Speaker 1: The volume Lakers Tonight is presented by Fan Duel Sports Book.
Speaker 1: There's no better place to make every moment more than
Speaker 1: with Fan Duel. It's a great place to bet on
Speaker 1: the NBA. It's America's number one sports book, and you
Speaker 1: get winnings delivered in as quick as two hours. Plus.
Speaker 1: It's fun to combine multiple bets from the same game
Speaker 1: into a same game parlay. If you are new, just
Speaker 1: download Fan Duel sports Book app to get started. Now
Speaker 1: sign up with promo co Jason T so they know
Speaker 1: I sent you. Twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: Permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia
Speaker 1: or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund
Speaker 1: issued as non withdrawalable site credit that expires in fourteen days.
Speaker 1: Restrictions apply. See terms at sports book dot fan duel
Speaker 1: dot com. Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step
Speaker 1: or text next step to five three three four two
Speaker 1: in Arizona one a date eight seven eight nine seven
Speaker 1: seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat.
Speaker 1: In Connecticut one eight hundred Gambler or visit FanDuel dot
Speaker 1: com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, in Virginia
Speaker 1: one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana
Speaker 1: one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven
Speaker 1: for confidential help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight
Speaker 1: Hope and why, or text hope and Why to four
Speaker 1: six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee
Speaker 1: redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven
Speaker 1: eight nine in Tennessee, visit www one eight dot one
Speaker 1: eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right,
Speaker 1: welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by Fan Duel Here on
Speaker 1: the volume, I'm Jason Timp Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope
Speaker 1: you are all having a great week. I'm super stoked
Speaker 1: because on Thursday I'm headed to breck and Ridge to
Speaker 1: do some skiing, so I definitely got my eye up
Speaker 1: on that. But you know what, I was having a
Speaker 1: nice day today, drive into the gym to get a
Speaker 1: little workout in, and I'm listening to a podcast, a
Speaker 1: podcast with Brian Windhorst and David Bennerman and Ramona Shelburne
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, a full blown proxy war
Speaker 1: broke out. Very you know, it's very cordial. Everyone was
Speaker 1: being nice, but it basically amounted to a representative from
Speaker 1: Clutch hashing out this entire Lakers situation with someone who
Speaker 1: is representing the point of view of the Lakers front
Speaker 1: office in ownership group. And obviously it gave us a
Speaker 1: ton of really juicy information. There were two things in
Speaker 1: particular that stood out to me that I wanted to
Speaker 1: hit on, and the first was this epic quote from
Speaker 1: again from Ramona Shelburn explaining the point of view of
Speaker 1: Laker ownership and what she said was quote the Lakers organization,
Speaker 1: from ownership on down decided, you guys got yourself into this.
Speaker 1: This is the bed you have made Lebron, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, Carmelo, Anthony, Dwight Howard, all of the future
Speaker 1: Hall of famers. This is your choice of roster and team.
Speaker 1: Go make it work. We are not going to mortgage
Speaker 1: our future in terms of draft picks, in terms of
Speaker 1: taking on luxury tax now because this team isn't working yet.
Speaker 1: Go make it work. End quote, which is which is
Speaker 1: one heck of a message, A very pointed, very aggressive message.
Speaker 1: This is the verbal version of starting a war essentially
Speaker 1: between these two sides. And you know what's funny is
Speaker 1: I sympathize with the plight or the point of view that,
Speaker 1: you know, the sentiment behind why ownership feels the way
Speaker 1: they feel and why the front office feels the way
Speaker 1: they do. They do. Lebron and Anthony Davis did push
Speaker 1: for this Russell Westbrook trade. They are in many ways
Speaker 1: the architect of this roster to a certain extent, and
Speaker 1: there's a bunch that goes into that. I want to
Speaker 1: be consistent. I was very critical of Genie bus last
Speaker 1: night for leaning on three guys that aren't very much
Speaker 1: hard working NBA personnel evaluators to make roster decisions for
Speaker 1: the team. I was critical of that, and I want
Speaker 1: to do the same with Lebron and Anthony Davis, Like,
Speaker 1: guess what, Like you guys aren't going home and watching
Speaker 1: twenty extra games a week on league Pass trying to
Speaker 1: get a feel for who's playing well and who's struggling
Speaker 1: around the league. Either those two guys have the same shortcoming,
Speaker 1: which is why it is a problem when players get
Speaker 1: overly involved in roster construction. That's why Lebron and Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan historically haven't had great personnel picks in their careers.
