 1: some support to this team. They're just they compete too hard.

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Speaker 1: The top end talent is too good, the roster is

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Speaker 1: too fast. Um. I think there's a case to keep

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, provided that when they're fully healthy, they don't

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Speaker 1: use him in the closing group. As long as they

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Speaker 1: don't do that. I actually like him in the middle

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Speaker 1: portions of the game because he's play this is I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're going on you know, a ten game stretch here

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Speaker 1: now where he's been pretty good, and that's the best

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Speaker 1: little stretch of of long term successful basketball we've seen

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Speaker 1: from Russ since he got on a Lakers jersey. So

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Speaker 1: if he's gonna play like that, and if you can

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Speaker 1: keep him out of the bunchtime groups, he helps this

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Speaker 1: team a ton and he supplements that speed and all

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Speaker 1: those things that we were talking about. So you make

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Speaker 1: ancillary moves on the perimeter, target a guy like mcdonovitch, Tart,

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Speaker 1: targeted guy like Kuzma, get that guy on the wing.

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Speaker 1: All the guards and wings are playing their proper position.

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Speaker 1: You've got the top end talent, you've got all the speed,

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Speaker 1: you've got a good basketball character. You've got everything you

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Speaker 1: need there. Um of definitely an encouraging win for the

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Speaker 1: Lakers tonight. Memphis obviously, I I still think they're the

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Speaker 1: third best team in the West. I go Golden State

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Speaker 1: Denver then Memphis. Um. I have Golden State in Denver

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Speaker 1: really close to each other, and I have Memphis a

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Speaker 1: solid level below that. And it's still just comes down

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Speaker 1: to half court defense. In this particular game, when the

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Speaker 1: Lakers were able to keep them in the half court

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Speaker 1: and get stops and run out the other way. That

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Speaker 1: was when they had their moments of success. And if

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Speaker 1: you go one of the best ways to see this

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Speaker 1: sort of thing is go to the ESPN app or

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Speaker 1: the ESPN website and like you know, see to see

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Speaker 1: where they do the line graph of the team scoring,

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Speaker 1: and you just see too many flat stretches for the Grizzlies,

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Speaker 1: and those are typically stretches where they're stuck in the

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Speaker 1: half court and it's a lot of John Morant high

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Speaker 1: and high pick and roll. And if he's not making

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Speaker 1: his jump shot and the teams are packing the paint properly,

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Speaker 1: they're not going to score. This is a bad half

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Speaker 1: court offense. That is a big part of why I

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Speaker 1: have them below Denver and Golden State. Denver and Golden

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Speaker 1: State when they get into the postseason, they have the

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Speaker 1: requisite ball handling and shooting down the roster to generate

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Speaker 1: quality shots in a way that Memphis cannot. So that's

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Speaker 1: why I have a gap between those top two teams

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Speaker 1: in Memphis right now, moving on to the Knicks and

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Speaker 1: the Hawks, dejont Murray just took over this game in

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Speaker 1: the early fourth quarter. Hit a couple of really nice

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Speaker 1: little short pop shots and and fadeaways in the lane.

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Speaker 1: Uh Dejont Murray this year shooting forty eight percent on

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Speaker 1: jump shots that are inside of fifteen or excuse me,

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Speaker 1: inside of seventeen feet. I went on with swipe a

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Speaker 1: Cam big time UH, Denver Nuggets fan today to face

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Speaker 1: the music about Yo kisen Us to talk a lot

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Speaker 1: about the Nuggets, and we ended up talking about a

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Speaker 1: lot of NBA stuff. I tweeted a link to it

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Speaker 1: on my Twitter feeds. You guys can find that there. Um.

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Speaker 1: But I ended up talking to him a lot, and

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Speaker 1: uh we about stuff around the league, and we talked

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Speaker 1: about s g A with the Thunder, and we talked

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Speaker 1: a lot about his short range jump shot. And there's

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Speaker 1: there's a ton of value in short range jump shooting

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Speaker 1: for guys that can take more complicated shots in that range.

