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Speaker 2: Slash Baseball All right, Wellcoon to HOOPSIDAI. You're at the volume.
Speaker 2: Hope all of you guys are having a great day.
Speaker 2: I've got a dozen Team USA basketball questions for us
Speaker 2: to go through, mailbag questions for us to hit today.
Speaker 2: You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe
Speaker 2: to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss
Speaker 2: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore.
Speaker 2: Jason lts you guys, don't miss any show announcements, don't
Speaker 2: forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast
Speaker 2: und Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mailbag questions in those
Speaker 2: YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the
Speaker 2: remainder of the summer. Last little programming note before we
Speaker 2: start the show. I am recording this on Saturday the tenth,
Speaker 2: when I go out of town tomorrow morning and I'm
Speaker 2: gone until the eighteenth. We're going up to the Pacific
Speaker 2: Northwest to kind of get away from the heat a
Speaker 2: little bit and relax, which I'm very much looking forward to.
Speaker 2: I do have new content coming out while I'm kinda've
Speaker 2: recorded three I've recorded the first three videos in our
Speaker 2: player ranking series, so those will all be releasing while
Speaker 2: I'm out of town next week. Don't forget that. In
Speaker 2: those videos, I want you guys to comment if you
Speaker 2: disagree about a ranking and provided basketball case for why
Speaker 2: you disagree, preferably as in as short a format as possible.
Speaker 2: Because what I'm gonna do is on the fourth player
Speaker 2: Rankings video when I get back in town, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: actually add a segment at the end where we can
Speaker 2: had a debate. I'm gonna read your guys's mail bag
Speaker 2: responses where you guys tell me why you disagree. We
Speaker 2: get into the basketball, we'll have like a little debate
Speaker 2: segment at the tail end of those shows, So make
Speaker 2: sure you guys get that in there. But yeah, quick
Speaker 2: trip out of town. When I get back, we'll finish
Speaker 2: the player ranking series and then we'll be heading into
Speaker 2: the season. Had a little bit of a funny slash
Speaker 2: sad story in Vegas. I don't ever book a flight
Speaker 2: that is an afternoon flight on the same night that
Speaker 2: you have concert tickets, because I had on Thursday a
Speaker 2: five and a half hour delay getting out of Tucson,
Speaker 2: which caused me to have to fire sale my Dead
Speaker 2: and Company tickets from a dingy bar in the Tucson airport,
Speaker 2: which was a huge bubber. As you can imagine, I
Speaker 2: wasn't in a great mood, but a valuable lesson. Like
Speaker 2: we monsoon season here in Tucson, we just get these
Speaker 2: like crazy storms that come through in the afternoon, and
Speaker 2: I played with fire and ended up losing some money
Speaker 2: on it is what it is. But thankfully the very
Speaker 2: next day I had tickets again and so my wife
Speaker 2: and I had a really nice day yesterday. It was
Speaker 2: actually my birthday. We had a really nice day in
Speaker 2: Vegas and celebrated and then went to go see Dead
Speaker 2: and Company that night. So thankfully I had two nights
Speaker 2: worth of tickets and just was unbelievable. John Mayer played
Speaker 2: the whole show without his left index finger, and like
Speaker 2: you could barely tell the difference. And he's obviously my
Speaker 2: favorite musician, but I also think he's the best guitar
Speaker 2: player to ever play. And it was just a really
Speaker 2: cool experience to get to see him in a situation
Speaker 2: where like a primary physical like digit that he needs
Speaker 2: to play was out of commission, and yet he still
Speaker 2: provided like the same type of experience that you've grown
Speaker 2: accustomed to getting when you go see him in Debt
Speaker 2: and Company. And concert was really really cool. It was
Speaker 2: a great birthday. It was a great celebration. But very
Speaker 2: excited to get out of the heat for a little bit.
Speaker 2: But yeah, valuable lesson learned. If you live in an
Speaker 2: area where they have where they have storms that come
Speaker 2: through the rainy season, don't don't don't be an idiot
Speaker 2: like Jason and by concert tickets, the same night as
Speaker 2: your flight, or you could end up very upset in
Speaker 2: a two on international airport bar. Anyway, let's get into
Speaker 2: that mail bag first question. Is it fair to say,
Speaker 2: when we look back on the final years of Curry
Speaker 2: and Lebron that we will strongly question what in the
Speaker 2: world these front offices are doing for Golden State in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. My hope is that you guys have already
Speaker 2: kind of seen that Golden State started trying to run
Speaker 2: this two timelines thing all the way back in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, and they've never gotten any sort of championship
Speaker 2: level contribution out of any of the young players. And
Speaker 2: in the meantime, Steph Curry and Draymond Grain have both
Speaker 2: aged a certain amount, Klay Thompson has aged a substantial amount,
Speaker 2: and now their title window is precariously close to being closed.