Speaker 1: So I get that. I get why Genie and Rob
Speaker 1: Field that way. However, first of all, you have no
Speaker 1: leg to stand on because you are also very much
Speaker 1: involved with why the team is where you're at. I
Speaker 1: laid out, step by step in last night's show, every
Speaker 1: single personnel mistake that the front office has made in
Speaker 1: the last four years, and it's pretty damning. It's one
Speaker 1: hell of a rap sheet. So you also have had
Speaker 1: these issues. Literally, you yourself, Genie Buss. We're the driving
Speaker 1: force behind Alex Crusoe being a Chicago Bull right now
Speaker 1: instead of an l a Laker, even though Alex Cruso
Speaker 1: is the exact archetype of the type of the player,
Speaker 1: the type of player that the Lakers were desperately searching
Speaker 1: for last week during the deadline. So I get it.
Speaker 1: I get where you're coming from. But again, you're cutting
Speaker 1: off your nose to spite your face. Here. This is
Speaker 1: what happens when people are you know, when it becomes
Speaker 1: about pride, when it becomes about retaliation, there's actually no
Speaker 1: positive you know, there's no positive result from that. So
Speaker 1: you stood up to Lebron, you stood up to Clutch,
Speaker 1: and you told them, no, you're not going to make
Speaker 1: a trade. Okay, great, Now where are we now? We're
Speaker 1: still in this situation where this roster is fundamentally broken.
Speaker 1: Now we're still in a situation where this team as
Speaker 1: currently constructed doesn't have enough talent to win the title.
Speaker 1: And Lebron is thirty seven years old? So how do
Speaker 1: you reconcile that with whatever message it is you're trying
Speaker 1: to send a Clutch with whatever this proxy war is.
Speaker 1: And again, like I understand the asset side of it, Like,
Speaker 1: obviously assets need to be spent in a smart way,
Speaker 1: but really, how big of a difference is it gonna
Speaker 1: make if you attach too distant firsts to Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: this summer instead of one, Like, it'll make some difference, right,
Speaker 1: it might open the door to a deal or two
Speaker 1: that you might not have access to, But is it
Speaker 1: really going to make that much of a difference. No,
Speaker 1: Tailor is a good prospect, you guys know, I'm higher
Speaker 1: on Tailor than most. But is keeping Tailor around some
Speaker 1: sort of franchise altering piece of asset management? No, which
Speaker 1: is exactly why even though I'm high on Taylor, I
Speaker 1: advocated for trading it because I understand the reality of
Speaker 1: the predicament, which is Lebron James is thirty seven and
Speaker 1: has a knee that's got issues, and Anthony Davis has
Speaker 1: had trouble staying on the court over the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. There is absolutely an urgency here, and that
Speaker 1: urgency has to be factored in when you're making these
Speaker 1: types of decisions. But then we get to the money, because,
Speaker 1: as we heard in this podcast, I have now I
Speaker 1: can I can now point to multiple, multiple reports that
Speaker 1: have suggested that Genie Bus would not take on additional
Speaker 1: salary during the trade deadline. The way Ramona Shelburne described
Speaker 1: it on The Hoop collect it was, quote unquote, the
Speaker 1: Lakers were looking for low hanging fruit, any sort of
Speaker 1: ask for assets or for money. Any of them taking
Speaker 1: on additional salary was off the table and went so
Speaker 1: far as they may. Men have been reported there was
Speaker 1: a framework of a deal that would have sent gen
Speaker 1: Wall and Christian Would to the Lakers, and everything was set,
Speaker 1: but they didn't want to take on the money. Imagine
Speaker 1: Christian Would again, this Laker team that has struggled with
Speaker 1: talent all year, that has struggled with quality NBA players
Speaker 1: all year, that has struggled with size and athleticism all year,
Speaker 1: could have had Christian would if the franchise was willing
Speaker 1: to take on some salary. And again, like I understand,
Speaker 1: money doesn't grow on trees. You can't just spend recklessly.
