1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:02,000
Speaker 1: The Volume.

2
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:16,920
Speaker 2: All right, welcome to here tonight, here at the Volume. Happy

3
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,640
Speaker 2: Thursday again, everybody. We are live on AMP, so if

4
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 2: you're watching on YouTube or listening on the podcast feeds,

5
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,799
Speaker 2: don't forget that AMP is the very first place that

6
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,360
Speaker 2: you guys can get these shows.

7
00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:27,120
Speaker 1: Let's take a break from.

8
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,479
Speaker 2: Looking back into NBA history and talk about some actual,

9
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,440
Speaker 2: meaningful basketball taking place right now as we are. I

10
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,680
Speaker 2: think one day, I think the first set of games

11
00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,159
Speaker 2: are tomorrow. I think the USA plays on Saturday. But

12
00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,080
Speaker 2: we're heading into the FOBA World Cup and a lot

13
00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,080
Speaker 2: of our favorite NBA players are playing in it. And

14
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,680
Speaker 2: we have a very interesting Team USA team this year.

15
00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,400
Speaker 2: So we're gonna do a deep dive kind of into

16
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 2: previewing this tournament, heavy heavy focus on Team USA, brief

17
00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 2: mentions of some of the other teams around the world.

18
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 2: Do you guys know the drill before we get it started?

19
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,440
Speaker 2: Subscribed to the Volumes YouTube channels you don't miss any

20
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,520
Speaker 2: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore

21
00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,640
Speaker 2: Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

22
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:08,520
Speaker 2: A and last, not least, for whatever reason, you miss

23
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,320
Speaker 2: one of these videos and you can't get back over

24
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:11,920
Speaker 2: to YouTube to finish. Don't forget you can find them

25
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right,

26
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:17,400
Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So to give you guys an idea,

27
00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,160
Speaker 2: we're not gonna cover every single game, but I do

28
00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,319
Speaker 2: plan on doing a few videos during the World Cup

29
00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,400
Speaker 2: to cover it. I personally find it very interesting as

30
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,120
Speaker 2: a basketball fan. I would imagine the kind of people

31
00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,440
Speaker 2: that would like my show probably are excited for this

32
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,839
Speaker 2: tournament as well, and we've been pining for some basketball,

33
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,199
Speaker 2: and I think this is a nice little appetizer before

34
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,000
Speaker 2: we head into a very exciting NBA season. So Team

35
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 2: USA went five to zero in their exhibitions. They did

36
00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,440
Speaker 2: trail in the second half of two of their games,

37
00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:50,200
Speaker 2: so they're certainly beatable, but they have looked really good

38
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:52,320
Speaker 2: down the stretch in those two particular games and blew

39
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,960
Speaker 2: everybody else out, so they have looked impressive so far.

40
00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 2: The starting lineup has been the least impressive group that

41
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,240
Speaker 2: the team has run out there. The starting line they've

42
00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 2: been going with is Jalen Brunson with Brandon Ingram, Jaron Jackson,

43
00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,200
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards, and McHale Bridges. And this to me is

44
00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,800
Speaker 2: a great example of the concept of diminishing returns that

45
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,080
Speaker 2: I talk about a lot on this show. So the

46
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,400
Speaker 2: example most recently that I've been using with you guys

47
00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 2: is the idea of Bradley Beal joining the Phoenix Suns,

48
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,959
Speaker 2: you know, in a vacuum. In a team like on Washington,

49
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,160
Speaker 2: where I need a guy to create shots, break down

50
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,320
Speaker 2: the defense, basically be my offensive engine, I'd rather have

51
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,440
Speaker 2: a guy like Bradley Beale than a guy like Kntavious

52
00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 2: Calwell Pope, right, because just if I ask Kntavious Caldwell

53
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 2: Pope to run one thousand pick and rolls, three hundred

54
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,679
Speaker 2: ISOs and one hundred and fifty post ups, like, He's

55
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,519
Speaker 2: just not going to be nearly as efficient generating shots

56
00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,359
Speaker 2: for his team the way that Bradley Beal can do. Right,

57
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,520
Speaker 2: But in a situation like the Phoenix Suns, where I've

58
00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 2: already got Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on the team,

59
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,600
Speaker 2: I don't need him to run a thousand pick and rolls.

60
00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 2: I don't need him to run three hundred ISOs and

61
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,360
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty post ups. I need him to

62
00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:58,679
Speaker 2: do some of that stuff, but for the most part,

63
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,400
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a lot of like guarding on the perimeter,

64
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,880
Speaker 2: crack down, rebounding from the perimeter, running your lane in transition,

65
00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,800
Speaker 2: taking and making spot up threes, driving closeouts, second side creation,

66
00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 2: a lot of like supporting role type of stuff.

67
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,200
Speaker 1: Because if I have Bradley Beal run.

68
00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,080
Speaker 2: A thousand pick and rolls, three hundred ISOs and one

69
00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty post ups, that's taking touches away from

70
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,840
Speaker 2: better players and Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. So that's

71
00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,800
Speaker 2: kind of the general concept of diminishing returns, and you

72
00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,200
Speaker 2: see a lot of that with this Team USA starting lineup.

73
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,080
Speaker 2: Because the way I see it, there are basically like

74
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 2: two general styles of offensive basketball. There's like ball player

75
00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,440
Speaker 2: movement basketball, which is like really quick decisions. The ball

76
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 2: never sticks in one place for more than a second

77
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,120
Speaker 2: or two. Nobody really takes a tough off the dribble

78
00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,400
Speaker 2: shot unless it's an end of the shot clock situation

79
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 2: and everyone's just driving and kicking and driving and kicking

80
00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 2: trying to get a wide open layup or a wide

81
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 2: open three. That's like ball player movement offense.

82
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:56,960
Speaker 1: Right.

83
00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,440
Speaker 2: Then there's brute force offense. For force offense is like,

84
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,040
Speaker 2: we've got the best guy, Let's give him the ball,

85
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,800
Speaker 2: Let's create a good amount of space for him to operate,

86
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,960
Speaker 2: or give him a screen or something to help him

87
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,480
Speaker 2: get to a specific matchup he wants, and then let's

88
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,200
Speaker 2: give him space to cook. Right, And there's values in

89
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,600
Speaker 2: both styles. I think a lot of times you'll see

90
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:17,720
Speaker 2: some coaches even be like, oh, why are we doing

91
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,719
Speaker 2: this brute force type of deal, And especially in the

92
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,000
Speaker 2: lower levels, you'll see that a lot in college basketball

93
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 2: as well. And what they don't realize, those specific coaches

94
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,080
Speaker 2: is that when the game just degenerates at the end

95
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,359
Speaker 2: of games and the defenses are super locked in, the

96
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,240
Speaker 2: refs are swallowing their whistles and letting a lot of

97
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,919
Speaker 2: guys get away with fouls. They've seen your sets all games,

98
00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:40,479
Speaker 2: so they're in front of your sets. You need a

99
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 2: guy who can just, you know, do what Anthony Edwards

100
00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,480
Speaker 2: has been doing for the team USA and like backing

101
00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 2: his man down in the post and taking tough fade

102
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,919
Speaker 2: away jump shots over his right shoulder or taking tough

103
00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,479
Speaker 2: pull up threes off the bounce. Like there's an important

104
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,360
Speaker 2: spot in the game for that style. But you don't

105
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,640
Speaker 2: want to do it all game. You want to ideally

106
00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,719
Speaker 2: avoid it as much as possible unless you're in a

107
00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,720
Speaker 2: late clock situation or you're at the end of a game.

108
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:04,039
Speaker 1: Right.

109
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,640
Speaker 2: And the problem is is the starters for Team USA,

110
00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,680
Speaker 2: they like to play brute force basketball with the lineup

111
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:11,240
Speaker 2: that doesn't make a ton of sense to do it.

112
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,679
Speaker 2: There's a redundancy in having Brandon Ingram, a guy who's

113
00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,960
Speaker 2: used to conserving energy on defense and kind of resting

114
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 2: off the ball because he has such a massive offensive responsibility. Right,

115
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,800
Speaker 2: same thing with Jalen Brunson. He's used to having the

116
00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:28,359
Speaker 2: ball in his hands, having to make a ton of

117
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,760
Speaker 2: decisions for the Knicks, and then he conserves some energy

118
00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,120
Speaker 2: on the defensive end and conserves some energy off the ball.

119
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:33,360
Speaker 1: Right.

120
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,200
Speaker 2: You guys know how highly I value Jalen Brunson and

121
00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,880
Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram. Both of those guys were in my top

122
00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,279
Speaker 2: twenty five players this year. I viewed those guys extremely highly.

123
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,880
Speaker 2: But within this context, it's different. This is you know

124
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 2: what's funny. As I've done my player rankings, I've had

125
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,720
Speaker 2: a lot of people being like, why are you overvaluing

126
00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,039
Speaker 2: team accomplishments like this player is really good. If you

127
00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,760
Speaker 2: put him in that situation, he'd be great. Yeah, But

128
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,120
Speaker 2: it's not an individual sport. Basketball is a team sport.

129
00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,400
Speaker 2: So whatever we want to say about individual players, Jalen

130
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,520
Speaker 2: Brunson and Brandon Ingram are clearly the second and third

131
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,320
Speaker 2: best players on the team, right behind Anthony Edwards. But

132
00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,040
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, in the flow of this basketball team,

133
00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,200
Speaker 2: it's not working super well. And that's because a team,

134
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,720
Speaker 2: a team of basketball players, a group of five basketball

135
00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,120
Speaker 2: players in a lineup, is a very complicated living organism,

136
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,880
Speaker 2: and you're not just the sum of your parts there.

