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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, we'll go to him tonight here

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Speaker 1: at the volume Heavy Friday, everybody hope. Well, if you

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Speaker 1: guys have had an incredible week, it is mailbag Day.

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Speaker 1: We've got a lot of good stuff to get into

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Speaker 1: from around the league, and as promised, we're recording this

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Speaker 1: on Thursday. I wanted to give some quick thoughts on

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Speaker 1: the Nugget Celtics game and the Bucks Warriors games from

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Speaker 1: Wednesday night as well. We'll lead with that. Then we

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Speaker 1: got about ten mailbag questions from throughout the week. Very

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Speaker 1: excited to get into it with you guys. You guys

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Speaker 1: know the job before we get started. To subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our YouTube channels. You don't miss any any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos like this video. That helps us a lot.

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Speaker 1: And if you want to get questions into our future

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Speaker 1: mail bags in our full episodes on YouTube inn YouTube

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Speaker 1: comments right mail bag with the colon, write your question,

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Speaker 1: we'll get to them on Fridays throughout the rest of

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Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So again,

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Speaker 1: as promised, quick thoughts on those couple other games from Wednesday.

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Speaker 1: One of the things important about our recording cadence, It's

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Speaker 1: very important to me that we get our videos out

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Speaker 1: early in the day. With our daily kind of cadence,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you release a video in the afternoon

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Speaker 1: like we used to do a few years ago, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's games that are tipping off at four o'clock Pacific time,

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Speaker 1: and it's just the cadence of the league is so fast.

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Speaker 1: It's very important that I get our reaction videos out

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Speaker 1: early in the morning. And it just is tough when

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Speaker 1: you've got a night like Wednesday night, where there's quite

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Speaker 1: literally a half dozen awesome games and I can't get

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Speaker 1: to all of them. But I wanted to get to

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Speaker 1: a couple more of these, So I figure to push

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Speaker 1: him into our mailbag show for Friday, especially with how

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Speaker 1: week the Thursday night slate was so Nuggets Celtics. We

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Speaker 1: had talked about after the right after the Okach injury happened,

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Speaker 1: that there was going to be a formula for the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets to lean on if they wanted to win without Jokic,

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Speaker 1: and I said it would be leaning heavily into defense

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Speaker 1: and then Jamal Murray essentially trying to bring you home

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Speaker 1: in crunch time as long as you can keep games close.

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Speaker 1: And so I expected David Adelman to lean heavily or

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Speaker 1: on more of his athletes to go smaller and to

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Speaker 1: heavily emphasize in terms of his accountability the defensive end

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Speaker 1: of the floor, because that's something they can control during

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Speaker 1: this stretch without Nicola, and again once you get games close,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray is an All Star, maybe even an All

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Speaker 1: NBA candidate. He's the kind of guy who can pull

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Speaker 1: you home in those sorts of instances. And we saw

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Speaker 1: a very good example of that in the win in

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Speaker 1: Toronto and then another one on Wednesday night in Boston

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Speaker 1: against a red hot Boston Celtics offense. I cannot say

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Speaker 1: enough about how good Zeke Nausey has been in these

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Speaker 1: couple of wins. He was one of the heroes in

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Speaker 1: that big win in Philly when even Jamal Murray was out.

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Speaker 1: He was a hero again last night. He gave them

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Speaker 1: the ability to stay kind of, you know, big and

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Speaker 1: physically imposing in their small ball looks, but also keeping

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Speaker 1: their switch ability, and that was really the story of

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Speaker 1: the game against Boston. The Nuggets did a wonderful job

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Speaker 1: of communicating and switching through Boston's actions, which prevented the

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Speaker 1: easy catch and shoot threes that can come out of

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Speaker 1: those screening actions allow guys to work easily downhill. In

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Speaker 1: ball screens, you're gonna have to help. That's gonna create

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Speaker 1: easy kickouts. If you don't switch guard guard screens and

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Speaker 1: three man action out at the top of the key,

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Speaker 1: guys are gonna slip out and get wide open threes.

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Speaker 1: And especially in that fourth quarter run, I thought they

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Speaker 1: just did an amazing job taking away any of the

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Speaker 1: easy catch and shoot looks that Boston can generate in

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Speaker 1: their offense, and then a lot of really high quality

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Speaker 1: one on one possessions against Jalen Brown Jamal Murray held

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Speaker 1: up a few times, you got like Peyton Watson stripping

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Speaker 1: him on a steal, Zeke Naji coming over and blocking

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Speaker 1: him at the rim. The Celtics did not get many

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Speaker 1: quality looks in that fourth quarter. Again, that's a red

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Speaker 1: hot Celtics offense. They had an offensive rating north of

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Speaker 1: one twenty five over the last few weeks, and the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets pretty much kept them under control, especially down the

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Speaker 1: stretch of that game, and then late in the game

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Speaker 1: on offense, just surgical shot creation from John Murray Jamal Murray,

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Speaker 1: who again like he deserves consideration for all NBA. With

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Speaker 1: the level that he's been playing at this season, he's

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Speaker 1: just been completely amazing. They kept running him off of

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Speaker 1: these like double wide pin downs out of the right corner,

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Speaker 1: and essentially he was dragging Boston's bigs out to the

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Speaker 1: perimeter as he was kind of coming off of that action.