Speaker 1: But I have a really hard time sympathizing with the
Speaker 1: ownership groups in the NBA, even the ones that aren't
Speaker 1: as wealthy as some of the bigger names that we
Speaker 1: have around the league. Just because you're not Steve Ballmer
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you can't afford luxury tax. Over the course
Speaker 1: of the time that Genie has been involved with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: that franchise has increased in value by billions with a
Speaker 1: B billions. So you're gonna have a hard time getting
Speaker 1: me to sympathize with a short term financial plight when
Speaker 1: this has been a great arrangement for you and your family,
Speaker 1: and you have a responsibility as the person shepherding literally
Speaker 1: the most famous franchise in NBA history it through this era.
Speaker 1: And if there was one time to maybe pony up
Speaker 1: a little bit, it would be when Lebron James is
Speaker 1: thirty seven and on your team and still playing at
Speaker 1: a level like the best players in the league. This
Speaker 1: is a we can now directly point to Alex crue
Speaker 1: So and Christian would as examples of talent that the
Speaker 1: Lakers could have had on the roster and they willingly
Speaker 1: passed on because of money. That's inexcusable. And so because
Speaker 1: of that, I your message, Genie that you sent to
Speaker 1: Clutch via Ramona Shellburn rings hollow because it's hypocritical, because
Speaker 1: of your own mistakes and because you were cheap. Some
Speaker 1: of this is you just have to acknowledge what it's
Speaker 1: like doing business with Lebron James. And again, as I said,
Speaker 1: I don't think Lebron should be making I don't think
Speaker 1: Lebron should be intimately involved with personnel, but you have
Speaker 1: to trust what he's doing here. The reason why Lebron
Speaker 1: wanted you to flip the deck at the deadline is
Speaker 1: because he's done that before. He literally did it in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen with the Calves and took that team
Speaker 1: to the finals. In his head, he's like, we screwed up.
Speaker 1: He literally admitted it on Twitter. He tweeted out that
Speaker 1: he apologized for how the season had gone. He knows
Speaker 1: they screwed up. He his way of owning it is
Speaker 1: saying like, hey, we gotta pull a two thousand eighteen
Speaker 1: cass here, we gotta shuffle the deck moving like talent
Speaker 1: that's just different and make a run at this thing.
Speaker 1: And of all the times, not this summer when they
Speaker 1: approached you with the Russell Westbrook deal. Of all the
Speaker 1: times to finally put your foot down against clutch, it's
Speaker 1: now when Lebron and a d looked this good and
Speaker 1: the team clearly isn't good enough. Now you want to
Speaker 1: put your foot down, But you didn't care when Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook was brought to the table. So again, I just
Speaker 1: I just don't sympathize with them in any regard. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the things that a phrase that I've kind
Speaker 1: of coined over the years that ever since is like, hey,
Speaker 1: since Lebron came in the league in two thousand three,
Speaker 1: no team or player, franchise, anything has won as many
Speaker 1: titles as Lebron James. He literally has more than any
Speaker 1: of them. That's what the business of Lebron James looks like.
Speaker 1: It's chaotic. There can be some drama there can be
Speaker 1: ups and downs, there can be turmoil, there can be change,
Speaker 1: but it is in this era the most unassailable approach
Speaker 1: to winning basketball games that exists in the NBA. So
Speaker 1: at a certain point you have to just understand that
Speaker 1: that's what you're in business with and roll with the
Speaker 1: punches a little bit. And again, like the fact that
Speaker 1: they didn't make a trade, just a trade to try
Speaker 1: to bring some fresh blood into the room and try
Speaker 1: to turn things over for the sake of sending a
Speaker 1: message to Clutch is just cutting off your nose a
Speaker 1: bite your face. So now where do we go from here?