137
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,719
Speaker 2: You're actually about refilling responsibilities on the floor. And you've

138
00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,760
Speaker 2: got three guys that love to fill the same responsibility

139
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,680
Speaker 2: and aren't great in other situations. And so then when

140
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,800
Speaker 2: they go to the bench and Tyrese Halliburton comes in

141
00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,279
Speaker 2: and he starts making super quick decisions and the ball's

142
00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,240
Speaker 2: popping around, and guys like McHale Bridges and Austin Rais

143
00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,479
Speaker 2: and Michale plays with the starters, but Kurr and Spolsha

144
00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,360
Speaker 2: I've been leaning super heavy on him in minutes, so

145
00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:51,240
Speaker 2: he's been playing a lot with the bench groups as well.

146
00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,640
Speaker 2: But guys like mchal Bridges and Austin Reeves. McHale before

147
00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,560
Speaker 2: he went to Brooklyn is used to being a guy

148
00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,680
Speaker 2: who's just spotting up and attacking closeouts. Reeves took on

149
00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,839
Speaker 2: a bigger on ball responsibility with the Lakers at the

150
00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,840
Speaker 2: end of the year, but he's used to playing off

151
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,640
Speaker 2: a Lebron James, and for a year and a half

152
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 2: before that, he was primarily an off ball player. So

153
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 2: those guys are comfortable playing in that style of basketball.

154
00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,600
Speaker 2: They're used to not conserving energy but rather diverting most

155
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,200
Speaker 2: of their energy towards the defensive end and in the

156
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,480
Speaker 2: dirty work of the game. And so the bench unit

157
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,160
Speaker 2: just seems to flow better, and it's more fluid offensively.

158
00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 2: And they've got Josh Hard out there sometimes too, and

159
00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,680
Speaker 2: he plays a similar style. And Palo Bancaro's doing a

160
00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 2: really nice job just playing his ass off as a

161
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,760
Speaker 2: backup center. We'll get to that here in a little bit.

162
00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,040
Speaker 2: But that bench group is just playing better and they're

163
00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,000
Speaker 2: erasing deficits in their building leads. Tyrs Halliburton was a

164
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,280
Speaker 2: plus seventeen versus Germany, Jalen Brunson was plus five, and

165
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,280
Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram was plus one. So that kind of gives

166
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,560
Speaker 2: you an idea of just how much more successful on

167
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,760
Speaker 2: the scoreboard the bench group has looked for the most part.

168
00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,080
Speaker 2: But here's the thing, you guys know, I think Steve

169
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:55,920
Speaker 2: Kerr and Eric Spolser are the two best coaches in

170
00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,960
Speaker 2: the world, and they see all of this stuff, and

171
00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,480
Speaker 2: you could tell they made all of the necessary adjustments

172
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 2: in that Germany game in the second half. Germany led

173
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,440
Speaker 2: by nine with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

174
00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,480
Speaker 2: They also led by about thirteen uh with a few

175
00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,040
Speaker 2: minutes left in the third quarter as well, and Steve

176
00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,120
Speaker 2: Kerr and Eric Spolstra ended up closing with a more

177
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,400
Speaker 2: sensical group of guys. It was Anthony Edwards with Austin

178
00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,240
Speaker 2: Reeves and mckailbridge, just two great off ball players, Jaron

179
00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,920
Speaker 2: Jackson as their defensive full crom at the center position,

180
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,720
Speaker 2: and then he went with either Tyre's Halliburton or Bobby

181
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,280
Speaker 2: Portis in the closing group, depending on what the size,

182
00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,040
Speaker 2: because Germany was playing two centers and crashing the glass

183
00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 2: a lot, so they had some issues there. And obviously

184
00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,480
Speaker 2: if you go you know, ant Reeves Halliburton, that's a

185
00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:42,800
Speaker 2: somewhat smaller you know one, two, three, right, So obviously

186
00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,920
Speaker 2: they can go bigger when they need to by playing

187
00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:47,679
Speaker 2: Bobby portis the way they did, or I even think

188
00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:50,160
Speaker 2: they could get away with playing Palabanco in the closing group,

189
00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:51,600
Speaker 2: So we'll get to that in a little bit. But

190
00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:53,560
Speaker 2: they played much better down the stretch of that game.

191
00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:57,000
Speaker 2: They got a ton of stops, they switched. They when

192
00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,400
Speaker 2: Tyre's Halliburton came in in the mid third quarter. They

193
00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 2: played that fluid offense as they shrunk the lead from

194
00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:07,200
Speaker 2: thirteen down to something more manageable, even against some of

195
00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,880
Speaker 2: Germany's you know, starting lineup players. And then Anthony Edwards

196
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 2: kind of took over the game late as more of

197
00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,560
Speaker 2: a brute for style when it made sense, and honestly,

198
00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:17,560
Speaker 2: it could have been better than it was because they

199
00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:19,400
Speaker 2: were kind of locked up at eighty six there for

200
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,720
Speaker 2: a while and ant was doing a really nice job

201
00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,520
Speaker 2: drawing multiple defenders and banking kickout passes, and they generated

202
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,640
Speaker 2: like back to back to back wide open threes on

203
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,360
Speaker 2: the left wing on the backside that they've missed just

204
00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,920
Speaker 2: happened to miss from good shooters. I think mcale bridges

205
00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,720
Speaker 2: missed one two, Bobby Port dis missed a wide up

206
00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,160
Speaker 2: and catch and shoot corner three. But then finally McHale

207
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,160
Speaker 2: Bridges made one, and because they were getting stops during

208
00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,360
Speaker 2: that whole time, all of a sudden they're up three

209
00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:46,160
Speaker 2: and then the league grows and they end up winning

210
00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,960
Speaker 2: ninety nine ninety one. So I thought it was super interesting.

211
00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 2: Actually closed that game on a twenty two to five run,

212
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:52,680
Speaker 2: and like I said, if they would have shot better,

213
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,400
Speaker 2: it could have been even better from there. So I

214
00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,880
Speaker 2: think I think Steve Kerr and Eric Spoelstra have got

215
00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,520
Speaker 2: a good feel for this team now after the five

216
00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,000
Speaker 2: exhibition team games, and this is kind of what I

217
00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,040
Speaker 2: put down. This is for my I've watched probably three

218
00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:07,760
Speaker 2: and a half of the five games that they played,

219
00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:10,480
Speaker 2: and here's what I've kind of picked up from this team.

220
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,560
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards is clearly the best player, and he's the

221
00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,080
Speaker 2: guy that when they go brute for style, they have

222
00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,680
Speaker 2: to run through Ant in the starting lineup. It's kind

223
00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 2: of like your turn, my turn. It's like Jalen and

224
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,400
Speaker 2: then it's Brandon, and then it's Ant and then it's Brandon,

225
00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:25,960
Speaker 2: then it's Jalen, and you could just tell none of

226
00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,240
Speaker 2: the three of them are really getting in a great rhythm,

227
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,160
Speaker 2: and so it's redundant and there's some diminishing returns there.

228
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,800
Speaker 2: But when Ant is actually the focal point of the offense,

229
00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 2: he's been fantastic. He's got a fifty seven percent through

230
00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,680
Speaker 2: shooting percentage so far in these five games. Is shooting

231
00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,679
Speaker 2: fifty percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots,

232
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,520
Speaker 2: which is obviously amazing, eighty one percent at the rim,

233
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,959
Speaker 2: one point one to seven points per possession, and pick

234
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,000
Speaker 2: and roll so far, one point zero five points per

235
00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,720
Speaker 2: possession in ISO, and then he's only run two post

236
00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:54,320
Speaker 2: ups but he scored two points, so he's up over

237
00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,320
Speaker 2: a point per possession in all three static half court

238
00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,560
Speaker 2: shot creation situations. And he's playing excellent d so it

239
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,440
Speaker 2: makes sense for him to be the fulkrum Jalen Brunson

240
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:04,960
Speaker 2: has played really well too, and if you look at

241
00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 2: his shot making and his stat at creation stuff, it's

242
00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 2: been great. But he hasn't been nearly as good defensively

243
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,400
Speaker 2: as Ant. It's actually been a little bit of a

244
00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,320
Speaker 2: problem how much drible penetration he's giving up. So like

245
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:20,240
Speaker 2: it's with how well Tyre's Halliburton's playing with the bench group,

246
00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:23,160
Speaker 2: I think you actually have to close with Jalen Brunson

247
00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:25,320
Speaker 2: on the bench the way that they did. But I'll

248
00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,360
Speaker 2: kind of get to that here in a minute. Ingram

249
00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,840
Speaker 2: just isn't playing super well. He's fourteen for thirty three

250
00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,400
Speaker 2: from the field so far. He's shooting really well in

251
00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,439
Speaker 2: catch and shoot situations, but he's missing just about anything else.

252
00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:37,920
Speaker 2: I think he needs to kind of he's the biggest

253
00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,280
Speaker 2: guy that needs to make an adjustment for this team

254
00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,640
Speaker 2: to have a chance to win the gold medal. I

255
00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,280
Speaker 2: would have Brandon Ingram adopt more of a Michale Bridges

256
00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,080
Speaker 2: play style, way fewer on ball reps, primarily focusing on

257
00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:51,559
Speaker 2: defense and rebounding, which that starting group is struggling a

258
00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,280
Speaker 2: little bit with rebounding, and then prioritize being a spot

259
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,880
Speaker 2: up player, taking and making ketch and shoot threes and

260
00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,280
Speaker 2: driving closeouts. If he kind of embraces more of a

261
00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,400
Speaker 2: McHale Bridge's role, I think he becomes the perfect slot

262
00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,240
Speaker 2: in with that closing group instead of having to go

263
00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:09,560
Speaker 2: with Tyrese Halliburton or Bobby Portis or Palabancaro. Then you

264
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,160
Speaker 2: can close with Ingram and mchal Bridges next to each other.