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Speaker 1: The reason why is there actually very high percentage. If

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Speaker 1: you have to touch a fade away or a pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shot at ten feet is a much much

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Speaker 1: easier shot than a fade away or a tough shot

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Speaker 1: at seventeen eighteen feet. When you're off balance and having

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Speaker 1: to get extra lift from that far away, it's really

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Speaker 1: hard to get enough power behind the shot to get

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Speaker 1: it to the rim. But there's a I've been talking

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Speaker 1: about this on this show for the last six months

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Speaker 1: or so. I think that short range, that short that

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Speaker 1: like inside a fifteen feet range, is one of the

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Speaker 1: most underutilized areas in the game of basketball right now.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of threes, it's a lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: at the basket, it's a lot of mid range pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots. But that short range is an area

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Speaker 1: of opportunity for players to get higher percentage shots there.

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Speaker 1: Luca Donte is incredible at it, shake Gil Just Alexander

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Speaker 1: is incredible at it, and uh de Jonte Murray is

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Speaker 1: incredible at it. And that's where I think. I think

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Speaker 1: there's a lot to learn there for young basketball players,

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Speaker 1: especially if you have physical tools. Dejon Murray is a

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Speaker 1: big athletic guard, you know, at least relative to um

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Speaker 1: the other players that play his position. You know, Luca

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Speaker 1: Done a big athletic forward, Gila Alexander six six, good athlete.

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Speaker 1: That's if you have physical tools and you're looking for

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Speaker 1: go to moves that can help you in slow down environments,

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Speaker 1: that inside ten fifteen feet those kinds of little short

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Speaker 1: jump shots and pop shots are a great way to

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Speaker 1: find scoring. The Hawks have now won seven of their

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Speaker 1: last nine games. They had apparently had some sort of

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Speaker 1: meeting that or they hashed things out and suddenly they

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Speaker 1: bought in again. This has been a very hot and

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Speaker 1: cold team. And when they're bought in, they're very good.

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Speaker 1: But they just have these stretches where they're not bought

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Speaker 1: in and then they're atrocious. But during this nine games stretch,

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Speaker 1: Trey Young points nine assist true shooting. I saw stat

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Speaker 1: today that the three most frequent alley you combos in

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Speaker 1: the league are all Trey Young. It's like Trey Young

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Speaker 1: and and uh clickapella, Tray Young and John Collins. Trey

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Speaker 1: Young ka Congo like the best lob thrower in the

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Speaker 1: league by far, Dogon Murray five and six on fifty

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Speaker 1: seven percent true shooting. But they are just outscoring teams.

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Speaker 1: They're just seventeenth and defense during this span. But glass

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Speaker 1: half full wins trigger buying. Buying triggers better effort and

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Speaker 1: focus on the details that could in turn trigger them

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, which could be

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Speaker 1: what triggers them forward the rest of the season. So

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Speaker 1: this is either gonna be the thing that springs a

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Speaker 1: positive end to the season, or it's just gonna be

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Speaker 1: a blip in the larger trend of the season. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna find out here in the next few weeks. As

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Speaker 1: for the Knicks after tonight, they are now just six

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Speaker 1: and fourteen against teams that are five or better. Classic

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Speaker 1: example of a team that competes in battles and plays defense,

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Speaker 1: but just does not have the top end talent to

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Speaker 1: create enough shots against the better teams that are in

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Speaker 1: this league, which makes it impossible to take them seriously.

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Speaker 1: I continue to be very depressed for Knicks fans that

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Speaker 1: they didn't properly go after Donovan Mitchell. All Right, Warriors

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Speaker 1: calves So the Warriors win four team wasn't actually that close.

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Speaker 1: Golden State really controlled this game throughout. Jordan Pool went

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Speaker 1: for thirty two points on twenty three shots. I actually

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Speaker 1: thought Jordan Pool played really good defense in this game.

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Speaker 1: He did really nice work on on Darius Garland when

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Speaker 1: he got switched on to him, even a few times

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Speaker 1: he was on Carris Lavert. In this back to back

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Speaker 1: against Boston and against Cleveland. He played excellent defense in

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Speaker 1: both games, and that's gotta be super encouraging for Warriors fans,

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Speaker 1: in particular playing with physicality. You know, um so many guards,

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Speaker 1: particularly smaller guards. There's not even just guards. Smaller thinner

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Speaker 1: basketball players are way too willing to of up ground

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Speaker 1: because they know they're not as strong and they don't

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Speaker 1: want to commit fouls. So like when they have their

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Speaker 1: shoulder there and a guy hits them in the shoulder,

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Speaker 1: they're just kind of give ground and let him go around.

