Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at
Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you
Speaker 1: guys are having a great week so far. We are
Speaker 1: also live on AMPS, so if you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 1: we're listening on the podcast feeds. Don't forget that AMP
Speaker 1: is the very first place that you guys can get
Speaker 1: these shows. We're continuing our power rankings today with number nineteen,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Pelicans. We got a full preview on
Speaker 1: them today as well as two mail bag questions for
Speaker 1: the end of the show as well. You guys are
Speaker 1: the joke. Before we get started, follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at underscore Jason lt for show announcements. Make sure you
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Speaker 1: us wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight. And
Speaker 1: I need mail bag questions, so drop those in the
Speaker 1: YouTube comments as well. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: before we get started. You know, my wife and I
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Speaker 1: So the New Orleans Pelicans the little recap of their offseason.
Speaker 1: They lost Jackson Hayes, Willie ern and Gomez, Josh Richardson,
Speaker 1: and Garrett Temple. They added Jordan Hawkins as their first
Speaker 1: round draft pick. He's a movement shooter out of Yukon.
Speaker 1: Little undersize six ' four and a quarter without shoes on,
Speaker 1: so that's roughly six five and a half with shoes
Speaker 1: on six to seven wingspan, so not going to be
Speaker 1: a very physically impressive athlete at the position, but he
Speaker 1: is one of the best movement shooters in the country
Speaker 1: in the college game last year. Really really good footwork
Speaker 1: coming off screens. We talked about this last a Spurs
Speaker 1: show at the very end where we're talking about drills.
Speaker 1: But in order to successfully get shots off in every situation,
Speaker 1: you have to have footwork going to your left and
Speaker 1: to your right, and that's a really challenging part for
Speaker 1: shooters because most shooters like to have like their right foot.
Speaker 1: Right handed shooters like to have their right foot forward,
Speaker 1: and so that means as you're coming around screens, you
Speaker 1: have to plant your left foot. If you're coming this way,
Speaker 1: you have to plant your left foot and then plant
Speaker 1: your right foot and square up in mid air. It's
Speaker 1: challenging and a lot of players don't know how to
Speaker 1: do it. It's a bit of a lost art actually,
Speaker 1: especially movement shooting in general. And Jordan Hawkins is great
Speaker 1: at this. He flies off of screens, gets quick easy
Speaker 1: lift as a nice quick release. It's gonna be an
Speaker 1: interesting weapon to add to the Pelicans attack. This year.
Speaker 1: He converted off screen possessions at Yukon and at one
Speaker 1: point two to two points per possession last year. That's
Speaker 1: insanely good. There were only five players in the college
Speaker 1: game last year to log at least one hundred off
Speaker 1: screen plays, and he was number one by a mile
Speaker 1: in efficiency in that group. That is kind of a
Speaker 1: dying art, the idea of running around off of screens
Speaker 1: and rising up and hitting shots. For whatever reason, the
Speaker 1: game has kind of transitioned into every kid wants to
Speaker 1: handle the basketball, and that's why we don't have many
Speaker 1: guys that can score out of the post efficiently, not
Speaker 1: just bigs, but also guards as well, and that's why
Speaker 1: we don't have many guards who know how to play
Speaker 1: off the ball. I think that's an important element to
Speaker 1: some of the struggles we've seen with Team USA, as
Speaker 1: we've seen stars move into that environment and struggle. I
Speaker 1: think that's a part of brandon ingram struggles. He just
Speaker 1: unless he's running, you know, twenty five pick and rolls,
Speaker 1: ISOs and post ups a game, he just struggles to
Speaker 1: impact winning right And I think that's it's kind of
Speaker 1: interesting to see a guy like Jordan Hawkins that has
Speaker 1: made work out of learning how to play off the
Speaker 1: ball in this modern era as we lower the volume.
