Speaker 1: All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Friday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had
Speaker 1: an incredible week heading into what is going to be
Speaker 1: a monumentally important week weekend, I should say, of NBA basketball,
Speaker 1: lots of seeding up in the air. Over the next
Speaker 1: three days, we're gonna be going live. Excuse me, We're
Speaker 1: gonna have a video going up tomorrow morning that's going
Speaker 1: to be breaking down Friday nights games, and then on
Speaker 1: Sunday evening we're gonna be going live with mister Colin
Speaker 1: Cowherd to break down what should be a wild Sunday
Speaker 1: of NBA basketball. But today as a primer for that,
Speaker 1: where you're going to be going over the ten players
Speaker 1: you would best want heading into this playoff front, and
Speaker 1: I can think of nobody better to get into the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty of that list. Then our guy Carson, who
Speaker 1: we have on the show pretty regularly, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: him on and we're gonna break down our top ten
Speaker 1: playoff players. Carson, how's it going, man? I'm doing great, Jason,
Speaker 1: and I'm very interested to see how this all shakes
Speaker 1: out for you, because I just came up with my
Speaker 1: own list for this a couple of days ago, and
Speaker 1: I think so much talent at the top of the
Speaker 1: league that it really kind of depends on what you
Speaker 1: value most. There could be a bunch of variety I
Speaker 1: could imagine between our two lists without it feeling totally
Speaker 1: crazy to me. So very interested in where you go
Speaker 1: with all this. So the first question we you and
Speaker 1: I were kind of hashing out before we actually got
Speaker 1: into this list, before we actually started recording, was whether
Speaker 1: or not we were going to factor in Luca here. Now,
Speaker 1: I would say, judging by the point spread, it would
Speaker 1: appear that the Chicago Bulls are going to rest their
Speaker 1: players against the Dallas Mavericks, which will put them in
Speaker 1: a good position to win their last two games because
Speaker 1: I think their Sunday game is against Santas. However, Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City has I can't remember exactly who it is. I
Speaker 1: think it's a jazz I match up with the Jazz
Speaker 1: that they just won, and then they have one more
Speaker 1: game and they play, I believe at home against Memphis,
Speaker 1: and in deary Memphis will probably be resting their players
Speaker 1: in that game, so I'd say there's a better than
Speaker 1: a coin flip chance that Luca don Chie does not
Speaker 1: factor into this playoff run at all. However, even though
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that I would put him this far
Speaker 1: down heading into a playoff run where he had a
Speaker 1: more secure seed, I don't feel comfortable putting him ahead
Speaker 1: of anybody else on this list under the circumstances because
Speaker 1: I don't think he's been very good here in the
Speaker 1: last month or so, So I put Luca at tenth
Speaker 1: and again when we when we break down what he
Speaker 1: brings to the playoff stage, he obviously brings otherworldly shot making,
Speaker 1: otherworldly playmaking. He's that half court surgeon that I've always
Speaker 1: been a huge fan of in the NBA, especially on
Speaker 1: the playoff stage when teams start to switch more or
Speaker 1: in his ability to attack smaller players and generate quality shots.
Speaker 1: His weaknesses. Doesn't defend, obviously, doesn't pay attention in the
Speaker 1: details of the game. He gets beat on box outs
Speaker 1: and things like that all the time, doesn't run back
Speaker 1: and transition. And then I've really been unhappy with his
Speaker 1: attitude as of late. It feels like he's been pouting,
Speaker 1: and again, like I get it, it's a discouraging situation
Speaker 1: with everything surrounding what happened to the Mavericks after the deadline.
Speaker 1: They traded the textbookcase of the drop one athlete and
Speaker 1: then suddenly you dip below a certain like like absolute
Speaker 1: minimum of height and athleticism. In the NBA, they lost
Speaker 1: or in Finnie Smith, and they fell apart. And I'm
Speaker 1: not a Luca I don't think again, I don't think
Speaker 1: it would have been enough. I don't think they would
Speaker 1: have won a series or done any real damage in
Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs this year. However, Luca could have got
Speaker 1: him there, and he did it. And so for the
Speaker 1: time being, I'm a big believer in winning being the
Speaker 1: top thing that we factor in when we discussed these players.
Speaker 1: So call it a punishment, call it like a temporary
Speaker 1: a little like you know, penalty box or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But even though I would probably put Luca higher, I
Speaker 1: have him at tenth right now, I would have Luca
Speaker 1: a few spots higher. I'd have him at seven on
Speaker 1: this list, And I think that the reason for that
Speaker 1: is just that he is in arguably the most valuable archetype,
Speaker 1: which is, as you said, dominant playoffs score extremely versatile,
Speaker 1: their dominant playmaker who can elevate your team offense far
Speaker 1: beyond where your talent level would suggest that it should be.
Speaker 1: And he is legitimately one of the greatest offensive playoff
Speaker 1: performers we have ever seen. His playoff career stats are
Speaker 1: thirty two and a half nine and eight on fifty
Speaker 1: eight percent true shooting, and we have seen him every
Speaker 1: single time he's been there overperform even these incredibly high expectations.
Speaker 1: We have taking the Clippers to back to back battles
Speaker 1: when he was facing a massive talent deficit and he
Speaker 1: was the best player probably in both those series, and
Speaker 1: then last year obviously elevating the MAVs to the Western
Speaker 1: Con Finals, knocking off a sixty four wins Suns team
Speaker 1: with just this unbelievable offensive barrage. So I understand the
Speaker 1: issues with his defense, and I don't think he's quite
Speaker 1: as skilled as like a Steph Curry a Nikola Yokis
Speaker 1: when you're talking about elevating team offense, just because those
Speaker 1: guys don't need to single handedly possess the ball every
Speaker 1: single possession. I have a massive impact like like Luca does.
Speaker 1: Yok can do so much with quick touches, playmaking. Steph
Speaker 1: just his gravity at all times when he's on the court.
Speaker 1: So that's why I'd have Luca below those guys if
Speaker 1: we're looking at the like all offense, very little defense quotient.
Speaker 1: But I do still think his offense is so valuable
Speaker 1: and he gets me into conversations that some of these
Speaker 1: other guys, who maybe better two way players, may have
Speaker 1: had better home stretches this regular season, just don't get
Speaker 1: me in because Luca is so dominant offensively. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: goes beyond the defense stuff. There is a lack of
Speaker 1: versatility with Luca. I want to cut him some slack
Speaker 1: because he's in the middle of the season and he's
Speaker 1: incorporating a new player. But like, I'd like to see him,
Speaker 1: over the course of the next few years demonstrate the
Speaker 1: ability to be an involved offensive cog without being the
Speaker 1: heliocentric guy. And that's something that's something that I'd like
Speaker 1: to see him see him work on. But like, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, his game has been proven
Speaker 1: to translate to this level. Between the two Clippers series
Speaker 1: over the previous two years and then him taking the
Speaker 1: Sun's out last year and getting to within three wins
Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals, you'd be lying to yourself if
Speaker 1: you acted like Lucas game doesn't translate to the playoffs
Speaker 1: or contribute to winning on that stage. It's just yes,
Speaker 1: it's playing and simple. There are players that are better
Speaker 1: than him. So at number nine, and again I want
Speaker 1: to I want to be clear, this is not the
Speaker 1: same as like a traditional player rankings. Like to me,
Speaker 1: a traditional player rankings is like a hierarchy in the
Speaker 1: league that is a combination of like what you bring
Speaker 1: during an eighty two game regular season, what you bring
Speaker 1: in terms of your championship pedigree, what you bring in
Speaker 1: terms of your playoff resume recently, but also like like
Speaker 1: with a with an eye towards the future, and what
Speaker 1: we can expect from you and that, Like to me,
Speaker 1: it's like an a hierarchy that's a factor of a
Speaker 1: bunch of different things. This list is intended to be
Speaker 1: for just this playoff run, based on how guys are
Speaker 1: playing right now, so it's a totally different type of list.