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Speaker 1: And really that's not what you should do. You need

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Speaker 1: to play with a certain amount of physicality. One, because

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Speaker 1: the game of baskball is a lot more physical than

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Speaker 1: people realize. Hand checking is technically legal, but refs let

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Speaker 1: it go all the time. You can defend with physicality, well,

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Speaker 1: you pick up three or four fouls during the game, sure,

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Speaker 1: but there might be ten or eleven other possessions where

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Speaker 1: you don't get the foul call and you stop a

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Speaker 1: guy from driving to the rim, or you forced to

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Speaker 1: turn over or disrupt the other team's offense. And Jordan

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Speaker 1: pull did a really nice job of defending with physicality

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Speaker 1: without overfouling during this back to back. They also got

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Speaker 1: thirty nine points from Ty Jerome and Dante DiVincenzo, tied

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Speaker 1: Drome hit the dagger three, kind of leaning to his

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Speaker 1: right on the right wing. Kind of like I was

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Speaker 1: talking about the Lakers with their speed. You know, all

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Speaker 1: these roster flaws, but hey, they've got a ton of speed.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of the way I feel with the Warriors

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Speaker 1: in their back court. They clearly need size and athleticism

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Speaker 1: off of the bench. Although it was nice to see

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Speaker 1: Jonathan coming back out there tonight, but they need size

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Speaker 1: and athleticism off the bench. But for all of those shortcomings,

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Speaker 1: they have the best guard depth chart in the league

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Speaker 1: between Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, tie Drome, Donte DiVincenzo on

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Speaker 1: Jordan's pool. You're not gonna find five better guards on

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Speaker 1: a roster in the NBA than that group. So that

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Speaker 1: that gives you all the more reason for why Joe

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Speaker 1: lake Up and Bob Meyers should invest in this group

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Speaker 1: and a good win for this Warriors group who needed it,

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Speaker 1: because that completely erased the field and the damage of

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Speaker 1: that blown late lead in Boston last night. The Calves

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Speaker 1: they started eight and one since then twenty and eighteen,

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Speaker 1: they are just fifteen and offense during that span, and

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Speaker 1: they are below five hundred against teams that are five

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Speaker 1: are better. Uh if you look at cleaning the glass

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Speaker 1: and they're in their lineup data. Uh. Once again, just

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Speaker 1: like I've been talking about all season, they're better with

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Speaker 1: just Darius Garland or better with just Donovan Mitchell than

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Speaker 1: they are with both of them together. Kind of lends

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Speaker 1: credence to my can't play with two small guards problem.

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Speaker 1: Still not getting enough out of the forward position, which

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Speaker 1: is really hurting them offensively. Just in general, a pretty

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Speaker 1: mediocre season from them. I still think that this ends

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Speaker 1: with them trading one of the guards for a better wing.

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Speaker 1: Probably not this season because they're gonna want to go

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Speaker 1: down with the ship, but I think that's something that

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Speaker 1: they're gonna have to start looking at next year and beyond. Alright,

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Speaker 1: last game before we get to our quick hitters, Uh,

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Speaker 1: the Nets beat the Jazz one seventeen t one oh six.

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Speaker 1: Kyrie irving twenty one points in the fourth quarter, finished

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Speaker 1: with forty eight hit two massive pull up three is

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Speaker 1: one at the top of the key and then a

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Speaker 1: ridiculous uh like drifting three on the right wing. He

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Speaker 1: also made a really nice driving kick to Seth Curry

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Speaker 1: in the right corner. Really, the Jazz came back and

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Speaker 1: tied this game, and Kyrie just made every single big

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Speaker 1: play down the stretch for a huge win. You know.

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Speaker 1: I then it started what oh and three, oh and

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Speaker 1: four or whatever after Kevin Durant got hurt, and everyone

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Speaker 1: was like talking about like how shocked they were that

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Speaker 1: they were bad. And I used that as an angle

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Speaker 1: to go positive on KD, meaning just like, hey, let's

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Speaker 1: remember how good KD is. But one of the things

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Speaker 1: that I've seen way too often this year, whether it's

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Speaker 1: with Kyrie after Kevin Durant went down, whether it's with

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Speaker 1: Lebron James after Anthony Davis went down, whether it's with

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Speaker 1: these you know, with any of these teams that have

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Speaker 1: dealt with injuries in the past, it is extremely difficult

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Speaker 1: to win in the NBA when your best player goes down.

