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Speaker 1: Hey, what welcome in, UM, Doug gli Ben. This is

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Speaker 1: All Ball, All Basketball, all the Time. UM. My guest

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Speaker 1: for this version, this podcast episode of All Ball is

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Speaker 1: um is a guy who I mean, he's he's actually

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Speaker 1: super interesting young career right and a dude who UM

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Speaker 1: has already spent seven years working in the n b

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Speaker 1: A and now you can follow him on social media

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Speaker 1: at Scott with Brian is Brian Obringer and he'll join

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Speaker 1: us in moments. A guy who was a high school

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Speaker 1: tennis player, I love basketball, went to the University of Maryland,

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Speaker 1: helped out, was a manager with the Turps, and then said,

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Speaker 1: you know, and I love hoop, I want to get

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Speaker 1: involved in the NBA and has some really interesting thoughts

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Speaker 1: from his time in the NBA and from the breakdowns

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Speaker 1: that he does. And you can follow him again on

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Speaker 1: social media. Before we get to Brian, though, I want

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Speaker 1: to share a couple of of additional thoughts. You know,

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Speaker 1: last episode, obviously we had Mike Martin from from Brown

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Speaker 1: I talked a little bit about UH college basketball and

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Speaker 1: this season, you know, saw Kade Cunningham play and Kade

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Speaker 1: um Look, I think he's one of probably three guys

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Speaker 1: and they're all playing in college. You could be the

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Speaker 1: number one overall pick. But but Kate is really interesting.

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Speaker 1: Um obviously, you know, having his brothers an assistant coach,

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Speaker 1: he's a great way to get a really good player.

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Speaker 1: But the interaction between the brothers is fascinating me. I've

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Speaker 1: I've talked to the Mike Boyden. Of course, if you

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Speaker 1: want to download his podcast retells his story. I've talked

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Speaker 1: to some of the assistant coaches, I've talked to other

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Speaker 1: people around the program, and granted, there's not the student

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Speaker 1: interaction whatever this year that there normally is. And then

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Speaker 1: I've talked to other coaches who didn't get Kay Cunningham,

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Speaker 1: and they're like, he's the real deal, not just in

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Speaker 1: terms of how he is as a basketball player, but

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Speaker 1: how he is a kid. And like that family, he's

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Speaker 1: not going to stay a second year. But they're like,

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Speaker 1: if there's any ever a family that a kid would

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Speaker 1: stay a second year, like, that's the family. And so look,

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Speaker 1: he he made up. I thought it wasn't necessarily a

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Speaker 1: dumb move. I I liked I like that in a

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Speaker 1: tie game in transition, he attacked and looked to make

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Speaker 1: a play. When they lost the TCU, the game in

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Speaker 1: which first half he doesn't score point the student section

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Speaker 1: which did have people and it was chanting overrated, and

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Speaker 1: then he took over in the second half. I didn't

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Speaker 1: like the decision he made, but I like this this

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Speaker 1: idea sometimes of holding for a last shot. Um. He

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Speaker 1: is really interesting to me, like sometimes and I get

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Speaker 1: like you in that particular instance, in a tie game,

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Speaker 1: you only want to get a shout up with four

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Speaker 1: seconds or so to go. See there's takes losing out

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Speaker 1: of the equation, which is exactly what happened in a

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Speaker 1: questionable block charge called I thought it was a charge.

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Speaker 1: Actually I thought Oaklaham State, you know, got back in

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Speaker 1: transition just in time, planted their feet. But the point

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Speaker 1: is more, I can't tell how impressed with I am

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Speaker 1: with his ability to play all over the court. You know,

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Speaker 1: Evan Mobley is another guy who could be the number

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Speaker 1: one overall pick, and I think he's a stud player.

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Speaker 1: What when I'm impressed by with Kade Cunningham and I'll

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Speaker 1: give my player revals we get ready for the NBA draft.

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Speaker 1: Is haven't heard anybody say anything negative about attitude, work ethic,

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Speaker 1: having his brother around, no entitlement like an everyday dude,

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Speaker 1: and then you watch him play and the way really

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Speaker 1: good NBA players play like they can handle and handle

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Speaker 1: it like a point guard coming off a ball screen.

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Speaker 1: He can play out of the post, and he can

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Speaker 1: play off the basketball shooting the ball as well. So

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Speaker 1: it's easy to be impressed with a guy. It's like

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards last year, so explosive, so explosive, and the

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Speaker 1: thought was like, all right, needs to become more of

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Speaker 1: a guard, and he's to shoot the basketball a little

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Speaker 1: bit better, needs to defend with a little bit more energy.

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Speaker 1: But you can see he's got an NBA body, and

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Speaker 1: somebody was the field around him. But there wasn't a

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Speaker 1: he didn't have the post game. He wasn't a creative passer,

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Speaker 1: and he definitely wasn't the adept ball handler. He just

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Speaker 1: a beast athletically and a potentially a takeover a game

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Speaker 1: athlete in score. I just I've watched Kay Cunningham and

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Speaker 1: I thought Penny hardaway when I saw him in high school,

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Speaker 1: but I watched him now and I do remember Penny

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Speaker 1: was before injury set in, was really athletic. He's a

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Speaker 1: lot more athletic than Penny Hardaway was, But it's it's

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Speaker 1: the type of player that can play on the post,

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Speaker 1: can play with the ball, can play without it as well.

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Speaker 1: Could he defend better? Yeah, could he shoot? Could he

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Speaker 1: shoot a higher percentage? Of course, you know. But his

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Speaker 1: good job getting the line, good job playing off ball screen,

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Speaker 1: and a great job I think of raising the level

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Speaker 1: of a team one that. And they're not great in

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Speaker 1: conference play. They've been swept by TCU, although they do

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Speaker 1: have a big win over Texas Tech on the road.

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Speaker 1: We'll see what they do against Texas this weekend. But

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Speaker 1: considering Oklahoma State under Mike Boyden had traditionally struggled the

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Speaker 1: first month and a half of conference play and then

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Speaker 1: figured it out all all three seasons previously slow start,

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Speaker 1: and even when Brad Underwood was that coach, they struggled

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Speaker 1: out of the gate in the Big twelve and then adjusted,

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Speaker 1: um that he's he's got that winning thing. Where give

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Speaker 1: me the ball, I'll win the game for you. And

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Speaker 1: they beat Kansas because of him. They win games because

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Speaker 1: of him, not in spite of him. Really a rare

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Speaker 1: one and done type player, and I think a rare

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Speaker 1: get for whoever gets him in the number one and

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Speaker 1: number two pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's let's get to our guest. Binal Riggers was a

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Speaker 1: scout in the NBA doing video first seven years. Now

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Speaker 1: he does it, produces his own content. He joins us

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Speaker 1: down the Elball Podcast. Be sure to catch the live

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Speaker 1: edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm

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Speaker 1: Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio app. All right, let's welcome in, uh, Bryan

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Speaker 1: or Bryan Um. Let's let's start at the beginning of

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Speaker 1: your basketball life. Where'd you grow up and what were

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Speaker 1: your first memories? Uh? Yeah, So I grew up in Maryland.

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Speaker 1: I was a big, big Maryland and Wizards fan growing up.