Speaker 1: But at number nine, I have Jason Tatum, and you know,
Speaker 1: obviously his three point shooting bumps up his efficiency from
Speaker 1: a scoring standpoint to a level where you look at
Speaker 1: the points per game and you look at the true
Speaker 1: shooting percentage, and you can't deny that this is a
Speaker 1: scoring machine that generates points at a high rate. To me,
Speaker 1: he's the closest thing we have to like a modern
Speaker 1: James harden and types in terms of just the pure
Speaker 1: scoring results. Obviously he's not in the same stratosphere as
Speaker 1: a playmaker, but it's one of those guys where every
Speaker 1: day you go back and you look at the box
Speaker 1: score and he's like, oh my gosh, you had thirty
Speaker 1: five again on you know, sixteen shots or seventeen shots
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. But it's he's he's got a
Speaker 1: little bit of the grifts to get to the foul
Speaker 1: line now that he didn't used to have. He's consistently
Speaker 1: tweaked his shot diet to take higher value shots. He's
Speaker 1: taken a lot of shots at the rim and a
Speaker 1: lot of shots above the break at the three point line,
Speaker 1: and not a lot in the middle, and it's resulting
Speaker 1: in some efficiency. The biggest thing that freaks me out
Speaker 1: with Jason Tatum a couple things decision making. He's actually
Speaker 1: a better playmaker than he gets credit for, and the
Speaker 1: Celtics are at their best when he's passing the basketball.
Speaker 1: But he does have a tendency to go through these long,
Speaker 1: extended stretches where his decision making is poor and he
Speaker 1: usually Jason Tatum and his offensive approach to me is
Speaker 1: the big like Bellweather for how the Celtics are playing
Speaker 1: as a team. And then lastly, just a lack of
Speaker 1: shot making versatility, so like his go to moves are
Speaker 1: so rigid and there's only a few of them, and
Speaker 1: as a result, like he becomes a little predictable at
Speaker 1: the end of games, whereas like Jaylen Brown has this
Speaker 1: real creation ativity in audacity to his shot making that
Speaker 1: I think helps him thrive on those stages and a
Speaker 1: lot of times, I think Tatum becomes predictable and guardable
Speaker 1: at the end of games, so that decision making peace
Speaker 1: in la and that you know, like in terms of
Speaker 1: pure production, he belongs on this list, but I don't
Speaker 1: think he has the versatility really on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor to be higher than the guys above him.
Speaker 1: This is exactly where I have Tatum, and I think
Speaker 1: that you've laid out a lot of the strengths and
Speaker 1: weaknesses of his game really well, if you look at him,
Speaker 1: he's in the archetype of like Ideally, if we were
Speaker 1: to get the best version of Jason Tatum, that value
Speaker 1: would be like a twenty nineteen Kawhi Leonard. But the
Speaker 1: reality is there are just a few areas in which
Speaker 1: he's not on that level. Very good defensively, not quite
Speaker 1: at that level in terms of impact. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: it's what you laid out, it's the overall offensive inconsistency.
Speaker 1: If it's a question of being heavily reliant on that
Speaker 1: three point shot, creating it for himself, off the dribble,
Speaker 1: which at times does leave him, if it's at times
Speaker 1: issues with decision making, playmaking, and just the reality that
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the sort of relentlessness I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to my spot and that spot might be twelve
Speaker 1: feet away and I'm just gonna hit my fade away
Speaker 1: that I trust myself to make it a sixty percent
Speaker 1: clip that like a Kawhi Leonard does. So there's a
Speaker 1: difference in terms of consistency ultimately efficiency on the biggest stage.
Speaker 1: I think I think that this is where you have
Speaker 1: to have take him, probably in that nine or ten range.
Speaker 1: The only reason I don't have him at ten on
Speaker 1: my list honestly is because of availability. He has been
Speaker 1: quite consistently available. But if he were in that true
Speaker 1: top tier, the Celtics would have won the title last
Speaker 1: year and they would be clearly my title favorite this year.
Speaker 1: They've had the most talented rosters, but the reality is
Speaker 1: his inconsistencies has held them back in that really high
Speaker 1: stakes arena. That's a hunt that it's really that simple,
Speaker 1: Like he would have won last year and he'd be
Speaker 1: the runaway favorite this year if he was one of
Speaker 1: those guys because Boston has the best team. It's literally
Speaker 1: that simple to me. I have at number eight Kawhi,
Speaker 1: and you you pointed out something that I've that I
Speaker 1: think is so vitally important because Kawai and Tatum are
Speaker 1: similar archetypes in a lot of ways, Like they've both
Speaker 1: kind of come along as playmakers to the point where
Speaker 1: you can at least count on them to make the
Speaker 1: right reads when they're in certain situations and they bring
Speaker 1: that efficient scoring right. But the part that you got to,
Speaker 1: and this is where points per possession is actually kind
Speaker 1: of a bad indicator of just the overall scoring versatility
Speaker 1: of a player. Doesn't mean that points possession doesn't have value,
Speaker 1: it's just it doesn't tell the whole story. So Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: on a points per possession basis on different shot types,
Speaker 1: is going to have a similar type of efficiency to
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard if you look at it like isolation, high,
Speaker 1: pick and roll, all these different things. But because he
Speaker 1: relies a lot above the break three's and obviously getting
Speaker 1: to the rim has a lot more to do with
Speaker 1: the schematic of a five main unit and spacing and
Speaker 1: that sort of thing than actually like a reliable possession
Speaker 1: by possession type of result you pointed out perfectly. Kawai
Speaker 1: has these moves that he can go too. That's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's only worth two points, But like, if I get
Speaker 1: to my spot, I'm hitting this sixty percent of the time,
Speaker 1: and that's so immensely valuable when you get to the
Speaker 1: late game playoffs scenarios. Because again, even if Tatum's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm hitting this pull up three at thirty eight percent,
Speaker 1: that's great. That means you're gonna get you know, roughly
Speaker 1: one point two one point three points per possession, right, awesome.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem. You don't get to take that shot
Speaker 1: at the end of the game and just notch one
Speaker 1: point two points to the scoreboard. No, you're gonna miss
Speaker 1: two of them before you make one. Maybe or maybe
Speaker 1: you make it. But from a percentage standpoint, there's a
Speaker 1: better than fifty percent chance that possession is ending in nothing.
