Speaker 1: The volume. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season?
Speaker 1: You are with all the new ways to get in
Speaker 1: on the action at Draft Kings sports Book, an official
Speaker 1: sports betting partner of the NBA. From Monster Slams to
Speaker 1: dishing the rock to cleaning the glass, get behind your
Speaker 1: favorite players and the prop bets you can make on DraftKings,
Speaker 1: the home of NBA player props. Ready to place your
Speaker 1: first bet, Try betting on something simple like picking how
Speaker 1: many points your favorite player will have. Go to the
Speaker 1: Draft Kings Sportsbook app and make your pick right now.
Speaker 1: The Oklahoma City Thunder have supplanted the Celtics as the
Speaker 1: favorite on DraftKings to win the title at plus two thirty.
Speaker 1: The Celtics and second at plus two to fifty, and
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers leapt all the way up to
Speaker 1: the fifth best title odds right now at plus fifteen hundred.
Speaker 1: First time, here's something special just for you new DraftKings customers.
Speaker 1: Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 1: in bonus bets. Instantly take it to the rack with
Speaker 1: DraftKings sports Book, Every point counts. Download the Draft Kings
Speaker 1: sports Book gap and use code hoops, that's hoops, that's
Speaker 1: code hoops for new customers to get one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars in bonus bets when you bet five bucks
Speaker 1: only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called
Speaker 1: one hundred Gambler in New York call eight seven seven
Speaker 1: eight hope and why, or text hope and why to
Speaker 1: four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help us
Speaker 1: available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight
Speaker 1: nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org.
Speaker 1: Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort
Speaker 1: in Kansas twenty one plus age in eligibility varies by jurisdiction.
Speaker 1: Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,
Speaker 1: see DKG dot co slash b Ball. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Best of Hoops Tonight, featuring my top takes from recent shows.
Speaker 1: Luca's debut with the Lakers a really weird game because
Speaker 1: the Jazz are just really bad, and the Jazz are
Speaker 1: also a legit like switch everything one through five no
Speaker 1: matter what type of team, and so all your ball
Speaker 1: screen actions are kind of shut down, and the only
Speaker 1: way you're really gonna get advantages is by like slipping
Speaker 1: out of switches, sealing switches, or attacking one on one
Speaker 1: and drawing hell right, And the biggest thing that stood
Speaker 1: out to me in this game was their ability to
Speaker 1: consistently get dribble penetration. There was good action too. JJ
Speaker 1: talked about in the postgame press or how they ran
Speaker 1: a three man horn set with Luca Lebron in Austin
Speaker 1: one time in the game and got a wide open
Speaker 1: shot for Ruey Hatchamurra and it was they made so
Speaker 1: Austin was at the top, Lebron and Luca were at
Speaker 1: the elbows. Luca's on the left elbow. Austin makes a
Speaker 1: post entry to Luca and then cuts off of Lebron,
Speaker 1: And when he cuts off Lebron, Lebron sets a good
Speaker 1: screen that obviously triggers the switch. But Jordan Clarkson was
Speaker 1: guarding Austin. Lebron just sealed him and created that over
Speaker 1: the top passing angle. Luca threw it to him. Now,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Jordan Clarkson's trapped on Lebron's backside,
Speaker 1: so there's nobody in front of him. If you don't
Speaker 1: step up, Lebron's gonna go to the rim. Ruey Ha
Speaker 1: Timura's man who was in the corner, steps over to
Speaker 1: help on Lebron. Lebron makes the kickout past to Ruey
Speaker 1: wide open three. That's the type of action that they'll
Speaker 1: have to run more frequently against some of the better
Speaker 1: teams in the league when it's just a little bit
Speaker 1: harder to break down individual defenders. But they did get
Speaker 1: good stuff out out of action. There were some other examples,
Speaker 1: like Ruy's first dunk in the game. Along the baseline,
Speaker 1: Luca set a screen for Ruy along the baseline. Isaiah
Speaker 1: Collier was guarding Luca and was really hesitant to switch
Speaker 1: off of Luca, and so he did it. John Collins
Speaker 1: got caught on the screen. Ruey Haachimura got a dunk,
Speaker 1: even the LB dunk that Jackson Hayes got to start
Speaker 1: the second half, same sort of concept, a little wide
Speaker 1: screen between Luca and Jackson Hayes. Isaiah Collier did not
Speaker 1: want to switch off of Luca. He was kind of
Speaker 1: hesitant on that, but they did switch off of Jackson Hayes,
Speaker 1: so Luca just threw the lob right up to Jackson
Speaker 1: and he got a dunk. There were examples of them
Speaker 1: getting good stuff out of action, and especially against more
Speaker 1: traditional coverages, they're going to get a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: out of action. But again, by far, the big thing
Speaker 1: that stood out to me was their ability to get
Speaker 1: dribble penetration. Luca has this remarkable ability to turn any
Speaker 1: small gap or small angle into a full blown drive
Speaker 1: to the rim. And part of it is his incredible
Speaker 1: ability to use fakes. He just says he's really good
Speaker 1: at like I talk about this all the time when
Speaker 1: he was in Dallas. But he will sell every part
Speaker 1: of every move with every part of his body. So,
Speaker 1: like I talk about this all the time, instead of
Speaker 1: like doing a big sweeping crossover, it makes more sense
Speaker 1: just to face this way and then completely change direction.
