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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody hopeful. If you guys are having a
Speaker 1: great week so far. NBA Media Day was yesterday, and
Speaker 1: we had a bunch of a couple of teams go
Speaker 1: last week, but the rest of the teams went yesterday,
Speaker 1: and so today we're gonna do our six biggest takeaways
Speaker 1: from MBA Media Day. I've got one for each of
Speaker 1: the top six teams in my power rankings when we
Speaker 1: did the season previews, and then I've got four mail
Speaker 1: back questions for the end of the show as well.
Speaker 1: You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
Speaker 1: to our YouTube channel, follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast under Hoops Tonight and any more mailback questions to
Speaker 1: keep dropping those in the YouTube comments. All right, first,
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway, this one has to do with the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors. No, it doesn't matter at all that Draymond
Speaker 1: Green has had personal beef with Chris Paul. Personal is
Speaker 1: not the right word, but basketball beef with Chris Paul
Speaker 1: in the past, or that Chris Paul and Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: have had altercations in the past, or that Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: and Rodney McGruder have had issues in the past. It
Speaker 1: just doesn't matter. And for the record, this is not
Speaker 1: the first time we've done this sort of thing. Lan
Speaker 1: Stevenson famously was a huge pain in the ass to
Speaker 1: Lebron and was his teammate in twenty nineteen and they
Speaker 1: were fine. This is a completely common thing that happens
Speaker 1: in the NBA and a really common thing with competitors.
Speaker 1: That Draymond Green gave a really well thought out quote
Speaker 1: about this. I encourage you guys to check it out
Speaker 1: if you go to the Warriors YouTube page. They have
Speaker 1: it in their they have it in with all their
Speaker 1: other videos they posted with the media availability. But he
Speaker 1: basically said, like, yeah, Chris Paul's a little bit of
Speaker 1: an asshole on the court, but he's like, so am I,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the best competitors in the league,
Speaker 1: and so am I, and that inevitably is going to
Speaker 1: lead to situations on the court where we butt heads.
Speaker 1: And it really is that simple. This is not a
Speaker 1: hard concept for you guys to get. Even outside the
Speaker 1: realm of basketball competitiveness exists. Being a little bit more
Speaker 1: of an asshole when something's on the line is completely normal.
Speaker 1: Anybody who's good at anything probably got good at it
Speaker 1: because they're competitive in some way, shape or form, and
Speaker 1: everybody there are different types of competitive personalities, to be clear,
Speaker 1: but it's totally normal to experience a negative emotion or
Speaker 1: have a negative interaction with somebody in a competitive environment.
Speaker 1: That doesn't actually represent the way you would treat each
Speaker 1: other off the court. You know, chances are Draymond Green
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul, if they met each other, just as
Speaker 1: buddies growing up, would get along just fine. But that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that in a basketball situation when there are
Speaker 1: on opposite sides that they won't butt heads. Yeah, Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson and Rodney mcgriddor got into it a little bit.
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson said some stuff like you're gonna be out
Speaker 1: of the league. He probably didn't even mean that, but
Speaker 1: he's talking shit. He's talking shit. It's a thing that
Speaker 1: happens in basketball games. It's completely normal, and it's not
Speaker 1: even exclusive to basketball. So don't think it matters. If anything,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing because those types of
Speaker 1: interactions are, like Draymond said, an indicator of your overall
Speaker 1: give a shit factor, and you just brought in players
Speaker 1: that give a shit at a similar level to the
Speaker 1: way that you do. I can think personally, for me,
Speaker 1: I play with guys now that I've played against in
Speaker 1: the past and had negative relationships with. It's so nothing,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's gonna have any sort of
Speaker 1: negative impact on the Warriors. In fact, I believe it's
Speaker 1: gonna have a positive impact. Number Two, Jason Tatum spent
Speaker 1: four weeks over the summer in the gym with Paul Pierce,
Speaker 1: and that might be exactly what he needed. So this
Speaker 1: was the very first answer actually that Jason Tatum gave
Speaker 1: in his media availability yesterday, and he said that Paul
Speaker 1: Pierce basically joined them for court work, and Paul Pierce himself,
Speaker 1: I guess, lost a little bit of weight in the process,
Speaker 1: but that they spent a lot of quality time not
Speaker 1: just doing basketball work, but also focusing on some of
Speaker 1: the specific things that are necessary to win an NBA championship.