Speaker 1: And if you need a bucket on that possession or
Speaker 1: it's a rescue possession at the end of a clock,
Speaker 1: having a go to move that is an extremely efficient shot,
Speaker 1: like Kawai's mid range pull up jump shots over both
Speaker 1: shoulders or out of the post, over out of the post,
Speaker 1: over both shoulders, or going right or left and picking role.
Speaker 1: Those are just immensely valuable shots in the grind of
Speaker 1: NBA playoff game. So the big weaknesses for me with
Speaker 1: Kawai health obviously, like this dude, the last time we
Speaker 1: saw him healthy heading into a playoff run broke down
Speaker 1: in the second round. He relies a lot on pull
Speaker 1: up shooting, so if he does start to miss, he's
Speaker 1: not a guy that gets to the rim super consistently.
Speaker 1: And then from a playmaking standpoint, there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a ceiling there. But right now I have Kawhi
Speaker 1: at eight. I would have Kawai even a little bit
Speaker 1: higher at number six. I think he is an all
Speaker 1: time playoff performer, and I think that his game just
Speaker 1: seamlessly translates the dominant wing scoring, the solid playmaking, the
Speaker 1: dominant defense that we can see from him on that
Speaker 1: playoff stage. Last four times he's been to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: he's averaged over twenty nine a night on fifty one
Speaker 1: thirty eight eighty nine splits and soy, as he's worked
Speaker 1: his way into full health this year, he's been the
Speaker 1: normal Kawhi that we expect. He's been that dominant guy.
Speaker 1: So I agree with you the availability as a concern,
Speaker 1: but there is no doubt that when we see him
Speaker 1: there twenty seventeen, right, he's a different player since then.
Speaker 1: But he was kicking the Warriors, with some people consider
Speaker 1: the greatest team ever. He was kicking their ass after
Speaker 1: he had just had two incredible series before that, both
Speaker 1: Clippers years. He was great, with the exception of like
Speaker 1: that finishing stretch against Denver and then he got hurt
Speaker 1: in Toronto was one of the best individual playoff runs
Speaker 1: of this century. So I just believe in that value.
Speaker 1: I think that offensively he has every bit as good
Speaker 1: as he's ever been, and I'm going to bet on
Speaker 1: that translating because we've seen it translate with him every
Speaker 1: single time he's been there, and some of these other
Speaker 1: guys who may have had more impressive regular seasons can't
Speaker 1: say that in the same way that he can. Well,
Speaker 1: what bums me out, though, is that team is not
Speaker 1: very good and he's had it for a quick exit
Speaker 1: and it's just really unfortunate. Number seven Lebron James, Oh,
Speaker 1: I still think when it comes to this playoff stage,
Speaker 1: and the reason why I have him down low is
Speaker 1: a couple of things. Health obviously is a big question mark.
Speaker 1: There's just not a guarantee that he'll be available throughout
Speaker 1: this entire playoff run. And then also he's having his
Speaker 1: worst jump shooting season since twenty fifteen, and that is
Speaker 1: just such an important part of his Now. He has
Speaker 1: shot the jump shot well since returning at just in
Speaker 1: the last couple of games. I want to say, he's
Speaker 1: like seven for his last sixteen from three, and particularly
Speaker 1: in the second half against the Clippers the other night,
Speaker 1: he really had everything going. But it's been a little
Speaker 1: bit of an issue this year, and that I think
Speaker 1: lowers my confidence in him a little bit. But Lebron James,
Speaker 1: to me is there's a reason why Lebron and his
Speaker 1: career has been the most dependably great playoff player, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, in NBA history, even in the Lebron mj debate,
Speaker 1: regardless of who you think is better. And I think
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan has definitively had a more dominant NBA career
Speaker 1: in terms of the way he performed relative to his peers.
Speaker 1: But Lebron James is far more dependably great because Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan was reliant on shop making to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: and he had bad playoff games. You'd have a game
Speaker 1: where he goes seven for thirty, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Lebron James. I've never seen a player in my life
Speaker 1: where if it was a big playoff game, you could
Speaker 1: count on him to play extremely well. And I think
Speaker 1: it's because he has the perfect combination of tools. When
Speaker 1: you combine his ability to score it all three levels
Speaker 1: and to attack matchups, which is so important at this level.
Speaker 1: He is a top tier surgical half court playmaker, and
Speaker 1: defensively he's incredibly versatile. Yeah, he's not the same defensive
Speaker 1: player in terms of consistency that he was when he
Speaker 1: was younger, but we've seen this time and again, and
Speaker 1: we saw it in twenty twenty and he's done it
Speaker 1: even just since returning this year. When he's engaged defensively,
Speaker 1: he is still a very impactful defender that can succeed
Speaker 1: and help, that can protect the rim a little bit,
Speaker 1: that can guard on the perimeter. Lebron, I believe, brings
Speaker 1: all that versatility to the table and as a result,
Speaker 1: he's capable of impacting the game in so many different
Speaker 1: ways that if hey, my jump SHOT's not falling, cool,
Speaker 1: he's gonna go eight for twenty two. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: twenty seven, nine and eight, and he's going to be
Speaker 1: a net positive on both ends of the floor. That's
Speaker 1: his bad game, and that then it's like if the
Speaker 1: jumpers start falling, now we're looking at thirty five, nine
Speaker 1: and seven and a totally different type of game. So
Speaker 1: like again, it's the health and his jump shots a
Speaker 1: little finicky this year, but I still think, I still
Speaker 1: think on this playoff stage he's every bit as good
Speaker 1: as any of these guys. I'm really surprised I have
Speaker 1: Lebron higher than you, Jason, which I about that fact.
Speaker 1: I think that the reality is we have never not
Speaker 1: seen Lebron James translate to the playoffs since he became
Speaker 1: that reliable, solid pull up jump shooter. Obviously you have
Speaker 1: the twenty eleven finals, but that was an entirely different player.
Speaker 1: I think that if you look at the combination of
Speaker 1: physical imposition, getting to the rim at will, genius playmaking,
Speaker 1: the only thing keeping him from being a bona fide
Speaker 1: top five guy to me is the inconsistency of his
Speaker 1: jump shot this year. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I have faith in Lebron shooting at a respectable level
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. I think that this regular season is
Speaker 1: probably more of an aberration than his overall body of work,
Speaker 1: where he's consistently been that thirty five thirty six percent
Speaker 1: range from three and then. I just think there's a
Speaker 1: control of the game. There's an all around offensive dominance
Speaker 1: and the ability to be at least not exploitable defensively,
Speaker 1: Like for example, Luca, who has this unbelievable offensive value
Speaker 1: but can get picked on on that end more than Lebron.
