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Speaker 1: welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Oh,
Speaker 1: all of you guys had an incredible week to this point.
Speaker 1: As promised from yesterday, we're gonna be doing a deep
Speaker 1: dive on one of the most impressive teams here in
Speaker 1: the early going of the NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: so continue to notch impressive win after impressive win. The
Speaker 1: only team that has a victory against the two best
Speaker 1: teams in the league in my opinion through the early going,
Speaker 1: which is the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets taking
Speaker 1: care of business against both of them. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: do a deep dive into the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then we're
Speaker 1: gonna do a heavy mail bag at the end of
Speaker 1: the show. I have eleven mail bag questions that allow
Speaker 1: us to kind of bounce around the league and hit
Speaker 1: a bunch of different stuff and get to some of
Speaker 1: the questions that you guys wanted answered. You guys know
Speaker 1: the joke before we get started. Subscribe to our brand
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Speaker 1: content as well as show announcements. In the last but
Speaker 1: not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the comments
Speaker 1: on YouTube so we can keep hitting them at the
Speaker 1: end of these shows. All right, let's talk some basketball. So,
Speaker 1: if you guys remember Timberwolves fans coming into this season,
Speaker 1: I had a feeling that the Timberwolves were going to
Speaker 1: play extremely well. They were one of the most impressive
Speaker 1: teams in my opinion at the tail end of last year,
Speaker 1: and there was this recurring theme that kept happening. It
Speaker 1: was like especially at the end of games, because that
Speaker 1: would be when Aunt in particular was more defensively engaged.
Speaker 1: But you saw it through the whole game as well,
Speaker 1: but particularly at the end of games. You'd see Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards and Jade McDaniel's guard the other to the other
Speaker 1: team's two best perimeter players and just make life a
Speaker 1: living hell for them. And then they also have the
Speaker 1: benefit of being able to be very aggressive because of
Speaker 1: the incredible back line that is anchored by Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: and that unique combination of perimeter defense with interior defense
Speaker 1: just makes it really difficult to score on them, right,
Speaker 1: And then even when they go to their bench, it's
Speaker 1: like here comes Nikhil, Alexander Walker and Kyle Anderson, guys
Speaker 1: that are lesser versions of Anton Jayden, but guys that
Speaker 1: bring a similar one to two punch instead in terms
Speaker 1: of like a longer athlete that can guard on the
Speaker 1: perimeter and then a quick guard that can navigate screens
Speaker 1: and apply physical ball pressure. Right. So, like we saw
Speaker 1: that over the course of the tail end of last season,
Speaker 1: they were a huge pain in the ass for the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the playing game. Then they were a huge
Speaker 1: pain in the ass for the Denver Nuggets and a
Speaker 1: five game gentleman suite. But it was a five game
Speaker 1: gentlemen sweet that was very competitive where the Timberwolves, you know,
Speaker 1: had several key moments. There's a game they lost where
Speaker 1: they went on a big run towards the end and
Speaker 1: the race to Big League. Then obviously in Game five,
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards had a shot to tie it at the end.
Speaker 1: It was a competitive series, right, So my theory coming
Speaker 1: out of that, I remember I put Ant at fifteen
Speaker 1: in my player rankings, and my thought process was like,
Speaker 1: this dude is just right on the precipice of ascending
Speaker 1: to superstardom. And then he went into the tm UOSA
Speaker 1: camp and was clearly the best player on the team,
Speaker 1: better than players that a lot of people had previously
Speaker 1: assumed were better than Ant, and then he just immediately
Speaker 1: rose to the top of that pile. Right. It's funny
Speaker 1: how that kind of that whole Team USA experience just
Speaker 1: kind of shined a bright light on like how good
Speaker 1: Ant already is. And then it was kind of a
Speaker 1: great example for all of the non Lakers fans out
Speaker 1: there that Austin Reeves is actually a really good player
Speaker 1: that can play at the highest level. Right, Like the
Speaker 1: TMUOSA camps always ended up being a great way to
Speaker 1: kind of learn more about what these players are capable of. Right.
Speaker 1: So then we come into the season, and my thought
Speaker 1: process was pretty simple. They've kind of discovered this defensive
Speaker 1: formula with their perimeter defense and Rudy Gobert anchoring things
Speaker 1: on the back line, and Anthony Edwards is poised to
Speaker 1: become potentially a top ten player in the NBA this year,
Speaker 1: and I simply thought that if they could combine an
Speaker 1: all time great defense or all times a strong word,
Speaker 1: but like a truly transcendently great defense. With a top
Speaker 1: ten player that can generate quality shots in the half court,
Speaker 1: it'll push them over the top. Right. But what those
Speaker 1: of you guys who did listen back then, you might
Speaker 1: remember with Ant there was a very specific thing that
Speaker 1: I was looking to see from him this year, and
Speaker 1: it was an improvement in his playmaking. Anthony Edwards has
Speaker 1: a great downhill rim pressuring presence, right, and that naturally
Speaker 1: just sucks the defense in. It's actually kind of comical
Speaker 1: how much defenses react to him because of his downhill
Speaker 1: athleticism and just how aggressive he is as a score took.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be referencing a bunch of plays from the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves today, and I clipped all these plays and put
Speaker 1: them on my Twitter feed, put them in a thread,
Speaker 1: a thread of all these reads that Anthony Edwards makes.
Speaker 1: So if you're following a lot at home, following along
Speaker 1: at home, you might want to go on Twitter and
Speaker 1: just kind of pull up those videos so you can
Speaker 1: see what I'm talking about. But there's a screenshot in
Speaker 1: particular that I grabbed where Aunt came off of a
Speaker 1: ball screen going to his right hand going to the
Speaker 1: right wing, and three Pelicans followed him, including strong help
Speaker 1: out of the strong side corner from brandon Ingram, and
Speaker 1: he ended up making an easy bounce past to shake
Speaker 1: Milton in the corner that he missed the three. But
Speaker 1: the point there is is like Ant's just drawing a
Speaker 1: lot of attention, and he's always drawn a lot of attention,
Speaker 1: but like there's a difference in his approach this year
Speaker 1: compared to last year. It's actually funny. A complete and
Speaker 1: total accident. So I log into Synergy this morning and
Speaker 1: I click on the Timberwolves Pelicans game to watch it.
Speaker 1: It was something that I wanted to watch yesterday I
Speaker 1: didn't get time to I wanted to spend today as
Speaker 1: like a Timberwolves day, right, So I pull it up
Speaker 1: and I'm watching and Aunt is just jacking up threes
Speaker 1: in the first few minutes. I think he got up
Speaker 1: like four threes in the first three or four minutes,
Speaker 1: and they weren't great shots, and he was looking to
Speaker 1: get his teammates involved at all. And then it dawned
Speaker 1: on me. I'm like, wait a second, CJ. McCollum's out there.
Speaker 1: He has a collapse slung. Trey Murphy's out there, He's in,
Speaker 1: And then it dawned on me. I'd accidentally clicked on
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three Pelicans Timberwolves
Speaker 1: game that happened at the very end of last year,
Speaker 1: and like Synergy lists the games by most recent, so
Speaker 1: I clicked on it because I thought it was the
Speaker 1: one from the other night, but it ended up being
Speaker 1: the one from last year, and I was like, oh, no, wonder,
Speaker 1: like I've watched this game before. So I quickly back
Speaker 1: out of it, and I go to the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four game, and I get the right game. There were
Speaker 1: completely different jerseys. Obviously, it's a totally different Pelican squad.
Speaker 1: They're dealing with a lot of injuries right now. Zion
Speaker 1: Williamson's out too, Trey Murphy's out, CJ mccom's out, so
Speaker 1: it's kind of skeleton crew for the Pelicans. But so
Speaker 1: I start watching that game and and Ant is just
Speaker 1: picking the Pelicans apart with his passing through the first half,
Speaker 1: and it's like it's it was. It was an accidental
Speaker 1: juxtaposition of two different versions of the same player. Literally,
Speaker 1: just what six or seven months apart, right, And that's
Speaker 1: the thing, because like Ant's scoring is off the charge good.