Speaker 1: The the answer is hopefully that you can convert some
Speaker 1: of this stuff into usable pieces this summer and try
Speaker 1: to make another run at this. But again, lebron is
Speaker 1: thirty eight. Understand the urgency of the situation. Hopefully this
Speaker 1: whole proxy war thing gets resolved in time for Genie
Speaker 1: to sign some buy out guys. I saw DeAndre Bemberry
Speaker 1: got signed today. That's another option that just got removed
Speaker 1: from the table. Things are gonna just continue to get
Speaker 1: tighter on that front, and they need to be active.
Speaker 1: So whatever this is just needs to get resolved. Missing football, well,
Speaker 1: you can still turn every Thursday into pay Day with
Speaker 1: NBA on TNT on Fandel sports Book. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: if you win or lose. Vandel is giving all customers
Speaker 1: ten dollars back every Thursday in site credit. Just spent
Speaker 1: ten dollars or more in the same game parlay on
Speaker 1: any NBA on TNT game. Same game partlays let you
Speaker 1: combine the money, line, point spread, player props, and more
Speaker 1: all into one wager. It's the perfect way to turn
Speaker 1: a small bet into a big time score and win
Speaker 1: or lose, you're guaranteed to get ten dollars add it
Speaker 1: to your account. I love vandel just because it's so
Speaker 1: incredibly easy to use. Get ten dollars back every Thursday
Speaker 1: insight credit, win or lose with TNT Thursdays. If you're
Speaker 1: new to FanDuel, just sign up with Promo co Jason
Speaker 1: T to make every moment more this NBA season. Again,
Speaker 1: that's Promo co Jason T exclusively on the FanDuel Sports
Speaker 1: Book app twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia,
Speaker 1: or West Virginia. First online real money wager only refund
Speaker 1: issued as non withdrawalable site credit that expires in fourteen days.
Speaker 1: Restrictions apply. See terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot com.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred next step or text
Speaker 1: next step to five three three four two in Arizona
Speaker 1: one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
Speaker 1: seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut
Speaker 1: one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash
Speaker 1: RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey. In Virginia one eight
Speaker 1: seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana eight hundred
Speaker 1: to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential help
Speaker 1: in Michigan one eight seven seven eight hope and why
Speaker 1: or text hope and why to four six seven, three
Speaker 1: six nine in New York. In tennessee redline dial one
Speaker 1: eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in
Speaker 1: tennessee visit www one dot one eight hundred gambler dot
Speaker 1: net in West Virginia. But I wanted to move on.
Speaker 1: I have a very specific point that I wanted to
Speaker 1: make as it pertains of the Lakers rotation, because I
Speaker 1: was digging into the numbers today, and it's actually pretty
Speaker 1: wild the way that this team has performed with their
Speaker 1: young guys on the floor relative to when their old
Speaker 1: guys are on the floor. So for starters, it's not
Speaker 1: exactly a big shock to understand why the younger players
Speaker 1: on the Lakers have played better than the older players.
Speaker 1: They're faster, they're quicker, they're more athletic, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: it's about urgency. Austin Reaves was an undrafted free agent.
Speaker 1: Molik Monk was. He literally told us, hey, I didn't
Speaker 1: get a single contract off for this summer except for
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Stanley Johnson was playing for the South Bay
Speaker 1: Lakers was out of the NBA. You're capitalizing on urgency there.
Speaker 1: Those guys are playing desperate and that has directly led
Speaker 1: to that influx of energy and success on the floor.
Speaker 1: This year, only four rotation players have a positive net rating.
Speaker 1: And I like net rating because it's just the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: All net rating is is the scoreboard relative to possessions,
Speaker 1: So it's adjusted for pace. This year, with Ossar Reaves
Speaker 1: on the floor, there plus seven per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: With Malik Monk on the floor, their plus three point
Speaker 1: one per one hun possessions. With Stanley Johnson on the floor,
Speaker 1: there plus zero point one per one possessions. There's one
Speaker 1: old guy in that group, and it's Carmelo Anthony at
Speaker 1: plus one point five, and that's not coincidence. He is
Speaker 1: an elite spot up player. He brings an elite skill
Speaker 1: to the table. Carmelo Anthony is one of the best
Speaker 1: catch and shoot three point shooters that we have in
Speaker 1: the league. Trevor Reason is not that Trevor Reason does
Speaker 1: not have an elite skill. Avery Bradley does not have
Speaker 1: an elite skill. Dwight Howard does not have an elite skill.