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Speaker 1: And so essentially if the big ended up meeting him

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Speaker 1: on a switch on the other side of the screen,

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Speaker 1: he would, you know, like Luca Garza would show and

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray would just hit a quick little step back

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Speaker 1: jumper on him, or if they brought two to the ball,

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Speaker 1: so they're chasing and they have Luca up there. He

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Speaker 1: was just hitting Zeke nausey over and over again rolling

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Speaker 1: to the basket, and Zeke did a wonderful job throughout

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Speaker 1: this game of finishing around the rim or drawing fouls

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Speaker 1: on those rolls off of Jamal Murray. And then a

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Speaker 1: couple of big plays late where Boston naturally, what's the

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Speaker 1: progression there? If you're going to show on Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: at the level and you're going to tag the roller,

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Speaker 1: what's the next progression? It's the kickouts to the three

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Speaker 1: point line and a couple of big shots Jalen Pickett

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Speaker 1: hits a little wonderable pull up off of one of

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Speaker 1: those sequences, and then Jamal makes a beautiful skip pass

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Speaker 1: to the left corner where Peyton Watson hit three that

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Speaker 1: pushes the lead up to thirteen and essentially closes the

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Speaker 1: deal from there. Just a really, really impressive win for

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets. Now three wins without Nikola Jokics. The Warriors game,

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Speaker 1: massive game for the Warriors half court offense. They posted

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Speaker 1: a one to seventeen offensive rating and the half court

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Speaker 1: according to Cleaning the Glass in that in that win

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Speaker 1: against Milwaukee, I thought Steph did an awesome job of

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Speaker 1: working the mid range in this game, especially with the

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Speaker 1: way Milwaukee was kind of chasing him aggressively over the

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Speaker 1: top of screens and essentially funneling him into the middle

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Speaker 1: of the floor. They were spamming this play in the

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Speaker 1: third quarter where they were basically running him off of

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Speaker 1: a wide pin down out of the right corner, and

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Speaker 1: he just kept curling right into that kind of right

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Speaker 1: elbow extended area, and he'd hit a little float or

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Speaker 1: bank shot, he'd did a little jump shot, he'd you know,

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Speaker 1: draw foul in that space. Did a ton of damage there,

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Speaker 1: a couple of their shooters are starting to get going.

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Speaker 1: Moses Moody and d Anthony Melton in particular, both got

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Speaker 1: hot from three in this game. I also thought the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass was a massive factor. They only got eight

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Speaker 1: offensive rebounds, but they scored on damn near every single

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Speaker 1: one of them. There were twenty two to four second

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Speaker 1: chance points advantage for Golden State. Little things like Steph

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Speaker 1: missing a three off the top of the key, kind

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Speaker 1: of coming off of a ball screen, and then offensive

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Speaker 1: rebound kick out there it is another look from the

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Speaker 1: left wing. He knocks it down, just turning misses into

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Speaker 1: makes with their offensive rebounding. And then lastly, I thought

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Speaker 1: Draymond got several key stops on an island against Giannis

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Speaker 1: in the middle of the paint during that third quarter run.

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Speaker 1: Draymond has been very good since his blow up with

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Speaker 1: Steve Kerr where he left the court. I think that's

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Speaker 1: the kind of thing where confrontation can be good because

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Speaker 1: it's how you hold people accountable. And I think Draymond

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Speaker 1: need a little bit of a wake up call, especially

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Speaker 1: just with how sloppy he had been. And I think

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Speaker 1: that blow up with Steve Kerr actually helped get him

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Speaker 1: back on track. He's been very good as of Lake.

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Speaker 1: I think the Warriors are gaining some real momentum. Al

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Speaker 1: Horford looked great again in the Wednesday night game. If

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Speaker 1: they can just stop losing games in the final seconds

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Speaker 1: and horrifying fashion, I think they have real opportunity here

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Speaker 1: to make a run in the second half of the season.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's get into our mail bag. First question,

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Speaker 1: This was an interesting one that I got the other day,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's worth diving into. Jason, longtime fan

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Speaker 1: of the show. Before the season, you said the Hawks

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Speaker 1: would be a case study for your basketball philosophy and

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Speaker 1: what their performance this year would either validate or invalidate

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Speaker 1: your perspective. So my question is, at has Atlanta season

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Speaker 1: so far changed your mind in anyway. This's a two

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Speaker 1: part question, and I'm going to get to the first

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Speaker 1: part first. So this is complicated because Atlanta season is

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Speaker 1: really strange, because my belief in Atlanta stem from the

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Speaker 1: idea that you would have this combination of rim protection

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Speaker 1: with chrisps porzingis a depth of athletes around Chris Soops

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Speaker 1: that would make it so Christops didn't have to come

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Speaker 1: out to the perimeter, but that he could stay back

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Speaker 1: and you'd have you know, Dyson Daniels and Nikhil Alexander

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Speaker 1: Walker and Jalen Johnson and Zachary Rissasche and all these

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Speaker 1: athletes and around him basically doing all the dirty works

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Speaker 1: so that Trey Young can focus on setting the table

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Speaker 1: as an advantage creator and chrisps Porzingis could function as

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Speaker 1: like a switch beater slash rim protector. And there, frankly,

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Speaker 1: have been a lot of things that have gone wrong.

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Speaker 1: I think that you dig into the Porzingis piece. He

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Speaker 1: hasn't been healthy. That fundamentally makes it so that you

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Speaker 1: can't make as many mistakes on the perimeter because you

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Speaker 1: don't have the level of rim protection that you have

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Speaker 1: when chrisops Porzingis is sitting back like that. Right two,

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Speaker 1: I don't think the Wings have been as good defensively

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Speaker 1: as they've needed to be, particularly Zachary rissashean Jalen Johnson.

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Speaker 1: I think the two of them have been actually pretty

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Speaker 1: disappointing on defense this year. And so when you have

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Speaker 1: a less effective group of perimeter defenders and the lack

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Speaker 1: of rimp protection, that's been kind of doomed for their defense.

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Speaker 1: They've had games like, especially without Trey Young, where they

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Speaker 1: get up into the ball and they force a lot

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Speaker 1: of turnovers and then they're just devastating in transition and

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Speaker 1: they're doing a lot of work on the margins like that,

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Speaker 1: and I think some of that has been some proof

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Speaker 1: of concept, like the fact that they're above five hundred

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Speaker 1: without Trey Young and with chrisops Porzingis being out as

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Speaker 1: much as they've had as they've been is certainly something.

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Speaker 1: It's not like super impressive, but it's something. And then

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Speaker 1: the last piece of it, whenever Trey Young was available,

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Speaker 1: they just as a team didn't defend, and Trey deserves

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Speaker 1: some blame for that, but as a team, they didn't defend.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, it's it's tricky because I would

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Speaker 1: argue that my basketball philosophy, what you're referencing, specifically, the

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Speaker 1: idea of having a bunch of athletes that can dribble,

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Speaker 1: shoot and pass, that can get up into the ball,

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Speaker 1: that can switch onto multiple multiple positions, that can run

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Speaker 1: the floor and transition and generate advantages before you get

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Speaker 1: into half court situations. All those things I still believe in.

