Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoos tonight. You're at
Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of you
Speaker 1: guys are having a great week so far. We are
Speaker 1: also live on AMP, so if you're watching on YouTube
Speaker 1: or listening on the podcast feeds, don't forget that AMP
Speaker 1: is the very first place that you guys can get
Speaker 1: these shows. We are continuing our top twenty five players
Speaker 1: the last twenty five years today with number nine Janis
Speaker 1: Antenna Kompo also off the top. Continuing with our mail
Speaker 1: bag questions that we're hitting before each player. I had
Speaker 1: someone shoot me a direct message asking why I have
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan over Lebron James all time, being the Lebron
Speaker 1: fan that I am, and I've never really taken the
Speaker 1: time to break that down. So we're gonna hit that
Speaker 1: off the top, and then we'll get to Yannis. You
Speaker 1: guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason Lts.
Speaker 1: You guys don't miss any shownouncements. And for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: you miss one of these videos and you can't get
Speaker 1: back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget you can
Speaker 1: find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: And last, but not least, I do need mail bag
Speaker 1: questions for the next eight episodes at least and potentially forward,
Speaker 1: depending on how we like that as a long term thing.
Speaker 1: So drop them in the YouTube comments. Any questions about
Speaker 1: absolutely anything in the world, Drop them in the YouTube
Speaker 1: comments and will hit them as a mail bag question
Speaker 1: before we get to each player. All right, why do
Speaker 1: I still have MJ over Lebron all time? So, first
Speaker 1: of all, for those of you guys who don't know,
Speaker 1: and I've said this million times on the show, I
Speaker 1: am a big Lebron fan. I grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
Speaker 1: We don't have an NBA team here. The Suns did
Speaker 1: not do a good job marketing down to the Tucson area.
Speaker 1: So like most basketball fans coming out of Tucson, I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of players really, and Lebron is a very
Speaker 1: important player to me growing up because I grew up
Speaker 1: in a house that was primarily focused on baseball and football.
Speaker 1: My little brother and both my brothers played college football,
Speaker 1: and my little brother was a great baseball player. As well.
Speaker 1: That was just kind of what we were focused on, right,
Speaker 1: And then one day I happened to find Lebron James
Speaker 1: on television and that's how I fell in love with
Speaker 1: the game of basketball and literally changed my life. So
Speaker 1: I have a sentimental attachment to Lebron James. And my
Speaker 1: thing is, like, I'm I think it's better than I
Speaker 1: Just tell you guys that and be honest about the
Speaker 1: way that that could potentially color my analysis, and then
Speaker 1: just try like hell to fight against it as much
Speaker 1: as possible. That's the funny thing and all of it
Speaker 1: is Lebron fans hate me, and those of you guys
Speaker 1: who follow me on Twitter know this because like I
Speaker 1: am critical of Lebron when he goes through stretches where
Speaker 1: he doesn't play to where he's capable of. I am
Speaker 1: critical of Lebron when he makes mistakes, just like I
Speaker 1: am with any other star. I talk about Lebron's career,
Speaker 1: the good and the bad, instead of just spewing propaganda
Speaker 1: like so many of his fans do, and so that
Speaker 1: approach really pisses off Lebron fans. So a lot of
Speaker 1: Lebron fans don't like me, which is the kind of
Speaker 1: funny irony in all of that. But you know, honestly,
Speaker 1: like I tend to think that everybody's biased. I think
Speaker 1: that anybody who tells you they're not biased is lying.
