Speaker 1: Hey, what welcome in, UM, Doug gli Ben. This is
Speaker 1: All Ball, All Basketball, all the Time. UM. My guest
Speaker 1: for this version, this podcast episode of All Ball is
Speaker 1: um is a guy who I mean, he's he's actually
Speaker 1: super interesting young career right and a dude who UM
Speaker 1: has already spent seven years working in the n b
Speaker 1: A and now you can follow him on social media
Speaker 1: at Scott with Brian is Brian Obringer and he'll join
Speaker 1: us in moments. A guy who was a high school
Speaker 1: tennis player, I love basketball, went to the University of Maryland,
Speaker 1: helped out, was a manager with the Turps, and then said,
Speaker 1: you know, and I love hoop, I want to get
Speaker 1: involved in the NBA and has some really interesting thoughts
Speaker 1: from his time in the NBA and from the breakdowns
Speaker 1: that he does. And you can follow him again on
Speaker 1: social media. Before we get to Brian, though, I want
Speaker 1: to share a couple of of additional thoughts. You know,
Speaker 1: last episode, obviously we had Mike Martin from from Brown
Speaker 1: I talked a little bit about UH college basketball and
Speaker 1: this season, you know, saw Kade Cunningham play and Kade
Speaker 1: um Look, I think he's one of probably three guys
Speaker 1: and they're all playing in college. You could be the
Speaker 1: number one overall pick. But but Kate is really interesting.
Speaker 1: Um obviously, you know, having his brothers an assistant coach,
Speaker 1: he's a great way to get a really good player.
Speaker 1: But the interaction between the brothers is fascinating me. I've
Speaker 1: I've talked to the Mike Boyden. Of course, if you
Speaker 1: want to download his podcast retells his story. I've talked
Speaker 1: to some of the assistant coaches, I've talked to other
Speaker 1: people around the program, and granted, there's not the student
Speaker 1: interaction whatever this year that there normally is. And then
Speaker 1: I've talked to other coaches who didn't get Kay Cunningham,
Speaker 1: and they're like, he's the real deal, not just in
Speaker 1: terms of how he is as a basketball player, but
Speaker 1: how he is a kid. And like that family, he's
Speaker 1: not going to stay a second year. But they're like,
Speaker 1: if there's any ever a family that a kid would
Speaker 1: stay a second year, like, that's the family. And so look,
Speaker 1: he he made up. I thought it wasn't necessarily a
Speaker 1: dumb move. I I liked I like that in a
Speaker 1: tie game in transition, he attacked and looked to make
Speaker 1: a play. When they lost the TCU, the game in
Speaker 1: which first half he doesn't score point the student section
Speaker 1: which did have people and it was chanting overrated, and
Speaker 1: then he took over in the second half. I didn't
Speaker 1: like the decision he made, but I like this this
Speaker 1: idea sometimes of holding for a last shot. Um. He
Speaker 1: is really interesting to me, like sometimes and I get
Speaker 1: like you in that particular instance, in a tie game,
Speaker 1: you only want to get a shout up with four
Speaker 1: seconds or so to go. See there's takes losing out
Speaker 1: of the equation, which is exactly what happened in a
Speaker 1: questionable block charge called I thought it was a charge.
Speaker 1: Actually I thought Oaklaham State, you know, got back in
Speaker 1: transition just in time, planted their feet. But the point
Speaker 1: is more, I can't tell how impressed with I am
Speaker 1: with his ability to play all over the court. You know,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley is another guy who could be the number
Speaker 1: one overall pick, and I think he's a stud player.
Speaker 1: What when I'm impressed by with Kade Cunningham and I'll
Speaker 1: give my player revals we get ready for the NBA draft.
Speaker 1: Is haven't heard anybody say anything negative about attitude, work ethic,
Speaker 1: having his brother around, no entitlement like an everyday dude,
Speaker 1: and then you watch him play and the way really
Speaker 1: good NBA players play like they can handle and handle
Speaker 1: it like a point guard coming off a ball screen.
Speaker 1: He can play out of the post, and he can
Speaker 1: play off the basketball shooting the ball as well. So
Speaker 1: it's easy to be impressed with a guy. It's like
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards last year, so explosive, so explosive, and the
Speaker 1: thought was like, all right, needs to become more of
Speaker 1: a guard, and he's to shoot the basketball a little
Speaker 1: bit better, needs to defend with a little bit more energy.
Speaker 1: But you can see he's got an NBA body, and
Speaker 1: somebody was the field around him. But there wasn't a
Speaker 1: he didn't have the post game. He wasn't a creative passer,
Speaker 1: and he definitely wasn't the adept ball handler. He just
Speaker 1: a beast athletically and a potentially a takeover a game
Speaker 1: athlete in score. I just I've watched Kay Cunningham and
Speaker 1: I thought Penny hardaway when I saw him in high school,
Speaker 1: but I watched him now and I do remember Penny
Speaker 1: was before injury set in, was really athletic. He's a
Speaker 1: lot more athletic than Penny Hardaway was, But it's it's
Speaker 1: the type of player that can play on the post,
Speaker 1: can play with the ball, can play without it as well.
Speaker 1: Could he defend better? Yeah, could he shoot? Could he
Speaker 1: shoot a higher percentage? Of course, you know. But his
Speaker 1: good job getting the line, good job playing off ball screen,
Speaker 1: and a great job I think of raising the level
Speaker 1: of a team one that. And they're not great in
Speaker 1: conference play. They've been swept by TCU, although they do
Speaker 1: have a big win over Texas Tech on the road.
Speaker 1: We'll see what they do against Texas this weekend. But
Speaker 1: considering Oklahoma State under Mike Boyden had traditionally struggled the
Speaker 1: first month and a half of conference play and then
Speaker 1: figured it out all all three seasons previously slow start,
Speaker 1: and even when Brad Underwood was that coach, they struggled
Speaker 1: out of the gate in the Big twelve and then adjusted,
Speaker 1: um that he's he's got that winning thing. Where give
Speaker 1: me the ball, I'll win the game for you. And
Speaker 1: they beat Kansas because of him. They win games because
Speaker 1: of him, not in spite of him. Really a rare
Speaker 1: one and done type player, and I think a rare
Speaker 1: get for whoever gets him in the number one and
Speaker 1: number two pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. All right,
Speaker 1: let's let's get to our guest. Binal Riggers was a
Speaker 1: scout in the NBA doing video first seven years. Now
Speaker 1: he does it, produces his own content. He joins us
Speaker 1: down the Elball Podcast. Be sure to catch the live
Speaker 1: edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm
Speaker 1: Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app. All right, let's welcome in, uh, Bryan
Speaker 1: or Bryan Um. Let's let's start at the beginning of
Speaker 1: your basketball life. Where'd you grow up and what were
Speaker 1: your first memories? Uh? Yeah, So I grew up in Maryland.
Speaker 1: I was a big, big Maryland and Wizards fan growing up.