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Speaker 1: That's just that's just a fact. Like it's the the

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Speaker 1: league is too talented. Every team has, you know, two

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Speaker 1: or three guys that think of themselves as stars. You

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Speaker 1: drop one of those guys, especially when they're one of

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Speaker 1: the top band guys, it's just impossible to replace their production.

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Speaker 1: So like, okay, what's my opinion of Kyrie. I don't think.

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Speaker 1: I don't think Kyrie is a superstar. I don't think that, um,

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving is a guy that's going to carry a

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Speaker 1: team as a number one. But you know what he

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Speaker 1: is is he's a perfectly fine number two if everything

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Speaker 1: else around him is good. If you give him a

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Speaker 1: good defense, and you give him a good number one

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Speaker 1: that can create shots more consistently on a possession by

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Speaker 1: possession basis, his top end ability as an isolation player

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Speaker 1: or as a shot creator is a massive ceiling razor

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Speaker 1: for any team. So yeah, if you see him as

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Speaker 1: a number one, you're gonna be disappointed sometimes because he's

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Speaker 1: not very good defensively and as an overall shot creator.

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Speaker 1: If you need him to create sixty shots in a

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Speaker 1: game as as you know, start sixty possessions in a

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Speaker 1: game as opposed to, yeah, his efficiency is gonna go down.

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Speaker 1: His reliability is going to go down. But I could

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Speaker 1: say that about everybody in the league other than the

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Speaker 1: top like seven or eight guys. That's just the reality.

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Speaker 1: So I mean, let's shout out to Kyrie Irving pulled

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Speaker 1: out a win again. Kevin Durant is gonna be out

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Speaker 1: here for eight to ten games. You get three or

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Speaker 1: four of them, then you're in great shape, especially with

430
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 1: where they were in at in the standing. So shout

431
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,239
Speaker 1: out to Kyrie Irving. All right, let's get to our

432
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,480
Speaker 1: quick hitters. So Jeff Van Gundy and Stephen A. Smith

433
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 1: both said that they think Steph Curry was the m

434
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:56,160
Speaker 1: v P of the NBA over the last ten years. Uh.

435
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 1: Further record upfront, I don't think either of them actually

436
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 1: believe that as far as the NBA goes, January is

437
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 1: the most boring month. Yeah, for us hoop nerds, we

438
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: enjoy it, but for the vast majority of casual fans,

439
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: they're just entirely tuned out and playing paying attention to

440
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,440
Speaker 1: football right now. You're seeing all sorts of weird results

441
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,639
Speaker 1: around the league. That effort is really inconsistent. This is

442
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 1: the time of the year where a lot of teams

443
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: are dealing with injuries or guys being out of the lineup. Um,

444
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,880
Speaker 1: so really this was just textbook engagement bait. In my opinion,

445
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,240
Speaker 1: I don't think stan or Jeff Van Gundy and Stephen A.

446
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,400
Speaker 1: Smith actually believe this, but hey, it makes for good television.

447
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: But I do think that this topic is a great

448
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 1: example or a great opportunity I should say for me

449
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 1: to make a point about Lebron James career. Now, before

450
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,040
Speaker 1: I say this, disclaimer to Steph fans. You guys know

451
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,199
Speaker 1: I think Steph is the fifth best perimeter player of

452
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,320
Speaker 1: all time. He's my second favorite player. Ever, this has

453
00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 1: nothing to do with negativity and Steph. This is just

454
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,640
Speaker 1: what happens when you stack anybody up with a top

455
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,679
Speaker 1: two basketball player of all time. And I wanted to

456
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:57,360
Speaker 1: demonstrate Lebron's insane resume. So even if we arbitrarily just

457
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: cut off ten years like hey, nothing counts before the

458
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,160
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen NBA season, that means we're racing all

459
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 1: four of Lebron's MVPs and two of his championships. Even

460
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 1: if we do that, I still think Lebron is the

461
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: m v P of the last ten seasons. And here's

462
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,880
Speaker 1: some stats to demonstrate that for you. So, first of all,

463
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: since the two thousand, two thousand fourteen campaign, that would

464
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 1: be this season as year ten, Okay, Lebron five top

465
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: three m VP finishes, Steph Curry three top three m

466
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: VP finishes, first team All MBA's Lebron six, Steph Curry

