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Speaker 1: welcome to tonight. You're at the volume heavy Friday. Everybody
Speaker 1: ohe ball. If you guys have had a great week.
Speaker 1: We are continuing our player rankings today with number thirteen
Speaker 1: and number twelve, and then as usual at the tail
Speaker 1: end of the show, I've got a mail bag full
Speaker 1: of a bunch of different counterpoints and arguments from you
Speaker 1: guys about the list that will kind of bounce back
Speaker 1: and forth in a mailbag format. You guys know the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribed to the Hoops Tonight
Speaker 1: YouTube channels so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLTS. You guys don't
Speaker 1: miss any show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed
Speaker 1: ore if you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. Don't
Speaker 1: forget it's also helpfullly leave a rating and a review
Speaker 1: on that front. And the last, but not least, keep
Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments. I want you
Speaker 1: guys to argue if you disagree with the ranking. If
Speaker 1: there's something that you have a basketball case for, lay
Speaker 1: it out and we will go over it in the
Speaker 1: mail bag at the tail end of these player rankings videos.
Speaker 1: As we head into next week, all right, let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball. So this is our last video before we
Speaker 1: enter into our Superstar tier, which is actually two tiers,
Speaker 1: but the top eleven players in the league I consider
Speaker 1: to be like the bonafide superstar tier. This is kind
Speaker 1: of like a gap tier, these last two guys before
Speaker 1: we get into that stretch. Both of these players are
Speaker 1: guys that I consider to be superstars when they are healthy,
Speaker 1: but they've had major availability issues and so it's kind
Speaker 1: of a funky spot to put them. And I'm less
Speaker 1: concerned about the numbers here. It's more as a sign
Speaker 1: of respect because there are guys that are behind these
Speaker 1: two guys that are very likely to be more available
Speaker 1: and be more productive this year. However, if these guys
Speaker 1: are healthy, you can't write them off because they're so
Speaker 1: damn good, and so this is kind of like a
Speaker 1: weird tier here that's between the superstars and those lower
Speaker 1: level stars where I decided to put these two guys,
Speaker 1: and we're starting with number thirteen, Kawhi Leonard. He's averaged
Speaker 1: just forty three games played in the regular season over
Speaker 1: his last four seasons. He has either failed to appear
Speaker 1: entirely or failed to finish his team's playoff run in
Speaker 1: each of the last four seasons, and so that makes
Speaker 1: him a very difficult player to rank as a result,
Speaker 1: because the reality is, when he's healthy, he's a guy
Speaker 1: who contributes to winning at a top five level as
Speaker 1: a playoff player with the Clippers, not counting last year
Speaker 1: because last year he played hurt and so he played
Speaker 1: two games he looked bad. I think he averaged like
Speaker 1: twelve points a game, So he probably just shouldn't even
Speaker 1: have played in those games, right, and that was why
Speaker 1: he ended up leaving the series. But if you take
Speaker 1: those two games out, as a playoff player with the Clippers,
Speaker 1: in twenty six games before last season, he averaged thirty points,
Speaker 1: eight rebounds, and five assists on sixty three percent true
Speaker 1: shooting and was an outstanding defender. That's not just superstar production.
Speaker 1: That's like with the best guys in the league type
Speaker 1: of production. There was literally a moment this year. Just
Speaker 1: go back to March, so we're talking what's that five
Speaker 1: months ago? Five months ago, there was a stretch where
Speaker 1: the Clippers were dominating the league and Kawhi looked like
Speaker 1: the best player on the best team in the league.
Speaker 1: From November seventeenth to March ninth, the Clippers went thirty
Speaker 1: eight and fourteen, and Kawhi averaged twenty five points on
Speaker 1: fifty four percent from the field forty three per sent
Speaker 1: from three on five attempts per game in ninety one.
Speaker 1: At the line, that's that's insane. He looked like the
Speaker 1: best player are the best team in the league. And
Speaker 1: so this is complicated because on one hand, they're everyone above him.
Speaker 1: You're easily taking over him to start a franchise for
Speaker 1: the next season at least, because you just can count
Speaker 1: on those guys to be available, at least to a
Speaker 1: much greater extent than Kawhi. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: if two equal teams were facing off tomorrow in a
Speaker 1: playoff series and we knew Kawhi was healthy, you would
Speaker 1: you take him over Tatum? I would would you take
Speaker 1: him over Anthony Edwards? I would would you take him
Speaker 1: over Joe Lmbat? I would would you take them over
Speaker 1: shake yild justs Alexander? I would even the guys at
Speaker 1: the top of the league, like Luca and Giannis or
Speaker 1: the perennial great you know, a playoff players like Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Steph Curry. I still think Kawhi can go
Speaker 1: head to head with those guys. So like, it just
Speaker 1: makes this really complicated, and honestly, like when we're looking
Speaker 1: at this type of list, it just is it's almost
Speaker 1: a sign of respect because I can make this list
Speaker 1: and we can make fun of the Clippers all we want,
Speaker 1: and we can talk about how Kawhi hasn't been available
Speaker 1: in all of that. But if for whatever reason, we
Speaker 1: fast forward to May and he is out there, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be one of the top guys. So that's why
Speaker 1: I thought this thirteen to twelve area made the most
Speaker 1: sense for these two particular guys, because it's like a
Speaker 1: gap tier. And obviously it's not an exact science, because
Speaker 1: for example, I'd rather have a guy like Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: on my team next year to lead my team, just
Speaker 1: because I know Jaylen Brown's gonna play seventy games and
Speaker 1: I know his body's gonna hold up for the playoff runt.
Speaker 1: He's just a safer bet. But if Kawhi ran into
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown in a playoff series and they were both healthy,
Speaker 1: Kawhi's eating Jalen Brown's lunch in a seven gamer. So
Speaker 1: it's just a tough thing to quantify. And so that
Speaker 1: that's why I'm kind of using this gap tire so
Speaker 1: really quickly. Last year, Kwhi Leonard sixty eight games, played
Speaker 1: twenty three point seven points per game, fifty three percent
Speaker 1: from the field, forty two percent from three to eighty
Speaker 1: nine percent from the line. That amounts to fifty nine
Speaker 1: percent an effective field goal percentage and sixty three percent
Speaker 1: in true shooting percentage. Jump shooting stats from Synergy one
Speaker 1: point zero nine points per jumper, one point two six
Speaker 1: points per catch and shoot jumper. He shot forty eight
Speaker 1: percent in field goal percentage on jump shots when he
Speaker 1: was unguarded. So like, if you left Kawi open, it
Speaker 1: was going in at least half the time, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: One point zero. I shouldn't say at least half the time,
Speaker 1: but basically half the time. One point zero one points
Speaker 1: per pull up jumper. He shot forty five percent on
Speaker 1: them overall. The only reason he's not as efficient as
Speaker 1: some of the top guys as he takes a lot
Speaker 1: of long twos. He also got one point three points
Speaker 1: per face up jumper, which is excellent. He shot fifty
Speaker 1: nine percent on floaters, took about one per game, fifty
Speaker 1: percent on hooks, and seventy two percent at the rim.