Speaker 1: If you sell it with your eyes and you sell
Speaker 1: it with your shoulders and you sell it with your hips,
Speaker 1: the defender is going to react. Most good defenders don't
Speaker 1: watch the ball. They watch like your center of gravity
Speaker 1: to see where your body's going, and you sell that
Speaker 1: direction change and then you pull the ball back across right.
Speaker 1: Like It's more about those little head fakes and body
Speaker 1: fakes to get players out of position. He's great with
Speaker 1: he's great with pump fakes, he's great with pass fakes.
Speaker 1: He can do all these things to get guys out
Speaker 1: of position. And once he gets that tiny little angle,
Speaker 1: that's where his strength takes over. He's just so big
Speaker 1: and so strong that he can turn a small gap
Speaker 1: into like a lumbering drive to the rim because he
Speaker 1: gets you caught on his shoulder or caught on his backside.
Speaker 1: And his drives have a tendency to bring in a
Speaker 1: ton of help because they are slow. He like rumbles
Speaker 1: downhill and everybody reacts to it. And because he's such
Speaker 1: a threat to throw the lob pass, everyone kind of
Speaker 1: overreacts to stuff in the paint, and that's what opens
Speaker 1: up those kickout reads. Did you notice how much Lebron
Speaker 1: was pressuring the rim last night. A big part of
Speaker 1: that is because he doesn't have to create every single shot,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to worry about burning himself out. He's
Speaker 1: also clearly very excited right now. That plays a role
Speaker 1: in it. But did you notice that he was like
Speaker 1: on those switches, being aggressive downhill, pressuring the rim. He
Speaker 1: kind of gets choppy with his feet and tries to
Speaker 1: get ahead of steam so that he gets his body
Speaker 1: weight going downhill, and guys just don't want to get
Speaker 1: in the way of him. Like there's a certain amount
Speaker 1: of energy that Lebron can afford to expand on each
Speaker 1: individual iso, on each individual post up, on each individual
Speaker 1: ball screen, simply because he has less to do on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor. I thought Lebron was
Speaker 1: fantastic in this game. He's been great for a while.
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick talked after the game about how ever, since
Speaker 1: the Miami game, they had a talk and now, if
Speaker 1: you guys remember the Miami game was when I had
Speaker 1: my meltdown and I was like, what the hell is
Speaker 1: wrong with these guys? You know, and JJ sat down
Speaker 1: with Lebron, and ever since then, he's been fantastic. I
Speaker 1: dug into the numbers. Since that Miami game, he's averaging
Speaker 1: twenty six point four points per game, eight rebounds per game,
Speaker 1: nine assists per game, fifty four percent from the field,
Speaker 1: forty three percent from three eight thirty point games, four
Speaker 1: triple doubles. He's playing at a top five level right now,
Speaker 1: which is what's so exciting about partnering him with Lebron
Speaker 1: James with the other talent on this roster. I thought
Speaker 1: Austin was fantastic. Again, he had to lead a unit
Speaker 1: in the early second quarter with Lebron, excuse me, in
Speaker 1: the late first quarter with Lebron and Luca both off
Speaker 1: the floor because Luca was on a minute'st Now, I
Speaker 1: would expect that it'll be like all three of them
Speaker 1: to start games. Then Lebron will come out and it'll
Speaker 1: be Luca and Austin right in that like mid first
Speaker 1: quarter stretch, and then one of those guys will come out,
Speaker 1: probably probably Luca, and it'll be Austin and Lebron to
Speaker 1: end the first quarter, and then they'll probably start the
Speaker 1: second quarter with Lebron and Luca. Then Lebron will come
Speaker 1: out in the middle of the second quarter, it'll be
Speaker 1: Luca and Austin, and then it'll be all three of
Speaker 1: them at the end. Right, that's probably going to be
Speaker 1: the normal progression. You're probably always going to have to
Speaker 1: deal with two of those guys, right, And that's the
Speaker 1: exciting part about this in the big picture, And I
Speaker 1: was literally thinking about it last night, like there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of time over the course of the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks where the Lakers have been playing really
Speaker 1: good basketball, but over the course of games, teams will
Speaker 1: ball pressure Austin and ball pressure Lebron and wear them down.