265
00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,320
Speaker 2: But if brandon Ingram wants to not commit to the

266
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,160
Speaker 2: defensive end and just take a bunch of tough off

267
00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,400
Speaker 2: the dribble jump shots, which right now he's not making,

268
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:21,640
Speaker 2: even though we know he can make them when he's

269
00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:23,959
Speaker 2: the focal point of an offense, when he's in a

270
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,640
Speaker 2: Pelican's jersey. Right If he can't figure that out, I

271
00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,000
Speaker 2: think you might have to go away from him in

272
00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,240
Speaker 2: the closing group, but ideally you want Ingram to slot

273
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,360
Speaker 2: into that role. Anthony Edwards is clearly the guy, like

274
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,960
Speaker 2: I said, Steve Kerr specifically said that I don't think

275
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,200
Speaker 2: it's a coincidence that I had Anthony Edwards as the

276
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,719
Speaker 2: highest player on Team USA in my player rankings this

277
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 2: year at number fifteen. I continue to just be completely

278
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,040
Speaker 2: impressed by him. I am becoming a huge fan of

279
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,079
Speaker 2: his game and his overall attitude and competitiveness. I think

280
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,400
Speaker 2: he's poised for a ridiculous season. You guys will see

281
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,640
Speaker 2: this in my season previews, which were a couple weeks

282
00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,080
Speaker 2: away from from when I start going through teams like

283
00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,720
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota, especially if they can figure out what

284
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,959
Speaker 2: to do with Carl Towns. If you give me Anthony

285
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,840
Speaker 2: Edwards with Jayden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert, and I'm getting

286
00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 2: a ton of stops, and I have that dude, Anthony Edwards,

287
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,080
Speaker 2: the alpha dog. I like my chance as his basketball

288
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:19,480
Speaker 2: team to win a lot of games and to make

289
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,720
Speaker 2: some noise in the playoffs. So that's something I'm really

290
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,719
Speaker 2: looking forward to. The biggest thing that stood out to

291
00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,960
Speaker 2: me from that closing group is Austin Reeves simply has

292
00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,200
Speaker 2: to close with this group. He simplifies the pecking order

293
00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,240
Speaker 2: of decision making. Austin Reeves is the guy I would

294
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,520
Speaker 2: basically replace Jalen Brunson with in the starting line or

295
00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:39,200
Speaker 2: in not the starting lineup. I think you should start

296
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,400
Speaker 2: with Jalen Brunson because of the politics of it and

297
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,200
Speaker 2: the egos at play. You start Jalen Brunson, but you

298
00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,320
Speaker 2: give him a quick pull and then you close with

299
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,560
Speaker 2: Austin Reeves. Why simplifies decision making, gets the ball out

300
00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:52,840
Speaker 2: of his hands and gets the ball in Anthony Edwards's

301
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,800
Speaker 2: hands instead of Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson basically playing

302
00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,840
Speaker 2: tug of war over who controls possessions. Austin Reeves kind

303
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,560
Speaker 2: of simplifies that process. He's a dead eye spot up player.

304
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,080
Speaker 2: He's converted fifteen spot up possessions into twenty four points.

305
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:08,920
Speaker 2: Think about how I'm saying that is that's one point

306
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,200
Speaker 2: six points per possession. He's eight for twelve on catching

307
00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:14,480
Speaker 2: two threes, so you can't leave him open. He's gonna

308
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,080
Speaker 2: make it every single time. If you chase him off

309
00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:17,880
Speaker 2: the line, he's gonna make the right play and he's

310
00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,200
Speaker 2: not gonna force a shot unless he has to at

311
00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:21,680
Speaker 2: the end of the shot clock, which makes him the

312
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,480
Speaker 2: perfect guy to put at the end of a lineup

313
00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,520
Speaker 2: like this, at the fifth guy and a four man

314
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,800
Speaker 2: when you have four other really talented players, Austin makes

315
00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 2: a ton of sense and he can create his own

316
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,280
Speaker 2: shot if he needs to win a pinch. He's run

317
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,360
Speaker 2: fifteen pick and rolls, resulting in eighteen points, which is

318
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,000
Speaker 2: really good, and he's holding his own when teams target

319
00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,400
Speaker 2: him on defense. Teams have tried to post him up

320
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 2: as a mismatch five times and he's only given up

321
00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,320
Speaker 2: four points, including forcing two turnovers. He had a really

322
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 2: nice strip against Germany in their last game. I just

323
00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,920
Speaker 2: think he's the perfect guy in that lineup. That's why

324
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,360
Speaker 2: you see it in the scoreboard. That's why they're winning

325
00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,200
Speaker 2: all their minutes with Austin Reeves on the floor by

326
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,520
Speaker 2: a lot, and that's why Steve kerb coach in the

327
00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,760
Speaker 2: world went with him in the closing lineup. I think

328
00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,200
Speaker 2: they need to continue to do that. Mckel bridges still

329
00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,400
Speaker 2: has to close. He's been awesome. He's defending super well.

330
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,080
Speaker 2: He's kind of been like their dirty wark guy on

331
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,000
Speaker 2: the perimeter. He's shooting sixty seven percent effective field goal

332
00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:14,760
Speaker 2: percentage on catch and shoot jump shots. That's awesome. He's

333
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,760
Speaker 2: kind of like their Swiss army knife in that group.

334
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:18,840
Speaker 2: I think he makes a ton of sense. Obviously, Jaron

335
00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,320
Speaker 2: Jackson has been holding down the rim. They've done a

336
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,680
Speaker 2: really nice job. They did it against Germany again twenty

337
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,240
Speaker 2: two to five run over a seven minute span. That

338
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,040
Speaker 2: goes to show you just how good their defense can

339
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,880
Speaker 2: be when they really really lock in, because Jaron Jackson's

340
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,320
Speaker 2: such a gifted rim protector, and the guys in that

341
00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,880
Speaker 2: lineup are doing their job chasing guys over the top

342
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:40,400
Speaker 2: of screens and funneling them into Jaron Jackson again. If

343
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,960
Speaker 2: Brandon so again, if we got Jaron Jackson, mckal bridges

344
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,080
Speaker 2: Austin Reeves and Anthony Edwards. That fifth guy is the

345
00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,000
Speaker 2: guy that's kind of up in the air. Again, if

346
00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,800
Speaker 2: Ingram is locked in on the details, I think you

347
00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,360
Speaker 2: close with Ingram. He's a better player, he has the

348
00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,720
Speaker 2: tools to be a really impactful defensive player. Yeah, I

349
00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,360
Speaker 2: go with Ingram. But if Ingram is not fused on

350
00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,200
Speaker 2: those things and he's in his feelings about how he's

351
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,640
Speaker 2: not getting as much touches as he deserves, that's when

352
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,120
Speaker 2: you make a move to somebody different. If you can

353
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,360
Speaker 2: get away with going small, depending on the matchup. I

354
00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,760
Speaker 2: like Tyre's Halliburton dead eye catch and shoot shooter really

355
00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 2: good ball mover makes a ton of sense there. If

356
00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,280
Speaker 2: you have to go big, Palo or Bobby Portis represent

357
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,040
Speaker 2: interesting options. I wanted to quick shout out Palamonkarra. I've

358
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,520
Speaker 2: been super impressed by him in these exhibitions, just with

359
00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 2: how hard he's playing. He's still a whole bull in

360
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,040
Speaker 2: a china shop. On the offensive end of the floor,

361
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,680
Speaker 2: just kind of seems like a little bit rushed in

362
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:33,920
Speaker 2: his struggling to kind of identify what he should do

363
00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,080
Speaker 2: in that role. But on the defensive end and rebounding

364
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,160
Speaker 2: I've actually been really impressed with him, and I kind

365
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,360
Speaker 2: of keep seeing this potential for small ball center with Palamoncarra.

366
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,000
Speaker 2: I remember when I watched him in Summer League the

367
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,840
Speaker 2: first time, his size was what flashed to me the

368
00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,920
Speaker 2: most as I was watching him play in person. He

369
00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,040
Speaker 2: is absolutely huge, and he is capable of holding down

370
00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:55,880
Speaker 2: a lineup as a backup center, And I think that's

371
00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,440
Speaker 2: a really interesting thing for a potential future Orlando Magic

372
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,280
Speaker 2: group that could run out lineups with a bunch of

373
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,920
Speaker 2: dudes who are between you know, six eight and six

374
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,560
Speaker 2: eleven that can dribble, shoot and pass, but also can defend.

375
00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,199
Speaker 2: So that's super, super exciting. So essentially the pathway of

376
00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,960
Speaker 2: the game, I'd stick with your existing starters, right, stick

377
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,960
Speaker 2: with Brunson and Ingram, with McHale, Bridges, Anthony Edwards, and

378
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,520
Speaker 2: Jaron Jackson. Quick plugs on Jalen Brunson and Brandon Ingram

379
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,119
Speaker 2: if they're not playing any defense. Obviously, rider bench groups longer.

380
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,040
Speaker 2: I'd stretch those units out longer, and then in the

381
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,560
Speaker 2: closing group you move Austin Reeves into it, and then

382
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,960
Speaker 2: if Brandon Ingram's not playing well, you slot someone else

383
00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,920
Speaker 2: in there. Now would I pick Team USA to win

384
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,119
Speaker 2: the World Cup this year. I think it makes a

385
00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:43,600
Speaker 2: ton of sense that USA is the favorite, and if

386
00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,200
Speaker 2: I had to pick one team, I certainly would pick

387
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,560
Speaker 2: USA to win. But if I had to choose, kind

388
00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,080
Speaker 2: of like the old Tiger Woods question, if I had

389
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:52,879
Speaker 2: to choose between Tiger Woods in the field, or in

390
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:54,600
Speaker 2: this case, if I had to choose between Team USA

391
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,720
Speaker 2: and the field, I'd pick the field. I just think

392
00:17:58,080 --> 00:17:59,880
Speaker 2: I don't think Team USA is good enough to blow

393
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,080
Speaker 2: teams out, and that means they're going to be in

394
00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:04,840
Speaker 2: close games, and there are some other really good players

395
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,320
Speaker 2: in this tournament that if they end up in a

396
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,920
Speaker 2: close game with Team USA, can out execute them, like Canada.