Speaker 1: Twenty eight points per game, that's a career high. Six
Speaker 1: point one rebounds per game, that's a career high. Sixty
Speaker 1: one percent true shooting percentage, that's a career high. He's
Speaker 1: shooting outrageously well. He's taken sixty seven pull up jumpers
Speaker 1: so far this year and he's made thirty four of them.
Speaker 1: That's insane. He is making pull up jump shots at
Speaker 1: the same efficiency that Steph Curry did last year, when
Speaker 1: Steph was the best player in the league at that
Speaker 1: specific shot, and Anthony Edwards pull up jump shot this
Speaker 1: season has been worth one point two to two points
Speaker 1: per possession. That's insane. He's been good in catch and
Speaker 1: shoot situations as well. Fifty four percent in effective field
Speaker 1: goal percentage, seventy two percent in the restricted area, which
Speaker 1: is outrageous. Three point three mix per game, which is
Speaker 1: perfectly fine, especially when you factor in some of the
Speaker 1: spacing limitations of that roster. Right. Oh, that's great, but
Speaker 1: that was all stuff that we knew Anthony Edwards was
Speaker 1: capable of. I think I think the one thing that's
Speaker 1: been a real revelation in terms of the scoring side
Speaker 1: of things for ant for me and I started to
Speaker 1: notice this with Team USA, mostly in the scrimmage clips,
Speaker 1: but you saw a little bit of it in the
Speaker 1: games as well. But is kind of like become a
Speaker 1: very polished and nimble, good footwork move, counter move type
Speaker 1: of score in the short to mid range. And ironically,
Speaker 1: as someone who's been compared to Michael Jordan over the years,
Speaker 1: he kind of has a lot of that MJ kind
Speaker 1: of scoring like versatility in that short to mid range.
Speaker 1: He had another play against the Pelicans in that game
Speaker 1: where he kind of did a reverse pivot into a
Speaker 1: pump fake and then stepped through and made a bank
Speaker 1: shot like that. That was the classic MJ was the
Speaker 1: fake fade away into the step through right, And so
Speaker 1: like he's got a lot of that stuff and that's
Speaker 1: been a surprise. But more or less, like we've known
Speaker 1: that he's been a capable pull up jump shuter he's
Speaker 1: done in the playoffs the last two years. We've known
Speaker 1: he's a good downhill rim presence. But the problem was
Speaker 1: is like he just never really weaponized that downhill rim
Speaker 1: presence to generate quality looks for his teammates. Well, his
Speaker 1: assists are up this year to a career high five
Speaker 1: point three assists per game. He has a career high
Speaker 1: one point four to seven assists to turnover ratio. And
Speaker 1: he's been one of the best pick and roll players
Speaker 1: in the league. And I want to zoom in on
Speaker 1: this pick and roll play making piece for a minute.
Speaker 1: So he's averaging one point two to two points per
Speaker 1: possession in pick and roll including passes. Now, that's outstanding.
Speaker 1: To give you an idea. Out of the thirty five
Speaker 1: players in the league to run at least seventy five
Speaker 1: pick and roll so far this year, he ranks third
Speaker 1: inefficiency out of those thirty five players. So he's been
Speaker 1: one of the very best and most efficient pick and
Speaker 1: roll shot creators in the league so far this year. Now,
Speaker 1: to me, it comes down to he when it comes
Speaker 1: to pick and roll. Most young pick and roll ball
Speaker 1: handlers only see their two man game, meaning like they're
Speaker 1: reading the screen defender and like, if they have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to take to make the pocket pass, they'll throw
Speaker 1: the pocket pass. And then if the biggest sagging back
Speaker 1: and they get enough separation, they'll take some kind of
Speaker 1: you know, pull up jump shot in the mid range,
Speaker 1: but they really struggle to see anything outside of just
Speaker 1: their two man game, right, And one of the advances
Speaker 1: you'll see in a pick and roll shot creator is
Speaker 1: when they start to look past the screen defender and
Speaker 1: start to pay attention to the lowman, because the lowman
Speaker 1: really is the key indicator of what's going to be open.
Speaker 1: Because again, like when it comes to working downhill, if
Speaker 1: you're too late to identify that the lowman came over
Speaker 1: and you throw the pocket pass, the lowman can kind
Speaker 1: of blow that play up, right, So like you have
Speaker 1: to hit the pocket pass in the sweet spot where
Speaker 1: where the rollman or the lowman is on his way
Speaker 1: to come tag the roller but isn't quite there yet.
Speaker 1: That way the pass can get through and the guy
Speaker 1: has enough time to kind of like make that decision
Speaker 1: to kick to the corner or identify that the lowman's
Speaker 1: going to be too slow as he goes to the rim.
Speaker 1: So like it's a really delicate read because if the
Speaker 1: lowman jumps the roleman, meaning he comes over quickly, then
Speaker 1: the pocket path isn't there and you have to throw
Speaker 1: the skip pass over the top. And like in this
Speaker 1: particular game, the new Orleans Pelicans game, and I clipped
Speaker 1: a bunch of examples and the Pelicans actually offered low
Speaker 1: man help out of both sides of the floor. They
Speaker 1: helped out the weak side and at a strong side
Speaker 1: at different points during this During this game, and Ant
Speaker 1: just perpetually kept making the right read. It was like
Speaker 1: help out of the left corner on a right wing
Speaker 1: pick and roll, so a weak side corner low man help.
Speaker 1: This is the first clip in the thread that I
Speaker 1: put out there. He identifies that Brandon Ingram's coming over
Speaker 1: immediately and just rifles a pass across the court that
Speaker 1: hits Mike Conley right in the shooting pocket as he
Speaker 1: knocks down a three. Then there's another one where he
Speaker 1: runs the pick and roll out of the left side
Speaker 1: of the floor and as he's working towards his right,
Speaker 1: the low man comes out of the strong side corner
Speaker 1: and he just whips it across his body like this,
Speaker 1: and it's a tougher pass and Carl Towns had to
Speaker 1: kind of come over to grab it and then set
Speaker 1: his feet, but he was so damn open because he
Speaker 1: timed it perfectly. As Jeremiah Robinson Earl was coming over
Speaker 1: that he was able to give Carl Towns enough time
Speaker 1: to set his feet knock down the shot right. Then
Speaker 1: there was another one later on. This is in that
Speaker 1: same thread where he's working in pick and roll and
Speaker 1: he identifies that the lowman hasn't come over yet but
Speaker 1: is about to, but he already sees the pocket pass.
Speaker 1: So instead of throwing the pass to the corner, which
Speaker 1: would have been an easy rotation, I think it was
Speaker 1: Jordan Hawkins in this case, Jordan Hawkins could have easily
Speaker 1: made the rotation. Instead, he throws the ball to go
Speaker 1: Bear on the pocket pass, and Go Bear then activates
Speaker 1: or kind of like grabs the attention of Jordan Hawkins,
Speaker 1: and then he makes the kickout pass to the corner
Speaker 1: for someone I think it was Shake Milton this time
Speaker 1: to knock down with three. So like again, these are
Speaker 1: like it is getting really good now and looking past
Speaker 1: the two man game and seeing the lowman on either
Speaker 1: side of the floor and basically identifying where his passing
Speaker 1: reads are. And then it goes down to like just
Speaker 1: simple driving kick stuff. A play where he did a
Speaker 1: little kind of give and go action with with Gobert
Speaker 1: at the top of the key where he pump faked
Speaker 1: and on the pump fake brandon Ingram left his shoes,
Speaker 1: just took a hard dribble into the basket. Jonas Falatunas
Speaker 1: stepped over Boom, easy swing pass to the corner to
Speaker 1: nas Reed for a wide open three. And so again,
Speaker 1: like what's really intense, Like I should say, exciting is
Speaker 1: the right expression. What's really exciting about that, as it
Speaker 1: pertains to Aunt is like these are easy, easy, easy
Speaker 1: passes for him to make because he does such a
Speaker 1: good job of engaging the defense. A lot of the
Speaker 1: better pick and roll playmakers in the league, it's not
Speaker 1: about their ability to make the read or make the pass.