Speaker 2: And that was a move that they probably should have
Speaker 2: looked to make years ago, and they would be in
Speaker 2: a situation now where like had they looked to make
Speaker 2: those more aggressive moves in that twenty twenty two campaign,
Speaker 2: they might have had a larger margin for victory in
Speaker 2: the Celtics series. They might have had a better chance
Speaker 2: to repeat in twenty twenty three, just in general, the
Speaker 2: entire aura around the team might have been more, It
Speaker 2: might have been more positive. Not to mention the fact
Speaker 2: that Jonathan Kaminga at that point in time had multiple
Speaker 2: years left on his rookie contract. Now it's like, you
Speaker 2: trade for Jonathan Kminga, you have to maxim And we
Speaker 2: saw a report the other day that he's looking for
Speaker 2: over two hundred million dollars, And so that's the type
Speaker 2: of you know, we're actually now on the other side
Speaker 2: of this where it's barely even a two timelines plan anymore.
Speaker 2: They don't really have a lot of options and where
Speaker 2: they can go. And I won't get into it right
Speaker 2: now in the mail back because I could just you know,
Speaker 2: bitch and moan for an hour. But the stuff that
Speaker 2: the Lakers have done over the course of the last
Speaker 2: half decade is it's been a miserable waste of what Lebron,
Speaker 2: James and Anthony Davis bring to the table. And so, like,
Speaker 2: I hope everyone already kind of knows that. But I
Speaker 2: think that's Curry and Lebron being the two obvious best
Speaker 2: players on this team USA, I think are a strong
Speaker 2: indicator of just the top end talent that they still
Speaker 2: present to bow with Golden State and the Lakers, and
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that that drives some amount of aggression from
Speaker 2: those two front offices, quite frankly, because I want to
Speaker 2: see them play in other big games. I really hope
Speaker 2: that today against France is not the last time I
Speaker 2: get to watch Steph Curry and Lebron James playing a
Speaker 2: big basketball game. Wouldn't that be a huge bummer? And
Speaker 2: like they're both right now. I mean, I think the Lakers,
Speaker 2: if they stay really healthy, could potentially be in that
Speaker 2: you know, four or five six range, but they could
Speaker 2: be a playing team. I think the Warriors team is
Speaker 2: like like right around that same area, if not a
Speaker 2: certain playing team. So like that that both of those
Speaker 2: rosters are not good enough to win a championship right now,
Speaker 2: and that's just a real bummer, and I'm hoping that
Speaker 2: they can address that before the deadline. Next question, is
Speaker 2: it possible that this is the last time the United
Speaker 2: States dominates in the Olympics. With the talent level of
Speaker 2: the world rising and many of our greatest players being
Speaker 2: most likely to retire, how do we fare moving forward?
Speaker 2: What's the potential team? First of all. I mean, we
Speaker 2: didn't dominate this year, and that is a reminder of
Speaker 2: just how close these teams are. The reality is is
Speaker 2: like TM USA is still a sizable margin better than
Speaker 2: everyone else, but any single game sample size, there's variants,
Speaker 2: and that gap is closed to the point where now
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, USA plays a bad defensive half,
Speaker 2: Serbia shoots it really well, and suddenly it's like neck
Speaker 2: and neck and anything can happen, right, And so I
Speaker 2: think the days of the Team USA dominating are over
Speaker 2: just simply because of the fact that single elimination the
Speaker 2: gap is too small. Now there's enough variance that there's
Speaker 2: gonna be a close game in there. I mean, hal
Speaker 2: France was within three with three minutes left before Team
Speaker 2: USA pulled away. As for twenty twenty eight, I am concerned,
Speaker 2: though mainly just because the young guys weren't really able
Speaker 2: to flex their muscles on this stage the way the
Speaker 2: old guys are and like have been. And Steve kerk
Speaker 2: gave these guys plenty at burn like I've seen so
Speaker 2: much talk, like like Steve Kerrz made this Olympics about
Speaker 2: Steph Lebron and kd or that the old guys are
Speaker 2: just like getting all the shine. It's like no, no, they're
Speaker 2: taking the damn shine, like they're yeah, you're right. Like
Speaker 2: Tatum got some DMPs here in the Olympics. You know
Speaker 2: what else though he was subbed in in line shifts
Speaker 2: for all the exhibitions and he wasn't playing very well.