Speaker 1: You know, love the Gilbert Arena's teams. You know a
Speaker 1: little bit of MJ's Wizards era. Obviously, I've worked for
Speaker 1: Gary Williams his last couple of years at the University
Speaker 1: of Maryland as a student manager type those gravest fast
Speaker 1: guest teams that were pretty good. Uh. Ended up then
Speaker 1: working for the Washington Wizards for six years. I was
Speaker 1: the head video coordinator for them. Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,
Speaker 1: You're going. You're going away too fast. You don't like hell,
Speaker 1: this is about you row. Okay, you you went, you
Speaker 1: went to college. I said, where you grew up? Like
Speaker 1: I'm a wizard, and he started zooming through. Okay, you
Speaker 1: go specifically where, like I grew up in Orange, California, Badio,
Speaker 1: El Medina. Like my first basketball memories, my dad was
Speaker 1: an assistant Long Beach State. Used to go and run
Speaker 1: around at games and UNLB your friends, no mistake, were
Speaker 1: the only teams that drew. They'd come to town right
Speaker 1: and then we became U c l A fans, And
Speaker 1: I wasn't really like your fans. So you grew up
Speaker 1: specifically where I grew up specifically in Rockville, Maryland, and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, you know, my my basketball uh you know,
Speaker 1: at least before college wasn't all that exciting. I mean
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, I was at the Maryland miracle
Speaker 1: minute they lost the duke when we were up with
Speaker 1: ten with like fifty four seconds left. That was definitely
Speaker 1: just on TV. That was crazy. Yeah, pretty heartbreaking memory.
Speaker 1: But yeah, actually, you know, when I was in high school,
Speaker 1: I was part of that kind of moneyball generation that
Speaker 1: I read that book Can really wanted to work in
Speaker 1: baseball growing up, and that's kind of what I loved, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, up until college at least, but uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I just kind of realized once I got to college
Speaker 1: basketball was was my real love, and uh kind of
Speaker 1: went all in trying to work work there. What what
Speaker 1: was it about basketball that means, you know, just just
Speaker 1: an unbelievably beautiful game. I mean, honestly, just just pick
Speaker 1: up every day myself and I'm watching you know, games NonStop.
Speaker 1: I just love everything about the game. You know, I just, uh,
Speaker 1: I think it's, you know, the best game that's that's
Speaker 1: not individual. It's all about the cohesion of five guys
Speaker 1: playing together and doing it as a group and playing hard,
Speaker 1: and you know, usually those are the things that end
Speaker 1: up end up winning games. And you know, you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: when when you're in sync and you're playing with four
Speaker 1: other guys who who love each other and play well together,
Speaker 1: there's just no better feeling. It's interesting. So I've been
Speaker 1: I've been coaching a U basketball now for a couple
Speaker 1: of years. I coached it with my dad when I
Speaker 1: was still a player, and then you know, when I
Speaker 1: got into broadcasting, I probably shouldn't continue to do it,
Speaker 1: just it's hard with the time and kids. So now
Speaker 1: I have I have We have a fourteen that I
Speaker 1: don't coach. I just occasionally help with practice. We have
Speaker 1: a thirteen with two thirteens, and we have a twelve
Speaker 1: and eleven new teams and the third team, you is,
Speaker 1: it's gotten to be really good and there I think
Speaker 1: if you asked the parents honestly, they would say, like, individually,
Speaker 1: our kids are just okay, but collectively, now that we
Speaker 1: have this really strong group, they're they're like a a good,
Speaker 1: solid team. We're not good enough yet to compete with
Speaker 1: like the the super elite, crazy talented teams yet, but
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where I'm kind of I'm
Speaker 1: committed to these families, like, look, I don't know, well,
Speaker 1: we probably will never win one of the big tournaments, okay,
Speaker 1: but your kid's gonna get better and they're gonna learn
Speaker 1: to play as a team because I think that I
Speaker 1: think that lasts longer than Hey, I'm gonna go join
Speaker 1: this team with a couple of superstar dudes and win
Speaker 1: a tournament but have no real kind of uh no
Speaker 1: real really piece of the pie. You know. I was
Speaker 1: just I was the guy that stood in the corner
Speaker 1: and shot the ball when it came to me, right,
Speaker 1: So it's it's interest. I feel the same way. I
Speaker 1: love There's nothing like going to a park right with
Speaker 1: four your buddies, or picking up a couple of dudes
Speaker 1: or whatever and then running the and just running the court,
Speaker 1: regardless of how good other dudes are, but just playing
Speaker 1: as a team like that. I think that's the best
Speaker 1: part of the sport, is that a team can beat
Speaker 1: more talented individuals if they figure out each other's strengths
Speaker 1: and weaknesses and play together. No, absolutely, And yeah, like
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I grew up. I love the
Speaker 1: the Gilbert Arenas Wizards team, which obviously didn't do a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of winning in the playoffs. But you know,
Speaker 1: Karen Butler to off juice was was so fun to
Speaker 1: watch every night. He played unbelievably hard. You know, Antoine
Speaker 1: was an incredible score. Obviously, you know, Gilbert's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest tragedies and basketball history. How you know how
Speaker 1: talented he was and how much uh winning they could
Speaker 1: have done if he had stayed healthy. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to be perfectly honest, and I was a
Speaker 1: high school tennis player. I didn't really you know, love
Speaker 1: it until I got to college. And once I got there,
Speaker 1: you know, I played pick up at the rec center
Speaker 1: probably almost every single day, and just my love for
Speaker 1: the game grew exponentially. And you know, you end up
Speaker 1: playing three hours every single day with you know, fifty
Speaker 1: other guys at the rec center there, and it's just, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a tremendous bonding experience and and so fun
Speaker 1: when you're winning and playing hard and playing together and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, it's just it's a beautiful, beautiful game. And
Speaker 1: I was lucky, lucky enough to get to spend a
Speaker 1: long time working in it. Okay, so uh, let's let's
Speaker 1: go to Maryland before Who's the point card? Before bass guys? Uh,
Speaker 1: it was what's the dude? I'm trying to think, what's
Speaker 1: the dude's name? Tinker with going to throws and didn't,
Speaker 1: and then it was a disaster when he came back.
Speaker 1: Uh John Gilchrist, John Kilchrist John, because that was that
Speaker 1: was my that was I think I almost feel like
Speaker 1: that was like the downfall of Jerry really is that
Speaker 1: he suffered through after those back to back fours. Want
Speaker 1: to be in a championship obviously what billing Ovo went
Speaker 1: through and they went to their first Bottle four. Oklahoma
Speaker 1: State went through after the OH four and oh five teams. Um,
Speaker 1: I think Georgia tected this after they were running up
Speaker 1: in OH four. Was we've seen you know, Syracuse has
Speaker 1: gone through this after they went to Fottle fours where
Speaker 1: you go to a final four, you win that champiship.
Speaker 1: Now you can recruit anybody you want, right, but they're
Speaker 1: not Okay, geez, they're not you're kind of guy. They're
Speaker 1: not the guys that the program was built around, right,
Speaker 1: And they're a little bit a little bit entitled, and
Speaker 1: their expectations are to just show up and hoop and win,
Speaker 1: and there's like a a a skip of a step
Speaker 1: and they're not as invested in the program. That's my
Speaker 1: outside perception of what happened during the Gilt Christ era.
Speaker 1: Is that a fair perception is somebody who was on
Speaker 1: campus at the time. Uh yeah, So you know, I
Speaker 1: think I got to campus probably right after him. You
Speaker 1: know that the start of Gravest and Eric has when
Speaker 1: when things were a little bit better. But you know
Speaker 1: that that sounds about right. I mean, I think Gary
Speaker 1: was definitely better, uh without the five star roots, without
Speaker 1: the McDonald's all Americans. He he certainly didn't love to
Speaker 1: love to recruit in the first place. Didn't love to
Speaker 1: recruit those guys in particular because you know, like you
Speaker 1: said that they tended to come with a sense of entitlement.