Speaker 1: So he was number one out of five guys to
Speaker 1: run at least one hundred. But even to demonstrate to
Speaker 1: you guys just how efficient he was, if I dropped
Speaker 1: that qualifier down to fifty possessions, there were ninety players
Speaker 1: that qualified and he still finished number eight in that
Speaker 1: group inefficiency, so an outstanding off of screen player. He
Speaker 1: also converted spot up possessions at a one point two
Speaker 1: eight points per possession clip, which is ridiculous. That's in
Speaker 1: that like Michael Porter Junior, absolutely deadly territory. Right. As
Speaker 1: a shot maker, he was sixty three percent in effective
Speaker 1: field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers. That's insane.
Speaker 1: Sixty seven percent when he's guarded, which means he doesn't
Speaker 1: need much space and he's not bothered by contests, and
Speaker 1: he shot well on a big stage. In the NCAA
Speaker 1: Tournament last year, he took thirty three jump shots and
Speaker 1: converted them at a sixty six percent effective field goal percentage. Downsides,
Speaker 1: he was only thirty five percent effective field goal percentage
Speaker 1: and jump shots off the bounce, which is not great.
Speaker 1: So not a guy who can put the ball on
Speaker 1: the floor. Well, he was only one for three thirteen
Speaker 1: on floaters, so he doesn't have anything before he gets
Speaker 1: to the rim, and then he shot just fifty three
Speaker 1: percent at the rim. So obviously the stuff he's gonna
Speaker 1: have to polish up in the NBA is the stuff
Speaker 1: when he does get chased off the line and he
Speaker 1: has to put the ball on the floor towards the basket.
Speaker 1: But we've seen that happen. We've seen guys like Duncan
Speaker 1: Robinson add that in recent years, and when they do,
Speaker 1: they instantly become a lot more playable. And so really
Speaker 1: it comes down to can you learn to put the
Speaker 1: ball on the floor a little bit and will he
Speaker 1: be able to translate to the NBA as a defender,
Speaker 1: because that's kind of like the crossroads for these high
Speaker 1: volume movement shooters. Are you gonna be Klay Thompson esque
Speaker 1: or are you gonna be Malik Beasley esque because Lague
Speaker 1: Beasley takes a lot off the dribble or off the
Speaker 1: move shots, but doesn't make him at a super high clip,
Speaker 1: doesn't impact the game defensively, doesn't put the ball on
Speaker 1: the floor. Well, Klay Thompson understands how to use escape
Speaker 1: dribbles turned himself into an above average in his prime,
Speaker 1: even a great perimeter defensive player. So that's gonna be
Speaker 1: kind of the delineation for Jordan Hawkins as Canny learn
Speaker 1: how to defend. But a really really interesting movement shooter
Speaker 1: to add to a team that needs guys who know
Speaker 1: how to play off the ball with the on ball
Speaker 1: talent that they have. They also signed Cody Zeller as
Speaker 1: a backup center. He was sixteen points and eleven rebounds
Speaker 1: per thirty six minutes in fifteen regular season games for
Speaker 1: the Heat last year, and then ten to ten per
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes in twenty one playoff games last year. Now,
Speaker 1: I always use per thirty six for bench players because
Speaker 1: it just gives you an idea of how much production
Speaker 1: they're providing in their limited minutes, and thirty six is
Speaker 1: kind of general for what you'd expect from a starter, right.
Speaker 1: So the depth chart at the guard position, they have
Speaker 1: CJ McCollum, Naji Marshall, one of my favorite, like shifty
Speaker 1: good handle, kind of like hoopers in the league, Jose Alvardo,
Speaker 1: Kira Lewis, Jordan Hawkins, and then the forward Zion Williamson,
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy and Dyson Daniels. And
Speaker 1: then for the bigs, they've got Fionas Valanciunis, Larry Nantz Junior,
Speaker 1: and Cody Zeller. The starters win their health should be CJ.
