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Speaker 1: to hoops tonight, presented by Fanduel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday everybody. I hope all of you guys had
Speaker 1: a great weekend and that's your weeks are off to
Speaker 1: a good start. We're gonna be continuing with our power
Speaker 1: rankings today with number eight, the Denver Nuggets. We're also
Speaker 1: going to spend a couple of minutes at the beginning
Speaker 1: talking about that. Sham Sharani a report today about the
Speaker 1: NBA and the players association potentially changing the draft age
Speaker 1: from nineteen to eighteen in the next CBA negotiations, which
Speaker 1: is obviously super important on a bunch of different levels.
Speaker 1: You guys know the drill. Before we get started, subscribe
Speaker 1: to the volumes Youtube Channel so you don't miss any
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on twitter at underscore
Speaker 1: Jason Lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.
Speaker 1: And last but not least, and for whatever reason you
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Speaker 1: you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under
Speaker 1: hoops tonight. Really quickly, before we get started, I am
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Speaker 1: that note, let's dive into the NBA draft reports. So
Speaker 1: sources say, according to Shams, that the NBA and the
Speaker 1: NBA Players Association are in serious talks on new items
Speaker 1: for potential collective bargaining agreement. That includes the draft age
Speaker 1: eligibility going from nineteen to eighteen the return of high
Speaker 1: school to the NBA. So, first of all, this just
Speaker 1: makes sense. NBA teams want earlier access to talent. Why
Speaker 1: wouldn't they? What is the N C double a ever
Speaker 1: done for them? You know? And do they want lower,
Speaker 1: what they considered to be lower level coaches developing their players?
Speaker 1: Probably not like they want to have. They want more
Speaker 1: control over player development. They want to get their hands
Speaker 1: on these players younger, just like they do in Europe. Right.
Speaker 1: And then on the players side of things, most of
Speaker 1: the players to make it to the N B a
Speaker 1: rightfully feel like there's exploitation taking place in the N
Speaker 1: C double a. So both parties here, the NBA and
Speaker 1: the NBA Players Association, are going to be in favor
Speaker 1: of this sort of thing. So this change was inevitably
Speaker 1: going to come. One of the foundational parts of this
Speaker 1: from the player's perspective is the problem with paying players
Speaker 1: in college. And I've always been a huge believer that
Speaker 1: players deserve to be paid. I've always just acknowledged that
Speaker 1: it's super complicated, like, in my opinion, only the top
Speaker 1: tier players actually deserve to be paid. Like if you
Speaker 1: talk about it in terms of generating revenue, right, like
Speaker 1: think of it like this, like Zion Williamson at Duke.
Speaker 1: You guys would probably. If you if I told you
Speaker 1: that Zion Williamson was going to your l a fitness
Speaker 1: tomorrow and you could go watch him do a workout
Speaker 1: for fifteen dollars, you probably, a lot of you probably
Speaker 1: pay up to go see that sort of thing. But
Speaker 1: let's pretend me is a role player at Duke who
Speaker 1: comes off the bench and shoots threes and plays defense. Like,
Speaker 1: if you heard I was going to be at l
Speaker 1: a fitness, how many of you guys are going out
Speaker 1: of your way to come watch me play? Right? Like,
Speaker 1: it's not like all of the duke players are generating
Speaker 1: a ton of revenue and deserve to be paid. It's
Speaker 1: kind of the top tier guys and then the arrangement
Speaker 1: for the lower level players, like getting your school paid for,
Speaker 1: your room and board paid for, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: That's actually a pretty nice arrangement. Like I I felt
Speaker 1: like I got a good deal in college getting all
Speaker 1: of my my school paid for. That said, there's clear
Speaker 1: exploitation taking place at the top, but every time this
Speaker 1: sort of this conversation comes up, the actual solution is
Speaker 1: extremely difficult to come up with, and so the idea
Speaker 1: of just taking those players entirely out of the college
Speaker 1: system to me just makes a ton of sense. I
Speaker 1: really like the N I l rules, the name, image
Speaker 1: likeness rules, and I like the way that that's confronted
Speaker 1: the problem. But there are still a lot of issues
Speaker 1: with it and, to be honest with you, any solution
Speaker 1: that's been proposed is gonna come with issues, and so
Speaker 1: removing them from that equation entirely and putting them in
Speaker 1: the professional system I think that just makes the most
Speaker 1: sense Um, not to mention for those players, the NBA
Speaker 1: is just gonna do a much better job of player development.
Speaker 1: It's actually better for them in their professional development. They'll
Speaker 1: get better medical care, they'll get better coaching, they're they're
Speaker 1: gonna be within their actual daily schedules. It'll be structured
Speaker 1: in a way that's built around them being basketball players
Speaker 1: rather than them being student athletes. It's actually better or
Speaker 1: for a Zion Williamson type to go up through a
Speaker 1: professional system than it is for him to go through
Speaker 1: Duke even though, yes, it's entertaining and there obviously is
Speaker 1: gonna be a loss, like college hoops losing top end talent.
Speaker 1: That's gonna hurt the TV networks a little bit right.
Speaker 1: That's gonna hurt a lot of those things, but I
Speaker 1: would venture that some of that is going to be
Speaker 1: canceled out by improved continuity, players staying for four years,
Speaker 1: like the fan bases being more emotionally invested in rosters
Speaker 1: because the players stick around. So I think some of
Speaker 1: that gets canceled out there. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, what was happening currently, or I should say
Speaker 1: before N I l, where these guys were going to
Speaker 1: college and playing for a year, getting paid under the table,
Speaker 1: Getting Lesser Basketball Education and lesser basketball training before they
Speaker 1: inevitably go onto the NBA. None of that ever made
Speaker 1: any sense and I'm glad we're finally moving past that entirely.
Speaker 1: I was talking to my producer Ryan, who's, like I
Speaker 1: always say, the Unsung hero of the show uh, and
Speaker 1: he was talking and about how, uh that Adam silver,
Speaker 1: if it were up to him, would probably want to
Speaker 1: go to the the academy structure that you see in
Speaker 1: Europe where, from younger ages, players are around professional basketball
Speaker 1: environments early and often, and I agree. I think that
Speaker 1: that ideally, would be what Adam silver wants, and maybe
Speaker 1: one day that ends up being the case. I don't know.
