Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason tim Podcast. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for taking time out of your nights to come
Speaker 1: hang out with another Jason. My guy, Jason Maples has
Speaker 1: agreed to hang out and talk some hoops with me tonight.
Speaker 1: We've had a really hard time getting our schedules to
Speaker 1: match up, but tonight some stuff broke out perfectly and
Speaker 1: it worked out. Man. How you doing. I really appreciate
Speaker 1: you coming on O good man. I can't complain, and
Speaker 1: so it's good to be on with you live. It's different,
Speaker 1: it's different, but but yeah, and before we get started,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to say congratulations on everything going on
Speaker 1: with your podcast. Honestly, man, you got you and Kings
Speaker 1: are doing great. I know you see all the numbers
Speaker 1: and stats and stuff. I'm sure you're liking what you're
Speaker 1: seeing because it seems like it's doing great man, And
Speaker 1: I think it's awesome and I wish you got is
Speaker 1: all the success in the world. Yeah, man, thank you
Speaker 1: for just you know, Kis definitely brings another element. I
Speaker 1: think I think that was probably kind of just kind
Speaker 1: of bounce off each other. I think it's just just
Speaker 1: a good team. Yeah, we got we got some new
Speaker 1: announced coming soon too, so you know, stay tuned to
Speaker 1: look out for that. We got some big to announced
Speaker 1: coming up, so looking forward to let y'all know about that.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. But every time I see you, probably
Speaker 1: at the time I stop what I'm doing and check
Speaker 1: it out and throw the headphones on. So be here
Speaker 1: a part of it for once. Yeah, So, guys, that
Speaker 1: is the temple of hoop podcasts. You all probably already
Speaker 1: listened to it, but if you haven't, that's where you
Speaker 1: can find it. But yeah, the best part about it
Speaker 1: is you guys both know what you're talking about and
Speaker 1: you can have some fun while also knowing what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. And uh, I mean for you in particular,
Speaker 1: I mean this is literally your job. I mean you
Speaker 1: you work in the business of basketball. You know what
Speaker 1: you're talking about. And uh, I think people should listen
Speaker 1: when you're talking. But co COVID killing us, but it's fun.
Speaker 1: I got more time to NBA basketball now COVID killing us.
Speaker 1: But I'm yeah, I hear you, man, I hear you.
Speaker 1: I feel I feel bad for these kids because like
Speaker 1: I would be pulling my hair out if I was
Speaker 1: in college and I was missing out on games for
Speaker 1: something like this ugly anyway. All Right, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk a lot about tonight's game, obviously, but there are
Speaker 1: also a couple of things that, uh, things that I've
Speaker 1: been beating the drum on all season long that I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to hear your opinion on. We've kind of
Speaker 1: bounced a little bit on Twitter about them, but I
Speaker 1: want to hear a little bit more in depth your
Speaker 1: opinion on. But I want to start with tonight's game. Obviously.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, Uh, the the Celtics only had eleven points
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter through ten and a half minutes.
Speaker 1: The Lakers seemingly put it away with a couple of
Speaker 1: big Lebron threes in a Dennis shrewder and one, and
Speaker 1: then they go really cold, a couple of sloppy mistakes
Speaker 1: Lebron and they d each have a turnover, and Tatum
Speaker 1: just absolutely takes over there down down the stretch and
Speaker 1: almost almost steals the game. So obviously a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of good Both teams are playing extremely hard. It
Speaker 1: had kind of a playoff feel to it. No one
Speaker 1: was in a weird like back to back or anything
Speaker 1: like that. It was a really really good game. To
Speaker 1: get a feel for both teams. What what was your
Speaker 1: initial takeaway in the positive respect to what you saw
Speaker 1: from the Lakers tonight. May think me they got it
Speaker 1: out of rope there in the thick of this long
Speaker 1: road trip and they got it out of win after
Speaker 1: an ugly loss. And I think that, um, just to
Speaker 1: perseverance that this the Lakers team. They're they're a very
Speaker 1: tough team. I think that that showed tonight that's just
Speaker 1: very tough in general. They didn't panic when Boston made
Speaker 1: their run. Um kind of fell apoint late with some
Speaker 1: of the turnovers, but like I said, man, just very
Speaker 1: heavy and tough team like on that even on that
Speaker 1: last plaster the turn after the turnover, Caruso has to
Speaker 1: wear with all to sprint back instead of panicking and
Speaker 1: just rapped the final play and at least to Kimba
Speaker 1: taking an off balance shot that I was my heart
Speaker 1: stopped when he shot at because that's a shot he's
Speaker 1: made for everybody. Caruso being able to disrupt the fast
Speaker 1: break to keep from getting easy one. Just stuff like
Speaker 1: that just part of a champion. Pretty much as tacky
Speaker 1: as it sounds, that's pretty much what it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jared Dudley's tweeted after the game he said that was
Speaker 1: their best win of the season, and which you kind
Speaker 1: of agree with it, because you know, when it comes
Speaker 1: to winning on the road, there's literally only one thing
Speaker 1: that matters, and it's getting in the bus and getting
Speaker 1: out of there with the w. Literally nothing else matters.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what it looks like, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who played well. It's just it's extremely difficult to win
Speaker 1: on the road, especially against a really good team, especially
Speaker 1: at the end of a long road trip like this.
Speaker 1: And and the truth of the matter is like the
Speaker 1: Lakers were the better team tonight. The margin didn't appear
Speaker 1: to be uh that type of margin because of what
Speaker 1: Tatum did at the end and because of some sloppiness,
Speaker 1: but the Lakers showed a lot of good tonight and
Speaker 1: and and all you have to do is look back
Speaker 1: and like you said, like you have to make these
Speaker 1: little plays in these rock fight type of games in
Speaker 1: order to get a win. And you know, even in
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia game, it's a really really similar sequence, not
Speaker 1: the craziness leading up to it, but you know, the
Speaker 1: third best player on the other team, with what you
Speaker 1: would consider to be a mismatch given the other players
Speaker 1: on the floor, because the Lakers had Crusoe and Davis
Speaker 1: and Lebron and attacking that matchup getting to a little
Speaker 1: you know, shoulder in the chest step back jump shot.
Speaker 1: Tobias made it over the contest and and Kimba missed it.
Speaker 1: But the Lakers made the plays that they needed to
Speaker 1: do to win both games. It's just you know, maker,
Speaker 1: miss league. I just want to say that maker, maker,
Speaker 1: miss league. That's nothing. That's all it comes down to.
Speaker 1: But they they're on the road against what I team. Uh,
Speaker 1: I think the Billy is the best team in these
Speaker 1: to me, something so our French contender. I think they
Speaker 1: have a lot of they have a move to be
Speaker 1: made to show up their center position. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: how Kimba is gonna be improved as the season goes on,
Speaker 1: but there are French contender. To me, those are two, uh,
Speaker 1: just two great games of watching. One of the Lakers
Speaker 1: obviously lost, but this game the Lakers were able to
Speaker 1: get it out. Man. That was that was a fun
Speaker 1: game to watch. Just I like those games better than
Speaker 1: the you know, high scoring get forty three's up, make nineteen.
