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Speaker 1: welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Wednesday,
Speaker 1: everybody of all. If you guys are having a great
Speaker 1: week so far, well, well, well, we had talked about
Speaker 1: how this was an incredibly boring NBA off season, but
Speaker 1: not anymore. A bomb goes off today in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard finally gets traded, and not to any of
Speaker 1: the destinations that had been hinted. He's going to the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are getting Damian Lillard, the Blazers
Speaker 1: are getting Drew Holliday and DeAndre Ayton and some draft compensation,
Speaker 1: and the Sons are getting use of Nurkic and Grayson
Speaker 1: Allen and a couple of other role players from the
Speaker 1: Blazers as well. All hell is breaking loose, and we
Speaker 1: have a new championship favorite going into the season one
Speaker 1: that's probably gonna disrupt my power rankings quite a bit,
Speaker 1: obviously for all the teams involved, which we'll get to
Speaker 1: later on this week, But today I just want to
Speaker 1: focus on this trade and all of the fallout for it.
Speaker 1: I have six different pieces of fallout from this. One
Speaker 1: Portland not trading Dame to Miami. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Two Damian Lillard and Giannis together with the Bucks, what
Speaker 1: does that look like? Three the Blazers getting a young
Speaker 1: big man for their guard? Core, what does that mean for?
Speaker 1: Where will Drew Holliday end up? Five? Do the Suns
Speaker 1: have enough athleticism and talent in their front court? And?
Speaker 1: Six what do the Miami Heat do now? So all
Speaker 1: sorts of fallout from this incredibly interesting trade, We're gonna
Speaker 1: break it all down. You guys know the Joe before
Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt. Don't forget about our
Speaker 1: podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight,
Speaker 1: and continue to drop mailback questions in the YouTube comment
Speaker 1: so I can continue to hit those at the end
Speaker 1: of the shows. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 1: let's start with the Portland trading Dame to Miami. So again,
Speaker 1: the conundrum here, and I saw both sides of it,
Speaker 1: was like Portland wants to do what's best for the franchise.
Speaker 1: But then there's the Damian Lillard element. He's been here
Speaker 1: for over a decade, He's done everything for this franchise.
Speaker 1: Like you want to take care of him, you don't
Speaker 1: want to vindictively send him somewhere else, right, So, like
Speaker 1: those two purposes were kind of competing against each other.
Speaker 1: And the problem was is there wasn't a trade out there,
Speaker 1: at least that had been pitched that successfully addressed both concerns,
Speaker 1: a trade that was what was best for Portland and
Speaker 1: what was best for Dame. It was a tough thing
Speaker 1: to find out there, and I think that was the
Speaker 1: position of negotiating leverage that pat Riley was coming from.
Speaker 1: I think that's why he was being stingy with the
Speaker 1: assets he was offering in the deal. I think he
Speaker 1: just didn't realize that something like this would materialize, and
Speaker 1: that's what this ended up being This ended up being
Speaker 1: the magical trade that took care of both because not
Speaker 1: only does Portland get an asset back that actually makes
Speaker 1: a lot more sense for them in the big picture
Speaker 1: in DeAndre Ayton and another asset and Drew Holliday that
Speaker 1: they can flip for draft compensation. So Portland got what
Speaker 1: they wanted out of the deal. But Damian Lillard is
Speaker 1: now going to a basketball situation that is not only great,
Speaker 1: I'd argue it's a better basketball situation than Miami. Now.
Speaker 1: It's not the market that Miami is, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: that there was some elements to that that Dame was
Speaker 1: looking forward to, But you cannot look at this situation
Speaker 1: and think that Portland vindictively sent Dame somewhere that he
Speaker 1: didn't want to go. Dame is gonna love being in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: He's gonna love playing with Giannis. He's now on the
Speaker 1: championship favorite, and this is his best opportunity to win
Speaker 1: an NBA championship in his long NBA career. So this
Speaker 1: magical scenario arose, and then pat Riley gets squeezed. So honestly,
Speaker 1: like this is probably the best possible outcome to this situation.
Speaker 1: This was the situation, the outcome that I didn't think
Speaker 1: was possible, obviously, the outcome that pat Riley didn't think
Speaker 1: was possible, and patience ended up paying off for the Blazers.