467
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: four Finals MVPs Lebron to Step one. Now, I would

468
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:40,879
Speaker 1: give him too, because I think he deserves in two

469
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,959
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, So yeah, if you zoom in on that,

470
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: you could say, yeah, the Warriors have four titles, Lebron

471
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 1: has two. Now, I would argue that has a lot

472
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,199
Speaker 1: to do with the fact that they had one of

473
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: the most talented rosters in NBA history in two thousand

474
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: seventeen and two thousand eighteen. It's close. If you told

475
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: me you thought it was Steph just because of the titles,

476
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,120
Speaker 1: I'd be with you there. I would, or at least

477
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,639
Speaker 1: I would respect the opinion. However, as we look at

478
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 1: that in terms of year in and year out dominance,

479
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,120
Speaker 1: year in and year out contributions to winning six first

480
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 1: Team All nbas for Lebron, four for Step Steph five

481
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 1: top three m VP finishes for Lebron, three for Step.

482
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: In terms of year in and year out value to

483
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 1: the to an NBA team, Lebron has been better than

484
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 1: Step in the last decade. And that's even if we

485
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: arbitrarily just cut off almost all of Lebron's resume by

486
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: randomly choosing ten years spanning from two thousand fourteen to

487
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty three, Like, it doesn't actually make sense

488
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: to do it that way, But if we're gonna play

489
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: that game, I still think it goes to Lebron. The

490
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:41,439
Speaker 1: point is, that's why Lebron is the second best player

491
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 1: of all time in my opinion, and why so many

492
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,640
Speaker 1: Lebron fans think he's the best player of all time.

493
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 1: His resume defies any conventional wisdom, Like, how shocked are

494
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:52,760
Speaker 1: you guys that Steph has only made four first team

495
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: All nbas in the last ten years? That that's that's

496
00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 1: pretty wild stat right. That's because they're in term is

497
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: of year in and year how dominance It just quite

498
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 1: has hasn't quite been the same as what Lebron James

499
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: has done. And I think over the years, we've taken

500
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 1: him for granted in a lot of ways, and we've

501
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: taken step for granted too. I mean, I think, I think,

502
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,040
Speaker 1: and I think step is kind of one of the

503
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: most underrated players in NBA history because of how much

504
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 1: the other twenty nine fan bases hate him for whatever reason,

505
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 1: because your favorite team lost to him so many times,

506
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 1: and and I understand that, but like you know, let's

507
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 1: like generally speaking. If there's a consensus opinion, there's a

508
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 1: reason behind it, and I would venture to guess that

509
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 1: about of NBA fans believe that Lebron is a top

510
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: two player of all time, and that's not a coincidence.

511
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:48,439
Speaker 1: It's because his resume is absurd. And I understand the

512
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 1: engagement bade, I understand all those angles, but I hope

513
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,440
Speaker 1: we pay the proper respect to Lebron. He's getting He's

514
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: near in the end of the road here and and

515
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: I hope people appreciate what he provided to the league

516
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 1: while he was in it. All right. Bob Meyers, in

517
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: his first episode of his podcast for OMHA Production, said

518
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: that he was in a doing an interview with Steph

519
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: Curry and he said, quote, I said to Steve Kurt,

520
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: we're going to the finals, and he said, I'm nervous.

521
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 1: I said why. He goes because we gotta do this

522
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 1: for staff And I said why And he goes because

523
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: he deserves it. Now, the reason why I added this

524
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 1: as a quick hitter is because I felt this way

525
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 1: about all three of my three favorite players since I've

526
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 1: been following the league. Steph, Lebron, and k D are

527
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 1: my three favorite players. And I have felt this way

528
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 1: about all three of them at various points in their careers.

529
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: In when Lebron was competing for an NBA title, I

530
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 1: wanted it so bad for him, And the main reason

531
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,639
Speaker 1: why was during two thousand, nineteen eighteen two thousand seventeen,

532
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 1: when he literally lost twice because the Warriors were just

533
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: two damn good and had the most talented roster in

534
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: NBA history. A lot of people kicked Lebron while he

535
00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 1: was down during that time, and a lot of people

536
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: tried to rewrite the history of Lebron's career because he

537
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: was losing to Stephen k D. Steph Katie, and Lebron

538
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: were the three best players in the league. Two of

539
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: them played on the same team. The deck was stacked

540
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 1: against Lebron. He was very much, uh not incapable, but

541
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: nearly incapable of even having a chance to win those series,

542
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: and people were rewriting his legacy. So I was rooting

543
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: for him in because I thought it was a great

544
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 1: opportunity for him to remind everybody of what he's capable of.