Speaker 2: Like all of these guys got extended burn, extended opportunities
Speaker 2: to show how they fit, and certain guys played well,
Speaker 2: certain guys didn't. You know who are the three guys
Speaker 2: who played the best that deserved to float to the
Speaker 2: top were Kadie, Stephan Lebron. They earned the burn that
Speaker 2: they got, they earned the opportunities that they got. It's
Speaker 2: their consistent impact, winning in ways that extend beyond even
Speaker 2: shot making, that are that allowed them to be on
Speaker 2: the floor as consistently as they had and they made shots,
Speaker 2: and so again, like I think, I think the concerning
Speaker 2: part is that when we got into these high stakes
Speaker 2: basketball environments, we just didn't get a lot of consistent
Speaker 2: contributions from some of the younger guys. Now, the potential
Speaker 2: team it really just depends on like the health of
Speaker 2: some key guys, like if Anthony Davis at age thirty
Speaker 2: four is like healthy and ready to go. That'd be
Speaker 2: big because the front line is where I get concerned,
Speaker 2: Like it's the losing of a big, strong forward like
Speaker 2: Lebron James could be detrimental for a team that has
Speaker 2: a lot of thin guys on the horizon, a lot
Speaker 2: of guards on the horizon. Right, if Anthony Davis can
Speaker 2: come back and play, and you can have something like
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum, Anthony Davis, bam Adebio, Jalen Brown, that's still
Speaker 2: a pretty formidable front court. But like, is John Morant
Speaker 2: gonna be on this team? That would be interesting, right,
Speaker 2: Like is Devin Booker still gonna be on this team
Speaker 2: or is he gonna be too old? At that point,
Speaker 2: we'll see Anthony Edwards. Is he competing for the best
Speaker 2: player in the world at that point? The main thing
Speaker 2: is is will Team USA have the physicality to hang
Speaker 2: against these bigger European teams And a lot of these
Speaker 2: American players are not as physically imposing and the older
Speaker 2: group is starting to phase out, and so that's the
Speaker 2: main piece. I think a lot of key guys like
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum suddenly becomes vitally important. I've seen all this
Speaker 2: talk about logo. Is Tatum gonna boycott the Olympics because
Speaker 2: he didn't play? I love God, I hope not. They're
Speaker 2: gonna need him like Jason Tatum. Here's the thing. Jayson
Speaker 2: Tatum won a good fit on this team because he
Speaker 2: couldn't shoot zho for sixteen on jump shots in all
Speaker 2: the exhibitions combined with the actual Olympic tournament games. As
Speaker 2: a result of that, he kind of had to function
Speaker 2: more as a big and Bam and Ad are better
Speaker 2: at being bigs than Jason Tatum is at being a big.
Speaker 2: When Jason Tatum has his jump shot and he's like
Speaker 2: actually a normal functioning perimeter player, he becomes a very
Speaker 2: useful player. And I do believe that this Tatum stretch
Speaker 2: is just a glitch. I think it's just a random,
Speaker 2: extended slump that he's in. I do think he's going
Speaker 2: to fix it, and I think that he's gonna be
Speaker 2: fine in the long run. And if he is in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight, he suddenly becomes a vitally important player.
Speaker 2: But I thought, I really thought it was just a
Speaker 2: simple decision from Kerr from the standpoint of, like, this
Speaker 2: guy can't shoot right now, I'm better off going with
Speaker 2: Bam and Ad, and I really think that's all it was.
Speaker 2: I think if Tatum had shot the ball better, I
Speaker 2: think he would have gotten a considerable larger opportunity to
Speaker 2: play in the actual rotation. But he's going to be
Speaker 2: vitally important. Jalen Brown becomes vitally important because he's one
Speaker 2: of the more physically imposing wings. And really it's gonna
Speaker 2: be about decision making, like the way that Steph and
Speaker 2: Lebron and KD were able to out execute teams in
Speaker 2: the half court at the end of games, whether it
Speaker 2: was spamming a Lebron' Steph two man game against France,
Speaker 2: or it's you know, the give and take that Lebron
Speaker 2: Stephan KD demonstrated at the end of the game against Serbia,
Speaker 2: timely transition attacks, good off ball action for Steph, like
Speaker 2: trusting KD in key situations. As long as the Anthony Edwards, Tatum,
Speaker 2: Jah Morant trio can kind of like figure that out,
Speaker 2: then they should be fine. But I would say it's
Speaker 2: hard to tell too, because what are the other FEEDBA
Speaker 2: teams gonna look like? Is Joki still playing at that point?