Speaker 1: It's about actually engaging the lowman. And the only way
Speaker 1: you're going to engage the lowman is if you're dangerous
Speaker 1: enough as a score and as a rim pressuring threat
Speaker 1: to actually pull defenders towards like in your direction essentially
Speaker 1: your gravity right and so like has always had the
Speaker 1: gravity in terms of his ability to bring people over.
Speaker 1: It's even more dramatic now with his pull up shooting
Speaker 1: and how accurate he's been, and when you add to
Speaker 1: that his ability to make the reads, it makes him
Speaker 1: a very dangerous player. Here's a crazy stat for you guys.
Speaker 1: There are in seven games so far this year, Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards has four games with at least seven assists. It
Speaker 1: took him twenty six games last year to notch four
Speaker 1: seven assist games. That gives you an idea of just
Speaker 1: how far ahead of last year he is as a playmaker.
Speaker 1: Had two games this year where he had one assist
Speaker 1: that kind of pulled him down, and they were early
Speaker 1: in the season. He's been passing the ball better as
Speaker 1: of late. I think that's a really strong indicator, and
Speaker 1: it looks like he's sending his superstardom in our eyes,
Speaker 1: right before our eyes. I want to hit on a
Speaker 1: couple of other offensive players for Minnesota. Carl Town's not
Speaker 1: shooting the ball super well this year. He's twelve for
Speaker 1: thirty six on catch and shoot threes, but his post
Speaker 1: up attack has been a nice entry point for their offense.
Speaker 1: He's shooting sixty three percent on hook shots this season,
Speaker 1: and a Carl Towns post up is good for one
Speaker 1: point zero nine points per possession, middle of the pack
Speaker 1: for his volume. Fourteen players in the League of run
Speaker 1: at least thirty and he's sixth place inefficiency, so that's
Speaker 1: kind of turned into a decent little entry point for
Speaker 1: their offense. Jaden McDaniels has been really good attacking, with
Speaker 1: an advantage one point two to three points per possession
Speaker 1: in spot up situations. Obviously, he's hitting his catch and
Speaker 1: shoot three this year, but a big part of it
Speaker 1: is like he's got that like catch on the left wing,
Speaker 1: ripped to his left, and then he'll shoot these like
Speaker 1: drifting pull up jump shots that are pretty close to
Speaker 1: the rim, like in that ten to twelve foot range.
Speaker 1: He banked in one against New Orleans the other day.
Speaker 1: He's shooting eight for fifteen this year on pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots. Mike Conley has thirty assists with one turnover.
Speaker 1: There are sixty seven players in the NBA so far
Speaker 1: this year that have at least thirty assists, and Conley
Speaker 1: has one turnover. Second fewest turnovers on that list is
Speaker 1: Chris paul Is seven. So kind of a you know,
Speaker 1: completely unique strike of high level play making while taking
Speaker 1: care of the basketball from Mike Conley. And then the
Speaker 1: last guy I wanted to shout out was Nas Red.
Speaker 1: It has been unbelievable attacking closeouts. He's actually been their
Speaker 1: third leading score coming off the bench. He's given them
Speaker 1: fifteen points per game off the bench, and part of
Speaker 1: it's the catch and shot jumper, and he'shooting really well.
Speaker 1: He's ten for twenty two on catch and shoot jump
Speaker 1: shots when he's spotting up so far this year. But
Speaker 1: he's driving the closeouts really well. And he has a
Speaker 1: little bit of slow mo in him in the sense
Speaker 1: that he just slows down and kind of meanders into
Speaker 1: the lane, and he's so much bigger than whoever's guarding
Speaker 1: him that he's able to kind of just like get
Speaker 1: close and then shoot little push shots off the glass.
Speaker 1: He actually had a driving bank shot out of the
Speaker 1: right corner attacking a close out in the first half
Speaker 1: against New Orleans. He is four for five from the
Speaker 1: field this year when he shoots driving out of a closeout,
Speaker 1: fifteen points per game on sixty nine percent for shooting.
Speaker 1: Can't do much better off the bench than Nasried is doing. Again,
Speaker 1: on the defensive end, we did a deep dive into
Speaker 1: some of the defense metrics last week, so I won't
Speaker 1: get into the metrics. They are number one in defensive
Speaker 1: rating and number one and half court defense, but they're
Speaker 1: just good at everything they do. They kind of have
Speaker 1: like different pick and roll coverages for go Beart and
Speaker 1: for Cat. So like with Carl Towns, he's sitting more
Speaker 1: in a deeper drop with Carl excuse me, with Rudy Gobert,
Speaker 1: he's sitting in a deeper drop. With Carl Towns, he's
Speaker 1: coming higher into the ball screen because he's obviously not
Speaker 1: much of a rim protector, so they're using him to
Speaker 1: kind of get rid of the basketball. And then what
Speaker 1: they'll do is Rudy Gobert is typically guarding a non
Speaker 1: shooter well essentially come over as the low man and
Speaker 1: operate as that drop coverage big as the ball is
Speaker 1: coming downhill in a pocket pass or anything like that.
Speaker 1: And then basically as soon as the ball advances past
Speaker 1: Carl Towns, Carl Towns just sprints and rotates to Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert's man. And that's been kind of working for them
Speaker 1: because it allows Carl Towns to basically force the ball
Speaker 1: handler to get rid of the ball. Rudy Gobert can
Speaker 1: kind of just contain that pocket pass action. And then
Speaker 1: Kat's been really good about getting back into the play
Speaker 1: so that they don't give up an offensive rebound in
Speaker 1: the process, But it's just a steady diet of perimeter defense.
Speaker 1: It's Jaden and Ant to start the game, and then
Speaker 1: it's Nikhil, Alexander Walker and Kyle Anderson coming off the
Speaker 1: bench and bringing that intensity. Even their weaker perimeter defenders,
Speaker 1: guys like Shake Milton and Mike Conley are just competing
Speaker 1: and doing their job. They're doing a good job of
Speaker 1: leaving the right shooters open. Because again, like a lot
Speaker 1: of people are saying, oh, teams aren't shooting well against
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves, and it's true. The Timberwolves have the league
Speaker 1: best opponent three point percentage they're giving up I want
Speaker 1: to say, like the fifteenth or sixteenth most threes in
Speaker 1: the league, So they're pretty middle of the pack in
Speaker 1: terms of giving up threes. But teams are shooting a
Speaker 1: really low percentage on them. And like, again, I tend
Speaker 1: to think that process is a part of it. Like
Speaker 1: it's always a little bit of both, right, Like, will
Speaker 1: teams shoot thirty one percent against the Timberwolves all year? No,
Speaker 1: But this is an example of what elite defense can
Speaker 1: do in a small sample size. Like I do think
Speaker 1: that your physical point of attack defense, throwing people out
Speaker 1: of rhythm helps. I do think that just in general,
Speaker 1: the length and athleticism you have in rotation and the
Speaker 1: effect that Jada McDaniels and Edwards can have offering late
Speaker 1: contests as freak athletes the way that they are, I
Speaker 1: think that that stuff plays a role. We've talked about
Speaker 1: this with the Lakers. It's like, do their guards need
Speaker 1: to make shots? Yeah, but I think what'll actually help
Speaker 1: them make shots is that they get better quality shots, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I do think these things are are very intricately related. Right, So,
Speaker 1: perimeter defense, solid rotations, excellent rimp protection. That's a recipe
Speaker 1: for one of the best defenses of this era. And
Speaker 1: when you combine that with the ascendants, with the assent
Speaker 1: to superstart him from Anthony Edwards and the solid contributions
Speaker 1: they're getting around him, you have yourself a damn good
Speaker 1: basketball team. Again, like this early in the season, to
Speaker 1: already have wins against Boston and Denver, who have pretty
Speaker 1: much looked dominant against everybody else. Can't do much better
Speaker 1: than that to start the year. All right, eleven mail
Speaker 1: bag questions before we get out of here today. So,
Speaker 1: first one, you mentioned how you can't bet on the Celtics,
Speaker 1: with Tatum as their number one option, with which I
Speaker 1: agree with. What would be the path for a team
Speaker 1: like that who has a good enough supporting cast win
Speaker 1: but just don't seem like they ever will with their
Speaker 1: current number one guy. Should Boston try and do what
Speaker 1: Toronto did with the Kawhi trade and trade Tatum for
Speaker 1: someone who can actually lead them, pray for good circumstances
Speaker 1: and push like the MAVs did with Dirk, or just
Speaker 1: accept that, regardless of overall talent, with Tatum as the
Speaker 1: number one, championship won't be really feasible in the current
Speaker 1: era basketball. So there are three teams right now that
Speaker 1: I look at that are kind of in the middle
Speaker 1: of this sort of predicament, and it's the Celtics, the Hawks,
Speaker 1: and the Sixers. The difference is is like each team
Speaker 1: is kind of in a different situation. Like I genuinely
Speaker 1: believe Tatum will be good enough one day, So I
Speaker 1: have advocated that patience is the appropriate strategy for the Celtics.