Speaker 1: If they end up doing something like that with g
Speaker 1: league ignite or if they find some other way, but
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing the best fifteen, sixteen,
Speaker 1: seventeen year old prospects in the NBA one day undergoing
Speaker 1: training at some sort of NBA facility and doing online
Speaker 1: schooling or something along those lines like. I think that's
Speaker 1: a direction we're heading in and honestly it makes sense
Speaker 1: to me and I'm behind that concept Um. So obviously
Speaker 1: the big the big ancillary topic, the fun story about
Speaker 1: this has to do with Lebron James and the fact
Speaker 1: that he can become a free agent in four and
Speaker 1: now Bronnie James, instead of being draft eligible in five,
Speaker 1: he'd be draft L in so obviously they could become
Speaker 1: free agents, effectively free agent and draft right around the
Speaker 1: same exact time. So the question there becomes will Lebron
Speaker 1: James UH play with brawny? Will an NBA team draft
Speaker 1: brawny to get Lebron James? and to me the answer
Speaker 1: to that question is entirely up to Lebron and how
Speaker 1: good he is at basketball. At that point during this season,
Speaker 1: Lebron is gonna turn thirty eight years old. During that
Speaker 1: particular season, the one in question, Lebron would turn forty
Speaker 1: years old. Now I believe that Lebron will still be
Speaker 1: around the twenty or better player in the twenty best
Speaker 1: player in the NBA at that point because of his
Speaker 1: ability to play with strength, which does not fade in age,
Speaker 1: and his basketball I q and the way he's improved
Speaker 1: as a shooter and his incredible ability to pass the basketball.
Speaker 1: So really it just comes down to health. Like if
Speaker 1: Lebron is still healthy, meaning he avoids the catastrophic injury,
Speaker 1: by that age, yeah, you absolute literally could see a
Speaker 1: team draft brawny because Lebron is straight up said he
Speaker 1: would be willing to take a discount. And then it
Speaker 1: becomes like hey, if I have like the eighteenth pick
Speaker 1: in the first round and if I draft Brawny, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get the Twentie best player in the League who
Speaker 1: would absolutely fit in along alongside other stars because of
Speaker 1: all the little things he does on a basketball court.
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense, and so I if Lebron
Speaker 1: avoids catastrophic injury, I think you could see a team
Speaker 1: draft brawny as a potential player to pull a Lebron
Speaker 1: in now, as far as brawny goes, the question is,
Speaker 1: is he an NBA player? And no question he has
Speaker 1: a long way to go, but we have seen flashes
Speaker 1: over the course of this summer of a player that
Speaker 1: does have NBA potential. He's a great athlete. He's been
Speaker 1: under size. Right now he's only six FT three, but
Speaker 1: he has a great feel for the game. His skill
Speaker 1: is uh is progressing at a rapid rate. He does
Speaker 1: have that potential, but he has to hold up his
Speaker 1: end of the bargain. But I let's say he's a,
Speaker 1: you know, mid second round type of talent. You could
Speaker 1: see a team draft him in the late first round
Speaker 1: or mid first round if they don't see a pick
Speaker 1: that they really like and they see the prospect of
Speaker 1: getting Lebron at a veteran minimum as part of the process.
Speaker 1: So this, this whole story is interesting on a bunch
Speaker 1: of different levels. It will foundationally change college hoops, maybe
Speaker 1: less and maybe it won't be as good for the
Speaker 1: networks in terms of money, because obviously they won't be
Speaker 1: able to pull the eyeballs that they could with the
Speaker 1: top tier talent that comes through. The comes through you
Speaker 1: know Uh like this Zion Williamson's of the world. But
Speaker 1: I do think in terms of the overall health of
Speaker 1: the sport, it will be good having that continuity, having
Speaker 1: it kind of fall back to a more traditional model,
Speaker 1: in the players there being there for the long run
Speaker 1: rather than having an eye to the future. The players
Speaker 1: they're being true student athletes that are actually trying to
Speaker 1: educate themselves as opposed to just using it as a
Speaker 1: stopping point before they get to the NBA. So I
Speaker 1: think college hoops foundation LEA will change. The NBA will
Speaker 1: be better because they will get earlier accent access to
Speaker 1: top talent and better training for those players. And then
Speaker 1: obviously the doors open now for Lebron with his free agency,
Speaker 1: in to play with his son. Lots of interesting stuff
Speaker 1: on that front. All right, let us dive into number eight,
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets. So last year they were sixth in
Speaker 1: offense and defense. They finished forty eight and thirty four,
Speaker 1: which is extremely impressive given the roster they had at
Speaker 1: their disposal, and then they lost in the first round
Speaker 1: to the warriors, a series they were completely overmatched in talent. Wise. Um,
Speaker 1: this offseason they traded will Barton and Monty Morris for
Speaker 1: contavious Collbell Pope and Ish Smith a really interesting trade
Speaker 1: on a on a bunch of different levels. This is
Speaker 1: an example of a fit trade because when you're looking
Speaker 1: at a guy like will barton versus a guy like
Speaker 1: contavious callboll pope, really how good they are has so
Speaker 1: much to do with their situation. Like I think that
Speaker 1: will Barton is a considerably better on ball player than
Speaker 1: K C P, but I think K C P is
Speaker 1: a considerable a considerably better off ball player. I think
Speaker 1: he's a more reliable spot up shooter and I think
Speaker 1: he's better at attacking closeouts because of how gifted he
Speaker 1: is slashing to the rim. Also, KCP is a much
Speaker 1: better transition player, running the lanes and finishing at the
Speaker 1: rim in transition. So I like him with Yokich as
Speaker 1: a fit thing there. Without Jamal Murray, they desperately needed
Speaker 1: will Barton to help create shots on a possession by
Speaker 1: possession basis. But with Jamal Murray coming back and with
Speaker 1: the rise of bones highland as a really interesting young
Speaker 1: guard who shows flashes of potential as a really good
Speaker 1: two way scoring guard. Like obviously with a lot a
Speaker 1: long way to go, they don't need the on ball
Speaker 1: creation from will Barton as much, and so k CP
Speaker 1: kind of fits a unique need there that I really,
Speaker 1: really like. And as someone who covered KCP with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and I promise you, Nuggets Fans, you will love having
Speaker 1: that guy on your team. He is a flat out winning,
Speaker 1: a starter level NBA Two guard that you will count
Speaker 1: on on a nightly basis to do the things that
Speaker 1: your team needs needs in order to win basketball games. Um,
Speaker 1: I do like Monty Morris more than Ish Smith. Not
Speaker 1: that is Smith isn't capable. Uh, he's obviously a journeyman
Speaker 1: backup point guard himself. But if, if that's the price
Speaker 1: that needed to be paid to get KCP, which I
Speaker 1: do think is a better fit with this particular roster.