Speaker 1: McCollum at the point, Herb Jones at the two, brandon
Speaker 1: Ingram at the three, Zion Williams at the Williamson at
Speaker 1: the four, and Yonas Valanciunas at the five. We also
Speaker 1: found out that Trey Murphy torres meniscus in an offseason workout,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna miss the first couple months of the season,
Speaker 1: obviously a big blow because he's one of their best
Speaker 1: shooters and one of the best, like kind of up
Speaker 1: and coming young scores in the NBA. So hopefully he
Speaker 1: can get healthy and make the leap that we're all
Speaker 1: expecting to see from him this year. Football is back
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Speaker 1: after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. I want to
Speaker 1: take a brief look at what they do offensively, some
Speaker 1: things to look for in terms of progression of their
Speaker 1: ball handlers. Then we'll talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: defensive end as well. So this team has a lot
Speaker 1: of ball handling. Obviously we think of CJ. McCom and
Speaker 1: brandon ingram as like the offensive Fulkrums, But make no mistake,
Speaker 1: this is a team that likes to attack the paint.
Speaker 1: Even without Zion Williamson, they were eighth in paint points
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions last year in the entire NBA.
Speaker 1: They ran seven hundred and forty two post ups last year.
Speaker 1: That was third in the entire league, behind just the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks. Spearheaded by Yonis Valanciunas,
Speaker 1: he ran four hundred post ups last year, which is
Speaker 1: huge volume for a single player in the modern NBA.
Speaker 1: That led to four hundred and sixteen points last year
Speaker 1: including passes, So that's one point zero four points per possession,
Speaker 1: which is very good. Now among the high volume guys,
Speaker 1: there's nine guys in the league ran at least three
Speaker 1: hundred post ups. Jonas came in an eighth out of
Speaker 1: the nine players, so among the high volume guys, he's
Speaker 1: one of the least efficient, but he is an efficient
Speaker 1: post player at high volume. Zion Williamson also ran one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy post ups last year, leading to one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five points. That's one point zer or
Speaker 1: nine points per possession in the sixty eighth percentile. Including passes.
Speaker 1: Zion was just completely off the charts good in ISO situations.
Speaker 1: They would either clear the side entirely and let him
Speaker 1: operate with an empty side, or they'd go five out
Speaker 1: and let him attack from the wing with the shooter
Speaker 1: in the strong side corner that didn't want to help,
Speaker 1: where the defender didn't want to help, but he would
Speaker 1: just there wasn't anything like tactically impressive about it. He
Speaker 1: just beats his man off the dribble towards the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor and either rises up over everybody and finishes,
Speaker 1: or makes a kickout pass to a shooter or a
Speaker 1: drop off pass to a cutter. Forty eight players ran
Speaker 1: at least one hundred and fifty ISOs last year. Zion's
Speaker 1: one point one point eight points per possession, finished third
Speaker 1: out of those forty eight players, So one of the
Speaker 1: best isolation players in the league last year. It's just
Speaker 1: impossible to keep him in front off the dribble. And
Speaker 1: you know, everything that we talk about today comes down
Speaker 1: to whether or not Zion is actually going to be available, healthy,
Speaker 1: in shape, and capable of withstanding an eighty two game
Speaker 1: regular season and potentially a playoff rount. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, he is their most important player and
Speaker 1: everything hinges on him. We're going to talk about the
Speaker 1: team as a whole, but as we talk about their
Speaker 1: ultimate ceiling this year, everything comes down to Zion. So
Speaker 1: we talked about Zion and Yonis Valencunas attacking the paint,
Speaker 1: but this is also a team that loves to attack
Speaker 1: the offensive glass. They had two hundred and seventy two
Speaker 1: made field goals last year off of offensive rebound putbacks.
Speaker 1: That was the sixth most in the entire NBA last year.