Speaker 1: And Lebron is forty and Austin is a little bit
Speaker 1: susceptible to strength and athleticism from time and from time
Speaker 1: to time, and they will wear down. And they've been
Speaker 1: playing so great that they've still been winning, and Austin
Speaker 1: still made enough plays in the Pacers game to get
Speaker 1: the job done, and they do what they need to
Speaker 1: do to get the win. But there's clearly like a
Speaker 1: little bit of like a Okay, we're running out of
Speaker 1: gas offensively here, where adding Luca just immediately doesn't just
Speaker 1: address that but turns you into the most resilient shot
Speaker 1: creation team in the league. To just be dealing with
Speaker 1: waves of all three of them, and then Luca and Austin,
Speaker 1: and then Luca and Lebron, and then Luca and then
Speaker 1: all three of them again, and it's just gonna be
Speaker 1: Lebron and Austin here and all these just these groups
Speaker 1: that have so much shot creation on the floor, they're
Speaker 1: just gonna have such a resilient offense. But again, because
Speaker 1: of Luca's minutes restriction, Austin had to lead a unit
Speaker 1: by himself, and guess what, He's been doing that a
Speaker 1: lot this year, and he did it amazingly well again
Speaker 1: last night in that first quarter stretch. One of the
Speaker 1: biggest things, though, that I was excited about after this
Speaker 1: trade was the play finishing that is on this roster. Okay,
Speaker 1: like Luca's an indomitable force, there are a handful of
Speaker 1: guys in the league that can make him work harder
Speaker 1: than you usual. I think of like lou Dort, I
Speaker 1: think of like Andrew Wiggins, who's not even in the
Speaker 1: conference anymore. But even some of the best perimeter defenders
Speaker 1: in the league, guys like Jaden McDaniels right in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference finals, those guys can't keep him from getting
Speaker 1: to his spots. As a matter of fact, he kind
Speaker 1: of gets where he wants to easily against them. That
Speaker 1: is the superpower that will help this offense when things
Speaker 1: get really tough. But the other guys do have some limitations.
Speaker 1: Right Lebron's forty. There's a couple times last night where
Speaker 1: he tried to like turn the corner on Lourie markin
Speaker 1: In and just couldn't get there. Laurie was like blocking
Speaker 1: him off the glass or forcing him into bad misses
Speaker 1: five years ago. He's dunking on his head. But he's forty, right,
Speaker 1: and he can wear down a little bit physically over
Speaker 1: the course of games. Although to Lebron's credit, he's been
Speaker 1: fantastic out of late. As of late, and that's the
Speaker 1: optimism with this group, But Lebron is forty years old.
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, for example, not a great athlete. He can
Speaker 1: struggle under ball pressure sometimes ruey if it's not a
Speaker 1: dunk under the rim, like he's shooting under fifty percent
Speaker 1: on layups right, and his jumper under contests can get
Speaker 1: a little finicky sometimes. Point being, they're awesome offensive players,
Speaker 1: but they have some limit pations when they're in lead roles.
Speaker 1: For all three of those guys, right, but once you
Speaker 1: give them an advantage, if you let Lebron have someone
Speaker 1: sprinting at him and now he's playing driving kick basketball.
Speaker 1: If you let Lebron slip out of screens to where
Speaker 1: he can lead a four on three, If you put
Speaker 1: Austin on the perimeter with the guy sprinting at him,
Speaker 1: where he could show the ball and drive left or right.
Speaker 1: If you put Ruey wide open, where he's shooting fifty
Speaker 1: three percent on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots this
Speaker 1: year field goal percentage, meaning he's making more than half
Speaker 1: of them. With what he can do driving closeouts. Gabe
Speaker 1: has been playing super well again. He was a big
Speaker 1: part of that Austin solo unit that did so well.
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith can knock down and open three. Jackson Hayes,
Speaker 1: Like I talked a lot after the Mark Williams trade
Speaker 1: went through or fell through about how like not having
Speaker 1: Mark as like a roleman threat could be a significant
Speaker 1: hit to this offense. After watching last night, like I thought,
Speaker 1: Jackson did just find capitalizing on all the vertical spacing opportunities.
Speaker 1: I believe he was six for six from the field
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. Like, I think he's not as
Speaker 1: good as Mark Williams, but I think he's gonna do
Speaker 1: just fine unlocking that vertical spacing. The point is is
Speaker 1: there's just a ton of play finishing on this roster.
Speaker 1: So if you have Luca, who against the very best
Speaker 1: defenses in the league, and against the very best defenders
Speaker 1: in the league, can still create advantages and Lebron, who
Speaker 1: kind of looks like he's still doing it for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: And let's say, let's even pretend for a second that
Speaker 1: Lebron eventually kind of wears down over the course of
Speaker 1: a playoff run and doesn't look like top five Lebron
Speaker 1: but looks like top ten Lebron. Even if that happens,
Speaker 1: Luca is there to create the initial advantage. Once he
Speaker 1: creates that initial advantage. Lebron and Austin and Gabe and
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith and Ruy, those guys are incredible at
Speaker 1: this driving kick thing, and they're just gonna take those
Speaker 1: advantages in either score out of them or drive them
Speaker 1: and draw another defender and create an even better shot.