Speaker 1: They should wait see if Tatum develops. Trey Young to me,
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear that he's not. Like, if Trey Young
Speaker 1: is the best player on your team, I just don't
Speaker 1: think you can win a championship. Trey Young's awesome made
Speaker 1: another incredibly high level pass in pick and roll fading
Speaker 1: out of bounds last night, that hook pass to the
Speaker 1: corner to Dejonta Murray that basically ended up being the
Speaker 1: game winner last night against the Magic God knows. I
Speaker 1: respect and believe in what Trey Young can do as
Speaker 1: a basketball player, but strictly within the context of the
Speaker 1: championship goal, I think if he's your best player, there's
Speaker 1: a limitation there. So as a franchise, you either need
Speaker 1: to accept that as long as he's there, that's not
Speaker 1: really an option and kind of adjust your expectations or
Speaker 1: try to go get one of those guys. Now. To
Speaker 1: be clear, like when you really look down down the league,
Speaker 1: like in NBA history, there's always one of those guys
Speaker 1: leading the way, right, you absolutely have to have that guy.
Speaker 1: So again, to me, it's about the expectations of your franchise.
Speaker 1: If you're just trying to be good, then a guy
Speaker 1: like Trey Young's fine, and you can keep him forever
Speaker 1: and you'll have some fun playoff runs and you'll never
Speaker 1: get the trophy, right, But if you're if you're the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, and that's clearly a failure for you. You
Speaker 1: need to make a decis about your star. But again,
Speaker 1: I think Tatum's going to be that guy. I think
Speaker 1: there's enough information there just from what we've seen He's
Speaker 1: eventually going to be that guy. Joel Embiid is like,
Speaker 1: it's a question. My thing would be if he goes
Speaker 1: into the playoffs again this year and he again has
Speaker 1: some sort of nagging injury, and he again seems to
Speaker 1: get stonewalled by a decent, big foard defender in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and again he can't trust his jump shot, and again
Speaker 1: his scoring craters into the low twenties. As a franchise,
Speaker 1: you got to ask yourself, like, do we want to
Speaker 1: be the next Houston Rockets that are really good? But
Speaker 1: every time we run into another one of the top
Speaker 1: tier superstars, our James hard and Joel Embiid, whoever it is,
Speaker 1: ends up coming up short to a better player, right,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, Like, I think the Sixers are
Speaker 1: our right to keep trying. But if after this season
Speaker 1: it happens again, now you've got to look back and
Speaker 1: be like, man, that's three consecutive seasons in the heart
Speaker 1: of Joel Embiid's prime where he completely fell apart in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and you'd have to have a conversation with yourself, right.
Speaker 1: Same thing goes with Trey Young. But as far as
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum goes, I think it's pretty clear that he's
Speaker 1: going to be one of those guys. Here's a Lakers question.
Speaker 1: Since four out was working so well last season, why
Speaker 1: the did they implement the five out this season? Obviously
Speaker 1: they don't have the personnel to run five out and
Speaker 1: it's shown just eight games in historically the worst first
Speaker 1: quarter team through eight games last and three point percentage
Speaker 1: twenty ninth in mid threes per game. So we talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about this at the end of the
Speaker 1: show yesterday, but again a quick refresher for those who
Speaker 1: don't realize, like a five out offenses is like what
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors run. And we talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot on this show when we talked about the Warriors.
Speaker 1: But basically, it's like it's a motion offense, a steady
Speaker 1: diet of wide pinned downs, dribble handoffs, ball screens and
Speaker 1: everything mixed around, like consistent motion from five players on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. Right and even when a defender or when
Speaker 1: an offensive player rolls to the rim or cuts to
Speaker 1: the rim, they immediately relocate back out to the perimeter.
Speaker 1: And the idea is the Again, like if you look
Speaker 1: at the teams that run five out offense teams like
Speaker 1: you know Sacramento and Golden State or just a couple
Speaker 1: of examples, they are they have really high level shot
Speaker 1: makers and they have guards that are super quick that
Speaker 1: can get downhill and make kickout reads. Right, So like
Speaker 1: you have Malik Munk and Deer and Fox who can
Speaker 1: consistently beat people off the dribble and they're kicking out
Speaker 1: to guys like Kevin Herder and and a Keegan Murray.
Speaker 1: You are excellent spot up shooters, right, although Kevin Herder
Speaker 1: struggling to shoot this year. Then then in addition to that,
Speaker 1: like Keegan Murray and Kevin Herder are guys that like
Speaker 1: to come off of screens and dribble handoffs and rise
Speaker 1: and fire. So it works right. For Golden State, it's
Speaker 1: a little different. It's less about their the quickness of
Speaker 1: their guards and it's more about just the outrageous shooting.
Speaker 1: Like Stephan Klay are just so damn good at shooting.
Speaker 1: That they constantly can get slips to the rim for
Speaker 1: their other players as defenses overreact to them, and then
Speaker 1: even when it comes to dribble penetration, it's easier for
Speaker 1: them because they're such outstanding shooters. The Lakers are in
Speaker 1: an awkward position where their guards on the wing that
Speaker 1: are playing let's just look at their their their one,
Speaker 1: two three. So if we look at Reeves Dlo Torrian Prince,
Speaker 1: Reeves is a good shot maker, not a great shot maker,
Speaker 1: and he's an average athlete that's not going to toast
Speaker 1: people off the dribble. D Lo good shot maker, not
Speaker 1: great shot shot maker, decent athlete or like an average
Speaker 1: athlete that's going to struggle to beat people off the dribble.