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Speaker 1: I just think the Atlanta Hawks have been have had

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Speaker 1: several things go against them. Chris Hops being hurt, that's

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Speaker 1: a huge factor. Jalen Johnson and Zachary Ussachet not being

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Speaker 1: very good on defense. That's a big factor, right, And

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Speaker 1: Trey Young being a combination of unhealthy and then one

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Speaker 1: he has been healthy, the team not playing well. It's

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Speaker 1: just been an unfortunate mix of events. So, like, I

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Speaker 1: think where I would to your point, to your question,

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Speaker 1: where I would have to, like more seriously consider the

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Speaker 1: basketball basketball philosophy piece would be if Trey Young and

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Speaker 1: krisops Porzingis had played in most of the games and

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Speaker 1: the team was still below five hundred. I think that's

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Speaker 1: where I'd have to take a bigger look at it.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited to tell you guys about our new

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Speaker 1: partnership with Viory. Those of you guys who are familiar

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Speaker 1: with VIORI have noticed that I wear it on the

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Speaker 1: show almost every day and have done so for years.

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Speaker 1: It's become a major workhorse for me, and there's two

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Speaker 1: reasons for that. I gotta started with Yori because of

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Speaker 1: their durability. I used to wear these clothes on the

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Speaker 1: show that I'd washed a few times and they'd degrade

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Speaker 1: into something that wasn't anywhere near as nice as what

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Speaker 1: I had originally bought. I have items from Viory that

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Speaker 1: I've watched like fifty times that still look every bit

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Speaker 1: as nice as when I bought them years ago. That's

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Speaker 1: the type of quality you're getting with Viory. And then

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Speaker 1: there's incredible versatility. These are items that I can wear

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Speaker 1: on the show, I can wear on a date night

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Speaker 1: with my wife. I can wear running errands on a Saturday.

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Speaker 1: I can wear when I'm going to play pick up basketball,

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Speaker 1: whether it's the Sunday Performance short or the Strato Tech

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Speaker 1: tank top that I can wear when I'm hooping. They

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Speaker 1: have an item for any sort of situation. Viory is

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Speaker 1: viory dot com slash hoops. That's vuo Rii dot com

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Speaker 1: slash hoops. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms

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Speaker 1: and conditions. Not only will you receive twenty percent off

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Speaker 1: viory dot com slash hoops and discover the versatility of

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Speaker 1: Yori clothing. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms

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Speaker 1: and conditions Part two. When I've disagreed with you over

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Speaker 1: the years, it usually comes down to the idea that

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Speaker 1: I think you put too much value on the marginal

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Speaker 1: advantage players have in surgical half court execution, and that

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Speaker 1: you do so at the expense of general two way

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Speaker 1: versatility and impact. So the second question is do you

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Speaker 1: think there's any credence to the idea that you and

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Speaker 1: or the general hoop community have undervalued two way versatility

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Speaker 1: and impact. I have not changed my opinion on this

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Speaker 1: at all. I think Nikola Jokic has clearly been head

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Speaker 1: and shoulders better than the rest of the league, and

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Speaker 1: he's your textbook half court surgeon type of dude who

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Speaker 1: has defensive limitations, but that finds a way to compete

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Speaker 1: defensively within a scheme alongside other smart, high IQ defenders.

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Speaker 1: I think that for all of the talk we want

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Speaker 1: to talk about with Luca and whether or not he

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Speaker 1: can succeed at the highest highest levels of the NBA,

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Speaker 1: that's all fair. You know what happened to him in

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four finals against Boston. That's a completely

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Speaker 1: fair criticism of Luka Doncicic. But the bottom line is

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Speaker 1: they wake up today with the damn good record and

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Speaker 1: at like what the fifth best record in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: and a big part of that is because of how

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Speaker 1: good their half court offense has been, especially in crunch time,

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Speaker 1: and Luka Doncic has been the driving force behind that.

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Speaker 1: And so I think the bigger point that you're making

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Speaker 1: about the half court execution piece and set it aside,

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Speaker 1: do we value general two way versatility and impact enough?

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Speaker 1: I think that's a good question. I think that really

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Speaker 1: comes down to more of the team concept, though, I

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Speaker 1: think that if the ultimate not to be too reductive here,

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Speaker 1: but the ultimate goal of a basketball team is to

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Speaker 1: score more points than your opponent, right, and so on

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Speaker 1: our very basic level, like if you're built the way

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is and you're gonna get a shit ton

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Speaker 1: of stops, I think you can have a team that's

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Speaker 1: built less around refined offensive skill. If you have a

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Speaker 1: team like the twenty twenty three Denver Nuggets who's built

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Speaker 1: around refined offensive skill, I think you can get away

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Speaker 1: with a little bit less in terms of defensive personnel. Ultimately,

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Speaker 1: you're building a checklist. Like if you think of what

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Speaker 1: happens on both ends of the floor as like a

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Speaker 1: bunch of boxes you have to check, right, and the

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Speaker 1: more boxes you check on both ends of the floor,

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Speaker 1: the better team you are, right, And so if you

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Speaker 1: have a player that can check a ton of boxes,

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Speaker 1: that's certainly valuable. Right. So's take a guy like Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis for example, Like he can check the rim protection

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Speaker 1: box and the defensive rebounding box, and then if you

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Speaker 1: go to the offensive end of the four, you can

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Speaker 1: check an offensive rebounding box. He can check a ball

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Speaker 1: screen threat box where he has the ability to do

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Speaker 1: damage in the short roll and as a vertical spacer.