Speaker 1: I like the Rock five games like those are more
Speaker 1: playoff oriented. That's what the that's what it looks like
Speaker 1: at the end of the season. So I was how
Speaker 1: I enjoyed myself. Yeah, it was. I thought it was
Speaker 1: their best defensive performance of the season. Um, with the
Speaker 1: exception of a couple of crazy sequences where you know,
Speaker 1: a guy got hacked complaining about a non call, didn't
Speaker 1: get back in transition, that kind of thing with accepting
Speaker 1: that's my biggest pem peeve with the Lakers this season.
Speaker 1: But guy does not get a call, he just stops playing.
Speaker 1: Just wait, Oh, I guess that's my only is nippicking
Speaker 1: because the team I think is great. But my my
Speaker 1: biggest complaint is if they don't get a call they
Speaker 1: like that guy stops playing and it drives me nuts.
Speaker 1: It's insane and uh. But like, outside of those sequences,
Speaker 1: they defended extremely well. There was a lot they forced
Speaker 1: the Celtics to make tough shots and they did. Um.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of players where they gave up
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds, but a lot of that is a virtue
Speaker 1: of the way their defensive scheme is set up. Because
Speaker 1: they're frequently cotton rotations and things along those lines. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Kimba stuff you brought up is interesting to me
Speaker 1: because I remember, you know, Kemba made a lot more
Speaker 1: sense with the Celtics when they initially signed him, because
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown were earlier in their development and they
Speaker 1: really needed his on ball creation in order to be
Speaker 1: kind of an engine in that offense. But now we're
Speaker 1: in this like awkward zone where Tatum is is ascending
Speaker 1: into this top ten type of status, Jalen Brown is
Speaker 1: hot on his heels. You know, last year, the Celtics
Speaker 1: came to Staples Center and Kemba sat out. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you remember this, but I think he was
Speaker 1: dealing with some knee issues at that time as well.
Speaker 1: And I remember everyone before the game is like, oh,
Speaker 1: this that sucks. Kemba's out for this big showdown. And
Speaker 1: I remember thinking like, I'm more worried about the Celtics
Speaker 1: like this because at the time Tatum was killing it
Speaker 1: last year. But that game and then and UH and
Speaker 1: the the the uh Kemba being out caused them to
Speaker 1: lean more on lineups that were more switchable and and
Speaker 1: that didn't have that that Kemba Walker week link. And
Speaker 1: I remember thinking like that was one of the big
Speaker 1: reasons why they were able to stay so competitive with
Speaker 1: the Lakers. In that game, Lebron had to hit a
Speaker 1: game winner to steal that game, if you remember. And like, literally,
Speaker 1: as I look at the Celtics now, like it almost
Speaker 1: makes more sense to use Kimba almost in like a
Speaker 1: sixth man type of role where he's bringing where he's
Speaker 1: bringing offense outside of their core lineups, because honestly, right now,
Speaker 1: it doesn't make as much sense to have him out
Speaker 1: there with how good Tatum and Brown are defense or offensively,
Speaker 1: and how much Kempa hurts them on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the right. It's it's it's just crazy how the
Speaker 1: how the league changes, because I remember that everybody was
Speaker 1: so big on them because Kimba was our Kyrie replacement.
Speaker 1: Right He's supposed to be the less. He's more, he's
Speaker 1: more of an intangible fit. But I think what people
Speaker 1: are missing this isn't even me watching the Celtics last year.
Speaker 1: Not as much. They miss Gordon Hayward, his playmaking. What
Speaker 1: he does. He's a ball mover, he gets the ball
Speaker 1: moving side to side. He's very high cool guy. He
Speaker 1: played a lot of points forward and kind of let
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown kind of focus on scoring, which is
Speaker 1: their strongest suit offensively, are right right now scoring, so
Speaker 1: they miss Gordon Hayward. And I just think, like again,
Speaker 1: I can't reason. I can't put them on the same
Speaker 1: level as a Philadelphe or even a Brooklyn the center position,
Speaker 1: like Tyson is a sixth man to me, he's a
Speaker 1: d he's a bench player. To me, he's just in
Speaker 1: a series against him beat we saw last year against Bam.
Speaker 1: He just it's just he's just overmatched against those type
Speaker 1: of players. And I think until they make a move
Speaker 1: for a center, whether even if it's just a guy
Speaker 1: like Drummond, Yeah, I know it's expensive and harder to
Speaker 1: make the money where, but they just they need a
Speaker 1: center who can not be bullied by the top of
Speaker 1: the East, the big guys, the top of these even
Speaker 1: Indiana's looking like they're gonna be a top three or
Speaker 1: four seeds. So you know, Boston got some work to do.
Speaker 1: I think from a roster construction standpoint, no, I agree
Speaker 1: with you. I think anybody who has them ahead of
Speaker 1: of of Brooklyn or Philly right now is kind of
Speaker 1: not taking into a into effect how good those two
Speaker 1: teams are the Uh, I'm with you. I was actually
Speaker 1: pro Brooklyn until the hard and trade. I really think
Speaker 1: the loss of Jared Allen puts them at a huge
Speaker 1: disadvantage in a playoff matchup against Philly Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the the interesting thing with Boston is I actually predicted
Speaker 1: they would struggle start the year because of the fact that,
Speaker 1: you know, playmaking, like taking on a different playmaking role
Speaker 1: than you had the previous season just takes reps like
Speaker 1: you gotta figure it out, and they lean so heavily
Speaker 1: on Tatum and Brown the first couple of months of
Speaker 1: the season after not leaning on them as much because
Speaker 1: of Kemba and because of Gordon last season that I
Speaker 1: expected them to struggle. So I I take them as
Speaker 1: a team that has more potential to peak later in
Speaker 1: the year as they just get more comfortable in their
Speaker 1: newer roles on the team, like they're they're they're actually
Speaker 1: in a stretch right now where almost every night they're
Speaker 1: coming out and giving you fifty five points efficiently in
Speaker 1: locking up on the other end of the floor. So
Speaker 1: they definitely had that potential. But there, you know, styles
Speaker 1: make fights. You're not talking about this all the time
Speaker 1: there's there's there's a huge, huge mismatch problem with Joe
Speaker 1: l Embiid and there's not a person on that roster
Speaker 1: and you could even stay in single coverage. That alone
Speaker 1: forced him to work harder do any of the other
Speaker 1: things that you want out of that that defensive role.