Speaker 2: Is Rudy Gobert is still playing at that but there's
Speaker 2: so many different angles that make that complicated. That Germany
Speaker 2: team could be really really good at that point when
Speaker 2: Franz is in the heart of his prime, right, like
Speaker 2: Victor women Yama could be a world beater at that point.
Speaker 2: There's so many different variables at play, So it's too
Speaker 2: early for me to like project what's gonna happen in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight, but like I do think that the
Speaker 2: Team USA team that we field in twenty twenty eight
Speaker 2: will be substantially more vulnerable than this year's was. I
Speaker 2: think that goes without saying. Next question, what can Team
Speaker 2: USA do in the future to get consistency and allow
Speaker 2: for guys to have chemistry before FEBA play. I'm worried
Speaker 2: about twenty twenty eight. So it's just impossible because of
Speaker 2: the various commitments that these guys have. These guys are
Speaker 2: all their own business in and of themselves, and so
Speaker 2: it's hard to get them to play in the three
Speaker 2: off years. Right, there are a couple of different things
Speaker 2: you could try doing a camp that might be something
Speaker 2: worth looking into. I think they actually do something like
Speaker 2: that already, But the main thing is and the reason
Speaker 2: why I pulled this question. I actually think the answer
Speaker 2: is pretty simple. The Team USA decision makers have to
Speaker 2: be very very particular about who they bring from now on.
Speaker 2: It was the stars that dragged it home for Team
Speaker 2: USA this year. It was Steph KD and Lebron, right,
Speaker 2: But you don't have that type of star power in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight. So I do think at that point
Speaker 2: it becomes vitally important to have star role players involved.
Speaker 2: I'd be extremely picky about lineup construction and be willing
Speaker 2: to bring guys that aren't necessarily big names, but that
Speaker 2: are like professional role players, guys that make their living
Speaker 2: doing the dirty work. Because when it comes to that
Speaker 2: chemistry piece, and we're gonna talk about this a little
Speaker 2: bit more with Lebron and Steph here in a minute,
Speaker 2: because I had a specific question about it. But there
Speaker 2: is a like a earned chemistry or like a that's
Speaker 2: like the continuity piece. But then there's also like a
Speaker 2: natural organic chemistry that can happen between basketball players. And
Speaker 2: so when you don't have the continuity from year over
Speaker 2: year consistency, then you have to have that natural and
Speaker 2: organic chemistry. So you need to get you need to
Speaker 2: have it streamlined to where you have some stars who
Speaker 2: like playing without the basketball, you have guys that specialize
Speaker 2: in playing roles, you have a clear higher so guys
Speaker 2: aren't fighting over the basketball. You have to try to
Speaker 2: craft a situation in a basketball situation. And we'll kind
Speaker 2: of take a closer look at that when we get
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty eight, because that'll be a much more
Speaker 2: fun roster to try to put together in the summer
Speaker 2: leading up to it. But I think they're just gonna
Speaker 2: have to do way more picky about who they include
Speaker 2: on that team and try to make sure they bake
Speaker 2: in as much natural chemistry as possible. What are your
Speaker 2: expectations for Anthony Davis coming into the twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty five NBA regular season Top ten Player,
Speaker 2: Defensive Player of the Year MVP. So I have super
Speaker 2: high expectations for Anthony Davis. I will just warn you
Speaker 2: guys right now. I have him super high in my
Speaker 2: player rankings, and I am just a huge believe. I
Speaker 2: think he's been playing at a borderline MVP level basically
Speaker 2: this entire calendar year. I thought he played Jokic to
Speaker 2: a standstill in the first round series, which is not hard.