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Speaker 1: There's things he can check like that. But there's one

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Speaker 1: giant box that he can't check, and that's like breaking

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Speaker 1: down elite defense. When there's an elite defense in front

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Speaker 1: of him, Anthony Davis ain't gonna be the guy that

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Speaker 1: breaks down that defense. That's a pretty gaping flaw for

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Speaker 1: a team that's trying to win a championship. When I'm

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Speaker 1: building a roster and I have that guy. I have

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Speaker 1: a guy that like this dude can break down elite

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Speaker 1: defense at the highest level. Obviously, I feel like I

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Speaker 1: can go around and find a guy that can get

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Speaker 1: defensive rebounds. I can find a guy that can dunk

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Speaker 1: a lob as he's rolling hard down the lane. I

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Speaker 1: can find a guy that can protect the rim a

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Speaker 1: little bit. I can find guys who can defend on

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Speaker 1: the permitive. Those are easier to find than the dude

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Speaker 1: who can break the defense down. Now, the last kind

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Speaker 1: of thing I would say is to a guy like

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. So coming into the season, I would have

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Speaker 1: ranked him as the fifth best player in the NBA

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Speaker 1: if not for his injury. Ideally, if you have a

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Speaker 1: player that can anchor a defense the way that Jason

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Speaker 1: Tatum can, that can anchor defensive glass the way that

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum can, that also brings some ability to break

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Speaker 1: the defense down as an offensive player on the other

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Speaker 1: end of the floor. There's a ton of value there,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's a big part of why like

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, despite not necessarily being the most efficient half

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Speaker 1: court surgeon type of guy in the league, I was

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Speaker 1: viewing him as a legitimate top tier superstar in this

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Speaker 1: league before his injury because of his all around versatility.

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Speaker 1: In short, it's all an aggregate combination of all of

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Speaker 1: these abilities. I just still think fundamentally the hardest trait

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Speaker 1: to find in the NBA is can you break down

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Speaker 1: elite defense? And that's why I look at that as

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Speaker 1: such a valuable trait. As Oklahoma City leaves corner shooters open,

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Speaker 1: sometimes they get rich, the teams get really hot. I

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Speaker 1: know it's their identity, but I feel like, when Jordan

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Speaker 1: Goodwin makes eight corner threes, maybe it's time to change

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Speaker 1: it up. It's happened multiple times this season, and Diagnault

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Speaker 1: sticks with the same scheme, so with Oklahoma City. And

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Speaker 1: this is an important detail. When you're looking at margin hunting.

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Speaker 1: For the most part, it's not just that specific margin

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Speaker 1: in a vacuum that you're looking at. You're looking at

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Speaker 1: how all of these things are intricate, intricately connected. So

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Speaker 1: for example, if you are let's just take offensive rebounding

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Speaker 1: for example, it used to be that the interpretation was

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Speaker 1: if you crash the offensive glass, you make yourself vulnerable

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Speaker 1: and transition defense. But then as teams started to look

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Speaker 1: at it in a more refined way. They're like, well,

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Speaker 1: if we crash the offensive glass from the corners and

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Speaker 1: we just have them run to the elbows, just classic

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Speaker 1: corner crash. When they run to the elbows, the long

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Speaker 1: rebound is going to come up off from a miss

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Speaker 1: three and they have a high opportunity to get it.

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Speaker 1: If they don't get it, two things happen. One, those

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Speaker 1: guys out of the corners are always already running, so

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Speaker 1: they can take that momentum, oh we didn't get the ball,

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Speaker 1: wheel back into transition defense. And two, if I crash

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Speaker 1: to the elbow and I don't get the ball and

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Speaker 1: on the primary point of attack defender, I can quick

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Speaker 1: turn and pick up the basketball. Meaning like, let's say

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Speaker 1: the other team's big gets the ball on a long

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Speaker 1: rebound up around the elbow, and he dumps it to

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Speaker 1: the point guard right around the block, and you're right

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Speaker 1: there at the elbow. Didn't get the rebound, but you're

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Speaker 1: right there to pick up the guard full court. And

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Speaker 1: if you can pick up the guard and make him

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Speaker 1: turn twice or make him pick up his dribble or

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Speaker 1: something like that, or make him throw another backcourt pass,

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Speaker 1: that slows the team down enough that it doesn't hurt

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Speaker 1: you in transition. And so what teams have essentially realized is, yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you offensive rebound, there are going to be times

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Speaker 1: where you know, a very unfortunate rebound comes off and

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Speaker 1: your floor balance is bad and a team gets a

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Speaker 1: layup in transition. But like much of the time, you're

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Speaker 1: either going to get the offensive rebound or you're already

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Speaker 1: going to be in it kind of like inflicts a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of like injects a certain amount of verve

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Speaker 1: already in your team to where they're running, so they're

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Speaker 1: kind of getting back better anyway. And three, we can

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Speaker 1: apply ball pressure right away. So teams have basically figured

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Speaker 1: out that the tradeoff of attacking the offensive glass is

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Speaker 1: actually worth whatever small downside there is to transition defense. Similarly,

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City has trade offs in the way that they

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Speaker 1: play defense. So again, think of it like on a

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Speaker 1: really basic level from the standpoint of the negative. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so the negative is the when they pick up with

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Speaker 1: a ton of ball pressure and they play super physical

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Speaker 1: and they attack the basketball, they commit a lot of fouls. Right,

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Speaker 1: That's one of the things that they're going to do

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Speaker 1: that's going to cause issues relative to most teams, they're

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Speaker 1: going to foul. The second piece. They're better at that

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Speaker 1: this year than they have been in recent years, but

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Speaker 1: in other years they've had issues with fouling on the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: The second piece of it is the the open corner threes. Right,

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Speaker 1: So like if you're picking up the ball and you

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Speaker 1: are attacking with ball pressure, and anytime a guy gets

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Speaker 1: beat off the dribble, you're sending aggressive help, and every

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Speaker 1: time they try to post up, you're sending double teams.

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Speaker 1: And it's just this very forward, aggressive attack, attack, attack defense.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna commit some fouls and you're gonna give up

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Speaker 1: some corner threes. But the flip side of that is

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Speaker 1: you're also going to get a good amount of opportunities

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Speaker 1: to force turnovers. You're gonna get a good amount of

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Speaker 1: opportunities to get out and transition off of those turnovers.