Speaker 1: So but yeah, speaking of matchups, though, I thought this
Speaker 1: was an interesting one for the Lakers in the sense
Speaker 1: that you know, you and I have talked a lot
Speaker 1: about how the Clippers present matchup problems for the Lakers
Speaker 1: in the form of their wings, because the Laker defense
Speaker 1: is built on these like quicker, undersized guards you know
Speaker 1: right around that six five to six three range who
Speaker 1: are super quick, play really hard, put a lot of
Speaker 1: ball pressure on the three point line, and kind of
Speaker 1: funnel guys into the into the basket where all their
Speaker 1: length is. But the problem is is when you run
Speaker 1: into a Kauai or a Paul George or a Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown or a Jason Tatum, can they can really take
Speaker 1: advantage in in uh in these like mismatches in the
Speaker 1: post against guys like Struder is a great defender, but
Speaker 1: all of a sudden he gets into uh, he gets
Speaker 1: in the post against against Jalen Brown and it looks
Speaker 1: like trouble. So my my question for you is what
Speaker 1: what do the Lakers have to do to survive those
Speaker 1: types of matchups in a playoff series. I think they'll
Speaker 1: be fine because this is a thing from me last year.
Speaker 1: I feel like, um, Lebron and a D take more
Speaker 1: defensive responsibility in the playoffs. I think they did that.
Speaker 1: They took them more the more marquee matchups. Um. Also
Speaker 1: I feel that, um, they just been for me the
Speaker 1: Lakers this year that I've seen. The little that make
Speaker 1: them just a little kink in the armor is like
Speaker 1: you said, they do that funnel thing where they funnel.
Speaker 1: They're hard on the three point live funnel guys in
Speaker 1: the key. They don't have the same amount of size
Speaker 1: as they had last year. Uh. Also think when they
Speaker 1: put a D at the five more so in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: I think that will be like, he's an excellent rent
Speaker 1: protector that'll do it. So it's not so much it's
Speaker 1: one of those things that don't have to work around's
Speaker 1: not necessarily it's just something you can attack them with.
Speaker 1: But who else has Jayson Tatum and Jayon Brown and
Speaker 1: Coally and Paul George. Right, it's two teams. It's it's
Speaker 1: just not gonna be teams with you know, those are
Speaker 1: the best four wings in basketball outside of Lebron in
Speaker 1: my opinion, So so it's uh, nobody else has that
Speaker 1: type of personnel to bring them like that. So I'm
Speaker 1: okay with it. What I'm worried about is, uh, I'm
Speaker 1: petrified of the Philadelphia seventies. I've said this before the season,
Speaker 1: looking at the roster construction they bought. Darryl Morien. He fixes,
Speaker 1: He puts the best spacing that Joel Uh and then
Speaker 1: have had in their career. So I'm nervous about the
Speaker 1: seventi sixers. If that matchup happens, is a long way
Speaker 1: way got fight a whole playoff series. But yeah, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm That's what I'm nervous. But I'm not worried
Speaker 1: about the Lakers defending wings that work around that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And well, so I agree with you. The Celtics and
Speaker 1: the Clippers are the only two teams that present that problem,
Speaker 1: and both of them have the same problem on the
Speaker 1: other end with their inability to match up with Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: So it kind of goes it kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 1: As for the Philly matchup, actually, I was really really
Speaker 1: fascinated with how uh Anthony Davis guarded and beat at
Speaker 1: the end of that game and be killed the Lakers
Speaker 1: for the most part, drawing fouls and and getting into
Speaker 1: the lane and making his array of crazy shots until
Speaker 1: the end of the game when Anthony Davis started giving
Speaker 1: him more space and trying to bait him into into
Speaker 1: step backs and things along those lines and just kind
Speaker 1: of beating him to the spot. He had one random
Speaker 1: crazy play at the end of the game where he
Speaker 1: like chested up on em beat and then beat just
Speaker 1: through and got an and one. And I remember sitting
Speaker 1: there thinking like, man, like, what do you what are
Speaker 1: you doing? Like you're giving him, You're you're playing right
Speaker 1: into his one single advantage over you, which is ridiculous strength,
Speaker 1: you know, compared to you. You know, but you're you're
Speaker 1: just as long as him. You're you're you're quicker than him.
Speaker 1: You can beat him to the spot and force him
Speaker 1: to shoot over the top. But you know, so my
Speaker 1: I I always say, like, you know, a team like
Speaker 1: the Lakers have enough defensive versatility to peek at the
Speaker 1: right time at the end of the series defensively in
Speaker 1: order to overcome those types of matchups. Great example are
Speaker 1: are the Damian Lillard matchup, the the the Jamal Murray matchup,
Speaker 1: and the James it In match up. The Lakers basically said, like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna double and and we're gonna count on the
Speaker 1: fact that over the course of this series, we're gonna
Speaker 1: figure out how to rotate on the back end so
Speaker 1: that we're not that like towards the end of these
Speaker 1: pivotal moments in these games, you guys just are going
Speaker 1: to be getting the same quality shots as you might
Speaker 1: early in the series. I think that's a big part
Speaker 1: of why they lost Game one and in the first
Speaker 1: two rounds and lost an early game against Denver, and
Speaker 1: we're able to kind of peek at the end of
Speaker 1: the series. They just figured out, you know, we can
Speaker 1: double and rotate. So the same thing goes for a
Speaker 1: Joe l MB matchup, and the same thing goes for
Speaker 1: a Jale and Brown matchup. The idea is like, don't
Speaker 1: leave him on an island with Dennis Shooter. Just double
Speaker 1: and rotate. You guys are good at this. This is
Speaker 1: literally the bread and butter of your defense. You've got
Speaker 1: all these super quick players, you all play really hard,
Speaker 1: you communicate, you kind of cover each other's flaws. So
Speaker 1: just double and rotate, double and rotate. What I don't
Speaker 1: like is leaving him on an island and letting him
Speaker 1: get cooked, and then everybody staring at each other and
Speaker 1: being what happened? You know what I mean? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean there's been a lot of you know, I like,
Speaker 1: I'll cry about Vogel and all that, But my thing
Speaker 1: is he's won a championship. They've done it. So if
Speaker 1: you have you noticed my complaining about the Lakers way
Speaker 1: down this season. It's like, I'm so relaxed watching these games.
Speaker 1: It's just like, you know, whatever, don't even anything that
Speaker 1: bothers me is Caruso should be playing way more. Um,
Speaker 1: But other than that, like they won a championship, the
Speaker 1: cold coaching staff and show them that know how to
Speaker 1: adjust from a team of team rounding around. So I'm
Speaker 1: just enjoying the games, man, I just I can't they
Speaker 1: want this, don't need to apply pressure at that level.
Speaker 1: They've they've shown that they can adjust in the series
Speaker 1: and what they do in the playoffs, So it's fine,
Speaker 1: but please play Crusso more. Yeah, and for the record,
Speaker 1: you were the complainer last year, so what you win
Speaker 1: a championship is definit me to complain about and say
Speaker 1: they know show Maker win. We're all good now, just
Speaker 1: just just play Crusso more for him, you though, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you you had some complaints and the Lakers overcame them.