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Speaker 1: You know, love the Gilbert Arena's teams. You know a

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Speaker 1: little bit of MJ's Wizards era. Obviously, I've worked for

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Speaker 1: Gary Williams his last couple of years at the University

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Speaker 1: of Maryland as a student manager type those gravest fast

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Speaker 1: guest teams that were pretty good. Uh. Ended up then

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Speaker 1: working for the Washington Wizards for six years. I was

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Speaker 1: the head video coordinator for them. Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,

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Speaker 1: You're going. You're going away too fast. You don't like hell,

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Speaker 1: this is about you row. Okay, you you went, you

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Speaker 1: went to college. I said, where you grew up? Like

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Speaker 1: I'm a wizard, and he started zooming through. Okay, you

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Speaker 1: go specifically where, like I grew up in Orange, California, Badio,

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Speaker 1: El Medina. Like my first basketball memories, my dad was

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Speaker 1: an assistant Long Beach State. Used to go and run

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Speaker 1: around at games and UNLB your friends, no mistake, were

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Speaker 1: the only teams that drew. They'd come to town right

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Speaker 1: and then we became U c l A fans, And

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Speaker 1: I wasn't really like your fans. So you grew up

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Speaker 1: specifically where I grew up specifically in Rockville, Maryland, and

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Speaker 1: uh yeah, you know, my my basketball uh you know,

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Speaker 1: at least before college wasn't all that exciting. I mean

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Speaker 1: I remember, you know, I was at the Maryland miracle

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Speaker 1: minute they lost the duke when we were up with

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Speaker 1: ten with like fifty four seconds left. That was definitely

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Speaker 1: just on TV. That was crazy. Yeah, pretty heartbreaking memory.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, actually, you know, when I was in high school,

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Speaker 1: I was part of that kind of moneyball generation that

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Speaker 1: I read that book Can really wanted to work in

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Speaker 1: baseball growing up, and that's kind of what I loved, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, up until college at least, but uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: I just kind of realized once I got to college

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Speaker 1: basketball was was my real love, and uh kind of

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Speaker 1: went all in trying to work work there. What what

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Speaker 1: was it about basketball that means, you know, just just

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Speaker 1: an unbelievably beautiful game. I mean, honestly, just just pick

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Speaker 1: up every day myself and I'm watching you know, games NonStop.

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Speaker 1: I just love everything about the game. You know, I just, uh,

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Speaker 1: I think it's, you know, the best game that's that's

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Speaker 1: not individual. It's all about the cohesion of five guys

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Speaker 1: playing together and doing it as a group and playing hard,

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Speaker 1: and you know, usually those are the things that end

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Speaker 1: up end up winning games. And you know, you know, obviously,

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Speaker 1: when when you're in sync and you're playing with four

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Speaker 1: other guys who who love each other and play well together,

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Speaker 1: there's just no better feeling. It's interesting. So I've been

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Speaker 1: I've been coaching a U basketball now for a couple

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Speaker 1: of years. I coached it with my dad when I

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Speaker 1: was still a player, and then you know, when I

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Speaker 1: got into broadcasting, I probably shouldn't continue to do it,

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Speaker 1: just it's hard with the time and kids. So now

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Speaker 1: I have I have We have a fourteen that I

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Speaker 1: don't coach. I just occasionally help with practice. We have

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Speaker 1: a thirteen with two thirteens, and we have a twelve

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Speaker 1: and eleven new teams and the third team, you is,

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Speaker 1: it's gotten to be really good and there I think

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Speaker 1: if you asked the parents honestly, they would say, like, individually,

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Speaker 1: our kids are just okay, but collectively, now that we

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Speaker 1: have this really strong group, they're they're like a a good,

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Speaker 1: solid team. We're not good enough yet to compete with

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Speaker 1: like the the super elite, crazy talented teams yet, but

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Speaker 1: it's one of those things where I'm kind of I'm

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Speaker 1: committed to these families, like, look, I don't know, well,

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Speaker 1: we probably will never win one of the big tournaments, okay,

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Speaker 1: but your kid's gonna get better and they're gonna learn

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Speaker 1: to play as a team because I think that I

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Speaker 1: think that lasts longer than Hey, I'm gonna go join

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Speaker 1: this team with a couple of superstar dudes and win

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Speaker 1: a tournament but have no real kind of uh no

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Speaker 1: real really piece of the pie. You know. I was

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Speaker 1: just I was the guy that stood in the corner

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Speaker 1: and shot the ball when it came to me, right,

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Speaker 1: So it's it's interest. I feel the same way. I

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Speaker 1: love There's nothing like going to a park right with

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Speaker 1: four your buddies, or picking up a couple of dudes

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Speaker 1: or whatever and then running the and just running the court,

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Speaker 1: regardless of how good other dudes are, but just playing

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Speaker 1: as a team like that. I think that's the best

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Speaker 1: part of the sport, is that a team can beat

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Speaker 1: more talented individuals if they figure out each other's strengths

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Speaker 1: and weaknesses and play together. No, absolutely, And yeah, like

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Speaker 1: I said, you know, I grew up. I love the

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Speaker 1: the Gilbert Arenas Wizards team, which obviously didn't do a

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Speaker 1: tremendous amount of winning in the playoffs. But you know,

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Speaker 1: Karen Butler to off juice was was so fun to

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Speaker 1: watch every night. He played unbelievably hard. You know, Antoine

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Speaker 1: was an incredible score. Obviously, you know, Gilbert's one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest tragedies and basketball history. How you know how

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Speaker 1: talented he was and how much uh winning they could

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Speaker 1: have done if he had stayed healthy. But uh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean to be perfectly honest, and I was a

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Speaker 1: high school tennis player. I didn't really you know, love

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Speaker 1: it until I got to college. And once I got there,

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Speaker 1: you know, I played pick up at the rec center

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Speaker 1: probably almost every single day, and just my love for

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Speaker 1: the game grew exponentially. And you know, you end up

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Speaker 1: playing three hours every single day with you know, fifty

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Speaker 1: other guys at the rec center there, and it's just, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, a tremendous bonding experience and and so fun

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Speaker 1: when you're winning and playing hard and playing together and

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Speaker 1: uh yeah, it's just it's a beautiful, beautiful game. And

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Speaker 1: I was lucky, lucky enough to get to spend a

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Speaker 1: long time working in it. Okay, so uh, let's let's

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Speaker 1: go to Maryland before Who's the point card? Before bass guys? Uh,

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Speaker 1: it was what's the dude? I'm trying to think, what's

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Speaker 1: the dude's name? Tinker with going to throws and didn't,

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Speaker 1: and then it was a disaster when he came back.

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Speaker 1: Uh John Gilchrist, John Kilchrist John, because that was that

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Speaker 1: was my that was I think I almost feel like

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Speaker 1: that was like the downfall of Jerry really is that

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Speaker 1: he suffered through after those back to back fours. Want

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Speaker 1: to be in a championship obviously what billing Ovo went

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Speaker 1: through and they went to their first Bottle four. Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: State went through after the OH four and oh five teams. Um,

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Speaker 1: I think Georgia tected this after they were running up

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Speaker 1: in OH four. Was we've seen you know, Syracuse has

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Speaker 1: gone through this after they went to Fottle fours where

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Speaker 1: you go to a final four, you win that champiship.

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Speaker 1: Now you can recruit anybody you want, right, but they're

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Speaker 1: not Okay, geez, they're not you're kind of guy. They're

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Speaker 1: not the guys that the program was built around, right,

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Speaker 1: And they're a little bit a little bit entitled, and

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Speaker 1: their expectations are to just show up and hoop and win,

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Speaker 1: and there's like a a a skip of a step

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Speaker 1: and they're not as invested in the program. That's my

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Speaker 1: outside perception of what happened during the Gilt Christ era.

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Speaker 1: Is that a fair perception is somebody who was on

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Speaker 1: campus at the time. Uh yeah, So you know, I

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Speaker 1: think I got to campus probably right after him. You

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Speaker 1: know that the start of Gravest and Eric has when

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Speaker 1: when things were a little bit better. But you know

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Speaker 1: that that sounds about right. I mean, I think Gary

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Speaker 1: was definitely better, uh without the five star roots, without

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Speaker 1: the McDonald's all Americans. He he certainly didn't love to

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Speaker 1: love to recruit in the first place. Didn't love to

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Speaker 1: recruit those guys in particular because you know, like you

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Speaker 1: said that they tended to come with a sense of entitlement.