Speaker 1: And you know, he was much more into the the
Speaker 1: vasquez Is and the Juan Dixons and the Blakes and
Speaker 1: the guys that were under recruited and the and the
Speaker 1: up having a chip on their shoulder, and that he
Speaker 1: could you know, push relentlessly hard to achieve a lot
Speaker 1: more than anybody thought. But uh, yeah, Gilchrist definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: besides that moment in the a SEC tournament didn't work
Speaker 1: out tremendously well. And then you know, actually the year
Speaker 1: he ended up retiring after was after Jordan Williams's sophomore
Speaker 1: season where he went to the draft. You know, I
Speaker 1: think was a high second round pick, but he left
Speaker 1: too early. You know, could have come back and been
Speaker 1: a tremendous player as a junior and you know, ends
Speaker 1: up flaming out of the NBA and after like a season. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was just way too mature. To go,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, after that happened, Gary was
Speaker 1: just kind of done with it and I decided to
Speaker 1: beat have enough dealing with that kind of of nonsense.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he definitely did a lot better with uh
Speaker 1: you know the guys that were thought of lesser for sure. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: so you get done in college grad you like grad
Speaker 1: assistant and then how did you get how did you
Speaker 1: get into league? So it's funny. Actually, so after after
Speaker 1: Gary's last season, I emailed Tommy Shepard, you know, who's
Speaker 1: now the Wizard's GM. He was the assistant GM at
Speaker 1: the time, and honestly, I just wanted to, uh to
Speaker 1: pick his brain. I just asked if I can take
Speaker 1: him to lunch, you know, asked him a few questions,
Speaker 1: find out, uh, you know, some tips and things from him,
Speaker 1: and I happened to mention what I had done, you
Speaker 1: know at Maryland in the film room and everything there,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, at the time, the Wizards had
Speaker 1: one guy working like a hundred twenty hour weeks in
Speaker 1: the video room who was just completely overwhelmed, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they said they could use some help, and
Speaker 1: I got to come in an interview with him. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then I actually ended up interning for the Wizards
Speaker 1: my last two years of college, just working you know,
Speaker 1: for a lot less hours in their film room even remotely. Um.
Speaker 1: And then right when I graduated Maryland, actually I got
Speaker 1: to become up full time as the head video coordinator,
Speaker 1: traveling with the with the Wizards. Okay, so here's my question.
Speaker 1: You've been a basket ball fan. You didn't play basketball
Speaker 1: in high school. You started playing basketball and loving the
Speaker 1: game in college from the moneyball idea of it. You
Speaker 1: understood the analytics probably above that of many of the
Speaker 1: older guys, even in the Wizards front office, right because
Speaker 1: because you know, we were well we were raised that.
Speaker 1: Not not anti analytics, but that just wasn't the way
Speaker 1: which data was collected or really deciphered. Right. But you
Speaker 1: also hadn't studied the game the way that you study
Speaker 1: the game or have to allow others study the game
Speaker 1: when you're cutting up film. So when you first start
Speaker 1: watching film of NBA games and breakdowns, what what I'm
Speaker 1: just I'll just tell you personally, like as a player,
Speaker 1: what jumped out to me I remember was, um, so
Speaker 1: my after my junior years, uh, I think is a
Speaker 1: during my sophomore my junior year. Um, there used to
Speaker 1: be a rule where you could go and work out
Speaker 1: with NBA teams. You just had to pay your own way. Kid.
Speaker 1: They couldn't pick up anything. They could give you a
Speaker 1: jersey and shorts, a T shirt. So I went to
Speaker 1: a Trailblazer Mark working tine hook me up. I went
Speaker 1: to a Trailblazers mini camp and this was Germaine O'Neil
Speaker 1: was maybe in his second year in the league. So
Speaker 1: no one knew how the Germaine O'Neil was gonna be. Um.
Speaker 1: And this is when they were the Trail the jail Blazers, right,
Speaker 1: but they had dudes. They had Rashid, they had Greg Anthony,
Speaker 1: they had Bonds. I mean, they had fucking dudes, right,
Speaker 1: And so the couple of things I remember my first
Speaker 1: foray into professional basketball was one, goddamn everybody's long, right,
Speaker 1: Like everybody's long. You know, Uh, There's there's not one
Speaker 1: guy that you're like, oh, well, he's a normal. Like
Speaker 1: everybody walks in and they're like and condors and which
Speaker 1: which makes the way I I see basketball as a
Speaker 1: player is you know through windows and you know where
Speaker 1: a pass is gonna go where it an angle for
Speaker 1: a drive, where the space is to create a shot.
Speaker 1: And these windows close up so fast because even when
Speaker 1: they're beaten, they're not really beaten because they just they
Speaker 1: have long arms and big hands and and great ability
Speaker 1: to react. So the length of players was studying to me.
Speaker 1: And how much like you you think you've been around
Speaker 1: good shooters, you know. And I used to play pick
Speaker 1: up all of Scotty Brooks. It's interesting about about the Wizards.
Speaker 1: So Scotty was alleged he grew up. I'm again Orange County.
Speaker 1: He played U c Irvine and he and guy's name
Speaker 1: Todd Thornton and William McGee and and Todd Murphy, all
Speaker 1: guys that played in the NBA and played overseas. They
Speaker 1: all would play pick up all at this a couple
Speaker 1: of spots in Orange County. And so I had seen
Speaker 1: like how they could shoot in games, you know, But
Speaker 1: I don't think I had a healthy respect for just
Speaker 1: how fucking good they were, right, Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: I just don't think it translates to people. It's like
Speaker 1: I had a conversation with uh, with um somebody the
Speaker 1: other day and they were they were trying to tell
Speaker 1: me like, well, you know NBA players only, so you know,
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, you have to understand. NBA players shoot,
Speaker 1: you know, from three and fifty from two in an
Speaker 1: NBA game against NBA players. If you put an NBA
Speaker 1: player you know, worked out in a gym, they shoot
Speaker 1: like ninety. It's unbelievable how good they are. I don't
Speaker 1: even guys that can't shoot can shoot, they just can't
Speaker 1: shoot in an NBA game. Right, So those are the
Speaker 1: two things that jumped out to me. Yeah, you're a
Speaker 1: college kid, you start breaking down film, working all hours
Speaker 1: of the night, or what do you remember about the
Speaker 1: first couple of things you thought and learned about the
Speaker 1: NBA that you didn no previously. Yeah, the first thing
Speaker 1: comes to mind, definitely is a little bit of a story.
Speaker 1: But uh, you know that the fact that just not
Speaker 1: everybody loves the game. You know. I went from Maryland,
Speaker 1: like I said, where Gary would be custom guys out
Speaker 1: if we're only up fifty at halftime against Longwood, Uh,
Speaker 1: to my first NBA experience being uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: locker room with the Wizards. JaVale McGhee, Andre Blotch, Nick Young,
Speaker 1: Jordan Crawford at the time walking in at halftime down
Speaker 1: twenty laughing about it. Um, so you know that that
Speaker 1: was just it was a terrible culture at the time.
Speaker 1: And you know, you realize, like I said, a lot
Speaker 1: of those guys just just do it for the paycheck.