Speaker 1: So you you're you're a man of your word, if
Speaker 1: if not anything else. I am naturally an optimist with
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff. So I'm like on another level
Speaker 1: of confidence with this team because even last year when
Speaker 1: they were showing flaws like I had, I just I have, like,
Speaker 1: you know, these basic pillars of what I think wins
Speaker 1: NBA basketball games, especially in the playoffs, you know, defensive versatility,
Speaker 1: super high end offensive players, and then having that alpha
Speaker 1: that doesn't shrink from the moment. And I just I
Speaker 1: was like, the Lakers got all of these bases covered
Speaker 1: many times over. I just was always really really confident
Speaker 1: that they would be fine. And now that they have one, it's,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's just it's just another level of
Speaker 1: confidence in my opinion. Um, so let's start with a D.
Speaker 1: So this was eighties I thought best game of the
Speaker 1: season in terms of the way he attacked offensively against
Speaker 1: a good team. He's had some big numbers games against
Speaker 1: bad teams. But I thought he was much much better defensively.
Speaker 1: He was actually shutting off the rim in a way
Speaker 1: he had it earlier in the season. Um. But I
Speaker 1: I just thought he looked more aggressive, and I just
Speaker 1: thought he was finally kind of taking the game series
Speaker 1: reiviously in a way that he had him before. Do
Speaker 1: you think that he was coasting or do you think
Speaker 1: he was hurt? What did you think was going on
Speaker 1: with him earlier in the season. Uh, probably a little
Speaker 1: of both. Man. I talked this, We and Kings have
Speaker 1: talked about this is just I didn't come into season
Speaker 1: inspecting apply pressure. It was such a short turnaround. And
Speaker 1: he's not the most he hasn't has a history of
Speaker 1: being the most dirtiest guy anyway. So if he's patient himself,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to, you know, hold too much, you know,
Speaker 1: hold that against him too much. He understands his body. Um.
Speaker 1: What I do think is that on paper, he had
Speaker 1: a matchup advantage against the Celtics, just looking at without them,
Speaker 1: just have a matchups where Lebron was obviously gonna be
Speaker 1: not stopped, but the wings that for the Celtics, it
Speaker 1: was a little like it so harder matchup whether the
Speaker 1: rather going against Christian Thompson and you know, daniel tys
Speaker 1: that's food for a D. He took ten shots in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. I was like, this is his game.
Speaker 1: I telt you, I said, this is his game if
Speaker 1: he wants it tonight. And it seemed like, you know,
Speaker 1: he was aggressive like seven and thirteen. He had a
Speaker 1: couple of moments on defense where he kind of forgot
Speaker 1: the box out. He got to sell poster ride by
Speaker 1: you know, daniel chais not forgetting to the blackout. He
Speaker 1: got back cut a couple of times by Jaylen Brown
Speaker 1: on on the week side. But you know, those things
Speaker 1: happened in the basketball game. You don't play the perfect game,
Speaker 1: so sir, but uh, I think people need to relax
Speaker 1: on the A D kind of like he's catching a
Speaker 1: lot of flak because he's not going a hundred a
Speaker 1: hundred miles per every game. But I think he's fine.
Speaker 1: He'll turn it up this I think when the second
Speaker 1: half of the season comes and get ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I think he's just trying to make it like, you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're in our thirties, so older guys like seventies
Speaker 1: seventy days for a new NBA season, that is a
Speaker 1: quick turnaround, man. And you gotta understand, even with the
Speaker 1: Lakers to stoppage last year, they didn't stop breaking out.
Speaker 1: They were staying in shape. So they really went over
Speaker 1: a year straight of staying in in season NBA shape.
Speaker 1: So you gotta factor all that in coming back to
Speaker 1: this year. You know, he's not the most thirty or
Speaker 1: you know guys, so you gotta come from slack man,
Speaker 1: Like when they get to the second half of the season,
Speaker 1: they'll turn up to I have no doubt they're turned
Speaker 1: up the intensity and be a dominant team. There's still
Speaker 1: the first seed or a half game out. You talk
Speaker 1: for the first see anyway, So what are we complaining
Speaker 1: about here? Yeah? No, I agree like that. Everything's nipicky.
Speaker 1: This is this is what I said in my last podcast,
Speaker 1: and I mean it sincerely. Like I I think it's
Speaker 1: okay to acknowledge that he hasn't been playing well. I
Speaker 1: just I just also don't care at all, Like I
Speaker 1: just I just don't like I I could, I could
Speaker 1: not You used to say the same thing last year
Speaker 1: during the regular season, when Lebron was going through some
Speaker 1: down stretches. You're like, he's not the one I'm worried about.
Speaker 1: It's these other kinds. Like I was like, I'm not
Speaker 1: never know, Yeah, And that's kind of where I'm at
Speaker 1: with a D. It's like, of all of the things
Speaker 1: to think about with this season, the one thing that
Speaker 1: I worry about with a D is the same thing
Speaker 1: I worried about last year. And it's just this this
Speaker 1: leaning on his jump shot thing. I looked. I looked
Speaker 1: heavily into shot profile last week, Like so basically Lebron
Speaker 1: takes a lot of jump shots now. But with Lebron,
Speaker 1: he's thirty six, he's he's literally coasting for good reason.
Speaker 1: And and if you look at his numbers like he
Speaker 1: I can I can't remember the exact numbers, but just
Speaker 1: a little under two for one, he's taking a shot
Speaker 1: outside of ten feet twice for every one shot he's
Speaker 1: taking in the paint. That's just a little bit less
Speaker 1: than two to one. And but he's thirty six, well,
Speaker 1: a D s at the exact same ratio. And he's
Speaker 1: a big man who's in his twenties who So from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, like if there's one great to have with
Speaker 1: a D he's leaning more than ever into that jump shot,
Speaker 1: almost to the level of an old vet who's coasting
Speaker 1: through the season. But he's making it at a at
Speaker 1: a lesser rate than he usually has been, although he
Speaker 1: was making them tonight. So that that's the one thing
Speaker 1: that's weird to me, is like he's he's shooting poorly
Speaker 1: yet shooting more than ever from the perimeter, and he's
Speaker 1: a and the Lakers aren't playing a five man underneath
Speaker 1: the basket while he while he's posting up anymore like this,
Speaker 1: This theoretically should have been a season where he was
Speaker 1: being more physically I been around the basket. That that's
Speaker 1: just the one thing that I think is weird. That
Speaker 1: crazy that you said that, because because of what you
Speaker 1: just said, he was my m v P pick before
Speaker 1: the season started. That's funny, That's exactly I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I got the spacing now this Saul's gonna
Speaker 1: have to get respected from the three point line and
Speaker 1: won't be clogged up. I thought Lebron would take kind
Speaker 1: of a not a back seat, but just hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna coast to the second half of the season. It
Speaker 1: seems like those guys have reverse Lebron is like, let's go.
Speaker 1: I love the hoop seventy seven days, I don't care,
Speaker 1: let's go, and A D is like, uh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: work my way back into it. Yeah, it's been. It's been.
Speaker 1: One of the more confusing things that I can remember
Speaker 1: seeing in my time as a fan, is that that
Speaker 1: kind of role reversal, because like there was every reason
Speaker 1: in the world for Lebron to coast through the season.