Speaker 1: I think everybody beyond sports and anything, has a worldview,
Speaker 1: and your worldview color colors the way that you see situation, right,
Speaker 1: But it goes even further with basketball, like even the
Speaker 1: or anything in sports. Any of the most prestigious analysts
Speaker 1: in all the sports, baseball, football, basketball, they all, even
Speaker 1: if they're good at hiding it, they have a certain
Speaker 1: view of the game and that colors the way that
Speaker 1: they evaluate players and teams. And so I don't really
Speaker 1: understand the point of trying to hide that we all
Speaker 1: have our biases. I think it's better to kind of
Speaker 1: admit them and try to fight them as best as
Speaker 1: possible and be kind of forthright about it than it
Speaker 1: is to try to pretend like you're this arbiter of
Speaker 1: truth in the wild where everyone else has takes and
Speaker 1: opinions and you're just only resonating. In fact, I just
Speaker 1: don't think that that person really exists, And so I
Speaker 1: tend to just lean into telling you, guys, exactly how
Speaker 1: I feel about stuff and letting you guys judge it
Speaker 1: from there. You know what I mean. Now, I have
Speaker 1: MJ over Lebron all time because of the simple fact
Speaker 1: that while both players did dominate their peers, MJ dominated
Speaker 1: his peers to a greater extent it significantly greater extent
Speaker 1: than Lebron James did. Comparing across errors is difficult. I've
Speaker 1: talked about this with you guys before. I talked about
Speaker 1: it with Magic and Steph yesterday. I actually think Steph
Speaker 1: is a better basketball player than Magic Johnson was by
Speaker 1: some small amount. I actually think Lebron is a better
Speaker 1: basketball player than MJ was by some small amount. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is I think basketball players are constantly
Speaker 1: getting better by a small amount every single year. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's fair to hold Magic in MJ to
Speaker 1: the same standard as Lebron James and Steph Curry, given
Speaker 1: the information and the technology that's available to them now,
Speaker 1: the difference in how a comfortable travel is for them
Speaker 1: and the planes that they take, the difference in the
Speaker 1: medical knowledge that's available to them now, the difference in
Speaker 1: just the way that we approach a season in terms
Speaker 1: of taking care of our bodies, the shot selection and
Speaker 1: understanding the analytical approach and how they can boost shot value,
Speaker 1: and all that data just wasn't really available to Magic
Speaker 1: and MJ in their era. So I don't think it's
Speaker 1: fair to to compare that across eras same thing goes
Speaker 1: to the future. I don't think it's fair to compare
Speaker 1: Lebron and steph Apples to Apples with players twenty years
Speaker 1: from now. It's going to be even more different when
Speaker 1: we get to that point. And so really, to me,
Speaker 1: the best way to evaluate a player is to look
Speaker 1: at the way that player performed relative to his peers
Speaker 1: in his era, and then stack that up with the
Speaker 1: way other players in other eras competed against their peers
Speaker 1: and what they accomplished in their era. Here's the reality.
Speaker 1: MJ won six championships in eight years. No player in
Speaker 1: the history of basketball has dominated the league the way
Speaker 1: he did during the nineties. He was so much better
Speaker 1: than everybody that it was insulting to even throw another
Speaker 1: name in the conversation alongside Michael Jordan. That's how much
Speaker 1: better he was than everybody. It was Michael Jordan on
Speaker 1: the top tier of stars, a gap, and then everyone
Speaker 1: else Now Lebron had a brief stretch like that. I'd
Speaker 1: argue in like twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, that
Speaker 1: little two to three year window, Lebron was unassailably the
Speaker 1: best player in the world, and there's clearly a gap
Speaker 1: between him and everyone else. But that gap closed. Guys
Speaker 1: like Kevin Durant and Steph Curry caught up with him,
Speaker 1: and then eventually Kawhi Leonard as well. And now I
Speaker 1: personally think Lebron was definitely the best player in the
Speaker 1: league from twenty twelve to twenty twenty and now nine
Speaker 1: year span, I thought he was the best, But that
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen to twenty twenty stretch, it was close.
Speaker 1: You weren't saying Lebron was in a tier by himself.
Speaker 1: It was Lebron, Steph KD, you know, Lebron, Steph KD,
Speaker 1: Kawhi Lebron, Steph KD, Kawai Yannis, whatever you wanted to
Speaker 1: look at. There, he was on the same level as
Speaker 1: those guys, but probably a little bit better. It was
Speaker 1: a different level of dominance compared to what MJ did
Speaker 1: in the nineties. Just imagine, just pretend for a second,
Speaker 1: like Nikola Jokic won the title again next year in
Speaker 1: one finals MVP, and then did it again, and then
Speaker 1: did it three of the following five years. We literally
Speaker 1: wouldn't know how to handle it. We'd probably be proclaiming
Speaker 1: him the goat before he even got to his fourth
Speaker 1: title because we don't see that anymore. We don't see
Speaker 1: that level of dominance. There is no player that has
Speaker 1: risen above the other players the way that MJ did
Speaker 1: in the nineties. We haven't even seen a three peat
Speaker 1: since the Lakers in the early two thousands. So, like again,
Speaker 1: that level of dominance, I think it's glossed over a
Speaker 1: lot in these debates. It's not just it's not just
Speaker 1: six titles to four, it's six titles in eight years.
Speaker 1: It's unassailable. There's nobody that could even remotely consider themselves
Speaker 1: on the same plane of existence as MJ over a decade.
Speaker 1: That's what sets him apart in terms of dominance in
Speaker 1: my opinion. Now, can Lebron pass him, Yes, but I
Speaker 1: think he needs one more championship as a star level player.