Speaker 1: Paul Pierce just given some nuggets of wisdom from his
Speaker 1: time when he won the title in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I find this to be particularly
Speaker 1: encouraging is when I talked about the Drew Holiday trade,
Speaker 1: if you guys remember, I said that I looked at
Speaker 1: it more as a defensive upgrade. And the reason why
Speaker 1: is when push comes to shove, it's got to be
Speaker 1: Tatum that out executes Steph Curry in the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: that out executes Jannis in a conference finals, Dame in
Speaker 1: a conference finals, if they ran into a Jokis led team.
Speaker 1: He has to be able to go toe to toe
Speaker 1: with the best guys in the league, and he had
Speaker 1: a little bit of a regression last year in some
Speaker 1: of his shot variety that made him easier to guard.
Speaker 1: And Paul Pierce was one of the best closers in
Speaker 1: NBA history because of that variety. He's a rising fire
Speaker 1: guy who can rise and fire from any spot on
Speaker 1: the floor, and he had a specific combination of like
Speaker 1: crafty hesitation, pull up dribble jump shots that I think
Speaker 1: would be good for Jason Tatum to add to his repertoire.
Speaker 1: So the idea of him spending four weeks over the
Speaker 1: summer working in the gym with Paul Pierce is really
Speaker 1: encouraging to me, because that's the one thing that's missing.
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum is capable of being one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive players in the league. He is an outstanding rebounder
Speaker 1: for his position. He's put on muscle that's given in
Speaker 1: the versatility to bang with the bigger forwards in players
Speaker 1: that he has to go against in the NBA. Right
Speaker 1: he's become an outstanding shooter. He's an underrated passer. One
Speaker 1: of the biggest limited in his game right now is
Speaker 1: he's a little predictable in a slow down half court setting,
Speaker 1: especially against the switching defense. He needs to have some
Speaker 1: of that shimmy, a little bit of that what's the
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for, A little bit of that like
Speaker 1: shifty type of game where it's a little bit, a
Speaker 1: little bit unpredictable, a little bit improvisational. Jylen Brown's actually
Speaker 1: a little better than that, better at that than him
Speaker 1: right now, and so I think the idea of him
Speaker 1: working with Paul Pierce is a great sign from this
Speaker 1: past summer. All right. Number three, So Ruby Hotchi Mura
Speaker 1: has been working out with Lebron James, and I think
Speaker 1: that's perfect because they actually need him to be a
Speaker 1: lot like Lebron James. You know, we think of Ad
Speaker 1: and Lebron as you're four or five, and Ruby kind
Speaker 1: of slotting in as that three. Now. Darvin Ham has
Speaker 1: said that it's gonna be a lot of different guys
Speaker 1: this year. Might be Jared Vanderbilt in some matchups, it
Speaker 1: might be Riey Hotchamura in some matchups, and it could
Speaker 1: be you know, Torian Prince in a lot of matchups.
Speaker 1: My guess is that it'll end up being Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: that ends up starting at the three. And the reason why,
Speaker 1: even though I think Ruy's a better player is they
Speaker 1: lost Dennis Schroeder. Now Gabe Vincent is every bit as
Speaker 1: good as Dennis Schroeder in different ways, but Dennis Schroder
Speaker 1: was a better point of attack defender. Now as a
Speaker 1: result of that, it's going to be even more important
Speaker 1: for Jared Vanderbilt to take primary point of attack assignments.
Speaker 1: And so I wouldn't be surprised, especially in specific matchups,
Speaker 1: if Jared Vanderbilt spends a lot of time with the
Speaker 1: starting unit as the three, which means Ruy's kind of
Speaker 1: gonna be the backup for the guy that comes in
Speaker 1: for Lebron when he subs out around the five minute mark.