Speaker 1: He literally said he was going to He literally said
Speaker 1: in a podcast like jokingly, I might not be there,
Speaker 1: Like it's literally what he said. And but he's just
Speaker 1: he's just been attacking this season. I think Lebron. I
Speaker 1: think Lebron is one of those guys that he really
Speaker 1: really wants his break and he was looking forward to
Speaker 1: his break. But mentally, once he accepted the fact that
Speaker 1: he was going to be playing basketball from December to July,
Speaker 1: once he mentally crossed that barrier, he was all in again,
Speaker 1: and it was like and it was like there was
Speaker 1: no half asking for him from that from that respect,
Speaker 1: and you know, even in the past, people that like
Speaker 1: joke about Lebron coasting through the regular season, and he
Speaker 1: has in the past, but it's usually on the defensive end.
Speaker 1: And this team, because of Frank Vogel and his ridiculous
Speaker 1: scouting reports and his ridiculous demand of guys on the
Speaker 1: defensive end, Anthony Davis and his demand on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: Alex Cruzo and these guys, he can't coast on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. Literally get as asked you
Speaker 1: by all the other guys on the team. So I
Speaker 1: think I think it's it's it's just classic Lebron settling
Speaker 1: into being a professional and just playing his ass off
Speaker 1: and understanding that it's gonna inevitably, uh inevitably just lead
Speaker 1: to him succeeding on the court because of his habits
Speaker 1: in his process. Do you what do you have him
Speaker 1: in the MVP race right now? I have a second
Speaker 1: behind Joel Embiide, But if you give it to him,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't complain. Let me look at the the net
Speaker 1: rating stuff, the Lakers record, it's just us all there,
Speaker 1: like even just all them narrative stuff aside the shooting.
Speaker 1: I think he's number one came into them tonight. Number
Speaker 1: one went off the dubble three point shooting, which is
Speaker 1: nuts for him to be doing that in year eighteen.
Speaker 1: I just think, yeah, yeah, they said before the game,
Speaker 1: they said number one in the NBA off the dribble
Speaker 1: three point percentage. Um. I just think Joel has been
Speaker 1: especially this last ten days. He's had like thirty seven
Speaker 1: and twelve a game and he's at fifty forty and
Speaker 1: eight shooting the last seven and ten days. It's just
Speaker 1: where he is now. But it's also it's like this,
Speaker 1: So I think it's like this. So you know, Lebron
Speaker 1: in a d I think they're gonna be Lember Lebron
Speaker 1: and Joel. They'll be battling for it all season. Uh.
Speaker 1: If Joel can stay healthy upright, I think it'll be
Speaker 1: it'll be his to lose, but Lebron will be right there.
Speaker 1: Like I said, if you give it to Lebron, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't complain at all because it definitely earned, which I
Speaker 1: have without he's playing this season. Um, it's just I
Speaker 1: was telling you know, Kings, it reminds me just watching
Speaker 1: the old grade players, you know, the Michael Jordan, the
Speaker 1: Kobe As they start to lose a bit athletically, you
Speaker 1: see how cerebral they are with the game. You can
Speaker 1: see everything moving in slow motion, and I think Lebron's
Speaker 1: at that stage right now. You know, he's not a
Speaker 1: he's not a one percent athlete anymore. Still a very
Speaker 1: good athlete. That one percent athlete he used to be
Speaker 1: where everything's shoulders above the rim. But seeing the way
Speaker 1: he dies sects the game from cerebral standpoint, seeing everything
Speaker 1: two steps ahead, the jump shots flowing, it's just incredible
Speaker 1: to watch that year eight team. Like I said, he
Speaker 1: he's an uncharted territory as far as being this effective
Speaker 1: and at the top of the league at this far
Speaker 1: down the line. So it's like, we have no choice
Speaker 1: but to enjoy the right We have no there's no
Speaker 1: precedent for when this stops, so you just kind of
Speaker 1: enjoy it, and you know, I'm happy you're doing as
Speaker 1: a Laker. Yeah, no kidding. I've been really impressed by
Speaker 1: the cerebral side too, because you know, people were joking
Speaker 1: last year you were actually one of them, and and
Speaker 1: I wasn't too worried because I had seen him in
Speaker 1: the in the regular season a lot, but you know,
Speaker 1: he was struggling with bigger athletic wings when he would
Speaker 1: go against really athletic teams, he would look old, you know.
Speaker 1: And then he obviously had a lot of success in
Speaker 1: March against you know, Janice and and Quiet in those
Speaker 1: last couple of games of the regular season. But there
Speaker 1: was some yeah, he but he was struggling for a
Speaker 1: little bit early in the season where he just looked
Speaker 1: he just was shooting, he was shooting poorly. He didn't
Speaker 1: seem like he was getting the same separation. And I
Speaker 1: don't think Lebron is anymore athletic than he was at
Speaker 1: that point in the season last year. I think it
Speaker 1: is the cerebral cerebral side. Like you can tell Lebron
Speaker 1: has adjusted the way he drives to the basket compared
Speaker 1: to the way it used to be. Like one of
Speaker 1: the things he's doing all the time now is he's
Speaker 1: calling for the screen and roll, getting the defender on
Speaker 1: his hip, and then instead of trying to like really
Speaker 1: rip through and go all the way, he's kind of
Speaker 1: like taking a dribble up to the free throw line,
Speaker 1: getting the defender behind him, kind of bumping him a
Speaker 1: little bit from like to get him off, and then
Speaker 1: he's going to the rim and he's doing all these
Speaker 1: like little old man tricks that he didn't used to do,
Speaker 1: that never used to be in his game in terms
Speaker 1: of the way that he would attack the basket. And
Speaker 1: so I've just been really impressed in the sense that
Speaker 1: like he he even at this point in his career,
Speaker 1: isn't afraid to change the way he plays. And then,
Speaker 1: like we said, he's taking more threes off the dribble,
Speaker 1: he's still like, Yeah, there was a stretch there in
Speaker 1: the second quarter of the game where the Lakers where
Speaker 1: the where Brad Stevens was just doubling him every single
Speaker 1: time he got the ball inside the three point line.
Speaker 1: He never once forced a shot over the double. He
Speaker 1: just kept making the right play moving around. The dude,
Speaker 1: he's just seeing the game and slow motion right now.
Speaker 1: He never gets scared. I yeah, I I think it's
Speaker 1: been one of the more fun stretches of basketball for
Speaker 1: me as a Lebron fan to root for him, just
Speaker 1: because like he just there's the ring. The fourth ring
Speaker 1: added like this whole other level of confidence to to
Speaker 1: his game, and it's just he's just he's just floating
Speaker 1: through these things and everyone else is like like crazy
Speaker 1: running around their hair cut off and he's hair on
Speaker 1: fire and he's just like cruising through these games. Um
Speaker 1: so uh uh. Two other things I wanted to touch
Speaker 1: on before I let you go. So first of all,
Speaker 1: one of the things that stood out to me tonight
Speaker 1: and has stood out to me lately, and I'm interested
Speaker 1: to hear your open and so Mantres had three blocks tonight,
Speaker 1: and but all three of them came in scenarios where
Speaker 1: the the offensive player was into a second defender kind
Speaker 1: of like shoulder to chest, trying to get some separation
Speaker 1: and throwing something up, and Tred's would come flying in
Speaker 1: and help side and and swat the ball out of bounds.