Speaker 1: I just can't bet against it. I mean, he's still
Speaker 1: putting up his efficient thirty to night, having a massive
Speaker 1: impact on winning while having a horrible pull up jump
Speaker 1: shooting season while having had some health issues. He's thirty eight,
Speaker 1: but he is still to me immortal, so I have
Speaker 1: him in my five spot. Interesting. Yeah, So to be clear,
Speaker 1: like if I'm going into a first round series and
Speaker 1: Lebron's healthy and I know he's going to be available
Speaker 1: for that game, just because of how big of a
Speaker 1: fan I am of his game, I'm always going to
Speaker 1: be at that going like Lebron might be the best
Speaker 1: player on the floor in this game, Like that is
Speaker 1: such a firm possibility in every matchup, But going into
Speaker 1: a two month long playoff run, you would be foolish
Speaker 1: to bet on him over some of the guys above him.
Speaker 1: So number six, I've Nickela yokich strengths obviously outstanding playmaking
Speaker 1: and play finishing. His efficiency is just hard to even fathom.
Speaker 1: I mean what he's been pushing seventy percent true shooting
Speaker 1: this year, right the big thing. There's two things that
Speaker 1: worry me with Yokich. Obviously defensive versatility. I actually think
Speaker 1: when he's really locked in, he can be an average
Speaker 1: rim protector, which is enough to be fine defensively, but
Speaker 1: in the in the versatility department, with way that teams
Speaker 1: are going to try to pull him away from the rim.
Speaker 1: Obviously that's a weakness. And then I also get a
Speaker 1: little bit worried with Yokich as it pertains to aggression.
Speaker 1: So like he reminds me a little bit of early
Speaker 1: Lebron where when the game calls for him to just
Speaker 1: go make his own shots, sometimes he can be a
Speaker 1: little bit too much of an offensive engine that's just
Speaker 1: trying to create shots for his teammates instead of doing
Speaker 1: the Joel Embiid thing, which is like, I'm Joel freaking Embiid.
Speaker 1: You can't guard me the next five possessions, I'm going
Speaker 1: to shoot over your shoot over the top of you.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. And it's not that he
Speaker 1: can't do that because obviously, like when we look at it,
Speaker 1: his post up scoring is the very best in the league.
Speaker 1: Basically he does have that ability, but it's more of
Speaker 1: a mentality thing for me. I think I think he
Speaker 1: struggles with identifying when the team needs him to just
Speaker 1: shoot every time down the floor. So that's why I
Speaker 1: have him at six right now. The one thing that
Speaker 1: I will say is that I think we have seen
Speaker 1: Yoki get that a lot more on the playoff stage
Speaker 1: than he might on your average regular season night. Of course,
Speaker 1: this has been with abysmal backcourt talent in the last
Speaker 1: two years, but his last two postseasons he's been over
Speaker 1: thirty points a night very efficiently, So I do think
Speaker 1: he gets it a bit more on that stage. And
Speaker 1: the reality to me is he's the best offensive basketball
Speaker 1: player in the world, and so that to me has
Speaker 1: to put him in my top four. But the differentiator
Speaker 1: for me between him and my two and three spots
Speaker 1: is his exploitability defensively, because it's not just that he's
Speaker 1: a blow average defender. It is the fact that he's
Speaker 1: playing the most important defensive position, and it's just easier
Speaker 1: to involve a center in any action right, bring him
Speaker 1: up into pick and roll, just attack him at the
Speaker 1: rim and challenge him as a rim protector, so that
Speaker 1: knocks him down for me. I still do feel like
Speaker 1: six is too low, though, because we've seen Yoki lift
Speaker 1: his team to be a top five playoff offense every
Speaker 1: single time that he's been there, and the only time
Speaker 1: that we've seen them with the kind of playoff talent
Speaker 1: in these last few years that you could expect even
Speaker 1: win a series when that roster wasn't as talented as
Speaker 1: this year, but in the bubble they went to the
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals, they beat a Clippers team that was
Speaker 1: clearly more talented, and Yokich was out of this world.
Speaker 1: In the last two years individually offensively, he's been everything
Speaker 1: that you could have hoped for. So I just think
Speaker 1: that offensive value, the fact that he's proven that that
Speaker 1: translates clearly is something that for example, a well Embiid
Speaker 1: has not done in the playoffs. It is something that
Speaker 1: an Anthony Davis can't claim to have because he can't
Speaker 1: be that reliable number one every single night offensively who
Speaker 1: will make you a lead on that end. And so
Speaker 1: I do think that Yokis should be a little bit
Speaker 1: higher than this. I get the defensive concerns, but he's
Speaker 1: so great offensively, so monumentally great, that I have him
Speaker 1: at my four spot. And again it's about like this
Speaker 1: list is splitting hairs, like the guy. All the guys
Speaker 1: that I have ahead of him are so insanely good.
Speaker 1: I think there's one you'll probably disagree with, which is
Speaker 1: my number five, Anthony Davis. So when I was thinking
Speaker 1: about his strengths, the first thing I put down is
Speaker 1: just physical tools and I just want to Obviously we
Speaker 1: can go it like the play finishing, the rim, protection,
Speaker 1: all these different things, but Anthony Davis, to me, is
Speaker 1: the number one athletic wrecking ball in this playoff field
Speaker 1: with what he can do defensively protecting the rim and
Speaker 1: switching out onto the perimeter. I actually believe, even though
Speaker 1: I think Janis deserves to be called the best defensive
Speaker 1: player alive because of what he actually does in a
Speaker 1: nightly basis and his availability, that's his crown. I actually
Speaker 1: think Anthony Davis has the highest defensive ceiling in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I believe that when Anthony Davis is at his best,
Speaker 1: nobody can protect the rim while also coming up high
Speaker 1: out of a drop coverage while also switching, blitzing, rotating
Speaker 1: everything that he does. Nobody can do what Anthony Davis does.
Speaker 1: It blows up NBA offenses. I've actually never seen a
Speaker 1: defensive player due to an NBA team what Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: did to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. He absolutely and completely devastated their offense to
Speaker 1: the point where they did not know what to do.