397
00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 2: Canada has shake Gil just Alexander who, in my opinion,

398
00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:14,840
Speaker 2: I had him at thirteenth in my player rankings. I

399
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,840
Speaker 2: think he's better than anybody on Team USX and is

400
00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,879
Speaker 2: very close and ant could outplay him. But SGA is

401
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:22,919
Speaker 2: at least at that level, if not a little bit higher.

402
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,960
Speaker 2: They have Dylan Brooks, RJ Barrett, and Lou Dort, all

403
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,240
Speaker 2: guys who are outstanding perimeter defenders.

404
00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:28,520
Speaker 1: RJ.

405
00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:33,399
Speaker 2: Barrett's having a really impressive international play sequence, here just

406
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,560
Speaker 2: beating people off the dribble and finishing with his left

407
00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:37,480
Speaker 2: hand at the rim. They had a really impressive game

408
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,600
Speaker 2: in a overtime win against against Germany. At least I

409
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,320
Speaker 2: think it was overtime, but it was a really really

410
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:46,119
Speaker 2: close game I watched between Germany and Canada where RJ.

411
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,400
Speaker 2: Barrett basically took down It took over the game down

412
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,439
Speaker 2: the stretch. And then they have Kelly Olynnick as like

413
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:55,359
Speaker 2: a floor spacer. Their flawed team because they like guys

414
00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,360
Speaker 2: like Lou Dorton. Dylan Brooks can't shoot and RJ. Barrett's

415
00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,680
Speaker 2: somewhat inconsistent as a shooter, so they can go really

416
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,200
Speaker 2: cold offensively for a while. So I would not pick

417
00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,160
Speaker 2: them to win. I'd pick USA to win. But yeah,

418
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,679
Speaker 2: if you're in a dog fight against Team USA, there's

419
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,560
Speaker 2: absolutely a chance that are that you know, Dylan Brooks

420
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,399
Speaker 2: and r J. Barrett and Loud dort could lock in

421
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,639
Speaker 2: on defense and shake Gildas Alexander could make a bunch

422
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,480
Speaker 2: of big plays offensively down the stretch and beat a

423
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,200
Speaker 2: USA team in an elimination game. So that's a team

424
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,840
Speaker 2: that's a threat. France has Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier

425
00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:31,440
Speaker 2: Obviously a bad shooting game from Team USA where they're

426
00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,720
Speaker 2: all over penetrating into Rudy Gobert could be a problem

427
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,000
Speaker 2: if fourtyer makes some shots. Australia has Josh Giddey and

428
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,760
Speaker 2: Patty Mills and Matisse Thaibel. They did lose Jack Landale,

429
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,399
Speaker 2: which severely hurts their chance as he had an ankle injury,

430
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 2: but they still have a puncher's chance. And then Slovenia

431
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,399
Speaker 2: like Lucas having an awesome sequence here, he's just absolutely

432
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 2: flambaying everybody in the post. He's got twenty two points

433
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 2: on thirteen post ups so far this summer, one point

434
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,240
Speaker 2: one to two points per possession in ISO, fifty six

435
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,040
Speaker 2: percent effective filial percentage on pull up jump shots. He's

436
00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 2: playing super well. I wouldn't want to face him in

437
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 2: an elimination game. So again, like I picked the US

438
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,440
Speaker 2: in any of those matchups, but they're not good enough

439
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,960
Speaker 2: to blow those teams out and you get a couple

440
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 2: of close games, all it takes is one of them

441
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 2: going the wrong way. So USA should be the favorite.

442
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,240
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pick them to win the tournament. But given

443
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,400
Speaker 2: the choice between the US and the field. I think

444
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,320
Speaker 2: the field is a safer bet. We're continuing our top

445
00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:27,639
Speaker 2: twenty five players the last twenty five years today with

446
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,440
Speaker 2: number seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, and fourteen. You guys know the

447
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 2: joke before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels.

448
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,520
Speaker 2: You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me

449
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 2: on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you guys don't

450
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,880
Speaker 2: miss any SHO announcements. And for whatever reason you miss

451
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:42,760
Speaker 2: one of these videos and you can't get back over

452
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,479
Speaker 2: to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them

453
00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,359
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops Tonight, all right,

454
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,560
Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So a couple things from the

455
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,480
Speaker 2: comments on the last video. First of all, shout out

456
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,680
Speaker 2: to Mounibe two thousand and one or MUNEEB two thousand

457
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,120
Speaker 2: and one. You were the person who guessed the two

458
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,119
Speaker 2: players ahead on the list that are not champions and

459
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,119
Speaker 2: Steve Nash and Allen Iverson, so good guest. There also

460
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,639
Speaker 2: still several of you guys who are very upset with

461
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,240
Speaker 2: Chris Paul not being on the list, and I talked

462
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 2: a little bit about this yesterday, but the consistent theme

463
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 2: that I'm seeing from people is saying that talking about

464
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 2: rings culture and how that messes with analysis, and then

465
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 2: just basically struggling to see the difference between evaluating players

466
00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:28,639
Speaker 2: in a vacuum versus what actually happened, Right, So, like

467
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,800
Speaker 2: I want to differentiate between those two because there's value

468
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 2: in both.

469
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: Right.

470
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,160
Speaker 2: Like, for instance, it's like with my top twenty five

471
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 2: players in the league this year, Right, if I am

472
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 2: evaluating players in a vacuum, I'm probably gonna have Luca.

473
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 1: At three or four.

474
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 2: I'd still go Jokic one and Steph two, but I'd

475
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 2: have either Yannis at three and Luca at four, or

476
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 2: Luca at three and Yana set four, right, if I'm

477
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,680
Speaker 2: evaluating based on the future. But that's not the purpose

478
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:57,919
Speaker 2: of that specific list for me. That list for me

479
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 2: is more of like an award ceremony. That is, like,

480
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 2: let's talk about what actually happened. And even though I

481
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,159
Speaker 2: do view Luka Doncic in a vacuum as one of

482
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,680
Speaker 2: the five best basketball players in the world, there were

483
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,679
Speaker 2: nine guys this season that I thought deserved more credit

484
00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:16,159
Speaker 2: for what they accomplished actually in the actual basketball games

485
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 2: that took place, Right, And so that's just kind of

486
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,040
Speaker 2: a difference between those two concepts. As a general manager,

487
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 2: if I have an option in an open draft to

488
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,400
Speaker 2: take Jimmy Butler or Luka Doncic or year twenty one

489
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 2: Lebron James or Luka Doncic, I'm obviously taking Luca. But

490
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,119
Speaker 2: I'm not operating in a vacuum. That list, for me,

491
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 2: is more of an awards ceremony. If you guys did

492
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 2: a list, you might look at it more as an

493
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,200
Speaker 2: in a vacuum type of situation. And if we were

494
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 2: discussing the list in that sort of situation, I'm obviously

495
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 2: gonna rank my list very differently. Chris Paul is obviously

496
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 2: a better basketball player than guys like Chauncey Billups or

497
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,720
Speaker 2: Jason Kidd right, or even Tony Parker, but I Jason

498
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:57,200
Speaker 2: Kidd it's more of a toss up. But at least

499
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 2: with Chauncey Billups and Tony Parker, you're taking Chris right.

500
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 2: And if we were operating in a vacuum, then yeah,

501
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 2: I would have Chris Paul that high. But again, mine's

502
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 2: more of an awards ceremony. Mine is more talking about

503
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:14,520
Speaker 2: what actually happened, and those guys have more impressive resumes

504
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 2: to me in terms of top end accomplishments as it

505
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,919
Speaker 2: pertains to winning basketball games at the highest level. Obviously,

506
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 2: if I took Tony Parker and swapped him out for

507
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,879
Speaker 2: Chris Paul, Chris Paul is going to be a multiple

508
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,920
Speaker 2: time champion right now. But that I just want to

509
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,680
Speaker 2: differentiate between those two. It's not like I'm saying Chris

510
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 2: Paul's not top twenty five because I'm just trying to

511
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:34,840
Speaker 2: shit on who he was as a basketball player. That's

512
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,160
Speaker 2: not what I'm saying. I'm literally talking about what actually happened,

513
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 2: and I see there's value in that. I think that

514
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 2: in terms of reflecting on life, we have a tendency

515
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 2: to try to talk about what could have been right, Like,

516
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 2: even me personally, there are times when I look back

517
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 2: and think about some decisions I made in my early

518
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 2: twenties that directly affected my basketball career, and sometimes I

519
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 2: think about what might have happened had I done something differently.

520
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 2: And that's great, but that's not what happened. What actually

521
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,439
Speaker 2: happened is what actually happened, and I'm here where I

522
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 2: am as a result, and my college basketball story is

523
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 2: a product of that. Right, And that's set in stone.

524
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:12,919
Speaker 2: I can't go back and change that, and that is

525
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,679
Speaker 2: the reality. We can talk about what might have happened

526
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 2: with Chris Paul if he got an opportunity to be

527
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 2: the second best player on a team while he was

528
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 2: in his prime, but unfortunately we didn't really get that option,

529
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 2: and so we don't get to have that data, and

530
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 2: there is no trophy at the end of that road.

531
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 2: And so again, if it helps you, guys, one of

532
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 2: the easiest ways to put it is this list is

533
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,199
Speaker 2: more of an award ceremony. This is a is a

534
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 2: chance to look back at what actually happened in NBA

535
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 2: history and focus on that rather than talking about hypotheticals.

536
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 2: You'll notice we add the big what if so that

537
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,719
Speaker 2: we can talk about hypotheticals over the course of this.

538
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 2: And again, like I talked, Chris Paul is still active.

539
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 2: Chris Paul's a player that I've talked about a lot

540
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,680
Speaker 2: on my show. Again, like I said yesterday, you guys

541
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 2: know how highly I view him in terms of his

542
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,439
Speaker 2: actual basketball team when he was at his peak. But

543
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,359
Speaker 2: just for the criteria I set up on this list,

544
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:05,680
Speaker 2: it came up differently. If I was evaluating the top

545
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 2: twenty five players the last twenty five years just based

546
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 2: solely on in a vacuum performance. Yeah, guys like Joel

547
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 2: Embiid aren't going to make the list, right, It's gonna

548
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 2: be a little bit different. You're going to valuate guys

549
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 2: a little bit different. But that's not how it works.