Speaker 1: Where I think Tread's is actually a really bad rim
Speaker 1: defender is is when he's actually head up with the guys.
Speaker 1: I think, like on that last play where Tatum got
Speaker 1: the h the jumper over the top of the little
Speaker 1: floater over the top of him, or any other sequence
Speaker 1: where someone's coming freight trained down the down the middle
Speaker 1: and Trends is waiting under the basket. He's actually not
Speaker 1: all that great of a rim protector. When the offensive
Speaker 1: player sees him coming, I I really struggle with him
Speaker 1: and pick and roll coverage too, because he always catches
Speaker 1: himself in no man's land. He's never he's never actually
Speaker 1: up bothering the ball handler. But he's enough. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's honestly like So, I was down on the
Speaker 1: tread signing from the beginning of the year. I didn't
Speaker 1: like the way to hardcap the team. I liked Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard in that role better. I've been pretty like, I've
Speaker 1: been pretty disappointed with it, and and now he's playing
Speaker 1: crunch time. He was in there and crunch time again tonight,
Speaker 1: Like I've been really confused by what if your what's
Speaker 1: been your kind of outlook on the Montres Harald things
Speaker 1: so far this year I was kind of lean with
Speaker 1: you where I was kind of against it, But tonight
Speaker 1: I think down the stretch it was wow because it
Speaker 1: shrunk the floor because he was on the floor with
Speaker 1: Lebron in a D and I think it made it laters.
Speaker 1: I think that's why they got staggning late, because the
Speaker 1: floor is really shrunk when all those guys on there.
Speaker 1: But in general, I think treads Is effectiveness has been
Speaker 1: dictated by the matchup. I think some teams are gonna
Speaker 1: feel like tonight he was able to have a big night.
Speaker 1: I think it was eight for ten or eight four eleven.
Speaker 1: He had, he made some, he had something, just not
Speaker 1: a big team with a certain games, the the Blazers
Speaker 1: game early on where just Nur Kitchen and Canada just
Speaker 1: a handful for him. He's got a great defender, those
Speaker 1: big guys. He plays center when he's in with a
Speaker 1: D because a D just playing playing power forward all
Speaker 1: right now, Um, the sixer game, it's tough sometimes even
Speaker 1: the teams with those big with those big Burley centers,
Speaker 1: I think that's not the matchup for him. But teams
Speaker 1: like this, where's the guy like Tyson and and Thompson,
Speaker 1: guys he can beat up and down the floor, Guys
Speaker 1: that he can face up and get by and and
Speaker 1: kind of body up. It's a good match up form.
Speaker 1: So he's a good matchup. Got to add um, I
Speaker 1: think he'll be in the hunt for six man. I
Speaker 1: think my my biggest underestimation of Tras was on nights
Speaker 1: when the Lakers lack of energy. That's where he brings
Speaker 1: like no matter what, he's gonna play hard. He'll make
Speaker 1: hi play to spark the team. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the positive. What he brings to the team kind of intangibly,
Speaker 1: but tangible effect just depends on the matchup, which is
Speaker 1: fine because like again it's a testment to the Lakers
Speaker 1: death Man. They're literally eleven deep. They got eleven brote
Speaker 1: players India, which is unheard of these days. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: are teams like that are killed to have Wesley Matthews
Speaker 1: and Markis Morris and jout tonight right are the thing
Speaker 1: that tries that bothers me is I feel like sometimes
Speaker 1: he's set up to fail. And and what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is, like, you know, when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: a flawed basketball player, you need to try to put
Speaker 1: them in a position where their strengths are shown and
Speaker 1: not their flaws. So that that was the reason why
Speaker 1: I brought up the rim protection stuff a little a
Speaker 1: little bit ago, because you know, asking Montrez Harrold to
Speaker 1: stop guys on a on a freight train to the basket,
Speaker 1: you're asking him to fail. You're putting him in a
Speaker 1: position to fail. That's not that's not a strength of his.
Speaker 1: So so what are Montress Harold strength. So he's he
Speaker 1: has a super high motor, and he's got he's got
Speaker 1: really long arms, and he's pretty quick right for a
Speaker 1: big though, those are like his strengths defensively, So to me,
Speaker 1: in the defensive scheme that that's a big part of
Speaker 1: why you know, Tim Tim Cranch just was talking about
Speaker 1: this for a long time with the way there they
Speaker 1: adjusted their pick and roll coverage. But like to me,
Speaker 1: it makes a lot more sense to never have him
Speaker 1: drop because you're putting him in a position there to fail,
Speaker 1: but to use his strength. So if he's if he's quick,
Speaker 1: and he has long arms, it makes a lot more
Speaker 1: sense to have him trap and double screen and roll
Speaker 1: because in that in that scenario, he can run around
Speaker 1: in rotation and be another big man on the floor
Speaker 1: use his Like there was a play Jason Tatum runs
Speaker 1: screen and roll. It's Lebron and Tres in the action,
Speaker 1: Uh Tatum comes off the screen, Mantres literally dives with
Speaker 1: both arms down on the ball, takes the ball away
Speaker 1: from him, leads to a fast break for Lebron the
Speaker 1: other way, and I think he drew a foul, I
Speaker 1: can't remember, but it led to a basket or points
Speaker 1: the other way for the Lakers. And on that player,
Speaker 1: I remember sitting there thinking like that's asking Montres to
Speaker 1: do something he's good at that he is actually capable
Speaker 1: of being an impact defensive player when you use him
Speaker 1: the way that he's supposed to be used. He's never
Speaker 1: been a good rim protector. If you ask he he
Speaker 1: can block shots and helps that if if a guy's
Speaker 1: doesn't see him coming and he comes and he can
Speaker 1: really load up and come iron in the blocking shot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sure he can do that, But you're you gotta ask
Speaker 1: him to play to his strengths and the same thing
Speaker 1: goes offensively, like you said, attacking matchups. Yeah, when he
Speaker 1: has a chance against a small a smaller team to
Speaker 1: be super aggressive, that's when you need to keep feeding
Speaker 1: him kind of like they did tonight, and then they're
Speaker 1: gonna be games where he needs to take a back seat.
Speaker 1: But I I feel like some of the some of
Speaker 1: the gripe with Montrez is he's been asked to do
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things that the Clippers asked
Speaker 1: him to do, which is a drop coverage big where
Speaker 1: he's just gonna get killed, Like that's strength, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Yeah? I agree, And I did say
Speaker 1: to to the As far as using him better, uh,
Speaker 1: Vogle did talk about today about that and actually had
Speaker 1: a coaches beating about getting him a more picking rolls,
Speaker 1: so like that was actually said today, So I think
Speaker 1: that's going to look out for going forward. Also to
Speaker 1: keep him mind of the practice time is basically zero,
Speaker 1: like in season, you're playing every other day because it's
Speaker 1: a condensed schedule. So there's that part of it too,
Speaker 1: like guys knee reps. So we'll see how it looks
Speaker 1: has the season goes on. Yeah, they have all sorts
Speaker 1: of time to figure this out, and I think that's
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things too. And people
Speaker 1: are always like, oh, like why is leron playing every night?