Speaker 1: They do it because they're seven feet tall, and you
Speaker 1: know that they're happening to be great at it, But
Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily mean that they, you know, really love
Speaker 1: the game and are all out nuts about basketball like
Speaker 1: like we are for example. Um. You know, so you
Speaker 1: definitely see that, and absolutely you know that the part
Speaker 1: about how talented every single guy is, you know, just
Speaker 1: jumps off the page. I mean, you know, we we'd
Speaker 1: have some games. Remember Phil Prescy I think was on
Speaker 1: like a ten day contract with the Celtics, and we
Speaker 1: didn't even think he would play. He was like, you know,
Speaker 1: fourteenth on their depth chart or something, and so, uh,
Speaker 1: he actually wasn't even on the scouting report. He ends
Speaker 1: up getting in the game and gives us like twenty
Speaker 1: and they they win the game. And after the game,
Speaker 1: Randy Whitman comes in the film room like, why the
Speaker 1: funk wasn't Phil Prescy on the scatting report, you know,
Speaker 1: just because yeah, you know he's on a D exactly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he killed us. So you know, you see that
Speaker 1: all the time. Guys that are fourteen fifteen guys on
Speaker 1: the roster, guys that are you know, forty that you
Speaker 1: think are about done, and they come out and you
Speaker 1: know you take them lightly or think they can't do something,
Speaker 1: and that's when they kill you. So yeah, you absolutely
Speaker 1: see that. And then you know, last all, I'll give
Speaker 1: you a two. I mean you kind of mentioned the
Speaker 1: the analytics, and I definitely came in the game like
Speaker 1: thinking that I was gonna be a huge analytics guy.
Speaker 1: And you know, like I said, I grew up on
Speaker 1: the moneyball stuff. But once you really get to it,
Speaker 1: once you're in all the coaches meetings, you know, watching
Speaker 1: film with guys that have done it for thirty years
Speaker 1: and and you know, just pour over every single detail,
Speaker 1: every little meticulous aspect of everything in the game. You know,
Speaker 1: you really realize that the analytics and the stats so
Speaker 1: very little of how much actually goes into winning basketball games.
Speaker 1: So it's funny. I actually started probably very extreme on
Speaker 1: that analytics end and ended up drifting where now I'd say, um,
Speaker 1: you know, almost all eye tests, because I think the
Speaker 1: stats just do a pretty terrible job overall measuring you
Speaker 1: know what, what really wins basketball games? What? What do
Speaker 1: you think it misses? Uh? You know, where where do
Speaker 1: you start? I mean, you know, even Darryl Moorey, like
Speaker 1: the biggest analytics GM, obviously he has some quote that's like,
Speaker 1: you know, the basketball box scores is absolutely worthless. You
Speaker 1: know how many people just look at, Oh, Zach Lavine's
Speaker 1: a bucket. He scored you know, forty points tonight and
Speaker 1: don't see that. You know, he missed ten reads on
Speaker 1: pick and rolls, he missed five rotations, you know, he
Speaker 1: uh balls, hockey assists, all those things don't even you know,
Speaker 1: don't even get measured for the most part. Um, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's that and then, like I said, it's also
Speaker 1: just competitiveness. I think defense we don't really measure at
Speaker 1: all well with with the box score. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: there's some things of plus minuses and things like that
Speaker 1: that I think do okay, but uh, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I think defense is almost impossible to measure. Most of
Speaker 1: the best defenders are the ones you know getting lit
Speaker 1: up by the best offensive players every night, so obviously
Speaker 1: you know, their stats take a little bit of a beating. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, it's just so hard to capture
Speaker 1: the impact of of five guys playing on a string
Speaker 1: and being locked in together. Uh, you know, with the
Speaker 1: statue sheets, it's that that's a fascinating thing. Now, what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on plus minus? You know, it definitely
Speaker 1: has has some value and and there's a few ways
Speaker 1: to adjust it where certainly it's it's it's worth at
Speaker 1: least being a piece of the puzzle, um, you know.
Speaker 1: And I'm a believer of like Rich Show, I think
Speaker 1: always had a saying that was eyes, years and numbers. Right,
Speaker 1: numbers have to be a part of the equation. But
Speaker 1: you also have to you know, pass the eye tests.
Speaker 1: You have to listen to what coaches, what scouts are saying, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think plus minus, for example, like
Speaker 1: has always been used against the guy like like Tamar
Speaker 1: de Rosen because you know, okay, in the ten minutes
Speaker 1: he's not on the court. Uh, sometimes his teams have
Speaker 1: done a little better than the forty minutes he's on.
Speaker 1: But you know that they discount that almost every single
Speaker 1: team he's on is won fifty games year after year
Speaker 1: after year, and he has such an overall, you know,
Speaker 1: tremendous impact on the game, and they just crush a
Speaker 1: player like him just because he can't shoot threes. You know,
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that he's still not a an incredibly
Speaker 1: efficient scorer. He makes so many plays for his teammates,
Speaker 1: and like I said, he's played winning basketball so long
Speaker 1: for Toronto. He he gets to San Antonio in his
Speaker 1: first year, they lose, you know, they're starting point guard
Speaker 1: for the season. Everybody thinks they're gonna be all full
Speaker 1: and they win forty eight games his first year there. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's just so many guys like
Speaker 1: that that that the stats just uh, you know, failed
Speaker 1: to fail to appreciate fully. Okay, So who is the
Speaker 1: least appreciated guy from your perspective? Is is it Tomorrow? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think long term, you know, at least over the
Speaker 1: last ten years or so, I think he's gotten the
Speaker 1: most uh most undue hate. Probably. I think you know
Speaker 1: that Ben Simmons is up there as well. I think
Speaker 1: we get so lost in the fact that, yeah, obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't have a jumper, and that's a
Speaker 1: big uh fatal flaw that attempts to show up in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But that doesn't mean, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: he doesn't still impact the game incredibly by being one
Speaker 1: of the best by probably defenders in the league, and
Speaker 1: being an incredible passer and his feel for the game
Speaker 1: and uh, all those things. I think our y Philadelphia's
Speaker 1: first in the East right now, and he's he's playing
Speaker 1: amazing basketball and if you look online, you still see
Speaker 1: nothing but people killing him every single day for his shot. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's up there. And the last guy I'll say, you know,
Speaker 1: James Harden too. Obviously, he's he's had playoff failings. He's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, had questionable commitment at times and some things
Speaker 1: definitely that that drive me nuts. You know. It also
Speaker 1: drives me nuts when you hear that he's like a
Speaker 1: ball hog or selfish. When he's leading the league and assists,
Speaker 1: He's had plenty of seasons ten eleven assists a game.
Speaker 1: He's you know, you watch him play. I mean, his
Speaker 1: field for the games off the charts is his floor
Speaker 1: vision is incredible, and he's he's also a better defender
Speaker 1: than than people think, um, you know, and I think
Speaker 1: it's it's sad now that he's he felt he had
Speaker 1: to go to to Brooklyn and a super team because
Speaker 1: you know, he was just getting crushed by the narratives
Speaker 1: of you know, not being good enough to get over
Speaker 1: the hump with a with a team that that wasn't
Speaker 1: amazing quite frankly. And you know, now that's what happens.