Speaker 1: There were so many sequences last night where the Lakers
Speaker 1: continued to break down the defense and would get like
Speaker 1: a really good look with like two or three seconds
Speaker 1: on the shot clock. It's like, oh, Lebron's driving on
Speaker 1: like the fourth driving kick of the possession and whipping
Speaker 1: a pass back across the court to Gabe Vincent who
Speaker 1: knocks it down, or all of the possession is great
Speaker 1: defense from the Jazz and everything's covered, but Walker Kessler
Speaker 1: is on Austin In a switch on the left wing
Speaker 1: and Austin just pump fakes on a close out. You
Speaker 1: get the end of the possession is you get a
Speaker 1: short close out for Austin on the left wing against
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler. Austin shows the ball, Walker over pursues that
Speaker 1: pump fake, Austin drives and hits a little bank shot
Speaker 1: with like two on the shot clock. That is play finishing.
Speaker 1: I talk about this all the time when you go
Speaker 1: into lower levels. It's dramatic the difference at the high
Speaker 1: school level. If I let the guys play king of
Speaker 1: the court with a set defender versus a king of
Speaker 1: the court with a guy out at them, their ability
Speaker 1: to score like quadruples and when you give them that advantage.
Speaker 1: Now again at the NBA level, it's a smaller advantage.
Speaker 1: It's more like maybe twenty to thirty percent more efficient
Speaker 1: per possession. But that's a substantial increase that you can
Speaker 1: benefit from because now you have the best set of
Speaker 1: advantage creators that are in the NBA. So on the
Speaker 1: Warriors front, I'm talking a lot with respect to Lebron
Speaker 1: about the concept of belief. Right Like, playing championship level
Speaker 1: basketball is really hard and takes a pretty desperate commitment
Speaker 1: to work that's not even necessarily fun. It's fun in
Speaker 1: the context of winning, but playing championship basketball includes a
Speaker 1: lot of really difficult things to do on the court,
Speaker 1: a certain level of exertion that is difficult, and so
Speaker 1: if you don't actually think you're gonna get rewarded for
Speaker 1: it by actually believing there's an opportunity to accomplish something,
Speaker 1: it's going to be difficult even for the best players
Speaker 1: in the world to really get invested in that context.
Speaker 1: About four games ago, early last week, it became abundantly
Speaker 1: clear that the Warriors were going to trade for somebody.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was just the humiliation of
Speaker 1: missing out on Kevin Durant or what the deal was,
Speaker 1: but it became clear that they were going to get somebody.
Speaker 1: In the four games since then since that intel came down,
Speaker 1: Steph is averaging thirty five points, five rebounds, and five
Speaker 1: assists per game. In the two games since Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: actually started playing and making life easier for Steph, he
Speaker 1: just logged back to back games with at least thirty
Speaker 1: points on at least fifty percent shooting for the first
Speaker 1: time since the Dallas and Oklahoma City wins. Way back
Speaker 1: in early November, I talked about how the thing I
Speaker 1: was most excited about this deal. I do think that
Speaker 1: this Warriors team has a small window to maybe capitalize
Speaker 1: on an opportunity to win a championship here. But more
Speaker 1: than anything, it went from a team that was most
Speaker 1: likely not going to play any meaningful basketball, Like without
Speaker 1: a trade, that team is probably going to lose in
Speaker 1: the play in just like last year. But with Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler in the mix, they're almost certainly going to get
Speaker 1: out of that mess and get into a first round series,
Speaker 1: which means we're going to get another opportunity to watch
Speaker 1: Steph Curry play meaningful basketball. That's what I'm excited about.