Speaker 1: Camp Baysmore does not have an elite skill. That's why
Speaker 1: those guys are struggling. But Mellow is succeeding in that
Speaker 1: role even as you work your way down. The highest
Speaker 1: among the players that have a negative net rating is
Speaker 1: Taylor Horton Tucker and mine is zero point four. So
Speaker 1: per the scoreboard, the Lakers are playing best when they
Speaker 1: have their young guys on the floor. I even dug
Speaker 1: a little bit more. This is an absolutely wild stat
Speaker 1: When Lebron James is on the floor with Malik Monk
Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves. The Lakers are plus five point one
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions in a hundred and eleven minutes.
Speaker 1: When you swap those guys out for two similar players
Speaker 1: who are older guys, Avery Bradley and Trevor Ariza hundred
Speaker 1: and seventeen minutes, so and even larger sample size minus
Speaker 1: twenty two point five per one hundred possessions. So getting
Speaker 1: absolutely rolled with your older guys on the floor. Good
Speaker 1: team with your young guys on the floor. Swap out
Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis with Austin Reaves and
Speaker 1: Milik Monk plus fifteen point two in a hundred one minutes,
Speaker 1: Davis with Bradley and Areza minus six point eight. The
Speaker 1: numbers are there, they're screaming at us, and it's again,
Speaker 1: it's all just about that overall foot speed. And most importantly,
Speaker 1: this is something we all had to learn right because
Speaker 1: coming into the season, I said, I was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: the Lakers aren't old. They're young. Because Malik Monk is young,
Speaker 1: because Anthony Davis is young, because Taylor Horton Tucker is young.
Speaker 1: I was because Kendrick Nunn is young. I was looking
Speaker 1: at that and said that these old guys are slotting
Speaker 1: into small roles, but the actual you know, lion's share
Speaker 1: of the guys in the rotation are young. But there
Speaker 1: are two things that I didn't factor in there properly.
Speaker 1: One is politics, just how often this year that inferior
Speaker 1: players have played over better players because of their reputation,
Speaker 1: which is a problem. And then the second part of
Speaker 1: this is just the way the game has changed. You know,
Speaker 1: ten years ago, it was like a three out, two
Speaker 1: in type of deal. There are always two bigs on
Speaker 1: the floor. The overall foot speed wasn't that crazy, and
Speaker 1: you had specialists usually in the corners, like a Shane
Speaker 1: Dattier or Kyle Corver, like an older version of of
Speaker 1: Ray Ray Allen, right, Like that was who was in
Speaker 1: the corner. Now every NBA team is putting out three
Speaker 1: or four guys that are super fast and quick and
Speaker 1: can dribble and get to the rint. So, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, in today's league, your ability to defend on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, to keep people in front of you is
Speaker 1: immensely important in a way it didn't used to be.
Speaker 1: I was talking about this last night with the Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 1: They had a ton of success early in the year
Speaker 1: because they were defending. Then Lonzo Ball and Alex Cruso
Speaker 1: get hurt, their defense falls apart, and the team's falling apart.
Speaker 1: That's not a coincidence. That's another way that the game
Speaker 1: is changing. And that's another symptom of that. You need
Speaker 1: guys on the perimeter that can keep guys in front
Speaker 1: of them. In this LA, your team utterly lacks that,
Speaker 1: especially with the guys that they've played in the rotation.
Speaker 1: But what you're seeing is the guys who are your
Speaker 1: better perimeter defenders, Taylor Horton, Tucker, It's a good point
Speaker 1: of attack defender, Austin Reeves, a good point of attack defender.