Speaker 1: I also think he's a bit better defensively than will Barton,
Speaker 1: then this is a net positive for denver. I don't
Speaker 1: see it as any other way than that. They also
Speaker 1: signed Bruce Brown, who's a good two way role player.
Speaker 1: The one thing that's gonna be interesting with Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: is they did use him a ton as a screener
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn and he operated a lot out of the
Speaker 1: short role. Um, I'm really curious to see how that
Speaker 1: works out with Denver because they use Yokich as a
Speaker 1: role man more than anybody else in the league, basically
Speaker 1: except for Joe l embiid so from that standpoint I
Speaker 1: just don't like. I don't see where I like. Bruce
Speaker 1: Brown is gonna be more of a spot up role,
Speaker 1: and it's not that he's bad in spot up situations,
Speaker 1: but he was used there a lot less often than
Speaker 1: he was in Brooklyn. So I think that'll be an
Speaker 1: interesting kind of fit thing there that they got to
Speaker 1: figure out. But the the other direction that my brain
Speaker 1: goes there with the signing of deandre Jordan, which we'll
Speaker 1: get to in a second, they don't really have a
Speaker 1: backup center. If they decided to stop using deandre Jordan,
Speaker 1: which I think they will at some point, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if they go small for stretches and go
Speaker 1: with Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown in the front line
Speaker 1: and then start using Bruce Brown as a screener in
Speaker 1: that specific role. So obviously they signed deandre Jordan's he's
Speaker 1: he's a good locker room guy. That's the story I
Speaker 1: keep hearing, because I keep asking, like why do people
Speaker 1: keep signing this guy and he legitimately is terrible as
Speaker 1: a basketball player right now. Like he uh, he's a
Speaker 1: drop coverage big that is disengaged on the vast majority
Speaker 1: of possessions, that very rarely moves his feet, he trods
Speaker 1: up and down the floor in transition, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: nearly the vertical spacing capability that he had when he
Speaker 1: was younger and and just in general will hurt your
Speaker 1: basketball team when he's on the floor. But I keep
Speaker 1: asking how does he keep getting deals, and what I
Speaker 1: keep hearing is that he's just an incredible locker room guy.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's what it is. But then I look
Speaker 1: at the depth chart and they don't really have a
Speaker 1: big after your kich and so I would imagine to
Speaker 1: start the year you'll actually see him in that demarcus
Speaker 1: cousins role where he's the backup big. But my guess
Speaker 1: is at some point early on, maybe in the first
Speaker 1: ten games or so, Mike Malone will realize that he's
Speaker 1: not really playable anymore at this point in his career
Speaker 1: and then he'll probably opt to go small instead. They
Speaker 1: also drafted Christian Braun and Peyton Watson. These are two
Speaker 1: good draft bets on wings that I think could potentially
Speaker 1: be guys that fill that Jeff Green type of role
Speaker 1: in the future, but I doubt they play much this
Speaker 1: particular season, depending on how injuries go, obviously. And then
Speaker 1: the big news here for Denver is the return of
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Jr and the return of Jamal Murray. So
Speaker 1: in Nicola Yoki, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter
Speaker 1: Jr played a hundred and seventeen minutes together over five
Speaker 1: games and they were plus forty six and those hundred
Speaker 1: seventeen minutes, which is unbelievably good. So really small sample size,
Speaker 1: but when we did see this group of four core
Speaker 1: players together, they were a dominant basketball team and that's really,
Speaker 1: really exciting for Denver fans. We're gonna dive into a
Speaker 1: bunch of different ways that I expect that to manifest
Speaker 1: this year. Their depth chart right now at the guard position,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, K CP Ish Smith and bones highland. On
Speaker 1: the wing, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green,
Speaker 1: the two draft picks, Braun and Watson, and will see Zignagi. I.
Speaker 1: He's playing like a wing in the NBA but he
Speaker 1: played big when he was at Arizona. Uh He might
Speaker 1: end up playing some small ball center to as an
Speaker 1: option if they did opt to go away from deandre
Speaker 1: Jordan's but I he could shoot the ship out of
Speaker 1: the basketball. So I really like him as a player.
Speaker 1: It's just a question of how they end up using him,
Speaker 1: but they did use him more as a wing in
Speaker 1: the past. And then big Nicola Yoki and deandre Jordan's
Speaker 1: all right, let's move on to the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the basketball. We're gonna do offense, defense, best case scenario,
Speaker 1: worst case scenario, and then biggest x factor a player.
Speaker 1: I am very, very excited to dive into a little bit.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna start with transition, with the nuggets. I
Speaker 1: know I usually start with the half court stuff first
Speaker 1: and then we get to transition, but the way that
Speaker 1: Denver attacks and transition, I think is super unique and
Speaker 1: it's my favorite part of their offensive attacks. I wanted
Speaker 1: to start with that there. First of all, they are
Speaker 1: a top ten transition efficiency team two years in a
Speaker 1: row now, and last year, according to cleaning the glass,
Speaker 1: even with the limited talent that they had, they were
Speaker 1: the second best team in the league pushing in transition
Speaker 1: off of live ball rebounds at one point to eight
Speaker 1: points per possession. Now there are three concepts here that
Speaker 1: I want to quickly touch on. First of all, defensive rebounding.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows Nicola Yokich is an outstanding defensive rebounder. Him
Speaker 1: Securing that rebound is step one of the break. Step
Speaker 1: two is Nikola Yoki's ability to make reads with the
Speaker 1: basketball without having to give the ball to a guard.