Speaker 1: Steph said after the game, We've got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: do something pretty special considering where we've been this season,
Speaker 1: and he's right. There are lineups that they can put
Speaker 1: together now that have Steph, that have Jimmy, that have Draymond,
Speaker 1: that have Jonathan Kamingo when he comes back, and it
Speaker 1: looks like he's probably gonna be coming back after the
Speaker 1: All Star break, where they have enough talent now to
Speaker 1: actually present some problems to some of these teams. And
Speaker 1: that's like, when it comes to the playoffs, so much
Speaker 1: of it comes down to, like, what do we do
Speaker 1: that the other team sucks at? What do they do
Speaker 1: that we suck at? What can they capitalize on in
Speaker 1: terms of weaknesses and vice versa, And just bringing in
Speaker 1: a weapon like Jimmy Butler just puts them in a
Speaker 1: situation where they're going to be a more precarious type
Speaker 1: of matchup to deal with. And like, God, if we
Speaker 1: can get if the Warriors end up matching up with
Speaker 1: somebody like the two seed, they end up getting a Memphis,
Speaker 1: that's a matchup that they're capable of winning. And how
Speaker 1: great would it be if we got to see another
Speaker 1: month of high level playoff basketball out of Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: even with an opportunity to potentially do more. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's not guaranteed. There could be injuries, there could be
Speaker 1: things that go wrong, they could miss the playoffs, right,
Speaker 1: but by virtue of making this deal, I find it
Speaker 1: far more likely than not that they're going to make
Speaker 1: it out of the play in tournament and get into
Speaker 1: a legitimate playoff series And give me Steph, Jimmy and
Speaker 1: Draymond in a playoff series, and I think that that's
Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating couple of weeks. And if
Speaker 1: they win, we could get to see another extended playoff
Speaker 1: runt from one of the greatest players in the history
Speaker 1: of the game. And that's why I'm excited. It's about belief.
Speaker 1: Like Steph looks engaged, he doesn't say that after the
Speaker 1: game unless he believes that this team can do something.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, I think has been an amazing fit right away.
Speaker 1: I wasn't worried about it. I know there were some
Speaker 1: Warriors fans that were. I just think Jimmy's too smart
Speaker 1: of a basketball player that brings too many complimentary traits
Speaker 1: to what Steph Curry does. I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about middle of the floor processing. This is
Speaker 1: something that I've talked a lot about on this show
Speaker 1: with respect to like mediocre playmakers, in the sense that
Speaker 1: when you're in the middle of the floor, there's just
Speaker 1: you can only see, you know, maybe one fourth of
Speaker 1: what's happening around you. Uh, there's always like a lot
Speaker 1: of moving parts that can get confusing in the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor. It's a spot where a lot of
Speaker 1: players struggle and it's why, like when it comes to
Speaker 1: the mediocre playmakers, you kind of want to clear the
Speaker 1: side then have them operate so the whole floors in
Speaker 1: front of them, just so that they have an easier
Speaker 1: time making reads. But when you have a player who
Speaker 1: knows what to do there, when you have a player
Speaker 1: that doesn't panic, it's like that famous basketball you know, ism,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, be quick but don't hurry. Right.
Speaker 1: If you can get a player that can quickly process
Speaker 1: without rushing and making mistakes in the middle of the floor,
Speaker 1: all sorts of good things can happen to your offense.
Speaker 1: An example from late first half last night against the Bucks,
Speaker 1: Steph Jimmy two man game. Top of the key. Kuzma
Speaker 1: goes out with Steph. There's two guys on Steph. Jimmy
Speaker 1: catches in the middle of the floor. When he catches
Speaker 1: in the middle of the floor, Draymon's man steps up
Speaker 1: closer to Jimmy, and now there's a two on one
Speaker 1: that's formed with Draymond underneath the basket, Buddy Healed on
Speaker 1: the wing, with Damian Lillard kind of splitting the difference
Speaker 1: between the two. Jimmy just calmly turns in, pivots and
Speaker 1: looks at Buddy healed. When he turns and pivots and
Speaker 1: looks at Buddy healed. There goes Dame running out to
Speaker 1: go to Buddy because he's biting on that headfake or
Speaker 1: pass fake whatever. You just Jimmy acknowledging Buddy's presence gets
Speaker 1: Dame to jump out. Then he just pivots again and
Speaker 1: looks there's Draymond boot bounce past easy layup right underneath
Speaker 1: the basket. He just looks so calm and comfortable operating there.
Speaker 1: Here's why that's important. Last night you actually saw it
Speaker 1: in some zone. Looks got to get the ball in
Speaker 1: the middle of the zone, and the Warriors consistently got
Speaker 1: it to Jimmy there. They scored eight points on four
Speaker 1: zone possessions in that game, and the Bucks just stop.
Speaker 1: Stop trying it. You can't run his zone if they're
Speaker 1: getting two points per possession. So that's part of it.
Speaker 1: But the biggest part, the most meaningful part within the
Speaker 1: playoff context, is the Steph Jimmy two man game. When
Speaker 1: you run the Steph Jimmy two man game, it's going
Speaker 1: to create advantages in three different ways. One is like
Speaker 1: that sequence I just told you about. Jimmy sets a screen.
Speaker 1: Both guys run with Steph. Now Jimmy's the role man,
Speaker 1: and it's a four on three where Draymond is absolutely
Speaker 1: an offensive threat in the dunker spot. Jimmy is a
Speaker 1: threat to score in the middle of the floor and
Speaker 1: to play make out of it. And you've got guys
Speaker 1: like Moses Moody in the corner, who has just been
Speaker 1: fantastic since Andrew Wiggins injury. It just or injury, excuse
Speaker 1: me trade. Since the Andrew Wiggins trade, it's given Moses
Speaker 1: Moody opportunity and he's just been capitalizing on it as
Speaker 1: a big range wing on the perimeter that can knock
Speaker 1: down threes, drive close outs, and play defense and rebound.