Speaker 1: So let's take a quick look at the resumes before
Speaker 1: we go any further. So, Finals, MVPs MJ six, Lebron four,
Speaker 1: MVPs Lebron, MJ five, Lebron four First Team All NBAS
Speaker 1: MJ ten, Lebron thirteen total All NBAS MJ eleven Lebron
Speaker 1: nineteen All defense selections MJ nine, Lebron six. MJ won
Speaker 1: a Defensive Player of the Year award in nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 1: Lebron never did. MJ has ten scoring titles, but Lebron
Speaker 1: James is the NBA's all time leading score Now. To
Speaker 1: be clear, the longevity argument for Lebron is a strong argument.
Speaker 1: Like nineteen all NBA selections compared to eleven for MJ.
Speaker 1: That's a substantial gap. That's more than seventy percent more
Speaker 1: all NBA quality seasons that MJ had, and then being
Speaker 1: the all time leading scorer, that's a legitimate argument. Putting
Speaker 1: the ball in the basket more than anybody in NBA history,
Speaker 1: and then also doing that in the postseason, that's a
Speaker 1: legit feather in his cap. I've also always said that
Speaker 1: Lebron has a variety argument. Those of you guys have
Speaker 1: been following the show for a while, I've heard me
Speaker 1: say this before, but like he he led a Larry Hughes,
Speaker 1: Drew Goodins Zydrinasolgowskas team to the NBA Finals. Then he
Speaker 1: won sixty games twice with that Moe Williams, Delonte West,
Speaker 1: you know, Antoine Damison group. Right then he wins two
Speaker 1: titles and makes four finals with the Miami Heat. Then
Speaker 1: he makes three finals and wins a title with Kevin
Speaker 1: Love and Kyrie Irving. Then Kyrie Irving gets traded and
Speaker 1: he leads them to the finals without Kyrie Irving with
Speaker 1: a completely different backcourt. Right then he wins a championship
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis in a group of role players in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and he just made a conference finals with
Speaker 1: a completely different group of role players alongside him in
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. There is an argument, like we've also heard
Speaker 1: the phrase like Swiss army knife thrown around with Lebron,
Speaker 1: and it's true. He has a ton of variety in
Speaker 1: his game. He's a super versatile player that can fill
Speaker 1: a bunch of different roles. Like he's just he's operating
Speaker 1: as a major screen and roll threat right now for
Speaker 1: the Lakers. That was never anything that he did significantly
Speaker 1: earlier in his career. Like he has a versatility to him,
Speaker 1: that allows him to functionally change his role in any
Speaker 1: basketball team. That's a significant feather in his cat. Like
Speaker 1: if I had to make a goat case for Lebron,
Speaker 1: this is what I would say. If you're in a
Speaker 1: vacuum starting a franchise and you can draft one player,
Speaker 1: arguably you'd want Lebron because you get more cracks at
Speaker 1: the table, right nineteen all NBA quality seasons versus eleven,
Speaker 1: and more versatility and what kinds of teams he can
Speaker 1: win with as opposed to the MJ mold where it's
Speaker 1: like basically two different archetypes of teams, right, like the
Speaker 1: Horace Grant Bulls and then the Dennis rodmin Bulls. But
Speaker 1: the gist of it though, is still triangle offense MJ
Speaker 1: and Scottie Phil Jackson as the coach, right, So there's
Speaker 1: a lot of similarities between those two errors too. But
Speaker 1: again that doesn't undercut the dominance. But if you had
Speaker 1: to make a case for Lebron, that's what you'd say,
Speaker 1: Like you're starting this team from scratch, you want the
Speaker 1: guy who has more great seasons and the guy that's
Speaker 1: capable of playing different ways because your franchise is going
Speaker 1: to change over the course of that existence. That's how
Speaker 1: I would make the case. But guess what. Basketball games
Speaker 1: don't take place in a vacuum. And you guys have
Speaker 1: heard me say this before. This is why I do
Speaker 1: my player rankings the way that I do. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's fair to undercut an accomplishment from another player
Speaker 1: based on hypotheticals, and to hand accomplishments to another player
Speaker 1: based on hypotheticals. That's not why we play the games.
Speaker 1: We play the game so that we have a trophy.
Speaker 1: We play the games for the trophy, for tangible results.
Speaker 1: And we can argue about plumbers, and we can argue
Speaker 1: about how much talent was on the Bulls, and we
Speaker 1: can argue about dilution of talent with the league expanding
Speaker 1: in the nineties, and we can say whatever we want.
