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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to Hoops and I here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Have you Monday? Everybody?

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Speaker 2: Hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend.

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Speaker 1: We are gonna talk.

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Speaker 2: About that Travis Steven All Star Game, but we're gonna

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Speaker 2: do that in our mail bag portion later on in

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Speaker 2: the show today to give you guys a breakdown of

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Speaker 2: how this week is going to go. In this episode,

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Speaker 2: we're doing power rankings like we do every Monday. Then

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Speaker 2: we're gonna do a mail bag. I'd sent out a

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Speaker 2: tweet earlier this morning. We had like forty to fifty

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Speaker 2: something questions come in, so I've got a bunch from

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Speaker 2: there as well as some from the YouTube comments over

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Speaker 2: the weekend. So we're gonna do a mailbag in that segment,

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Speaker 2: gonna talk about the All Star Game, and then later

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Speaker 2: today I'm actually recording with Sammssini from The Athletic, one

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Speaker 2: of my favorite people to talk basketball with, one of

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Speaker 2: the smartest basketball minds that I interact with. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: go through contender rankings that will be coming on the

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Speaker 2: YouTube feed on Tuesday, and then we'll actually run all

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Speaker 2: of them as breakouts as well throughout the week, so

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Speaker 2: you guys can see your specific teams. But I think

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Speaker 2: now is a great time to just kind of revisit

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Speaker 2: the contenders and really put them into tears and really

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Speaker 2: rank them based on what we've seen through fifty some

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Speaker 2: games to this point in the season. So that's what

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Speaker 2: we're gonna be doing over the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday portion

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Speaker 2: of the week, and then Thursday evening when the league

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Speaker 2: returns back to gameplay, we'll be back on YouTube Live

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Speaker 2: after the final buzzer.

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Speaker 1: Of Warriors Lakers.

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Speaker 2: There's also a big showdown between the Suns and the

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Speaker 2: MAVs that night that will probably have to hit the

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Speaker 2: next day because of weird blackout rules involving the Phoenix

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Speaker 2: Suns where I live here in Tucson. But we'll hit

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Speaker 2: that show that game on Friday as well. But a

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Speaker 2: big jam pack schedule over the next couple of weeks

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Speaker 2: as the NBA kind of takes control of things now

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Speaker 2: that football is over. But that gives you guys a

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Speaker 2: little breadown how the week's gonna go again today, just

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Speaker 2: power rankings and our mailbag. You guys are the Joe

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Speaker 2: fourget started. Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel mean

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Speaker 2: a lot to me, you guys. Take a second to

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Speaker 2: scroll down hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our

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Speaker 2: podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight.

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Speaker 2: It's also super helpful if you guys leave a rating

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Speaker 2: and review on that front. Follow me on Twitter at

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Speaker 2: underscore Jason lt for film threads as well as show announcements,

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Speaker 2: and the last not least, keep dropping mail back questions

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Speaker 2: in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them

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Speaker 2: throughout this season. All right, So no in or out

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Speaker 2: teams in this year's or this week's power rankings, but

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Speaker 2: there is some shuffling based on where we were last week.

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Speaker 2: Number ten, the team in free fall since changing their coach,

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Speaker 2: the Milwaukee Bucks. They start the week by kicking the

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Speaker 2: shit out of the Denver Nuggets and then promptly lose

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Speaker 2: two games in a row to the injury ravaged Heat

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Speaker 2: and the injury ravaged Memphis Grizzlies. And once again, as

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Speaker 2: has been the issue since Dock took over, it's the offense.

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Speaker 2: The two losses to Memphis into Miami a one h

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Speaker 2: two point five offensive rating, two more stinkers from Dame.

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Speaker 2: He was twelve for thirty five from the field in

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Speaker 2: those two losses. He has shot below forty percent from

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Speaker 2: the field in ten of his last fifteen games. It's

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Speaker 2: becoming a pretty consistent trend. And again he's not going

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Speaker 2: in the right on that front. He's going in the

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Speaker 2: wrong direction on that front. He's had twenty three games

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Speaker 2: already this year where he shot below forty percent from

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Speaker 2: the field in fifty one games. I think in fifty

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Speaker 2: five games last year if I remember quickly, that's the total.

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Speaker 2: But he had twenty three games or excuse me, sixteen

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Speaker 2: all of last year where he shot below forty percent,

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Speaker 2: so sixteen and fifty five games or so last year

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Speaker 2: twenty three times in fifty one games this year, ten

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Speaker 2: of the last fifteen. Definitely trending in the wrong direction

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Speaker 2: on that front. Here's the thing, the entire construct of

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Speaker 2: the Milwaukee Bucks when you sent out one of your

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Speaker 2: best two way athletes and Drew Holliday, and in general,

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Speaker 2: when you look at the team and the fact that

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Speaker 2: they just don't really have a ton of veteran speed.

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Speaker 2: They've got athletes on the roster, but they're very young

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Speaker 2: and not really involved in the rotation.

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Speaker 1: You're a slow team.

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Speaker 2: This team, the entire construct is built around them being

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Speaker 2: a dominant offense, particularly in the half court, and so

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Speaker 2: things won't really turn around for them until things turn

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Speaker 2: around for Dame. And that's gonna be something we're gonna

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Speaker 2: be keeping any I on down the stretch of the season.

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Speaker 2: Number nine the New York Knicks, zero in two this

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Speaker 2: last week losses to Orlando and Houston. The Knicks lost

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Speaker 2: both of their starting forwards on January twenty seventh, oh

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Speaker 2: Jiananobi and Julius Randalls. Since then, they are four and

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Speaker 2: five eleventh in offense, but twenty third in defense and

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Speaker 2: ninth in rebounding. Just to give you guys an idea

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Speaker 2: of how bad that it is relative to where they

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Speaker 2: usually are at. At the time of their injuries, they were

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Speaker 2: seventh in defense on the season and number one in rebounding.

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Speaker 2: So the two biggest areas where they like to dominate

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Speaker 2: basketball games are fundamentally altered by the fact that their

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Speaker 2: two best forwards are out of the lineup. And like, again,

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Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how good Jalen Bruns is playing, It

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Speaker 2: doesn't really matter, Like none of that matters. You know,

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Speaker 2: basketball we have a tendency to like make it very

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Speaker 2: video game as can. We focus on who's the best player,

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Speaker 2: and what if this best player plays this well or

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Speaker 2: you know so and so outplayed this guy, and it's like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: don't get me wrong. Matchups are a big part of

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Speaker 2: the game. But at the end of the day, basketball

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Speaker 2: is a team sport. It is a five man unit

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Speaker 2: against a five man unit, and it doesn't matter how

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Speaker 2: good your superstar is if you don't have quality role

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Speaker 2: players around them. And this is a great example, like

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Speaker 2: decimate one position group that forward position fundamentally alters their

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Speaker 2: defense and their ability to dominate the glass of the

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Speaker 2: way they do, and now they're struggling to win games.

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Speaker 2: Not doesn't mean anything as far as the Knicks and

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Speaker 2: their long term potential, because obviously we had to evaluate

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Speaker 2: them with og in Julius Randall. But right now it

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Speaker 2: doesn't really make a lot of sense to take to

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Speaker 2: have major takeaways from the Knicks because they're basically playing

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Speaker 2: with a different identity right now while they're waiting to

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Speaker 2: get healthy.

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Speaker 1: Knicks are down at nine number eight.

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Speaker 2: New Orleans Pelicans to beat Memphis and Washington last week,

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Speaker 2: obviously a lighter stretch of their schedule. Big things standing

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Speaker 2: out to me as of late with the Pelicans is

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Speaker 2: Zion Williamson is really starting to pick up steam. His

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Speaker 2: first thirty one games this year, he was at twenty

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Speaker 2: one point seven points per game fifty eight percent from

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Speaker 2: the field, just three thirty point games in thirty one tries.

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Speaker 2: Last thirteen games twenty four point one points per game,

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Speaker 2: fifty nine percent shooting, and he's had five thirty point

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Speaker 2: games in the last thirteen games, so really starting to

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Speaker 2: pick up seam on that front. The big one to

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Speaker 2: me is his athleticism appears to be getting closer to

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Speaker 2: what we expect from Zion. Early in the year, I

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Speaker 2: thought he was like eighty percent of the athlete that

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Speaker 2: we've grown to custom to seeing with Zion. And then

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Speaker 2: he had like that big transition game game winner against

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Speaker 2: the Spurs where he got to that left handed scoop

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Speaker 2: shot off the glass. That was a really athletic play.