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Speaker 1: The Oklahoma City Thunder generate twenty five points every single

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Speaker 1: game off of turnovers. That's the most in the entire

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Speaker 1: NBA by pretty wide margin. So the way they look

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Speaker 1: at it is like, yeah, we're gonna give up some

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Speaker 1: open threes. Yeah we're gonna commit some fouls, but in

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Speaker 1: the aggregate, it unlocks this transition part of our offense,

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Speaker 1: which takes me to the the specific dynamic with Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: City offensively. We've seen Oklahoma City at various points over

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Speaker 1: the course of the last few years and especially recently,

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Speaker 1: but even in the playoffs last year, especially in the

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Speaker 1: playoffs in two thousand and twenty four, if you guys remember,

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Speaker 1: we have seen Oklahoma City go very cold in the

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Speaker 1: half court on offense. So they want to drive as

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Speaker 1: much of that transition avalanche type of attack as they can,

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Speaker 1: and so it's all part of that trade off. They

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Speaker 1: could give up fewer corner threes, they could commit fewer fouls,

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Speaker 1: but then they wouldn't get out and transition as much,

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Speaker 1: and they'd have to play more in the half court,

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Speaker 1: which is not how they want to play offensively, and

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Speaker 1: so that's essentially the trade off for them. Now to

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Speaker 1: the point you're making about the Jordan Goodwin game, I

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Speaker 1: think it just comes down to in a playoff series,

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Speaker 1: if there is a clear advance, So like let's say

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Speaker 1: that let's say they run into a team like Denver,

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Speaker 1: and Denver just takes really good care of the basketball,

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Speaker 1: never turns it over for whatever reason, and they're just

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Speaker 1: moving it methodically through your defense and hitting corner three

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Speaker 1: corner three corner three corner three, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon,

430
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,440
Speaker 1: Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, over and over and over again.

431
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,199
Speaker 1: Then yeah, you might have to tweak it and be like,

432
00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 1: we need to see Nicole Jokic score one on one

433
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,119
Speaker 1: against Isaiah Hartenstein a few more times. We need to

434
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: see Jamal Murray score one on one against a big

435
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 1: or against one of our smaller guards more times. They

436
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,159
Speaker 1: might have to make an adjustment in a series if

437
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 1: it gets to that point, but in the large sample

438
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 1: of the regular season, I think they want to lean

439
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,960
Speaker 1: on getting out in transition as much as possible. We'd

440
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: love to hear your thoughts on what trade the Celtics

441
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,119
Speaker 1: should look for. Zubots is apparently not an asset the

442
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 1: Clippers are willing to give up, and I've heard mixed

443
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,879
Speaker 1: things about the availability of Gafford Claxton. I think all

444
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:47,679
Speaker 1: these guys could be a great fit, but obviously not

445
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:49,720
Speaker 1: sure with the package the other teams would be looking

446
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 1: for in return. Anforty Simons definitely carries some value and

447
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 1: he could definitely be packaged with picks and some bench

448
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,400
Speaker 1: guys a Kowser or Shireman. Ideally in any of these trades,

449
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,440
Speaker 1: I would like to see the Seas keep Hugo Gonzalez

450
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,679
Speaker 1: and Jordan Wall, but not sure how realistic that is.

451
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,480
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts? So, I actually because I'm about

452
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 1: to record here in about twenty minutes with a group

453
00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:10,440
Speaker 1: of Lakers guys, and we're going to be talking about

454
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 1: the specific dynamic of the center position because Deandreyton got

455
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: his ass kicked by Victor women Yama in the game

456
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night, and so I've seen him just too

457
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,360
Speaker 1: often get his butt kicked by the higher level centers

458
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:23,679
Speaker 1: around the league, and I just don't think he's the

459
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: guy for Luke a long term. So I've been looking

460
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 1: around at the centers, and so I was like, who

461
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: are the guys that could like realistically start at center

462
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,679
Speaker 1: around the league that are also somewhat realistically available for trade.

463
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 1: And the list that I came up with was Demona Sabonis,

464
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler, Nikola Vusovich, Nick Claxton, Daniel Gafford, and Robert Williams. Now,

465
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: where it gets tricky for the Celtics is you got

466
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: to think about the salaries with Tatum on a MAX

467
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,199
Speaker 1: with Jalen Brown on a Max, and you're gonna have

468
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,679
Speaker 1: to pay, you know, like like you want to keep

469
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,720
Speaker 1: Derek White in the situation. You know, he makes a

470
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 1: lot of money. You got a lot of money tied

471
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,439
Speaker 1: up in your perimeter guys. So ideally you want to

472
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: try to find a center that gives you a useful look,

473
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,680
Speaker 1: but that also is a guy that you could theoretically

474
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 1: have for a couple of years without spending too much money.

475
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: And that's where it gets interesting because like you look

476
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:15,439
Speaker 1: at a guy like Walker Kessler, you trade for him,

477
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to extend him. That could provide a

478
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 1: money crunch for a team like the Celtics, right, Like

479
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: Nick Claxton is a guy that financially is not gonna

480
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 1: be cheaper, not gonna be cheap to keep around long term.

481
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: That's where I start to look at like, Okay, what

482
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:34,680
Speaker 1: about a Daniel Gafford, what about a Nikola Vucevich? Right

483
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: Like you've seen how Luca Garza is given some you know,

484
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 1: kind of a unique look to the Celtics at the

485
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 1: center position. As a guy who can space the floor

486
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 1: a little bit. You know you already have Nimi Kita

487
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 1: and Kate is actually pretty good. But Kate is a

488
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: little one dimensional. He's more of like a drop coverage

489
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 1: big a guy who does some ceiling inside and finishing,

490
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,119
Speaker 1: vertical spacing, that kind of that kind of stuff. So

491
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 1: what if you had two different looks. You had this

492
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 1: me Kada drop coverage, vertical spacing, rim protection look, and

493
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 1: then you traded for a guy like Vucevich and you

494
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,439
Speaker 1: kept him around at a discounted deal, Like you go

495
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: to vuc and you go, hey, dude, you've made a

496
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,960
Speaker 1: good amount of money in your career getting pretty old.