Speaker 1: We can talk about Steph Curry and Kevin Durant teaming up,
Speaker 1: we can talk about all those things. But the reality
Speaker 1: is MJ three p to twice and won six titles
Speaker 1: in eight years, and Lebron won four, which is really
Speaker 1: freaking good. Second best player of all time. There are
Speaker 1: two players in NBA history four championships and four finals MVPs.
Speaker 1: It's Lebron and MJ. He deserves to be number two,
Speaker 1: and that longevity case is legit and it makes up
Speaker 1: some of that gap, but in my opinion, not enough
Speaker 1: to make up for the utter dominance that MJ showed
Speaker 1: in the nineties. Now, if Lebron gets a fifth Let's
Speaker 1: say they win the title this coming season, and he
Speaker 1: averages twenty seven, eight and eight during the regular season
Speaker 1: in twenty six to nine and eight during the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and he hoists the trophy. Now I'm like, I got
Speaker 1: a fifth title and I have all that longevity stuff. Now,
Speaker 1: I think that gives Lebron the edge, And if Lebron
Speaker 1: wins another title as a fifth, I will personally view
Speaker 1: him as the greatest basketball player of all time. But
Speaker 1: I do think that we've greatly overlooked what was an
Speaker 1: incredibly dominant stretch of basketball by MJ in the nineties. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's propaganda, Yes, Nike has pushed a bunch of stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys in the media that push
Speaker 1: MJ propaganda. You're absolutely right, and I push back on
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff. The whole Oh, he would
Speaker 1: have one in ninety five, but he was in baseball shape.
Speaker 1: No bullshit, bullshit, sorry like he lost, he lost in
Speaker 1: ninety five. I'm there with you, guys. I'm not I
Speaker 1: I pushed back on the propaganda. Two. But six and
Speaker 1: eight is six and eight and and that that has
Speaker 1: to mean something in a league where the Lario b
Speaker 1: is the whole reason why we do this. He won
Speaker 1: six of them in eight years. Again, I'd encourage you
Speaker 1: just to think about what you would do. Who's your
Speaker 1: favorite player? Is your favorite player? Giannis is your favorite player.
Speaker 1: Jokic is your favorite player. Steph. Now, imagine if let's
Speaker 1: just use Giannis and Jokic as an example, because they're
Speaker 1: actually young enough. Let's imagine that Jokic wins again next
Speaker 1: year in the following year, and then wins three of
Speaker 1: the next five. What if Yannis won five in the
Speaker 1: next seven championships? How would you Yannis fans be talking
Speaker 1: about him? How would you Jokic fans be talking about him?
Speaker 1: That that? I do think that that it's almost like
Speaker 1: the further we've gotten away from that accomplishment, that it's
Speaker 1: like blurry or something and people can't really see what
Speaker 1: it is. It's freaking insane. He three VT twice. It's unbelievable,
Speaker 1: and so I'm not in the business of trying to
Speaker 1: downplay that accomplishment. So again I have MJ over Lebron
Speaker 1: for now. A fifth title put him over the top
Speaker 1: for me. But I hope that gives you guys at
Speaker 1: least an explanation for why I stand where I stand
Speaker 1: on that issue. All right, Number nine, Janis and ten
Speaker 1: and Koombo, let's go with his accolades. First best player
Speaker 1: on a championship team in twenty twenty one, five time
Speaker 1: First Team All NBA is currently on a five year
Speaker 1: streak actually in that department. Seven time All NBA Overall,
Speaker 1: five time All Defense. He won Defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year in twenty twenty, won regular season MVP back to
Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen, in twenty twenty, and he won
Speaker 1: the Finals MVP in twenty twenty one. Giannis has claimed
Speaker 1: to fame. In my opinion is that he's the most
Speaker 1: physically dominant perimeter player in NBA history. He led the
Speaker 1: NBA in restricted Area makes this year, led it again
Speaker 1: last year. He was second Tosion in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: second Desigon in twenty twenty. Then he led the league
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, again, led the league in twenty eighteen. Again,
Speaker 1: so he's led the league in restricted area makes for
Speaker 1: the last six seasons. Then he was second to Lebron
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen and fourth in twenty sixteen. So basically,
Speaker 1: what's that one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Eight
Speaker 1: consecutive years in the top four in restricted area makes,
Speaker 1: with four times finishing number one. He's easily the most
Speaker 1: physically dominant perimeter player in the NBA right now. He's
Speaker 1: also been top ten in the league in rebounding five
Speaker 1: years in a row. His archetype, the way I describe it,
Speaker 1: is he's got the body of a super strong center
Speaker 1: with the agility of a wing six ' eleven tall
Speaker 1: with a seven foot three wing span. He's a good
Speaker 1: ball handler and a good passer. Those are his two
Speaker 1: greatest skills. But make no mistake, Giannis is all about
Speaker 1: dominating games with the size, strength, and athleticism. Now, I know,
Speaker 1: we got guys like James Harden who said, like all
Speaker 1: he does is run and dunk the basketball. That's obviously
Speaker 1: a gross oversimplification, but there is some truth to the
Speaker 1: simple fact that Giannis does rely on his physical tools
Speaker 1: more than probably any player in the NBA right now.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't matter. He has those physical tools. Again,
Speaker 1: we're talking about hypotheticals here. What if Jannis was shorter,
Speaker 1: He's not. What if Jannis was less athletic. He's not.