Speaker 1: And surprisingly enough, teams that attack the offensive glass tend
Speaker 1: to have issues in transition defense. Not the New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 1: They give up a lot of transition opportunities. They were
Speaker 1: the nineteenth best team at preventing transition opportunities. So they
Speaker 1: gave up a lot of transition opportunities, but they were
Speaker 1: an excellent transition defense. According to Cleaning the Glass, they
Speaker 1: were tenth in transition defensive rating. So that's a credit
Speaker 1: to Willie Green and him just getting these guys to
Speaker 1: play really hard sprinting back in transition, communicating and getting
Speaker 1: matched up when they get back there. As a spacing team,
Speaker 1: they're very good as well. They were ninth in spot
Speaker 1: up efficiency at one point zero seven points per possession.
Speaker 1: That's excellent for a team that constantly tries to attack
Speaker 1: the paint. That tells you that they're generating high quality
Speaker 1: spot up opportunities and they are converting them well. Now,
Speaker 1: pick and roll obviously is a very important part of
Speaker 1: any NBA offense. They don't run as much of it
Speaker 1: as other teams in the league. They're bottom ten in frequency.
Speaker 1: They're also nineteenth in efficiency. Brandon Ingram was great at
Speaker 1: it one point zero three points per possession including passes.
Speaker 1: That was in the sixty eighth percentile. I've talked a
Speaker 1: lot about brandon Ingram in our player rankings. He's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite pick and roll passers in the league.
Speaker 1: He just has the ability to see over the top
Speaker 1: of the defense and make the reads that a lot
Speaker 1: of guys can't make. And he's excellent with the cross
Speaker 1: court pass to the weak side corner, which is one
Speaker 1: of the most important elements to beating a pick and
Speaker 1: roll defense, particularly when they try to guard three on
Speaker 1: two by bringing the lowman over out of the weak
Speaker 1: side corner. The world cut thing with Brandon Ingram, I
Speaker 1: don't overthink it. If I were you guys like I
Speaker 1: don't think it's an indication of limitations that Brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: has in the big picture. Like, yeah, if we tuck
Speaker 1: him in the corner and have him playoff ball for
Speaker 1: large portions of games, he's not gonna be as impactful
Speaker 1: as somebody who's done that his entire life. Brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: is a guy who's a primary ball hand alert and
Speaker 1: that's the way he should be judged. Is there a
Speaker 1: larger conversation we should have about whether or not guys
Speaker 1: are being well like in terms of their development as kids.
Speaker 1: Are they getting enough of a well rounded basketball development.
Speaker 1: That's a conversation we can have. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a coincidence when you see defensive minded, role playing forwards
Speaker 1: that become stars, they tend to be very well rounded
Speaker 1: as stars. Right, That's where you get your Jimmy Butler's
Speaker 1: and your Kawhi Leonards and your Paul George's. And this
Speaker 1: next one is this Jabari Smith Junior or so to
Speaker 1: a ton of flashes in Summer League this year. I
Speaker 1: think that that's an indicator of the fact that we
Speaker 1: would be better served in our in basketball player development
Speaker 1: in America by giving kids a more well rounded basketball
Speaker 1: training experience. But the reality is is this is what
Speaker 1: it is. And Brandon Ingram is a primary ball handler,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the best pick and roll passers
Speaker 1: in the league. And he's got to run a lot
Speaker 1: of pick and rolls, and he's run a lot of
Speaker 1: ISOs and post ups, and that's what he does best.
Speaker 1: And so you know, really it doesn't matter in the
Speaker 1: big pictures, So I don't really look too much into
Speaker 1: his World Cup struggles. In terms of Brandon Ingram's standing
Speaker 1: in the NBA, CJ. McCollum was much closer to averages
Speaker 1: pick and roll ball handler one point zero zero points
Speaker 1: per possession flat. That's in the sixtieth percentile really rough
Speaker 1: shooting year. He only made He only shot forty six
Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: Last year, To give you guys some perspective, his last
Speaker 1: full season in Portland, he shot fifty three percent in
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots. And remember,
Speaker 1: like you want to be like forty eight at the lowest,
Speaker 1: preferably in the low fifties, and the best players in
Speaker 1: the league are in the mid fifties. And like the
Speaker 1: Steph Curry Kevin Durant tier, which is like alien best
Speaker 1: players in basketball history at pull up jump shots, those
Speaker 1: guys are at about sixty percent, But forty six percent
Speaker 1: just isn't going to get the job done. He's a
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooter, and if he's not making pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots, his impact is gonna suffer. So really,
Speaker 1: pick and roll is probably their biggest area for improvement
Speaker 1: as a team, and it really just comes down to CJ.