Speaker 2: That's that's the best player in the world. In my opinion,
Speaker 2: That Anthony Davis went punch for punch, blow for blow
Speaker 2: with and arguably outplayed in the first round series like
Speaker 2: that was, That's how good I think Anthony Day is
Speaker 2: capable of playing so top ten player, yes, defensive Player
Speaker 2: of the Year. Media is never going to give it
Speaker 2: to him because they don't like the Lakers MVP. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's something that he has a real chance
Speaker 2: to get, but I'd love to see Anthony Davis get
Speaker 2: a top five MVP finish. That would be something that
Speaker 2: I think would be a strong indicator of just him
Speaker 2: putting seventy plus games in at the level that he's
Speaker 2: been in at twenty twenty four. I think that's something
Speaker 2: that he can do. And if he does, if AD
Speaker 2: plays seventy to seventy five games and plays the way
Speaker 2: he did in this calendar year, the Lakers will be
Speaker 2: a top four seed and they will be a team
Speaker 2: that's good enough to put Anthony Davis in MVP contention.
Speaker 2: I don't think he can win MVP, but I do
Speaker 2: think he can get a top five finish, and I
Speaker 2: do think that's something that's on the table for him.
Speaker 2: Next question, what does this Olympic Finals performance mean for
Speaker 2: Steph Curry in top ten all time conversation? Also, why
Speaker 2: do you think Steph and Lebron have such a great
Speaker 2: understanding of each other on the floor when they've always
Speaker 2: been rivals for much of their careers. So that last
Speaker 2: part I want to hit that first. The reason why
Speaker 2: Lebron and Steph so naturally played together, It's two things,
Speaker 2: in my opinion. The first piece I talked about extensively
Speaker 2: in the instant reaction to the gold medal game. It's
Speaker 2: all about the fact that Lebron and Steph both do
Speaker 2: very different things. So when you deploy Lebron and you
Speaker 2: deploy Steph, they accomplish different goals, which then piece together
Speaker 2: to make even easier roles for all of your teammates. Right,
Speaker 2: So that piece of it is the first part. They're
Speaker 2: just very complimentary in their skill sets. The second piece
Speaker 2: of it is that organic and natural chemistry that I
Speaker 2: was talking about. One of the things I've noticed when
Speaker 2: I play with people that I haven't played with before,
Speaker 2: when they are smart basketball players, it's easy. When they're
Speaker 2: guys who don't know how to play. It's hard even
Speaker 2: if I have a long time to play with them.
Speaker 2: A huge portion of it is that natural chemistry. Lebron
Speaker 2: and Steph are two of the smartest basketball players of
Speaker 2: this era, so of course they figured out how to
Speaker 2: do it immediately. That type of chemistry is the type
Speaker 2: of chemistry Temosa needs to hunt down in order to
Speaker 2: increase their margin for error. In twenty twenty eight, what
Speaker 2: do you ranked Tatum in the NBA after this Olympic run?
Speaker 2: Guess you'll have to watch the player rankings videos which
Speaker 2: are going to come out starting next week.
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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. Mister T. Who is best
Speaker 2: current non NBA player who played in the Olympics that
Speaker 2: NBA teams can sign. Maybe someone from the South Sudan
Speaker 2: team or YABUSELEI I think I by the way, I
Speaker 2: love the Pacific Northwest. I cannot wait to get back
Speaker 2: back up there. I am doing an Alaskan cruise next
Speaker 2: year too with a couple of my friends, so that'll
Speaker 2: be three of the last four years that I've spent
Speaker 2: up in the Pacific Northwest in the summertime. I absolutely
Speaker 2: love it up there. So Gushan Yabuselli, I think, is
Speaker 2: a guy that absolutely can play in the NBA. The
Speaker 2: big thing I think about with him is like every
Speaker 2: backup center that you see in the NBA kind of
Speaker 2: looks vaguely like Gershaon Yabuseli, where it's like, yeah, if
Speaker 2: you have him defending in a drop coverage, he's gonna struggle,
Speaker 2: like he's gonna bring a ton of defensive limitations. But
Speaker 2: the dude just plays super damn hard and has a
Speaker 2: lot of positive impact in the in just his motor
Speaker 2: and his size and his strength and his athleticism. So
Speaker 2: I look at him as like two potential things, like
Speaker 2: do I think he could play backup center for a
Speaker 2: really athletic bench group.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The other thing too, is he kind of plays that
Speaker 2: big forward position, Like he'd be an interesting guy to
Speaker 2: add to a team just to have a body, a big,
Speaker 2: strong body to bang with a Nikole Jokich, so you
Speaker 2: can put your center behind him or something along those lines. Like,
Speaker 2: I think he just brings a lot of really valuable
Speaker 2: basketball skill, especially in big games, and so I think
Speaker 2: he could be a guy that could play Wanyan Gabriel
Speaker 2: is a guy from Sausu Dan who, by the way,
Speaker 2: has played in the NBA, who like is just the
Speaker 2: opposite version of Ghorshaan Yabuseli's the Goorshaan yabusel is more
Speaker 2: of the offensive minded backup big. But I look at
Speaker 2: the that Whenyan Gabriel is the exact same thing as
Speaker 2: more the defensive minded kind of guy, and like, he
Speaker 2: just brings a ton of energy on the glass and
Speaker 2: runs the floor in transition. He's another guy that, like,
Speaker 2: I've seen him play next to Anthony Davis at the four,
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of layered athleticism benefit there. Mary
Speaker 2: Al Shayak shot the ball extremely well. There's always an
Speaker 2: appetite for shooting in the NBA. I think there are
Speaker 2: a bunch of guys like that. The reality is, though,
Speaker 2: and this is something that I've seen a lot. I've
Speaker 2: seen a lot of people say things like, oh, how
Speaker 2: did Team USA barely win the goal when they have
Speaker 2: all this NBA talent? Blah blah blah. The gap between
Speaker 2: NBA players and the lower level pros is smaller than ever.