545
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,199
Speaker 1: Fast forward to two, same thing with Steph. I was

546
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,680
Speaker 1: rooting for Steph two because I thought when he'd missed

547
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,360
Speaker 1: the playoffs two years in a row, which had everything

548
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 1: to do with injuries and nothing to do with Steph.

549
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: Season was one of the best individual regular seasons I've

550
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 1: ever seen from a player in Steph Curry, and they

551
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 1: still missed the playoffs. And if he didn't land on

552
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: his tailbone, they would have made the playoffs. That's like

553
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 1: I thought, Steph, Steph and his greatness was assailable. But

554
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: here's what happened. He won two titles with Kevin Durant,

555
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: and he won them at Lebron's expense. So Lebron fans

556
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: just tried to slander the hell out of Steph Curry

557
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 1: and rewrite the story of his career because he missed

558
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,200
Speaker 1: the playoffs the first two years about Kevin Durant, when

559
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:19,360
Speaker 1: it had nothing to do with Kevin Durant and everything

560
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,959
Speaker 1: to do with injuries. So I saw two as an

561
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 1: opportunity for step to remind everybody of just how damn

562
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,199
Speaker 1: good he was or is, and he did, and I

563
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: was very very happy for him. That's where I'm at

564
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 1: with Katie this year. What happened with Katie went to

565
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is when he was healthy, he played absolutely absurdly

566
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: incredible basketball every single time, except for a week against

567
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics, who were the most talented team in

568
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: the league, a terrible matchup for the Nets, and Katie

569
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 1: just didn't shoot well in a very small sample size

570
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 1: four games in one week, and we and everyone rewrote

571
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: the story of Kevin Durant. Lebron fans did, Steph Curry

572
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: fans did. Everyone wanted to pretend he was terrible. And

573
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 1: I didn't like that. I didn't think that was fair

574
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 1: to him, and I thought he was becoming massively underrated.

575
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 1: So I'm rooting for Kevin Durant this year to get

576
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: one because because if he gets one in Brooklyn, nobody

577
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: can say anything anymore. And that's what I want for Lebron,

578
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: That's what I want for Steph, That's what I want

579
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 1: for Kevin Durant. I want all of the stupid, nonsensical

580
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 1: narratives to get thrown in the trash so that those

581
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 1: guys can be appreciated for what they've provided to this

582
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: league here at the end, here in their last few years.

583
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 1: I hope we get to that point. And so I'm

584
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: rooting for k d Um, Kevin Durant, Stayman Gundy in

585
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,959
Speaker 1: their little engaged engagement on Twitter over basically Stave Van

586
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 1: Gundy said that he thought the uh um, it was

587
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: strange that if we went back to the nineties, when

588
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: they didn't have nearly the medical staffs or the benefits

589
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 1: that that the treatment capabilities and any of those things

590
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: available to them, they were playing every night and not

591
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: skipping back to backs and not load managing. And now

592
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: they're doing all the load managing and they're skipping all

593
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: the games despite having better medical staffs and better equipment

594
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: available to them, and injuries are happening more frequently, and

595
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 1: Samon Gundy is like, hey, maybe we should be playing

596
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 1: more and Kevin Durant responded underneath it, like, hey, you're spitting,

597
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,480
Speaker 1: and then you know Sam and Gundy didn't understand what

598
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: he was saying. That was the joke. But I want

599
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: I wanted to hop on this because I am like,

600
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: I think there's two very interesting angles to take care

601
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,920
Speaker 1: once again. Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins,

602
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: four Warrior starters, all missed a game in Cleveland tonight,

603
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:46,000
Speaker 1: a game that many Cavs fans paid good money to

604
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 1: go watch potentially their favorite player and Steph Curry play,

605
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 1: you know, to watch the Warriors play, and they showed

606
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: up and they didn't get to watch their guy and

607
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: that really sucks. And for the record, I want to

608
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: throw some criticism at Steve Kerr here. They had two

609
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: days off before the Boston game. Send him out there

610
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: to play against the Calves. Come on, man, you know

611
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: if you like it makes I didn't like that personally,

612
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: but there's a couple of different angles to go out here.