Speaker 1: McCollum has to play a little better, and I think
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram could even get up from that one point
Speaker 1: zero three closer to one point one points per possessions.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see both of them make improvements there
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. They finished sixth in the NBA
Speaker 1: in defensive rating overall last year, sixth and half court
Speaker 1: defense according to Cleaning the last tenth in transition defense.
Speaker 1: I thought the key to the Pelicans defense last year
Speaker 1: was their point of attack defense, which was excellent, and
Speaker 1: the rotations they made on the weak side. Having a
Speaker 1: guy like IRB Jones is one of the best perimeter
Speaker 1: defenders in the league. To throw out the other team's
Speaker 1: best player, a guy that can sidle over the top
Speaker 1: of screen and offer really quality contests from behind, that's
Speaker 1: a massive advantage to have as a team. Overall. They
Speaker 1: just have a ton of wing athleticism. When they're going
Speaker 1: out there and you've got you know, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy,
Speaker 1: and IRB Jones all on the floor at the same time.
Speaker 1: That's three dudes that all can jump out of the
Speaker 1: gym and have super long arms. That's a huge weapon
Speaker 1: to have in rotation. So like now, let's say that
Speaker 1: defense does give up a driving lane and there's a
Speaker 1: kickout pass made. These guys can cover ground and close
Speaker 1: out and chase guys off the line. They were actually
Speaker 1: really really good last year at chasing guys off of
Speaker 1: spot up possessions. They had the seventh best defense in
Speaker 1: the league last year containing spot up possessions. So that's
Speaker 1: a credit to Willie Green. I think. I think he's
Speaker 1: just once again has these guys playing really, really hard
Speaker 1: and committed to the details and giving them everything he's
Speaker 1: got in terms everything they've got in terms of buying.
Speaker 1: Biggest weakness in the Pelicans defense's rim protection. Yonnas Stalaciunas
Speaker 1: is just not particularly good at it. They were a
Speaker 1: middle of the pack paint defense in terms of paint
Speaker 1: points allowed, and they allowed oponents to shoot seventy one
Speaker 1: point two percent in the restricted area, which was dead
Speaker 1: last in the NBA last year. We'll talk a little
Speaker 1: bit more about their defense when we talk about their
Speaker 1: ultimate ceiling this year. The biggest swing factor for this
Speaker 1: entire season, like I said at the beginning, is going
Speaker 1: to be Zion. Will he show up to camp in shape.
Speaker 1: Is he going to be able to withstand the wear
Speaker 1: and tear of an eighty two game regular season. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be the biggest factor. They finished the season forty
Speaker 1: two and forty last year, which is barely over five hundred,
Speaker 1: but they were seventeen and twelve when Zion Williamson played,
Speaker 1: they had a plus eight net rating when Zion was
Speaker 1: on the floor, so they outscored teams by eight points
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions. They were about even minus zero
Speaker 1: point two points per one hundred posessions when Zion Williamson
Speaker 1: was off the floor last year, So that's and looking
Speaker 1: closely at it, four points worse on defense per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions and four points worse on offense per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. So like at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: Zion is the primary factor in what the Pelicans are
Speaker 1: capable of this season. So my prediction, if Zion can
Speaker 1: stay healthy, I think this team can finish above the
Speaker 1: play in, which is saying a lot in a Western
Speaker 1: Conference that is totally stacked. Now, win totals overall are
Speaker 1: going to be lower because there's a ton of good
Speaker 1: teams in the Western Conference and they're gonna beating up
Speaker 1: on each other. So I think that they're gonna win
Speaker 1: about forty five games. If Zion can play at least
Speaker 1: sixty games, forty five wins in the Western Conference this
Speaker 1: year should get you out of the play in that
Speaker 1: should have you in that four or five six seed area.