Speaker 1: All these guys us feel the way of the need
Speaker 1: then to join forces and go to a super team
Speaker 1: just so they can get a ring to you know,
Speaker 1: to appease like vot like no, like validates that somehow
Speaker 1: that validates their career when it shouldn't. You know, It's
Speaker 1: it's interesting, It's like, and I have to be very
Speaker 1: cautious of this myself, right like, we we can't make
Speaker 1: getting a ring the only thing that matters, because when
Speaker 1: we do, then guys pursue a ring and then suddenly
Speaker 1: they're the bad guy, right Like, Yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 1: that's really, that's that's really Kevin. The story of Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant's career. Right whereas he's he was playing Oaklhoma City, Okay,
Speaker 1: and he was playing two on five against the Warriors.
Speaker 1: I know they're up three one, I get okay, But yeah,
Speaker 1: Steven Adams is a non story and Andre Robertson is
Speaker 1: a non score. Um trying to think who else they had?
Speaker 1: Who is there? Um? Who else? Who was who was
Speaker 1: Dana Baca? Who's who's Bacca is on that team? Right?
Speaker 1: Then Abakabaka shoot, but then you have Russ is not
Speaker 1: a shooter, right, So I, but I remember when they're
Speaker 1: playing against the Warriors, the Warriors put two guys in
Speaker 1: his zone and just two guys right there at the elbows.
Speaker 1: So when when he catching catching at his elbows, he
Speaker 1: was constantly double teamed where there's just nowhere to go.
Speaker 1: So he goes somewhere where like, hey, we're gonna give
Speaker 1: you all the space in the world. He gets all
Speaker 1: the space in the world, gets Lebron on an island,
Speaker 1: and like, you can't guard that fucking guy, and he
Speaker 1: wins a couple of championships, would have won a third one,
Speaker 1: and suddenly he's the bad guy because he got tired of,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to carry a team that wasn't constructed
Speaker 1: to the way which it could truly show how magnificent
Speaker 1: the scory he is. So I and and look again,
Speaker 1: I'm I won't apologize for some of the social media
Speaker 1: stupid ship. He's done with the burner accounts whenever, and
Speaker 1: and maybe for uh, you know, his lack of understanding
Speaker 1: of how other people would handle him leaving. And I
Speaker 1: do think there's a right way and a wrong way
Speaker 1: to leave, even if you do leave all that stuff,
Speaker 1: I actually understand, like I would be and it had
Speaker 1: to be really really one on five is hard, right,
Speaker 1: I'll give you. I'll give you a story real quick.
Speaker 1: So obviously I wasn't a scorer ever since high school.
Speaker 1: And my first year playing professionally, I was playing with
Speaker 1: a team called euro Great. We won the Russian Championship,
Speaker 1: with the first team not named Sescat to win the
Speaker 1: Russian Championship, and we were I joined in January and
Speaker 1: we were stacked, and we had four or five good Russians,
Speaker 1: we had three good Lithuanians, we had the best player
Speaker 1: in Ukraine. And the reason that matters is they all
Speaker 1: counted as Russians. And then we had Willie Burton and
Speaker 1: me and I played this American that year and we
Speaker 1: kicked everybody's ass and we were so good that we
Speaker 1: won the league by like four games, and so we
Speaker 1: advanced automatically to the semi finals of the playoffs. Well,
Speaker 1: when won the league by four games, there were still
Speaker 1: two games left to be played, and I was twenty
Speaker 1: four and all these other guys are late twenties and thirties,
Speaker 1: and somehow they were like, we're gonna go take a brick,
Speaker 1: like they got to all really got to go home.
Speaker 1: One of the Russian dudes lived in Spain. He went
Speaker 1: to Spain and all of a sudden, like you know,
Speaker 1: I was a I would I would start some in
Speaker 1: six man some and suddenly like they all pieced out
Speaker 1: and I was playing. I played against SSCA with the juniors,
Speaker 1: and like one or two of the bench dude like
Speaker 1: the bench strubby dudes, right, and um, I was, you know,
Speaker 1: like now a sudden. It was on one part, it
Speaker 1: was awesome because we're practicing. We have two games left
Speaker 1: and once against SESCA. Home was against I think mineral Voda, right,
Speaker 1: mineral Water is actually a town in South Russia. And
Speaker 1: so like now I'm the dude, We're like we're running
Speaker 1: high sideball screens all this ship. For me, it's really good.
Speaker 1: And we get into a game and everywhere I go
Speaker 1: there's two dudes. And remember like again I'm not a score,
Speaker 1: I'm a pastor. I'm a facilitator. Like that's you know,
Speaker 1: when you want to do pro, you gotta do what
Speaker 1: you do best, you know, but in this particular setting,
Speaker 1: they're like, do we need you to We need you
Speaker 1: to go get buckets. So my first game playing with
Speaker 1: that group, I was like two of fourteen or something
Speaker 1: against Seska, and I mean I missed some good looks
Speaker 1: and I missed a dunk coming down the lane I had.
Speaker 1: I actually I just shot poorly. But it was so hard,
Speaker 1: so much harder when there was no space to do
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do because I could get by guys.
Speaker 1: But then the second guy we alway struggle without so
Speaker 1: used to passing off it. And the second game against
Speaker 1: the lesser team I was I was much better. But
Speaker 1: it was one of those things to where everybody thinks
Speaker 1: they want to be the dude, but you also have
Speaker 1: to have space to do what you do. And I
Speaker 1: think you you nailed it with the narrative, right, we
Speaker 1: create these narratives of you're only an all time grade
Speaker 1: if you win a champion, but you can't be a
Speaker 1: champion unless you have other dudes with you and you
Speaker 1: sometimes you can't organically allow that to happen on its
Speaker 1: own right. You just can't. So I think it's really
Speaker 1: hard for these guys. The herd and thing. I'll disagree
Speaker 1: with you. I'll push back on this point. I know
Speaker 1: that we pick him, we pick on him for for
Speaker 1: some of the defensive stuff, but like, he doesn't guard.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just doesn't. And now he I don't
Speaker 1: think he's as bad as Kyrie is, and I'll explain
Speaker 1: why in the second um, but but he he doesn't guard.
Speaker 1: And then there are times in which in the playoffs
Speaker 1: he tries to guard. And I think that it's one
Speaker 1: of the things that limits him offensively is you go
Speaker 1: through a season playing one way, and then you get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. They're not giving him the fouls the
Speaker 1: way they used to give it to him, and he's
Speaker 1: trying to guard, and so he's exhausted because playing both
Speaker 1: ends is really hard. Um. And and then I don't
Speaker 1: I agree with you. He is not selfish, he's magnificent
Speaker 1: with the ball. But what they were doing in Houston
Speaker 1: allowing him to just you know, dribble, dribble dribble, create
Speaker 1: the mismatch dribble, dribble dribble. It becomes a hard watch,
Speaker 1: and it takes away from how magnificent his skill set is.
Speaker 1: I always said this is my thing on James Harden.
Speaker 1: He's incredible. Okay, might be the best offensive player in basketball,
Speaker 1: but I can't stand to watch him now. I say that,
Speaker 1: and I actually really like how he's playing with Brooklyn
Speaker 1: because he's back to being more a facilitator and he's
Speaker 1: he's showing off how good a passer he is, and
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff shows like
Speaker 1: what people don't understand about James Harden. Uh is painfully honest. No, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, he You know Houston, You've got to
Speaker 1: remember that last year they're playing without a center. You know,
Speaker 1: they played p J. Tucker's six five playing playing center.