Speaker 1: All those numbers are insane. Play type data PERCENTERGY one
Speaker 1: point zero four points per pick and roll including passes.
Speaker 1: That's seventy fifth percentile, although he only ran three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty seven of them obviously because James Harden was
Speaker 1: taking most of the pick and roll volume. He got
Speaker 1: one point twenty five points per ISO including passes on
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty six reps. That puts him on
Speaker 1: a high volume list. Kawhi Leonard was the best ISO
Speaker 1: player in the league last year by a massive margin.
Speaker 1: The second best player out of the twenty four players
Speaker 1: run at least two hundred and fifty ISOs including passes
Speaker 1: was DeMar derozen and Tomorrow is a full tenth, more
Speaker 1: than a full tenth of a point per possession below Kawhi,
Speaker 1: he was just by far the best in straight iso situations.
Speaker 1: He also got one point one to four points per
Speaker 1: pose up that's seventy eight percentile. And this really is
Speaker 1: the crux of what makes Kawhi Leonard such an intriguing
Speaker 1: basketball player. When he's healthy, he's almost robotic with his efficiency.
Speaker 1: Every shot looks the same, it goes in damn near
Speaker 1: every single time. He's so damn strong that nobody can
Speaker 1: keep him from his spots. I talk about the every
Speaker 1: year when we do Kawhi and the player rankings, but
Speaker 1: like he's the case study for why going to the
Speaker 1: weight room is one of the most important things a
Speaker 1: young basketball player can do. Obviously, a guy like Lebron
Speaker 1: is really strong, but he's also this like unbelievable supreme athlete.
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard is a good athlete, but he's not like
Speaker 1: a Lebron James level athlete. What makes him so impossible
Speaker 1: to guard is he's just so damn strong that when
Speaker 1: you're guarding him face up and he rips through to
Speaker 1: the right, you could put your hands on him if
Speaker 1: you want. He's just ripping through you. If you don't
Speaker 1: cleanly beat him to his spot and chest up his shoulder.
Speaker 1: If he gets his shoulder into your shoulder, he's going
Speaker 1: through your shoulder. He's going through you to get to
Speaker 1: his spot. If you're fouling him, if you're hacking him,
Speaker 1: he's not as susceptible to that. If you hit him
Speaker 1: a little bit when he's rising up into a jumper,
Speaker 1: he's just gonna power through. If you try to foul
Speaker 1: him at the rim, he's gonna power through seventy two
Speaker 1: percent at the rim. And like, we talk about this
Speaker 1: all the time, but like if you have the moves
Speaker 1: and you have the IQ to get to the s,
Speaker 1: but it's a really physical game and you don't have
Speaker 1: the strength, then it's borderline useless. Having that strength is
Speaker 1: a huge asset, and in my opinion, one of the
Speaker 1: big reasons why Kawhi Leonard translates his game so well
Speaker 1: to the postseason. As the physicality ramps up, he becomes
Speaker 1: one of the guys that is most durable. I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say durable is the wrong word. He becomes the most
Speaker 1: resilient in terms of his ability to actually get to
Speaker 1: those spots durability definitely not the strong point for Kawilener
Speaker 1: and misspoke there, but that's what makes everything so interesting
Speaker 1: with him. I think his strength is a real differentiator,
Speaker 1: and he's covered for his weaknesses as a playmaker over
Speaker 1: the years enough that he's become really resilient to different
Speaker 1: coverages into different schemes, and that's why he's become such
Speaker 1: a dominant playoff player. Here's the thing. Is Kawhi really
Speaker 1: a threat this year? No, because none unless the Clippers
Speaker 1: make some improvements. They lost Paul George for nothing, and
Speaker 1: so even beyond the health stuff, I don't think they
Speaker 1: have the firepower to make it out of that blood
Speaker 1: bath of a Western Conference. But when he's healthy, he's
Speaker 1: still one of the top tier superstars in this league
Speaker 1: and he should be respected as such, even if he
Speaker 1: shouldn't necessarily be feared. And so that's why I have
Speaker 1: him where I have him on the list this year,
Speaker 1: even though there are some guys behind him on this
Speaker 1: list that theoretically are most likely to provide more value
Speaker 1: within this season, you have to quantify the what if
Speaker 1: he is healthy element, even though it's a little weird
Speaker 1: now that he's been unhealthy four years in a row.
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Speaker 1: Number twelve. Jimmy Butler last year sixty games played. He's
Speaker 1: averaged just fifty eight games played per season. Since coming
Speaker 1: to Miami, he averaged twenty one points per game, five rebounds,
Speaker 1: five assists, fifty percent from the field, forty one percent
Speaker 1: from three to eighty six percent from the line, so
Speaker 1: nearly a fifty to forty ninety season. That amounts to
Speaker 1: fifty four percent in effective field goal percentage, sixty three
Speaker 1: percent in true shooting. I'll be that. Albeit that was
Speaker 1: actually down from his previous year. We're going to get
Speaker 1: to that in a little bit. Shooting stats. He had
Speaker 1: a really good jump shooting season. One point zero four
Speaker 1: points per shot, one point three seven points per catch
Speaker 1: and shoot jump shot. That's awesome. Not a good off
Speaker 1: the dribble season though, zero point eight to one off
Speaker 1: the dribble. Out of one hundred and five players to
Speaker 1: attempt at least one hundred and fifty pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler ranked ninety six on that list. Not a
Speaker 1: great You'll get your notices them going through these numbers.
Speaker 1: A lot of really good numbers for Jimmy and then
Speaker 1: a lot of really bad ones too. Forty three percent
Speaker 1: on floaters, that's average, fifty eight percent at the rim.
Speaker 1: That is not great. For not good, I should say
Speaker 1: for a player of his size and athleticism. He got
Speaker 1: zero point eighty nine points per pick and roll including passes.
Speaker 1: That's in the thirty fifth percentile. That's not good. One
Speaker 1: point one three points per ISO, including passes that made
Speaker 1: or high volume list, and ranked third out of the
Speaker 1: twenty four players to run at least two hundred and fifties.