550
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 2: So hopefully that gives you guys. Again, like I said yesterday,

551
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 2: this is an attempt to number three to explain it.

552
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:24,200
Speaker 1: So we'll see.

553
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,720
Speaker 2: Hopefully that goes. It helps you guys understand a little

554
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 2: bit better. So Number seventeen Anthony Davis. By the way,

555
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 2: the first NBA game I ever went to was to

556
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,280
Speaker 2: see Anthony Davis. I just watched games on TV as

557
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 2: a kid and never actually bothered to go to a game.

558
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,479
Speaker 2: And then I finally did. I think it was in

559
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen or sixteen, and I watched Anthony Davis when

560
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 2: he was with the Pelicans. He was the second best

561
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,120
Speaker 2: player on a championship team in twenty twenty, four time

562
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 2: first team All NBA, six time All NBA Overall, four

563
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 2: time All Defense, and he led the league in blocks

564
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 2: three times blocks per game. I should say I put

565
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 2: his prime down is twenty fifteen to the present. In

566
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,119
Speaker 2: that stretch, he averaged twenty six points, eleven rebounds, and

567
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 2: three assists per game to go with two point three

568
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,199
Speaker 2: blocks per game on fifty nine percent true shooting, and

569
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 2: in the playoffs he averaged twenty six eleven to three

570
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 2: with two point two blocks per game on sixty two

571
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 2: percent true shooting. I think Anthony Davis, like when we

572
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 2: look back on this era, his claim to fame as

573
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 2: he's the best defensive player of this era when he's healthy.

574
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 2: There are more accomplished defensive players right, guys like Kawhi

575
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 2: Leonard Draymond Green that have won more awards and have

576
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 2: had more recognition in terms of what they can do.

577
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert is another guy that's got a lot of

578
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 2: regular season recognition. But when it comes down to actual

579
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 2: defensive peak, I have never seen a player in this

580
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 2: era reached the individual defensive ceiling that Anthony Davis reached

581
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty playoffs, and he was just only

582
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,959
Speaker 2: a small level below that in this past postseason. When

583
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 2: it comes to actual defensive impact on game by on

584
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 2: a game by one single player or on a series

585
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 2: by one single player, I don't think anybody in this

586
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 2: era has touched what Anthony Davis has been able to do,

587
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 2: and I think that's what he'll be remembered for his archetype.

588
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 2: He's one of the few unicorns to come into the

589
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,679
Speaker 2: NBA in this century. He doesn't really resemble any player

590
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 2: who came before. Ridiculous length. He six foot ten, but

591
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 2: he has a seven foot six wingspan, his super quick feet,

592
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,440
Speaker 2: in good hand eye coordination. He handles the ball really well,

593
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,120
Speaker 2: moves his feet really well. He's not clumsy, great hands,

594
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,439
Speaker 2: catches and finishes everything around the rim. Like I said earlier,

595
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 2: best defender of this era, best rim protector in this era.

596
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,160
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, if we remove Walker Kessler

597
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 2: only as one season, no player in the entire NBA

598
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,880
Speaker 2: has averaged more blocks per game than Anthony Davis since

599
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 2: he came into the league in twenty fifteen. It's also

600
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 2: a good switch defender. We look at situations like the

601
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 2: semi finals this year and him getting a couple of

602
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 2: stops on Steph Curry and even stretching into the regular

603
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 2: season the last couple of years, you see guards like

604
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,959
Speaker 2: get a switch on Anthony Davis and they think they

605
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 2: can beat him off. The dribble, like Kate Cunningham did

606
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 2: it a couple times in Detroit, or Tyrese Haliburton did

607
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 2: it this year with the Pacers.

608
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 1: Did you guys get.

609
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis on a switch and they think they have

610
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: an advantage and they just don't. He's too quick, and

611
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,159
Speaker 2: he's too his defensive IQ is too high, and his

612
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 2: physical tools are too great. Also ran the floor really

613
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 2: well before his injuries. I think I've been critical of

614
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:18,199
Speaker 2: his ability to keep up in the transition pace of

615
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 2: the game in recent years. Total Swiss Army knife On offense,

616
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 2: He's a great role man. He's got an arsenal of

617
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 2: little short jump jumpers and pop shots in the lane floaters.

618
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 2: I think he's the best vertical spacer in the league.

619
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,400
Speaker 2: I think if there's a guy that you're talking about

620
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 2: throwing lobs above the rim, there's nobody better than Anthony Davis.

621
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:37,440
Speaker 1: As far as ISOs and post ups.

622
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 2: He's a good ISO post up player, but not as

623
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 2: good as he's capable of being. He's pretty good this year,

624
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 2: well over a point per possession in a post up situation.

625
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 1: This year.

626
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 2: He actually shot sixty one percent on hook shots this year.

627
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 2: That's a kind of his bread and butter out of

628
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 2: the post. He's got a good baseline rip through move

629
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 2: as he tries to kind of bury the defender out

630
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 2: of the basket and take a power dribble to get back.

631
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 2: He's good at drawing fouls, but nothing got close to

632
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 2: what he reached in the twenty twenty postseason. Outside of that,

633
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 2: he's been kind of somewhat average compared to his peers

634
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 2: as a shot creator. That twenty twenty postseason, though, was

635
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 2: an interesting little window of time, which we'll come back

636
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 2: to in a little bit. His crowning achievement was he

637
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 2: was the second best player on the twenty twenty Lakers,

638
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 2: and not just a usual second best player like we've

639
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 2: talked about in other elements of this list, like Anthony Davis,

640
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 2: was a bona fide top tier superstar in that playoff run,

641
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 2: like Lebron, James was better than him in that playoff run,

642
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 2: but only because he was the best player in the world.

643
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 2: I thought Lebron was the best player in the world

644
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 2: that season, but I ranked Anthony Davis at four that season.

645
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,959
Speaker 2: I basically went Lebron's Steph kd and then Anthony Davis

646
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 2: at that point, and then I think I had Yiannis

647
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 2: at five if I remember correctly, at that point in time,

648
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 2: But Anthony Davis was a number two, but only in

649
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 2: relation to Lebron James. He was every bit the superstar

650
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 2: that the other guys at the top of the league

651
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 2: were at that point. He averaged twenty eight points, ten rebounds,

652
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 2: and four assists in that playoff run on sixty seven

653
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 2: percent true shooting, which is ridiculous, but his shot making

654
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 2: was just off the charts. Fifty nine percent effective field

655
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 2: goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers in that playoff run,

656
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 2: forty five percent effective field goal percentage on pull up

657
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 2: jump shots in that playoff run, fifty two percent on runners,

658
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 2: and seventy eight percent at the rim. And it led

659
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 2: to this super high level half court shot creation. Became

660
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 2: a big deal for the Lakers that they could just

661
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 2: dump the ball to Anthony Davis in the post with

662
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 2: seven seconds on the shot clock and he was going

663
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 2: to get a bucket basically one out of two times.

664
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, he ran one hundred and

665
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 2: ninety eight ISOs and post ups in that playoff run,

666
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 2: scored two hundred and seventeen points, including passes, So just

667
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 2: a ridiculous shot creation postseason for Anthony Davis. A ton

668
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 2: of tough jump shots off the dribble over both shoulders,

669
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 2: off of different footwork and dribble combinations. He was just

670
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 2: a huge part of what made the Lakers a championship

671
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 2: team in that season. It was very much Lebron won

672
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 2: a Anthony Davis one B, which I think kind of

673
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 2: sets him apart from some of his peers. Now he

674
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 2: hasn't been able to replicate that offensive success since that point,

675
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 2: but it doesn't really matter. He did it long enough

676
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 2: to get Alari O'Brien Trophy, and that makes you immortal,

677
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 2: basically in the history of the NBA. Biggest one if

678
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 2: of Anthony Davis's career what if in the twenty twenty

679
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 2: season it didn't get stopped by COVID. And the reason

680
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 2: why I say that is the Lakers I thought would

681
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 2: have won the championship anyway. They started the season twenty

682
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 2: four and three that year. I thought they were clearly

683
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 2: the best team in the league. They were the best

684
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 2: team in the West. They had some issues with the

685
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 2: Clippers earlier in the season, but they solved those issues

686
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 2: right before the season got shut down, they took care

687
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 2: of the Clippers in a game on the road, on

688
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 2: the road, but in the Clippers arena, and then they

689
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 2: had also beat the Bucks, and Lebron was like in

690
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 2: a position where he was in a good spot to

691
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 2: win MVP. I actually thought he should have won MVP

692
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 2: that year, but then the season gets cut short. Now

693
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 2: why does that matter? Because I do believe they would

694
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 2: have won the title anyway, And in a traditional off

695
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,479
Speaker 2: season where Anthony Davis gets the rest, I think he

696
00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 2: comes into the following year in better shape and I

697
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 2: think he has better injury luck. But instead there was

698
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 2: this ridiculously quick turnaround. As matter of fact, the Lakers

699
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 2: hoisted the trophy on October eleventh, and then on December

700
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 2: twenty second, they were playing a regular season NBA game,

701
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 2: with obviously training camp to coming in a couple weeks

702
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 2: before that, so they basically got like maybe six weeks

703
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 2: off before they had to start playing basketball again. And

704
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 2: I do think that Anthony Davis ended up taking most

705
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 2: of that time off, as did most of the players

706
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 2: on the Lakers, and I think that that directly led

707
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: to some of the injury issues that they dealt with

708
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 2: in that particular season which kind of spiraled over the

709
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 2: course of the next couple years for Ad, and I

710
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 2: wonder sometimes if that twenty twenty season was more normal,

711
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,120
Speaker 2: if Ad was in a traditional kind of routine that

712
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 2: he had been in for the earlier seasons of his career,

713
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 2: I wonder if he would have been healthier. Moving on

714
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 2: to number sixteen, Jason Kidd, one time NBA champion in

715
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 2: twenty eleven as a role player for the Dallas Mavericks.