Speaker 1: And probably the best aspect of James Harden's game over
Speaker 1: his career has been his pick and role passing. You know,
Speaker 1: so Darryl More, he can say all he wants that
Speaker 1: that they have the most official offensive ever, James Harden
Speaker 1: is the most efficient player ever. But you know, you know,
Speaker 1: in the player offs, you need a you need a mix,
Speaker 1: you need somebody that can get their own shot in
Speaker 1: the mid range. You need, you need Kevin Durant, you know,
Speaker 1: you need you need guys like that. You can't only
Speaker 1: take threes or only play you know, robot ball. And
Speaker 1: that's what they never understood in Houston too. You know,
Speaker 1: they just became so predictable in the playoffs, and the
Speaker 1: Lakers just you know, pressed up like crazy on threes
Speaker 1: and and helped like crazy at the rim and and
Speaker 1: Houston just absolutely refused, uh to take a mid range jumper,
Speaker 1: which just makes no sense. And yeah, you know you're
Speaker 1: seeing again Harden has real pick and roll options. Now
Speaker 1: he has talent around him. And you know, the narrative thing,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant wasn't good enough without without a ring, so
Speaker 1: he goes to Golden State, gets rings, and then that
Speaker 1: still doesn't validate him, so he goes back to Brooklyn
Speaker 1: trying to kind of do his own thing with Kyrie.
Speaker 1: But then they're still not good enough to win just
Speaker 1: for those two, so they need more help. And you know,
Speaker 1: now the narrative just continues to cycle and cycle, and
Speaker 1: you know Harden's defense, like I said that, you know,
Speaker 1: he definitely deserves criticism his lifestyle I think has definitely
Speaker 1: caught up with him a lot in the playoffs. You
Speaker 1: can't be going out as much as as he does
Speaker 1: over the season and expect to have the energy to
Speaker 1: to do it on both ends. Like I said, for
Speaker 1: forty five minutes a night. Um, you know, but you
Speaker 1: saw it like against the Clippers the other night. One
Speaker 1: thing I think he's really underrated in is his post defense.
Speaker 1: And he's just so hard to move, you know, for
Speaker 1: even Kauai in a bak and all these guys are
Speaker 1: trying to post him up, and his you know, the
Speaker 1: way he resists post ups is is pretty incredible. So
Speaker 1: I think he definitely, like I said, is better than
Speaker 1: people think. But I do agree with you, you know,
Speaker 1: he's marginally better than Kyrie on that end, and still
Speaker 1: definitely definitely not great. Uh. Well, here's my thing with Kyrie,
Speaker 1: and some of this is inside infol right from people
Speaker 1: who have played with them or people that have coached
Speaker 1: him or been around people the coaching. It's it's not
Speaker 1: n Carrie is bad on defense. He's not very good
Speaker 1: at It's that Kyrie is. He doesn't know he's been
Speaker 1: out on defense, right, or he refuses to you know,
Speaker 1: the the the easiest example that I like to give
Speaker 1: is they played the Celtics, they played the Bucks in
Speaker 1: the playoffs when he's with the Celtics, and their defensive
Speaker 1: scheme was to switch everything except for Kyrie, you know,
Speaker 1: which is basically what Golden State does with Steph right
Speaker 1: where he stays home and everybody else, everybody else switches
Speaker 1: and under no uncertain circumstances did they want him guarding
Speaker 1: nice right there? Like that's we don't want that, Okay,
Speaker 1: We're gonna protect you. And he kept switching out on
Speaker 1: your honest and not just switching out and then switching
Speaker 1: out and like challenging you honest, and you know, these
Speaker 1: the coaches are like, what what the funk? Dude, Like,
Speaker 1: we're actually trying to protect you so that you can
Speaker 1: be the great offensive player that you are and not
Speaker 1: have to worry about defense. And you know, here do
Speaker 1: you you know, and not have to worry about, you know,
Speaker 1: guarding the you know, the best score maybe in the league,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're you're doing your own thing, which
Speaker 1: is why that's the frustrating part about Kyrie. It's not
Speaker 1: that he's better. And I agree with you on on Hart,
Speaker 1: and that's a great point that he's actually a really
Speaker 1: good He's incredibly strong, he's big. He is a good
Speaker 1: post defender, which always is funny to me when when teams,
Speaker 1: you know, try and attack him and I saw him
Speaker 1: the post. No dude, take him out in the court.
Speaker 1: That's when he just lays you know, and then he
Speaker 1: you know, he olas. And it used to work in
Speaker 1: Houston when they had Capella because he could ola and
Speaker 1: go ahead, go to the rim. You got that big
Speaker 1: fellow waiting to block your shot, you know. So Okay,
Speaker 1: so let me let me ask you about about about
Speaker 1: Brooklyn does it in the end? Do you think it works?
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think they definitely have a
Speaker 1: tremendous chance to at least make the finals. To me,
Speaker 1: I think they're the best, best equipped team in the East. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I still don't buy Milwaukee as as a
Speaker 1: playoff team. I still you know, Philly obviously he's gonna
Speaker 1: struggle with with Ben's shot. Um, you know, they play
Speaker 1: like they did against the Clippers, which was probably the
Speaker 1: best defensive game I've ever seen Kyrie play, quite frankly,
Speaker 1: and he was, you know, probably the best game i've
Speaker 1: ever seen him played period, considering how good he was
Speaker 1: offensively to um, you know, if they're that locked in, absolutely,
Speaker 1: But like you said, I mean the million dollar question is,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't know if Kyrie just decides in
Speaker 1: in in a month that he's gonna take two weeks
Speaker 1: to go, uh canvass around the country and do whatever
Speaker 1: else uh he wants to do. I mean, he's just
Speaker 1: a tremendously bizarre individual that nobody has really been able
Speaker 1: to figure out completely. And uh, yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's a huge test to a first time not
Speaker 1: only head coach, but first time coach really in Steve Nash,
Speaker 1: and I think at times he's looked overwhelmed. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't take the time out against the
Speaker 1: Wizards with them up to in bounding the ball under
Speaker 1: their own basket with like five seconds left, they throw
Speaker 1: it away and Westbrook it's a three. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a huge question mark for him. But um, you know, ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think it would be pretty hard to bet against
Speaker 1: Kyrie hardened Kevin Durant and I do think they have
Speaker 1: enough in terms of role players and defensive minded guys
Speaker 1: to you know, just enough to make it work if
Speaker 1: those three guys are again playing like they did against
Speaker 1: Clippers the other night. But obviously, you know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be all up to the mental and if they can
Speaker 1: you know, stick together and manage Kyrie well enough to
Speaker 1: make it across the finish line. Yeah, I think he
Speaker 1: would make a There's a series of great points you
Speaker 1: made there which are interesting and the fact that they
Speaker 1: he did all of that, they did all that against
Speaker 1: the Clippers is probably the best way to get into
Speaker 1: the best way to say it, right, like the magic
Speaker 1: to the NBA is Yeah, Yes, I think Kyrie can
Speaker 1: lock in for a series against the Bucks, for a
Speaker 1: series against the Celtics especially, he'd love to do right,
Speaker 1: a series against the Clippers, against the Lakers. The question
Speaker 1: is can they get there? Right? Can they can they?