Speaker 1: Those guys are moving their feet and they're helping the
Speaker 1: team win. And the Malik Monk and Mellow they just
Speaker 1: shoot so outrageously well that they're still net positives even
Speaker 1: though they struggle on that end. But it's not a
Speaker 1: coincidence that those groups are doing well. And it's gonna
Speaker 1: be immensely important for the Lakers to play those young
Speaker 1: guys the rest of the season to give this team
Speaker 1: their best chance to win. And that's exactly why the
Speaker 1: buy out market is so important. If you want to
Speaker 1: have less Trevor Reason minutes, if you want to have
Speaker 1: fewer Avery Bradley minutes, you've got to bring in NBA
Speaker 1: players that can play those minutes. Because even if you
Speaker 1: did start Austin Reeves, even if you do start Malique Monk,
Speaker 1: even if you do favor the young guys, you still
Speaker 1: have to spell them with guys from the bench. And
Speaker 1: I think very Bradley can do that in a small amount.
Speaker 1: I don't think Trevor Reason can do that. I don't
Speaker 1: think Kemp Baysmore can do that, and Dwight Howard doesn't
Speaker 1: fit with their modern style that they're going with now.
Speaker 1: So you have to find two or three guys that
Speaker 1: can play that role so that you can play the
Speaker 1: young guys more and give this team their best chance
Speaker 1: to succeed. Because Lebron and a D with those guys
Speaker 1: is working. That is very much working. It's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest silver linings of the season. So the Lakers
Speaker 1: have to lean into that more. Al Right, before we
Speaker 1: get out of here tonight, I wanted to talk really
Speaker 1: quick about the Boston Celtics. It's very ironic because I
Speaker 1: talked about them a little bit last night, and specifically
Speaker 1: I talked about how they weren't shooting well over the
Speaker 1: course of their most recent stretch of games. Over their
Speaker 1: last twenty games, both Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown are
Speaker 1: below from three, and as a team they were in
Speaker 1: three point percentage over that span. So I kept saying
Speaker 1: last night, I'm like, hey, if they start making shots,
Speaker 1: they're gonna start killing people. And what do you know,
Speaker 1: Tonight they make a bunch of threes on the road
Speaker 1: in Philly and beat the living crap out of a
Speaker 1: really good team in Philly, a really obviously Philly is
Speaker 1: not what they're going to be, but that's not an
Speaker 1: easy win. And the formula is very simple. They have
Speaker 1: tons and of height and athleticism all over the floor.
Speaker 1: They are the anti Lakers in that regard. At every
Speaker 1: position there probably above average in size and athleticism. That's
Speaker 1: a huge boost in that direction. And then they have
Speaker 1: a completely modern scheme. They switch everything, so which is
Speaker 1: ironic because switching everything is a scheme that's generally reserved
Speaker 1: for lazy teams, right because it's an it's the path
Speaker 1: of least resistance. It's a lot harder to ask a
Speaker 1: guy to chase over the top of a ball screen,
Speaker 1: fight through all that contact, apply back back pressure, then
Speaker 1: dive down and box out the big guy as the
Speaker 1: as your big guys helping on the dry it's just
Speaker 1: a really tough job. But for you to be able
Speaker 1: to point over to your teammate and go, hey, you
Speaker 1: got him now, that's easy. But when you combine that
Speaker 1: that philosophy with actually talented defensive players like what Boston has,
Speaker 1: that's how you can get extremely dominant. And as I
Speaker 1: pointed out last night, their defensive rating is lapping the
Speaker 1: field of late. They were coming into last night in
Speaker 1: their previous fifteen games and the next closest team was
Speaker 1: a one oh six. That's a huge gap. So that's
Speaker 1: a huge foundational piece. There's a ton of height and
Speaker 1: athleticism in the ability to switch and guard everything. Then
Speaker 1: it comes down to the offensive guys developing. The big
Speaker 1: rub on Jayson Tatum throughout his whole career has been
Speaker 1: that he doesn't create shots. First teammates, that he's just
Speaker 1: an isolation score. Well, in his last twenty games he
Speaker 1: had coming into tonight, he had seventy five assists to
Speaker 1: just thirty eight turnovers. That's a two to one assist
Speaker 1: turnover ratio. That's five assists per game. That is pretty
Speaker 1: solid playmaking. That's a growth from Jayson Tatum that has
Speaker 1: manifested over the course of the last few years because
Speaker 1: he's had to because the circumstances of the team in