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Speaker 1: And you know, he was much more into the the

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Speaker 1: vasquez Is and the Juan Dixons and the Blakes and

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Speaker 1: the guys that were under recruited and the and the

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Speaker 1: up having a chip on their shoulder, and that he

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Speaker 1: could you know, push relentlessly hard to achieve a lot

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Speaker 1: more than anybody thought. But uh, yeah, Gilchrist definitely, you know,

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Speaker 1: besides that moment in the a SEC tournament didn't work

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Speaker 1: out tremendously well. And then you know, actually the year

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Speaker 1: he ended up retiring after was after Jordan Williams's sophomore

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Speaker 1: season where he went to the draft. You know, I

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Speaker 1: think was a high second round pick, but he left

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Speaker 1: too early. You know, could have come back and been

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Speaker 1: a tremendous player as a junior and you know, ends

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Speaker 1: up flaming out of the NBA and after like a season. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, it was just way too mature. To go,

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Speaker 1: and I think, you know, after that happened, Gary was

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Speaker 1: just kind of done with it and I decided to

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Speaker 1: beat have enough dealing with that kind of of nonsense.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, he definitely did a lot better with uh

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Speaker 1: you know the guys that were thought of lesser for sure. Um, okay,

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Speaker 1: so you get done in college grad you like grad

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Speaker 1: assistant and then how did you get how did you

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Speaker 1: get into league? So it's funny. Actually, so after after

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Speaker 1: Gary's last season, I emailed Tommy Shepard, you know, who's

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Speaker 1: now the Wizard's GM. He was the assistant GM at

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Speaker 1: the time, and honestly, I just wanted to, uh to

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Speaker 1: pick his brain. I just asked if I can take

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Speaker 1: him to lunch, you know, asked him a few questions,

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Speaker 1: find out, uh, you know, some tips and things from him,

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Speaker 1: and I happened to mention what I had done, you

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Speaker 1: know at Maryland in the film room and everything there,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, at the time, the Wizards had

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Speaker 1: one guy working like a hundred twenty hour weeks in

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Speaker 1: the video room who was just completely overwhelmed, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, they said they could use some help, and

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Speaker 1: I got to come in an interview with him. Uh,

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Speaker 1: and then I actually ended up interning for the Wizards

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Speaker 1: my last two years of college, just working you know,

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Speaker 1: for a lot less hours in their film room even remotely. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then right when I graduated Maryland, actually I got

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Speaker 1: to become up full time as the head video coordinator,

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Speaker 1: traveling with the with the Wizards. Okay, so here's my question.

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Speaker 1: You've been a basket ball fan. You didn't play basketball

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Speaker 1: in high school. You started playing basketball and loving the

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Speaker 1: game in college from the moneyball idea of it. You

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Speaker 1: understood the analytics probably above that of many of the

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Speaker 1: older guys, even in the Wizards front office, right because

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Speaker 1: because you know, we were well we were raised that.

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Speaker 1: Not not anti analytics, but that just wasn't the way

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Speaker 1: which data was collected or really deciphered. Right. But you

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Speaker 1: also hadn't studied the game the way that you study

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Speaker 1: the game or have to allow others study the game

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Speaker 1: when you're cutting up film. So when you first start

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Speaker 1: watching film of NBA games and breakdowns, what what I'm

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Speaker 1: just I'll just tell you personally, like as a player,

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Speaker 1: what jumped out to me I remember was, um, so

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Speaker 1: my after my junior years, uh, I think is a

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Speaker 1: during my sophomore my junior year. Um, there used to

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Speaker 1: be a rule where you could go and work out

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Speaker 1: with NBA teams. You just had to pay your own way. Kid.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't pick up anything. They could give you a

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Speaker 1: jersey and shorts, a T shirt. So I went to

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Speaker 1: a Trailblazer Mark working tine hook me up. I went

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Speaker 1: to a Trailblazers mini camp and this was Germaine O'Neil

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Speaker 1: was maybe in his second year in the league. So

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Speaker 1: no one knew how the Germaine O'Neil was gonna be. Um.

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Speaker 1: And this is when they were the Trail the jail Blazers, right,

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Speaker 1: but they had dudes. They had Rashid, they had Greg Anthony,

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Speaker 1: they had Bonds. I mean, they had fucking dudes, right,

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Speaker 1: And so the couple of things I remember my first

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Speaker 1: foray into professional basketball was one, goddamn everybody's long, right,

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Speaker 1: Like everybody's long. You know, Uh, There's there's not one

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Speaker 1: guy that you're like, oh, well, he's a normal. Like

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Speaker 1: everybody walks in and they're like and condors and which

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Speaker 1: which makes the way I I see basketball as a

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Speaker 1: player is you know through windows and you know where

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Speaker 1: a pass is gonna go where it an angle for

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Speaker 1: a drive, where the space is to create a shot.

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Speaker 1: And these windows close up so fast because even when

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Speaker 1: they're beaten, they're not really beaten because they just they

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Speaker 1: have long arms and big hands and and great ability

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Speaker 1: to react. So the length of players was studying to me.

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Speaker 1: And how much like you you think you've been around

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Speaker 1: good shooters, you know. And I used to play pick

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Speaker 1: up all of Scotty Brooks. It's interesting about about the Wizards.

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Speaker 1: So Scotty was alleged he grew up. I'm again Orange County.

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Speaker 1: He played U c Irvine and he and guy's name

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Speaker 1: Todd Thornton and William McGee and and Todd Murphy, all

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Speaker 1: guys that played in the NBA and played overseas. They

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Speaker 1: all would play pick up all at this a couple

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Speaker 1: of spots in Orange County. And so I had seen

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Speaker 1: like how they could shoot in games, you know, But

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Speaker 1: I don't think I had a healthy respect for just

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Speaker 1: how fucking good they were, right, Like, I don't think

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Speaker 1: I just don't think it translates to people. It's like

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Speaker 1: I had a conversation with uh, with um somebody the

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Speaker 1: other day and they were they were trying to tell

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Speaker 1: me like, well, you know NBA players only, so you know,

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Speaker 1: I was like, okay, you have to understand. NBA players shoot,

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Speaker 1: you know, from three and fifty from two in an

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Speaker 1: NBA game against NBA players. If you put an NBA

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Speaker 1: player you know, worked out in a gym, they shoot

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Speaker 1: like ninety. It's unbelievable how good they are. I don't

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Speaker 1: even guys that can't shoot can shoot, they just can't

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Speaker 1: shoot in an NBA game. Right, So those are the

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Speaker 1: two things that jumped out to me. Yeah, you're a

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Speaker 1: college kid, you start breaking down film, working all hours

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Speaker 1: of the night, or what do you remember about the

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Speaker 1: first couple of things you thought and learned about the

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Speaker 1: NBA that you didn no previously. Yeah, the first thing

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Speaker 1: comes to mind, definitely is a little bit of a story.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you know that the fact that just not

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Speaker 1: everybody loves the game. You know. I went from Maryland,

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Speaker 1: like I said, where Gary would be custom guys out

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Speaker 1: if we're only up fifty at halftime against Longwood, Uh,

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Speaker 1: to my first NBA experience being uh, you know, the

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Speaker 1: locker room with the Wizards. JaVale McGhee, Andre Blotch, Nick Young,

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Speaker 1: Jordan Crawford at the time walking in at halftime down

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Speaker 1: twenty laughing about it. Um, so you know that that

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Speaker 1: was just it was a terrible culture at the time.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you realize, like I said, a lot

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Speaker 1: of those guys just just do it for the paycheck.

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Speaker 1: They do it because they're seven feet tall, and you

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Speaker 1: know that they're happening to be great at it, But

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Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily mean that they, you know, really love

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Speaker 1: the game and are all out nuts about basketball like

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Speaker 1: like we are for example. Um. You know, so you

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Speaker 1: definitely see that, and absolutely you know that the part

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Speaker 1: about how talented every single guy is, you know, just

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Speaker 1: jumps off the page. I mean, you know, we we'd

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Speaker 1: have some games. Remember Phil Prescy I think was on

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Speaker 1: like a ten day contract with the Celtics, and we

385
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Speaker 1: didn't even think he would play. He was like, you know,

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Speaker 1: fourteenth on their depth chart or something, and so, uh,

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Speaker 1: he actually wasn't even on the scouting report. He ends

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Speaker 1: up getting in the game and gives us like twenty

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Speaker 1: and they they win the game. And after the game,

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Speaker 1: Randy Whitman comes in the film room like, why the

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Speaker 1: funk wasn't Phil Prescy on the scatting report, you know,

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Speaker 1: just because yeah, you know he's on a D exactly, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and he killed us. So you know, you see that

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Speaker 1: all the time. Guys that are fourteen fifteen guys on

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Speaker 1: the roster, guys that are you know, forty that you

396
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Speaker 1: think are about done, and they come out and you

397
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Speaker 1: know you take them lightly or think they can't do something,

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Speaker 1: and that's when they kill you. So yeah, you absolutely

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Speaker 1: see that. And then you know, last all, I'll give

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Speaker 1: you a two. I mean you kind of mentioned the

401
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Speaker 1: the analytics, and I definitely came in the game like

402
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Speaker 1: thinking that I was gonna be a huge analytics guy.