Speaker 1: So like, that's kind of what I mean by all
Speaker 1: the up and down one hundred ninety eight points one
Speaker 1: hundred ninety eight post ups. You guys can do the
Speaker 1: math on that one. That was in the forty sixth percentile,
Speaker 1: So slightly below average to me. Jimmy Butler's basically like
Speaker 1: a lesser version of Kawhi that has been more available
Speaker 1: to his team. But there are a lot of similarities.
Speaker 1: Like Kawhi operates in ISO more than pick and roll.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler is a guy that I shouldn't say more,
Speaker 1: but he's a higher volume ISO guy compared to most
Speaker 1: guys in the league and a lower volume pick and
Speaker 1: roll guy compared to most guys in league. So is
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler. Kawhi Leonard uses his size and strength against
Speaker 1: smaller perimeter players as his primary advantage. So does Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1: Both of them are capable of being dominant defensive players.
Speaker 1: The main differences are, obviously, their personalities are very different.
Speaker 1: But Jimmy's a little bit smaller, and he's been more
Speaker 1: available more consistently to his team than Kawhi Leonard, even
Speaker 1: in light of what happened last year in the postseason.
Speaker 1: So that's why I have Jimmy above Kawhi in this
Speaker 1: particular tier. But I actually think Jimmy's a little bit
Speaker 1: under the radar going into this season. He obviously went
Speaker 1: down a slight level from last year, like we're actually
Speaker 1: starting to see just that little bit of a downturn
Speaker 1: from Jimmy Butler. He just was a little bit worse
Speaker 1: set most things last year, and then he also missed
Speaker 1: the playoff run due to injury. Albeit it was kind
Speaker 1: of a fluky fluky playing transition in the playing game,
Speaker 1: but that obviously is less than ideal when you're talking
Speaker 1: about these player rankings. But he's also fourteen months removed
Speaker 1: from being the best player on a team that made
Speaker 1: it to within three wins of an NBA championship. So
Speaker 1: I just think it's too early to write him off.
Speaker 1: The unfortunate thing is, and I'm sure Miami Heat fans
Speaker 1: are starting to feel this a little bit, but it
Speaker 1: felt like Jimmy and Bam was this awesome championship foundation,
Speaker 1: and they just needed some higher level role players, particularly
Speaker 1: a higher level offensive player in there somewhere. And there
Speaker 1: are all these opportunities over the years where Miami could
Speaker 1: have pounced on somebody, but they didn't. And now it
Speaker 1: might be too late because Jimmy's starting to decline a
Speaker 1: little bit, and so I don't know if they're even
Speaker 1: looking in that direction anymore, or if they're actually looking
Speaker 1: to move on from Jimmy sooner than later. Who knows
Speaker 1: what the heater are going to try to do here,
Speaker 1: But it felt like there was a window there in
Speaker 1: that twenty twenty two to twenty twenty four timeline to
Speaker 1: try to capitalize on the Jimmy Bam cord. It feels
Speaker 1: like Miami might have missed out on that window. That said,
Speaker 1: Jimmy has a lot more good basketball to play. I've
Speaker 1: always referred to Jimmy as the bouncer at the championship club.
Speaker 1: He's not actually in the club, but he's the bouncer outside.
Speaker 1: He's obviously not as good as the top tier superstars
Speaker 1: at the top of the league. But if your star
Speaker 1: is not a legitimate championship level superstar in that tier
Speaker 1: and he faces off with Jimmy. Jimmy will expose him,
Speaker 1: and that basically is the best way to describe the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat as a whole during this era. They expose
Speaker 1: teams that aren't good enough, aren't made of the right
Speaker 1: stuff to win a championship, but they end up losing
Speaker 1: to the real championship caliber teams when they inevitably face them.
Speaker 1: Last year, they end up losing to the eventual champion.
Speaker 1: Even without Jimmy Butler, they lose to the eventual champion
Speaker 1: in Boston. The year before they make it to the finals,
Speaker 1: they lose to the eventual champion in Denver twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: That Boston team was fa but if I'm not missaying,
Speaker 1: they were favored to win the championship. I ended up
Speaker 1: picking Golden State in that series, and Golden State ended
Speaker 1: up winning. But Boston was the most talented team in
Speaker 1: the league that year and probably should have won that series.
Speaker 1: They were up to one and had Game four at home,
Speaker 1: But that's the team that ended up beating the Heat, right,
Speaker 1: And then go back to twenty twenty one, who beat
Speaker 1: them the Bucks the championship team. Go back to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty who beat them, the Lakers, the championship team, Right,
Speaker 1: So you guys kind of get the point, like, that's
Speaker 1: just kind of what Jimmy Butler and Miami have been
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference. They've been the bouncer, and it's
Speaker 1: just unfortunate because had they invested more and been a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive to try to put more talent
Speaker 1: around this group, a group they very well might have
Speaker 1: gotten a championship, especially in one of the open seasons
Speaker 1: like twenty twenty two and twenty twenty one in particular.
Speaker 1: We're both kind of wide open. Yeah, Jimmy at twelve,
Speaker 1: just don't write him off yet. I think he's got
Speaker 1: a lot of good basketball left in him. So all right,
Speaker 1: let's get to our mail bag. A ton of really
Speaker 1: good questions from you. Guys are going to be arguing
Speaker 1: a bunch of different stuff for a bunch of different
Speaker 1: players today. Hey, Jason, great video, and I like the
Speaker 1: series so far. Admittedly biased as a Celtics fan, but
Speaker 1: here's my basketball argument as to why JB should be
Speaker 1: higher than Booker. While I can see that Booker, all
Speaker 1: things equal, teammates, coaching staff, etcetera, is a better offensive
Speaker 1: player overall than Jalen is. I think Jalen's offensive game
Speaker 1: is much more valuable to a team concept and works
Speaker 1: better in the postseason. You mentioned specifically that Booker generates
Speaker 1: easier shots for teammates in the half court. Looking back
Speaker 1: at the Suns getting swept by the Wolves, I think
Speaker 1: Booker struggled to play off the ball and that made
Speaker 1: the Suns more predictable and easier to guard. Also, Booker
Speaker 1: isn't as athletic, or isn't athletic enough to blow by
Speaker 1: his defenders or finish through contact nearly as often as
Speaker 1: Jalen can. Booker is great at making tough shots. I
Speaker 1: watched him score seventy on US a few years ago,
Speaker 1: so I definitely respect that kind of skill, But that
Speaker 1: doesn't work against a great defensive team. Well, the Wolves
Speaker 1: swept them, and we kick their ass both times they
Speaker 1: played US. I respect your basketball philosophy that half court
Speaker 1: shot creation is king, but when you consider play style
Speaker 1: on what works in the postseason, taking JB over Booker
Speaker 1: and even a couple other guys that I'm sure you
Speaker 1: will be highlighting in future VIDs, appreciate the content, and
Speaker 1: I specifically love your player rankings discussion. So keep them coming.