Speaker 1: So kudos to them, Kudos to Dame. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be really exciting now. Next phase of this whole storyline,
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard and Giannis together with the Bucks. So one
Speaker 1: of my biggest critiques of the Dame era in Portland
Speaker 1: is that they never gave him what he needed to compete. Right,
Speaker 1: So what do I always talk about on the show.
Speaker 1: Unless you are like absurdly good offensively as a team,
Speaker 1: which Portland never really was. Unless you were absurdly good offensively,
Speaker 1: you need a dominant defensive front court. That's what NBA
Speaker 1: history has taught us. If you go back in NBA history,
Speaker 1: this Jokic Gordon front court was probably the worst defensive
Speaker 1: front court of any team to win the title in
Speaker 1: the last several decades. Right, But the backstory there is
Speaker 1: it's the most unguardable offensive player in the NBA and
Speaker 1: flanked by four role players that compliment him perfectly, basically
Speaker 1: putting together the most unguardable offense that we've seen in
Speaker 1: recent NBA history, Right, So that was why they're the
Speaker 1: exception that proves the rule. As we go back, it's
Speaker 1: all defensive front courts, right, It's it's Draymond Green and
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins. It's Giannis and Tennen Kombaum, Brook Lopez, It's
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. It's Kwhi, Leonard Sergebaka and Marcasol.
Speaker 1: It's Kevin Durant, Raymond Green and Andre Guadala. Like, we can
Speaker 1: go back and go back and go back, but it's
Speaker 1: all dominant defensive front courts, right. So from that standpoint,
Speaker 1: that should be a prerequisite to contending in the modern NBA,
Speaker 1: especially when you have a small guard that you're a
Speaker 1: full crum that you're using as a full crum. Look
Speaker 1: at Steph with Golden State, right Like everyone looks at
Speaker 1: Steph as one of the best offensive players of this era,
Speaker 1: and that's what he is. But the twenty fifteen Warriors
Speaker 1: were one of the best defenses in the league. So
Speaker 1: it was the twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen Warriors, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you guys get the point, Like this team would have
Speaker 1: had a defensive foundation built on Draymond Green, one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive folkrums of this era, and Andre Gudala,
Speaker 1: one of the best perimeter defenders of this era, one
Speaker 1: of the most versatile defenders of this era. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's what you need
Speaker 1: to give your ball, like your offensive oriented backcourt their
Speaker 1: best opportunity to win. And Portland never did that. Not
Speaker 1: at any point during the Damian Lillard era did they
Speaker 1: even have an above average defensive front court, let alone
Speaker 1: a defensive front court that had a chance to contend.
Speaker 1: So what I'm really excited about seeing Damian Lillard flanked
Speaker 1: by the type of defensive front court he needs to
Speaker 1: be able to contend for championships. Giannis and Tenna Koopa
Speaker 1: and Brook Lopez are arguably the best defensive front court
Speaker 1: in the league. We're gonna talk about it later, but
Speaker 1: that's kind of the pairing of that with the pull
Speaker 1: up shooting of Dame is actually kind of the ideal
Speaker 1: basketball situation you'd like to have of the best chance
Speaker 1: to beat the Denver Nuggets and the Nicoleek's problem. Right,
Speaker 1: And we'll get into that in a little bit, But
Speaker 1: this is what you were hoping for for a Dame situation.
Speaker 1: If you're building a Damian Lillard team from scratch, this
Speaker 1: is what you're looking for. You want a big forward
Speaker 1: that can take care of some of the higher level
Speaker 1: shot making, right like with Chris Middleton, that would help. Obviously,
Speaker 1: not that Dame can't do that stuff, but it just
Speaker 1: is a different type of punch, right. And you want
Speaker 1: an excellent screen and role partner. That's the honest. You
Speaker 1: ideally a screen and pop partner as well, that's Brook Lopez.