Speaker 1: Can they get to that part of the finish line
Speaker 1: where um, okay, now now your competitive juices are flowing,
Speaker 1: and now you can and and that's the part where
Speaker 1: we just don't just don't know. Does does anybody know
Speaker 1: what that dude is? Like I I do wonder if
Speaker 1: k D even understands what he partnered with. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like when you're friends with somebody's it's like when
Speaker 1: you're dating somebody, then else when you're living with him,
Speaker 1: it's so so different. Yeah, I mean, just a completely
Speaker 1: different experience. Um. I mean it's the reason that the
Speaker 1: Bachelor and Bachelorette like they never make it right because
Speaker 1: it's all fantasy and then all of a sudden you
Speaker 1: get back to reality. Like, wait a second, this person
Speaker 1: is a slab, this person the idiot. You know, this
Speaker 1: person has no drive. Um, so it does, okay, Um,
Speaker 1: where are you on the Clippers this year as opposed
Speaker 1: to last year? You know, I think obviously at times
Speaker 1: last year they look great, you know, and in a
Speaker 1: lot of the regular season they look great a lot
Speaker 1: of early playoffs. I mean, ultimately, you know, like we
Speaker 1: talked about, the narrative with them is just gonna be
Speaker 1: do they make it to the finals or not? And
Speaker 1: anything short of that is gonna be is gonna be
Speaker 1: probably viewed as as a failure. Again, certainly, you know,
Speaker 1: if they don't at least make it to to play
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the conference finals. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think Doc uh quite frankly really did get out coached
Speaker 1: by Mike Malone last year, and um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think a big upgrade for them was not only getting
Speaker 1: you know, promoting Tylu, but what they've done with the
Speaker 1: assistance there has been really important to get you know,
Speaker 1: Dan Craig, who was a great preparation guy from Miami,
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson, Larry Drew, Trump, c Billips, Roy Rogers. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got a really good staff around him now, I
Speaker 1: think better than better than what Doc had. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: but can Betune keep this up? I mean, he looked
Speaker 1: near comatose and Charlotte and he's shooting like forty something
Speaker 1: percent from three and just been unbelievable for them. You know,
Speaker 1: the whole team shooting like above forty percent from three.
Speaker 1: They're they're all playing tremendously well together. But uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like we said, you know, the question marks
Speaker 1: all gonna be about the playoffs, and and Paul George
Speaker 1: clearly is uh you know, gonna have a lot of
Speaker 1: chances to get in his own head in the playoffs
Speaker 1: if he if he struggles it all there again. Um
Speaker 1: you know, so do they have enough to overcome that
Speaker 1: against the Lakers? I don't know. I think those two
Speaker 1: teams pretty much are our coin flip still if if
Speaker 1: they you know, faced themselves in the in the Western
Speaker 1: Conference finals. Um, okay, so and then the Lakers this year.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting, um that I think the
Speaker 1: Clippers it was a lot for year one, but they
Speaker 1: were probably I don't, I don't. I didn't love the
Speaker 1: Lakers roster last year, but it came together. Part of
Speaker 1: it was they were in the bubble and they you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think they you know, it's funny everybody says
Speaker 1: the Clippers, you know, succumb to the bubble. The truth
Speaker 1: is the Lakers were on the birth there too. But
Speaker 1: what happened with them was interesting was they weren't doing
Speaker 1: so well emotionally and they were all were ready to
Speaker 1: go home. And then they had then the dealing the
Speaker 1: tragedy and Kenosha happened right with it, and and there
Speaker 1: was the protests. So they actually had missed two game days,
Speaker 1: which gave them all time to kind of rest and
Speaker 1: recharge their bodies, and then you know, they played shortly
Speaker 1: after then the advanced to take on the Rockets, and
Speaker 1: the Rockets first it was a terrible matchup for the Rockets,
Speaker 1: right because the Rockets could only play small and so
Speaker 1: as you point out, like the Lakers had a great
Speaker 1: game plan and really matched up well, and then you know,
Speaker 1: Russell starts talking ship to them, which you know, supercharged everybody.
Speaker 1: And then the Clippers lose and they're like, how we
Speaker 1: can win this thing? So a lot of it was,
Speaker 1: you know, they It's interesting how we tell we're gonna
Speaker 1: go back and tell the story of the bubble and
Speaker 1: lead out the fact that the Lakers weren't doing so
Speaker 1: hot for a for a good portion of times. That
Speaker 1: that said, I like a lot of the things they've
Speaker 1: done to the roster. I just we make this assumption
Speaker 1: that we know what Dennis Shrewder is going to be
Speaker 1: like in the playoffs. We have no idea. I have
Speaker 1: no idea how he's gonna react in real pressure situations. UM.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I think there are times in
Speaker 1: which Coup's looks better. There are times in which he
Speaker 1: does not. UM. And I also wonder, like we we
Speaker 1: we This is my biggest problem with with all of
Speaker 1: us collectively, not just and I have this problem too,
Speaker 1: is we see one thing and it affirms what we think,
Speaker 1: and that's what we write. So you know, Lebron looks
Speaker 1: incredible against the Bucks. Keep in mind, he looked like
Speaker 1: shit against the Warriors, didn't play well against the Bulls,
Speaker 1: and he's not expected to be magnificent every night. But
Speaker 1: there are nights in which he looks like he's in
Speaker 1: his mid late thirties and has played eighteen years in
Speaker 1: the NBA. I'm interested what Lebron is the percentage of
Speaker 1: times in which he can be Lebron when we get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. Considering it's not just this year, it's
Speaker 1: last year. You know, it's there, there wasn't time off
Speaker 1: and we can say that he's got this great body whatever,
Speaker 1: but like at some point, father time does start to
Speaker 1: catch up to you. So again my question, do you
Speaker 1: Lakers this year? What do you think of the roster,
Speaker 1: how they're playing, and what it looks like once we
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, you know, when
Speaker 1: when you have Lebron and a d it's hard hard
Speaker 1: to to really screw that up. You know, you'd be
Speaker 1: hard pressed to put a roster together that they can't
Speaker 1: find some way to complement those two. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: come playoff time. I mean, certainly I agree with you
Speaker 1: about Shrewder. You know, I think one thing I was
Speaker 1: definitely on all season last year. Lakers fans were just
Speaker 1: bitching incessantly all season long about Rondo and his regular
Speaker 1: season stats and all those things. But anybody that knew
Speaker 1: basketball knew that he he's a genius. You know, he's
Speaker 1: a savant. They knew in the playoffs he would he
Speaker 1: would have more and be able to play defense and
Speaker 1: then you know, make those labs and all the all
Speaker 1: the things he does. You know, So, yeah, he's shrewder
Speaker 1: the better fit over seventy two games. And can he
Speaker 1: play more minutes and can he start? Sure? But you know,
Speaker 1: will he have the impact Toronto does in terms of
Speaker 1: leading a team and understanding the game in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Probably not. You know that that's a big question mark. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, losing losing Bradley, losing uh Danny Green's wing
Speaker 1: defense is still certainly a question mark to me. You know,
Speaker 1: you have Caruso, you have Matthews, you have Horton. Tucker's
Speaker 1: you know, young and impressive at times. But uh yeah,
Speaker 1: you know that the center's obviously changed. The ton Gasol
Speaker 1: looked like he was he was out of juice really
Speaker 1: for Toronto in the playoffs. He's He's looked pretty good
Speaker 1: for l A, but certainly big question mark if he
Speaker 1: can really make it through the whole season. You know, Carrel,
Speaker 1: we talked about the Clippers. He was the one guy
Speaker 1: that uh, you know, most of their fans blame for
Speaker 1: for their shortcomings in terms of his defense, his rebounding
Speaker 1: at times, uh in the playoffs. So you know, he's
Speaker 1: definitely still a question mark to some extent. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you kind of put it fairly.