Speaker 2: It just is the entire basketball world is getting better.
Speaker 2: The gap, the gap between all levels is shrinking as
Speaker 2: just we as we just get better at playing basketball.
Speaker 2: And so, like, I think that there are a lot
Speaker 2: of guys that played in that tournament that are eighty
Speaker 2: ninety percent of what an NBA player is and they're
Speaker 2: just not quite good enough to be part of that
Speaker 2: that four hundred and fifty players, right Like that to
Speaker 2: me is what makes it so like I always talk
Speaker 2: about on this show like I have a certain responsibility
Speaker 2: to be critical because that's just authentic, Like I can't
Speaker 2: only compliment people without being critical or vice versa. At
Speaker 2: that point, I'm just a propagandist, right. But I always
Speaker 2: feel a little bit uncomfortable when I'm criticizing NBA players
Speaker 2: because they've accomplished something that is something that every basketball
Speaker 2: player dreams of accomplishing, Like every one of you guys
Speaker 2: who played in high school played in college, like there
Speaker 2: was always at least a small part of you that
Speaker 2: was like, man, it would have been really cool if
Speaker 2: something went differently and I made it to the NBA, right,
Speaker 2: Like we all have that aspiration, and yet only four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty people get to do it. And so
Speaker 2: when you get to put that jersey on and you
Speaker 2: check into an NBA game and you actually get to play,
Speaker 2: it is such a remarkable accomplishment. And I think that
Speaker 2: seeing how many really truly great players are not playing
Speaker 2: in the NBA is just another reminder of that. It's
Speaker 2: something I've been aware for a long time. Obviously. I
Speaker 2: I am friends with and work out with a ton
Speaker 2: of people who play overseas and guys who play at
Speaker 2: the high major college level, like that's the amount of
Speaker 2: talent that exists in the basketball world is incomprehensible, and
Speaker 2: it's it's just a reminder of what makes the NBA
Speaker 2: so special, and that's why we're and that's why we
Speaker 2: love watching the games, and that's why I love talking
Speaker 2: about it on the show. People always say peak over
Speaker 2: longevity for Lebron and MJ. When they explain peak, it
Speaker 2: always goes back to Jordan winning six rings. In terms
Speaker 2: of level of play, twenty eighteen, Lebron reached the highest
Speaker 2: command of the game. Ever, does that not make his
Speaker 2: individual peak higher? Lebron is the goat? So a couple things.
Speaker 2: First of all, I agree that twenty eighteen Lebron is
Speaker 2: the best basketball player that I've ever watched in any
Speaker 2: individual moment in time. The main near reason why for
Speaker 2: that too is I just tend to think that players
Speaker 2: are always getting better. So I think there will be
Speaker 2: a version of Victor wemb Minyama that we see in
Speaker 2: you know, potentially in twenty thirty or something like that,
Speaker 2: or maybe some other player in the future where we're
Speaker 2: gonna look back and be like, this is the best
Speaker 2: basketball player that has ever taken the floor in an
Speaker 2: NBA game. I don't think Lebron is like some random
Speaker 2: peak in player history and then we're gonna dip back
Speaker 2: down and Lebron will always be the goat. Like I
Speaker 2: think we're allways is getting better. Twenty eighteen, Lebron was
Speaker 2: one of the best athletes in the league. Remember that
Speaker 2: was the year that he had that dunk on Nurkic.