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Speaker 2: I can't remember which game it was last week, ILD

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Speaker 2: think it was the Memphis game, but where he ended

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Speaker 2: up getting his head above the rim on a block

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Speaker 2: and like you could just tell like he's starting to

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Speaker 2: get more of that vertical pop that we're accustomed to

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Speaker 2: seeing from Zion. And again, he relies a lot on

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Speaker 2: his physical gifts, and so him getting back into you know,

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Speaker 2: peak shape on that front could bode well for the

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Speaker 2: additional level they can get to, especially on the offensive

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Speaker 2: end of the floor. Number seven the Phoenix Suns. They

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Speaker 2: beat Sacramento last week as well as Detroit. Kevin Durant

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Speaker 2: it's on a ridiculous heater right now. He shot over

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Speaker 2: sixty percent in five of his last eight games, averaging

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Speaker 2: twenty eight, eight and six over that span, shooting fifty

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Speaker 2: seven percent from the field, forty percent from three, and

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Speaker 2: eighty five percent from the line. Also two point nine

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Speaker 2: stocks per game steals plus blocks per game over that span.

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Speaker 2: The Suns are fourth in defense over their last fifteen games,

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Speaker 2: in large part because they're anchored by Kevin Durant. They

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Speaker 2: have a big showdown on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks

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Speaker 2: that we will be covering, most likely on Friday morning

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Speaker 2: because of the blackout restrictions here in Arizona. But I'm

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Speaker 2: really looking forward to that game because both of those

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Speaker 2: teams have been facing some easier opponents says of late

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Speaker 2: and need a kind of a signature win, and they're

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Speaker 2: kind of headed for a showdown there on Thursday night.

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Speaker 2: That's going to be a fun one. Number six the

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Speaker 2: Oklahoma City Thunder only one game last week.

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Speaker 1: They beat the Orlando Magic.

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Speaker 2: Jadub and Shake Gilders Alexander were insane in that game.

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Speaker 2: They combined for sixty five points.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Williams.

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Speaker 2: I can't say enough about this kid. He's an absolute stud.

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Speaker 2: Absolute porched Orlando in transition. In particular, coming off of

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Speaker 2: that wide dribble handoff that Oklahoma City always runs for him,

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Speaker 2: hit a couple of nasty step back threes in this game,

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Speaker 2: one where he pounded between his legs and the other

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Speaker 2: one where he kind of did a hard side step

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Speaker 2: and covered a bunch of ground. His pull up shooting

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Speaker 2: has been kind of a revelation this year. Fifty three

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Speaker 2: percent overall, fifty nine percent an effective field goal percentage

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Speaker 2: waited for threes one point one eight points per shot.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys remember about a week

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Speaker 2: and a half ago, I was talking to you guys

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Speaker 2: about how James Harden has been the best pull up

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Speaker 2: jump shooter in the league this year. Guess who's second

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Speaker 2: on that list. Jalen Williams. There are forty four players

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Speaker 2: excuse me in the league that have attempted at least

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Speaker 2: two hundred pull up jump shots this year. Jalen Williams

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Speaker 2: is second place on that list at one point one

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Speaker 2: eight points per shot. That's highly unusual for a guy

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Speaker 2: this early in his career. And again, like and you

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Speaker 2: could see it with his ability to turn the corner

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Speaker 2: against Orlando and get to that right handed layup off

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Speaker 2: the glass, Like it's just a combination of downhill force

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Speaker 2: that allows him to get great steparation on those step

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Speaker 2: backs because again, as a defender, you got to make decisions.

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Speaker 2: And when Jayala Williams is hitting you with that hard

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Speaker 2: between the legs dribble to the right, you have an

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Speaker 2: option there. You can press up on it, take away

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Speaker 2: that step back three. But then you're giving this outstanding

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Speaker 2: athlete the ability to blow by you to his strong

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Speaker 2: hand to the right hand side, and like again, as

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Speaker 2: you saw in that Orlando game in particular, he's just

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Speaker 2: so good at getting that left shoulder lower in past

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Speaker 2: the defender so that he can kind of turn around

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Speaker 2: and pivot and get that right handed scoop shot off

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Speaker 2: the glass. It's a really fundamentally sound game, which is

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Speaker 2: what's allowing him to be so efficient. It is not

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Speaker 2: a reliance on super difficult shot making. It's using his

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Speaker 2: athletic gifts to generate high quality shots for himself, and

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Speaker 2: he's hitting them at a high rate. His scoring volume

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Speaker 2: is going up as well. First thirty five games of

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Speaker 2: the year eighteen points per game, his last thirteen games

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Speaker 2: twenty two points per game. He's also twenty plus points

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Speaker 2: in nine of his last thirteen nights. So hot strike

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Speaker 2: there for Jalen Williams. Again, light week for the Thunder,

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Speaker 2: but a lot of encouraging stuff coming out of Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 2: Number five, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a bad loss at

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Speaker 2: home against the injury injury riddled Sixers with bad defensive

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Speaker 2: effort game for them. They had a one thirty defensive

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Speaker 2: rating in that game against Philly, but they did bounce

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Speaker 2: back and beat the Bulls. Effort is a huge determining

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Speaker 2: factor for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They do not have talent

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Speaker 2: advantages over their opponents on most knights, but they have

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Speaker 2: a They're very well coached, they play super hard. Every

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Speaker 2: guy does their job on defense, and then they're good

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Speaker 2: enough running in transition when they have opportunities, and Donovan

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Speaker 2: Mitchell's playing well enough that they're able to win games.

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Speaker 2: But again, the effort has to be there. They do

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Speaker 2: not have talent advantages over most of the teams in

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Speaker 2: the league. You see that in the record. By the way,

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Speaker 2: they're twenty three and two this year when they play

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Speaker 2: teams that are below five hundred, but they're just thirteen

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Speaker 2: and fifteen when they play against five hundred or better teams.

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Speaker 2: And so that effort, like when they bring nights like

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Speaker 2: they did against Philly. They're going to lose in a

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Speaker 2: lot of cases. Number four the Denver Nuggets. They dropped

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Speaker 2: two games last week to the Bucks and the Kings.

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Speaker 2: Contavious Cabbo Pope and Jamal Murray both went down with

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Speaker 2: injuries in the Bucks game. KCP I believe was a

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Speaker 2: hamstring and then Murray I believe was shin splints if

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Speaker 2: I remember correctly, but they were kind of getting punked

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Speaker 2: anyway at the time that they left the game. Then

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Speaker 2: both guys were out for the Sacramento game. The Sacramento

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Speaker 2: loss was kind of weird because I felt like Denver

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Speaker 2: was in position to win that one, and then they

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Speaker 2: went to this bizarre.

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Speaker 1: Like coverage where like the guard was.

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Speaker 2: On the ball, which ended up being Justin Holliday and

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Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon, but they were in their possessions on dearon Fox.

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Speaker 2: They were defending like it was an ice coverage, like

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Speaker 2: they were trying to deny the ball screen and force

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Speaker 2: him away from the screen, but the actual screen defender.

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Speaker 2: Typically in an ice coverage, when a guy is like

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Speaker 2: denying the use of the ball screen, the guy that's

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Speaker 2: guarding the ball or the guy that's guarding the screen

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Speaker 2: or typically drops into the lane so that you're forcing

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Speaker 2: him to drive away from the screen right into your helper.

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Speaker 2: But what Denver was doing, which was weird, is they

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Speaker 2: had the on ball guy up denying the screen like

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Speaker 2: he was icing, and then they had the screen defender

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Speaker 2: all the way out on the other side of the

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Speaker 2: screen for a hedge, which doesn't make any sense. Why

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Speaker 2: would you deny use of the ball screen but then

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Speaker 2: also have help at the ball screen. The whole point

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Speaker 2: is the on ball defenders not letting him get there.

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Speaker 2: Darren Fox was just like literally just driving into a

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Speaker 2: hand crafted, easy driving lane and just torched Denver at

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Speaker 2: the end of the game with layups and floaters, and

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Speaker 2: it was just a really really confusing defensive strategy down

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Speaker 2: the stretch.

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Speaker 1: And again, like here's the thing.