Speaker 1: And it's just it's he's taken advantage of his opportunity
Speaker 1: and he's crushing. But like you get into those four
Speaker 1: on threes, if they put two on the ball with Steph,
Speaker 1: that's where Jimmy can operate in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 1: The second thing that will happen with the Steph Jimmy
Speaker 1: two main game is inside position ceiling on switches. So
Speaker 1: imagine a guy's guarding Steph one on one faced up
Speaker 1: with him and Jimmy. This is the defender. Jimmy comes
Speaker 1: up and screens on the backside, and it triggers a switch. Okay,
Speaker 1: if they switch, Jimmy can then seal and create that
Speaker 1: over the top passing angle. We talked I believe in
Speaker 1: Yester on the Sunday Show about just how dynamic Jimmy
Speaker 1: is in those inside seals at creating a passing angle
Speaker 1: and high pointing the basketball and catching it. That accomplishes
Speaker 1: the same goal, the same four on three. So like
Speaker 1: if if you screen for Steph and your defender runs
Speaker 1: out onto Steph, but now you've got Steph's defender sealed
Speaker 1: on your top side and you get a catch over
Speaker 1: the top, it is an identical four on three because
Speaker 1: when you catch, all of a sudden, your defender's behind you,
Speaker 1: so you can just go right to the rim, which
Speaker 1: is going to force somebody to step up. There's your
Speaker 1: four on three. Now you have a three on two
Speaker 1: on the backside once that guy steps up to you
Speaker 1: after you catch on that inside seal, So you can
Speaker 1: get four on threes out of getting two onto Steph
Speaker 1: and just slipping out of it, you can get four
Speaker 1: on threes, out of inside seals on switches. Now, what
Speaker 1: about when they well execute a switch? So they switch,
Speaker 1: but the guy who's guarding Steph just quickly dives around
Speaker 1: with some good swim move or something and gets behind Jimmy. Well,
Speaker 1: who's the guard that's quick enough to guard Steph? Now
Speaker 1: he's got to guard Jimmy in the post. Wait until
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminge's back out there, and again it looks like
Speaker 1: he's gonna be coming back. Sometime shortly after the All
Speaker 1: Star break, Jonathan Kamenka comes back. Where are the athletes at?
Speaker 1: Where are you putting your athletes? Well, if you put
Speaker 1: your best forward athlete on Jimmy, that means your second
Speaker 1: best forward athlete is now guarding Jonathan Kaminga. Who's gonna
Speaker 1: just be a massive athletic mismatch that you can attack.
Speaker 1: If you have the best forward athlete on Jonathan Kminga,
Speaker 1: now you got your third best perimeter defender overall guarding
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, Like, that's gonna put you in a bind
Speaker 1: in terms of matchups. That's gonna make that Steph Jimmy
Speaker 1: two man game even harder to account for. But again,
Speaker 1: what unlocks all of it is anytime they put two
Speaker 1: on the ball, anytime they botch a switch or they
Speaker 1: get sealed top side on Jimmy, He's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to operate out of the middle of the floor better
Speaker 1: than any other player on this roster could. Draymond could
Speaker 1: do all the playmaking out of that position, but he
Speaker 1: couldn't bring the scoring out of that position. There are
Speaker 1: going to be times where Jimmy catches on the roll
Speaker 1: and everyone stays home and he's gonna have to attack
Speaker 1: the rim and maybe finish in a little bit of
Speaker 1: traffic or hit something there in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 1: He can do that. He can do that at a
Speaker 1: really high rate. But I think to early returns from
Speaker 1: this have been beautiful in terms of just demonstrating the
Speaker 1: simple fact that Jimmy is not only a very complimentary
Speaker 1: athlete to Steph, but he also represents a gaping hole
Speaker 1: in the roster that was there before the deal, which
Speaker 1: is just having a really high level dribble a guy
Speaker 1: who can dribble, shoot, and pass on the floor. That
Speaker 1: just greases the wheels for everything that you try to
Speaker 1: do on offense. I was amazed watching Kevin Durray last night.