Speaker 1: Torrian Prince, he's a good off ball player, good catch
Speaker 1: and shoot player, but when it comes to taking tougher
Speaker 1: shots off the move, he's only okay at it. He's
Speaker 1: good at it, but he's not great at it, right,
Speaker 1: And he's another guy who's not an outstanding athlete who
Speaker 1: can beat people off the dribble. So, like part of
Speaker 1: the issue for me with the with the five out
Speaker 1: approach for the for the Lakers is simply that they
Speaker 1: are not good enough at making tough contested shots or
Speaker 1: off the move, off the dribble shots, and they're not
Speaker 1: good enough at beating people off the dribble to actually
Speaker 1: run that offense. What they have, that's what they have
Speaker 1: that's really good is they have two backcourt pick and
Speaker 1: roll guys who, when they're given space to operate, are
Speaker 1: pretty solid throughout the course of the regular season at
Speaker 1: generating quality shots, meaning like they can get to a
Speaker 1: mid range pull up jump shot, they can hit the
Speaker 1: pocket pass, they can make kickout reads on the weak
Speaker 1: side right they're both pretty good at that when they
Speaker 1: have space. And again, just imagine a cleared side pick
Speaker 1: and roll. So I've got a shooter in the corner
Speaker 1: wing kind of like elbow extended to the top of
Speaker 1: the key, and I'm running like a Reeves Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: pick and roll on the right side. There's just a
Speaker 1: ton of space to operate. And Austin's really shifty, and
Speaker 1: he's good at drawing fouls, and he's good at making
Speaker 1: shots when he's getting fouled, and when you get ad
Speaker 1: a pocket pass when there's lots of space, he can
Speaker 1: have some success there. But when it's like a cluster
Speaker 1: fuck for lack of a better term, and you're running
Speaker 1: a ball screen or dribble handoff, and you've got guys
Speaker 1: just equally spread out along the perimeter. They're all the
Speaker 1: space is underneath the basket. And what's hard about that
Speaker 1: is in order to take advantage of that, you have
Speaker 1: to be good at beating people off the dribble, and
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves and D'Angelo Russell are not straight line athletes.
Speaker 1: Even Anthony Davis is not a straight line athlete, and
Speaker 1: so like that's why they've been so good with Lebron
Speaker 1: James on the floor offensively, is he's one of the
Speaker 1: guys that can kind of actually generate that rim pressure.
Speaker 1: So like, for me, it makes more sense with this
Speaker 1: team to spread the floor in a four out concept,
Speaker 1: So shooters in the corners, shooters on the wings, and
Speaker 1: then come run that pick and roll with Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: so that they have the entire side of the floor
Speaker 1: to work with, or maybe even clear the side entirely
Speaker 1: by moving that corner shooter over to the other side
Speaker 1: and let those guys work two man game. Like we've
Speaker 1: talked about this a lot. The idea of a brute
Speaker 1: force offense versus like a system offense. Right, And to me,
Speaker 1: the five out teams that succeed, they are teams that
Speaker 1: actually have the the talent to run that kind of
Speaker 1: system offense. But like to me, the Lakers are very
Speaker 1: much a brute force offense. They have a couple of
Speaker 1: guys who are really good as long as the circumstances
Speaker 1: favor them in terms of spacing. Right, like Lebron James
Speaker 1: still to this day, if you let him post up,
Speaker 1: he's gonna get a quality shot. Right, Anthony Davis has
Speaker 1: been well over a point per possession and post up
Speaker 1: each of the last post ups each of the last
Speaker 1: two years. So like those two guys screening and rolling
Speaker 1: to the rim and a spread floor, operating in a
Speaker 1: post up situation in the spread floor, that's great even
Speaker 1: now imagine the off ball situation. Dangel Russell and Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves excellent catch and shoot players. Dangel Russell and Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves average pull up jump shooters, So like lean into
Speaker 1: them getting more catch and shoot opportunities by operating off
Speaker 1: the ball in a spread floor pick and roll situation
Speaker 1: rather than doing this read and react five out thing
Speaker 1: where none of them are particularly good at the things
Speaker 1: you need to be good at in order to make
Speaker 1: that work. That's kind of where I'm at with the
Speaker 1: with the Lakers offense at this point. We'll continue to
Speaker 1: kind of flush out that concept as we get further
Speaker 1: into the season. Next meil By question, I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask why core players tend to play a significant amount
Speaker 1: of minutes in the third and fourth quarter even if
Speaker 1: their team is leading by a big market margin, for example,
Speaker 1: twenty plus points. For example, I watched the timber Wolves
Speaker 1: as Pelicans today. Anthony Edwards and Gobert still played the
Speaker 1: third and fourth and both ended up playing thirty two
Speaker 1: minutes for the whole game. I feel to Norman the NBA,
Speaker 1: but why core players don't take more rest even if
Speaker 1: a game is already decided. They usually do towards the
Speaker 1: tail end of the year. To me, this is related
Speaker 1: to the start of the year. I think most NBA
Speaker 1: teams right now are pushing minutes a little bit higher,
Speaker 1: even when they don't necessarily need to, as a result
Speaker 1: of just trying to get guys into NBA season shape. Remember,
Speaker 1: we've seen a lot of guys Julius Randall Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard. These are all guys that came into the
Speaker 1: season and now they're playing their way into shape. And
Speaker 1: when they're not practicing, they don't literally have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to work on these things except for within games, and
Speaker 1: so I think that's why they're pushing their minute right now.
Speaker 1: Next mail back questions from Malcolm. Hey, Jason, what do
Speaker 1: you think of Asar Thompson's potential? He didn't get as
Speaker 1: much attention as a men on Overtime, Elite or in
Speaker 1: the draft. I think he can be a better version
Speaker 1: of a men, and I think I think he can
Speaker 1: be better than a man, and think he can be
Speaker 1: a better version of Iguadala on the Warriors. What do
Speaker 1: you think? So, I obviously haven't watched the Pistons as
Speaker 1: closely as I've watched some other teams that I've watched
Speaker 1: two games of them so far this year, and then
Speaker 1: I watched their preseason games because we scouted Asar over
Speaker 1: the preseason. We did a whole video on that, and
Speaker 1: then I scouted him this summer. To put it simply,
Speaker 1: he's not a very good basketball player right now, just
Speaker 1: because he's so limited on the offensive end as a
Speaker 1: shot maker and as a decision maker, there's still like
Speaker 1: there was a random play at the end of the
Speaker 1: Bucks game where he just try to transition push at
Speaker 1: the end of the game and challenged a rim protector,
Speaker 1: and it's like, dude, calm down, right, you know, But
Speaker 1: when it comes to young players, you almost want to
Speaker 1: put the bad aside and just focus on the good
Speaker 1: because most of the bad stuff is just typical for
Speaker 1: all young basketball players and can be flushed out over time.
Speaker 1: Right he's averaging four offensive rebounds and two blocks per
Speaker 1: game thirty two minutes. I think he's probably the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defender prospect I personally have scouted in the last
Speaker 1: few years. Mind you, I haven't done this very long,
Speaker 1: but in the time that I've been doing this, I
Speaker 1: can't remember seeing a perimeter defender that showed a better
Speaker 1: combination of like lateral quickness, first and second jump ability
Speaker 1: meaning like to contest shots either under the basket or
Speaker 1: after being broken down off of a move, the ability
Speaker 1: to navigate screens, natural length like that. There was a
Speaker 1: play at the end of the Bucks game where Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard is on a freaking heater, like he's just going
Speaker 1: and he hits Asar Thompson with a hard dribble to
Speaker 1: his left step back jump shot does like another one
Speaker 1: of those like slide steps like the hard and step back.
Speaker 1: After he does the step back gets all the way
Speaker 1: to the three point line in a SAR blocked the
Speaker 1: damn shot. A SAR blocked it. And like like, there
Speaker 1: are some clips of him navigating screens or blocking perimeter
Speaker 1: players that are truly jarring for it for his position.
Speaker 1: So again, like it's gonna be what kind of person
Speaker 1: he becomes player he becomes in the big picture will
Speaker 1: come come down to his offensive development, but his his
Speaker 1: perimeter defense potential is off the charts, and that's super
Speaker 1: super exciting, especially when you really a factor in the team,
Speaker 1: right And like, I don't know if it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Jaden Ivy or Killian Hayes that flanks k Cunningham over
Speaker 1: the years, but if Arsar Thompson can take primary point
Speaker 1: of attack assignments and do it well, you know, that's
Speaker 1: just a huge asset for your team to have. It
Speaker 1: allows you to you know, kind of conserve some energy
Speaker 1: in your backcourt, so to speak. Which new coach do
Speaker 1: you think has had the best impact on their new team.