Speaker 1: And that was an NBA Finals team, and then on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor, say what you want
Speaker 1: to say. Obviously there's some limitations there, and there's no
Speaker 1: doubt that he's not the same offensive player as someone
Speaker 1: like Yogis or someone like Embiid. But you're gonna get
Speaker 1: twenty six, You're gonna get you know, high fifty percent shot,
Speaker 1: and on any given night he can go forty forty
Speaker 1: five points if he's got his touch going on a
Speaker 1: handful of his particular shots that he leans on. This,
Speaker 1: to me is the textbook playoff translatability quotient. No one
Speaker 1: in the world would take Anthony Davis over Nickel Yokets
Speaker 1: or Joel Embiide with what they can do to raise
Speaker 1: the team's floor over the course of a season because
Speaker 1: of their higher offensive ceiling, they are better options to
Speaker 1: build your franchise around. But when the ball gets tossed
Speaker 1: up in the NBA Finals and it's the Western Conference finals,
Speaker 1: or it's in one of those late round playoff series
Speaker 1: against an elite team, what he does translates to that
Speaker 1: level in such a visceral way that it like it's
Speaker 1: it's hard to describe, but it's just like a sheer
Speaker 1: force of nature. Type of thing that, to me, increases
Speaker 1: his playoff impact to a level that very few guys
Speaker 1: in the league can actually reach. There's a case that
Speaker 1: he's the best guy in this adding because, like, he
Speaker 1: was better than Lebron through that entire twenty twenty run
Speaker 1: basically until until late game situations where Lebron's half court
Speaker 1: surgery became the value piece, but he was the best
Speaker 1: player in the bubble basically in terms of his overall
Speaker 1: impact on winning. I think I think his injury history
Speaker 1: has turned people away from him in a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways. But I think Anthony Davis there's such a
Speaker 1: huge gap between his ceiling and his actual consit level
Speaker 1: of consistency, But you could argue his ceiling as higher
Speaker 1: than everybody, and that's why I have him at number five.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I think that AD is a tough guy
Speaker 1: to rank, but I think that for me, the issue
Speaker 1: was with the offensive consistency, with the playmaking limitations, with
Speaker 1: the fact that as liable as he is to go
Speaker 1: for thirty five, he is to go for seventeen, He
Speaker 1: might only take eight shots in a game, and I
Speaker 1: just think there's a burden offensively on a lot of
Speaker 1: these other guys that Ad has not had to bear
Speaker 1: because he has Lebron, and so that allows to cover
Speaker 1: up for some of his limitations because when he can
Speaker 1: be the best defensive player in the world and this
Speaker 1: awesome second option offensively, it's like, yeah, Ad is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: But a lot of guys are single handedly asked to
Speaker 1: elevate their offenses to being elite, which is what gets
Speaker 1: their team into those elite conversations. And so that combined
Speaker 1: with availability, moves a D down a bit for me.
Speaker 1: I think that Bubble a D was like the best
Speaker 1: version of him we could ever possibly hope to see
Speaker 1: unless he shoots that well from three again this year,
Speaker 1: and still I think that push come to shove, Lebron
Speaker 1: was the more valuable player. The Lebron was the better player.
Speaker 1: And that's just an archetype thing. If you are that
Speaker 1: great perimeter initiator who can also defend, especially, it's just
Speaker 1: more valuable if you're that great offensive engine. And so
Speaker 1: even compared to a guy like Kauai, the reason I
Speaker 1: would lean him is because I just trust the offense
Speaker 1: more and I know he's going to have a high
Speaker 1: level impact defensively, so I don't have a problem with
Speaker 1: Ady at five. I just am not sure that the
Speaker 1: consistency makes me comfortable having him up that high for sure.
Speaker 1: And again, this is the reality is like you are
Speaker 1: a product of a basketball team, and takeaway shot making
Speaker 1: from Jannis, like from his teammates, suddenly some of his
Speaker 1: offensive limitations come to the surface. There's no doubt that
Speaker 1: in a vacuum, Anthony Davis is not the same player
Speaker 1: as Nikola, Yoka, Joel and beat. Bottom line, though you
Speaker 1: put him with Lebron and he can cover some of
Speaker 1: those weaknesses. His winning impact is so massive in all
Speaker 1: of these other areas of the game that it kind
Speaker 1: of unlocks that. And like, the reality is as he
Speaker 1: is with Lebron, And so we can talk all we
Speaker 1: want about these different varying factors. But if the Lakers
Speaker 1: happen to end up the eight seed because they lose
Speaker 1: to Minnesota in the first playing game and then beat
Speaker 1: Okay seed in the second playing game, and they head
Speaker 1: up to Denver for Game one, it's not like Yoki
Speaker 1: gets to look at him beat and go like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm better than you. It doesn't matter. He is with Lebron,
Speaker 1: And that means in that series, he's gonna have Lebron
Speaker 1: and his teammate, which means he's going to be able
Speaker 1: to impact winning in that context. And to me, that's
Speaker 1: what makes him such a terrifying playoff player. But again,
Speaker 1: all your points are completely fair, and we are splitting
Speaker 1: hairs at a certain point here. Number four, Joel Embiide,
Speaker 1: the big things that I worry about with him are
Speaker 1: basically just the same things that I worry about with
Speaker 1: Yoga's defensively, footspeed and defensive versatility. Getting lost in transition
Speaker 1: or getting pulled away from the rim. That actually became
Speaker 1: a problem consistently in the playoffs last year, him giving
Speaker 1: up straight line drives when he got pulled out to
Speaker 1: the perimeter, particularly in semi transition when he was kind
Speaker 1: of away from the rim. But this is the modern
Speaker 1: day version of Shack in my opinion, in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of just the way that he warps the
Speaker 1: defense from the center position. You cannot guard him in
Speaker 1: single coverage anymore. He's so deadly with that damn pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot at fifteen feet that it forces defenders
Speaker 1: to come up on him. And he's so damn big
Speaker 1: and strong that when he goes to those RiPP threw moves.
Speaker 1: It just he's going to win that confrontation one hundred
Speaker 1: percent of the time. He has reached a point in
Speaker 1: proficiency as a jump shooter that he is a huge
Speaker 1: problem now, just a gigantic problem. And so like he
Speaker 1: in terms of a player that consistently dictates double teams
Speaker 1: and causes you to have to completely fundamentally change the
Speaker 1: way you defend, I actually think he's one of the
Speaker 1: most He's one of the most imposing game plan changing
Speaker 1: players on this list. And then again for what you
Speaker 1: want to say about his defensive versatility, he is an
Speaker 1: outstanding rim protector in my opinion, especially here in this
Speaker 1: last couple of months. So I've embeat at four right now,
Speaker 1: I totally get it. I think Abeat is a different
Speaker 1: version of himself than we've ever seen before because of
Speaker 1: how incredibly proficient he's been as a jump shooter, and
Speaker 1: also because I think the other dimension to his game
Speaker 1: that's been unlocked is the pick and roll game. I mean,
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, we never really saw Ebead
Speaker 1: run much pick and roll at all. He didn't have
Speaker 1: a great pick and roll ball handler. Now he does,
Speaker 1: and James Harden, and he's gotten so good at that
Speaker 1: free throw line, jumper and everything that feeds off of that,
Speaker 1: getting to the rim, getting to the line that he's
Speaker 1: the highest scoring pick and roll player in the league
Speaker 1: when you're talking about roll men's So I do think
Speaker 1: this is the best tomb that we've ever seen. That
Speaker 1: being said, I think his playoff resume is easily the
Speaker 1: weakest of anybody in this top ten, and I don't
Speaker 1: think that we discussed that enough. We have consistently seen
Speaker 1: his decision making playmaking fall apart in the playoffs two
Speaker 1: point eight assists per game to three point four turnovers
Speaker 1: in his playoff career, Jason, and yes, he's a better
Speaker 1: playmaker decision maker than we've ever seen him be, but
Speaker 1: he's still probably the weakest out of this entire group there,
Speaker 1: and he will see a lot of doubles and so
Speaker 1: he has to consistently make the right reads there or
Speaker 1: else some of his value is going to diminish. We've
Speaker 1: seen him struggle as a shot maker. He has not
Speaker 1: been the same jump shooter finisher in the playoffs under
Speaker 1: forty seven percent from the field, under thirty percent from three.