403
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Speaker 1: And you know, like I said, I grew up on

404
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Speaker 1: the moneyball stuff. But once you really get to it,

405
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Speaker 1: once you're in all the coaches meetings, you know, watching

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Speaker 1: film with guys that have done it for thirty years

407
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,160
Speaker 1: and and you know, just pour over every single detail,

408
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,800
Speaker 1: every little meticulous aspect of everything in the game. You know,

409
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Speaker 1: you really realize that the analytics and the stats so

410
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Speaker 1: very little of how much actually goes into winning basketball games.

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Speaker 1: So it's funny. I actually started probably very extreme on

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Speaker 1: that analytics end and ended up drifting where now I'd say, um,

413
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Speaker 1: you know, almost all eye tests, because I think the

414
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Speaker 1: stats just do a pretty terrible job overall measuring you

415
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Speaker 1: know what, what really wins basketball games? What? What do

416
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Speaker 1: you think it misses? Uh? You know, where where do

417
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Speaker 1: you start? I mean, you know, even Darryl Moorey, like

418
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Speaker 1: the biggest analytics GM, obviously he has some quote that's like,

419
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Speaker 1: you know, the basketball box scores is absolutely worthless. You

420
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Speaker 1: know how many people just look at, Oh, Zach Lavine's

421
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,600
Speaker 1: a bucket. He scored you know, forty points tonight and

422
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: don't see that. You know, he missed ten reads on

423
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Speaker 1: pick and rolls, he missed five rotations, you know, he

424
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: uh balls, hockey assists, all those things don't even you know,

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Speaker 1: don't even get measured for the most part. Um, you know.

426
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 1: So it's that and then, like I said, it's also

427
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,919
Speaker 1: just competitiveness. I think defense we don't really measure at

428
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 1: all well with with the box score. I mean, you know,

429
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: there's some things of plus minuses and things like that

430
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 1: that I think do okay, but uh, yeah, you know,

431
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: I think defense is almost impossible to measure. Most of

432
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 1: the best defenders are the ones you know getting lit

433
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,879
Speaker 1: up by the best offensive players every night, so obviously

434
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 1: you know, their stats take a little bit of a beating. Um.

435
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,120
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, it's just so hard to capture

436
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: the impact of of five guys playing on a string

437
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,840
Speaker 1: and being locked in together. Uh, you know, with the

438
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:52,399
Speaker 1: statue sheets, it's that that's a fascinating thing. Now, what

439
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on plus minus? You know, it definitely

440
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,640
Speaker 1: has has some value and and there's a few ways

441
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,199
Speaker 1: to adjust it where certainly it's it's it's worth at

442
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,959
Speaker 1: least being a piece of the puzzle, um, you know.

443
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 1: And I'm a believer of like Rich Show, I think

444
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 1: always had a saying that was eyes, years and numbers. Right,

445
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 1: numbers have to be a part of the equation. But

446
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,080
Speaker 1: you also have to you know, pass the eye tests.

447
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,919
Speaker 1: You have to listen to what coaches, what scouts are saying, um,

448
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:21,919
Speaker 1: you know. And I think plus minus, for example, like

449
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: has always been used against the guy like like Tamar

450
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: de Rosen because you know, okay, in the ten minutes

451
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,439
Speaker 1: he's not on the court. Uh, sometimes his teams have

452
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,199
Speaker 1: done a little better than the forty minutes he's on.

453
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: But you know that they discount that almost every single

454
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 1: team he's on is won fifty games year after year

455
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,639
Speaker 1: after year, and he has such an overall, you know,

456
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 1: tremendous impact on the game, and they just crush a

457
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: player like him just because he can't shoot threes. You know,

458
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,639
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that he's still not a an incredibly

459
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 1: efficient scorer. He makes so many plays for his teammates,

460
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,680
Speaker 1: and like I said, he's played winning basketball so long

461
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: for Toronto. He he gets to San Antonio in his

462
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,440
Speaker 1: first year, they lose, you know, they're starting point guard

463
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: for the season. Everybody thinks they're gonna be all full

464
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 1: and they win forty eight games his first year there. So,

465
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,199
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's just so many guys like

466
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 1: that that that the stats just uh, you know, failed

467
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:22,200
Speaker 1: to fail to appreciate fully. Okay, So who is the

468
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: least appreciated guy from your perspective? Is is it Tomorrow? Yeah?

469
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 1: I think long term, you know, at least over the

470
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 1: last ten years or so, I think he's gotten the

471
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 1: most uh most undue hate. Probably. I think you know

472
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: that Ben Simmons is up there as well. I think

473
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: we get so lost in the fact that, yeah, obviously,

474
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't have a jumper, and that's a

475
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: big uh fatal flaw that attempts to show up in

476
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But that doesn't mean, you know, like I said,

477
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 1: he doesn't still impact the game incredibly by being one

478
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: of the best by probably defenders in the league, and

479
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 1: being an incredible passer and his feel for the game

480
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 1: and uh, all those things. I think our y Philadelphia's

481
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,640
Speaker 1: first in the East right now, and he's he's playing

482
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 1: amazing basketball and if you look online, you still see

483
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 1: nothing but people killing him every single day for his shot. Uh,

484
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: he's up there. And the last guy I'll say, you know,

485
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: James Harden too. Obviously, he's he's had playoff failings. He's uh,

486
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 1: you know, had questionable commitment at times and some things

487
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,880
Speaker 1: definitely that that drive me nuts. You know. It also

488
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 1: drives me nuts when you hear that he's like a

489
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: ball hog or selfish. When he's leading the league and assists,

490
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 1: He's had plenty of seasons ten eleven assists a game.

491
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 1: He's you know, you watch him play. I mean, his

492
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: field for the games off the charts is his floor

493
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 1: vision is incredible, and he's he's also a better defender

494
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 1: than than people think, um, you know, and I think

495
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,240
Speaker 1: it's it's sad now that he's he felt he had

496
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 1: to go to to Brooklyn and a super team because

497
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,959
Speaker 1: you know, he was just getting crushed by the narratives

498
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,880
Speaker 1: of you know, not being good enough to get over

499
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: the hump with a with a team that that wasn't

500
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: amazing quite frankly. And you know, now that's what happens.

501
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 1: All these guys us feel the way of the need

502
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,160
Speaker 1: then to join forces and go to a super team

503
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 1: just so they can get a ring to you know,

504
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: to appease like vot like no, like validates that somehow

505
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: that validates their career when it shouldn't. You know, It's

506
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: it's interesting, It's like, and I have to be very

507
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,400
Speaker 1: cautious of this myself, right like, we we can't make

508
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,000
Speaker 1: getting a ring the only thing that matters, because when

509
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 1: we do, then guys pursue a ring and then suddenly

510
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: they're the bad guy, right Like, Yeah, I mean that's

511
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: that's really, that's that's really Kevin. The story of Kevin

512
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:36,439
Speaker 1: Durant's career. Right whereas he's he was playing Oaklhoma City, Okay,

513
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 1: and he was playing two on five against the Warriors.

514
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,720
Speaker 1: I know they're up three one, I get okay, But yeah,

515
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: Steven Adams is a non story and Andre Robertson is

516
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,399
Speaker 1: a non score. Um trying to think who else they had?