Speaker 1: The Suns were an absolute mess. They had several guys
Speaker 1: playing that probably shouldn't be in the rotation for a
Speaker 1: serious NBA team. They looked incredibly sloppy and undisciplined, one
Speaker 1: of the worst transition defense performances I've seen. They gave
Speaker 1: up twenty offensive rebounds. But like a shining light in
Speaker 1: that darkness was Kevin Durant. Thirty four points on eighteen shots,
Speaker 1: only one turnover, five blocks, battling with Jaron Jackson trying
Speaker 1: to box him out on the glass all night long,
Speaker 1: and to top it off, in the process, he enters
Speaker 1: into rare territory. Kevin Durant is only the eighth player
Speaker 1: in NBA history to score thirty thousand points in an
Speaker 1: NBA career, rarefied air. There a group of guys that
Speaker 1: it's an honor to be associated with. But to me,
Speaker 1: the most impressive part of all of this is the
Speaker 1: circumstances he overcame to get here. Kevin Durant suffered the
Speaker 1: most terrifying injury that a basketball player can suffer, an
Speaker 1: Achilles rupture, right at the peak of his powers. He
Speaker 1: was playing so incredibly well when he took that little
Speaker 1: baseline jumper that he knocked down where he originally suffered
Speaker 1: the calf injury, and then he played amazing in his
Speaker 1: first few minutes in the NBA Finals before he went down.
Speaker 1: You can't imagine a more discouraging set of circumstances for
Speaker 1: a basketball player, and instead of letting that injury be
Speaker 1: a signal of the end, he came back every bit
Speaker 1: as good as ever on the other side of the injury.
Speaker 1: Seven thousand and sixty eight of those thirty thousand and
Speaker 1: eight points that he's scored so far came after the
Speaker 1: achilles tear, and he's done it on higher volume in
Speaker 1: efficiency than he was doing before the injury. In the
Speaker 1: five seasons before Kevin Durant's injury, he averaged twenty six
Speaker 1: points per game on just under sixty four percent for shooting.
Speaker 1: In the five seasons since, he's averaging twenty eight points
Speaker 1: per game on over sixty four percent for shooting. Any
Speaker 1: drop in his athleticism, he's more than made up for
Speaker 1: with a mastery of the modern game as a playmaker
Speaker 1: and as a floor general. I was really amazed by
Speaker 1: this in the Brooklyn Nets days as the league kind
Speaker 1: of shifted to like, really good spacing in the spread
Speaker 1: pick and roll attack. He was so incredibly good at
Speaker 1: picking teams apart as a pick and roll ball handler
Speaker 1: with the nets, and we've seen that extend throughout this
Speaker 1: late phase of his career. Like he's just the product
Speaker 1: of a consistent pursuit of excellence. He's got a legendary
Speaker 1: work ethic. His shooting workouts are the example set for
Speaker 1: all pros around the world. Still, when I'm talking to
Speaker 1: the kids that I train in high school, I talk
Speaker 1: about doing every single rep at game speed, something that
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant has been preaching. He's just Katie is one
Speaker 1: of the best ambassadors to the game of basketball that
Speaker 1: has ever come into this league. And I'm thankful for him,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to take a second before we
Speaker 1: talked about that game last night to congratulate him on
Speaker 1: overcoming the adversity of his injury and to enter into
Speaker 1: rarefied air and NBA history. I thought Jason Tatum just
Speaker 1: completely dominated the first quarter of that Spurs game. Set
Speaker 1: the tone, built that initial advantage, and it was something
Speaker 1: that the Spurs just couldn't overcome. On the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, Boston had a switching group out there
Speaker 1: that was just doing a really nice job just staying attacked,
Speaker 1: shutting down screening actions. Switching puts an MP assists on
Speaker 1: running action, good action that confuses switching, like three man action,
Speaker 1: lots of ball in player movement to try to get
Speaker 1: guys to make mistakes. And then when teams successfully switch,
Speaker 1: you've got to be aggressive against those switches getting to
Speaker 1: the basket to get super high value shots or to
Speaker 1: draw multiple defenders. You can run into a trap where
Speaker 1: you start settling, and that was what happened in that
Speaker 1: first quarter. There was a few examples of good action.
Speaker 1: There was like a little Chicago action like a downscreen
Speaker 1: into a dribble handoff where they pitched it back to
Speaker 1: Julian Champagnee on the right wing and knocked down a three.
Speaker 1: There were a couple examples like that, but it was
Speaker 1: a lot of like deeron Fox contested pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: Victor wembin Yama contested pull up jump shots. They weren't
Speaker 1: doing a very good job of attacking the switching. And
Speaker 1: then on the other end of the floor in the
Speaker 1: first quarter, Jason Tatum goes for fourteen points, six rebounds,
Speaker 1: and three assists, with zero turnovers, did a ton of
Speaker 1: scoring in that short to mid range, attacking the spurs
Speaker 1: all their players when they get switched onto him mismatches.