Speaker 1: He's that big and he's that athletic, and he's gonna
Speaker 1: play for the Bucks again next year, and you have
Speaker 1: to find a way to deal with it. So like that,
Speaker 1: as we kind of come down to the reality of it,
Speaker 1: he is that big and strong, and it is an
Speaker 1: important part of what helps the Bucks win basketball games. Now,
Speaker 1: the key is and what separates Giannis from a lot
Speaker 1: of other great athletes, because there are a lot of
Speaker 1: great athletes in the league that don't succeed in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Right Giannis makes you feel every bit of his size, strength,
Speaker 1: and athleticism on every possession of every single game, all
Speaker 1: through the eighty two and through the entire playoff front.
Speaker 1: I want to walk through just to explain to you
Speaker 1: guys what I mean, like just how consistent his physical
Speaker 1: presence impacts basketball game. So start with the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. So the Bucks position him in help typically,
Speaker 1: so they'll have him guard the weak side corner so
Speaker 1: that he can be the low man they want Glopez
Speaker 1: guarding and pick and roll, they went Jannis guarding the
Speaker 1: guy in the weakside corner because he's one of probably
Speaker 1: two players in the league, probably him and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: so the only two guys in the league that can
Speaker 1: guard the guy in the corner and legitimately close out
Speaker 1: and block a shot there while always offering, like consistently
Speaker 1: offering that same help underneath the basket. As the low
Speaker 1: man defending pick and roll three and two. It allows
Speaker 1: the coach to defend pick and roll three on two
Speaker 1: while not leaving anybody open because they can successfully make
Speaker 1: that close out. So he's like a superhuman help defender
Speaker 1: on the weak side. Right. He's also pretty good in
Speaker 1: pick and roll, though that's not his strength necessarily, And
Speaker 1: he's pretty good on perimeter defense against wings, although that's
Speaker 1: not his strength necessarily. But when it comes to the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the four, you're feeling him on every
Speaker 1: single possession. Then we talked about rebounding top five or
Speaker 1: top ten in the league five years in a row.
Speaker 1: He legitimately is going to get every contested rebound that
Speaker 1: comes his way because He's the biggest, strongest, best athlete
Speaker 1: on the floor, right, So he's helping you on defense.
Speaker 1: You're feeling him on defense, feeling him when he grabs
Speaker 1: a defensive rebound. Then what happens when he gets a
Speaker 1: defensive rebound. He immediately gets the rebound and just starts
Speaker 1: running it down your throat and transition every single time,
Speaker 1: He's consistently putting pressure on your defense. Giannis led the
Speaker 1: league in transition points total transition points scored this year
Speaker 1: with five hundred and ninety one, and then he led
Speaker 1: the league the year before that, and then he led
Speaker 1: the league the year before that. It's been five years
Speaker 1: in a row that he's been number one in the
Speaker 1: entire NBA in transition points scored, and by the way,
Speaker 1: he was top four to two years before that. So
Speaker 1: transition buckets now make up almost a third of Jannis's offense.
Speaker 1: It's incredibly physically taxing on your defense to constantly have
Speaker 1: to get back and build a wall to stop Jannis.
Speaker 1: So I've been dealing with Giannis and help. I've been
Speaker 1: dealing with Giannis on the glass. I've been dealing with
Speaker 1: Giannis flying down the floor in transition. Now let's say
Speaker 1: you happen to stop that transition attack and force him
Speaker 1: to run a half court set. Now you have to
Speaker 1: deal with that same yanis on slot in a half
Speaker 1: court context. We talked about picking rolls in our player
Speaker 1: rankings video. Giannis runs pick and rolls four or five
Speaker 1: pick and rolls, meaning the power forward in the center.