Speaker 1: I think this one's pretty obviously email Udoka here in
Speaker 1: the early going, as the Rockets have looked really good,
Speaker 1: he had a he's just an excellent motivator. That was
Speaker 1: the big story coming out of the Celtics when he
Speaker 1: was there. He just basically made them tough. He said
Speaker 1: after the Lakers game that he basically went up to
Speaker 1: Jalen Green and was like, hey, dude, you were on
Speaker 1: the Select team. Austin Reeves was on the on Team USA,
Speaker 1: and like, like, why don't you go show that you're better
Speaker 1: than him? Right? And like, is Austin Reeves better than
Speaker 1: Jalen Green. I'm not even gonna answer that question, but
Speaker 1: like he managed to piss off Jalen Green because he
Speaker 1: went out in that game and he kicked Austin's ass.
Speaker 1: And so again, like he's just an excellent motivator. I
Speaker 1: think he's done a really good job kind of rebuilding
Speaker 1: the culture in Houston and they look like a winner
Speaker 1: right now. Next question from Dalvin Jason. This was funny.
Speaker 1: This isn't really a question. It was just someone talking shit,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to address it. From Dalvin Jason. While
Speaker 1: I love and appreciate your glowing praise of the best
Speaker 1: player in the league, Jokic and the ragning champions Nuggets.
Speaker 1: I cannot help but remember all the instances you shot
Speaker 1: on them in the last two years. Didn't lose me
Speaker 1: as a fan or subscriber, but I didn't forget and
Speaker 1: I didn't appreciate. So this is actually one of my
Speaker 1: biggest pet peeves. And don't take this personally, Dalvin. I'm
Speaker 1: just this is something that I've that's annoyed me for
Speaker 1: a while, and I just want to kind of give
Speaker 1: my take on it. Why is it that anytime anybody
Speaker 1: doesn't heap praise on somebody, they're now shitting on them.
Speaker 1: Because I don't remember ever saying that I thought Jokic
Speaker 1: was a bad basketball player. I don't remember saying that
Speaker 1: the Nuggets can't win the championship. I said two things consistently,
Speaker 1: as it pertains to Jokic himself. I always said, in
Speaker 1: the modern era, I'm concerned about centers like plotting centers
Speaker 1: because of the way they can get spread out, in
Speaker 1: the way they can struggle in transition. I ended up
Speaker 1: being wrong about that. But the best indicator of future
Speaker 1: performance is past performance. And we were literally seeing in
Speaker 1: every playoff run, every slow flooted center get it played
Speaker 1: off the floor. It was happening every single playoff run.
Speaker 1: Jokic is just so damn good. He was able to
Speaker 1: overcome that couple of particular ways. One, he's an excellent
Speaker 1: transition player, so like literally he has just by sheer
Speaker 1: force of habit and will, he sprints up and down
Speaker 1: the floor so well in transition that he never struggles there.
Speaker 1: In fact, he actually beats more athletic centers up and
Speaker 1: down the floor in transition. Looking at the defensive end
Speaker 1: and spreading him out. He's shown that he can be
Speaker 1: a good enough defender that it isn't a problem. So again,
Speaker 1: like I was making a like, all I said was
Speaker 1: Jokich is a superstar. I just have other superstars above
Speaker 1: him because I leaned towards perimeter players because of their
Speaker 1: playoff versatility. That's all I said. Then we move on
Speaker 1: to the Nuggets piece. What did I say? NBA history
Speaker 1: tells us that you do not win the championship unless
Speaker 1: you are a top ten defense, unless you're the defending champions.
Speaker 1: The Rockets in the mid nineties, the Lakers in the
Speaker 1: early two thousands, and then the Warriors in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: They were all defending champions, and they were the only
Speaker 1: three champions that weren't top ten defenses. And again the
Speaker 1: clear indicator there was they were top ten defenses before
Speaker 1: and in that following season they were classic trying to repeat,
Speaker 1: a little less motivated, a little less locked in, but
Speaker 1: then they got to the playoffs and then they re
Speaker 1: locked in. Right, So again I'm gonna repeat the same thing.
Speaker 1: I just said, the best indicator of future performance is
Speaker 1: past performance. I was making a prediction based on actual
Speaker 1: NBA historical data. Just because Jokics broke the mold for
Speaker 1: centers and the Nuggets broke the mold for championship teams
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that I shit on the Nuggets. That's just
Speaker 1: that's completely ridiculous. If I shit on the Nuggets, I
Speaker 1: would have said the Nuggets suck, they can't win. Never
Speaker 1: said that. Going into the playoffs last year, I said
Speaker 1: they can win. I'm just skeptical because of NBA history,
Speaker 1: right when Jokic, When I had Jokics ranked below the
Speaker 1: other superstars, I literally had him and MB down there
Speaker 1: and I said, I it's just because of my philosophy,
Speaker 1: my overarching basketball philosophy surrounding slower footed centers as it
Speaker 1: pertains to the perimeter oriented stars at the top of
Speaker 1: the league. Now I've and like and again all all
Speaker 1: I will promise to do, which is the truth, Like
Speaker 1: this is this is the way that I make predictions.
Speaker 1: I take previous data and I use that to inform
Speaker 1: my my my predictions. Right, But when new data comes
Speaker 1: in and the new data goes crosswise with what the
Speaker 1: old data was, I'm always willing to embrace that as
Speaker 1: a potential change. And that's the thing. Now I see,
Speaker 1: now that Jokic has the trophy, I'm i I can
Speaker 1: like see all of these specific reasons why he was
Speaker 1: able to kind of flip the mold, right, And again,
Speaker 1: you have to you have to think of it really simply,
Speaker 1: like what about what have I always said were my
Speaker 1: kind of rules, like with my player rankings, like get
Speaker 1: the trophy and I'll defend you forever. But before you
Speaker 1: have the trophy, I'm always going to revert to the
Speaker 1: guys with the trophy. That's just my approach. You're either
Speaker 1: you're either the guy who's trying to jump on the
Speaker 1: bandwagon as soon as possible, or you're the guy that
Speaker 1: gets on the bandwagon a little later, and I'd always
Speaker 1: rather be a guy who gets on the bandwagon a
Speaker 1: little late as a homage or respect towards the guys
Speaker 1: who've already done it. That that, to me, is just
Speaker 1: my personal approach. Had nothing to do with disliking the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: And again, like I want to push back on that.
Speaker 1: In general, if I say something that is somewhat critical
Speaker 1: of your favorite team or player, it does not mean
Speaker 1: that I hate your favorite team or player and that
Speaker 1: I think they're incapable of achieving anything. I'm just putting
Speaker 1: basketball analysis out there, and my analysis always changes based
Speaker 1: on new information. If you have a good team out
Speaker 1: there and you guys start playing great basketball, I'm never
Speaker 1: going to overlook that because I hate your team. It's
Speaker 1: just it's just it's just not an emotion that I
Speaker 1: am capable of experiencing. For whatever I love, I just
Speaker 1: I love basketball so much that like, I pretty much
Speaker 1: find things that I love in every team. Like Dylan
Speaker 1: Brooks I find to be mostly reprehensible, but I have
Speaker 1: so much appreciation for what he can do as a
Speaker 1: basketball player that I still kind of like him. You
Speaker 1: kind of get the point, is what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1: I mean, Harden and Bea are great examples of that too, Jason,
Speaker 1: when you describe Dylan Brooks, if I wasn't listening, all
Speaker 1: those points could be made about Draymond. If anything, Dylan
Speaker 1: never kicks someone in the nuts or in the stomach
Speaker 1: or punch teammate. If you're saying things with a straight
Speaker 1: face about Dylan but pretend to ignore what Draymond has
Speaker 1: been doing for years, that's a lack of integrity. Not
Speaker 1: that I expected it from you, who's a lebron Draymond
Speaker 1: will skip over the expletive, but still it's painful to
Speaker 1: listen to delusion and agenda. So this is not the
Speaker 1: first person who's said this and just put it simply.