Speaker 1: There was a stretch in the late first quarter where
Speaker 1: they started spamming a stack, pick and roll action with
Speaker 1: Luke Cornette and Peyton Pritchard. Just a ball screen with
Speaker 1: Tatum and Cornette with Pritchard backscreening generated a wide open
Speaker 1: three for Pritchard at the top of the key that
Speaker 1: he happened to miss. He ended up hitting a pull
Speaker 1: up three on the right wing when they botched a
Speaker 1: switch again. Three man action is a great way to
Speaker 1: get teams to botch switches, and Victor Wenbinyamo was basically
Speaker 1: just sticking with the screen the guy who was backscreening
Speaker 1: him in the action instead of dealing with Tatum coming
Speaker 1: off of that screen. He just stepped into it knockdown
Speaker 1: at three. He finished the quarter off with a beautiful
Speaker 1: driving kick like sweeping hook pass over to the left
Speaker 1: wing to al Horford. Tatum just immediately looked like by far,
Speaker 1: the best player on the floor in a game that
Speaker 1: had two players that are considered top twenty five players
Speaker 1: in the league. In my opinion, and Deer Fox and
Speaker 1: Deeron Fox and Victor Wenbinyama and Tatum was just completely
Speaker 1: outclassing them to start the game. And this is just
Speaker 1: that's the groove that Jayson Tatum's in right now. During
Speaker 1: this three game winning streak, He's averaging thirty five points
Speaker 1: per game on sixty one percent true shooting. Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: has just been consistently great. I've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: talk about I've seen a lot of talk of late
Speaker 1: about like a Celtics fans calling Jason Tatum the best
Speaker 1: forward since Lebron And when I when I first heard that,
Speaker 1: I had this like kind of reflex that came up
Speaker 1: in me that it was like, well, what about Kawhi
Speaker 1: And like what about Kevin Durant? And I think Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant would be the guy that I'd probably still put
Speaker 1: over Tatum in the sense that, like, in that like
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one stretch, he was just
Speaker 1: like and that's like spanning with an achilles injury in
Speaker 1: the middle, but in that like I should say, like
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one stretch, he was just
Speaker 1: so incredibly good on both ends of the floor. I'm
Speaker 1: not quite there, but I do think he's been better
Speaker 1: than Kawhi if you like piece everything together, because like
Speaker 1: what Tatum is to me is he's a Swiss army
Speaker 1: knife type of forward in the same vein as a
Speaker 1: Lebron James. So, for instance, like Kevin Durant has a
Speaker 1: lot of impact, I think Kevin Durant has arguably just
Speaker 1: as good of an impact on the defensive end in
Speaker 1: terms of his ability to protect the rim, defensive rebound,
Speaker 1: switch out onto the perimeter. But Kevin Durant has a
Speaker 1: little bit of a susceptibility to size and strength. We
Speaker 1: saw that in the Memphis game two nights ago when
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson was able to just kind of toss Katie
Speaker 1: around at certain times and he got two easy buckets
Speaker 1: on him the post late in the game, or an
Speaker 1: easy bucket and a foul late in the game, where
Speaker 1: I think Tatum's a little bit sturdier for that type
Speaker 1: of matchup. But I think Katie also is a little
Speaker 1: bit longer, a little bit better rim protector. So the
Speaker 1: two of them are more or less even on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. But I do think that
Speaker 1: Tatum has a certain Swiss Army Knife quality in terms
Speaker 1: of just his ability to keep the ball moving his
Speaker 1: playmaking ability. Jason Tatum has become a really, really gifted
Speaker 1: playmaker in this league. And so we can debate whether
Speaker 1: or not Tatum has reached a level that's higher than
Speaker 1: Kawhi or higher than Katie. I'm hesitant to go that far,
Speaker 1: but what I will say is that Tatum is becoming
Speaker 1: the Swiss Army Knife of this generation, which is what
Speaker 1: Lebron was in his generation. It's a type of player
Speaker 1: that I'm drawn to because I think it demonstrates a
Speaker 1: first of all, a versatility, but also just a commitment
Speaker 1: to winning. There's a lot of stuff in there that
Speaker 1: guys aren't willing to do. A simple example is like,
Speaker 1: as good as Kevin Duran has been defensively, I think
Speaker 1: he's kind of underachieved on that end over the course
Speaker 1: of his career, whereas Tatum, you can tell, is maximizing
Speaker 1: his potential on that end of the floor. I think
Speaker 1: it's just a testament to the type of leader he is,
Speaker 1: the type of competitor that he is. Again, a lot
Speaker 1: of times we see guys like that that are a
Speaker 1: little bit more mellow and not as like loud and
Speaker 1: boisterous with their personality, and we or even guys that
Speaker 1: are boisterous that are but that are positive, we think
Speaker 1: of them as like not competitors because they're not Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant type assholes. And the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: is like that. The work that Jason Tatum does is
Speaker 1: a pretty clear demonstration of the type of competitor that
Speaker 1: he is, and he stepped up big time over the
Speaker 1: course of this recent stretch the volume. What's Up guys,
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 1: Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.