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Speaker 2: I'm not worried about Denver, but the lifeless losses are

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Speaker 2: starting to pile up just a little bit, and all

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Speaker 2: it means is that they do need to kick in

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Speaker 2: with a little bit more urgency here down the stretch

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Speaker 2: of the season. Number three, the Los Angeles Clippers Minnesota

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Speaker 2: loss was a bit concerning. They got strangled by the

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Speaker 2: perimeter defense of Minnesota and then overwhelmed by their size

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Speaker 2: on the offensive end of the floor. But I was

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Speaker 2: really impressed by the Golden State Warriors win the other night. No,

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Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard had a big run from Golden State like

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Speaker 2: they typically bring in the third quarter as they went

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Speaker 2: up double digits.

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Speaker 1: Would have been really easy just to be like not

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Speaker 1: our night, but nope, they weathered it.

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Speaker 2: They played Clippers basketball down the stretch, really smart, driving

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Speaker 2: kick possessions to great shooters in the corners, and they

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Speaker 2: got a really impressive road win, hitting a lot of

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Speaker 2: the checkboxes that I look for championship contenders. The Clippers

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Speaker 2: at number three, number two, the Minnesota Timberwolves three and

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Speaker 2: oh week followed up their dominance of the Clippers with

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Speaker 2: back to back wins over the Blazers. They've won four

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Speaker 2: to row since their clutch collapse against the Chicago Bulls

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Speaker 2: and all have been blowouts. And again, if you have

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Speaker 2: issues with late game execution, that's a great way to

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Speaker 2: avoid those situations be a dominant basketball team. This was

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Speaker 2: a big thing for the Lakers in the twenty twenty year,

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Speaker 2: where like they leaned heavily on defensive personnel, ran a

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Speaker 2: lot of big lineups where they play, you know, a

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Speaker 2: center next to Anthony Davis and stuff like that, and

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Speaker 2: what ended up happening is throughout that season they would

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Speaker 2: struggle a little bit in the half court just because

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Speaker 2: of the lack of offensive skill off of Lebron James

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Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis. But they just defended like crazy, got

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Speaker 2: out in transition a bunch, and didn't let games get

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Speaker 2: close late, you know, like and like even if you

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Speaker 2: look in the finals, it's like they lose that one

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Speaker 2: game where Jimmy Butler scores all those points, but then

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Speaker 2: they just blow them out in Game six. And that's

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Speaker 2: got to be the pathway for Minnesota. They're not going

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Speaker 2: they don't have the personnel to be a surgical half

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Speaker 2: court offense, but they do have the personnel to win

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Speaker 2: games by ten to fifteen points strangling teams with their defense,

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Speaker 2: and that just needs to be their mo here down

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Speaker 2: the stretch. Number one Boston Celtics two to zero with

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Speaker 2: two wins over the Nets. As I predicted before the season,

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Speaker 2: I thought they'd run away with the conference. They are

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Speaker 2: now six games up on the East two seed. They

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Speaker 2: have a four game lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves for

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Speaker 2: the Number one overall seed. They also have the third

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Speaker 2: easiest remaining sky Like, they prove themselves to be the

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Speaker 2: best regular season team while playing a very tough schedule.

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Speaker 1: Earlier in the year, most of.

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Speaker 2: Their tougher opponents were front loaded, and so they actually

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Speaker 2: have a much easier schedule here down the stretch. And

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Speaker 2: so their reward is they can be really cautious with

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Speaker 2: injuries and guys that are a little banged up. They

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Speaker 2: can mess with lineups, they can tweak strategies and and

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Speaker 2: and they can They just have an enormous margin for air.

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Speaker 2: They have the ability to really kind of like flush

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Speaker 2: things out in terms of what they want to have

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Speaker 2: in their bag, is like punches and counters and adjustments

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Speaker 2: when they get to the postseason, just because of all

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Speaker 2: of the leeway that they've built for themselves in the standings,

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Speaker 2: they do have a little bit of a tough schedule.

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Speaker 2: To kick off the post All Star stretch. They go

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Speaker 2: to Chicago, then to New York, although the Knicks are

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Speaker 2: a little beat up right now. Then they come home

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Speaker 2: for Philly and Golden State. That's a little bit lighter stretch.

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Speaker 2: But then they go to Cleveland to Denver too, Phoenix

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Speaker 2: so gonna learn a lot about the Celtics and some

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Speaker 2: of their offensive progression here in the next couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: But then they're like their schedules up again after that.

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Speaker 2: So I don't think it'll matter in the standings at all.

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Speaker 2: But this next few weeks is going to be a

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Speaker 2: good opportunity for us to learn more about the Celtics.

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Speaker 2: We're going to be covering them very closely over that stretch.

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Speaker 2: There you go, there's our power rankings for this Monday,

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Speaker 2: February nineteenth. Have you guys ever had a bad ticket

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00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,560
Speaker 2: buying experience. Maybe you go to check out and ends

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Speaker 2: clicked on it, or maybe you go to your seat

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Speaker 2: bought it to begin with, or maybe it's just an

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Speaker 2: overly convoluted and complicated process. Well, this is where I

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00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:02,520
Speaker 2: let's move on to the mailbag. I got seventeen different

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00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,160
Speaker 2: versions of this particular question, but I just picked one

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00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:07,400
Speaker 2: how would you because I thought this was the best

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00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,919
Speaker 2: one that kind of encapsulated like the broader issue, how

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00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,439
Speaker 2: would you incentivize players to play more competitive in the

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00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,960
Speaker 2: All Star Game? It feels like the game becomes more

426
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,320
Speaker 2: boring to watch every year, and the offensive highlights cannot

427
00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,480
Speaker 2: compensate for the lack of competition. Greetings from Germany. Really

428
00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:25,520
Speaker 2: enjoy watching the show. Thank you for supporting the show.

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Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate the kind words that you guys

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00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:31,040
Speaker 2: drop in the comments. I didn't even watch the game

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Speaker 2: last night. I was actually joking with my wife as

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Speaker 2: we were just relaxing. We typically takes Sunday to kind

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Speaker 2: of Saturdays, more of like a busy do stuff around

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Speaker 2: the house day, and then Sunday's like a chill day.

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Speaker 2: And at one point I looked over at the clock

436
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:47,960
Speaker 2: and it was like seven, and I told my wife,

437
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:49,520
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm pretty sure the All Star Game

438
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,840
Speaker 2: is like on now or starting soon, and I was like,

439
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,399
Speaker 2: I could not care less about watching the game. I

440
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 2: remember the last time that was like appointment viewing for

441
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 2: me with the All Star was when they lunch the

442
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 2: elam ending, just because I have always been a fan

443
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 2: of the elam ending and I wanted to see it.

444
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 2: And we've got a couple of good ones, and then

445
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,399
Speaker 2: the elam ending even ended up kind of crapping out

446
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 2: there towards the end, and like, I think part of

447
00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 2: the issue too, like one of my like fundamental things

448
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,119
Speaker 2: that I think causes the poor effort. First of all,

449
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:21,119
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards is right. The guys just they're looking for

450
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,359
Speaker 2: a break. They don't want to compete, they want to break.

451
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,840
Speaker 2: Just imagine the grind of the eighty two game regular

452
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 2: season and then suddenly it's like, okay, from Thursday to Thursday,

453
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,040
Speaker 2: there's no games, so you can take a break. And

454
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,960
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, but I have to fly to Indiana

455
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,800
Speaker 2: for this All Star event. You know, even Lebron like

456
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 2: comes in the day of the game, right, you know,

457
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,680
Speaker 2: like these guys are they're they're exhausted from the eighty

458
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,800
Speaker 2: two This is just another thing they have to deal with.

459
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,160
Speaker 2: During the season, and so I think I think that's

460
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,359
Speaker 2: why they don't necessarily want to go all out while

461
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 2: they're there. But then the format itself, it kind of

462
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,439
Speaker 2: like breeds a certain amount of lackadaisical effort. What I

463
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,439
Speaker 2: mean by that is like, let's say I'm throwing in

464
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 2: the opening there's forty eight minutes of basketball to play.

465
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,800
Speaker 2: If there's forty eight minutes of basketball to play, like,

466
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,800
Speaker 2: of course you're gonna be chilling at the start of

467
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 2: that game. One of the things that I think made

468
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,720
Speaker 2: the elam ending work, at least there at the beginning,

469
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,879
Speaker 2: was like it was a very small sample size of

470
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,080
Speaker 2: basketball at the end of the game, twenty four points.