Speaker 1: Like he should be taking some rest, and I think
Speaker 1: a d has actually been dealing with an injury at
Speaker 1: this quad contusion. But like, if if I'm these guys,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I want to play all seventy two because
Speaker 1: I'm playing I'm playing thirty two minutes a night if
Speaker 1: I'm a Star, and if I'm a role player, I'm
Speaker 1: playing twenty five and if I'm Crusoe, I'm playing seventeen
Speaker 1: for some reason. So like if I'm if I'm one
Speaker 1: of these guys, I'm like, three times a week, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play twenty minutes of basketball like that, and I'll
Speaker 1: play by ass off in those minutes to get in
Speaker 1: shape and to get to get the feel of the team.
Speaker 1: So one last thing. So I talked a lot in
Speaker 1: my last podcast about my beef with Schroeder in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup, and I'm really interested to hear your opinion
Speaker 1: on this. So basically, the quick version of the breakdown
Speaker 1: is this, because Schroeder's in the starting lineup, it's forcing
Speaker 1: them to play Lebron by himself a lot in the
Speaker 1: way that the lineups breakdown. So for instance, when Schroeder's
Speaker 1: with Lebron and a D, they're killing teams. When Lebron
Speaker 1: is with Schroeder, they're killing teams. When Lebron's with a D,
Speaker 1: they're killing teams a D and Schroeder's not doing super great.
Speaker 1: But that a lot of that had to do with
Speaker 1: how a D was playing. But there's like a huge
Speaker 1: chunk of minutes, like two minutes, it's over two hundred
Speaker 1: minutes now, I think where Lebron has been playing with
Speaker 1: neither Schroeder nor a D. And I think a big
Speaker 1: part of that is the way the rotation breaks down
Speaker 1: because they start Schroeder and then and then they take
Speaker 1: Lebron out with like five minutes left in the first
Speaker 1: Schroeder and a D run the end of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: and then Lebron comes back in and both a Schroeder
Speaker 1: and a D go to the bench, and now Lebron's
Speaker 1: running the show by himself, and they're barely floating the
Speaker 1: ship in those minutes. And so there are a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons to in my opinion, to let Schroeder come
Speaker 1: off the bench because he can come out and be
Speaker 1: super aggressive. It helps you to get a D in
Speaker 1: a rhythm earlier in the game because you're less worried
Speaker 1: about Schroeder's rhythm. But most importantly, it's forcing them, with
Speaker 1: the way the rotations break down, to play Lebron by
Speaker 1: himself or not by himself, but with regular role players
Speaker 1: for large chunks of these games. So I have a
Speaker 1: problem with that from a strategy standpoint. What is your
Speaker 1: opinion on the whole Shoulder in the starting lineup thing.
Speaker 1: The reason I am not for change right now is
Speaker 1: because Shoulder was literally playing at all defensive level. I mean,
Speaker 1: he has opposing If you look at the go down
Speaker 1: list of the shooting percentage of the opposing blank guards
Speaker 1: that he's gone against, it's been he has had those
Speaker 1: guys literally locked down. Like tonight again was another one.
Speaker 1: Kimball was one for twelve. Even on the last step back,
Speaker 1: he didn't get enough space for shoulder to get a
Speaker 1: clean look. Should us all the way up in him, shoulders,
Speaker 1: shoulders chasing arale, picking rolls. That's why I'm kind of
Speaker 1: those are valid points you're raising, by the way, but
Speaker 1: I think just there the Lakers have made it knowing
Speaker 1: that they are a defensive team first, and I think
Speaker 1: you just kind of gotta reward that. If anything, I
Speaker 1: say that you tinker with the subs a little bit
Speaker 1: to begin with, maybe take your shoulder right a little
Speaker 1: earlier and then take Lebrian and then bringing back together
Speaker 1: or making so that one is on the court all times,
Speaker 1: where either shooter or a D s on the court
Speaker 1: with le Bron at all times, like you just have
Speaker 1: two of them on the at the at ever every
Speaker 1: moment of the game. But I'm against the starting change
Speaker 1: because he's playing so well defensively. I think you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta kind of reward that, you know, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: hear you, and and and it does make sense to me,
Speaker 1: and like a valid points of those are those are
Speaker 1: points that those are good pointing raids. Though it's definitely
Speaker 1: something to talk about, and like Schroeder is the third
Speaker 1: best player on the team, and he's a really good
Speaker 1: point guard, Like he's definitely good enough to be a
Speaker 1: starting point guard in this league. That's not the problem
Speaker 1: for me, and and I totally see what we're coming
Speaker 1: from it. For the record, this is just me complaining
Speaker 1: because they're not gonna make They're not gonna make a change,
Speaker 1: Like why why would they? There's literally no reason for
Speaker 1: them to make this change. Schroeder has been playing a
Speaker 1: lot better in the last couple of games than he
Speaker 1: had been in the games before that, so there's no
Speaker 1: real reason for it. But it's just it's just frustrating
Speaker 1: to me because like I think of it from Schroeder
Speaker 1: Schroeder's perspective, Like, you know, I would much rather play
Speaker 1: freely knowing that I can be aggressive and not have
Speaker 1: to worry about the way it's impacting the other players
Speaker 1: on the floor if I'm in that role, you know,
Speaker 1: and in that case, like you can tell, I think
Speaker 1: one of the big reasons why Schroeder went into a
Speaker 1: little bit of an offensive slump there is it is
Speaker 1: difficult to to figure out. Like, imagine if I dropped
Speaker 1: you Jason Maples on the court with Lebron and a
Speaker 1: D tomorrow in a pickup game, would you even know
Speaker 1: where to go stand or what to do other than
Speaker 1: to go spot up in the corner? Like this is
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, So like it's just hard, it's hard
Speaker 1: to figure out, and like and whereas like what if
Speaker 1: I told you, like, Okay, Lebron and a D are
Speaker 1: checking out, I need you to go in and shoot
Speaker 1: five shots in the next four minutes, you know, like that,
Speaker 1: That's where it's like a it's a different it's a
Speaker 1: different type of of of approach mentally to that game.
Speaker 1: And to your point, that can be handled by tinkering
Speaker 1: the subs a little bit. My point is like, when
Speaker 1: you have three players of that caliber, there's never a
Speaker 1: reason to have one of them on the court unless
Speaker 1: of them is literally sitting out like a D did
Speaker 1: the other night. That's really the only that the only
Speaker 1: time to ever ever do it like that, Um, real quick,
Speaker 1: before you leave, what's your what's your take on the
Speaker 1: hardened Kyrie uh Durant nets how do you feel about
Speaker 1: him so far? I'll say the people who are saying
Speaker 1: that there's not there's just one ball, those people are nuts.