Speaker 1: We've seen him struggle to get to the line. His
Speaker 1: free throw attempts from the regular season to the playoffs
Speaker 1: have gone down by basically two a game in these
Speaker 1: last two post seasons, which makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of foul baiting. You just don't get
Speaker 1: that in the same way in the playoffs. And then
Speaker 1: we've seen his health fall apart. Every single time that
Speaker 1: Philly has been to the second round, he's missed a game.
Speaker 1: And on top of the game that he's missed, right,
Speaker 1: he's been playing with some sort of injury probably at
Speaker 1: some point in some of those surrounding games, and just
Speaker 1: in a lot of do or die situations and a
Speaker 1: lot of those series where Philly has a talent advantage,
Speaker 1: he's fallen apart. He was bad last year versus the
Speaker 1: Heat with an orbital fracture, sure, but under twenty a night,
Speaker 1: forty three percent from the field, twenty six percent from
Speaker 1: three more turnovers than assists. Year before that was the
Speaker 1: disappointing loss with the Hawks. Year before or yeah, year
Speaker 1: before that, they just got swept by the Celtics. Year
Speaker 1: before that, they got he was terrible against the Raptors.
Speaker 1: So I think this is the best version of Embead, ever,
Speaker 1: but I do think he needs to prove it, and
Speaker 1: I do think the archetype of I can lift everybody
Speaker 1: offensively is more valuable than embiads. I will be this
Speaker 1: dominant scorer when he hasn't been a dominant score in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And I do agree with you. In a
Speaker 1: playoff setting, you play against a great pull up jump
Speaker 1: shooting team, you play against a team that's going to
Speaker 1: involve him in a lot of pick and roll, and
Speaker 1: he's got to cover a lot of ground. I do
Speaker 1: think that his defensive value is not what some people
Speaker 1: might expect it to be because he is a slower
Speaker 1: plotting guy. So I'm lower on embe that the consensus
Speaker 1: for this. I just think the Lebron, the Kauhi, the
Speaker 1: Luca Tiers, those guys we've seen it offensively, and Ebiad
Speaker 1: has been better than any of them this year. But
Speaker 1: I just have faith in what we've seen on this
Speaker 1: playoff stage a bit more so. I had Embead at
Speaker 1: eight when I did my rank. Wow. Yeah, everything you
Speaker 1: say about Embiid's playoff resume is real and true. In
Speaker 1: my opinion. However, I actually think he is not just
Speaker 1: the best version of himself. Now, I think Embiad is
Speaker 1: considerably better than he was last year. It's hard to describe,
Speaker 1: but like I noticed this in my own basketball development
Speaker 1: as I was growing up. But like it doesn't happen linearly,
Speaker 1: like you take leaps, Like you figure things out and
Speaker 1: you take leaps. There's like a like it almost happens
Speaker 1: overnight sometimes when something clicks for you in a specific
Speaker 1: area of your skill set and it's like, oh, suddenly,
Speaker 1: like this makes sense to me now and I can
Speaker 1: do this at a higher level. I actually think and
Speaker 1: be legitimately has taken a leap up to the next
Speaker 1: tier of superstardom in this season, and so everything you're
Speaker 1: saying about his playoff resume is true. But I want
Speaker 1: to see if you can do it this year. I
Speaker 1: want to kind of give him the opportunity to prove
Speaker 1: that he's improved. Number three, and I actually think this
Speaker 1: guy has been arguably the best player I've seen this
Speaker 1: season when he's been healthy. But I'm tossing just basically
Speaker 1: the I'm giving essentially leeway to the two guys in
Speaker 1: front of him based on their championship HEED agree in
Speaker 1: recent years, but a number three I have Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: I think, obviously he's having I believe the best pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting season in history the league. And not
Speaker 1: maybe not in terms of effective field goal percentage compared
Speaker 1: to some of the three point hunters, but in terms
Speaker 1: of like dynamic three level pull up shooting or two
Speaker 1: level pull up shooting. I should say it's the best
Speaker 1: in the history of the league by far. As someone
Speaker 1: tweeted out last night, A Kadi himself tweted out, he's
Speaker 1: shoting over sixty percent on two, forty percent on three
Speaker 1: on free throws. It's unbelievable. He's actually having an incredibly
Speaker 1: underrated playmaking season. It's one of the It's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that I think is misrepresented about Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant's game is he's kind of portrayed as a score
Speaker 1: that can't pass. But he's other than maybe Yannis a
Speaker 1: lot of these top tiers forwards. He's a much better
Speaker 1: pastor than Tatum. He's a much better passer than Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 1: like like Katie, is a legitimate playmaker. The only real
Speaker 1: weakness with Kevin Durant is he does not get to
Speaker 1: the rim, and so that kind of limits him in
Speaker 1: terms of reaching a ceiling and playmaking that you that
Speaker 1: you have to apply consistent room pressure to get and
Speaker 1: then he can be dependent on his pull up jump
Speaker 1: shot going in which he almost always does, but we
Speaker 1: have seen it not and it's absolutely a risk because
Speaker 1: here's the reality. Kevin Durant was awesome last year in
Speaker 1: the regular season two and then he ran into Boston,
Speaker 1: the shot stopped falling. Next thing you know, they were
Speaker 1: out of the playoffs in four games. So I want
Speaker 1: to cut him some slack. It's one week of basketball,
Speaker 1: but that I think is the thing that kind of
Speaker 1: holds him back from that. Katie, I think, has never
Speaker 1: definitively been the best player in the league, and I
Speaker 1: believe that is a result of the fact that he
Speaker 1: does rely on jump shooting pull up jump shooting to
Speaker 1: have that top tier impact while some of the guys
Speaker 1: around him have impact while some of the guys around
Speaker 1: him aren't as reliant on jump shooting as he is.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. I would say though, that I think that
Speaker 1: ever since he arrived in Golden State, with the exception
Speaker 1: of last year, Katie has been an exceptional playoff performer,
Speaker 1: and I think honestly, twenty nineteen and then twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one in Brooklyn, those were the two best playoff versions
Speaker 1: of Katie that I have ever seen, Like just an
Speaker 1: unstoppable scoring level in that series against the Clippers, for example,
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, and then in that series against the Bucks,
Speaker 1: the level of complete offensive engine that he was scoring
Speaker 1: and playmaking just dominant. I mean, across those two playoffs
Speaker 1: he's over thirty three a night on fifty one two
Speaker 1: eighty nine splits. It's just I do believe that he
Speaker 1: is largely unstoppable, and last year was weird. I do
Speaker 1: not think that that is a repble result. I think
Speaker 1: there is a completeness with him offensively where he elevates
Speaker 1: any team so immediately in the NBA, we've already seen
Speaker 1: it in Phoenix. He just comes in and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll shoot sixty five percent from and we're undefeated, and
Speaker 1: I'll do so much off ball and to me is
Speaker 1: the top two score of all time. He has been
Speaker 1: a great playmaker this year, as you said, and he's
Speaker 1: had the best defensive year of his career probably, and
Speaker 1: I think that that is the distinction when I'm comparing
Speaker 1: him to Stephen Yokich the other guys in my top four,
Speaker 1: those guys are better offensive players in my opinion, because
Speaker 1: there is a more complete impact there is what we've
Speaker 1: already talked about, Steph elevating everybody with his mere presence,
Speaker 1: Yoki just genius playmaking. But the reality is both those
Speaker 1: guys in their own ways can be exploited defensively, and
Speaker 1: Katie in a role that he has played for a
Speaker 1: majority of this year, that secondary rim protector can be
Speaker 1: a very impactful, positive defensive player while being the best
Speaker 1: score alive and being able to play so many roles offensively,
Speaker 1: dominant pick and roll, dominant isolation, dominant catch and shooter.