Speaker 1: I think both those teams still have have big question marks.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, the Lakers ultimately they pulled it
Speaker 1: out and the Clippers choked at the end. So the
Speaker 1: narratives that the Lakers were some drastically better team, but
Speaker 1: you know, I think the truth is closer to they
Speaker 1: were both pretty damn close last season. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: they probably were probably the best two teams in the
Speaker 1: league ultimately, Um, you know, and I think we'll get
Speaker 1: to see that this year in terms of them meeting
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference Finals, and I think to me
Speaker 1: that that's basically, uh, the NBA Finals. You know, I
Speaker 1: think they're they're ultimately going to be the two best
Speaker 1: teams in the league. Um, you know, and whoever wins
Speaker 1: that I think should should be able to beat Brooklyn
Speaker 1: or whoever comes out of the East. If you can
Speaker 1: pick one player right now in the NBA, who would
Speaker 1: it be? This is to build around or like for
Speaker 1: right for one game now for one season this season,
Speaker 1: still gotta go to Lebrons. Uh yeah, I mean used
Speaker 1: to you know, thirty six. But he's he's like Brady,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he hasn't shown really any signs of
Speaker 1: losing his his mental genius. And I think just on
Speaker 1: both ends, continues to be the most dominant player, you know,
Speaker 1: especially come playoff times. So despite any videos of him
Speaker 1: coasting or whatever at times in the regular season, you
Speaker 1: ultimately know, you know, he's going to be the best
Speaker 1: player most likely, uh, come playoff time. It's interesting because
Speaker 1: I think the Brady comparison is a good one because sometimess,
Speaker 1: there's there's two things that having a guy like that
Speaker 1: does to your to your franchise. Right. One, it gives
Speaker 1: everybody a belief Like he walks in the door, You're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we want to win, and this guy knows how to win, right.
Speaker 1: And the Lebron is kind of he's kind of evolved, right,
Speaker 1: he has. Like last year he just and I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was Vogel or if it was him,
Speaker 1: but at some point they figured out, like, you know,
Speaker 1: the offense is gonna come and go, let's just be
Speaker 1: the best fucking defensive team in the league. And they
Speaker 1: were unbelievable. And he's not nearly as his defense is
Speaker 1: on the micro what his game is on the macro,
Speaker 1: which is he's not as he's not as good defensively
Speaker 1: on the ball as he used to be. Can't defend
Speaker 1: the rim. Sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he has nights where
Speaker 1: he doesn't move that well. But he's so intellectually ahead
Speaker 1: of everybody else. He's a great leader, and he knows
Speaker 1: to pick his spots and how to hide defensively at times,
Speaker 1: so he doesn't overextend himself or look bad like there's
Speaker 1: a you know, so he protects himself from himself, which
Speaker 1: is amazing. But that's kind of his whole game, right,
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't go one on one as much. He
Speaker 1: lets Anthony Davis do that. And now he'll because he's
Speaker 1: become a much better three point shooter. He'll settle for
Speaker 1: threes and he'll take halves off of really extending himself,
Speaker 1: saving himself with the fourth quarter, right, But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of Brady to it where even if it's not real,
Speaker 1: there's there's just this belief that he's gonna win and
Speaker 1: he's going to figure it out. And that's the Brady thing.
Speaker 1: Brady is not close to a top five quarterback. And
Speaker 1: they he played like ship in the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: But that first drive they get the ball, they march
Speaker 1: down the field and they score like, Oh, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: what do you got? Right? And Lebron they're they're very
Speaker 1: similar in that way in that they they they believe
Speaker 1: that they're gonna win at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and everybody else believes in them. And they're not better,
Speaker 1: but they're so much smarter than they ever were previously,
Speaker 1: even in their career that there that they're a step
Speaker 1: ahead of everybody else. Yeah. Absolutely, And it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's just the i Q is is off the charts.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's the smartest player of all time.
Speaker 1: You know, there's stories going around about Patrick Patterson. I
Speaker 1: remember once forgot to play uh for the Raptors and
Speaker 1: and Lebron walked him through their play, like what what
Speaker 1: the Raptors were supposed to do? He knew it better
Speaker 1: than Patterson did um And yeah it is you know,
Speaker 1: that's again stuff that just doesn't show up in the
Speaker 1: statue that he he knows every single play and every
Speaker 1: team was playbook. He knows exactly where he's supposed to be,
Speaker 1: where everybody's supposed to be. And yeah, I mean he's
Speaker 1: like the you know, he's like the quarterback defensively offensively
Speaker 1: obviously that I cused off the charts too, and he
Speaker 1: just he just manages a game to a t. So
Speaker 1: last thing, Okay, so how can people get your stuff?
Speaker 1: Your pod, your breakdown? Yeah, just Scout with Brian, uh,
Speaker 1: Scott with Brian with a Y if you type that
Speaker 1: in on Twitter YouTube of course, the Scout with Brian podcast.
Speaker 1: Those are the three main ways to find my stuff
Speaker 1: at at Scott with Brian. If you're going to tell
Speaker 1: there's a college kid who's listening, I actually have a
Speaker 1: a friend who's a college kid and he wants to
Speaker 1: be a GM in the league and he studies it.
Speaker 1: He's working for an agent as well. But if you're
Speaker 1: you tell somebody, all right, when you get done with
Speaker 1: college here's what you should do if you want to
Speaker 1: be in the league. What would it be? Uh fucking grind,
Speaker 1: That's what I'll say. You know, I'm a I'm a
Speaker 1: five ten Jewish kid that that played high school tennis,
Speaker 1: like I said, you know, and and cut to be
Speaker 1: U a full time traveling video coordinator in every coach's
Speaker 1: meeting right out of college, you know, and that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to toot my own horn or say
Speaker 1: I was better than anybody or anything. But what I
Speaker 1: tried to pride myself on was was, you know, being
Speaker 1: the first one in the office, last to leave, and
Speaker 1: just working my ass off. And and that's the only
Speaker 1: way you can kind of make up that gap, you know,
Speaker 1: if you weren't a player, weren't a tremendous athlete or anything.
Speaker 1: So you know, like sports, ultimately, a lot of that
Speaker 1: stuff is about about work ethic, So grinding, grinding. Hey man, listen,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate join us. I love the back and
Speaker 1: forth and some of the d M we have on stuff.
Speaker 1: And at some point let's break bread in person in
Speaker 1: the future and uh, this is great, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: do it again. As the season rolls, on. Thanks. I
Speaker 1: appreciate your input and your knowledge and and you join
Speaker 1: us on the pot. Thank you, Doug, really appreciate you
Speaker 1: having me enjoyed it. Be sure to catch the live
Speaker 1: edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
Speaker 1: p m. Easter noon Pacific. Alright, my thanks to Brian.
Speaker 1: Follow him on social media. He's awesome. Keep the questions coming.
Speaker 1: We always try and do some NBA, some college, some
Speaker 1: great personalities. Um, if you missed any of the other ones,
Speaker 1: there's some great other All Balls download them wherever you
Speaker 1: download this podcast. Remember my show is three to six
Speaker 1: Eastern or twelve three Pacific every day on Fox Sport
Speaker 1: Trade or foxport Trade dot Com, the I Heart Radio app.
Speaker 1: I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is All Ball