Speaker 1: You've got three generational scores, hard and an excellent passer,
Speaker 1: k D and Kyrie already played off the ball before. Um.
Speaker 1: My issument is they cannot stop anybody. Okay, see's not
Speaker 1: a good offense. They gave up one. They just can't
Speaker 1: stop anybody. But my thing is if they can even
Speaker 1: get the defense to average though, they're going to the finals.
Speaker 1: They just become passable on defense, they'll go to the finals.
Speaker 1: This is when you have three guys who can fill
Speaker 1: it up like that. It's just, uh, it's fun to
Speaker 1: watch there there there are fun to watch. I just
Speaker 1: I don't think they'll get the stops. I'm hanging onto.
Speaker 1: Philly has my number one to come out the East. Uh.
Speaker 1: I do have them better than the Milwaukee though, but
Speaker 1: a is uh Buds running that crazy scheme where you
Speaker 1: give up threes the just all out close off the paint.
Speaker 1: Those guys score two well for that, So I don't
Speaker 1: think they'll beat that. They'll beat Milwaukee. UM. Indiana is
Speaker 1: interesting because Indiana's strength is right where the nets weakness is,
Speaker 1: which is inside. I think Sa Bonus and Turner have
Speaker 1: a field day, but I think that's probably like a
Speaker 1: six or seven gamer. But I think the Nets win.
Speaker 1: I think the only competition for them is Philly. But
Speaker 1: let me I'll put a little pause on that. Let
Speaker 1: me see Miami at full strength. I think they just harrow.
Speaker 1: Somebody in Tyler Harrow's house called COVID, so he has
Speaker 1: to sit for two weeks now, so they able to
Speaker 1: get give me back after two weeks. They gotta sit
Speaker 1: the Harrow down for two weeks. So just the carousel
Speaker 1: goes on for them. Let me if Milwaukee can put
Speaker 1: if Miami can put two months together of just having
Speaker 1: everybody there. Uh. I'll like to see Miami play the
Speaker 1: Nets in the series too, But right now, I think
Speaker 1: Philly is a team to the team to come out
Speaker 1: these But that seems gonna be amazing. Offensively, Yeah, any
Speaker 1: any complaints about them offensively didn't make any sense to um.
Speaker 1: I do believe. I don't want to dive too much
Speaker 1: into it, but I do that I do believe a
Speaker 1: little bit in the law of diminishing returns offensively. Kind
Speaker 1: of this idea that like when a Kyrie level talent
Speaker 1: is basically turned into a spot up shooter, um, it
Speaker 1: does on on large portion for large portions of the game.
Speaker 1: It does like Kyrie is only so good as a
Speaker 1: spot up shooter compared to like, say a Wesley Matthews,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like Kyrie is a great
Speaker 1: spot up shooter, but like if Kyrie is going to
Speaker 1: hit that at fifty, but Wesley Matthews can hit the
Speaker 1: wide open three for thirty percent or fort but you know,
Speaker 1: Kyrie can make the crazy crossover one, but Wesley Matthews
Speaker 1: can't even do that. There's like this idea like of
Speaker 1: diminishing returns, where there's so much offensive talent on the
Speaker 1: floor that like there's some limit there. But people were
Speaker 1: crazy to think that they wouldn't find a way to
Speaker 1: write whatever that ceiling is, they're gonna find it. Whatever
Speaker 1: the whatever the absolute peak of NBA offenses, those guys
Speaker 1: are gonna find it. That's not my worry. Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: The It's not even just about defense. You need to
Speaker 1: be able to do three things to win a basketball game.
Speaker 1: You need to be able to score. You also need
Speaker 1: to be able to stop the other team from scoring.
Speaker 1: You also need to be able to get the rebound
Speaker 1: when the other thing is a shot. Okay, those things exactly.
Speaker 1: They are. They're not just bad in the other two,
Speaker 1: they're really bad exactly. So those are those would be
Speaker 1: my concerns. Not to me, this fix is easy. It's
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. You know, Kevin Durant is Anthony Davis's physical ability.
Speaker 1: You know, Kevin Durant could be the guy who gets
Speaker 1: them from basement offense or defense, basement rebounding two or
Speaker 1: whatever it is that they need to be to where
Speaker 1: their unbelievable offense can get them over the top. I
Speaker 1: just think that that's a lot to ask him to do, exactly.
Speaker 1: And like you know, I saw they picked up Hmon
Speaker 1: Schuppert's day. I like him on Schumper, but he's not
Speaker 1: going to be a difference maker in that regard. Plus
Speaker 1: with the guard redundancy that they have on that roster,
Speaker 1: it's like, how if you play him with Joe Harris,
Speaker 1: Kyrie and James Harden, you're making yourself even more undersized,
Speaker 1: Like you need to, you need to, Like it's gonna
Speaker 1: come down to Jeff Green and Katie in the front
Speaker 1: court and whether or not they can match up with
Speaker 1: some of these really big teams. And and if I'm
Speaker 1: if I'm Bam and Jimmy Butler, I'm having a field
Speaker 1: day on them on the other end of the last week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if if I'm honest, like, good luck man, jannest is
Speaker 1: going for forty three points a game in that series. Like,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make any sense to me. So I
Speaker 1: just was, you know, I think, like I think people
Speaker 1: have oversimplified basketball into you know, people people who are
Speaker 1: saying they wouldn't be able to score, we're idiots. That
Speaker 1: was that was absolutely crazy. But but the idea that
Speaker 1: that was the only thing they needed to do to win,
Speaker 1: I thought was silly. And and there's a there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of like a a h a willingness from
Speaker 1: that because they're early in this season and they're they've
Speaker 1: already kind of let their foot off the gas on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the ball, Like Katie was awesome
Speaker 1: the first couple of games of the year, and then
Speaker 1: he's kind of let off, and like, my thing is like,
Speaker 1: like it's this is the time when they should be
Speaker 1: most excited. They just got James Harden. You know they're
Speaker 1: going to build something. You got build something exactly. This
Speaker 1: should be the time when they're like really stoked about
Speaker 1: trying to play defense. And I'm so, I'm I'm less
Speaker 1: worried about them, and but at the same time, like
Speaker 1: I think you said this and agree with you. If
Speaker 1: you give if you gave me one summer as the
Speaker 1: GM of that team, I'd figure out a way to
Speaker 1: turn them into a contender, like they summer. They they
Speaker 1: just need they just need Katie to make a couple
Speaker 1: of phone calls to free agents. No, seriously, a couple
Speaker 1: of key free agents this year. They're like, hey, listen, man,
Speaker 1: like we're gonna do this, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But um, anyway, hey dude, I really appreciate you taking
Speaker 1: the time to do this. I'm really they appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Oh I love it, man, I appreciate it. But you
Speaker 1: have a good rest of your night and good rest
Speaker 1: of your weekend. And let's try to do this again
Speaker 1: in a couple of months. Not fichel Man loop. Let
Speaker 1: me know what says Nothing