Speaker 1: Thank you for supporting the show, and thank you for
Speaker 1: taking the time to break down the basketball case for
Speaker 1: why you disagree a couple things. I agree that Booker
Speaker 1: had a rough series, but for a different reason than
Speaker 1: you think. I actually thought it was more of an
Speaker 1: on ball issue and just him getting rushed and not
Speaker 1: making the easy reads that were available hits him that
Speaker 1: he had been making over the tail end of the season,
Speaker 1: and I think the Suns kind of identified that because
Speaker 1: look at the point guards that they've targeted this summer
Speaker 1: to try to have Booker play more off the ball.
Speaker 1: I actually think Booker is just a like ten out
Speaker 1: of ten off ball player, just an incredible close out attacker,
Speaker 1: an incredible knockdown shooter. You saw that with Team USA.
Speaker 1: I mean that look how good he was in that
Speaker 1: particular role. But I do agree that that Devin Booker
Speaker 1: had a rough series. That said, he also has been
Speaker 1: pretty reliably great in the playoffs for the most part
Speaker 1: in his career. I mean, he's been hitting pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots. I mean he lit up the Lakers in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. I had to watch that. That was
Speaker 1: hard for me to watch. I mean, obviously Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: wasn't out there, but I watched Devin Booker just hit
Speaker 1: every dayn pull up jump shot against the Laker team
Speaker 1: that I was rooting for. Look at that NBA Finals run, Like,
Speaker 1: how many times did you see him hit tough, contested
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots in Drew Holliday's face, And Drew
Speaker 1: was playing great defense. Like, Booker was pretty damn good
Speaker 1: in that NBA Final series. Obviously made a couple of
Speaker 1: big mistakes. He had that big turnover. I think it
Speaker 1: was at the end of Game four if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: but for the most part it might have been Game five.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like I think I thought last year was
Speaker 1: kind of somewhat of an outlier in that Booker had
Speaker 1: a rough series and it was kind of a tough
Speaker 1: matchup for him. But I actually think generally he's been
Speaker 1: a very reliable offensive player. I do think Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: is a bit underrated as an offensive player, But I
Speaker 1: disagree with your point that you think Jalen's offensive game
Speaker 1: is more valuable to a team concept. I actually think
Speaker 1: it's the opposite. I think like Booker is especially good
Speaker 1: at playing with other good players. I think we saw
Speaker 1: that with Team USA, and so I think he actually
Speaker 1: accentuates the talents of those around him. A very good
Speaker 1: point about Jalen's rim pressure. It's a specific skill that
Speaker 1: I think is underrated and very very important for all
Speaker 1: the positive impact that it gives to a team. But
Speaker 1: if you remember yesterday, I kind of read off the numbers.
Speaker 1: I can't remember him off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: but Devin Booker actually gets to the rim more than
Speaker 1: most guards. I think he was like, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: there was only four guards below six five or below
Speaker 1: sixty six or less, and Jalen was one of the
Speaker 1: guys who was above him. But there's only four guys
Speaker 1: above Devin Booker. Devin Booker actually gets to the rim
Speaker 1: a ton. We did a breakdown on that yesterday. The
Speaker 1: main differentiator to me is the playmaking piece. Jalen's gotten better.
Speaker 1: We talked about that yesterday, but there's still a massive
Speaker 1: gap there. To me between Devin Booker and Jalen. Brown
Speaker 1: is a playmaker, and that I think makes him just
Speaker 1: a more impactful, substantially more impactful half court offensive player.
Speaker 1: Substantially is maybe a little aggressive, but I think he's
Speaker 1: a more impactful half court offensive player, and as we've
Speaker 1: talked about, that's something I value a great deal. But
Speaker 1: really good points made, and thank you for laying it
Speaker 1: all out. And again, these are all really tough decisions
Speaker 1: to make, and that's why they were all right next
Speaker 1: to each other in the rankings. Hey, Jason, I think
Speaker 1: you're underestimating how well JB plays when he's the go
Speaker 1: to number one option offensively. Tatum doesn't miss many games,
Speaker 1: but when he does, JB averages like thirty points a game.
Speaker 1: He's an elite scorer now and that can be a
Speaker 1: number one player on offense, I agree, which is a
Speaker 1: prerequisite for him to be in the tier of can
Speaker 1: be the best player on a championship team, even if
Speaker 1: it is with overwhelming support. That said, like I think
Speaker 1: Tatum is a clear like I have Tatum still a
Speaker 1: tier above Jalen Brown. I think he's encroaching on it,
Speaker 1: and there's a chance that in the future they're on
Speaker 1: the same tier. But right now, Tatum is just a
Speaker 1: way better passer than Jalen Brown, and I think that's
Speaker 1: a big differentiator between the two of them. But again,
Speaker 1: the gap is closing. Tatum's going down a little level
Speaker 1: as his jump shot gets less reliable, and Jalen Brown's
Speaker 1: extending a level as his playmaking gets more reliable and
Speaker 1: his feel for the game and commitment to defense is improving,
Speaker 1: like the gap is closing. But I still think that
Speaker 1: and I do agree that Jalen Brown is good enough
Speaker 1: to be the best player on a championship team. That's
Speaker 1: why he's in this tier that I still have Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum a full tier above him. Are you just projecting
Speaker 1: for the future or do you actually think Aunt is
Speaker 1: better than Booker right now? By no metric, is Aunt
Speaker 1: substantially better than Booker and he is definitively not on
Speaker 1: a different tier. So I actually got into a discussion
Speaker 1: about this today with a buddy of mine covers the Suns.