471
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,040
Speaker 2: You get twenty four points here.

472
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 1: At the end.

473
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,360
Speaker 2: But even then, when we got to the later phases

474
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 2: of that elam ending phase, one team would be up

475
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 2: ten twelve points by the time they got to the

476
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, and so it didn't really feel like it

477
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 2: was in flux. But and so like there's different things

478
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,239
Speaker 2: you can try. I've seen people say, well, what if

479
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 2: we did USA versus the World? Yeah, I think that

480
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 2: would I think that's a little thing that would breed

481
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,320
Speaker 2: more competitiveness. Is like the guys just out of pride

482
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 2: might feel more interested in competing. But that's never gonna

483
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,960
Speaker 2: work because you can't have a system where you pick

484
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,000
Speaker 2: twelve All Stars from outside the US and twelve All

485
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 2: Stars from inside the US. It doesn't balance out equally

486
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 2: with the with the talent or the conferences. It just

487
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,679
Speaker 2: would never work. And so there would be you know,

488
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 2: maybe eight four and All Stars and you know, fourteen

489
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,400
Speaker 2: US All Stars. It just wouldn't work. You could never

490
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 2: do that. So it's a good idea, but would never work.

491
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,320
Speaker 2: What if you had the home court advantage in the

492
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 2: NBA Finals determined by who wins that game. That's a

493
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,760
Speaker 2: terrible idea because that specific format is already so loose

494
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,720
Speaker 2: and sloppy, and it's way too big of a swing

495
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 2: to leave in the hands of basically just for fun

496
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,159
Speaker 2: type of event. You know, Baseball doesn't rely on effort.

497
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 2: That's why they can get away with that. Baseball doesn't

498
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,920
Speaker 2: rely on effort. So like they can have an All

499
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,000
Speaker 2: Star game, and like, guys are gonna still have like

500
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 2: a pretty normal looking baseball game because it's not that

501
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 2: type of environment, right, So, like, I don't think that's

502
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 2: a good idea for an NBA All Star Game to

503
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 2: have some sort of massive like swinging factor of the

504
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 2: NBA Playoffs at stake in that environment. They're what I

505
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 2: would do if I wanted to try to manufacture some

506
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 2: competitiveness is create a shorter game.

507
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: And what that.

508
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 2: Means is like, what if you just took ten all

509
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,199
Speaker 2: stars from both conferences and you made four teams of

510
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,720
Speaker 2: five and you played four or you played two elam

511
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 2: ending games. Just game to twenty four twos and threes,

512
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 2: toss up the ball, let's play. Then do another game

513
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 2: to twenty four twos and threes, toss up the ball.

514
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:24,399
Speaker 1: Let's play.

515
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 2: Maybe you add a king of the court element by

516
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 2: position group, Like how fun would that be to watch

517
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 2: like Jokicen ANDMB just play one on one against each other,

518
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,400
Speaker 2: or like the stuff that you see at Team USA

519
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,680
Speaker 2: where you see Paul George and Kevin Durant and all

520
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 2: these guys just playing king of the court from the

521
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 2: elbow to dribble limit that kind of stuff, Like I

522
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 2: would turn it into an event where you have these

523
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:53,119
Speaker 2: shorter bursts of higher competitive energy two five on five

524
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 2: pickup games where all the bench guys goes all the

525
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,639
Speaker 2: bench guys go against each other, all the starters go

526
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 2: against each other, because that's the thing, Like you throw

527
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 2: the ball up at center court and it's like first

528
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 2: one to make ten baskets basically, like that's a way

529
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 2: more like achievable effort thing then to throw the ball

530
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,479
Speaker 2: up center court in a forty eight minute game and

531
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,640
Speaker 2: be like, come on, guys, play hard at the at

532
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 2: the very least, they're sitting there going like, we're gonna

533
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 2: at least chill for twenty of these minutes, maybe thirty

534
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 2: of these minutes, and maybe we'll pick it up towards

535
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 2: the end. Like forty eight minutes is way too long

536
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,400
Speaker 2: to expect guys to go hard.

537
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: In that environment.

538
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:31,959
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, make no mistake,

539
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 2: even with my idea, the idea of like having a

540
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 2: couple of pickup games and maybe some king of the

541
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 2: Court stuff, even in that specific format, it doesn't matter

542
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,679
Speaker 2: unless the guys compete. And so everything fundamentally comes back

543
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 2: to what Anthony Edwards says. We can do whatever we

544
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 2: want to try to foist some competitive energy onto them,

545
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 2: but they have to bring it. It's inevitably on the players,

546
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,040
Speaker 2: and the players have told us they don't care about

547
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,479
Speaker 2: playing hard in this environment. And so what I've always

548
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 2: told everybody on the show is like, if you're a

549
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 2: fan of a team and the team you're rooting for

550
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 2: is not bought into the goal and they're not playing

551
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 2: hard on a nightly basis, then you need to adjust

552
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 2: your expectations with what you expect from that team. Same

553
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 2: thing goes for the All Star Game. If the players

554
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,119
Speaker 2: aren't interested in it, adjust your expectations and then you

555
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 2: won't be disappointed. Like, it's very clear that they don't care,

556
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 2: but if I was the league and I was trying

557
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 2: to force them to care, that I think is the

558
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 2: move smaller bits of basketball that don't have this long,

559
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 2: forty eight minute commitment, where you can get guys to

560
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 2: play hard for a short burst of time. The one

561
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,160
Speaker 2: thing I like about the King of the Court format, too,

562
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 2: is I think guys would be a little less worried

563
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,800
Speaker 2: about injuries because you're not as worried about, you know,

564
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 2: stepping on a help defender's foot or going up for

565
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 2: a rebound and having a guy come up underneath you.

566
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,000
Speaker 2: It's a little bit easier to avoid injuries in a

567
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 2: one on one format, which I think could could bring

568
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 2: some more effort out of the guys. But I mean,

569
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:51,880
Speaker 2: here's the thing, guys, your guess is as good as mine.

570
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,679
Speaker 1: The leagu's tried everything and nothing's worked. So it is

571
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 1: what it is at this point.

572
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: Next question, Hey, Jason, thoughts on the biggest MV peace

573
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 2: snub ever? Is there a year that sticks out to

574
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 2: you and makes you think, for instance, twenty seventeen Harden

575
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:10,439
Speaker 2: instead of Russ. For example, twenty seventeen Harden over Us

576
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,160
Speaker 2: is a really good example. The one that always sticks

577
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 2: in micro obviously as a Lebron fan is twenty twenty.

578
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 2: I thought, who is the best basketball player in twenty

579
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 2: twenty Lebron? Who is the best basketball team in twenty twenty?

580
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 2: The Los Angeles Lakers. Literally, the league was incredibly deep

581
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 2: in the Western Conference, and then the bottom of the

582
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference was historically bad.

583
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: There were like eight terrible.

584
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 2: Teams in the Eastern Conference, and so Jannis in the

585
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 2: Bucks would just beat the living shit out of all

586
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,440
Speaker 2: of these bad teams. And remember, you play the other

587
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 2: conference for thirty of your games. You play your conference

588
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 2: for fifty two of your games. So like when the

589
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 2: East and by the way, it's happening again this year,

590
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 2: same things happening in the Eastern Conference this year, a

591
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 2: less dramatic version of it. But the bottom of the

592
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference is substantially weaker than the him of the

593
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 2: Western Conference. That's why when you look at the cross

594
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 2: conference record, the West is kicking the shit out of

595
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 2: the East in their interconference play. But anyway, in that

596
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 2: twenty twenty season, the Bucks kicked the shit out of everybody.

597
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,720
Speaker 2: Giannis only played like thirty two minutes a game or

598
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:16,960
Speaker 2: something like that, and it was because they were playing

599
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 2: all these bad teams, and it massively inflated all the

600
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 2: advanced metrics. Remember the whole thing about per thirty six,

601
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 2: and like Giannis is averaging this per thirty six, and

602
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 2: it's like Lebron was a better basketball player, playing better

603
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 2: basketball for a better team and a tougher conference. Still

604
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 2: was right next to him in the standings. It just

605
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 2: beat him head to head. Before the end of the season.