517
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,920
Speaker 1: Who is there? Um? Who else? Who was who was

518
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,399
Speaker 1: Dana Baca? Who's who's Bacca is on that team? Right?

519
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: Then Abakabaka shoot, but then you have Russ is not

520
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 1: a shooter, right, So I, but I remember when they're

521
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 1: playing against the Warriors, the Warriors put two guys in

522
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,360
Speaker 1: his zone and just two guys right there at the elbows.

523
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,959
Speaker 1: So when when he catching catching at his elbows, he

524
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: was constantly double teamed where there's just nowhere to go.

525
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 1: So he goes somewhere where like, hey, we're gonna give

526
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 1: you all the space in the world. He gets all

527
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: the space in the world, gets Lebron on an island,

528
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 1: and like, you can't guard that fucking guy, and he

529
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 1: wins a couple of championships, would have won a third one,

530
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,880
Speaker 1: and suddenly he's the bad guy because he got tired of,

531
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,120
Speaker 1: you know, trying to carry a team that wasn't constructed

532
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 1: to the way which it could truly show how magnificent

533
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: the scory he is. So I and and look again,

534
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: I'm I won't apologize for some of the social media

535
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: stupid ship. He's done with the burner accounts whenever, and

536
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: and maybe for uh, you know, his lack of understanding

537
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: of how other people would handle him leaving. And I

538
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 1: do think there's a right way and a wrong way

539
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 1: to leave, even if you do leave all that stuff,

540
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: I actually understand, like I would be and it had

541
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: to be really really one on five is hard, right,

542
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 1: I'll give you. I'll give you a story real quick.

543
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,760
Speaker 1: So obviously I wasn't a scorer ever since high school.

544
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 1: And my first year playing professionally, I was playing with

545
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: a team called euro Great. We won the Russian Championship,

546
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: with the first team not named Sescat to win the

547
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 1: Russian Championship, and we were I joined in January and

548
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: we were stacked, and we had four or five good Russians,

549
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: we had three good Lithuanians, we had the best player

550
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 1: in Ukraine. And the reason that matters is they all

551
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: counted as Russians. And then we had Willie Burton and

552
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: me and I played this American that year and we

553
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 1: kicked everybody's ass and we were so good that we

554
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: won the league by like four games, and so we

555
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: advanced automatically to the semi finals of the playoffs. Well,

556
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: when won the league by four games, there were still

557
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: two games left to be played, and I was twenty

558
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 1: four and all these other guys are late twenties and thirties,

559
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: and somehow they were like, we're gonna go take a brick,

560
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: like they got to all really got to go home.

561
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:10,959
Speaker 1: One of the Russian dudes lived in Spain. He went

562
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 1: to Spain and all of a sudden, like you know,

563
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: I was a I would I would start some in

564
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: six man some and suddenly like they all pieced out

565
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 1: and I was playing. I played against SSCA with the juniors,

566
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 1: and like one or two of the bench dude like

567
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: the bench strubby dudes, right, and um, I was, you know,

568
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: like now a sudden. It was on one part, it

569
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 1: was awesome because we're practicing. We have two games left

570
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: and once against SESCA. Home was against I think mineral Voda, right,

571
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 1: mineral Water is actually a town in South Russia. And

572
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: so like now I'm the dude, We're like we're running

573
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: high sideball screens all this ship. For me, it's really good.

574
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 1: And we get into a game and everywhere I go

575
00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: there's two dudes. And remember like again I'm not a score,

576
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: I'm a pastor. I'm a facilitator. Like that's you know,

577
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: when you want to do pro, you gotta do what

578
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 1: you do best, you know, but in this particular setting,

579
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: they're like, do we need you to We need you

580
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 1: to go get buckets. So my first game playing with

581
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: that group, I was like two of fourteen or something

582
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: against Seska, and I mean I missed some good looks

583
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 1: and I missed a dunk coming down the lane I had.

584
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: I actually I just shot poorly. But it was so hard,

585
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: so much harder when there was no space to do

586
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do because I could get by guys.

587
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: But then the second guy we alway struggle without so

588
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 1: used to passing off it. And the second game against

589
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,200
Speaker 1: the lesser team I was I was much better. But

590
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 1: it was one of those things to where everybody thinks

591
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: they want to be the dude, but you also have

592
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: to have space to do what you do. And I

593
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 1: think you you nailed it with the narrative, right, we

594
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: create these narratives of you're only an all time grade

595
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 1: if you win a champion, but you can't be a

596
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: champion unless you have other dudes with you and you

597
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: sometimes you can't organically allow that to happen on its

598
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 1: own right. You just can't. So I think it's really

599
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: hard for these guys. The herd and thing. I'll disagree

600
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: with you. I'll push back on this point. I know

601
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 1: that we pick him, we pick on him for for

602
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: some of the defensive stuff, but like, he doesn't guard.

603
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 1: I mean, he just doesn't. And now he I don't

604
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: think he's as bad as Kyrie is, and I'll explain

605
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 1: why in the second um, but but he he doesn't guard.

606
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: And then there are times in which in the playoffs

607
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: he tries to guard. And I think that it's one

608
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: of the things that limits him offensively is you go

609
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: through a season playing one way, and then you get

610
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. They're not giving him the fouls the

611
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 1: way they used to give it to him, and he's

612
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: trying to guard, and so he's exhausted because playing both

613
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: ends is really hard. Um. And and then I don't

614
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: I agree with you. He is not selfish, he's magnificent

615
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 1: with the ball. But what they were doing in Houston

616
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 1: allowing him to just you know, dribble, dribble dribble, create

617
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 1: the mismatch dribble, dribble dribble. It becomes a hard watch,

618
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: and it takes away from how magnificent his skill set is.

619
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: I always said this is my thing on James Harden.

620
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:14,719
Speaker 1: He's incredible. Okay, might be the best offensive player in basketball,

621
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 1: but I can't stand to watch him now. I say that,

622
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 1: and I actually really like how he's playing with Brooklyn

623
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: because he's back to being more a facilitator and he's

624
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: he's showing off how good a passer he is, and

625
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff shows like

626
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 1: what people don't understand about James Harden. Uh is painfully honest. No, absolutely,

627
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, he You know Houston, You've got to

628
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: remember that last year they're playing without a center. You know,

629
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,920
Speaker 1: they played p J. Tucker's six five playing playing center.

630
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,760
Speaker 1: And probably the best aspect of James Harden's game over

631
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: his career has been his pick and role passing. You know,

632
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: so Darryl More, he can say all he wants that

633
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: that they have the most official offensive ever, James Harden

634
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 1: is the most efficient player ever. But you know, you know,

635
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 1: in the player offs, you need a you need a mix,

636
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: you need somebody that can get their own shot in

637
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 1: the mid range. You need, you need Kevin Durant, you know,

638
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,320
Speaker 1: you need you need guys like that. You can't only

639
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 1: take threes or only play you know, robot ball. And

640
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,080
Speaker 1: that's what they never understood in Houston too. You know,

641
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: they just became so predictable in the playoffs, and the

642
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: Lakers just you know, pressed up like crazy on threes

643
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:23,920
Speaker 1: and and helped like crazy at the rim and and

644
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,800
Speaker 1: Houston just absolutely refused, uh to take a mid range jumper,

645
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 1: which just makes no sense. And yeah, you know you're

646
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: seeing again Harden has real pick and roll options. Now

647
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 1: he has talent around him. And you know, the narrative thing,

648
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant wasn't good enough without without a ring, so

649
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 1: he goes to Golden State, gets rings, and then that

650
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,280
Speaker 1: still doesn't validate him, so he goes back to Brooklyn

651
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:49,920
Speaker 1: trying to kind of do his own thing with Kyrie.

652
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: But then they're still not good enough to win just

653
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 1: for those two, so they need more help. And you know,

654
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 1: now the narrative just continues to cycle and cycle, and

655
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 1: you know Harden's defense, like I said that, you know,

656
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: he definitely deserves criticism his lifestyle I think has definitely

657
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 1: caught up with him a lot in the playoffs. You

658
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,359
Speaker 1: can't be going out as much as as he does

659
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,080
Speaker 1: over the season and expect to have the energy to

660
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: to do it on both ends. Like I said, for

661
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 1: forty five minutes a night. Um, you know, but you

662
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 1: saw it like against the Clippers the other night. One

663
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: thing I think he's really underrated in is his post defense.