613
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: I agree with stan Van Gundhi that that I think

614
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: we overdoe rest. Now there is some data. I don't

615
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: have it in front of me, so I can't read

616
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: it to you, but there has been some data in

617
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: the last few years that load management has not led

618
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: to any sort of improvement and injuries, and I do

619
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: think that that's not I do think that there's some

620
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: legitimacy to that because I think that conditioning is an

621
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: important part of the athletic experience. I think that conditioning

622
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: your body to grind it out on a daily basis,

623
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 1: even through minor discomfort and pain, prepares you for that

624
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 1: exact process. And if you can break through that initial

625
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,080
Speaker 1: wall for that first month or whatever, you're bout do

626
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 1: you will be capable of handling it, and then you

627
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 1: won't deal with the nagging stuff that these guys are

628
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,240
Speaker 1: dealing with. I think if you rest every time you

629
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: have every little bit of discomfort, you never actually pushed

630
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,080
Speaker 1: through that wall and get to the point where you're

631
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: conditioned enough to handle it. So I do think load

632
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 1: management is overdone around the league. However, the one other side,

633
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 1: I want to say, it's just it's not. It doesn't

634
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: change my opinion, but it's a little footnote on this topic.

635
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:30,800
Speaker 1: Basketball is not the same now as it was in

636
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: the nineties. Sorry, the amount of ground that gets covered

637
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: by perimeter players in this league in transition in rotation,

638
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: as the game has become spaced out beyond the three

639
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: point line as opposed to congest it around the basket people.

640
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 1: I bet you if you put on trackers on players

641
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: and tracked how many linear feet they move in a game,

642
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: that it's double what it was in the nineties. That's

643
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: what that I would That's my guess, and I don't

644
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 1: have that data in front of me, But I believe

645
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: eve that the game is so different now that that

646
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: also contributes to the increase in injuries so thirty seven

647
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: minutes a night in the nineties, I don't think is

648
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,840
Speaker 1: nearly as hard on your hamstrings and on your groin

649
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: and on your ankles and on your knees and on

650
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: your feet as it is now when you have to

651
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 1: run so much more and cover so much more ground.

652
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: So I do think teams need to chill out on

653
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: the load management and have guys actually condition themselves for

654
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,959
Speaker 1: the grind. But I do think we should acknowledge, at

655
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: least as it pertains to the increase in injuries, that

656
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 1: it probably has more to do with how much the

657
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: players are running and less to do with load management

658
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: one way or the other. That makes sense, all right,

659
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 1: last one, John Wall and everyone else piling on on

660
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 1: the Rockets. So everyone in the world has been making

661
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 1: points about the Rockets and how they don't play the

662
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 1: right way, and how their young guards need someone to

663
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:49,719
Speaker 1: come in and teach them how to play basketball, all

664
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: these different things. Um, I do think it's overdone a

665
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,280
Speaker 1: little bit because I think too much blame is put

666
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: directly on Jalen Green or on Kevin Porter Jr. When

667
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: really I think it's an organizational thing all the way

668
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: down through the coaching staff. But as it pertains to accountability,

669
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 1: I do think it matters though, Um, what does it

670
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,800
Speaker 1: mean to play the right way? To me, like, that's

671
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,360
Speaker 1: just building good habits, something I've talked about NonStop on

672
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: this show. Um, you know that means committing to defense,

673
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 1: committing to rebounding, committing to execution on the offensive end

674
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 1: of the floor, committing to running and transition, all those

675
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: different things. But it also goes beyond that to a

676
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,280
Speaker 1: play style from your offensive initiators. And you know, there's

677
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 1: a there's a time and a place for a pull

678
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 1: up jump shot, there's a time and a place for

679
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: an isolation possession, and they are primarily counters to coverages.

680
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 1: You should is so when you have a good matchup

681
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: because of the switch and the spacing, it lends creatence

682
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 1: to it. You should take a pull up jump shot

683
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: because you ran a pick and roll and they stayed

684
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,319
Speaker 1: with the role man and they stayed elsewhere, and it's

685
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 1: the only shot that's available on the floor. There's definitely

686
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: a balance and a flow to primary ball handling that

687
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,760
Speaker 1: those guards need a are, but that's not on them

688
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: if the coaching staff or the front office isn't providing

689
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:07,880
Speaker 1: them with the leadership they need to do so. So

690
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: I I think it's a delicate thing, like we need

691
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 1: to talk about the Rockets in the way they're playing,

692
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: but not play so much blame on Kevin Porter Jr.