Speaker 1: And you want a dominant defensive front court that can
Speaker 1: make up for his defensive limitations. It's about crafting easier
Speaker 1: jobs for limited point of attack personnel, right, Like, when
Speaker 1: you don't have a good defensive front line, you have
Speaker 1: to ask your perimeter defenders to do a lot because
Speaker 1: if they don't contain the ball, it's gonna be lay
Speaker 1: up city on the back end. Right, When you have
Speaker 1: an elite defensive front court, you can be like, hey, Dame,
Speaker 1: all I need you to do is get over the
Speaker 1: top of that screen and just force him to drive
Speaker 1: into me. That's all you need to do. You don't
Speaker 1: need to block his shot, you don't need to keep
Speaker 1: him in front of you off the dribble. You need
Speaker 1: to prevent him from taking easy pull up threes, and
Speaker 1: prevent him from taking easy pull up jumpers in mid
Speaker 1: range shots right at mid rang shots and floaters on
Speaker 1: his way downhill and pick and roll. If you can
Speaker 1: do that, we'll take care of the rest. Right, They
Speaker 1: can craft for Dame an achievable defensive role, and that's
Speaker 1: the beauty of having a dominant defensive front court next
Speaker 1: to a limited defensive guard. So game planning for the
Speaker 1: Bucks now is totally different. Dame is a better half
Speaker 1: court offensive player than Giannis. That's just a fact at
Speaker 1: this point. Here's what you're getting for Damian Lillard, right,
Speaker 1: You're getting thirty two points, five rebounds, and seven assists
Speaker 1: per game last year on an outrageous sixty five percent
Speaker 1: true shooting. He was the second best high volume pick
Speaker 1: and roll player in the league. Last year, only fifteen
Speaker 1: players ran at least a thousand pick and rolls. Dame
Speaker 1: was second on that list behind Luka Doncic at one
Speaker 1: point one four points per possession. He was also the
Speaker 1: third best ISO guy in the league out of the
Speaker 1: twenty five players in the NBA to run at least
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty ISOs Dame finished behind Joel Andmbiden
Speaker 1: Demarta Rosen at one point one to three points per possession.
Speaker 1: He shot fifty four percent effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. He shot fifty six percent in
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots.
Speaker 1: He's still one of the best rim finishing guards in
Speaker 1: the league. As a matter of fact, among guards, blows
Speaker 1: sixty three. He's second to John Moran in restricted area
Speaker 1: makes per game, and he shoots sixty three percent there,
Speaker 1: which is off the charts for a small guard. And
Speaker 1: to top it all off, he's one of the better
Speaker 1: passers in the league. So to be clear, to put
Speaker 1: it simply, you are getting one of the very best
Speaker 1: half court shot creators in the NBA, and now you're
Speaker 1: adding Jannison tenne Kumpo as a pick and roll partner
Speaker 1: with him part of the issue. This is why I
Speaker 1: pitched potentially a James Harden for Drew Holiday switch in
Speaker 1: the past. Is as good as Drew Holliday is, and
Speaker 1: he's an excellent player. We're gona talk about him a
Speaker 1: little bit. He's not a very high level pick and
Speaker 1: roll passer. Right, And he's not the type of really
Speaker 1: really deadly pull up shooter that forces defenses to employ
Speaker 1: to deploy a really aggressive pick and roll coverages. Right,
Speaker 1: Like you're gonna live with Drew Holiday take and pull
Speaker 1: up threes. You're gonna live with Drew Holiday and pick
Speaker 1: and roll against drop coverage trying to pick you apart.
Speaker 1: You cannot do that with Dame. You absolutely have to
Speaker 1: show high at a very mint at the minimum, you
Speaker 1: have to show high, probably gonna have to blitz a lot. Now,
Speaker 1: let's imagine that scenario where Damian Lillard has a tenecumpo
Speaker 1: ball screen, a good solid ball screen that gets Dame separation.
Speaker 1: He's going to take and make pull up threes all
Speaker 1: day long unless you show high with the screen defender.
Speaker 1: If you show high with the screen defender, then what happens.