664
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: And he's just so hard to move, you know, for

665
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,640
Speaker 1: even Kauai in a bak and all these guys are

666
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 1: trying to post him up, and his you know, the

667
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: way he resists post ups is is pretty incredible. So

668
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 1: I think he definitely, like I said, is better than

669
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,440
Speaker 1: people think. But I do agree with you, you know,

670
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 1: he's marginally better than Kyrie on that end, and still

671
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,280
Speaker 1: definitely definitely not great. Uh. Well, here's my thing with Kyrie,

672
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: and some of this is inside infol right from people

673
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: who have played with them or people that have coached

674
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: him or been around people the coaching. It's it's not

675
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 1: n Carrie is bad on defense. He's not very good

676
00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 1: at It's that Kyrie is. He doesn't know he's been

677
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: out on defense, right, or he refuses to you know,

678
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 1: the the the easiest example that I like to give

679
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: is they played the Celtics, they played the Bucks in

680
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:13,160
Speaker 1: the playoffs when he's with the Celtics, and their defensive

681
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: scheme was to switch everything except for Kyrie, you know,

682
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 1: which is basically what Golden State does with Steph right

683
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 1: where he stays home and everybody else, everybody else switches

684
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 1: and under no uncertain circumstances did they want him guarding

685
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 1: nice right there? Like that's we don't want that, Okay,

686
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,840
Speaker 1: We're gonna protect you. And he kept switching out on

687
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 1: your honest and not just switching out and then switching

688
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,560
Speaker 1: out and like challenging you honest, and you know, these

689
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 1: the coaches are like, what what the funk? Dude, Like,

690
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: we're actually trying to protect you so that you can

691
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 1: be the great offensive player that you are and not

692
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: have to worry about defense. And you know, here do

693
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 1: you you know, and not have to worry about, you know,

694
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 1: guarding the you know, the best score maybe in the league,

695
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: and you know, you're you're doing your own thing, which

696
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: is why that's the frustrating part about Kyrie. It's not

697
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,839
Speaker 1: that he's better. And I agree with you on on Hart,

698
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: and that's a great point that he's actually a really

699
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: good He's incredibly strong, he's big. He is a good

700
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 1: post defender, which always is funny to me when when teams,

701
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 1: you know, try and attack him and I saw him

702
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:19,839
Speaker 1: the post. No dude, take him out in the court.

703
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,239
Speaker 1: That's when he just lays you know, and then he

704
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 1: you know, he olas. And it used to work in

705
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,360
Speaker 1: Houston when they had Capella because he could ola and

706
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:28,879
Speaker 1: go ahead, go to the rim. You got that big

707
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,400
Speaker 1: fellow waiting to block your shot, you know. So Okay,

708
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:34,240
Speaker 1: so let me let me ask you about about about

709
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: Brooklyn does it in the end? Do you think it works?

710
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think they definitely have a

711
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,839
Speaker 1: tremendous chance to at least make the finals. To me,

712
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,279
Speaker 1: I think they're the best, best equipped team in the East. Uh.

713
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 1: You know, I still don't buy Milwaukee as as a

714
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 1: playoff team. I still you know, Philly obviously he's gonna

715
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,359
Speaker 1: struggle with with Ben's shot. Um, you know, they play

716
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,719
Speaker 1: like they did against the Clippers, which was probably the

717
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: best defensive game I've ever seen Kyrie play, quite frankly,

718
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: and he was, you know, probably the best game i've

719
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 1: ever seen him played period, considering how good he was

720
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 1: offensively to um, you know, if they're that locked in, absolutely,

721
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: But like you said, I mean the million dollar question is,

722
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,120
Speaker 1: you know, you don't know if Kyrie just decides in

723
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 1: in in a month that he's gonna take two weeks

724
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 1: to go, uh canvass around the country and do whatever

725
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: else uh he wants to do. I mean, he's just

726
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 1: a tremendously bizarre individual that nobody has really been able

727
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: to figure out completely. And uh, yeah, you know, I

728
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: think it's a huge test to a first time not

729
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 1: only head coach, but first time coach really in Steve Nash,

730
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 1: and I think at times he's looked overwhelmed. I think,

731
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't take the time out against the

732
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,839
Speaker 1: Wizards with them up to in bounding the ball under

733
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,359
Speaker 1: their own basket with like five seconds left, they throw

734
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 1: it away and Westbrook it's a three. I mean, you know,

735
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 1: it's a huge question mark for him. But um, you know, ultimately,

736
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: I think it would be pretty hard to bet against

737
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,480
Speaker 1: Kyrie hardened Kevin Durant and I do think they have

738
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 1: enough in terms of role players and defensive minded guys

739
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 1: to you know, just enough to make it work if

740
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: those three guys are again playing like they did against

741
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: Clippers the other night. But obviously, you know it's gonna

742
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: be all up to the mental and if they can

743
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:25,640
Speaker 1: you know, stick together and manage Kyrie well enough to

744
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 1: make it across the finish line. Yeah, I think he

745
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:30,560
Speaker 1: would make a There's a series of great points you

746
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 1: made there which are interesting and the fact that they

747
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 1: he did all of that, they did all that against

748
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,200
Speaker 1: the Clippers is probably the best way to get into

749
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,360
Speaker 1: the best way to say it, right, like the magic

750
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,160
Speaker 1: to the NBA is Yeah, Yes, I think Kyrie can

751
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: lock in for a series against the Bucks, for a

752
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: series against the Celtics especially, he'd love to do right,

753
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 1: a series against the Clippers, against the Lakers. The question

754
00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 1: is can they get there? Right? Can they can they?

755
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,280
Speaker 1: Can they get to that part of the finish line

756
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: where um, okay, now now your competitive juices are flowing,

757
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 1: and now you can and and that's the part where

758
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 1: we just don't just don't know. Does does anybody know

759
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 1: what that dude is? Like I I do wonder if

760
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: k D even understands what he partnered with. You know,

761
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,000
Speaker 1: it's like when you're friends with somebody's it's like when

762
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 1: you're dating somebody, then else when you're living with him,

763
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,440
Speaker 1: it's so so different. Yeah, I mean, just a completely

764
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,759
Speaker 1: different experience. Um. I mean it's the reason that the

765
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 1: Bachelor and Bachelorette like they never make it right because

766
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 1: it's all fantasy and then all of a sudden you

767
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 1: get back to reality. Like, wait a second, this person

768
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: is a slab, this person the idiot. You know, this

769
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: person has no drive. Um, so it does, okay, Um,

770
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,360
Speaker 1: where are you on the Clippers this year as opposed

771
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: to last year? You know, I think obviously at times

772
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: last year they look great, you know, and in a

773
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 1: lot of the regular season they look great a lot

774
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 1: of early playoffs. I mean, ultimately, you know, like we

775
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: talked about, the narrative with them is just gonna be

776
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 1: do they make it to the finals or not? And

777
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,360
Speaker 1: anything short of that is gonna be is gonna be

778
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 1: probably viewed as as a failure. Again, certainly, you know,

779
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:14,839
Speaker 1: if they don't at least make it to to play

780
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,880
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the conference finals. Um, you know, I

781
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 1: think Doc uh quite frankly really did get out coached

782
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: by Mike Malone last year, and um, you know, I

783
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 1: think a big upgrade for them was not only getting

784
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: you know, promoting Tylu, but what they've done with the

785
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 1: assistance there has been really important to get you know,

786
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,880
Speaker 1: Dan Craig, who was a great preparation guy from Miami,

787
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson, Larry Drew, Trump, c Billips, Roy Rogers. You know,

788
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: he's got a really good staff around him now, I

789
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 1: think better than better than what Doc had. Um, you know,

790
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:50,720
Speaker 1: but can Betune keep this up? I mean, he looked

791
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 1: near comatose and Charlotte and he's shooting like forty something

792
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,880
Speaker 1: percent from three and just been unbelievable for them. You know,

793
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:00,839
Speaker 1: the whole team shooting like above forty percent from three.