Speaker 1: So he's a legitimate of getting ahead of Steam. And
Speaker 1: you have to have a bigger defender on Giannis because
Speaker 1: he's so damn big, right, and you're asking a big
Speaker 1: defender who's never navigated screens to navigate ball screens. So
Speaker 1: Jannis is consistently getting downhill and pick and roll, and
Speaker 1: Yannis was an extremely efficient pick and roll ball handler
Speaker 1: this year. Iso same thing, head of Steam backing up,
Speaker 1: getting going at you at full speed and trying to
Speaker 1: beat you to a spot post ups. Giannis was six
Speaker 1: out of twenty players to atempt at LEAs two hundred
Speaker 1: post ups this year in efficiency because he's just constantly
Speaker 1: trying to battering ram his way to the rim with
Speaker 1: his master's frame, massive frame. He's got two big tricks
Speaker 1: that he uses when he's driving to the basket. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we talked he's a very good ball handler for a
Speaker 1: person his size, and he's a very good passer. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say he's like great at either, but he's very
Speaker 1: good at both. But he's got a couple of tricks.
Speaker 1: One is the chicken wing. I'm sure you guys have
Speaker 1: seen this, and I really noticed this for the first
Speaker 1: time in the Boston Celtics series last year. But like
Speaker 1: Yannis like tries to take a look. We talked about
Speaker 1: the attack foot with Dirk Novinski. Right, So you got
Speaker 1: your defender who's got their feet set like this, right,
Speaker 1: If you can get your attack foot, so not your
Speaker 1: pivot foot, but the foot you're shooting forward, If you
Speaker 1: can get your attack foot past that defender's foot, then
Speaker 1: you have an ability to leverage past him, use your
Speaker 1: body to leverage past him. One of the things that
Speaker 1: Yannis does is he doesn't just get his foot past you.
Speaker 1: He grabs the ball like this and straight up extends
Speaker 1: his elbow out and tries to work his way past you,
Speaker 1: almost like a crowbar like he watched footage of Yannis
Speaker 1: getting buckets in that twenty twenty two Conference semi final
Speaker 1: series against the Celtics. He gets he gets that just
Speaker 1: that tiny bit of an angle, and then he extends
Speaker 1: that elbow out and pulls him around. Then he takes
Speaker 1: long steps. This is the second trick, honest nose. Not
Speaker 1: a great ball handler, and he's got to dribble into
Speaker 1: traffic a lot. He picks up his dribble early and
Speaker 1: takes long steps, whether that's euro steps, long steps with
Speaker 1: the chicken wing like I was talking about, but he
Speaker 1: tries to cover as much ground as possible without having
Speaker 1: to actually dribble the basketball, which makes him that much
Speaker 1: harder to keep in front. And then here's the thing,
Speaker 1: even if you happen to force a miss, he's averaging
Speaker 1: well over two offensive rebounds per game over the last
Speaker 1: six seasons, So you might just go back up and
Speaker 1: grab it and dunk it. And we've all seen that
Speaker 1: Janni's bulldoze possession where he misses, but he just beats
Speaker 1: everybody else off the floor for the second jump and
Speaker 1: then dunks that one. You build a wall and send
Speaker 1: multiple defenders at him. He's turned himself into a great
Speaker 1: passer as well. So the point is is like in
Speaker 1: every single phase of a basketball game, from defense to rebounding,
Speaker 1: to transition to half court offense, to trying to keep
Speaker 1: him off the offensive glass to his passing ability. You
Speaker 1: are going to feel Giannis's size, strength, and athleticism on
Speaker 1: every single possession of every single game, because his motor
Speaker 1: is so good that, in my opinion, makes him the
Speaker 1: best regular season player in the NBA. I had someone
Speaker 1: ask on Twitter a while back, like, what does that
Speaker 1: mean to be the best regular season player in the NBA.
Speaker 1: It's pretty simple. Players that rely heavily on effort and
Speaker 1: transition and struggle with half court offense. And again, like,
Speaker 1: Giannis is a great half court offensive player in the
Speaker 1: regular season, but he has had a history of struggling
Speaker 1: in the postseason right outside of the twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: playoff run. So in that context, players like that tend
Speaker 1: to experience a little bit of a dip in effectiveness
Speaker 1: when they get to the postseason, you know, whereas like
Speaker 1: guys that are elite half court players tend to experience
Speaker 1: an increase in effectiveness when they get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: Right Guys like Jokic and Luka are two examples, right now,
Speaker 1: Guys that are super versaal that their impact just goes
Speaker 1: up on that stage because they're great in the half
Speaker 1: court offensively right, So to me, if it comes through
Speaker 1: an eighty two game season, I don't want anybody but Yannis.