Speaker 1: It's a pocket pass to Jannis barreling down the floor
Speaker 1: in a four on three with Brook Lopez in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot and Chris Middleton on the wing and probably
Speaker 1: someone like Pat Connoton on the other wing. Right, that's
Speaker 1: what you're getting. That's the dynamic that you're opening up
Speaker 1: by giving Giannis and tennecoompbo a re pick and roll
Speaker 1: ball handler at a higher level. Not to say that
Speaker 1: Drew's not a real one, but Dame's just at an
Speaker 1: entirely different level there right, not to mention all of
Speaker 1: the things that open up in pick and pop situations
Speaker 1: that you get from Brook Lopez, who obviously has the
Speaker 1: ability to pick and pop. Pick and pop opens up
Speaker 1: a whole other list of issues for a defense. When
Speaker 1: you have a high level shot creator like Damian Lillard,
Speaker 1: he is going to overnight turn them into a much, much,
Speaker 1: much tougher team to guard in the half court and
Speaker 1: half court offense in slow down situations has been the
Speaker 1: one achilles heel for this Milwaukee Bucks team They've consistently
Speaker 1: defended at the championship level, and containing Giannis in the
Speaker 1: big picture of a basketball game and his athleticism, what
Speaker 1: he brings to the table is such a royal pain
Speaker 1: in the ass. And now you're adding to that that
Speaker 1: he can't even be the primary game plan for your
Speaker 1: half court defense. Everything is gonna have to start with
Speaker 1: how the hell are we gonna guard Damon pick and roll?
Speaker 1: This is this? I love this steal. It makes so
Speaker 1: much sense for Dame, It makes so much sense for Giannis.
Speaker 1: I love the way that they've continually taken care of Yiannis.
Speaker 1: Like again, like guys, we always talk about player movement
Speaker 1: in the NBA, and oh, what about small market teams
Speaker 1: and what about Oh, everyone wants to go to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Giannis is gonna stay in Milwaukee. You know why, because
Speaker 1: he got a little antsy. Once they got him Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: he won a championship. Then he got a little antsy.
Speaker 1: This summer they got him Damian Lillard. Now he's the
Speaker 1: favorite to win a championship. He is now. I guarantee
Speaker 1: you he has a bigger margin for error with this team. Now.
Speaker 1: If four or five years go by and they're having
Speaker 1: some issues, he's gonna trust them because time and time
Speaker 1: again they've come through for him and brought him the
Speaker 1: tools that he needs to compete for championships. This is
Speaker 1: how it's done. This is small market basketball done right.
Speaker 1: This is how the Milwaukee Bucks are gonna keep one
Speaker 1: of the top two players in the league in the
Speaker 1: long term in Milwaukee, of all places. We will uh
Speaker 1: do a deeper dive on the Buck when we get
Speaker 1: to their season preview next week. I do want to
Speaker 1: say again, like what I'm excited about is the Denver matchup,
Speaker 1: because you got to think, if you want to guard
Speaker 1: Denver and a score on Denver, there's two things you
Speaker 1: have to be able to do defensively. In the front court,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to have a guy that
Speaker 1: can reasonably bang with Nikole Jokic in the post, just reasonably.
Speaker 1: You don't need him to stop him, but you need
Speaker 1: to make him at least work a little bit. And
Speaker 1: then ideally you have really good back line help. But
Speaker 1: that's where Nikole Jokic is passing can be a problem.
Speaker 1: So ideally you want someone in the back line that
Speaker 1: can be two places at once, a guy that can
Speaker 1: help at the rim while simultaneously being able to rotate
Speaker 1: out to shooters and dissuade them from taking shots. Giannis
Speaker 1: is one of like two or three guys in the
Speaker 1: league that can do that. So I love the idea
Speaker 1: of the Brook, Lopez and Yannis or front court, I
Speaker 1: should say, dealing with the Nikole Jokicic problem. And then
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor, you have to
Speaker 1: have an offense that can successfully at Denver out while
Speaker 1: at the same time taking advantage of their lack of
Speaker 1: rim protection. Damian Lillard unlocks that most important part, the
Speaker 1: consistent ability to stretch their defense out. And when you
Speaker 1: combine that with the relentless rim attack of Giannis, they
Speaker 1: have the ideal type of basketball team construct to knock
Speaker 1: off this Denver team. So I love the deal for
Speaker 1: the Bucks. I think it makes a ton of sense.
Speaker 1: And now all of a sudden, we have a very
Speaker 1: very interesting championship favorite this year, the Blazers. Look at this.
Speaker 1: You just brought in DeAndre Ayton. I don't love DeAndre
Speaker 1: Ayton obviously, yea. He leaves a lot to be desired
Speaker 1: in terms of his motor and his commitment defensively. But
Speaker 1: here's what he is. He's, at the very least when
Speaker 1: he's engaged, an average defensive fulcrum, certainly better than use
Speaker 1: of Nurkics, right. And he's a great screen and roll
Speaker 1: big with great hands who catches everything and finishes everything
Speaker 1: around the rim. I cannot think of a better player
Speaker 1: to bring in properly within this timeline to flank Scoot Henderson.