Speaker 1: But I'm not going to talk about I had a
Speaker 1: lot of comments from people complaining about how high of Ant,
Speaker 1: which we haven't even gotten to Ant yet, and so
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about necessarily how high he
Speaker 1: is until we get to Ant in the rankings, just
Speaker 1: because we're gonna have plenty of time to talk about
Speaker 1: that in the next couple of weeks. But specifically with Booker,
Speaker 1: this is all I'm gonna say for now, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna talk about Ant in the context of the league
Speaker 1: until we get to Ant, but specifically with Ant and Booker,
Speaker 1: I do think Booker is actually on a different tier
Speaker 1: than Ant as a supporting player. So if you put
Speaker 1: him as like a secondary or tertiary star, or if
Speaker 1: you put him on tmusa where he's playing alongside a
Speaker 1: bunch of stars, I'd rather have Devin Booker. He just
Speaker 1: is a much more versatile basketball player in terms of
Speaker 1: his ability to fit his game into different types of
Speaker 1: small roles and to play alongside other stars, but specifically
Speaker 1: to be the best player on the team. I think
Speaker 1: Ant is on a different tier than Devin Booker. He's
Speaker 1: so transcendently athletic that it is just like a force
Speaker 1: of nature. Over the course of eighty two games, Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards was one of only two guards in the entire
Speaker 1: league last year to average at least six shot attempts
Speaker 1: in the restricted area per game and shoot at least
Speaker 1: sixty five percent while he was there. And he did
Speaker 1: that with Rudy go Bear's awkward ass clogging things up
Speaker 1: in the paint, inable to catch anything and finish anything
Speaker 1: like I can only imagine what Anthony Edwards would look
Speaker 1: like if you picked him up and you dropped him
Speaker 1: in like a situation with some real spacing, Like if
Speaker 1: you dropped Anthony Edwards in Boston's five out attack, I
Speaker 1: think he'd be like a Yannis Zion level rim attacker.
Speaker 1: I think he'd literally get nine to ten restricted area
Speaker 1: attempts per game. Like that's how difficult it is to
Speaker 1: keep him in front off the dribble. The problem is
Speaker 1: teams can really load up the strong side. Against Minnesota.
Speaker 1: It is their biggest weakness. It's why their offense fell
Speaker 1: upon against Denver in the middle part of that series,
Speaker 1: and their defense was the thing that was able to
Speaker 1: pull them out of that mess. But when they went
Speaker 1: down three to two and then against Dallas, their offense
Speaker 1: completely fell apart for that exact same reason. Dallas knew,
Speaker 1: load up the strong side, bring your you know, just
Speaker 1: literally loaded up and take away the paint and they're
Speaker 1: just not gonna make enough jump shots. And that's literally
Speaker 1: what ended up happening. But like I think, Ant is
Speaker 1: a one of the very very few transcendently athletic players
Speaker 1: in the league. The other thing with Ant is, in
Speaker 1: addition to making strides as a playmaker in addition to
Speaker 1: making strides as a defender. Ant is on this crazy
Speaker 1: run now where he's turned into like a pretty deadly
Speaker 1: accurate jump shooter, especially off the dribble. And so again, like,
Speaker 1: if I need a guy to play alongside another star
Speaker 1: or to play a small role on Team USA, give
Speaker 1: me Devin Booker ten out of ten times. But if
Speaker 1: I need a player to build a team around and
Speaker 1: to be my number one option for eighty two games
Speaker 1: and four rounds, I take Ant ten out of ten times.
Speaker 1: So that's the specific dynamic for those two guys. But
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about Ant and his overall value because
Speaker 1: I have a bunch of stuff that I want to
Speaker 1: get into with Ant, but I just want to save
Speaker 1: it for later on when we actually cover him, because
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make sense to do it at this
Speaker 1: point in the greater scheme. I think you're right, there's
Speaker 1: very little room between the four players you have from
Speaker 1: seventeen to fourteen. I would argue that one thing you
Speaker 1: underestimate is the ball security that Brunson brings to the table.
Speaker 1: His assist atorney over ratio is a huge factor and
Speaker 1: why the Knicks offense is successful similar to their offensive
Speaker 1: rebounding edge, which nets them in extra possessions and extra
Speaker 1: scoring chances. That's a huge part of why Brunson is
Speaker 1: such a great offensive creator, as well as their transition defense,
Speaker 1: because he doesn't turn it over and the Knicks don't
Speaker 1: get caught for easy transition baskets and get to dictate
Speaker 1: the pace of the game. So I'm not going to
Speaker 1: actually rebuttal this because I've talked a lot about why
Speaker 1: I've Brunson where he's ranked in yesterday's video, But I
Speaker 1: just thought this was a really interesting point about ball
Speaker 1: security and something that makes Brunson a very impactful half
Speaker 1: court shot creator. So I just wanted to share that
Speaker 1: with you guys, So thank you for the comment. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a really interesting point about what makes
Speaker 1: Bruntson so good. And again, as far as like the rankings,
Speaker 1: as we talked about, they're all just really close to
Speaker 1: each other. I told you guys yesterday, if you put
Speaker 1: Brunson at twelve, I would totally get that. And it's
Speaker 1: these guys just wait, I'm already thinking about the top
Speaker 1: eleven and I still don't even know who I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put out eleven. I have a guy in mind right now,
Speaker 1: but I'm like tempted to switch it, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sleep on it all weekend and we'll see. But like,
Speaker 1: just try ranking your top eleven players. It's insane. Like
Speaker 1: it's insane. Whoever gets put at eleven, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a problem. Like whoever it is, like it, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see how that shakes out. Uh,
Speaker 1: here we go. If you thought Jalen put in work
Speaker 1: for the slander he got last season, just wait until
Speaker 1: we see Tatum and Brown next season. One of them
Speaker 1: absolutely deserving of a huge role on the Olympic team
Speaker 1: where he barely got minutes, and the other feels strongly
Speaker 1: that he should have made the team and didn't even
Speaker 1: make the roster at all. Those two who are going
Speaker 1: to come out next season to prove themselves even more
Speaker 1: than the last season. I agree Jalen Brown. I tweeted
Speaker 1: out today that he's having a great summer. I don't
Speaker 1: think that was about vacation. I think that was about
Speaker 1: the work he's putting in behind the scenes. I think
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown took the USA snub as well as just
Speaker 1: him getting a Finals MVP is just like a boost
Speaker 1: of confidence and a boost of motivation. And I actually
Speaker 1: think Jaylen Brown is poised to go up another level.
Speaker 1: And then I agree, I think I think Tatum's pissed.