606
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 2: The only reason they won in Milwaukee is Milwaukee won

607
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,560
Speaker 2: in Milwaukee was because Jannis made five threes in the game.

608
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 2: Like the Lakers were just better. Lebron was just better.

609
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 2: I thought he clearly deserved MVP. That season. It's actually

610
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 2: of all of the season in Lebron's career, it's the

611
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 2: one time I thought he got robbed. Lebron fans like

612
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 2: to say that he deserves to have ten MVPs and

613
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 2: voter fatigue is what killed him, and I tend to

614
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 2: go the other way on that, because Lebron tends to

615
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 2: be a guy after Miami who super chills in the

616
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 2: regular season. But that one year, that twenty twenty season

617
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 2: with the Lakers, from the started training camp to the

618
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 2: moment he hoisted the trophy, he attacked the season with

619
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 2: a crazy level of intensity. I thought he was by

620
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 2: far the best player in the world that year. I

621
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 2: thought he got robbed of the MVP that should have

622
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 2: been his number five. Next question, it's no secret that's

623
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 2: Steph and Lebron draw the best ratings. However, is it

624
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 2: a factor of Stephan Lebron just being simply better or

625
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 2: is it an issue of the NBA failing to market

626
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 2: the new the newer teams better in Minnesota, Oklahoma City,

627
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 2: et cetera. So I actually think the league does a

628
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 2: better job of marketing, maybe not relative to what we want,

629
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: but relative to what it used to be because of

630
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 2: the tools we have at our disposal because of social media,

631
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 2: because of even like little things like just League Pass,

632
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 2: and how easy it is to find NBA content, whether

633
00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 2: it's team specific podcasts, YouTube channels. So many people out

634
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 2: there do such an amazing job covering the league. But

635
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 2: like when people complain about, like, oh, ESPN, they never

636
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 2: talk about these other teams. All they do is talk

637
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 2: about Lebron and stuff on first take, And it's like,

638
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, sure, but like, you don't have to

639
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 2: turn on ESPN. I never ever ever turn on ESPN

640
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 2: unless I'm watching an NBA game on ESPN. Like, if

641
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 2: I want to listen to NBA content, I go to

642
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 2: the people I want to listen to. So that to me,

643
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 2: and it's easy to find that stuff. So like, to me,

644
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 2: I've never understood the like like the league is responsible

645
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 2: for no, we all are all of us as fans

646
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 2: by virtue of the way this new ecosystem works, we

647
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 2: are responsible for how the league is marketed. There's Oklahoma

648
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 2: City fans and media members who do an amazing job

649
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 2: marketing their talent, Minnesota fans and they all do a

650
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 2: great job. You want to know why, Stephan Lebron are

651
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 2: more famous and popular than all these other players because

652
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 2: they've won eight of the last twelve championships. Guys, they've

653
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 2: won eight of the last twelve. Think about that. The

654
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 2: rest of the league has won the same number of

655
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 2: titles as Lebron and Steph individually have won over the

656
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 2: last twelve years. That is why Steph and Lebron are

657
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 2: revered the way that they are. That is why they

658
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 2: are the face of the league. That is why they

659
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 2: are such a big draw on national television. By the way,

660
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 2: you know what, one of our at hoops tonight, one

661
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,120
Speaker 2: of our more successful teams to cover as of late

662
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 2: in terms of performance on the channel, the Denver Nuggets.

663
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 2: You know why, because they're a truly special basketball team

664
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 2: with an all time great player who, in my opinion,

665
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 2: as long as he stays healthy and his team stays healthy,

666
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 2: is going to win a bunch of championships over course

667
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 2: in the next five years. And guess what, by the

668
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 2: time we get further down the line there, Nicole Jokic

669
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 2: will have a level of fame and notoriety here in

670
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 2: the US similar to what Steph Curry and Lebron James

671
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 2: do throughout NBA history, throughout all of history. That's the

672
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 2: way it works. Who are the most famous players in

673
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 2: NBA history. Michael Jordan's six championships, Kobe Bryant five championships,

674
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 2: Magic Johnson five championships, Larry Bird three championships. Like that's

675
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 2: that's how you become a legend. That's how you become

676
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 2: famous in this league. You hoist the damn trophy. And

677
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,600
Speaker 2: by the way, that is why I'm the loyalist to

678
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 2: the banner. That's why I care about it so much.

679
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 2: It is eternal, it is everlasting. It is the thing

680
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 2: that it's the one thing you can do in this

681
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 2: league that transcends everything else. Stephen Lebron have done it

682
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,000
Speaker 2: more than everybody else. That's why they're the faces of

683
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 2: the league. That's why they're as popular as they are.

684
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 2: Thanks question, what do you think of the Paul George

685
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 2: fit with the Warriors if they somehow manage to sign

686
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 2: him as a free agent next season. So the idea

687
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 2: behind this kind of idea is and by the way,

688
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 2: like Paul George has not signed an extension yet, the

689
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 2: idea here is the second apron And the more and

690
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 2: more I talk to people around the league or other

691
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 2: people cover the league. The biggest thing that's becoming like

692
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 2: a talking point as of late is the new CBA

693
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,080
Speaker 2: and the fact that, like starting next year, there's all

694
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 2: of these crazy rules in place that make it a

695
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 2: lot harder to work around the margins once you enter

696
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: into that second apron And so I think in general,

697
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 2: you're going to see a lot of teams that are

698
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 2: going to make tough decisions on who they retain and

699
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 2: who they don't. So like, for the record, my guess is,

700
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 2: knowing Steve Balmer, he's probably going to find a way

701
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 2: to bring Paul George back. I expect him to be

702
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 2: a Clipper. But if there's a version of this where

703
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 2: goes south, what it would look like is the Clippers

704
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 2: would sit down and they go, hey, we want to

705
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 2: have a sustainably great team. We just built this brand

706
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: new arena. It's going to I think they're moving into

707
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 2: it next year, Like, we need to build.

708
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: A sustainable model.

709
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 2: We cannot just go all in on this Kawhi Paul

710
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 2: George fit and then have a situation where they both

711
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,480
Speaker 2: age out and then suddenly we're a complete full rebuild team.

712
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,760
Speaker 2: So let's figure out a way to do this. How

713
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 2: about James Harden. We could bring him back for twenty

714
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 2: million a year and how him long term? Or we

715
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 2: can bring Paul George back and we have to pay

716
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 2: him fifty to sixty million a year. Well what if

717
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 2: we just bring back James Harden and what if we

718
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 2: you know, kind of let Paul George go. Is our

719
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 2: means with which to have a more sustainable model in

720
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,239
Speaker 2: terms of having more flexibility to make moves on the

721
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 2: margins and to come up with cap space quickly if needed,

722
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 2: and things along those lines. Okay, all of a sudden,

723
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,879
Speaker 2: Paul George becomes a free agent, or the Clippers look

724
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,880
Speaker 2: to trade him to get asset return so that they

725
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,480
Speaker 2: don't lose him for nothing. Okay, Now a team like

726
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,479
Speaker 2: Golden State jumps in and goes, here's Jonathan kaminga, here's

727
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 2: you know, two first round draft picks, whatever it is

728
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 2: like that, that would be the framework of how that

729
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 2: would work. I don't think that's going to happen. I

730
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,280
Speaker 2: think Paul George is going to stay with the Clippers.

731
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 2: But I do think you will see teams around the

732
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 2: league that will make tough decisions about really great players

733
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 2: because of their goal to avoid that second apron and

734
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,879
Speaker 2: all of the limitations that come with it. Does Paul

735
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 2: George fit with the Clippers, Absolutely, He'd be amazing in

736
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,799
Speaker 2: that situation, not just as one of the best closed

737
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 2: out attackers in the league, but I think he's a

738
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 2: good enough passer and off screen player to thrive in

739
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 2: their five out system. He's an excellent two way player,

740
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 2: can defend the other team's best player.

741
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,320
Speaker 1: He's just a way way, way, way, way way way.

742
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 2: Better version of either Andrew Wiggins or Jonathan Kaminga. And

743
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 2: like now, I think Jonathan Mingka has the potential to

744
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 2: be better than Paul George in the long run. But

745
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 2: the idea there is you put Steph Curry with Paul

746
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 2: George and Draymond Green, you instantaneously become a top tier

747
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:30,040
Speaker 2: championship contender.