716
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 2: Also a two time best player on a finals team

717
00:32:58,200 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 2: with the New Jersey Nets in the early two thousand.

718
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:04,240
Speaker 2: Five time first team All NBA, six time All NBA

719
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 2: in total, nine time All defense, led the league in

720
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 2: assists five times. The prime I put down from nineteen

721
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 2: ninety six to twenty ten. It's ridiculously long prime. He

722
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 2: made an All Star team in nineteen ninety six and

723
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 2: then made another All Star team in twenty ten. Fourteen

724
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 2: point seven rebounds in nine a sis with two steals

725
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 2: per game on fifty one percent tru shooting fifteen to

726
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 2: seven and nine with two steals in the playoffs on

727
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 2: fifty percent true shooting. His claim to fame, he was

728
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 2: one of the best defensive guards in the league during

729
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,920
Speaker 2: that era. But he was the master of the fast break.

730
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 2: That was he was probably the very best player in

731
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 2: the league at playing fast break basketball at that particular time.

732
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,240
Speaker 2: That New Jersey Nets team was super fun. They were

733
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 2: super athletic. They had this ridiculous front line with Richard

734
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 2: Jefferson and Kenyon Martin. They also had carry kittles out there.

735
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,239
Speaker 2: They would just get stops and run the floor. They

736
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 2: were the number one defense in the league in two

737
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,239
Speaker 2: thousand and two, eight in two thousand and three, and

738
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 2: they just got stops and they ran it down your throat.

739
00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 2: And Jason Kidd was like a really good athlete that

740
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 2: would just go down the floor with crazy pace and

741
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 2: then if you didn't stop him, he was going all

742
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 2: the way to the rim and laying it up. And

743
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 2: if you did stop him, he just had he just

744
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 2: had massive control over the fast break to get easy

745
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 2: dunks and layups. In transition. He also kind of he

746
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 2: had this like those of you guys who watched back

747
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 2: in that era will remember, he would like kind of

748
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: throw these like one arm passes up the floor, just

749
00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 2: like these rifle passes up the floor. When guys would

750
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 2: get ahead on the break. That was like the identity

751
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 2: of the New Jersey nets. They got stops and they

752
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 2: ran in transition. They just ran it down your throat.

753
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,360
Speaker 2: So let from there, let's just skip ahead to the

754
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 2: crowning achievement and we'll come back to his archetype. So

755
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 2: he was the best player on two NBA Finals teams,

756
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 2: literally got within two wins of an NBA championship in

757
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 2: two thousand and three. He also finished second in MVP

758
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 2: voting behind him Duncan in two thousand and two. In

759
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,760
Speaker 2: that two year span, he averaged seventeen points, seven rebounds

760
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 2: and nine assists twenty points, eight rebounds and nine assists

761
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,319
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. And they were actually down by two

762
00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:59,439
Speaker 2: in Game five of the two thousand and three NBA

763
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 2: Finals with four and a half minutes left and they

764
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 2: just couldn't get it done. Steve Kerr hit a couple

765
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,879
Speaker 2: of big jump shots down the stretch of that game

766
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 2: and the Spurs ended up winning, and then they closed

767
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 2: it out in six. But they were pretty close relative

768
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 2: to some other Finals teams to actually getting the job done.

769
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 2: And then after that he had some knee issues and

770
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 2: kind of lost his ceiling at that point. But we'll

771
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 2: get to that in a minute. His archetype just a

772
00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 2: huge guard six foot four, two hundred and fifteen pounds.

773
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 2: He was one of the best defenders in the league,

774
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,360
Speaker 2: really good defensive end. Steaks, played passing lanes well, disrupted

775
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 2: ball handlers. He was actually a lot of people don't

776
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 2: realize this. Jason Kidd his second all time in NBA

777
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 2: history in steals. He could switch and guard bigger players

778
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 2: as well, famously did so to Lebron James in the

779
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:46,799
Speaker 2: twenty eleven NBA Finals. At times, a decent half court

780
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,759
Speaker 2: offensive player got to the rim a lot. Is different

781
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 2: than Chauncey. Billups is very right hand heavy, loved to

782
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:52,879
Speaker 2: drive to the right, like to get all the way

783
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 2: to the rim. Not much of a pull up shooter.

784
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:57,320
Speaker 2: He took some and he made some, but not nearly

785
00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 2: as frequent a pull up jump shooter as someone like

786
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 2: Chouncey was. He's good at drawing fouls, like a lot

787
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,400
Speaker 2: of the big guards from that era, played a lot

788
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 2: of post up basketball, but again, he was at his

789
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,520
Speaker 2: best in transition. That was like his bread and butter.

790
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,399
Speaker 2: He was an inconsistent jump shooter early in his career,

791
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,280
Speaker 2: but he worked really hard at it and became basically

792
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 2: a dead eye jump shooter in catch and shoot situations

793
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 2: by the tail end of his career, which turned him

794
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 2: into a functional role player on a championship team. Something

795
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 2: that like, that's what I was kind of talking about

796
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 2: with Russell Westbrook earlier, Like when Jason Kidd had his

797
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 2: knee injury and started to decline, he changed his game

798
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 2: and became a player that could kind of change his

799
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 2: role and in fit within a championship context. As a

800
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 2: matter of fact, in the twenty ten season, Jason Kidd

801
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 2: took over four hundred catch and shoot jump shots and

802
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 2: made them at a sixty five percent effective field goal percentage.

803
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 2: So it gives you an idea of the level of

804
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 2: a competency he built as a jump shooter towards the

805
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 2: tail end of his career. Biggest one if of Jason

806
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:51,439
Speaker 2: Kid's career, in my opinion, is what if his knee

807
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 2: held up. He had microfracture surgery in two thousand and four,

808
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 2: never really got back to what he was as an

809
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,719
Speaker 2: athlete after that. And the reason why that's interesting to

810
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 2: me is the league was why open during that stretch

811
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 2: from two thousand and four to two thousand and eight,

812
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 2: we had five different NBA champions, and so it's interesting

813
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 2: to think if he had held up, whether or not

814
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 2: him and the Nets could have broken through one of

815
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:14,759
Speaker 2: those years. Number fifteen Dwight Howard NBA Champion as a

816
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 2: role player with the Lakers in twenty twenty, best player

817
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 2: on a finals team in two thousand and nine with

818
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,839
Speaker 2: the Orlando Magic. Five time First Team All NBA, eight

819
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 2: total All NBA selections, three time Defensive Player of the Year,

820
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,399
Speaker 2: five times All Defense, five time Rebounding Leader of the Year,

821
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 2: a rebounding champion, whatever you want to call it, two

822
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 2: time block leader for the NBA. His prime, I put

823
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 2: down his two thousand and seven to twenty fourteen, and

824
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:41,799
Speaker 2: that span he averaged twenty points and thirteen rebounds to

825
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,440
Speaker 2: go with two point three blocks per game. In the playoffs,

826
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,720
Speaker 2: he averaged twenty points fourteen rebounds with two point seven

827
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 2: blocks per game. His claim to fame was he was

828
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,400
Speaker 2: the best center in the NBA. During his prime, he

829
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 2: had four consecutive top five MVP finishes. He was the

830
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,720
Speaker 2: runner up for MVP in twenty eleven. He had fifty

831
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 2: one games with twenty points and twenty rebounds. As a

832
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:06,279
Speaker 2: matter of fact, if you go back I was using

833
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 2: an AI platform for this, but if you go back

834
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 2: to nineteen eighty three is basically the cutoff. Since nineteen

835
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,840
Speaker 2: eighty three, nobody in the NBA has had more twenty

836
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 2: twenty games than Dwight Howard. Anybody got a guess who's

837
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 2: number two. If you guessed Andre Drummond, you were correct.

838
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 2: That's a random one for you. But Dwight was also

839
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 2: the very best defensive player in the league and the

840
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,279
Speaker 2: best vertical spacer in the league. Iconically had a game

841
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 2: winning dunk on a sideline at a bounds lob in

842
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,560
Speaker 2: a regular season game in his early Magic career. His archetype,

843
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 2: you know, it's hard to describe. He was another unicorn.

844
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 2: He was just a complete mountain of a man at

845
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 2: his position. The way I would describe it as like

846
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 2: the way that Giannis looks as a power forward, and

847
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 2: it just doesn't even make sense to see him next

848
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 2: to other power forwards. That's the way Dwight Howard looked

849
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 2: next to other centers. He just was chiseled and filled

850
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,319
Speaker 2: out in a way that just was completely different than

851
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 2: any other NBA player at that point. His very best

852
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 2: defensive player in the league. Was a ridiculous rim protector.

853
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, he's thirteenth on the all

854
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 2: time NBA blocks list, which is really impressive when you

855
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 2: factor in the number of injuries that he dealt with.

856
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 2: He's a pretty good post up player, of but it

857
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:15,280
Speaker 2: never as good as he should have been. Had decent footwork.

858
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:17,799
Speaker 2: Is basically like he'd go through the lane with these

859
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 2: sweeping hooks, so he'd kind of like go across the

860
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 2: lane off of his left foot and take like a

861
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 2: right handed sweeping look in the lane, a hook in

862
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,279
Speaker 2: the lane towards the baseline. It was more of a

863
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 2: traditional footwear kind of like paw gasol or just drop

864
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,279
Speaker 2: step and then like a left handed hook on the

865
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 2: right on the left block and a right handed hook

866
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 2: on the right block along the baseline. He had a

867
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,359
Speaker 2: decent spin move too, a really good power dribble where

868
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 2: he just shut guys off with that left shoulder and

869
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 2: send him flying and just rise up and dunk. A

870
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 2: lot of you guys have seen, you know, a half

871
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 2: dozen or so crazy Dwight Howard post up dunks. Good

872
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:52,400
Speaker 2: little hook shot. You made it just under half of

873
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:54,360
Speaker 2: the time, not as sharp as he probably should have

874
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:56,279
Speaker 2: been with that shot, but he was pretty good with

875
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 2: his hook shot. Really, the thing that held him down

876
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 2: was in terms of his post up efficiency was he

877
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,080
Speaker 2: really struggled to make free throws, was consistently in the

878
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 2: mid fifties low sixties, right, and then he was never

879
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:09,879
Speaker 2: a good passer. And this is actually a crazy stat.