794
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 1: They're they're all playing tremendously well together. But uh yeah,

795
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:07,200
Speaker 1: I mean, like we said, you know, the question marks

796
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: all gonna be about the playoffs, and and Paul George

797
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,160
Speaker 1: clearly is uh you know, gonna have a lot of

798
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,040
Speaker 1: chances to get in his own head in the playoffs

799
00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 1: if he if he struggles it all there again. Um

800
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 1: you know, so do they have enough to overcome that

801
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 1: against the Lakers? I don't know. I think those two

802
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,560
Speaker 1: teams pretty much are our coin flip still if if

803
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 1: they you know, faced themselves in the in the Western

804
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:36,000
Speaker 1: Conference finals. Um, okay, so and then the Lakers this year.

805
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,480
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting, um that I think the

806
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,799
Speaker 1: Clippers it was a lot for year one, but they

807
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 1: were probably I don't, I don't. I didn't love the

808
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 1: Lakers roster last year, but it came together. Part of

809
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 1: it was they were in the bubble and they you know,

810
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:56,439
Speaker 1: I don't think they you know, it's funny everybody says

811
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 1: the Clippers, you know, succumb to the bubble. The truth

812
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,920
Speaker 1: is the Lakers were on the birth there too. But

813
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 1: what happened with them was interesting was they weren't doing

814
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 1: so well emotionally and they were all were ready to

815
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:15,239
Speaker 1: go home. And then they had then the dealing the

816
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 1: tragedy and Kenosha happened right with it, and and there

817
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: was the protests. So they actually had missed two game days,

818
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,560
Speaker 1: which gave them all time to kind of rest and

819
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,720
Speaker 1: recharge their bodies, and then you know, they played shortly

820
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 1: after then the advanced to take on the Rockets, and

821
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,120
Speaker 1: the Rockets first it was a terrible matchup for the Rockets,

822
00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 1: right because the Rockets could only play small and so

823
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:40,960
Speaker 1: as you point out, like the Lakers had a great

824
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 1: game plan and really matched up well, and then you know,

825
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:48,160
Speaker 1: Russell starts talking ship to them, which you know, supercharged everybody.

826
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 1: And then the Clippers lose and they're like, how we

827
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 1: can win this thing? So a lot of it was,

828
00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: you know, they It's interesting how we tell we're gonna

829
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,120
Speaker 1: go back and tell the story of the bubble and

830
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 1: lead out the fact that the Lakers weren't doing so

831
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 1: hot for a for a good portion of times. That

832
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 1: that said, I like a lot of the things they've

833
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 1: done to the roster. I just we make this assumption

834
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 1: that we know what Dennis Shrewder is going to be

835
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:14,880
Speaker 1: like in the playoffs. We have no idea. I have

836
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: no idea how he's gonna react in real pressure situations. UM.

837
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:23,320
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I think there are times in

838
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 1: which Coup's looks better. There are times in which he

839
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 1: does not. UM. And I also wonder, like we we

840
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: we This is my biggest problem with with all of

841
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,239
Speaker 1: us collectively, not just and I have this problem too,

842
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 1: is we see one thing and it affirms what we think,

843
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:44,800
Speaker 1: and that's what we write. So you know, Lebron looks

844
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: incredible against the Bucks. Keep in mind, he looked like

845
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:51,240
Speaker 1: shit against the Warriors, didn't play well against the Bulls,

846
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: and he's not expected to be magnificent every night. But

847
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: there are nights in which he looks like he's in

848
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,160
Speaker 1: his mid late thirties and has played eighteen years in

849
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 1: the NBA. I'm interested what Lebron is the percentage of

850
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 1: times in which he can be Lebron when we get

851
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,520
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. Considering it's not just this year, it's

852
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: last year. You know, it's there, there wasn't time off

853
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 1: and we can say that he's got this great body whatever,

854
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,800
Speaker 1: but like at some point, father time does start to

855
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 1: catch up to you. So again my question, do you

856
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,760
Speaker 1: Lakers this year? What do you think of the roster,

857
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:26,520
Speaker 1: how they're playing, and what it looks like once we

858
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:30,439
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, you know, when

859
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 1: when you have Lebron and a d it's hard hard

860
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: to to really screw that up. You know, you'd be

861
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,560
Speaker 1: hard pressed to put a roster together that they can't

862
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,719
Speaker 1: find some way to complement those two. Uh, you know,

863
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:44,799
Speaker 1: come playoff time. I mean, certainly I agree with you

864
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 1: about Shrewder. You know, I think one thing I was

865
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:51,440
Speaker 1: definitely on all season last year. Lakers fans were just

866
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,840
Speaker 1: bitching incessantly all season long about Rondo and his regular

867
00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:58,480
Speaker 1: season stats and all those things. But anybody that knew

868
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:01,480
Speaker 1: basketball knew that he he's a genius. You know, he's

869
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:04,120
Speaker 1: a savant. They knew in the playoffs he would he

870
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 1: would have more and be able to play defense and

871
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 1: then you know, make those labs and all the all

872
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,120
Speaker 1: the things he does. You know, So, yeah, he's shrewder

873
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:14,920
Speaker 1: the better fit over seventy two games. And can he

874
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 1: play more minutes and can he start? Sure? But you know,

875
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,879
Speaker 1: will he have the impact Toronto does in terms of

876
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:23,960
Speaker 1: leading a team and understanding the game in the playoffs.

877
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,240
Speaker 1: Probably not. You know that that's a big question mark. Um,

878
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 1: you know, losing losing Bradley, losing uh Danny Green's wing

879
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,440
Speaker 1: defense is still certainly a question mark to me. You know,

880
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 1: you have Caruso, you have Matthews, you have Horton. Tucker's

881
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:42,800
Speaker 1: you know, young and impressive at times. But uh yeah,

882
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: you know that the center's obviously changed. The ton Gasol

883
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:48,360
Speaker 1: looked like he was he was out of juice really

884
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:50,799
Speaker 1: for Toronto in the playoffs. He's He's looked pretty good

885
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,440
Speaker 1: for l A, but certainly big question mark if he

886
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 1: can really make it through the whole season. You know, Carrel,

887
00:46:57,160 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 1: we talked about the Clippers. He was the one guy

888
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:02,280
Speaker 1: that uh, you know, most of their fans blame for

889
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: for their shortcomings in terms of his defense, his rebounding

890
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: at times, uh in the playoffs. So you know, he's

891
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: definitely still a question mark to some extent. So yeah,

892
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you kind of put it fairly.

893
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 1: I think both those teams still have have big question marks.

894
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, the Lakers ultimately they pulled it

895
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,080
Speaker 1: out and the Clippers choked at the end. So the

896
00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,919
Speaker 1: narratives that the Lakers were some drastically better team, but

897
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 1: you know, I think the truth is closer to they

898
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,160
Speaker 1: were both pretty damn close last season. Uh you know,

899
00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 1: they probably were probably the best two teams in the

900
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,319
Speaker 1: league ultimately, Um, you know, and I think we'll get

901
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,880
Speaker 1: to see that this year in terms of them meeting

902
00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:43,120
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference Finals, and I think to me

903
00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 1: that that's basically, uh, the NBA Finals. You know, I

904
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:48,839
Speaker 1: think they're they're ultimately going to be the two best

905
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 1: teams in the league. Um, you know, and whoever wins

906
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,840
Speaker 1: that I think should should be able to beat Brooklyn

907
00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:57,799
Speaker 1: or whoever comes out of the East. If you can

908
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:01,120
Speaker 1: pick one player right now in the NBA, who would

909
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:05,719
Speaker 1: it be? This is to build around or like for

910
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 1: right for one game now for one season this season,

911
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:15,759
Speaker 1: still gotta go to Lebrons. Uh yeah, I mean used

912
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:18,280
Speaker 1: to you know, thirty six. But he's he's like Brady,

913
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 1: you know, he's he hasn't shown really any signs of

914
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,440
Speaker 1: losing his his mental genius. And I think just on

915
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:28,279
Speaker 1: both ends, continues to be the most dominant player, you know,

916
00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 1: especially come playoff times. So despite any videos of him

917
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:35,200
Speaker 1: coasting or whatever at times in the regular season, you

918
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:37,480
Speaker 1: ultimately know, you know, he's going to be the best

919
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:42,360
Speaker 1: player most likely, uh, come playoff time. It's interesting because

920
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: I think the Brady comparison is a good one because sometimess,

921
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,359
Speaker 1: there's there's two things that having a guy like that

922
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 1: does to your to your franchise. Right. One, it gives

923
00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:57,720
Speaker 1: everybody a belief Like he walks in the door, You're like, Okay,

924
00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:00,440
Speaker 1: we want to win, and this guy knows how to win, right.