Speaker 1: So many teams in the League there big man gets
Speaker 1: a rebound and they have to look around and wait
Speaker 1: for one of the guards to cut back to the basketball,
Speaker 1: which slows down the break. There are bigs that are
Speaker 1: capable of bringing the ball at the floor or are
Speaker 1: capable of making outlet passes, but nobody that does it
Speaker 1: at the level that Nikola Yokich does. Even Kevin Love
Speaker 1: in his prime he couldn't dribble the basketball the way
Speaker 1: that Nikola Yokich can. He's like a combination of Kevin
Speaker 1: love as an outlet passer mixed with the open floor
Speaker 1: game him that you see from the big point forwards
Speaker 1: that we have in this league. So obviously step one
Speaker 1: is securing the rebound. You can't start the break without
Speaker 1: securing the rebound. Step. Two, though, is players running the
Speaker 1: the wings and Yoki's ability to throw outlet passes, and
Speaker 1: he's got a huge arsenal of him overhead passes, slingshot passes,
Speaker 1: baseball passes, everything under the Sun. He hits his players
Speaker 1: in stride running up the floor and because he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to give the ball to a guard first, it
Speaker 1: makes it tougher for the defense to actually get back
Speaker 1: in time to stop those actions. And then when he
Speaker 1: doesn't see those actions, he'll bring the ball up with pace,
Speaker 1: and it's honestly kind of funny because Yoki is a
Speaker 1: player that I don't view as overly fast and, for
Speaker 1: obvious reasons, I don't think Yokich would say he's fast either,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about some of the downsides of that
Speaker 1: a little bit later. But it is kind of impressive
Speaker 1: the type of pace that that Yokis will bring the
Speaker 1: ball up the floor with and the way that it
Speaker 1: can collapse a defense around him and open things up
Speaker 1: for shooters and people filling in behind him. I really
Speaker 1: like K C P as an addition on this front,
Speaker 1: because when he was with the Lakers, I always talk
Speaker 1: about K C P as an outstanding one leg jumper
Speaker 1: and great one legged jumpers that can take long strides.
Speaker 1: They can extend out and finish at the RIM faster
Speaker 1: than people can get to them. That's what makes him
Speaker 1: so gifted attacking closeouts and it's what makes him so
Speaker 1: dangerous in transition. He's just galloping down the floor and
Speaker 1: he can extend out in front. It's just really difficult
Speaker 1: to meet him at the Rim and block him. So
Speaker 1: adding him as a legitimate transition threat. Aaron Gordon is
Speaker 1: an outstanding transition transition threat, throwing the ball at the
Speaker 1: floor and then Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray trailing
Speaker 1: the play and getting advantage situations as Yokis brings the
Speaker 1: ball up the floor with the pace and shovels the
Speaker 1: ball back to them again. One Point to eight points
Speaker 1: per possession pushing off of live ball rebounds last year,
Speaker 1: which was second best in the entire league according to
Speaker 1: cleaning the glass. That's my favorite part of of what
Speaker 1: Nicola Yokis does in my favorite part of Denver's offense.
Speaker 1: There was a game last year Um sixers fans cling
Speaker 1: to this game as the evidence that embiad was better,
Speaker 1: but it was a game where the Denver Nuggets went
Speaker 1: into Philly and beat the sixers and in that game
Speaker 1: there were a bunch of highlight players at the beginning
Speaker 1: where Nicola Yo kids was struggling guarding and beat in
Speaker 1: single coverage and startling to score on him on the
Speaker 1: other end. And you can make a highlight reel of
Speaker 1: that game of just shot attempts from both players and
Speaker 1: you think, oh, and beads better. But there was a
Speaker 1: stretch in the early second half of that game we
Speaker 1: really started in the second quarter and it kind of
Speaker 1: carried over the entire middle portion of the game where
Speaker 1: Yokis was trans like, like utterly obliterating Philly in transition,
Speaker 1: just starting the break with live ball rebounds, you know,
Speaker 1: pushing the ball at the floor of the live dribble
Speaker 1: or making outlet passes to players as they run, as
Speaker 1: they were run out. In that particular game, bones highland
Speaker 1: got going with transition opportunities from Yokich and then at
Speaker 1: the end of the game, riding that confidence, he made
Speaker 1: back to back at least two, maybe three, huge three pointers.
Speaker 1: That ended up being the daggers that close that game
Speaker 1: for nuggets win and it's it's one of the many
Speaker 1: examples of how judging how good a basketball player is
Speaker 1: goes so much deeper than their individual skill set offensively
Speaker 1: in terms of ball handling and shooting or isolation possessions
Speaker 1: or highlight reels or anything along those lines. There are
Speaker 1: so many different ways to impact winning and the best
Speaker 1: players in the world are are the players that fill
Speaker 1: in gaps in their game with all of those little details,
Speaker 1: like something like being able to initiate offense in transition
Speaker 1: as a ball handler. It's one of the many reasons
Speaker 1: why I think Yokich is a better player than embiid
Speaker 1: right now. When we get into the half court, it's
Speaker 1: a ton of Nicola Yok as a screener and a
Speaker 1: dribble and off guy out of the high post. They
Speaker 1: structured in a bunch of different ways. You'll see them
Speaker 1: do some stuff in horns, you'll see them do some
Speaker 1: stuff in pistol, but the general structure there is Yokich
Speaker 1: out of the high post handing the ball to players
Speaker 1: and screening for them. Um Yokich the only other player
Speaker 1: they'll use as a screener and I am interested to
Speaker 1: see how Bruce Brown factors into that, because they used
Speaker 1: him as a lot as a screener in Brooklyn. But
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon, with the way their lineup is structured, is
Speaker 1: pretty consistently drawing bigger and slower defenders and so, um
Speaker 1: I watched of this morning. I watched an entire game
Speaker 1: from two thousand twenty one back. It was bizarre watching
Speaker 1: it. It It was back when there were no fans at
Speaker 1: the arenas. But it was a game when Murray, Yokich,
Speaker 1: Porter and Gordon were all available and they just beat
Speaker 1: the crap out of the L A clippers and it
Speaker 1: was a really, really interesting basketball game to go back
Speaker 1: and rewatch because it's been so long since we've seen
Speaker 1: that core group of four guys together. But they were
Speaker 1: dominant when they were together. But in that particular game
Speaker 1: the they were using Aaron Gordon a lot as a
Speaker 1: screener to get, you know, Marcus Morris switched on to
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray or things get slower footed players to get
Speaker 1: switched on Jamal Murray. So they will use some screening
Speaker 1: with Aaron Gordon and my guess is they'll do so
Speaker 1: with Bruce Brown as well. But foundationally this is a
Speaker 1: Nickela Yokich as a screener offense. No team used their
Speaker 1: roleman in pick and roll more then Nikola Yokich did
Speaker 1: a lot of times. We're talking about pick and roll
Speaker 1: possessions in the vast majority of them, and in the
Speaker 1: ball the handler coming off the screen and shooting or
Speaker 1: coming off the screen and taking a floater, or coming
Speaker 1: off the screen going all the way to the rim
Speaker 1: or kicking it out to the perimeter. The actual rolemn
Speaker 1: itself doesn't get used nearly as often as you would think,
Speaker 1: and Yokich is the most used role man in the
Speaker 1: league this year, this past season, and that is where
Speaker 1: you put Yokich in position where he's putting a defense
Speaker 1: in rotation and making read so if you hit Yokis
Speaker 1: with a pocket pass in the middle of the lane,
Speaker 1: he's effectively going downhill without a defender on him, which
Speaker 1: is automatically going to collapse the defense. That just puts
Speaker 1: Yokis into position where he can spray the ball out
Speaker 1: to everybody and with his ability as a pastor, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into this a little bit in the
Speaker 1: post later, because Yokis is one of the best post
Speaker 1: players in the league. But the combination of Yokis passing
Speaker 1: out of the Post and Yoki's passing out of the
Speaker 1: short role has actually generated ridiculously high quality spot up
Speaker 1: opportunities for his teammates. So think of it like this.