497
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 1: What if you stick around with us for you know,

498
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: two years on this like really heavily discounted deal and

499
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: it's like Kada Vucevich, the two different looks that the

500
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: Celtics go with that center. And one of the things

501
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 1: with vouch is he gives you like a legitimate post

502
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: up threat, like he can pick and pop and hit

503
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 1: pick and pop threes and space the floor as a center.

504
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,159
Speaker 1: But he's also like a big physical dude download that

505
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 1: could do some rebounding and can do a bunch of

506
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 1: damage in the post. And so I think he'd be

507
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,399
Speaker 1: an interesting kind of way to look Robert Williams. It's

508
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: the health issue. Daniel Gafford, there's a little bit of

509
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 1: a money issue with him too, where I think he's,

510
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: you know, potentially gonna want a longer term deal where

511
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,120
Speaker 1: he's making you ten to fifteen million a year. There's

512
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: something to be said about finding somebody that gives you

513
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: the best combination of production relative to the sound dollary

514
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: under the situation that the Celtics are in. And that's

515
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,119
Speaker 1: why I was thinking the guy like Vusovich would be

516
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,360
Speaker 1: just kind of an interesting option for them to consider

517
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: as a kind of like a two different looks alongside

518
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: Nimi Keda. Today's show is brought to you by presenting

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547
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549
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550
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Speaker 1: gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,

551
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:47,919
Speaker 1: or Virginia. How much of good defense is physical gifts?

552
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: How much of it is effort? How much of it

553
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: is knowledge? Could someone with very limited physical gifts become

554
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 1: a good defender if he has good knowledge and hustle.

555
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: Appreciate your show. You and your team clearly work your

556
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 1: butts offt to create such polished content. Thank you, Thank

557
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: you so much for the kind words, and thanks for

558
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: shouting out the team. Jackson's literally just amazing. I just

559
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,120
Speaker 1: think he's the best in the world at what he does.

560
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,679
Speaker 1: So we talked about this concept within the idea of

561
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: a team, but I would argue that the largest chunk

562
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 1: of defense is the execution piece, meaning like always being

563
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 1: in the right spot, having good instincts like There have

564
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:24,879
Speaker 1: been a lot of guys over the years that have

565
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: been good perimeter defenders relative to their actual talent because

566
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 1: they're good at anticipating. They can look at a guy

567
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: and they can like kind of identify where his center

568
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: of gravity is and they can kind of see where

569
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: his body's shifting, or like they could pick up on

570
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 1: physical cues, or maybe they watch a lot of film

571
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: and they're just good at scouting like little tips on,

572
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,680
Speaker 1: you know, the way that a perimeter player kind of

573
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: tips off what he's gonna do. And then it's just anticipation, right,

574
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: Like it's all about angle. So like if if I'm

575
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 1: defending a player who's faster than me, but if I

576
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: take the right angle and I anticipate which way he's going,

577
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: I can beat him to a spot, right, So like

578
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: there is a very much an anticipatory position element to defense. Now,

579
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,879
Speaker 1: I would argue that you can't be terrible at either.

580
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 1: So like if you're incredibly slow or if you're incredibly small,

581
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 1: it's really difficult to overcome that no matter how disciplined

582
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,199
Speaker 1: you are. But let's say you're a mediocre athlete, like

583
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 1: a mediocre size and speed guard, a mediocre size and

584
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,360
Speaker 1: speed forward, or a mediocre size and speed center. Let

585
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 1: me just take like Jake la Ravia, for example, a

586
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: guy that I root for on the Lakers. He's not

587
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,880
Speaker 1: exceptionally big for a forward. You know, he's like six seven, right,

588
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 1: and he's strong, but he's not like jacked or anything.

589
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 1: And like he's mobile, but he's not like super fast

590
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: or anything. Like he's a little too small to be

591
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: like a traditional power forward and a little too slow

592
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,480
Speaker 1: to be like a traditional small forward in terms of

593
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: just his athletic profile. Right. But he's been one of

594
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: the most useful defenders for the Lakers this year. Why

595
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: because he has the kind of like bare minimum set

596
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: of physical gifts you need, Like he's got enough size

597
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: and mobility to be at least somewhat useful in terms

598
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: of the trades he's working with. He's a high effort guy.

599
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,680
Speaker 1: That's the third piece of this that we haven't even

600
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: talked about yet, Like you gotta be someone as motor

601
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: you got to play really hard on that end of

602
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 1: the floor. And then the third piece of it is

603
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: he's got the positioning and anticipation elements down, and so

604
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 1: he's just very good at kind of being in the

605
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: right spot, following the defensive game plan, scouting the guy

606
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 1: that he's guarding, and anticipating which direction he's going he's

607
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: been especially good this year guarding some of the bigger

608
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: forwards that look to attack off the dribble. But yeah,

609
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: it's definitely a combination of all of those things. But

610
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: physical you kind of have to have all three. Like

611
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 1: if you have great physical gifts and you've got the

612
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 1: anticipation in positioning, but you got a shit motor and

613
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 1: you don't play hard, that's a problem, right, Like that's

614
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 1: some of the issue that we've seen with Lebron over

615
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: the last few years, and it's just because he doesn't

616
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: want to play hard for an eighty two game regular season, right,

617
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: But like he certainly can, he certainly understands the game plan,

618
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: and he can anticipate like crazy, and he's got still

619
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: at his age, some pretty good physical gifts. But it's

620
00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: just like when Lebron's effort drops off, he dropped. But

621
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,560
Speaker 1: when the efforts there, you know, we saw Lebron look

622
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: like an all defense guy in the middle of the

623
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 1: season last year, right, Or like, if you have the

624
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: motor and you have the anticipation in the in the

625
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: game plan piece, but you're just super tiny or you're

626
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,960
Speaker 1: super slow, that's going to be a problem. And then

627
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: you know, We've seen it with guys like Karl Anthony Towns. Like,

628
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 1: I don't think Carl Anthony Towns is necessarily lazy. He's

629
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: got decent physical gifts. He's like, he's a competitive dude.

630
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: He just the anticipation and positioning piece of it is

631
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: like absolute garbage with him, and it's a huge problem.