925
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:05,040
Speaker 1: And the Lebron is kind of he's kind of evolved, right,

926
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:08,120
Speaker 1: he has. Like last year he just and I don't

927
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:11,120
Speaker 1: know if it was Vogel or if it was him,

928
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: but at some point they figured out, like, you know,

929
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: the offense is gonna come and go, let's just be

930
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,520
Speaker 1: the best fucking defensive team in the league. And they

931
00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:25,040
Speaker 1: were unbelievable. And he's not nearly as his defense is

932
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,160
Speaker 1: on the micro what his game is on the macro,

933
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:31,880
Speaker 1: which is he's not as he's not as good defensively

934
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:34,280
Speaker 1: on the ball as he used to be. Can't defend

935
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:36,439
Speaker 1: the rim. Sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he has nights where

936
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:40,160
Speaker 1: he doesn't move that well. But he's so intellectually ahead

937
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 1: of everybody else. He's a great leader, and he knows

938
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,360
Speaker 1: to pick his spots and how to hide defensively at times,

939
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:51,279
Speaker 1: so he doesn't overextend himself or look bad like there's

940
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:54,959
Speaker 1: a you know, so he protects himself from himself, which

941
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 1: is amazing. But that's kind of his whole game, right,

942
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,480
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't go one on one as much. He

943
00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:03,399
Speaker 1: lets Anthony Davis do that. And now he'll because he's

944
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:05,680
Speaker 1: become a much better three point shooter. He'll settle for

945
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:08,879
Speaker 1: threes and he'll take halves off of really extending himself,

946
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:12,040
Speaker 1: saving himself with the fourth quarter, right, But there's a

947
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 1: lot of Brady to it where even if it's not real,

948
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: there's there's just this belief that he's gonna win and

949
00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:22,440
Speaker 1: he's going to figure it out. And that's the Brady thing.

950
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:25,920
Speaker 1: Brady is not close to a top five quarterback. And

951
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 1: they he played like ship in the NFC Championship game.

952
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 1: But that first drive they get the ball, they march

953
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: down the field and they score like, Oh, Tom Brady,

954
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 1: what do you got? Right? And Lebron they're they're very

955
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:42,240
Speaker 1: similar in that way in that they they they believe

956
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:44,120
Speaker 1: that they're gonna win at the end of the day,

957
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 1: and everybody else believes in them. And they're not better,

958
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:50,840
Speaker 1: but they're so much smarter than they ever were previously,

959
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:54,000
Speaker 1: even in their career that there that they're a step

960
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: ahead of everybody else. Yeah. Absolutely, And it's you know,

961
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 1: it's just the i Q is is off the charts.

962
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's the smartest player of all time.

963
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:08,400
Speaker 1: You know, there's stories going around about Patrick Patterson. I

964
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:11,440
Speaker 1: remember once forgot to play uh for the Raptors and

965
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 1: and Lebron walked him through their play, like what what

966
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:16,719
Speaker 1: the Raptors were supposed to do? He knew it better

967
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:19,680
Speaker 1: than Patterson did um And yeah it is you know,

968
00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: that's again stuff that just doesn't show up in the

969
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,600
Speaker 1: statue that he he knows every single play and every

970
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 1: team was playbook. He knows exactly where he's supposed to be,

971
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: where everybody's supposed to be. And yeah, I mean he's

972
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: like the you know, he's like the quarterback defensively offensively

973
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,000
Speaker 1: obviously that I cused off the charts too, and he

974
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,759
Speaker 1: just he just manages a game to a t. So

975
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:44,400
Speaker 1: last thing, Okay, so how can people get your stuff?

976
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:49,839
Speaker 1: Your pod, your breakdown? Yeah, just Scout with Brian, uh,

977
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:52,160
Speaker 1: Scott with Brian with a Y if you type that

978
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 1: in on Twitter YouTube of course, the Scout with Brian podcast.

979
00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:58,520
Speaker 1: Those are the three main ways to find my stuff

980
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:02,680
Speaker 1: at at Scott with Brian. If you're going to tell

981
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:06,400
Speaker 1: there's a college kid who's listening, I actually have a

982
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,200
Speaker 1: a friend who's a college kid and he wants to

983
00:52:09,239 --> 00:52:11,080
Speaker 1: be a GM in the league and he studies it.

984
00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:13,560
Speaker 1: He's working for an agent as well. But if you're

985
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 1: you tell somebody, all right, when you get done with

986
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 1: college here's what you should do if you want to

987
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:23,440
Speaker 1: be in the league. What would it be? Uh fucking grind,

988
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:26,759
Speaker 1: That's what I'll say. You know, I'm a I'm a

989
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 1: five ten Jewish kid that that played high school tennis,

990
00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:31,840
Speaker 1: like I said, you know, and and cut to be

991
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:36,080
Speaker 1: U a full time traveling video coordinator in every coach's

992
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:39,040
Speaker 1: meeting right out of college, you know, and that. Yeah,

993
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:41,319
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to toot my own horn or say

994
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:43,799
Speaker 1: I was better than anybody or anything. But what I

995
00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:46,759
Speaker 1: tried to pride myself on was was, you know, being

996
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:48,640
Speaker 1: the first one in the office, last to leave, and

997
00:52:48,719 --> 00:52:51,200
Speaker 1: just working my ass off. And and that's the only

998
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:53,480
Speaker 1: way you can kind of make up that gap, you know,

999
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:57,400
Speaker 1: if you weren't a player, weren't a tremendous athlete or anything.

1000
00:52:57,560 --> 00:53:00,719
Speaker 1: So you know, like sports, ultimately, a lot of that

1001
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:06,440
Speaker 1: stuff is about about work ethic, So grinding, grinding. Hey man, listen,

1002
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:09,880
Speaker 1: I really appreciate join us. I love the back and

1003
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,120
Speaker 1: forth and some of the d M we have on stuff.

1004
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 1: And at some point let's break bread in person in

1005
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,200
Speaker 1: the future and uh, this is great, let's let's let's

1006
00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:21,960
Speaker 1: do it again. As the season rolls, on. Thanks. I

1007
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,799
Speaker 1: appreciate your input and your knowledge and and you join

1008
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,839
Speaker 1: us on the pot. Thank you, Doug, really appreciate you

1009
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:32,120
Speaker 1: having me enjoyed it. Be sure to catch the live

1010
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:35,080
Speaker 1: edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three

1011
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 1: p m. Easter noon Pacific. Alright, my thanks to Brian.

1012
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:42,040
Speaker 1: Follow him on social media. He's awesome. Keep the questions coming.

1013
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:44,759
Speaker 1: We always try and do some NBA, some college, some

1014
00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:48,640
Speaker 1: great personalities. Um, if you missed any of the other ones,

1015
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 1: there's some great other All Balls download them wherever you

1016
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:54,919
Speaker 1: download this podcast. Remember my show is three to six

1017
00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:57,439
Speaker 1: Eastern or twelve three Pacific every day on Fox Sport

1018
00:53:57,440 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 1: Trade or foxport Trade dot Com, the I Heart Radio app.

1019
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:02,399
Speaker 1: I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is All Ball