Speaker 1: The Lakers had terrible spot up talent last year compared
Speaker 1: to the rest of the League. Is One of the
Speaker 1: big reasons why they struggled. We talked about this at length.
Speaker 1: They had weak role players. They were the second worst
Speaker 1: team in the league in points per possession out of
Speaker 1: spot up opportunities, just because they struggle to actually capitalize
Speaker 1: on that. Well, Denver is in a similar situation. there.
Speaker 1: Old players last year were underqualified compared to some of
Speaker 1: the other guys around the league, because of the loss
Speaker 1: of Jamal Murray, because of the loss of Michael Porter Jr,
Speaker 1: who would be eating up a lot of those spot
Speaker 1: up possessions. Well, last year the nuggets were fourth in
Speaker 1: spot up efficiency at one point zero eight points per possession.
Speaker 1: That's the type of advantage creation that Nicola Yokich gives
Speaker 1: your team. He will he will make it so that
Speaker 1: even under qualified players, even players that struggle with shooting
Speaker 1: or attacking closeouts and making reads, he will put them
Speaker 1: in such an advantageous position that they will produce better
Speaker 1: than many of the other players in the league. This
Speaker 1: is an offense that is structured around nickel Yoki's ability
Speaker 1: to generate advantages for his teammates, either coming off of
Speaker 1: those dribble handoffs or in or ball screens or in
Speaker 1: spot up situations. Also, they're one of the best cutting
Speaker 1: teams in the league. They were fourth and cutting volume,
Speaker 1: as well as sixth and cutting efficiency. That's just Nicola
Speaker 1: Yogi is relentless ability to hit cutters, which motivates cutting.
Speaker 1: One of the hard things for players off ball is
Speaker 1: if they don't feel like they're gonna get the ball,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna be willing to do things like, you know,
Speaker 1: screen away or or relocate or cut back door if
Speaker 1: they don't think they're going to get the basketball. The
Speaker 1: nuggets are incentivized to cut and to cut frequently, because
Speaker 1: Nicola Yogis will will will relentlessly hit them when they cut.
Speaker 1: It keeps their offense in motion. It's a huge part
Speaker 1: of why they were so successful. Again, we're talking about
Speaker 1: a team here that last year was literally sixth in
Speaker 1: offense despite having the level of offensive talent that they had,
Speaker 1: and it's once again just a testament to what Nikola
Speaker 1: Yogis can do with the basketball. So post ups obviously
Speaker 1: are a huge part of their offense. They were second
Speaker 1: in volume behind the Philadelphia Seventy sixers. They dumped the
Speaker 1: ball down to Joel and be just an absurd amount
Speaker 1: of time. He posted up a hundred and fifty more
Speaker 1: times than Yokis did last year. Um, but KOL Yokich
Speaker 1: was number one in post up efficiency last year. This
Speaker 1: is like looking at the skill sets. You Think, Oh,
Speaker 1: like Joel embid. Look at how talented he is hitting
Speaker 1: the step back jump shots. Look at his ability to
Speaker 1: draw foul's. A NICKELA Yoki Post up generates twelve additional
Speaker 1: points per one hunter possessions than an embid post up does.
Speaker 1: And that's before we get into what he can do
Speaker 1: passing the basketball, which is to a whole other level
Speaker 1: than what Joel embid can do. Now, I think Joel
Speaker 1: embiads a better defensive player than Yokis, buy some small amount,
Speaker 1: but they're in my opinion, is a pretty decent chasm
Speaker 1: between the two of them as offensive players, and that's
Speaker 1: a big reason why I am so high on what
Speaker 1: Nickel Yokis can do relative to what Joel embid can do.
Speaker 1: One of the things they do really uh, in a
Speaker 1: really interesting way to set up Yokis for success in
Speaker 1: post ups is they don't just do the lazy thing,
Speaker 1: which is have him fight for position and dump the
Speaker 1: ball to him on the block. They run a lot
Speaker 1: of yoke it's post ups off of cross screens. This
Speaker 1: is one of the things that was impressing uh impressing
Speaker 1: me a lot on film this morning. A Lot. They
Speaker 1: won't just dump the ball into they will, but they
Speaker 1: don't just do that every time down the floor. They'll
Speaker 1: have him run some sort of action that has him
Speaker 1: catching and turning and facing at ten feet with the
Speaker 1: defender closing out at him, so he can shoot some
Speaker 1: catch and shoot ten footers, which he makes at a
Speaker 1: high percentage, so that he can turn and do a
Speaker 1: power dribble with space between so we can get his
Speaker 1: momentum going so that he can gain more position moving
Speaker 1: towards the basket, or he can get deeper seals closer
Speaker 1: to the rim and just turn and finished right away.
Speaker 1: The way they structure their offense to get yogis advantageous
Speaker 1: post ups is a huge part of why he's so
Speaker 1: efficient down there. They had a set against the clippers
Speaker 1: that I was watching this morning out of horns where
Speaker 1: he was on the right elbow for facing the basket.
Speaker 1: He's on the right elbow and there's a post entry
Speaker 1: to him at the elbow. There he turns and does
Speaker 1: a dribble handoff to whoever's coming out of the corner
Speaker 1: and after that dribble handoff, the guy in the opposite
Speaker 1: the corner and the guy in the opposite elbow run
Speaker 1: and set a double cross screen, literally a double cross
Speaker 1: screen for Yokis to run over to a post up
Speaker 1: on the left block he ends up catching so wide
Speaker 1: open that he just turns and shoots a completely unguarded
Speaker 1: ten footer. What is so smart about that concept, not
Speaker 1: just that super complicated play that I'm not super complicated,
Speaker 1: but more complicated play that I just mentioned, but even
Speaker 1: less complicated versions like cross screens and things along those lines,
Speaker 1: is big men really struggled to navigate screens. Most of
Speaker 1: the best screen navigating basketball players in the world are
Speaker 1: short and stocky and strong, because they're difficult to put
Speaker 1: a body on. But when you're when you're like in
Speaker 1: that clippers game, when you're asking zoobots to run through
Speaker 1: a double staggered screen. He's gonna get caught on him.