Speaker 1: I think Tatum's pissed that he didn't play well. I
Speaker 1: think tatums piss that he didn't play well in the
Speaker 1: postseason run. I shared this stat the other day. He
Speaker 1: shout out for fifty percent just three times in the
Speaker 1: entire playoff run. Like that's embarrassing for Jason Tatum. So
Speaker 1: like like, I think Jayson Tatum's gonna have a big
Speaker 1: bounce back year next year, and I think his jump
Speaker 1: SHOT's going to be fine. So I tend to agree
Speaker 1: with you. I think the Celtics. I mean, I haven't
Speaker 1: done my preseason rankings or anything, but I'm basically one
Speaker 1: hundred percent certain the Celtics are going to be my
Speaker 1: title favorite. I think anybody would be foolish to pick
Speaker 1: against them at this point. There are lots of teams
Speaker 1: that can win the title, and I wouldn't be shocked
Speaker 1: at all if Boston didn't win the title. If I
Speaker 1: have to choose the Field or Boston, I'd probably take
Speaker 1: the field, But Boston to me is a clear favorite,
Speaker 1: and I think it stems from the fact that they
Speaker 1: won the title despite the fact that Tatum didn't play
Speaker 1: particularly well and he's going to get better, and you know,
Speaker 1: in addition to the issues that Porzingis was having with
Speaker 1: his health. I think your logic is flawed when considering
Speaker 1: defense versus offense. I do think offense is slightly more important,
Speaker 1: but stars who aren't very good defensively will hurt your
Speaker 1: team no matter how good they are defensively. Look at
Speaker 1: Minnesota versus Phoenix. You have two Phoenix players in your
Speaker 1: top fourteen because they are offensive stars, that being Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant and Devin Booker. They were shut down by superior defense.
Speaker 1: With defensive stars, the idea that offensive stars can play
Speaker 1: their way out of being bad on defense is just wrong.
Speaker 1: The main difference between Phoenix and a team like Dallas
Speaker 1: is Dallas had the guys that can do the tough
Speaker 1: jobs like we talked about right, So, like they had
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior who could guard the ball, they had
Speaker 1: Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford who could both defend in
Speaker 1: different ways in their ball screen coverages. They had PJ. Washington,
Speaker 1: who could be like a legitimate low man like backside
Speaker 1: four who could get defensive rebounds and help and pick
Speaker 1: and roll coverages. Right, So like they had those guys,
Speaker 1: Phoenix didn't. Phoenix had a Kogi is a guy who
Speaker 1: could guard at the point of attack, but was nowhere
Speaker 1: near as good offensively as Derek Jones Junior was, who
Speaker 1: had turned himself into a pretty solid close out attacker
Speaker 1: and a guy that was couldn't make above the break
Speaker 1: threes as much as they needed him to, but hit
Speaker 1: enough shots Like Derek Jones was just better offensive player
Speaker 1: than Josh Kogi, And use of Nurkic is a disaster
Speaker 1: defensively compared to the Lively Gafford guys, Like specifically Lively,
Speaker 1: I thought that Nurkic competed defensively and was a little
Speaker 1: underrated for how well he worked with his hands and
Speaker 1: got deflections and at least tried on defense, but he
Speaker 1: was certainly not a defensive anchor at the center position.
Speaker 1: And so like that's my point is like I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that you can't. I'm not saying that you can
Speaker 1: build a good defense with offensive minded stars that don't
Speaker 1: defend I'm saying you can do that as long as
Speaker 1: you have guys that can fill the other roles on
Speaker 1: the floor that are the tougher defensive roles, which Phoenix
Speaker 1: did not have. Again, like, I'm of the opinion that
Speaker 1: if you just picked up Derek Lively and put him
Speaker 1: on the Suns, that they could craft a top ten
Speaker 1: defense there, because then at that point, it's like you
Speaker 1: asked Kadie to be the low man. You've got Derek
Speaker 1: Lively to be your pick and roll defender. You've got
Speaker 1: you can put a guy like a Josha Kogi at
Speaker 1: the point of attack and you still have enough offensive
Speaker 1: talent around it. That's my thing is like Phoenix's issue
Speaker 1: isn't that their stars don't defend. It's that their stars
Speaker 1: don't defend, and they didn't have role players that could
Speaker 1: play defense at a really high level. That's the issue.
Speaker 1: Dallas didn't have that problem. To their credit, they built
Speaker 1: a roster that could accommodate that. Is this ranking more
Speaker 1: based on the twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: performance or on the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five expectation. I think that's important to clarify. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Jason, love the show, love your analysis. Although
Speaker 1: there's probably some different opinions, especially on those older superstars,
Speaker 1: I've already learned so much from your content. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you for the sport, thank you for the kind words.
Speaker 1: To be clear, this is meant from now Ford. If
Speaker 1: I was the entire purpose of the drill is or
Speaker 1: the list is if we had thirty teams and all
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty players and we were doing a
Speaker 1: snake draft right now, I should just say a draft
Speaker 1: right now, because we're only doing twenty five players. Who
Speaker 1: would you take if with your first pick to build
Speaker 1: your franchise for this particular season upcoming and any in
Speaker 1: a vacuum, so irrespective of surrounding talent and within the
Speaker 1: context of being the best player on your team. Next question.
Speaker 1: Before the Mitchell Robinson injury, Hartenstein looked was looked at
Speaker 1: as a backup big Since getting an opportunity, he has
Speaker 1: now earned himself an eighty million dollar contract. Wasn't it
Speaker 1: a ninety million? I thought it was three years ninety million.
Speaker 1: It could be wrong. How many other players are there
Speaker 1: in the NBA with the right opportunity that would be
Speaker 1: able to do what Hartenstein has done. So it's just
Speaker 1: a huge influx in like a perceived value of the
Speaker 1: center position. I thought it was really fascinating between Jared Allen,
Speaker 1: who's like somewhere around like the eighth or ninth best
Speaker 1: starting center in the league, to Isaiah Hartenstein to Nick Claxton.
Speaker 1: Those guys are in somewhere in the ten to twenty range, right, Like,
Speaker 1: these are all guys that are in the middle tier
Speaker 1: of starting centers, the top tier being obviously Jokicic and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid and bam Adebaio and like
Speaker 1: Victor wimb Yama, and then you go down to this
Speaker 1: like next tier of like like role players starting centers
Speaker 1: or like mid level starting centers. Nick Claxton got twenty
Speaker 1: five million a year, Hartenstein got I want to say,
Speaker 1: just under thirty, right, Like Jared Allen got just over thirty.
Speaker 1: And so the league is telling you that you need
Speaker 1: that position. And I think there's a couple different reasons
Speaker 1: why one pick and roll defense is so important and
Speaker 1: the ability to compete on the glass is so important,
Speaker 1: But another big part of it is just five out offense.