Speaker 1: They're not the same. Draymond is really physical. He fouls
Speaker 1: a lot. He does occasionally commit hard fouls. Here's what
Speaker 1: I've never seen Draymond do. I have never seen Draymond
Speaker 1: attack a defenseless player going up for a layup in
Speaker 1: transition by clotheslining him over the neck and breaking his
Speaker 1: freaking elbow. I've never seen Draymond do that. Here's another
Speaker 1: thing I've never seen Draymond do. I have never seen
Speaker 1: Raymond Green on the ground deliver do a dramatic barrel
Speaker 1: roll into another player's legs and nearly hurt the player's
Speaker 1: ankle and knee. Dylan Brooks did that to Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks engages in deeply dangerous behaviors that can injure
Speaker 1: basketball players. That is not the same as being like
Speaker 1: overly physical, because I would agree Draymond's overly physical. He's
Speaker 1: also very emotional. And I literally came out after he punched.
Speaker 1: He works from our damn company, and I came out
Speaker 1: after he punched Dylan Jordan Poole and said it was
Speaker 1: bad leadership, straight up came out and said that I
Speaker 1: was very critical of Draymond Green after the punch. Okay,
Speaker 1: so like again, like this is this is not this
Speaker 1: does not take a lot of critical thinking. Here find
Speaker 1: the If I'm wrong, If there is some clip of
Speaker 1: Draymond Green deliberately doing something that could severely injure a player,
Speaker 1: send it to me and then I will come up
Speaker 1: here and I'll apologize. But as far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: there is a line, and the line is like there
Speaker 1: are a lot of players in the NBA that play
Speaker 1: a physical brand of basketball, that grab and and and
Speaker 1: pull jerseys and and hit guys and do all these
Speaker 1: different things, but they're not hurting people. There's a difference.
Speaker 1: The difference is they're hurting and like Dylan Brooks on
Speaker 1: multiple occasions has done deliberate things that had the potential
Speaker 1: hurt I remember watching that that Donovan Mitchell play, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, he did that on purpose.
Speaker 1: He literally did a full barrel role multiple times into
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell's legs, and thankfully Donovan didn't get hurt. So again, like,
Speaker 1: let's let let's cut the shit here and let's let's
Speaker 1: let's draw a clear line in the sand between a
Speaker 1: physical basketball player and a guy who's actually made attempts
Speaker 1: to hurt people in the past. And actually like he
Speaker 1: actually removed Gary Payton from the playoffs, actually removed him,
Speaker 1: and he like saw him, like saw him and was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna closeline this dude in the head in
Speaker 1: the middle of a playoff game. Like that's the kind
Speaker 1: of person he is, And I have a huge problem
Speaker 1: with it. I don't know what else to tell you,
Speaker 1: all right, next mail back question, what do you think,
Speaker 1: other than getting a Lonzo back, could the Bulls do
Speaker 1: to make the team better? Is there a trade that
Speaker 1: can be made, like Levine for ojnnob or Damar or
Speaker 1: excuse me, Levine for Ojana Andobi or Damar for Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: So I lean towards a full rebuild for the Chicago Bulls,
Speaker 1: And the main reason is this, they don't have a
Speaker 1: single player on the roster who projects to even maybe
Speaker 1: be a true superstar in the future. Do I like
Speaker 1: Patrick Williams, Yeah, good player, not a superstar. Do I
Speaker 1: like Zach Levine, Yeah, very good player, not a superstar.
Speaker 1: Demarto Rosen is literally in his thirties, Like he is
Speaker 1: what he is at this point, you know, so like
Speaker 1: and like they have some interesting young players, right, like
Speaker 1: Kobe White's interesting Io dessume was interesting, Like Alex Cruso
Speaker 1: is one of the best role players in the league
Speaker 1: in my opinion. But they simply do not have a
Speaker 1: single player on the roster that even projects to maybe
Speaker 1: be a superstar. So like, at some point you've got
Speaker 1: to kind of identify that. And before you say, like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a small market, we don't have the ability to
Speaker 1: get those types of players. That's not true either. Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City small market, they have Sha Shae Giljas Alexander projects
Speaker 1: to be a bonafide superstar. Minnesota Timberwolves if Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: projects to be a bonafide superstar, Sacramento as Deer and
Speaker 1: Fox at least might be a bonafide superstar. Right Cleveland
Speaker 1: as Donovan Mitchell at least might be a bonafide superstar.
Speaker 1: Denver has Jokic best player in the world, Milwaukee is
Speaker 1: Jiannis second best player in the world. Memphis Grizzlies have
Speaker 1: John Moran projects to be a bonafide superstar. So again,
Speaker 1: like these are all small markets that have that guy.
Speaker 1: So if you don't have one of those guys, everything
Speaker 1: you do needs to be geared around getting one of
Speaker 1: those guys. Now is has a Chicago ever demonstrated a
Speaker 1: you know, Miami heat esque or you know the Lakers
Speaker 1: have been good at this over the years too. But
Speaker 1: like finding star level players are very very very good
Speaker 1: players in the margin, No, Chicago is not one of
Speaker 1: those teams. So, like to me, you really need to
Speaker 1: be making all your moves geared around trying to find
Speaker 1: who that guy is, so I would be just trying
Speaker 1: to bring in as much draft capital as possible. So
Speaker 1: I lean full rebuild for Chicago. That's what makes the
Speaker 1: most sense to me. If you had to do a
Speaker 1: soft rebuild, rebuild around Levine, flip DeRozan, flip Vusvich, get
Speaker 1: dominant defensive front court personnel, and see if Levine can
Speaker 1: kind of push you enough offensively over the top. But
Speaker 1: whatever their current strategy is, I simply don't understand. All right,
Speaker 1: we have three more mailback questions. Do you think gms
Speaker 1: should willingly one more note on the the bulls thing.
Speaker 1: Once you do find one of those guys, that's when
Speaker 1: you start trying to build the roster around the margins, right,
Speaker 1: And it's about what that player's strengths and weaknesses are.
Speaker 1: So you gotta find out who your guy is, and
Speaker 1: then what is your guy good at and bad at?
Speaker 1: What does he need around it? It's like Luca, Like
Speaker 1: they know they need shooting around Luca, and they need
Speaker 1: good role man around Luca. So that's the kind of
Speaker 1: player that they target, right, Like that, that's just what
Speaker 1: makes the most sense. Right, if you're Anthony Davis, what
Speaker 1: if the Lakers tried to do give them a bunch
Speaker 1: of pick and roll ball handlers because they know Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis can't run his own offense. So like, you have
Speaker 1: to identify strengths and weaknesses based around your star, all right.