Speaker 1: You know, Shaden Sharp and Anthony Simons. You're giving them
Speaker 1: a defensive folkrum, and you're giving them an excellent pick
Speaker 1: and roll partner. Think it makes a ton of sense.
Speaker 1: And then you also brought in Drew Holliday, who will
Speaker 1: inevitably get flipped in the next few days for even
Speaker 1: more asset return. I just did a quick little list
Speaker 1: of teams that could potentially talk themselves into needing Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday and making a move Philly, the Knicks, the Rafters,
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings, the Clippers, the Warriors, the Timberwolves, the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: the MAVs. There are a lot of teams that are
Speaker 1: gonna be making calls about Drew Holliday. I mean, it'd
Speaker 1: be pretty freaking hilarious if the Heat had to make
Speaker 1: a call, right like, hey, you guys interested in Tyler
Speaker 1: Harrow now the Suns. So obviously use of Nurkic is
Speaker 1: a significant downgrade from DeAndre Ayton. But Grayson Allen is
Speaker 1: a good player. Grayson Allen is one of the very
Speaker 1: best spot up players in the league. Last year, out
Speaker 1: of one hundred and twenty six players to log at
Speaker 1: least two hundred spot at possessions, Grayson Allen's one point
Speaker 1: two to six points per possession ranked second on that list,
Speaker 1: So one of the best spot up players in the league,
Speaker 1: and he's also a guy who competes defensively in his
Speaker 1: good athlete na Sir Little is a interesting young wing
Speaker 1: in the league who's on a long term deal at
Speaker 1: a good number, So obviously some value there. And basically,
Speaker 1: I guess you could talk yourself into saying that they
Speaker 1: turned Eighton's contract into multiple mid level salaries that are
Speaker 1: easier to move, so they increase their flexibility. And so
Speaker 1: I have to think that they're targeting something more in
Speaker 1: the long run, because my thing is like front court
Speaker 1: was the biggest weakness of this roster and Eighton's just
Speaker 1: better than use of Nurkic. So you I think the
Speaker 1: Suns today are a worse basketball team than they were yesterday.
Speaker 1: And so I wonder in the big picture, if they
Speaker 1: have a plan to target forwards and they have multiple
Speaker 1: in mind, and these are the mid level salaries they
Speaker 1: need to pull that off, Like maybe that's the plan,
Speaker 1: But I have to think that there's a bigger picture
Speaker 1: plan to bolster the front court for Phoenix, because I
Speaker 1: just have a hard time believing that they would downgrade
Speaker 1: like that at the center position unless they're a way
Speaker 1: higher on nurgic than I am, which I mean, who
Speaker 1: knows how their front office feels about him. Last, but
Speaker 1: not least, what do the Miami Heat do now? They
Speaker 1: have to do something? Right? Like, not only was talent
Speaker 1: a massive issue for you in last year's playoff run,
Speaker 1: as you overcame that through crazy hot shooting, an excellent
Speaker 1: coaching performance from Eric Spolstra and Jimmy Butler just becoming
Speaker 1: superman in the first round series against the Bucks, right,
Speaker 1: But like talent's an issue, you need talent, So like again,
Speaker 1: calling about Drew Holliday'd be hilarious. But do they audible
Speaker 1: and go after James Harden? I mean, I guarantee you
Speaker 1: if asset, if you don't want to give up too
Speaker 1: much in the way of assets, that's a deal that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Do you go after Zach Lavine? Do you
Speaker 1: go after Demarta Rosen? I mean, training camp is right
Speaker 1: around the corner. I would not be surprised if the
Speaker 1: Heat audibleedon made a more splashy deal within the next
Speaker 1: few days as well. And whenever that happens, we will
Speaker 1: cover it again. We're gonna cover the Bucks in more
Speaker 1: detail when we get to their season preview, when Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday gets traded, we'll do a reaction video to that,
Speaker 1: and when the Heat do something, we'll do a reaction
Speaker 1: video to that as well. As always, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: We'll get back to our power rankings tomorrow. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about mailbag questions and I will see you guys. Then
Speaker 1: the volume