Speaker 1: He's the best in the league at that because on
Speaker 1: a night and night out basis, when scouting is in
Speaker 1: as big of a deal and when effort does play
Speaker 1: a massive role in the outcome of every single game,
Speaker 1: having the seven foot dude who plays harder than everybody
Speaker 1: and impacts every single phase of the game with his
Speaker 1: athleticism is the best regular season basketball player. His crowning
Speaker 1: achievement was the twenty twenty one NBA Championship. He gets
Speaker 1: revenge on Miami in a sweep to start the playoffs,
Speaker 1: posts five consecutive thirty point games against the Nets, including
Speaker 1: a forty point thirteen rebound game in Game seven, to
Speaker 1: advance to the conference finals. The Hawk series was weird.
Speaker 1: He hyper extends his knee in Game four in a
Speaker 1: two to two series. They actually win the series without him.
Speaker 1: Then he goes for forty plus three times in the
Speaker 1: Sun series, including a fifty point game in Game six
Speaker 1: to close him out. Perfect example of that wear and
Speaker 1: tear effect that I was talking about with Giannis again,
Speaker 1: he just is coming at you every single possession and
Speaker 1: eventually you just break. It's like I use that shoulder effect, right,
Speaker 1: So like that, I use the shoulder example. So you know,
Speaker 1: Giannis makes a hard dribble towards my right shoulder and
Speaker 1: I slide and the first time I take it, and
Speaker 1: I take that shoulder in the chest and it hurts,
Speaker 1: but I hold my ground. Then I do it again,
Speaker 1: Then I do it again. But what about like the
Speaker 1: fifth time, Like, at what point am I gonna give
Speaker 1: that ground right and let him go past me? That
Speaker 1: that kind of is the wear and tear aspect of it.
Speaker 1: Same thing with boxing out keeping him off the glass.
Speaker 1: You know, you're just eventually, as the smaller athlete, going
Speaker 1: to fatigue and he's going to start winning those battles.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly how that series went. Like they held
Speaker 1: Gianis to twenty points in game one, then Giannis kind
Speaker 1: of got off in game two, he got forty two,
Speaker 1: but the Sons held on held on for the win.
Speaker 1: Then the floodgates open in game three. Jannis goes for
Speaker 1: forty one and the Bucks win by twenty Game four
Speaker 1: was the crazy Yannis block at the rim. Remember this
Speaker 1: was the you know I said Giannis is not as
Speaker 1: good defending in pick and roll as some of his peers,
Speaker 1: but it's ironic because his best highlight is defending in
Speaker 1: pick and roll or a variation of pick and roll.
Speaker 1: The Sons run a dribble hand off kind of a
Speaker 1: horn set to get Devin Booker downhill coming off of
Speaker 1: the elbow, and on this play Aten's rolling hard to
Speaker 1: the rim. Janis's responsibility is eighton, but he has to
Speaker 1: step up to stop Devin Booker from taking a jump shot.
Speaker 1: Booker throws a beautiful hook pass top of the square
Speaker 1: extended for eight and to catch Aton goes up and
Speaker 1: catches it. Jannis somehow turns and jumps off a one
Speaker 1: leg and blocks him at the rim. So we get
Speaker 1: the iconic play of Giannis's career in the defense of
Speaker 1: a block of eight and at the rim to tie
Speaker 1: that series at two. Game five, after Drew Holiday steals
Speaker 1: the ball from Devin Booker, Janis runs the lane. In transition,
Speaker 1: Drew throws the lob. Chris Paul Legit tries to it
Speaker 1: was dirty, honestly tries to shove Jannis out of mid air,
Speaker 1: and Yannis steal tunks the basketball because how ridiculously athletic
Speaker 1: he is. And then in Game six he goes for fifty,
Speaker 1: it goes seventeen for nineteen from the line. He finishes
Speaker 1: the finals averaging thirty five to fifteen to five on
Speaker 1: sixty six percent through shooting, and leaves the season as
Speaker 1: the unassailable best player in the world. Biggest one if
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a future based what if for
Speaker 1: Yiannis based on the fact that he's so young. What
Speaker 1: if he ever developed some sort of over the top
Speaker 1: shot that he can make consistently. Now, Like I said
Speaker 1: just a second ago, Jannis was definitively the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. In twenty twenty one, he's not anymore.