Speaker 1: This question is kind of related to that. Do you
Speaker 1: think gms should willingly give up more talent in return
Speaker 1: for players who are less talented or have less potential
Speaker 1: but fit their team better instead of seeking the best
Speaker 1: talent potential when making moves. For example, Jordan Poole is
Speaker 1: definitely more talented than Chris Paul at this stage of
Speaker 1: his career. The trade seems to have paid off, but
Speaker 1: the Warriors definitely gave up way more talent than they received. Again,
Speaker 1: depends on the window. So like, the Warriors are in
Speaker 1: a very tight championship window based on Steph Curry being
Speaker 1: thirty five years old, right, That's why it makes sense
Speaker 1: for them to give up long term potential for a
Speaker 1: player who might fit them better right now, right, But
Speaker 1: it just depends, and you've got to make that decision
Speaker 1: based on like, for instance, if you're the Thunder, your
Speaker 1: windows way longer, So it would be terrible to like,
Speaker 1: let's say that the Thunder went and like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: found some way to piece salaries together and they were like,
Speaker 1: we want to upgrade, you know, Jalen Williams into a
Speaker 1: veteran forward that can play next to Chet, and so
Speaker 1: they trade for Jeremy Grant. That'd be stupid because the
Speaker 1: Thunder have a much wider timeline and like, there's a
Speaker 1: version of this two years from now where Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: is better than Jeremy Grant. You know, it might not
Speaker 1: even take that long for him to get there, because
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams is really good. So maybe that's a bad example,
Speaker 1: but the point is is like your timeline dictates how
Speaker 1: much your urgency, how much urgency you have, and your
Speaker 1: urgency dictates how much long term potential you'd be willing
Speaker 1: to give up. Hey, Jason bigfan, can you talk about
Speaker 1: the Celtics and how they seem to be using Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday to start the season. This is now the third
Speaker 1: time that they've used him that they've started him out
Speaker 1: guarding a bigger star. It starts guarding Julius Randall the
Speaker 1: whole game. Then against the Wolves he straight up started
Speaker 1: on Carl Towns and then yesterday against the Sixers, they
Speaker 1: started hit him on Embiid for several possessions. Haven't really
Speaker 1: heard anybody talk about it in detail at all, but
Speaker 1: I find it super interesting that they're playing like they
Speaker 1: would like they would Marcus Smart who although both elite defenders,
Speaker 1: are both different kinds of defenders with different strengths. So
Speaker 1: we did talk about Drew Holliday guarding Embiid and yesterday's show,
Speaker 1: but we can dive into it a little bit more
Speaker 1: in depth, because, like, what sticks out to you the
Speaker 1: most about those three names that you said? So I
Speaker 1: have Embiid who is a power post player. I have
Speaker 1: Julius Randall, who more or less is a wing that
Speaker 1: or power forward but operates kind of more from the wing,
Speaker 1: but is more or less a power player. And then
Speaker 1: Carl Towns who's a power player. But what else is
Speaker 1: interesting about all three of them? All three of them
Speaker 1: are bad passers. Joel Embiid notoriously struggles to deal with
Speaker 1: double teams. Carl Towns has more turnovers than assists this year.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall the same kind of thing, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a tunnel vision guy that kind of barrels his
Speaker 1: way downhill. So the reason why it works in these
Speaker 1: matchups is they're already expecting to send help. So Drew
Speaker 1: is a great disruptor. He's good at fronting the post.
Speaker 1: He's good at attacking the basketball, attacking your base, and
Speaker 1: attacking your shooting pocket. He's not trying to bother these
Speaker 1: guys up top. He's trying to bother them down low, right.
Speaker 1: And so if you're already planning on sending help because
Speaker 1: of the fact that there's literally a much easier time
Speaker 1: rotating on the back end because these guys aren't great passers,
Speaker 1: might as well have your primary defender be a guy
Speaker 1: that can disrupt down low, who can front the post,
Speaker 1: who can disrupt the shooting pocket, because he's going to
Speaker 1: even if they manage to get up around Drew down low,
Speaker 1: they're going to come up into that help defender who's
Speaker 1: probably going to be a bigger player because everybody else
Speaker 1: on the floor is bigger than Drew Holliday, right, So
Speaker 1: that is the interesting element to it. I would be
Speaker 1: really curious to see if they could do it against
Speaker 1: better passing bigs, So like when we see the Celtics
Speaker 1: play the Nuggets, I'd be really curious to see if
Speaker 1: they try Drew Holiday on Jokich. My guess is they
Speaker 1: won't because they'll probably try to end up putting Porzingis
Speaker 1: on him. Right, but for that simple purpose of like,
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to be able to rotate quickly on
Speaker 1: the back end because he's a great passer. So I
Speaker 1: think it's an interesting combination of like of taking advantage
Speaker 1: of the fact that these guys aren't good passers and
Speaker 1: Drew's ability to disrupt them down low as they try
Speaker 1: to power their way to the basket. All right, last
Speaker 1: mail back question. I just listened to your most recent
Speaker 1: Star Wars podcast about Luke Skywalker in the Imperial Remnant.
Speaker 1: It led to a topic about you guys in wemby
Speaker 1: ranking Star Wars movies and your surprising take on Rogue One.
Speaker 1: My mail back question is what's your Star Wars movie's ranking?
Speaker 1: So this was on my Star Wars podcast that it's
Speaker 1: not really a Star Wars podcast, it's Everything podcast, but
Speaker 1: we also cover Star Wars. It's called Two Suns podcasts.
Speaker 1: It's you could see the little logo thing right here,
Speaker 1: but we do videos about once a week on YouTube
Speaker 1: and on the podcast feed and we just talked about
Speaker 1: everything right now, going through some Star Wars books, but
Speaker 1: we'll be covering the basically every major movie release slash
Speaker 1: you know, like Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon,
Speaker 1: I should say, you know, the last of us Star
Speaker 1: Wars or big Star Wars fans. We do a lot
Speaker 1: of Star Wars stuff. We basically do everything Star Wars
Speaker 1: in terms of like the exded extended universe. So anyway,
Speaker 1: we were talking about how Victor Weben Yama is also
Speaker 1: a diehard Star Wars fan who also completely disowns the
Speaker 1: sequel trilogy, just like I do, and just like my
Speaker 1: buddy Luke does. And he ranked his favorite Star Wars
Speaker 1: movies and I'm going to give you the exact same three.
Speaker 1: So Wemby said his three favorite were Revenge of the Sith,
Speaker 1: Attack of the Clones, and Empire Strikes Back. And I
Speaker 1: literally agree perfectly. The reason why I love Attack of
Speaker 1: the Clones and Revenge of the Sith is like, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, the coolest Star Wars story in the entire
Speaker 1: lore is what's called the Sith Grand Plan, which starts
Speaker 1: with Darth Baine a thousand years before Palpatine and basely
Speaker 1: goes all the way through all these Sith lords, and
Speaker 1: it goes to Darth Plagis, who is Darth Ciitius Palpatine's master,
Speaker 1: and it culminates in Order sixty six, right, and in
Speaker 1: them basically overthrowing the Republic. Right. But it actually is
Speaker 1: like an incredibly intricate plan, very well thought out by
Speaker 1: George Lucas or conceptualized by George Lucas. And Attack of
Speaker 1: the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are really fun
Speaker 1: to go back and rewatch and just look at all
Speaker 1: the little bits and pieces of manipulation that Palpatine is
Speaker 1: using to kind of like overthrow everything. So those two
Speaker 1: movies I've always loved for that reason. Empire Strikes Back
Speaker 1: is just is just it's it basically takes what was
Speaker 1: because A New Hope was very much like a very
Speaker 1: rudimentary movie. There's not a whole lot that happens in it. Right.
Speaker 1: They Luke finds Han Solo and Obi Wan and they leave,
Speaker 1: They go to the Death Star, they escape the Death
Speaker 1: Star with the with Lea, then they go to yav
Speaker 1: and then they have the battle for they blow up
Speaker 1: the down. That's literally the movie. It's very very basic right,
Speaker 1: Empire strikes back, introduces the Emperor, introduces Yoda, dives into
Speaker 1: like Jedi lore. There, it's very dark and disturbing. There's
Speaker 1: twists and turns, there's tragedy in it, like just it's
Speaker 1: it's just It's to me is like the peak of
Speaker 1: of of Star Wars content. So a good question though,
Speaker 1: And again if you're looking for basically me talking about
Speaker 1: anything that's not basketball, that's the place to check out
Speaker 1: the show right now. Again, we're doing some books, so
Speaker 1: it's less frequent and a little more slow, but uh,
Speaker 1: but we get up. We will get a lot busier
Speaker 1: as as time goes along. All right, guys, that is
Speaker 1: all I have for today. We are actually going to
Speaker 1: be coming back later tonight to break down the Friday
Speaker 1: night slate of games after Lakers Sun, So I will
Speaker 1: see you guys later this evening. The volume