Speaker 1: He just is how much times he spent practicing running
Speaker 1: through double staggered screens? How like, in most levels of
Speaker 1: youth basketball you're playing with two bigs and their cross
Speaker 1: screening for each other and they'll just they'll just switch
Speaker 1: right or they won't have a second player down there
Speaker 1: to do cross screens with. They just don't have to
Speaker 1: navigate a ton of screening actions, chasing, locking and trailing,
Speaker 1: and so I think that's really smart that Denver does
Speaker 1: that and I think it's a big part of why
Speaker 1: Yokis has been as efficient as he's been in put
Speaker 1: in post up situations. The bottom line is everything that
Speaker 1: I just mentioned there has to do with efficiency. In
Speaker 1: a season where they struggled with offensive talent off ball,
Speaker 1: you're now plugging Jamal Murray into that mix and he's outstanding.
Speaker 1: I'M NOT gonna get any further into him yet because
Speaker 1: I want to spend a lot of time on him
Speaker 1: later in the show. Michael Porter Jr, one of the
Speaker 1: best spot up three point shooters that we have in
Speaker 1: the league right now. contavious called but pope, I talked
Speaker 1: about his fit as a transition player. You know, the
Speaker 1: one thing with him is will Barton generated a lot
Speaker 1: of chemistry with Nicola Yokich in those ball screen and
Speaker 1: drimal handoff situations. It'll be interesting to see if K
Speaker 1: C P can replicate any of that. But it not,
Speaker 1: it might matter with the development of bones highland and
Speaker 1: with Jamal Murray's return and with him being in a
Speaker 1: primarily spot up role, and he's gonna get outstanding spot
Speaker 1: up opportunities that he's going to capitalize on. I think
Speaker 1: that this team has a a very good chance to
Speaker 1: be the best offense in basketball this year. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, I would predict that if they stayed
Speaker 1: largely healthy, if all of four of their stars average
Speaker 1: sixty five games played, that they would finish the season
Speaker 1: as the number one offense in the league this year.
Speaker 1: Moving on to the defensive end of the floor, so
Speaker 1: they're very traditional, in line with the rest of the League.
Speaker 1: They run drop covers with Yo kitchen. They switched just
Speaker 1: about everything else. Big Shock. You've heard that from the
Speaker 1: vast majority of the teams that we've dealt with this year.
Speaker 1: We need to spend some time on Yokachen drop coverage, though,
Speaker 1: because it's kind of like a conflicting uh narrative, because
Speaker 1: he's actually a very good drop coverage big in terms
Speaker 1: of his ability to keep the roller in front of
Speaker 1: him and defend ball handler driving at him and defend
Speaker 1: shots around the rim. But the reality is is that
Speaker 1: that's only one type of offense that kind of plays
Speaker 1: into that, and that's the ball handler being willing to
Speaker 1: drive into the teeth of the defense rather than being
Speaker 1: aggressive as a pull up shooter or being aggressive in
Speaker 1: the mid range and so like. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a given a take because keeping
Speaker 1: him around the rim and drop coverage, he's more impactful
Speaker 1: there defending shots at the rim. Having him close to
Speaker 1: the rim helps him get defensive rebounds. Like if he's
Speaker 1: chasing everybody in switches or coming way high out of
Speaker 1: the drop up to the level of the screen, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna get as many defensive rebounds. If he doesn't
Speaker 1: get as many defensive rebounds, he can't start the break.
Speaker 1: So in a lot of cases it's just a trade off.
Speaker 1: Denver is willing to give pull up jump shots or
Speaker 1: to struggle a little bit in five out driving kick situations,
Speaker 1: on understanding that they benefit in transition with what Yokis
Speaker 1: can do grabbing rebounds and starting the break and what
Speaker 1: he can do protecting the rim. So he's not as
Speaker 1: limited as a traditional drop coverage big right, but he's
Speaker 1: also not nearly as gifted defensively as the true versatile
Speaker 1: defensive back line guys that can switch or cover in
Speaker 1: space better or come high out of the screen and
Speaker 1: still contain and all of those different things, like even
Speaker 1: in that warrior series when Yoki was coming high out
Speaker 1: of the drop up to the level of the screen
Speaker 1: Stephi was just going right around him. And so that's
Speaker 1: always going to be an issue for Denver how they
Speaker 1: can utilize yokis defensively without overly compromising their defense, but
Speaker 1: also not overly compromising their transition attack, which depends on
Speaker 1: Yoki being around the rim. So it's a very complicated topic.
Speaker 1: Denver fans with rose colored glasses will view that in
Speaker 1: a very positive light. You know, I'm not a OAKTS detractor.
Speaker 1: I try to be very fair about him. I view
Speaker 1: it in the middle. He's something better than a traditional
Speaker 1: drop coverage big but something less than a versatile defensive
Speaker 1: big man that can do more like a Bam at
Speaker 1: a bio, for instance. Um Moving on to the kind
Speaker 1: of the other aspects of defense, Mike Malone is a
Speaker 1: good basketball coach and he's very good on the margins.
Speaker 1: He's top ten defending the three point line, which is
Speaker 1: just smart. I'm always quick to look there because the
Speaker 1: smartest basketball teams in the League are chasing teams off
Speaker 1: the three point line because that's where they like to
Speaker 1: go for large portions of their offense. In terms of
Speaker 1: the math, it's just a very efficient way to attack.
Speaker 1: If you can't lock down the rim like you need
Speaker 1: to either be able to completely shut down the rim
Speaker 1: or guard the three point line really well. If you
Speaker 1: don't do both, I don't believe in what you can
Speaker 1: do defensively. The Milwaukee Bucks completely shut down the rim,
Speaker 1: so I'm a little bit more at peace with what
Speaker 1: they do giving up shots at the three point line.
Speaker 1: The Denver Nuggets defend the rim terribly like well, we'll
Speaker 1: talk out in a minute. They were twenty five points
Speaker 1: in the pain allowed last year, but they guard the
Speaker 1: three point line well and so that's kind of a
Speaker 1: foundational piece for their defense. That they can lean on,
Speaker 1: at least in a playoff setting. Um, I really like
Speaker 1: uh Oh. And then, lastly, on the Mike Malone in
Speaker 1: the margins bit, they're the best defensive rebounding team in
Speaker 1: all of basketball. In terms of defensive rebounding possessions. No
Speaker 1: team secures more of the opponent's misses than Denver does,
Speaker 1: which is just it's that's really smart on two fronts.