748
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 1: That's the idea.

749
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,919
Speaker 2: So again, we're gonna talk about this in a bunch

750
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 2: of ways over the course of this summer, when we

751
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 2: get into free agency and stuff like, don't Galaxy brain

752
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,439
Speaker 2: this stuff. When you put two gall when you put

753
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 2: two all time great basketball players next to each other,

754
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 2: they tend to figure it out. So the fit with

755
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 2: the Warriors for Paul George would be excellent, but again

756
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 2: it's unlikely, although I do think we'll see some more

757
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,760
Speaker 2: player movement in the future surrounding the CBA. Next question,

758
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 2: what are your most intriguing teams coming back from the break?

759
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 2: What will you be looking for with the team? So

760
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,280
Speaker 2: I'm gonna for this question, I picked one from each conference.

761
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 2: In the Eastern Conference, I'm really gonna be watching the

762
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,360
Speaker 2: Milwaukee Bucks. They have the third toughest remaining schedule by

763
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 2: opponent win percentage, and they're already in free fall, have

764
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 2: lost seven of their last ten games. I think over

765
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 2: the next twenty six games, the final twenty six games

766
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 2: of the season, in order for the Bucks to be

767
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,360
Speaker 2: on track for their ultimate goal to win the title,

768
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,400
Speaker 2: I think they need an offensive rating over one twenty

769
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 2: and a defensive rating below one fifteen.

770
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,799
Speaker 1: I don't care about anything else to this point in

771
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:33,280
Speaker 1: the season.

772
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,799
Speaker 2: If from right now, over the final twenty six an

773
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 2: offensive rating over one twenty tells me that they have

774
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,799
Speaker 2: gotten to their own offensive ceiling. They've figured out with

775
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,279
Speaker 2: that group how to score a high enough rate to

776
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 2: buy them margin for air on the defensive end of

777
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 2: the floor. A defensive rating below one to fifteen to me,

778
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,319
Speaker 2: would tell me that they are committed enough to the

779
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,759
Speaker 2: details to positionally be in the right spots enough on

780
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 2: defense to at least defend well enough so that their

781
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 2: offense can put them over the top. That to me

782
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 2: is the is the benchmark. An offensive rating over one twenty,

783
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,400
Speaker 2: a defensive rating below one fifteen. Here down the stretch

784
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 2: of the season, that's gonna be what we're watching with

785
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 2: Milwaukee on a night in, night out basis out West.

786
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,920
Speaker 2: The team I'm gonna be watching most closely is the

787
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 2: Dallas Mavericks. I've had a lot of people say why

788
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 2: even she talked about Dallas more. Dallas has been a

789
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 2: really hard team for me to learn about.

790
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: And one of the main.

791
00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,319
Speaker 2: Reasons why is they're just they've they've every time I

792
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 2: turn them on, it's a different team. They've had sixteen

793
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 2: different players start a game. They've had eleven different players

794
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,800
Speaker 2: start at least five games. As a point of reference,

795
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 2: Sacramento Kings have had only eight different players start a

796
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:43,520
Speaker 2: game as opposed to sixteen for the Maps. That's half

797
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 2: as many. They've had six different players start at least

798
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 2: five games. That's half as many, So that it gives

799
00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,600
Speaker 2: you an idea of just the level of turnover they've had.

800
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 2: Luca and Kyrie themselves have combined to miss thirty games.

801
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 2: Even it's like, I really want to watch some more

802
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,919
Speaker 2: Daniel Gafford. I really want to watch some more Jal

803
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,240
Speaker 2: McDaniels as we're trying to not Janie McDaniels, excuse me, PJ. Washington,

804
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 2: as we're trying to figure out whether or not these

805
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 2: additions can kind of move the needle for Dallas post deadline,

806
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 2: and it's like I'm watching them against the San Antonio Spurs, like,

807
00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 2: for instance, Daniel Gafford. Daniel Gafford fits into a mold

808
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 2: that we've seen a lot around the league, which is

809
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 2: like the undersized big that's a really good athlete and

810
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,120
Speaker 2: a really solid role man with his ability to finish

811
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 2: around the rim, but has some defensive limitations and it

812
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 2: because he's not necessarily the biggest guy to have around

813
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,440
Speaker 2: the rim. We've seen a lot of these guys over

814
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 2: the years, whether it's like a Montrez Harrol or like

815
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,800
Speaker 2: a like a Thomas Bryant, where they're like good athletes,

816
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,879
Speaker 2: they play hard there, they have length and they can

817
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 2: finish above the rim, but they're just they're just a

818
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,000
Speaker 2: little bit undersized for the position, and they're not great

819
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 2: defensive players, and so like, for instance, like there are

820
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:54,280
Speaker 2: some possessions where we're watching Daniel Gafford against San Antonio

821
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:55,759
Speaker 2: and I'm like, Yeah, this is not gonna be good

822
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 2: enough pick and roll defense to get the job done.

823
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,319
Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's against the damn San

824
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:03,880
Speaker 2: Antonio Spurs. You don't need to play hard necessarily to

825
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 2: beat those guys. And so I'm excited just to see

826
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:10,319
Speaker 2: them post deadline, get healthy, have a bunch of games

827
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,719
Speaker 2: in a row where they have you know, consistency in

828
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:14,879
Speaker 2: the lineup, so we can learn about them. Finally, it's

829
00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:16,879
Speaker 2: been tough to learn about them. Even in the six

830
00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:18,760
Speaker 2: game winning streak. It's like they blew out the Thunder.

831
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,279
Speaker 2: That was a huge win, dominant, impressive performance. But there

832
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 2: are other five wins. We're against the injury ravaged Sixers,

833
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,200
Speaker 2: the injury ravaged Nicks, the Washington Wizards, the San Antonio Spurs,

834
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 2: and the Brooklyn Nets.

835
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: We are going to learn.

836
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 2: A ton about the Dallas Mavericks over the course of

837
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 2: the next few weeks. And they've played Phoenix on Thursday

838
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 2: and that major showdown I told you guys about. Then

839
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,840
Speaker 2: they immediately go on the road to Indy, on the

840
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 2: road to Cleveland, on the road to Boston, and so

841
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,879
Speaker 2: we're gonna find out a lot more about Dallas over

842
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 2: that span. I just want to see some consistency in

843
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,000
Speaker 2: the rotation so we can actually learn about what this

844
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 2: group is capable of, specifically defensively and on the glass.

845
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 2: They've defended extremely well. They have the number one defensive

846
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,440
Speaker 2: rating in the league over this six game span. But again,

847
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 2: they're playing against some inferior competition, and so I really

848
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:10,880
Speaker 2: want to see what holds up what is translatable to

849
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 2: the postseason among their upcoming opponents in the tougher stretch

850
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:16,719
Speaker 2: of their schedule here in the next couple of weeks.

851
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 2: So those are the two teams that I'm most intrigued

852
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 2: by after the break, and that will probably be covering

853
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:26,839
Speaker 2: pretty closely Milwaukee and Dallas. Next question not a question

854
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:29,320
Speaker 2: about the All Star events, but I've been thinking about

855
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 2: about how you brought up that young and fast teams

856
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 2: tends to win a lot of games in the January

857
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 2: to February part of the season, and with the Cavs

858
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,759
Speaker 2: recent and out of nowhere explosion. Do you think it's

859
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 2: legit or just January woes. So here's the thing, I

860
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 2: don't I think it's I think it's always a combination

861
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,480
Speaker 2: of factors. I don't want to undercut the success of

862
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,120
Speaker 2: some specific players on the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell's having the

863
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 2: best season of his career in my opinion. His playmaking

864
00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 2: is better than it's ever been, his defense is better

865
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 2: than it's ever been. That's going a long way towards

866
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,840
Speaker 2: helping that situation. Dean Wade turning into like a really

867
00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 2: impressive two way player very important for the turnaround of

868
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,920
Speaker 2: this particular team. Just around the board, Jared Allen's playing

869
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 2: incredibly well. They're just getting really impressive two way performances

870
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 2: from these guys. But there's something to be said about

871
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 2: the fact that they're young, they're hungry, they're well coached,

872
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:24,600
Speaker 2: they're playing harder than everybody, and that absolutely will manifest

873
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 2: and wins, particularly in the January February stretch of the season.