693
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 1: And Jalen Green. They're just young basketball players that aren't

694
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,399
Speaker 1: being held accountable. And at the end of the day,

695
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:21,960
Speaker 1: like to me, it's it's more has to do with

696
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 1: those commitment to those other details. Those are more important

697
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,520
Speaker 1: to me right now because for there's no real stakes

698
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 1: here and and really the guards are just working on

699
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 1: their games. They're just getting NBA reps. But at the

700
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: end of the day, like you don't have to be

701
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 1: a good defense, you don't have to be a good

702
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 1: rebounding team, but you have to at least try those things.

703
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 1: And the reason why is it's important to portray competence

704
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: even when you're bad. The Thunder are rebuilding, the Rockets

705
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,400
Speaker 1: are rebuilding. The Thunder have a young star guard. The

706
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,840
Speaker 1: Rockets have a young star guard now they're earlier in

707
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: their development. The Thunder are a few a few more

708
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 1: years ahead. But organizationally, from the top down, they are

709
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: teaching those guys that to play basketball the right way.

710
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,319
Speaker 1: It's not. They're not winning every night. They're not the

711
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,720
Speaker 1: best defense in the league. They're not the best rebounding

712
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,319
Speaker 1: team in the league. But what they are is they

713
00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 1: are trying to do those things. Ironically, the Rockets are

714
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,360
Speaker 1: actually a very good rebounding team because they're so athletic,

715
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: and rebounding is just one small area in the grand

716
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 1: schemes of a grand scheme of what I'm talking about.

717
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,319
Speaker 1: But the point is you build that competence so that

718
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: over the years, guys are more willing to sign with

719
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 1: that group. You know, the thunder are gonna need a

720
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: veteran wing soon, and you know that guy when Sam

721
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: Prescy sits down with them and he goes like, hey, listen,

722
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:39,080
Speaker 1: here's the deal. This is what we built. This is

723
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:40,799
Speaker 1: what I got for with s g A, this is

724
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 1: what I got with CHET. This is kind of where

725
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,319
Speaker 1: imagine you fitting in with this group. You know, I

726
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,359
Speaker 1: think Jalen Williams can kind of spell you off the bench,

727
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 1: might even play you guys together sometimes. Blah blah blah blah.

728
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:50,640
Speaker 1: Like if I'm sitting there and you're gonna pay me

729
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:52,839
Speaker 1: seven million or ten million or whatever to come play

730
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: with that group, I'm not in my head. I'm like, hell, yeah, man,

731
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: let's do this. I like these young guys, let's try

732
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 1: to win this thing. I mean, but now to imagine

733
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: the Rockets sit down and have that same meeting, and

734
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this group and I'm like, well, okay,

735
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,200
Speaker 1: no one's teaching these guards how to play. So they're

736
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,440
Speaker 1: just running down jacket up shots and not playing real basketball. Um,

737
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 1: no one's boxing out, no one's defending, no one's doing

738
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 1: all these things whatever it is. And uh, and you know,

739
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: this just doesn't seem like a good idea for me.

740
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 1: I don't want to be you know what Aaron Gordon,

741
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,359
Speaker 1: Eric Gordon is right now, you know the veteran that's

742
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,279
Speaker 1: just buried on this team and in basketball purgatory, you

743
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So that's why I think it's

744
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 1: important for the Rockets to portrait competency. It's about the future,

745
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: it's about that baby steps in the right direction. And

746
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: you know that it all starts with accountability. And I

747
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,920
Speaker 1: think it starts with the front office works all the

748
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,360
Speaker 1: way down to the coaching staff. They just have to

749
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:47,840
Speaker 1: do a better job to keeping those guys accountable. All right,

750
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,600
Speaker 1: guys that is all I have for tonight. Wow, that

751
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:52,400
Speaker 1: was a whirlwind. Um. We're taking the rest of the

752
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,400
Speaker 1: weekend off, but I will see you guys on Monday.

753
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:56,719
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support and I'll see

754
00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:08,760
Speaker 1: you guys then. The volume