632
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 1: So you can't be dreadfully weak in any area, but

633
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily have to be strong in all three areas. Hi, Jason,

634
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: big fan of your form of content and your wisdom

635
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: around the NBA. You suggested a mega trade of Michael

636
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 1: Porter Junior and Nick Claxton to help catapult the Warriors

637
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: to becoming more competitive. Within this suggestion, are you saying

638
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: that Claxton would help the Warriors more than Draymond? Especially

639
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: the mega trade you mentioned is swapping Claxton for Draymond.

640
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: Can the Warriors still be title contenders if they just

641
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,320
Speaker 1: traded for MPJ and kept Draymond with a starting five

642
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: of Curry, Mountain Butler, Michael Porter Junior, and Green be

643
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: a title contender? Thank you love your content. So it's

644
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: a couple of things. So one the reason why I

645
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:08,640
Speaker 1: kind of like talked about structuring it that way is

646
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior just has a really large salary, and

647
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: so by having Draymond in there, it just kind of

648
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 1: makes it easier to feasibly piece the rest of it together.

649
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 1: That said, like getting just MPJA would still be a

650
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 1: huge win for the Warriors. The reason why I was

651
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 1: looking at Claxton specifically is I find him to be

652
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: both a good fit defensively within the Warrior's scheme, because

653
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: the Warriors do a bunch of different schemes defensively and

654
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,959
Speaker 1: they do do a decent amount of switching with their bigs.

655
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: And then the second piece of it is I've seen

656
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: as a matchup thing teams like San Antonio and Oklahoma City,

657
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 1: the two top teams in the Western Conference. I've seen

658
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: both of them struggle with rim protection at times, and

659
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: so it's one of those things where even though Draymond's

660
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: a very good defensive player, what he doesn't necessarily provide

661
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: is that vertical rim protection. And so I just thought

662
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: Nick Clackson would provide an element to the Warriors defense

663
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,440
Speaker 1: that they basically haven't haven't had since, like Andrew Boguet

664
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: was healthy. So I just thought it was worth considering

665
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 1: as an option. But to your point, if they just

666
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: got Michael Porter Junior, I'd still view that as a

667
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 1: huge boost for the Warriors. Three more, I was on

668
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: Twitter and someone suggested that the Lakers offense is smoother

669
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: when Lebron is running it as he looks to create

670
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: then score, as opposed to Luca as more heliocentric in approach.

671
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on this and which approach do

672
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: you think is better for the Lakers offense. So this

673
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: is a general idea that I just disagree with, the

674
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: idea that like you have to play one way to win,

675
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: or that multiple ball handlers can't play together well. Like

676
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 1: I don't think that lebron Is style. I don't think

677
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: Lebron's style is better than Luca's necessarily based on what

678
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: happened in the last few weeks, I just thought Luca

679
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: wasn't playing well. Like Luca's been every bit as heliocentric

680
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: in that game against the Spurs, or the second half

681
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 1: against the Pelicans, or the second half against Grizzlies on Sunday.

682
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: He's been every bit as heliocentric as he was in

683
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 1: all the other games. He just wanted to turn the

684
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 1: ball over the I want to cut Lucas slack for

685
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 1: the turnovers and myss threes, specifically against the Spurs, because

686
00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 1: without Luca, or without Lebron and aust And available, he

687
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,960
Speaker 1: basically had no choice but to bump his usage way up,

688
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,000
Speaker 1: and that means he had to say yes a lot

689
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,960
Speaker 1: more to situations that he might otherwise say no, meaning like, oh,

690
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: high risk pass. When Lebron and Austin are healthy, you

691
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 1: move it around and let one of them attack, But

692
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: when no one else can do shit with the basketball, like,

693
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: he almost has to take that high risk pass. Similarly,

694
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: bad threes when when Lebron and Austin are out there,

695
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: don't take the bad three, move the ball around if

696
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: you get cut off off the dribble, but when Lebron

697
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: and Austin are out, he kind of has to take

698
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 1: the bad three, right. So, like, I'm not too critical

699
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: of the turnovers and the misshots in that particular Spurs game,

700
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 1: but overall, I thought Luca's shot creation was ridiculous in

701
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 1: that Spurs game, and in the second half of the

702
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 1: Pelicans game, and in the second half of the Grizzlies game,

703
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: even though he was heliocentric and so I don't think

704
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 1: Luca needs to play more like Lebron. I just think

705
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: Luca needs to play like the best version of Luca,

706
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: and Lebron needs to keep playing like the best version

707
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 1: of Lebron. I actually had a little bit of a

708
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:00,120
Speaker 1: debate with my buddy Demon. He pitched this idea that

709
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: when Austin comes back, maybe Luca or Lebron should stay

710
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: kind of as the second option. That kind of clashes

711
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,879
Speaker 1: with my core basketball believe I generally believe you can

712
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,719
Speaker 1: have three guys all kind of working in unison as

713
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:14,839
Speaker 1: long as they're all trusting each other, and I think

714
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: all three of them can put up massive point totals.

715
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 1: I don't think you're confined toabbing two ball handlers, especially

716
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: when you've got guys like Lebron and Austin who can

717
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 1: run action together and they can both be involved, even

718
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: though maybe Austin has the ball for five minutes or

719
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: Lebron has the ball for five minutes. Hey, Jason, I've

720
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,919
Speaker 1: always been a huge Jokich fan and still think he's

721
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 1: clearly the best player in the league. But does a

722
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 1: performance like the win over Philly missing four or five starters,

723
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 1: plus what we're seeing from MPG this year off the

724
00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 1: Nuggets make you ever so slightly think that maybe we

725
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,280
Speaker 1: are marginally overrating Yokic's impact and have been underplaying his teammates.

726
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think so, but I'm interested to hear

727
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: your thoughts. It's as simple as diminishing returns thing why

728
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 1: a player like MPJA has been broken out since leaving.

729
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 1: So the MPJA thing is complicated to me. I never

730
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 1: thought MPJ was a bad player. I just thought MPJ

731
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: a four, and the Nuggets already had a starting four,

732
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: and as the league had tilted in recent seasons to

733
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,879
Speaker 1: more speed on the perimeter, I don't think you can

734
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,720
Speaker 1: play at Michael Porter Junior Aaron Gordon nicolea Jokic frontline

735
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: against a team like Oklahoma City. I think you're too slow.