Speaker 1: You need bigs that can set screens and roll hard
Speaker 1: to the rim and keep the ball moving from side
Speaker 1: to side. There's just a lot of value in that
Speaker 1: specific position. Like within Cleveland, like Evan Mobley's really struggling
Speaker 1: to score on the role, Jared Allen is not, so
Speaker 1: he's just such an important foundational piece for them, right.
Speaker 1: Isaia Hartenstein excellent, five out big. I haven't watched a
Speaker 1: ton of the Nets over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but Nick Claxton kind of fits into that tier as well.
Speaker 1: If eighty and Lebron are both top ten players and
Speaker 1: clearly on a whole different tier from Jalen Brunson, why
Speaker 1: were the Lakers a playing team in the Knicks a
Speaker 1: two seed Brunson carried the Knicks not a big deal.
Speaker 1: Just doesn't make much sense to me. A couple things.
Speaker 1: First of all, the Lakers had forty seven wins and
Speaker 1: the Knicks had fifty wins, so there wasn't like some
Speaker 1: substantial gap there. Second of all, last year, the East
Speaker 1: was incredibly weak at the bottom. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: the West went six hundred and fifty and five hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty against the East, so the West was seventy
Speaker 1: games over five hundred and had to head matchups with
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. An easy way to demonstrate the difference
Speaker 1: in the competition between the two conferences is the Lakers
Speaker 1: were seventeen and fifteen against teams that were in the
Speaker 1: top ten in point differential according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: The Knicks were nine and fifteen. So there's two things
Speaker 1: we can take away from that. One, the Knicks played
Speaker 1: top ten teams eight fewer times than the Lakers did.
Speaker 1: Second piece of that is that the the Lakers were
Speaker 1: just way they were above five hundred and the Knicks
Speaker 1: were well below five hundred in those matchups. So like,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are one of those teams, they're kind of weird.
Speaker 1: They I actually, I think the Lakers were one of
Speaker 1: the better teams in the league last year. Not in
Speaker 1: the contender tier, but they were in that next tier
Speaker 1: of teams. I remember exactly where I put them in
Speaker 1: my championship rankings, but I want to say they were
Speaker 1: like fifth or sixth or something like that. But a
Speaker 1: big part of that was the Lakers were a really
Speaker 1: good team that had a bad stretch. If you look
Speaker 1: at their entire season, forty seven wins, but they had
Speaker 1: a three to ten stretch right after the n season tournament.
Speaker 1: They were dominant up through winning the Ncason Tournament, and
Speaker 1: then they relaxed and played shit basketball for a month
Speaker 1: and it cost them in the standings. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: on both ends of that bracket, they were a really
Speaker 1: good team. And I mean look at that. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you guys watched them against Denver, they outplayed Denver
Speaker 1: the majority of that series. They got gamed by Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray twice, like the Nuggets pulled their crazy Houdini act
Speaker 1: in the crunch time on the Lakers twice. Otherwise, the
Speaker 1: Lakes straight up out played the Nuggets in three of
Speaker 1: the five games, so like, and even Nuggets Nuggets players
Speaker 1: after the series talked about how the Lakers could have
Speaker 1: beaten them, you know what I mean. So like, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Lakers are a top tier championship contender.
Speaker 1: I don't think last year's Nicks were. But I thought
Speaker 1: last year's Lakers were better than last year's Knicks. And
Speaker 1: I think, like a lot of times, people look at
Speaker 1: the playing tournament and they go like, oh, these two
Speaker 1: like eighty and Lebron are both top ten and they're
Speaker 1: not winning enough games, and it's like, actually, the West
Speaker 1: is just a damn bloodbath, and the Lakers were also
Speaker 1: incredibly poorly coached. The last piece of it, too, is
Speaker 1: just the quality of role players. And this is the
Speaker 1: main issue here, because like Jalen, Brunson still won fifty
Speaker 1: games without a guy like eighty or Lebron next to him,
Speaker 1: and Lebron and eighty had each other. So I get
Speaker 1: your point. To be clear, I get the point you're
Speaker 1: trying to make. The main issue is quality of role players.
Speaker 1: I talked about this before the Lakers surrounded Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and Lebron with a bunch of specialists who are really
Speaker 1: good at specific things, but all have mass of glaring weaknesses.
Speaker 1: I actually was thinking about this the other day. Who
Speaker 1: is the best two way player on the Lakers other
Speaker 1: than Lebron and Ad. It's probably Austin Reeves. But Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves is at best an average to slightly above average
Speaker 1: point of attack defender at best, and he's your third
Speaker 1: best player. D'Angelo Russell disaster on defense, Rouey Hachimura disaster
Speaker 1: on defense, Jared Vanderbilt disaster on offense. You know, guys
Speaker 1: like Jackson Hayes and Christian Jackson. Hayes was a disaster
Speaker 1: on defense. Christian Wood disaster on defense. He was good
Speaker 1: defensive rebounder, but struggled in a bunch of other areas.
Speaker 1: So like the Lakers didn't have any guys that could
Speaker 1: play both ends of the floor. Look at the Knicks,
Speaker 1: even with their injuries. It's like Dante DiVincenzo, like a
Speaker 1: really solid two way player plays both ends of the
Speaker 1: floor really well. Like Josh hart Like a really solid
Speaker 1: two way player plays both ends of the floor really well.
Speaker 1: You know, ogn and Obi Just like a rock solid
Speaker 1: two way wing that plays both ends of the four
Speaker 1: really well. Isai Hartenstein, I think is a functional, solid
Speaker 1: defensive center and a really good offensive center. Like the
Speaker 1: Knicks were a really good basketball team, by the way,
Speaker 1: I have them entering into my top tier championship contenders
Speaker 1: this year with the return of Julius Randall in the
Speaker 1: addition of Michale Bridges. Like I understand that Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: overcame some adversity last year and I really enjoyed watching him,
Speaker 1: But I also think the Knicks were good. I think
Speaker 1: the Knicks were good, Like I think if you just
Speaker 1: take Dante DiVincenzo and Josh Hart and swap him with
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell and Ruy Hatcher Mura. The Lakers become a
Speaker 1: much better team immediately, because now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you got like these really good two way role players
Speaker 1: that you can put around Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: And that, to me is the main issue that the
Speaker 1: Lakers are having. And man, I hope they can figure
Speaker 1: it out at some point before they get into the
Speaker 1: postseason next year. But I do appreciate the point you're
Speaker 1: trying to make, and I do appreciate the comment. In
Speaker 1: no world could book be the best player on a
Speaker 1: championship team. Totally disagree. The twenty twenty one Sons were
Speaker 1: up two to OHO in the finals and just lost
Speaker 1: a couple clutch games at the end of the series.