Speaker 1: So you're you're limiting the number of shot opportunities that
Speaker 1: the opponent gets and you're limiting their efficiency by taking
Speaker 1: away the high value shots. That's a way to squeeze
Speaker 1: out of out of Lesser Defensive Talent, a middle of
Speaker 1: the pack defense, and that's what they ended up being
Speaker 1: fifteenth in the League. Um, cantavious caldwell pope is a
Speaker 1: legitimate perimeter defensive threat. He's gonna struggle against your bigger wings.
Speaker 1: Like I know he can't guard Kawhi Leonard in isolation situations.
Speaker 1: I know he can't guard Lebron James and isolation situations,
Speaker 1: but that's what you have Aaron Gordon for. He's air
Speaker 1: for that. KCP is a player that you can throw
Speaker 1: out of Paul George who can do a decent job
Speaker 1: or against many of the scoring guards that we have
Speaker 1: in this league. I like him as an option there.
Speaker 1: And then Aaron Gordon is Your Textbook Perimeter, rim pressuring
Speaker 1: wing defender like that can guard the Kauais and the
Speaker 1: lebrons and the Jason Tatums of the world. So they
Speaker 1: have two good matchups that they can throw at those
Speaker 1: specific guys, which I really like. Um, the big swing
Speaker 1: factors for their defense this year is gonna be Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray Michael Porter Jr. Jamal Murray was solid, I thought
Speaker 1: solid on tape in the season season. I thought he
Speaker 1: held up okay in the playoffs. Certainly not a great
Speaker 1: defensive player. Michael Porter Jr was trending in the right
Speaker 1: direction before his injury, but he was still pretty average
Speaker 1: to below average. And then this back thing. It's a
Speaker 1: question of whether or not he lost any mobility as
Speaker 1: part of that. I saw a video of him working
Speaker 1: out a couple of months ago. Didn't look overly quick,
Speaker 1: but he's still in the middle of his rehabit a point.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but
Speaker 1: those two you if you're gonna have Murray Porter Jr
Speaker 1: and Yokich on the floor. You you're gonna need some
Speaker 1: kind of defensive leap or some sort of, you know,
Speaker 1: uh progression to competency from either Murray or porter to
Speaker 1: really become the type of defense they would need to
Speaker 1: win an NBA championship. Um, Nikola yokis foot speed. This
Speaker 1: is something that I spent a lot of time talking
Speaker 1: about in our player rankings. But you know, there's just
Speaker 1: a proven method to a technically Yokich on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Push the ball in transition because
Speaker 1: he's gonna struggle to keep up in a foot race,
Speaker 1: and then put put pull up shooters in pick and
Speaker 1: roll situations to pull him out of his drop and
Speaker 1: then put him in space out situations, five out driving
Speaker 1: kick situations where he has to cover in space and
Speaker 1: make rotations that make him cover a ton of ground.
Speaker 1: If you do that, he will struggle. That's just a fact.
Speaker 1: I think. I would hope that Nicola Yoki fans would
Speaker 1: be willing to acknowledge that as as well. The nuggets
Speaker 1: were nineteen defending off of live ball live ball rebounds
Speaker 1: last year. That's not good for a team with legitimate
Speaker 1: championship aspirations. And they're bringing in slower footed players into
Speaker 1: the rotation compared to some of the athletes they had
Speaker 1: playing minutes last year. Teams know that you can attack
Speaker 1: Denver by pushing the brake and by spacing them, spacing
Speaker 1: them out. It's just a fact Um. That's why, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that Yokich was actually a solid rim defender,
Speaker 1: that they were twenty five in paint points allowed. It's
Speaker 1: not about what Yokich can do when he's standing around
Speaker 1: the rim and people drive at him. It's about what
Speaker 1: Yokich can do when teams find a way to pull
Speaker 1: him away from the Rim and the way that that
Speaker 1: opens up things at the room for the opponent. My
Speaker 1: guess is that they'll finish somewhere around fifteenth and defense again,
Speaker 1: if I had to guess, but they're gonna be one of,
Speaker 1: if not the best offense in the league. So if
Speaker 1: we're talking about a number one offense and a number
Speaker 1: fifteen defense, that's a team that's firmly in that top
Speaker 1: ten in terms of net rating and their ability to
Speaker 1: beat teams on the scoreboard. The question is, can they
Speaker 1: get enough stops, especially in pivotal moments, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: we're simply gonna have to find out. Um, the one
Speaker 1: little interesting wrinkle there that I think uh nuggets fans
Speaker 1: could get excited about is, you know, I haven't made
Speaker 1: my picks yet this year, but H and we'll do
Speaker 1: so right before the regular season starts. But have gun
Speaker 1: to my head right now. I would bet that Milwaukee
Speaker 1: has a very good chance to come out of the east.
Speaker 1: I'd say, you know, kind of fifty fifty between them
Speaker 1: in Boston. If I had to guess right now, and
Speaker 1: I haven't put a ton of thought into it, that
Speaker 1: means you're gonna have to go through you Honice, potentially
Speaker 1: to win a title, and there were some really interesting
Speaker 1: footage from Eurobasket of Nicola Yokich and his ability to
Speaker 1: guard Janice, giving ground knowing he's not gonna beat you
Speaker 1: over the top, consistently sliding his feet, taking contact to
Speaker 1: the chest and protecting the rim. He did a really
Speaker 1: nice job on Jannice. That's an exciting potential thing as
Speaker 1: a matchup in an NBA finals series between the Bucks
Speaker 1: and the nuggets, should it come to that. So best
Speaker 1: case scenario. Obviously, it starts with health. Michael Porter Jr
Speaker 1: in his back how quickly are they gonna get Murray
Speaker 1: up to speed? Is His body gonna hold up over
Speaker 1: the course of the season? All of those things. But
Speaker 1: if they stay healthy, I think this is the number
Speaker 1: one offense in basketball. I think Nikola Yoki is one
Speaker 1: of the best offensive engines in basketball and he has
Speaker 1: a bunch of role players that are are specifically equipped
Speaker 1: with basketball skill sets that play well off of what
Speaker 1: Nikola Yok can do with the ball. It's really gonna
Speaker 1: come down to can Mike Malone, Jamal Murray, Nikola Yokich
Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Jr in particular, obviously the strategic help,
Speaker 1: and then the players themselves. Can they figure out how
Speaker 1: to get enough stops to beat a Boston to beat
Speaker 1: a golden state, to beat in L A clippers or
Speaker 1: to beat a Milwaukee Bucks? I don't know, we'll see,
Speaker 1: but if Nicola Yokich plays the way that we know
Speaker 1: he's capable of, and he's been a dominant playoff player
Speaker 1: basically in every series, outside of maybe his matchup with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, where he struggled a little bit, if he
Speaker 1: plays to that level and they get enough stops, this
Speaker 1: team is absolutely capable of winning an NBA championship, and
Speaker 1: and and and again. Like in my player rankings, I
Speaker 1: had nickel Yogi at seven, and yeah, it's because I
Speaker 1: prefer perimeter players. I prefer Luca Don Chech and what
Speaker 1: he can do from the perimeter. I prefer Lebron James,
Speaker 1: I prefer Kevin Durant, I prefer step curry, Janisontenna Combos,
Speaker 1: on and so forth. But that does not mean that
Speaker 1: he can't be number one this year. He is absolutely
Speaker 1: capable of that, especially if he makes some improvements on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor and if he plays
Speaker 1: like the number one player in the year. This team
Speaker 1: is talented enough to win a championship. It's absolutely within reach.