880
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:12,840
Speaker 2: Dwight Howard amassed on six hundred and seventy six assists

881
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 2: in his career to go with three thousand, three hundred

882
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,320
Speaker 2: and two turnovers, almost double, and so the turnovers in

883
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,880
Speaker 2: the miss free throws just kind of like hindered some

884
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,000
Speaker 2: of his success as a post player, despite having some

885
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:27,880
Speaker 2: okay footwork and a decent hook shot. Right, So, he

886
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,239
Speaker 2: was consistently below a point per possession in post up

887
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,800
Speaker 2: situations and just not quite as good as his peers.

888
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,160
Speaker 2: His crowning achievement. You could go two different ways here.

889
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 2: You could talk about his peak as a player, which

890
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 2: I think was in twenty eleven. He averaged twenty three

891
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 2: and fourteen on sixty two percent through shooting and finished

892
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 2: second in the MVP race, but he lost in the

893
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 2: first round. So you guys know, I'm going to go

894
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 2: with the playoff accomplishment, So I put Dwight's claim to

895
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,040
Speaker 2: fame as or his crowning achievement as the two thousand

896
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 2: and nine Finals run. The two thousand and nine Magic

897
00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 2: were a really fun team. They were the best defense

898
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 2: in the league, anchored by Dwight Howard, but they had

899
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,759
Speaker 2: this really good offense that wasn't as centered around Dwight

900
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 2: Howard as you would think. They did run a lot

901
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 2: of post ups for Dwight, but they were mainly a

902
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 2: pick and roll team. They had these two really good

903
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 2: pick and roll handlers in Jimy or Nelson in he know,

904
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 2: Turco Glue, and they actually ran more pick and roll

905
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 2: than anybody in the league that season, and a lot

906
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 2: of it was just Dwight setting good screens, rolling hard

907
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 2: to the Ramy's the best vertical spacer in the league

908
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:24,439
Speaker 2: at the time, and then they just had a ton

909
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,720
Speaker 2: of shooting. With Courtney Lee out there and with Richard

910
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:30,400
Speaker 2: Lewis out there, just everybody could shoot.

911
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: They spaced the floor really well.

912
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,080
Speaker 2: It's kind of funny looking back, because they were second

913
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 2: in the league in three pointers made that year with

914
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:41,319
Speaker 2: eight hundred and seventeen. To give you an idea. The

915
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,600
Speaker 2: Bulls made the fewest in the league this year at

916
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:46,080
Speaker 2: eight hundred and fifty four, So the second best three

917
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 2: point shooting team in two thousand and nine would be

918
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 2: the very worst three point shooting team today, which goes

919
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 2: to show you how much the league has changed. But

920
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,399
Speaker 2: they spread teams out, they got great looks and pick

921
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 2: and roll, and they played great defense, and that was

922
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 2: their identity. They upset the one seed Cavs team in

923
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,440
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference Finals despite Lebron James averaging thirty nine

924
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 2: nine to eight, or excuse me, thirty nine to eight

925
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,760
Speaker 2: to eight on fifty nine percent tru shooting. But Dwight

926
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 2: just absolutely obliterated Zydrunas so Oguskis and Anderson Verjau average

927
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 2: like twenty eight in the series. He had forty points

928
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,440
Speaker 2: and fourteen rebounds in Game six, knocked down all most

929
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 2: of his free throws. He was twelve for sixteen from

930
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 2: the line in that game too. But then he ran

931
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,920
Speaker 2: into the Lakers and the Lakers just defended Dwight extremely well.

932
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,320
Speaker 2: They held him down to fifteen points per game. Dwight

933
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 2: also had twenty turnovers in five games. You can do

934
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,320
Speaker 2: the math there, and they ended up losing the series

935
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:37,280
Speaker 2: in five games. I wanted to shout out Dwight Howard

936
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,200
Speaker 2: for his late career here because he bounced around as

937
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 2: weird like they had a couple decent years in Houston, right,

938
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:46,960
Speaker 2: he gets eliminated by that crazy Damian Lillard buzzard beater

939
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,280
Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen. Then they make it to the conference

940
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 2: finals in twenty fifteen, but they get their butts kicked.

941
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 2: But then he's all over the place. A year in Atlanta,

942
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:55,960
Speaker 2: a year in Charlotte, he did a year in Washington,

943
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 2: but then he finally settles down in La this weird

944
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 2: non guaranteed contract. Tell him he's never gonna start, he's

945
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 2: gonna come off the bench, even though he's better than

946
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 2: JaVale McGee. Basically just like, we don't want to deal

947
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 2: with any of your shit, so you can come here.

948
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 2: But there's gonna be all these stipulations. And to Dwight's credit,

949
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,960
Speaker 2: he fit in extremely well. Was a great teammate, was

950
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 2: a super important bench piece for the Lakers, ended up

951
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,480
Speaker 2: starting some key games for the Lakers in the postseason.

952
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,640
Speaker 2: Was a huge defensive weapon against Nicole Jokic. Ended up

953
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:23,680
Speaker 2: getting his contract guaranteed in the middle of the season,

954
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 2: kind of as like a sign of the Lakers kind

955
00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 2: of buying into him and giving him that vote of confidence,

956
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,399
Speaker 2: and just was a really important piece for a very

957
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 2: very good NBA championship team in the twenty twenty Los

958
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:40,200
Speaker 2: Angeles Lakers. Was probably like their sixth or seventh best

959
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:45,839
Speaker 2: player on that team. Biggest what if of Dwight Howard's career?

960
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 2: What if Courtney Lee makes the layup at the buzzer

961
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,600
Speaker 2: of Game two of the two thousand and nine NBA Finals.

962
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:52,879
Speaker 2: So it was a really smart play design right. Games

963
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 2: tied I think at eighty eight, and they're inbounding from

964
00:43:56,040 --> 00:44:00,440
Speaker 2: the opposite sideline and Dwight's posting up power right in

965
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,479
Speaker 2: front of the passer, which pulls Powell into basically post

966
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,000
Speaker 2: defense right like a three quarter front, which takes him

967
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 2: away from the rim because he Dwight standing outside the block.

968
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,920
Speaker 2: Everybody else is kind of above the key, and Courtney

969
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 2: Lee's at the top of the key, and Rashard Lewis

970
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:18,919
Speaker 2: actually comes up and sets a backscreen on Kobe Bryant,

971
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 2: who's guarding Courtney Lee. And because the rim was vacant

972
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,200
Speaker 2: and because Kobe didn't switch the screen like they probably

973
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,359
Speaker 2: should have. Courtney Lee ends up getting a pretty good

974
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,239
Speaker 2: look at the rim on a lob pass and he

975
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 2: smokes it. But even crazier if you actually remember in

976
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,239
Speaker 2: that game, on the previous possession, in a late shot

977
00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 2: clock situation, Courtney Lee actually drives into the lane and

978
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:39,359
Speaker 2: misses another layup, a little right handed scoop shot. Both

979
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 2: of these were tough shots. I don't want to act

980
00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 2: like they were one hundred percent layups.

981
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:43,560
Speaker 1: They weren't.

982
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,160
Speaker 2: Both of them were probably like layups you'd miss one

983
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 2: out of three times. But it's crazy because you have

984
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 2: a two and three chance of making it, and you

985
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,560
Speaker 2: get two chances at it, and he misses them both,

986
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:54,719
Speaker 2: and if he makes one of them, they have a

987
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 2: very good chance to go up to one in the series,

988
00:44:56,560 --> 00:45:00,720
Speaker 2: and then who knows what happens from there. Umber fourteen

989
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 2: Allan Iverson, one of our two remaining players who has

990
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 2: not won an NBA Championship. Again, shout out to Monique

991
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,320
Speaker 2: two thousand and one, who guessed the two players correct

992
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 2: in Steve Nation. Allen Iverson he was the best player

993
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:13,719
Speaker 2: on the finals team in two thousand and one. Three

994
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 2: time first team All NBA, seven times All NBA total selections,

995
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:21,480
Speaker 2: four time scoring champion, and a three time steals leader.

996
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,360
Speaker 2: In the NBA, he won the two thousand and one

997
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,000
Speaker 2: regular season MVP Award as well. His prime I put

998
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 2: down from nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and eight.

999
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 2: In that stretch, he averaged twenty nine points, four rebounds,

1000
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 2: and six assists on fifty two percent true shooting. In

1001
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,520
Speaker 2: the playoffs, thirty points, four rebounds and six assists on

1002
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 2: forty nine percent true shooting. We'll talk about efficiency in

1003
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 2: the minute, because I think that's a big thing that

1004
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 2: kind of colors Allen Iverson's career that I want to

1005
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 2: dive into a little bit. Allen's claimed to faint. I

1006
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,800
Speaker 2: thought he was the very best scorer of the early

1007
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 2: two thousands, and probably the second best scorer of that

1008
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,920
Speaker 2: entire era behind Kobe Bryant. In fact, if you pull

1009
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,720
Speaker 2: up total points, if you look just at the window

1010
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 2: of Iverson's prime from two thousand, excuse me, nineteen ninety

1011
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,400
Speaker 2: nine to two thousand and eight, he was second in

1012
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,040
Speaker 2: total points behind Kobe with nineteen four hundred and forty three.