Speaker 2: Like he was still like at his peak. Athletically, he
Speaker 2: was the best passer in the league. He was a
Speaker 2: deadly jumpshooter, had incredible footwork in the mid post. He
Speaker 2: had just ridiculous scoring moves. And that you have eight
Speaker 2: forty point games in the playoffs, a dominant defensive player,
Speaker 2: dominant rebound That was the best basketball player that I've
Speaker 2: ever seen. The reason why I had MJ as my
Speaker 2: goat before then, I should say before this particular show,
Speaker 2: is you can't judge a player based on what the
Speaker 2: future holes. That doesn't make any sense, Like it doesn't
Speaker 2: make sense to judge Lebron up against thirty years from
Speaker 2: now that what the technology will look like in terms
Speaker 2: of health and in body management and a surgery for
Speaker 2: injuries and all the different things in the future, just
Speaker 2: the way the game is played will just be better
Speaker 2: at playing basketball in the future. Right, Like, it doesn't
Speaker 2: make sense to judge that MJ was so ahead of
Speaker 2: his time. He was so ahead of the curve, that
Speaker 2: he was so dominant that no player was even considered
Speaker 2: in the same tier as him, and they won six
Speaker 2: titles in eight tries. So like, I still think that
Speaker 2: that's the most dominant stretch that we will ever see
Speaker 2: from an NBA player. I don't think we'll see I
Speaker 2: think the league is too deep now. I think the
Speaker 2: teams are too good. I don't think we'll see a
Speaker 2: player truly separate himself. And maybe that'll happen. And it's
Speaker 2: very possible that when the dust settles on the NBA,
Speaker 2: if it ever settles, that MJ will still be considered
Speaker 2: the most dominant player. Right But that dominance for me
Speaker 2: for a long time superseded any of the Lebron longevity stuff.
Speaker 2: But here we are in twenty twenty four and Grant
Speaker 2: Hill was able to call thirty nine year old Lebron
Speaker 2: James and ask him to bring it in the summertime,
Speaker 2: and not just bring it, but to play a massive role,
Speaker 2: and Lebron came in and crushed that massive role in
Speaker 2: one MVP of the tournament at age thirty nine, damn
Speaker 2: near about to turn forty. It's insane to me that
Speaker 2: the same player that was drafted over twenty one years ago,
Speaker 2: that as soon as two thousand and six he was
Speaker 2: taking that Detroit Pistons team. Mind you, the same Pistons
Speaker 2: team that won the title in four and came close
Speaker 2: to doing it again at five. He took them to seven.
Speaker 2: One year later, you beat them and went to the finals.
Speaker 2: Then seventeen years after that, Grant Hill was able to
Speaker 2: call on him to lead a basketball team, and he
Speaker 2: did on the biggest stage in world hoops. I can't
Speaker 2: argue that anymore. If you were starting a franchise tomorrow
Speaker 2: and you could pick any basketball player in the history
Speaker 2: of the game from their rookie year to lead your team,
Speaker 2: you take Lebron ten times out of ten, and at
Speaker 2: that point that just makes him the greatest basketball player
Speaker 2: to ever play the game. The longevity is extended too far.
Speaker 2: The reliably great basketball that he consistently brings every time
Speaker 2: there's a big game, it's still going. It's still going,
Speaker 2: I can't argue it anymore. Is MJ the most dominant
Speaker 2: basketball player compared to his peers in his era? Yes,
Speaker 2: I don't think. As I mentioned earlier, I don't actually
Speaker 2: think that's even a situation we could recreate without depth,
Speaker 2: with how much depth of talent there is in the league.
Speaker 2: But the greatest basketball player to ever play the game,
Speaker 2: the guy that you would pick every single time to
Speaker 2: start a franchise with from day one, is Lebron James.
Speaker 2: And you know, if this ends up being the cherryot
Speaker 2: on top of his career, and I hope it's not.
Speaker 2: I hope he gets to play in more big games.
Speaker 2: But if he gets to put a cherry on, if
Speaker 2: this is the cherry on top of his career, it's
Speaker 2: a pretty damn good one. Age thirty nine, most stacked
Speaker 2: Olympic field ever, over sixty NBA players playing for other teams,
Speaker 2: and he was MVP of the team. I will also say,
Speaker 2: just even as a fan, I've rooted for Lebron through
Speaker 2: a lot of games, a lot of wins, and this
Speaker 2: was top three or four for me in terms of
Speaker 2: Lebron moments. Like I just I loved watching him play
Speaker 2: with this team. It was so much fun for me.