Speaker 1: I think Booker's clearly in that tier. I see a
Speaker 1: lot of young players jumping up a year from now.
Speaker 1: Bancaro will make a huge jump this year. So Paalow
Speaker 1: was my twenty sixth man, if I remember correctly. This year,
Speaker 1: I think I was torn between him and Paul George,
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. So I tend to agree that
Speaker 1: Palo is one of those guys that very well could
Speaker 1: have been on this list, and I also agree with
Speaker 1: you that I think the list is going to look
Speaker 1: very different next year because I think a bunch of
Speaker 1: young players are going to take leaps, and I also
Speaker 1: think some of our older guys are going to take
Speaker 1: drops after this year. Two more questions. You said you
Speaker 1: had Luca higher than Giannis when considering that you had
Speaker 1: Booker over JB because being an offensive engine is just
Speaker 1: a much better value than being an overduiced role player. However,
Speaker 1: seeing how bad Luca was as a player defensively where
Speaker 1: they will deliberately attack him, and offensively he was missing
Speaker 1: crucial three throws. He also struggled to shoot threes in
Speaker 1: that series and will steam out at the end of
Speaker 1: games while being turnover prone, compared to Giannis, who is
Speaker 1: as bad as he might be offensively still gives you
Speaker 1: thirty and fifteen with his best top ten defense. At least,
Speaker 1: you can't take the supporting cast being bad as an
Speaker 1: argument for Luca when people were bashing Giannis last year
Speaker 1: for underperforming in the Heat series while averaging thirty and
Speaker 1: thirteen ish and not getting deliberately attacked on defense. Both
Speaker 1: have a second option highly skilled, undersized guards as a
Speaker 1: second option. In my opinion, this is pretty much like
Speaker 1: a remake of the twenty nineteen MVP, but one here
Speaker 1: is still a thirty to fifteen to five guy while
Speaker 1: not being less than a top fifteen defender in the league,
Speaker 1: while the other is arguably the best offensive player in
Speaker 1: the league with conditioning issues while having the potential to
Speaker 1: be the worst defensive player on the court despite having
Speaker 1: a great defensive coach like Jason Kidd. I actually saw
Speaker 1: a video of Luca's game winner against the Clippers the
Speaker 1: other this morning, and it was crazy to see how
Speaker 1: thin Luca looked, and it kind of got me concerned
Speaker 1: because then I was like, Okay, so we're all talking
Speaker 1: about how Luca needs to get in shape, but he
Speaker 1: seems to be kind of trending in the wrong direction
Speaker 1: in that specific department. A couple things. Luca had a
Speaker 1: disastrous defensive series against the Celtics, is the worst defensive
Speaker 1: series I've ever seen from a star ever. But the
Speaker 1: Celtics present a very unique challenge, one that's basically unprecedented
Speaker 1: in NBA history, which is they put out five players
Speaker 1: that can all shoot, pass, dribble and defend, and that
Speaker 1: it's basically unprecedented and I don't think we'll ever see
Speaker 1: it again because those guys are all super expensive in
Speaker 1: an open market. They have five thirty million dollar players
Speaker 1: and a lot of those guys are in existing contracts
Speaker 1: that in the future it would be sixty seventy million
Speaker 1: dollar contracts. So like, here's the thing, Luca embarrassed himself
Speaker 1: defensively in the finals. It needs to be talked about,
Speaker 1: and again for the record, trust me, it's getting factored
Speaker 1: in and it will it will matter when we get
Speaker 1: later in the list. But the Celtics would have done
Speaker 1: that to a lot of different stars that have defensive issues.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of offensive minded stars that get
Speaker 1: hidden on defense. And it works against twenty nine of
Speaker 1: the teams usually or twenty eight of the teams, I
Speaker 1: should say, because they don't have five guys that can drill,
Speaker 1: a pass, shoot and defend like Boston does. So like
Speaker 1: some of that is like you got to tip the
Speaker 1: cap to Boston for just the type of roster they have.
Speaker 1: But yeah, of course it was embarrassing for Luca. Of
Speaker 1: course it needs to be factored in. To me, though,
Speaker 1: I've seen plenty of examples of Giannis in his team
Speaker 1: losing playoff series because he can't execute in the clutch.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the series against the Heat in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: In that series, there were a couple of clutch games
Speaker 1: where Jimmy just walked down Yannis and Janis couldn't even
Speaker 1: make a little hook shot in the lane, and that
Speaker 1: continues to be his biggest issue. And so for me,
Speaker 1: I feel like in the majority of matchups, I feel
Speaker 1: like I can cover for Luca defensively and he's still
Speaker 1: one of the best offensive players in the world, and
Speaker 1: that's why I have him over Yiannis on this list
Speaker 1: when we get to that point. But interesting argument, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time to break it down.
Speaker 1: Last one. It makes me crazy when you make up
Speaker 1: shit like this. The Mavericks held the number one offense
Speaker 1: in the NBA to one hundred and one points per
Speaker 1: game and never let them score more than a hundred
Speaker 1: seven any game of the series. They didn't have vast
Speaker 1: stretches where their defense was swamped. That's a complete lie
Speaker 1: and it's provable by the statistics. Stop making shit up.
Speaker 1: We have an angry Mavericks fan here, I'll just read
Speaker 1: some real basic numbers. In the first half of Game one,
Speaker 1: they gave up one hundred and thirty four offensive rating
Speaker 1: to Boston. In Game two and a sixteen minute span
Speaker 1: over the second and third quarters, they allowed forty four
Speaker 1: points as Boston blew built the one point lead into
Speaker 1: a thirteen point lead. In Game three, in the second half,
Speaker 1: they gave up nineteen points in four minutes as Boston
Speaker 1: blew a seven point game into a twenty one point game.
Speaker 1: And in Game five, Boston had a one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty six offensive rating in the first half. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what fantasy land that Mavericks fan is living in,
Speaker 1: all right, guys. That is all I have for today
Speaker 1: is always as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: We are taking the rest of the weekend off we have.
Speaker 1: This is actually airing on Saturday. The Mailbag is gonna
Speaker 1: air on a Sunday. Monday morning, are starting our Superstar tears.
Speaker 1: Still don't know who I'm gonna have at number eleven.
Speaker 1: I have my list. I haven't changed it yet, but
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about changing it. So we'll see what
Speaker 1: I end up deciding on Monday morning it should be
Speaker 1: fun again. I appreciate you guys for supporting the show
Speaker 1: and for rocking with me. I'll see you guys on Monday.
Speaker 1: The Volume