Speaker 1: And so I really really value that. I value how
Speaker 1: consistently we've seen it from him, and I think this
Speaker 1: is the best Katie that we've ever seen. So I
Speaker 1: have him at number two on my list again, like
Speaker 1: he could just as easily be one for me Again,
Speaker 1: You're right, twenty twenty two was an anomaly. That's a fact,
Speaker 1: but it can happen. That's like, it's here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Pull up jump shots are the most difficult shot in basketball.
Speaker 1: That's just a fact. He's the best at them, but
Speaker 1: really good physical defense can disrupt his base. And we've
Speaker 1: seen him again. It had been a very long time,
Speaker 1: but we did see him running to pull up jump
Speaker 1: shooting problems relatively often. From twenty thirteen to twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: we did, and then he had this stretch where he
Speaker 1: was excellent, and then we saw that anomaly again last year. Again,
Speaker 1: you can make a case for him to have him
Speaker 1: at number one. I'm not. I don't think there's a
Speaker 1: player on this list that's perfect for the record. The
Speaker 1: last guy I would have put on this list that
Speaker 1: was perfect was twenty eighteen Bron. He had every box
Speaker 1: checked resounding, there was not a weakness in his game.
Speaker 1: Every guy on this list has a weakness. Now, that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of the difference in my opinion, and that's
Speaker 1: why Lebron's the second best player to ever pick up
Speaker 1: a basketball. But number two I've Steph Curry. And again
Speaker 1: there's the the gravity thing sometimes gets overplayed because people
Speaker 1: want to prop Step up in some ways and that
Speaker 1: that is a fact, but it is real, As is
Speaker 1: always the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 1: Like like all superstars dictate multiple defenders. That's just that's
Speaker 1: just a fact. So sometimes like portraying stepp is the
Speaker 1: only guy that does that, I don't think is an
Speaker 1: accurate representation of the of reality. But what makes steps
Speaker 1: defensive attention so unique is that it pulls multiple defenders
Speaker 1: away from the basket. We talk a lot about basketball efficiency, right,
Speaker 1: and oh, like a quality three point shot. You know,
Speaker 1: even an average three point shot is better than a
Speaker 1: quality fifteen footer because sheer math, right, But what's the
Speaker 1: most efficient shot in basketball? A layout? And even on
Speaker 1: Steph's bad shooting nights, he is constantly pulling multiple defenders
Speaker 1: away from the rim and creating opportunities around the basket.
Speaker 1: And those opportunities are extremely high percentage opportunities. That's why
Speaker 1: I think even though Yoki you think Yokis is the
Speaker 1: best offensive player in the league, I still think Steph
Speaker 1: is and I think he and I would I think
Speaker 1: you would agree that Steph has been the most dynamic
Speaker 1: offensive player or best offensive player of this era in
Speaker 1: terms of like the total picture. Absolutely. The only thing
Speaker 1: that really holds him back again is his physical tools.
Speaker 1: And to his credit, he's bigger and stronger than people think.
Speaker 1: He's six foot three, he spends a lot of time
Speaker 1: in the weight room. He's well built, but at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, he cannot impact the game with
Speaker 1: his size and strength the way that guys like Janis
Speaker 1: and Kevin Durant and Lebron James and Jason Am and
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and even Joe Olmpide can and those sorts
Speaker 1: of that sort of thing. I think as as always
Speaker 1: held stepped back just a little bit. But it's irrelevant
Speaker 1: that dudes a four time championship champion and he's won
Speaker 1: a title as the best player twice, and I gave
Speaker 1: him the nod over kd here quite simply because I
Speaker 1: am such a big believer and a applying the appropriate
Speaker 1: respect to an NBA champion. He went into Boston the
Speaker 1: most talented roster in the league last year, down two
Speaker 1: games to one on the road, and he killed those guys,
Speaker 1: and and there's just there's just there might be three
Speaker 1: or four guys on that list that we're doing today
Speaker 1: that are even capable of that. And to me and
Speaker 1: to me that that resulted in the trophy and that
Speaker 1: needs to be paid the appropriate amount of respect. I
Speaker 1: have him at number two. One of the things that
Speaker 1: I think is really funny about just the evolution of
Speaker 1: skill in today's NBA. And I was just thinking about
Speaker 1: this the other day. Is when we talk about peak Steph,
Speaker 1: a lot of people probably still go to twenty sixteen, right,
Speaker 1: unanimous MVP. This efficiency we've never seen. Steph has so
Speaker 1: clearly been better these last three years at basketball than
Speaker 1: he was then. If you want to talk about relative
Speaker 1: to the competition, that's fine, but absolutely right, he's stronger.
Speaker 1: He's had these unbelievable pull up jump shooting seasons last
Speaker 1: year and on the regular season, but last year's playoffs
Speaker 1: was the most impressive individual run we've ever seen from
Speaker 1: him on that stage because he elevated this team that
Speaker 1: didn't have another consistent offensive star to be great offensively
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. We talk about their defensive foundation all
Speaker 1: the time. They were a better playoff offense last year
Speaker 1: they were fourth than a playoff defense where they were six.