Speaker 1: That's why I consider them the last of the puncher's
Speaker 1: chance contenders. Their puncher's chance is Yokich. If he plays
Speaker 1: to that level, they can beat anybody. Worst case scenario, obviously,
Speaker 1: health becomes an issue. Their offense, I think, will be great,
Speaker 1: no matter what I mean Yokich. Had Him at six
Speaker 1: of all the guys missing last year, but their defense
Speaker 1: won't be able to get stops and and pivotal moments
Speaker 1: if they don't figure out some things on that end.
Speaker 1: Without health, they won't be able to score in the
Speaker 1: half court against the best defenses. In that case there
Speaker 1: are playing team or first round exit at that point.
Speaker 1: So the part of this show that I was most
Speaker 1: excited for because this is a player that I don't
Speaker 1: think has gotten nearly as much credit as he deserves
Speaker 1: in general, even when he was healthy, and I think
Speaker 1: he's poised for a big season, provided that his knee
Speaker 1: holds up. And that is Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray is
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players in the league. He's the
Speaker 1: definition of the modern do everything scoring guard. So, first
Speaker 1: of all, he's an outstanding pull up jump shooter. He
Speaker 1: shot forty one percent on pull up jumpers. On pull
Speaker 1: up jumpers, he shot forty five percent on pull up
Speaker 1: jumpers in playoffs, including forty percent from three. He's one
Speaker 1: of the most reliable pull up jump shooters in the
Speaker 1: game of basketball. He is an expert at making the
Speaker 1: shots that most defenses are designed to give up. Most
Speaker 1: defenses are designed to give up difficult pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: and that's what he makes as his bread and butter.
Speaker 1: That's what makes him a super interesting player. He's also
Speaker 1: extremely well rounded. He shot fifty in the paint, non
Speaker 1: restricted area. So like think of that as like short
Speaker 1: floaters and push shots in the lane on three attempts
Speaker 1: per game. This was in the year that he got hurt.
Speaker 1: He was in the mid range on five attempts per game.
Speaker 1: That's very good, and this is a crazy part. He
Speaker 1: also got to the Rim three times per game and
Speaker 1: shot seventy two percent when he got there, which is
Speaker 1: like ridiculous for a guard. That's what I considered to
Speaker 1: be good for a big, strong athletic for words that
Speaker 1: are typically finishing above the rim. Jamal Murray is just
Speaker 1: incredibly proficient at every spot on the floor. It's amazing
Speaker 1: to me that he's not more well regarded as a
Speaker 1: star guard in this league the way that he deserves.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because his big playoff run
Speaker 1: took place in the bubble and everyone just dismisses the bubble,
Speaker 1: which is outrageous. I mean literally, it is the it
Speaker 1: is the UH, the like perfect basketball environment. Everyone's in
Speaker 1: the same gym, there's not fan distractions, it's just ft
Speaker 1: of Hardwood, ten basketball players and Valarry O'Brien at steak.
Speaker 1: That is basketball at its purest form. No one's going
Speaker 1: to strip clubs, no one's partying, no one's anything, it's
Speaker 1: just basketball. I don't see how succeeding in that environment
Speaker 1: is some sort of like, uh, like some sort of
Speaker 1: red flag or some sort of detriment to your reputation.
Speaker 1: He should have been elevated for what he did in
Speaker 1: the bubble. This is a crazy part he's I've always
Speaker 1: thought of this in terms of the eye test and
Speaker 1: when I saw watching him, but when I was diving
Speaker 1: into the numbers this morning, it's crazy. This dude is
Speaker 1: a flat out assassin and he has a great feel
Speaker 1: for big moments in clutch situations. He shot fifty one
Speaker 1: percent from the field, from three and didn't miss a
Speaker 1: free throw and he scored at a rate of thirty
Speaker 1: one points for thirty six minutes. In the playoffs he
Speaker 1: scored at a rate of thirty six points per thirty
Speaker 1: six minutes on fifty six percent from the field, seventy
Speaker 1: three percent from three and didn't miss a free throw.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous. If any other scoring guard in the League
Speaker 1: did that, we'd be calling them a superstar. Now he's
Speaker 1: not the defensive player that he needs to be to
Speaker 1: get to that point, and some of this is him
Speaker 1: being in Yoki's shadow, but Jamal Murray checks a lot
Speaker 1: of boxes of superstar guard and I think he deserves
Speaker 1: a little bit more recognition on that part. He is
Speaker 1: a flat out star. The question is, can he get
Speaker 1: back to what he was a c l tears are weird.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they take two years to come back. He did
Speaker 1: take a long time in his recovery this time, so
Speaker 1: he should be okay. But if Jamal Murray is that guy,
Speaker 1: with how good Yokich has become over the was the
Speaker 1: last two years, with what Aaron Gordon can do guarding
Speaker 1: the other team's best player, running the floor and transition
Speaker 1: and attacking closeouts, and with what my what Michael Porter
Speaker 1: Jr can do when he's healthy, they suddenly become one
Speaker 1: of the most talented players in the league. But it's
Speaker 1: just it's an x factor because we don't know whether
Speaker 1: or not it will take more time than that for
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray to get up to speed. But he's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players and I hope he has a
Speaker 1: huge season this year to remind everybody what he's capable of.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. We'll be doing
Speaker 1: number seven tomorrow, number six on Wednesday, number five on
Speaker 1: Thursday and then we'll head into the final four next week.
Speaker 1: I will see you guys tomorrow. The Volume