Speaker 2: Who should have won MVP Lebron or Curry? So I
Speaker 2: talked a little bit about this yesterday. I thought Lebron
Speaker 2: had the best case to win MVP, but I also
Speaker 2: thought Steph Curry had a case to win MVP. Lebron
Speaker 2: impacted winning more than any other player on TSA during
Speaker 2: the Olympics. Curry hit most of the big shots towards
Speaker 2: the end. Those are the two cases. You don't win
Speaker 2: the tournament without either of them. You need them. So like,
Speaker 2: I don't really care. I thought Lebron deserved it, but
Speaker 2: if Curry had gotten it, I would have thought that
Speaker 2: was completely acceptable. Warriors fans who think Curry should have
Speaker 2: won it, they're not wrong necessarily. That said, I know
Speaker 2: Lebron and Steph don't care. All they care about is winning.
Speaker 2: That is why Curry allowed or asked Kevin Durant to
Speaker 2: join him in Golden State. That is why Lebron is
Speaker 2: the kind of guy who, like, in a big moment,
Speaker 2: will let Kyrie take the big shot or let Steph
Speaker 2: Curry go when he has it going. It's a big
Speaker 2: it's a big part of ego. In order to win,
Speaker 2: you have to let go of that. What if Lebron
Speaker 2: had tried to co opt possessions away from Steph at
Speaker 2: the end of the game when he was on his heater,
Speaker 2: that would have been bad for the team. But he
Speaker 2: doesn't care. He just wants to win, right. Curry could
Speaker 2: have earned more in the court of public opinion if
Speaker 2: he ranted it back against Lebron in twenty seventeen without
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant, but he didn't care. He just wanted to win.
Speaker 2: That's what has allowed those guys to win eight of
Speaker 2: the last thirteen NBA championships. So like, yeah, Lebron should
Speaker 2: have won in my opinion. Curry also had a really
Speaker 2: good case. I said yesterday, I let the kids argue
Speaker 2: about it on Twitter. That's an argument for other people.
Speaker 2: I'm not really interested in it. Do you think Lebron
Speaker 2: should try to be the full time point guard on
Speaker 2: the Lakers again like twenty twenty, Yes, but it requires
Speaker 2: a certain level of offensive talent In order for Lebron
Speaker 2: to operate the way he did for Team USA, you
Speaker 2: need to have high level players flying off of screens,
Speaker 2: and so that's where it gets tricky. Like if adding
Speaker 2: Dalton connect to the situation as a movement shooter can
Speaker 2: help if Dlo's willing to work more off the ball.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of benefit that can come
Speaker 2: from that, but it requires high level offensive players. Again,
Speaker 2: I'm not really worried about the Lakers on the offensive
Speaker 2: end at all. They just don't really have a player
Speaker 2: that can play both ends of the floor other than
Speaker 2: Lebron and eighty. That's the main issue. Would you've had
Speaker 2: an issue with Jokic winning Olympic MVP, Yes, for the
Speaker 2: same reason I went added an issue if Lebron won
Speaker 2: MVP the twenty fifteen finals. Like, I think it's okay
Speaker 2: for us to talk about how great Jokic was, and
Speaker 2: I do think he's the best player in the world
Speaker 2: still and I thought he was the best player in
Speaker 2: this tournament. But MVP goes winner and Timosa one. I
Speaker 2: don't think Lebron should have won MVP in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: I think step should have so like, yeah, I'm a
Speaker 2: huge Jokic fan, but yeah, like I think giving him
Speaker 2: the MVP would have Again, winning has to mean something,
Speaker 2: and it's a prerequisite in my opinion when it comes
Speaker 2: to MVP. All Right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 2: for today, very much looking forward to a little bit
Speaker 2: of a break. I hope you guys enjoy the beginning
Speaker 2: of the player ranking series. I'm excited to argue about
Speaker 2: it with you guys when I get home. I'll see
Speaker 2: you guys.
Speaker 3: Then the Volume, the NFL season's right around the corner,
Speaker 3: will be breaking down all the off season storylines on
Speaker 3: the Colin Cowherd podcast, my best Takes guests like my
Speaker 3: buddy Nick Wright. Check out the Colin Coward podcast, part
Speaker 3: of the Volume Network, available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever
Speaker 3: you get your podcasts.