736
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: So I think shifting from Michael Porter Junior to Cam

737
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 1: was more just trading a starting four for a starting three.

738
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 1: It was a roster balancing, starting lineup balancing type of

739
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 1: move for them. I thoroughly expected Michael Porter Junior to

740
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:26,839
Speaker 1: go into Brooklyn and put up scoring numbers this year.

741
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 1: Maybe not quite to this extent, but I'd always thought

742
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 1: that he was a guy that could go get buckets.

743
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: I generally hate this specific idea that like, in order

744
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: for a player to be recognized as successful, the team

745
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: has to suck without him. You'll notice when I would

746
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 1: talk about Jokiic as the best player in the world,

747
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:47,439
Speaker 1: or when I would talk about Jokich is the best

748
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 1: offensive player ever, I never mentioned his on off. That's

749
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: not really the angle I go with. Basketball is a

750
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: team sport. No one wins a championship unless they have

751
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 1: excellent supporting talent, whether it's a great head coach or

752
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: a great secondary star or an awesome depth of role

753
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 1: player talent. Like and we've seen it every which way

754
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,800
Speaker 1: over the course of the years, different constructs of teams.

755
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: But this idea that SuperStar's going to win titles by

756
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,879
Speaker 1: their own is just flat out stupid. It's just never

757
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 1: how it works. Jokic was the best player in the

758
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,880
Speaker 1: world last year, he was overwhelmed by Oklahoma City in

759
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: the second round. Lebron was the best player in the

760
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:21,879
Speaker 1: world by a mile. In twenty eighteen. He didn't even

761
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 1: stand a chance in the finals against Golden State, Like

762
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,800
Speaker 1: there is, This is a team sport. Ultimately, now, the

763
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:31,879
Speaker 1: Nuggets having success without NICOLEA Jokic this year. I think

764
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: it comes down to fundamentally, this team being on a

765
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,000
Speaker 1: fucking mission, like this Nuggets team wants to win the title,

766
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,879
Speaker 1: and there is a level of commitment from the top

767
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: down of the roster from day one of training camp

768
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 1: that has allowed this team to sustain success in various

769
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:48,920
Speaker 1: different looks, whether it's when they were healthy at the

770
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 1: beginning of the year, to Gordon and Christian Brown being

771
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:54,280
Speaker 1: out to now Jokic being out, they have just found

772
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:55,759
Speaker 1: a way over and over again. There have been a

773
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 1: lot of key guys that have stepped up. Jalen Pickett

774
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,360
Speaker 1: has been awesome stepping up with the injuries. Peyton Watson

775
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: has been awesome stepping up with the injuries. Look at

776
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 1: Zeke Nagi these last couple of games. So like, I

777
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,360
Speaker 1: just think it's a testament to the type of team

778
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 1: this Denver Nuggets team is and it should be a

779
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: big part of why people believe in them as a

780
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 1: threat to win the championship this year. All right, lastly,

781
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: Timberwolves fan here, I'm curious what you think about Julius

782
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,319
Speaker 1: Randall's bullyball and the sustainability of it come playoff time.

783
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,359
Speaker 1: I'm obviously interested in whether or not this team, as

784
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: presently constructed can win a championship. I tend to lean

785
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: towards now a factor that I think doesn't really get

786
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,840
Speaker 1: talked about as much as the way Randall scores. I

787
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:31,600
Speaker 1: know he did his thing against the old Man Lakers

788
00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 1: with no centers and the Steph Lest Warriors last year,

789
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: but it seems like once the t Wolves inevitably meet

790
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 1: a team that can match their physicality, Randall's scoring is

791
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 1: bound to fall apart. So I actually think Julius Randall's

792
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 1: ability as a big forward to attack size mismatches and

793
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 1: do a good mix of scoring and playmaking is a

794
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,879
Speaker 1: huge playoff asset. My main concern with Randall is more

795
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 1: like what happened in the Bad Game. So if you

796
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,279
Speaker 1: look at the Oklahoma City games, he had a couple

797
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:56,160
Speaker 1: of games where he put up numbers, but then he

798
00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: had a couple of games where it almost looked like

799
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 1: he quit. It almost looked like when things weren't going

800
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,719
Speaker 1: as way, he like completely disengaged. Stop being aggressive, Stop

801
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: focusing on the details. My issues with Randal are not

802
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:09,360
Speaker 1: necessarily his style, it's just his mentality. I would like

803
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,760
Speaker 1: to see Julius Randall, like on the nights where maybe

804
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 1: he has a couple of turnovers early, or he misses

805
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 1: a couple of shots early, or he finds himself in

806
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 1: the middle of the second quarter with doing everything and

807
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 1: he's two for nine, you know, with six points. Like

808
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,360
Speaker 1: I'd prefer to see those nights and in him doing

809
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,879
Speaker 1: everything in his power to try to find a way

810
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,840
Speaker 1: to win the damn game rather than pouting and standing

811
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 1: around at the three point line and shooting catch and

812
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,040
Speaker 1: shoot threes two or three times the rest of the night.

813
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: He had a couple of these games against Oka see

814
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,959
Speaker 1: where I felt like he kind of like mentally gave

815
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: in to the circumstances. That's really the main thing that

816
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,439
Speaker 1: I'd like to see him work on. I'm actually really

817
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:47,799
Speaker 1: high on the timber Wolves. I think Anthony Edwards is

818
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 1: the best version of himself that he's ever been. I

819
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 1: think the supporting offensive talent with the rise of Julius Randall,

820
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: excuse me, the rise of Jaden McDaniels, Rudigobert being a

821
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 1: better offensive player than he's been in recent years, and

822
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 1: they have shown the defensive ceiling, especially in these last

823
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: few weeks. I am if the Timberwolves can keep this

824
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: up over the next over the next you know, three

825
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 1: weeks or so, I'm going to put them in my

826
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: top tier of contenders in our next Contender rankings. All right, guys,

827
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: It's all I have for today is always to sincerely

828
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show.

829
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys have a wonderful weekend,

830
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: and I'll see you guys on Money.