Speaker 1: And so they've always had that two way formula, but
Speaker 1: Steph has always been the offensive foundation that makes them
Speaker 1: brilliant year and year out. So I will not push
Speaker 1: back against Steph being number two. For you again, to me,
Speaker 1: I slightly lean Katie, just because Steph as much as
Speaker 1: he has improved defensively and worked on that. It's like
Speaker 1: you said, if you're not an exceptional defender at six three,
Speaker 1: with the level of switching that we see in today's NBA,
Speaker 1: you can be attacked, you can be exploited. And so
Speaker 1: it's not a strength for him, whereas for Katie it
Speaker 1: can be. But his playoff resume is so underrated. He's
Speaker 1: consistently been great on that stage, one of the most
Speaker 1: prolific and efficient playoff scorers ever, and it's so much
Speaker 1: beyond that elevating the offense. I agree with you. Obviously
Speaker 1: every star is attracting multiple defenders, but I don't know
Speaker 1: who is reshaped an entire defensive approach every single possession
Speaker 1: just by being on the court like Steph. So I
Speaker 1: think he's up there for the greatest offensive engine of
Speaker 1: all time, and I think he's as good as he's
Speaker 1: ever been. So I think he belongs in this top
Speaker 1: three at the very least, and that's where I have
Speaker 1: him at three. Yeah, and it's similar to Lebron. His
Speaker 1: bad games carries so much impact as a result to that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, right, there's a limited The best way I
Speaker 1: could describe the Steph Curry defense thing is like, it's
Speaker 1: not a good option to attack him because he is
Speaker 1: a good defensive player, but it's a much better option
Speaker 1: to attack him than anybody else on the floor, right,
Speaker 1: And so what ends up happening They target Staff and
Speaker 1: and and it's just it's it's just it's just a ceiling,
Speaker 1: so to speak, that that kind of caps him from
Speaker 1: reaching like that that next level. But to me, it's
Speaker 1: like such a testament to his greatness because to put
Speaker 1: it simply, how many guys that we consider to be
Speaker 1: top seven, eight nine players in the NBA are are
Speaker 1: not supreme athletes, none of them except for Staff, He's
Speaker 1: the one guy who overcame what and what's crazy is
Speaker 1: compared to other humans, he's a freak athlete, like literally
Speaker 1: a freak athlete who with great size, like it's probably
Speaker 1: what ninety eight percentile for men on planet Earth and height,
Speaker 1: But it just doesn't matter because in the NBA they're
Speaker 1: all like that, right. But uh, but yeah, I haven't
Speaker 1: met number two, number one deserving. In my opinion, janis unbelievable, relentless,
Speaker 1: grim pressure. I think he's the best passing wing in
Speaker 1: the league. Other than Lebron and Luca. Defensive versatility, his
Speaker 1: ability to protect the rim as a primary rim protector
Speaker 1: and pick and roll while also devastating teams as the
Speaker 1: lowman guarding the weak side corner and blowing up plays
Speaker 1: behind Brook Lopez, and his ability to switch out onto
Speaker 1: most of the wings in the league, and he actually
Speaker 1: does okay on guards as well. I believe that that
Speaker 1: in combination with just the way that his game translates
Speaker 1: to this phase, and the fact that as the level
Speaker 1: of physicality increases, his advantages increase, as it becomes more
Speaker 1: and more like football and a little bit less like basketball.
Speaker 1: The only weakness you can really you can really attack
Speaker 1: with him is his over the top shot making, and
Speaker 1: he's actually regressing a little bit in that regard. But
Speaker 1: it's just kind of like the Anthony Davis thing, like
Speaker 1: they have Chris Middleton. Although Chris Middleton just perceived an
Speaker 1: MRI and is gonna have to like that. We haven't
Speaker 1: talked about that, and we'll probably get into it, Carson
Speaker 1: the next time we talk, when we start focusing more
Speaker 1: on the playoffs. But that Middleton knee injury is very
Speaker 1: significant because you know, kind of coming into that Celtics
Speaker 1: win the other. Like a week or so ago, we
Speaker 1: were kind of you and Milwaukee is kind of separating themselves,
Speaker 1: and then they tailed off a little bit, and now
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton's hurt, and now things feel more open than
Speaker 1: they've ever felt in the NBA, which just kind of
Speaker 1: why everyone's kind of coming back around towards Boston because
Speaker 1: you know, it's like they're the most talented team. But
Speaker 1: the reality of the basketball predicament is is Janis does
Speaker 1: have Chris Middleton, he does have Drew Holiday, he does
Speaker 1: have Joe Ingles, and so they don't need him to
Speaker 1: be an over the top shot maker in order to succeed.
Speaker 1: And so even if you want to look at him
Speaker 1: in the face and say, yeah, well I'm better than
Speaker 1: you at this specific thing, within the context of team
Speaker 1: basketball on the Bucks and the way that they cover
Speaker 1: for his weaknesses, nobody in the NBA impacts winning on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor the way Jannis does. Right now,
Speaker 1: I think that you're absolutely right, And there's a couple
Speaker 1: key differences in my opinion, between this Yannis and the
Speaker 1: version of Yannis that we could see exploited right Like
Speaker 1: we saw a teams that were built similarly to Boston
Speaker 1: to stop Jannis with these great variety of wing defenders
Speaker 1: who you could build the wall with and you could
Speaker 1: really challenge him. We saw it in Toronto and they
Speaker 1: beat him, and we saw it in Miami and they
Speaker 1: beat him, and then Boston beat him, but not really.
Speaker 1: I mean without Middleton going seven, Yannis was unstoppable for
Speaker 1: many stretches of that series. And the keys are his
Speaker 1: playmaking development, and I agree with you the addition of
Speaker 1: like a Drew Holiday presence, and now you can't really
Speaker 1: even say that that inability as a perimeter shotmaker holds
Speaker 1: him back from being number one when he is so
Speaker 1: physically dominant, very good as a playmaker, and I think
Speaker 1: right up there for the best defensive player alive and
Speaker 1: so versatile on that end. It's like the guy walks
Speaker 1: into thirty one, twelve and six efficiently and will wreck
Speaker 1: the game defensively. It's really really tough to say that
Speaker 1: anybody else is better than that has a higher baseline
Speaker 1: than that because of the just physical imposition and the
Speaker 1: defensive floor and ceiling that he has every single night.
Speaker 1: So Yannis to me also has to be number one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so one last thing I want to shout out with
Speaker 1: Yannis before we get out of here. He's kind of
Speaker 1: figuring out the pacing himself elements now too. This has
Speaker 1: always been one of the most underrated parts of Lebron
Speaker 1: James's career, and he gets criticized a lot for it,
Speaker 1: and it makes sense because it's like, yeah, like if
Speaker 1: you're voting for MVP and he's kind of mailing it
Speaker 1: in on two like two thirds of the nights, and
Speaker 1: you know, so like Jannis in twenty twenty is just
Speaker 1: attacking every game like it's his last game. You know.
Speaker 1: I get that within the context of awards, but what
Speaker 1: part of the genius there for Lebron is he's like, dude,
Speaker 1: I got a two month grind ahead of me, you know,
Speaker 1: and that two month mind, I'm going to need to
Speaker 1: be at my best physically. And I think Jannie, like,
Speaker 1: I love the way he approached this season. He kind
Speaker 1: of had like a baseline gear which was still arguably
Speaker 1: the best player in the world during the first two
Speaker 1: thirds of the season, and then here in the last
Speaker 1: third he's like, all right, guys, time to pick it
Speaker 1: up a little bit. And he's been good for like
Speaker 1: he's just been utterly bludgeoning teams really ever since, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a testament to just how he's kind
Speaker 1: of grown as he's become more experienced. But that's all
Speaker 1: we have for today, guys. Shout out to Carson, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming by to chat through the list. We are
Speaker 1: going to be back tomorrow morning breaking down this Friday
Speaker 1: night slate, and then we'll be back on Sunday evening
Speaker 1: with the Great Colin Coward, and then we'll get into
Speaker 1: some stuff on Monday, breaking in the playing games, and
Speaker 1: then hey, from there, from Tuesday, we're going every night
Speaker 1: until the NBA Finals, when we'll start having fewer games.
Speaker 1: But I appreciate you guys rocking with us, and we
Speaker 1: will see you tomorrow morning. The volume