Speaker 1: He's experienced a slight decline in his free throw shooting
Speaker 1: and in his perimeter shot making. He's starting to age
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Like he turns twenty nine this
Speaker 1: year in December, I think you're starting to see that
Speaker 1: with some of the nagging injuries he's been dealing with,
Speaker 1: particularly with his knee, and most importantly, the other guys
Speaker 1: are getting better. Nikole Jokic as just just snatched that
Speaker 1: number one spot from him now. So in my opinion,
Speaker 1: it's like, especially when you factory in the fact that
Speaker 1: Janis is twenty nine, gonna be twenty nine, It's only
Speaker 1: going to get easier and easier for teams to hang
Speaker 1: with Giannis's athleticism. There are going to be more and
Speaker 1: more guys that can consistently slide their feet and keep
Speaker 1: Giannis in front as he ages, and it's gonna become
Speaker 1: more and more important for him to have something he
Speaker 1: can make over the top of the defense. Not to
Speaker 1: mention I talked about this in the in the player
Speaker 1: rankings video, but don't forget the it's gonna get harder,
Speaker 1: Like you're how many how many times in the next
Speaker 1: five years are you're gonna get to face a team
Speaker 1: the quality of the Trey Young Hawks in the conference finals,
Speaker 1: you know, where where they were literally able to win
Speaker 1: the series with Giannis on the bench, like they were
Speaker 1: two two when Giannis got hurt and they won two
Speaker 1: straight without it. You know, obviously Trey Young got hurt
Speaker 1: in that series as well, But like the point is
Speaker 1: is like, even if Trey Young is healthy, that's not
Speaker 1: a typical Conference finals team in this era anymore. Looking forward,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be Tatum and Brown and Chris hops Porzingis.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be Jimmy Butler and and Damian Lillard and
Speaker 1: bam Adebayo, right, like the You're it's gonna be some
Speaker 1: ridiculously good team coming out of that conference that you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to beat in the conference finals, even in
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. That was the Suns team with Devin
Speaker 1: Booker is their best player. I don't think he's a
Speaker 1: top ten player right now. I haven't met number twelve.
Speaker 1: Chances are that's gonna be Nicole jokicch and the Nuggets Again,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be Lebron and ad and then Lake team
Speaker 1: with Austin Reeves. Right, that's gonna be Kevin Durant with
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and h Bradley Beal, just a much better
Speaker 1: version of the twenty twenty one Sons. That could be
Speaker 1: Kawhi and Paul George. That could be that, like it
Speaker 1: could like that, it could be the Warriors. Like, You're
Speaker 1: gonna face a tougher team in the conference finals in
Speaker 1: finals moving forward than Gianni's got to face in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. Doesn't undercut the championship legit bona fide championship.
Speaker 1: You guys know how I feel about that. But let's
Speaker 1: acknowledge the reality that next time it's probably gonna be
Speaker 1: a little harder, and so Jannis does need to get
Speaker 1: a little better. And in my opinion, it can't be
Speaker 1: the jump shot. It's too far away. We've talked about
Speaker 1: this in the player rankings video. He shot thirty one
Speaker 1: percent on jumpers this year, twenty seven point five percent
Speaker 1: on threes, and thirty five point six percent on twos.
Speaker 1: He's not close to being a good jump shooter. He
Speaker 1: needs like three or four years at least to become
Speaker 1: a good jump shooter. And there's a decent chance of
Speaker 1: a better than fifty percent chance that he just never
Speaker 1: becomes a good jump shooter. But he can become a
Speaker 1: good hook shooter. He can develop a nice little hook
Speaker 1: shot in the link. He's got the physical tools to
Speaker 1: get it off against anybody. It's easier on his legs
Speaker 1: because he doesn't have to barrel into the lane like
Speaker 1: he can play with his back to the basket and
Speaker 1: work more methodically. I think it's a better move for
Speaker 1: his passing ability too. Because how good he is at
Speaker 1: throwing those rifle passes with his right hand. I think
Speaker 1: he needs to just work on a legit, reliable, you know,
Speaker 1: drop step into the lane hook shot and if he
Speaker 1: does so, but I mean, let's just face it as
Speaker 1: the what if. What if Jannis adds a legit hook
Speaker 1: shot to his game, then he addresses his biggest weakness,
Speaker 1: which is half court scoring in the playoffs, which further
Speaker 1: accentuates what he's already good at, and that gives him
Speaker 1: his best chance to compete with Jokic in the coming years.
Speaker 1: All Right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: We will be back with number eight tomorrow. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to drop some mailbag questions in the YouTube comments and
Speaker 1: I will see you guys tomorrow. The volume