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm looking at if Zion's available for
Speaker 1: at least three fourths of the season. Without Zion, they're
Speaker 1: a five hundred basketball team. They just have too many
Speaker 1: limitations defensively in the paint, and they don't generate enough
Speaker 1: rim pressure as a basketball team beyond Jonas Valenciunas to
Speaker 1: consistently generate quality shots, too reliant on pull up jump shooting.
Speaker 1: So Zion really is the old commit factor in determining
Speaker 1: what this team can do. As for their title chances,
Speaker 1: NBA history tells us that you don't win the title
Speaker 1: unless you have a top tier defensive front court. Right Like,
Speaker 1: let's look back forget about the Nuggets for a second.
Speaker 1: We'll come back to them, But you go to the Warriors,
Speaker 1: You've got Andrew Wiggins, who was one of the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders in the league, and Draymond Green, one of
Speaker 1: the best defenders of this era. The year before that,
Speaker 1: Gianna Santanna Kombo and Brook Lopez. The year before that,
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Anthony Davis the year before that, Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: Serge Ibaka. The year before that, Katie Draymond, Katie Draymond
Speaker 1: Lebron and Tristan Thompson, Iguodala and Draymond Kawhi Leonard and
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan, Lebron and Chris Bosh Lebron and Chris Bosh, Tyson,
Speaker 1: Chandler Gasol buying him, Gasol buying them, Kevin Garnett and
Speaker 1: Kendrick Perkins. You guys get the point. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to go any further with exception of the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: which again you have to remember, they were not an
Speaker 1: elite defensive front court, but they were one of the
Speaker 1: most unguardable playoff offenses I've ever seen, fueled by one
Speaker 1: of the best offensive playoff runs we've ever seen from
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokis. So they are literally the exception that proves
Speaker 1: the rule. And we can say a lot about the
Speaker 1: Pelicans this coming year. They are not the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: They are not going to be a team that generates
Speaker 1: offense as easily as the Denver Nuggets do in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And so you've got to ask yourself, is Ion Williamson
Speaker 1: or Jonas Valanciunas even in the same ballpark as the
Speaker 1: other front courts. I just threw at you that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.
Speaker 1: So before Denver, we had fifteen consecutive NBA champions that
Speaker 1: all had elite defensive front courts. So you're just not
Speaker 1: gonna get it done typically in NBA history without that.
Speaker 1: So obviously the best indicator of future performance is past performance.
Speaker 1: So no, I don't think that this Pelicans team is
Speaker 1: capable of winning an NBA championship. That said, they're a
Speaker 1: really fun young team that's fun to watch. And it's
Speaker 1: not about this year. It's about the bigger picture. It's
Speaker 1: about Brandon Ingram's development, It's about Zion Williamson's development. It's
Speaker 1: about which of these other young guys are going to pop.
Speaker 1: And then in the long run, they're gonna need to
Speaker 1: find a legitimate rim protector that they can put next
Speaker 1: design Williamson that can anchor a championship defense. Once they've
Speaker 1: accomplished that, then all those young guys will hopefully have
Speaker 1: developed to the point where they're capable of carrying them
Speaker 1: over the top offensively. Now you've got yourself a championship
Speaker 1: quality team, I mean, even next to Brandon Ingram and
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson. They've got a plethora of talented young wings.