Speaker 1: the roster have forced him in that direction. Then you
Speaker 1: add Derek White, who is also a good playmaker. Now
Speaker 1: the team has some playmaker. I always talk about on
Speaker 1: the pod that there are three hallmarks to a championship contender.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to score in isolation because
Speaker 1: teams are gonna switch against you, and you need to
Speaker 1: be able to attack matchups. You need to be able
Speaker 1: to play make because teams will send multiple bodies to you,
Speaker 1: and when they send multiple bodies to you you have to
Speaker 1: be able to make the right play. That's how you
Speaker 1: find cracks and playoff defenses. And then lastly, you have
Speaker 1: to be defensively versatile. So that's not just a good
Speaker 1: defensive team, but you have to be able to defend
Speaker 1: in multiple ways. This is what kills the Utah Jazz
Speaker 1: every year. They're really good with their drop coverages with
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert, but when they get into a five attack
Speaker 1: and they have to really guard on the perimeter, they
Speaker 1: fall apart. They had a one thirty defensive rating last
Speaker 1: year against the l A Clippers in the playoffs. That's
Speaker 1: horrid for a team that was the third best defense
Speaker 1: in the league. But when you can do both, like
Speaker 1: for instance Lakers, when you can run drop coverages with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, but you can also switch everything and you
Speaker 1: also have tons of point of attack defense, that is
Speaker 1: defensive versatility, and that's what this Boston teams has. It
Speaker 1: has they can try to keep Robert Williams around the
Speaker 1: rim as a rimp protector using traditional coverages, and they
Speaker 1: can switch everything, so they they cross all the boxes
Speaker 1: now of a bona fide championship contender. And like I said,
Speaker 1: the most exciting part is they haven't shot well sixteen
Speaker 1: and four in their last twenty games in the league
Speaker 1: and three point percentage in that stretch. When they start
Speaker 1: making shots, everything can turn around for them. Tatum and
Speaker 1: Brown are a lot better as shooters than they've shown
Speaker 1: over the course of this last month. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny because it's gonna come down to execution, right.
Speaker 1: You now have to be able to Jalen Brown, Jyleen
Speaker 1: Brown and Jason Tatum have to out execute Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, they have to out execute Jana Sountenna Coombo
Speaker 1: and Chris Middleton. That's a challenge, right, but your defense
Speaker 1: buys you margin for error. Brooklyn is a bad defensive team. Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: like we talked about last night, is the middle of
Speaker 1: the pack defensive team that has slacked a lot. If
Speaker 1: you are an unbelievable, elite defensive team, that makes it
Speaker 1: so that Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown don't have to
Speaker 1: be as good as Kevin Durant and Jana Suntana compo.
Speaker 1: They can just compete with them to some extent and
Speaker 1: if they do, it will be enough. But it's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's crazy because the big rub on the Celtics over
Speaker 1: the previous few seasons was there basically a five team,
Speaker 1: you know, in the aggregate when you combined it all.
Speaker 1: Ever since they lost to the Miami Heat in the
Speaker 1: playoffs in the bubble, they were like a five team.
Speaker 1: Until this This is like dominant basketball that we're seeing.
Speaker 1: And then the last night I wanted to throw out
Speaker 1: at you guys, which is just stunning. To me. I
Speaker 1: hinted at this last night, but it's been adjusted from
Speaker 1: their latest game when Robert Williams, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum are on the floor. This year, the Celtics are
Speaker 1: plus nineteen point five per one possessions in a huge
Speaker 1: sample size seven fifteen minutes. That is like Big Three
Speaker 1: in my any type of dominance. That is like Steph,
Speaker 1: Kadie and Clay type of dominance. That's how good that
Speaker 1: group has been this year. So they've been swept under
Speaker 1: the rug by so many people, but they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a really tough out and I absolutely think they can
Speaker 1: win a championship. Alright, guys, that is all I had
Speaker 1: for tonight. I'm very excited for tomorrow big Laker game,
Speaker 1: Lakers Jazz. We will be going live immediately after the
Speaker 1: final buzzer. I hope you all will be there. I
Speaker 1: hope you all enjoyed the rest of your night, and
Speaker 1: I will see you tomorrow. Volume