874
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 2: This is the stretch of the year where the younger,

875
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 2: more athletic teams that play hard more consistently will carry

876
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 2: weight in the standings. This is also the stretch of

877
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,920
Speaker 2: the year where the older veteran teams that have had

878
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,279
Speaker 2: a lot of playoff experience that struggle to get up

879
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,560
Speaker 2: for regular season games, You'll see them drop a bunch

880
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:46,520
Speaker 2: of games in this stretch of the season. I think,

881
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:48,319
Speaker 2: like I mentioned earlier in the power rankings, I think

882
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,360
Speaker 2: you see that in the way that the Cavs wins

883
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:53,359
Speaker 2: have broken down. They're thirteen and fifteen when they play

884
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:55,279
Speaker 2: teams that are five hundred or better, and they're twenty

885
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,200
Speaker 2: three and two when they play teams that are below

886
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,360
Speaker 2: five hundred. They are very much an effort in energy

887
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 2: and speed type of team. Next question, which of these

888
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 2: teams do you think is more of a threat in

889
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:11,400
Speaker 2: the playoffs this year? The Pelicans, the MAVs or the Kings.

890
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,760
Speaker 2: I love this question. By the way, these types of questions.

891
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,680
Speaker 2: More of those please in the mailbags, like little choices

892
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 2: between different options. I've always had fun with those. So

893
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 2: bigger threat in the playoffs the Pelicans, the MAVs or

894
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,800
Speaker 2: the Kings. I go with the MAVs, no question. And

895
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,359
Speaker 2: it's really a simple. If you're ranking playoff performers out

896
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:32,480
Speaker 2: of that group, Luca is a clear number one. Number

897
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 2: two in my opinion, it's like a toss up between

898
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 2: either Brandon Ingram, Dearn Fox, or Kyrie Irving. I think

899
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving's in that group as one of his three

900
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,400
Speaker 2: level shot creation is just so incredibly valuable, especially in

901
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 2: a secondary role. Like and again everyone wants to say, like, oh,

902
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,000
Speaker 2: who's the best player in a vacuum, That doesn't matter.

903
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 2: All that matters is how much you impact winning in

904
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,879
Speaker 2: your specific situation. That's what actually translates to the goal

905
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:00,440
Speaker 2: of getting the trophy. And so I'm always going to like,

906
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 2: like Jamal Murray with the Nuggets for instance, to me,

907
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how he stacks up against you know,

908
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:07,560
Speaker 2: a Deer and Fox who was in a different role.

909
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:08,799
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. It's not his role.

910
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,080
Speaker 2: His role is next to Nicole Jokic, and he impacts

911
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:15,359
Speaker 2: winning at an incredibly high level next to Nicolejokic. That's

912
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,520
Speaker 2: who he is as a basketball player in the real

913
00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:20,360
Speaker 2: sense of what matters in this season in the pursuit

914
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,840
Speaker 2: of the trophy. And so again, give me Luca and

915
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:29,280
Speaker 2: Kyrie with athletes versus Brandon Ingram with athletes, versus Daron

916
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:33,800
Speaker 2: Fox and Malik Monk with athletes and Demonisabonis with athletes

917
00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:35,719
Speaker 2: like I just think I think when they get into

918
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:40,040
Speaker 2: that setting that Luca and Kyrie just bring so much

919
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:42,399
Speaker 2: more to the table in terms of that slow down,

920
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:43,320
Speaker 2: half court environment.

921
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 1: I would lean into the MAVs. There.

922
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 2: Next question, why isn't Luca the MVP right now? The

923
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 2: answer is really simple. They have the twelfth best record

924
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 2: in the league. The last time a team with a

925
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 2: bad record won the MVP was Russell Westbrook in twenty seventeen.

926
00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 2: They had the tenth best record in the league. So

927
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 2: if Luca won the MVP right now, he would literally

928
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,239
Speaker 2: be an even bigger stretch in terms of where they

929
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 2: are relative to the rest of the field in the standings.

930
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 2: Then Russell Westbrook was in twenty seventeen, which retrospectively most

931
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,520
Speaker 2: people look back at as a mistake as someone who

932
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:15,279
Speaker 2: didn't deserve it right. We talked about that earlier with

933
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 2: James Harden. So again, do I think Luca can win

934
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 2: the MVP? Yeah, but they've got to win a ton

935
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 2: of games over the last twenty six and by the

936
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 2: way I get it, they've been ravaged by injuries.

937
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: We talked about all of that.

938
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 2: Luca's been incredible this year massively, especially as a pull

939
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:31,759
Speaker 2: up jump shooter. I also think he's having a better

940
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 2: defense and rebounding season than he's had in either of

941
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 2: the last couple of seasons. Like, I'm not trying to

942
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 2: undercut what Luca is doing at all. They just have

943
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 2: the twelve best record in the league, and like again,

944
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 2: NBA history tells us the MVP is typically a guy

945
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,399
Speaker 2: from one of the best teams in the league in

946
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 2: terms of where they land in the standings. Two more

947
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 2: questions than we're out of here, how do you analyze

948
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 2: clutch time defense? Feels like everyone makes a big deal

949
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,360
Speaker 2: about clutch offense, but I don't hear a lot of

950
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,760
Speaker 2: analys about what makes clutch defense successful. So clutch defense,

951
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:05,839
Speaker 2: in my opinion, becomes more about personnel than it does

952
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,360
Speaker 2: about execution. It's the biggest difference between the kind of

953
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,840
Speaker 2: like run of the mill regular season defensive rating stuff.

954
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:14,440
Speaker 2: It's a big reason why I view clutched numbers as

955
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:18,839
Speaker 2: an important indicator of what a playoff team is capable of.

956
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 2: By the way, while we're talking about Dallas, you know

957
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 2: he's been an excellent clutch team this year on both

958
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:27,320
Speaker 2: ends of the floor. Dallas they've actually been like an elite,

959
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 2: like top tier late game, clutch situation defense this year.

960
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:32,719
Speaker 2: I think their defensive rating is like around a one

961
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 2: oh four if I remember correctly. In clutch situations, they've

962
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,360
Speaker 2: been a team that's demonstrated that they have the personnel

963
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,920
Speaker 2: to get stops in late game situations. Why do I

964
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,360
Speaker 2: say it leans more on personnel than scheme? Over the

965
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 2: course of eighty two, there's a lot of traditional coverages,

966
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,239
Speaker 2: there's a lot of base schemes. As a result of that,

967
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 2: It's more about effort on a night in, night out

968
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 2: basis right, And that's why I view defensive rating is

969
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 2: more of an effort stat than a defense stat. But

970
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 2: when you get into late game situations, typically you're just

971
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:05,959
Speaker 2: running a set. Isn't gonna get you a bucket because

972
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 2: they're probably gonna switch it, and chances are they scouted

973
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:09,840
Speaker 2: a lot of your late game stuff and they know

974
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 2: how to get in front of it.

975
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 1: Right.

976
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 2: Also, more contact is allowed on both ends of the floor,

977
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,520
Speaker 2: so you're not gonna get some of the kind of

978
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:19,600
Speaker 2: cheap whistles that you get elsewhere in the game. So

979
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,560
Speaker 2: in that situation where there's more switching, more scouting, less

980
00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:28,200
Speaker 2: foul calling. It becomes way more about picking on matchups

981
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 2: and what athletic gifts your lineup has. And so there

982
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:34,759
Speaker 2: are a lot of teams, for instance, that will be

983
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 2: able to get stops for large portions of the game,

984
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:39,200
Speaker 2: and then they get into the final minutes and they

985
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 2: struggle to get stops, and that to me is a

986
00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:44,319
Speaker 2: big indicator of some of the issues they might have

987
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:47,840
Speaker 2: down the line when they get into the postseason. And

988
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 2: so on that note, I mean, like I'll give you

989
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 2: an example, like, do you remember the Utah Jazz teams

990
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:55,400
Speaker 2: with Rudy Gobert. They would consistently be an excellent defense

991
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 2: in the regular season. Then they get to the postseason

992
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,359
Speaker 2: and their defense fell apart because it turned out base

993
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,080
Speaker 2: scheme of chasing guys over the top and funneling them

994
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 2: to Rudy Gobert worked great over the eighty two but

995
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,439
Speaker 2: when they got into the postseason, it was like, Oh,

996
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 2: all we have to do is get Rudy into rotation,

997
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,320
Speaker 2: and as long as we're a little bit more deliberate

998
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:15,640
Speaker 2: about the next layer of our attack, Rudy won't be

999
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:19,360
Speaker 2: there anymore. That's when we can kind of pick them apart.