Speaker 1: David Griffin's done a really nice job, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy,
Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels. This is an exciting young team. They just
Speaker 1: need to find a legitimate championship anchor as a rim
Speaker 1: protector at the center position in the long run. All right,
Speaker 1: let's do a couple of mailback questions before we get
Speaker 1: out of here today. First one from Caleb, what do
Speaker 1: you think Jason Tatum has to do to take over
Speaker 1: as the best player in the NBA. He is only
Speaker 1: twenty five and has already been to multiple conference finals
Speaker 1: in an NBA final, Good question, Caleb. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's much there one diversity of shot creation. We talked
Speaker 1: about this a lot during the playoff run this year.
Speaker 1: He's got to get away from the analytical approach of
Speaker 1: just taking pull up threes and trying to shoot at
Speaker 1: the rim. He needs to add real variety to his
Speaker 1: offensive approach. That means a lot more face up reps,
Speaker 1: a lot more post up reps, high post, low post,
Speaker 1: a lot more attacking off of off of action. He's
Speaker 1: got to find ways to be more diverse offensively. A
Speaker 1: lot more off ball attack flow. He's a good enough
Speaker 1: shooter to come off a screens and shoot more than
Speaker 1: he does, so I'd love to just see him diversify
Speaker 1: his offensive approach to embracing the playmaking role more. He's
Speaker 1: a very good passer when he has his brain in
Speaker 1: that in that space when he's actually looking to pass.
Speaker 1: And then lastly, he's got to recommit to the defensive end.
Speaker 1: The year before last he was one of the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders in the league. This last year he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He's got to improve his commitment on that end of
Speaker 1: the floor. And with as much talent as this roster has,
Speaker 1: there's no excuse for not devoting that level of attention
Speaker 1: to that end of the floor. But the biggest thing
Speaker 1: there is like, when you really think about his experience
Speaker 1: that he has, like it feels like he's right there,
Speaker 1: which leads into our second male bad question. So another
Speaker 1: this is also going to tie back to the Celtics.
Speaker 1: This is from Fabian of the twenty twenty three NBA
Speaker 1: All Stars who have not won a championship yet, which
Speaker 1: player will be the next to win their first ring?
Speaker 1: So I'm interpreting this as which players most likely to
Speaker 1: win their first ring. Now, if you look at the
Speaker 1: Al Stars, there's a lot of guys in there that
Speaker 1: could do it soon. Joel Embiid could do it soon.
Speaker 1: He could very well do it this year. Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: could do it soon. He could very well do it
Speaker 1: this year. But I'm gonna go with Jason Tatum again.
Speaker 1: And the main reason why is because one, they have
Speaker 1: the most talented roster in the NBA. Two, they address
Speaker 1: one of their specific needs, which was a front court
Speaker 1: that was kind of unbalanced. They either had to play
Speaker 1: rim protection with Robert Williams and suffer in terms of spacing,
Speaker 1: or play Al Horford at the center. And Al Horford
Speaker 1: is starting to get a little older and starting to
Speaker 1: become a little bit less reliable, and so it was
Speaker 1: becoming a problem. Adding Kristaps porzingis in there a guy
Speaker 1: who should be able to provide both at a high
Speaker 1: level that legitimately pushes them to another level in terms
Speaker 1: of their talent. And so when I byd that with
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum suffering an important lesson and a loss this
Speaker 1: year about his shot variety at something I think he
Speaker 1: started to address towards the end of that Miami Heat
Speaker 1: series and with all of his experience, that experience is
Speaker 1: very important for feeling comfortable in that environment. I think
Speaker 1: it's on the table that Jason Tatum could pop in
Speaker 1: a big way this year and lead his team to
Speaker 1: a championship. So I have him as the most likely
Speaker 1: player who is who made the Alcar team last year
Speaker 1: but is not a champion to win his first ring
Speaker 1: this year. All right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for today. Don't forget to drop mail back questions in
Speaker 1: the YouTube comments. I will see you guys tomorrow for
Speaker 1: number eighteen of Volume M