1013
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:07,800
Speaker 2: Anybody got a guess who's third place again? Kobe's first.

1014
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,399
Speaker 2: Going from ninety nine to oh eight, Kobe's first, Allen

1015
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 2: Iverson second. Anybody got a guest for third place. If

1016
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 2: you guess Dirk, you're correct fourth place. I'll be really

1017
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 2: surprised if anybody can get this. Paul Pierce was fourth

1018
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:24,919
Speaker 2: and scoring over that span.

1019
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 1: His archetype.

1020
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 2: He was just this ridiculous shifty guard. I thought he

1021
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,440
Speaker 2: had the best crossover in the NBA at the time,

1022
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,480
Speaker 2: the sweeping right to left and like, it's funny because

1023
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 2: every kid has been trying to cross a copy that

1024
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:42,279
Speaker 2: crossover forever. Even Kobe basically copied that crossover that like

1025
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:44,440
Speaker 2: it's it's funny. This is gonna be one of the

1026
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,439
Speaker 2: big themes with Alan Iverson. He just had such great

1027
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:50,160
Speaker 2: influence on basketball culture during this era. He basically invented

1028
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 2: high volume pull up shooting. He had this crazy arsenal

1029
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:55,720
Speaker 2: of traditional pull ups and like these drifting little leaners

1030
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 2: and fadeaways in the lane. He was really good at

1031
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:01,160
Speaker 2: generating like close pull up jump shots to the rim.

1032
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,400
Speaker 2: Here's how ahead of the game Alan Iverson was as

1033
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 2: a pull up jump shooter in two thousand and five,

1034
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 2: which is as far back as Synergy goes with their tracking.

1035
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,440
Speaker 2: Iverson attempted six hundred and seventy two pull up jump shots.

1036
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,239
Speaker 2: Second most in the league was Tracy McGrady with four

1037
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,200
Speaker 2: fifty one. So Alan Iverson attempted two hundred and twenty

1038
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:20,680
Speaker 2: one more pull up jump shots than anybody else in

1039
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:24,080
Speaker 2: the entire NBA during that season. Even crazier, here's how

1040
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 2: ahead of the game he was. His six hundred and

1041
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:28,800
Speaker 2: seventy two attempts and pull up jump shots would have

1042
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:33,280
Speaker 2: ranked second in the NBA this year, behind DeMar derozen

1043
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 2: So just like kind of invented the idea of a

1044
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:39,360
Speaker 2: guard just taking a ton of pull up jump shots

1045
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,640
Speaker 2: as you would find openings off the dribble. There's also

1046
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 2: a freaky athlete in his younger years. A lot of

1047
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 2: people forget about that. I would say that there is

1048
00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:49,959
Speaker 2: a decent argument to be made that nobody in this era,

1049
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,600
Speaker 2: in this list of other than maybe Steph Curry, nobody

1050
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:55,960
Speaker 2: in this list from nineteen ninety nine to two thousand

1051
00:47:55,960 --> 00:48:00,239
Speaker 2: and three twenty twenty three like influenced the games of

1052
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,040
Speaker 2: basketball as much as Alan Iverson. Again, like, if you

1053
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,920
Speaker 2: my generation people that are in there, I would say

1054
00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:08,680
Speaker 2: anybody who's in their early thirties, between thirty and thirty five.

1055
00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:12,040
Speaker 2: You guys, if you're from that group, Alan Iverson just

1056
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,280
Speaker 2: was the guy we all wanted to be like. Everyone

1057
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:16,920
Speaker 2: wanted to look like him on the court. Copied his moves,

1058
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,759
Speaker 2: we copied his drible combinations and his footwork. It's just

1059
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:23,640
Speaker 2: what we did. His crowning achievement, he was the best

1060
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 2: player on a finals team in two thousand and one.

1061
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:26,360
Speaker 2: The two thousand and one and six Ers were a

1062
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,080
Speaker 2: really interesting team because they were top five defense in

1063
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:32,319
Speaker 2: the league, anchored by Tacambi Matumbo, and they also had

1064
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 2: just a ton of athleticism around him. Aaron McKee and

1065
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 2: Tyrone Hill were important wings on that team. Eric Snow

1066
00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,240
Speaker 2: was one of the very best defensive guards in the league.

1067
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 2: On that particular team kind of took a lot of

1068
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 2: the point of attack assignments that Allan Iverson didn't want

1069
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:48,520
Speaker 2: to take, and basically they got stops and they let

1070
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,200
Speaker 2: Alan Iverson cook. They won a ton of games that way.

1071
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:52,880
Speaker 2: They were the one seed in the conference. They won

1072
00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 2: a couple of hard fought series against Vince Carter's Raptors

1073
00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,759
Speaker 2: and against Ray Allen's Bucks, and then they ran into

1074
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:00,360
Speaker 2: one of the greatest teams of all time in the

1075
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 2: two thousand and one Lakers.

1076
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:02,840
Speaker 1: But as you guys.

1077
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:05,160
Speaker 2: Remember, he drops forty eight points in Game one of

1078
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:10,320
Speaker 2: the NBA Finals, the iconic stepping over Tyron lou shot.

1079
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 2: Sixers end up winning an ot and then the Lakers

1080
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:15,360
Speaker 2: win four straight. Because the Lakers were one of the

1081
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,000
Speaker 2: best teams of all time, and I think they were

1082
00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:19,839
Speaker 2: undefeated in the Western Conference that year, they didn't really

1083
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:21,600
Speaker 2: have much of a chance. It's very similar to Lebron

1084
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:25,240
Speaker 2: in Game one of the of the twenty eighteen NBA Finals.

1085
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:26,600
Speaker 1: But that shot and.

1086
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,360
Speaker 2: Step over, that pullback dribble jump shot with Tylo on

1087
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,120
Speaker 2: the ground and the stepover, that's one of the most

1088
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:35,080
Speaker 2: iconic moments in NBA history. Just another big thing that

1089
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:39,120
Speaker 2: kind of helps color the the imprint that Alan Iverson

1090
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 2: had on the NBA during that era. Biggest one if

1091
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 2: for me for an Allen Iverson is what if he

1092
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 2: played in this era. Alan Iverson suffers from an even

1093
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:54,239
Speaker 2: worst case of you know of like retroactive revisionist history

1094
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:57,239
Speaker 2: than Kobe Bryant does. And the main reason why is

1095
00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 2: the using of efficiency to just to compare straight across

1096
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,240
Speaker 2: with players from this era when the game is very different,

1097
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:06,399
Speaker 2: and using that to undermine what they accomplished. You got

1098
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,279
Speaker 2: to remember, like the league in general had almost no

1099
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 2: shooting on the floor and was just completely clogged and

1100
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:14,840
Speaker 2: there was no space to operate. That was already what

1101
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:17,520
Speaker 2: it was like. It was especially like that on those

1102
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:21,399
Speaker 2: sixers teams that were very defensive minded, and so Alan

1103
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:27,080
Speaker 2: Iverson was forced to constantly take and make incredibly difficult shots,

1104
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,879
Speaker 2: and so his percentage is suffered for that. You can

1105
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:32,759
Speaker 2: tell by just looking at the rest of that era

1106
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,320
Speaker 2: and all of the scorers, and all of the scorers

1107
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:38,839
Speaker 2: were relatively low efficiency compared to the scorers of this era.

1108
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 2: But that's just how the game has changed. With Alan

1109
00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 2: Iverson's quickness, his athleticism early in his career, his handle

1110
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,600
Speaker 2: and his jump shooting in his basketball IQ. If I

1111
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:50,160
Speaker 2: picked him up today and I dropped him on the

1112
00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:53,200
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City Thunder instead of Shake Guild, just Alexander, He's

1113
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:56,480
Speaker 2: going to be as efficient as Shake Guil Just Alexander. Like,

1114
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:58,400
Speaker 2: that's the bridge. The gap that we have to bridge

1115
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,680
Speaker 2: with these conversations is you can't apples to apples comparison

1116
00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:04,719
Speaker 2: over to eras you have different players on the floor,

1117
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,120
Speaker 2: as it leads to different spacing. The rules were interpreted

1118
00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:10,279
Speaker 2: slightly differently in those eras the pace of the game

1119
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,720
Speaker 2: was different. The also just like again you have to understand,

1120
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:17,440
Speaker 2: like the you're only incapable of operating with the information

1121
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:21,040
Speaker 2: that's available to you at the time. Right Like now,

1122
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:23,280
Speaker 2: we know there's a ton of value in three point shooting,

1123
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:25,120
Speaker 2: and so we take a lot of threes, But back

1124
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:27,799
Speaker 2: then it just wasn't something that the league was very

1125
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 2: interested in. I read to you guys the three point

1126
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 2: attempt numbers earlier when we were talking about the magic.

1127
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:36,400
Speaker 2: So like, it just was a different era. So you

1128
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:38,239
Speaker 2: got to look at it within the scope of that

1129
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,920
Speaker 2: particular era and again, say what you want about the

1130
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:43,920
Speaker 2: efficiency even relative to his peers. That was a sixers

1131
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 2: team that depended on him to take incredibly difficult shots,

1132
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:48,759
Speaker 2: and that's what he had to do. And so I

1133
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:51,920
Speaker 2: hope that and also that's what I meant as the

1134
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:54,640
Speaker 2: as the what if if Allen Iverson played in today's era,

1135
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:56,439
Speaker 2: you would have been way more efficient, and I wonder

1136
00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:59,280
Speaker 2: if you would have been looked at more positively compared

1137
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:01,319
Speaker 2: to his peers. All right, guys, that is all we

1138
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,200
Speaker 2: have for today. We'll be back tomorrow with thirteen, twelve eleven,

1139
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:07,359
Speaker 2: and then we're heading into one player a week, one

1140
00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:09,280
Speaker 2: player a day for the next two weeks. As always,

1141
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:11,800
Speaker 2: I sincerely appreciate you guys, and I will see you tomorrow.

1142
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:35,400
Speaker 2: The volume