1000
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,359
Speaker 2: For catch and shoot threes and or driving layups, and

1001
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,000
Speaker 2: like that was when they started to kind of figure

1002
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 2: things out, and the Clippers just picked the Jazz apart

1003
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 2: at that point. So like again, when you get into

1004
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,440
Speaker 2: the clutch situations, it more closely resembles playoff basketball. It

1005
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 2: becomes more about the actual athletic tools of your defensive lineup.

1006
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,440
Speaker 2: That's why I look at clutch defense as closely as

1007
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 2: I do. Last question, and I actually have two of

1008
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:46,239
Speaker 2: them here because I wanted to just kind of make

1009
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:47,359
Speaker 2: a larger point about the way.

1010
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: We do the show.

1011
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 2: The way Jason has ditched Cleveland all season long is disappointing.

1012
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 2: The second one I got was from the nerd sesh guys.

1013
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:55,840
Speaker 2: Seventeen minutes of talking about a trade that is very

1014
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,839
Speaker 2: unlikely and can't happen until the summer while we are

1015
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:00,840
Speaker 2: in the middle of one of the best NBA regular seasons.

1016
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,840
Speaker 2: Is an interesting decision. So usually when I see stuff

1017
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 2: like this, it annoys me just because of the fact that, like,

1018
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:10,440
Speaker 2: we structure the show for this very reason, So you

1019
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 2: got to think of it like this. There is the

1020
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 2: basketball nerd side of this show, but then there's the

1021
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 2: business side of this show, and in a typical situation,

1022
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 2: it's difficult to manage that dynamic from a time standpoint,

1023
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:26,320
Speaker 2: and so you kind of have to pick one or

1024
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:30,240
Speaker 2: the other, right And so you'll see major television shows

1025
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 2: lean big into the business side, and it's a lot

1026
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 2: of lebron it's a lot of Lakers, it's a lot

1027
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 2: of Warriors, it's a lot of you know, big picture

1028
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 2: NBA topics being argued about on TV, and then the

1029
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,440
Speaker 2: niche podcasting world, they'll devote all their energy to more

1030
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 2: of the basketball nerd stuff.

1031
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,000
Speaker 1: Well, our show is.

1032
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 2: Unique in the sense that we just do more than

1033
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:53,799
Speaker 2: most shows, meaning like in terms of the hours of

1034
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 2: content that we do. Like I, on average during the

1035
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 2: season do like six episodes a week. How many niche

1036
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:03,160
Speaker 2: podcasts out there are doing six episodes a week, you

1037
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:04,919
Speaker 2: know what I mean? Like they're usually they're doing three,

1038
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:07,480
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So what we do is

1039
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 2: both Like guess what, I did a deep dive on

1040
00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 2: the Cleveland Cavaliers with Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down

1041
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:18,360
Speaker 2: podcast less than a month ago, brought them on. We

1042
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:22,960
Speaker 2: did forty eight minutes of calves for that episode. I

1043
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:26,960
Speaker 2: watched a bunch of Calves tape this year. I've watched

1044
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,840
Speaker 2: plenty of Calves. The difference is like what happens is

1045
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:34,400
Speaker 2: over the course of a week, we'll have three hours

1046
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:36,399
Speaker 2: of content that we put out. Usually it's more it's

1047
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,040
Speaker 2: like four hours, and so yeah, in that four hours

1048
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:42,720
Speaker 2: of content, you know, half of it might be business stuff.

1049
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: Here's Lebron topics. We cover the Warriors very closely. You

1050
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:47,920
Speaker 2: know why we have a large Warriors fan base. We

1051
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:49,799
Speaker 2: cover the Lakers very closely. You know why we have

1052
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:52,360
Speaker 2: a large Lakers fan base. We cover the top teams

1053
00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,760
Speaker 2: in the league a lot. Why they are the ones

1054
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,760
Speaker 2: that have the most engaged fan bases because their teams

1055
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,400
Speaker 2: are good, and so we can get more of the

1056
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:04,000
Speaker 2: business side out of it. But we work so much

1057
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:07,759
Speaker 2: here that we're able to hit on everything. This one

1058
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:09,879
Speaker 2: is the funniest one to me. Seventeen minutes of talking

1059
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:11,879
Speaker 2: about a trade that is very unlikely and can't happen

1060
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:13,360
Speaker 2: until the summer while we are in the middle of

1061
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:16,360
Speaker 2: one of the best NBA regular seasons is an interesting decision.

1062
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:18,759
Speaker 1: It was an hour and a half long show. It

1063
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:19,800
Speaker 1: was an hour and a half.

1064
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 2: We talked like we got into an argument forever about

1065
00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:26,839
Speaker 2: like the Timberwolves versus the Oklahoma City like we were

1066
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:28,760
Speaker 2: we did rookie rankings.

1067
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,879
Speaker 1: We were all over the weeds in that episode. That's

1068
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:31,640
Speaker 1: the beauty of it.

1069
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:33,480
Speaker 2: When you talk for an hour and a half, you

1070
00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:36,760
Speaker 2: can spend seventeen minutes talking about a tray young Anthony

1071
00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:39,200
Speaker 2: Davis duo and how it stacks up to the rest

1072
00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:39,720
Speaker 2: of the league.

1073
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:40,919
Speaker 1: That's the way it works here.

1074
00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:44,239
Speaker 2: Like, yes, you're gonna get a lot of Lakers, You're

1075
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 2: gonna get a lot of Warriors. But I don't just

1076
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,680
Speaker 2: do Lakers and Warriors. I do a ton of additional stuff.

1077
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:53,080
Speaker 2: We break it all out into additional clips, and we

1078
00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 2: market it so you guys can see it. Like I,

1079
00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:58,640
Speaker 2: I go above and beyond to make sure that we

1080
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 2: get to as much of this stuff as possible. Our

1081
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,319
Speaker 2: staff behind the scenes works really hard to edit all

1082
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:06,799
Speaker 2: that stuff and get it put out in a way

1083
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,600
Speaker 2: that is easily digestible for you guys. So, like again,

1084
00:51:09,719 --> 00:51:12,680
Speaker 2: like I, chances are if you want to hear me

1085
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:14,320
Speaker 2: talk about your team, all you have to do is

1086
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:16,680
Speaker 2: look in the feed. It's in there somewhere. It just

1087
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 2: it might not be at the start of the show.

1088
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:21,600
Speaker 2: It might not be marketed in the full show thumbnail,

1089
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 2: but it's in there somewhere. You just got to look

1090
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:26,640
Speaker 2: for it. We do that much content for that very reason.

1091
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:28,880
Speaker 2: And again, the only reason why I'm kind of ranting

1092
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:31,440
Speaker 2: about this right now is like, I want these people

1093
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:35,359
Speaker 2: to know that stuff's there. Like, if you're like, I

1094
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:37,839
Speaker 2: encourage you CALVS fans. We did a big deep dive,

1095
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,080
Speaker 2: not just on the group that went on a run

1096
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:44,200
Speaker 2: without Evan Mobley and without Darius Carlin. We even broke

1097
00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:46,800
Speaker 2: down how those two guys when they return to the lineup,

1098
00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:48,439
Speaker 2: how it's going to kind of change things. We even

1099
00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:50,880
Speaker 2: broke down big picture, what the Calves look like in

1100
00:51:50,880 --> 00:51:53,560
Speaker 2: five years. It was an hour of Calves content. Go

1101
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:53,960
Speaker 2: find it.

1102
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,319
Speaker 1: It's there. I encourage you to check it out. Carter

1103
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:57,040
Speaker 1: does great work.

1104
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 2: It was awesome that he came on the show and

1105
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 2: gave us his time and gave us an interesting perspective.

1106
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:03,919
Speaker 2: I just want you guys to know that stuff's there

1107
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,799
Speaker 2: because we work too hard for it to go unnoticed.

1108
00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:09,320
Speaker 2: If that makes sense, all right, I'm off my soapbox.

1109
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:11,799
Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We'll be

1110
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,880
Speaker 2: back with Sam Bessini for contender rankings tomorrow.

1111
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:16,280
Speaker 1: I will see you guys there.

1112
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 2: The volume