Speaker 1: That's why I love the idea of him working out
Speaker 1: with Lebron. I don't think Ruby Hatchamura is a good
Speaker 1: perimeter defender. He's not going to navigate screens well or
Speaker 1: keep really quick guards or wings in front. What he
Speaker 1: is gonna do is he's going to be able to
Speaker 1: defend big, strong forwards well, and he's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to occasionally switch and guard a big man, and that's
Speaker 1: real value. That's a defensive role. We talked about the
Speaker 1: two different kinds of forward roles, the more big man
Speaker 1: type of four, the Aaron Gordon type of player where
Speaker 1: you're more guarding taller wings that are pull up shooters
Speaker 1: because you can bother them with contests and you can
Speaker 1: switch on to Biggs, but you're not gonna navigate screens
Speaker 1: as well. Whereas we have the skinnier forward, which is
Speaker 1: like the Jaden McDaniels type. They are great on the
Speaker 1: perimeter because they can sidle up over screens and they
Speaker 1: can bother players from behind with back pressure. That's what
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt does best. And so I actually think Ruey
Speaker 1: makes the most sense as essentially a backup forour He's
Speaker 1: gonna play some three for the record, and when he
Speaker 1: plays three, they're gonna need guys like Austin Reeves to
Speaker 1: take primary point of attack assignments. But I think Ruey
Speaker 1: makes the most sense slotted next to Ad as the
Speaker 1: four when Lebron is off the floor, and inevitably Lebron's
Speaker 1: gonna miss twenty twenty five games this year, just like
Speaker 1: he has been for the most part in this phase
Speaker 1: of his career. That is the big benefit there. If
Speaker 1: Rui's been working out with Lebron, and we know Lebron
Speaker 1: is famously basically a gym rat, and I'm referring more
Speaker 1: to the weight room. Obviously, Lebron puts in court work,
Speaker 1: but Lebron is religious with the way he builds his
Speaker 1: body to be able to withstand what he needs to
Speaker 1: do at his position throughout an eighty two game season.
Speaker 1: That is good for Rui because Rui's physical build is
Speaker 1: a lot more similar to Lebrun than it is to
Speaker 1: a traditional perimeter defensive wing. Ruby can post up a
Speaker 1: small in a mismatch. Ruby can thrive on the glass.
Speaker 1: Ruby can't get going and transition and be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a freight train. Ruby can do a lot
Speaker 1: of those things, and so slotting him next to Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis as a four makes a lot of sense. And
Speaker 1: so attaching himself to Lebron and working out with him
Speaker 1: all summer is really encouraging, not just for the overall
Speaker 1: development of Rui, but where he's going to fit in
Speaker 1: this specific rotation. There are also some positives from Media
Speaker 1: Day about Anthony Davis. Lebron said he's the face of
Speaker 1: the franchise. That's a good indicator of just the amount
Speaker 1: of responsibility that the whole franchise believes Anthony Davis should hold.
Speaker 1: Austin Austin Reeves said in his Media Day availability that
Speaker 1: Ad looks especially motivated. He said in his interview with
Speaker 1: Zach Low that AD's been shooting really, really well, which
Speaker 1: is encouraging. And then Anthony Davis himself and his Media
Speaker 1: Day availability said that he basically went on for a
Speaker 1: little while about how he wants revenge on the Nuggets
Speaker 1: for them to sit, which, by the way, winner gets
Speaker 1: to talk shit that how that's how it works. But
Speaker 1: the way a competitor is supposed to respond to that
Speaker 1: is to get pissed off and want revenge. And that's
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing out of Anthony Davis. Also, for you
Speaker 1: Laker fans, tomorrow, we have a special surprise where having
Speaker 1: Yovan Buja from the Athletic the their lead Lakers reporter,
Speaker 1: is going to be coming on with us to give
Speaker 1: a full breakdown not only of some of the media
Speaker 1: day stuff that they talked about, but he's gonna give
Speaker 1: us some insight on what he saw from practice today.
Speaker 1: So we'll get to see some in some on the
Speaker 1: court intel from yovon tomorrow. All right. Number four, No,
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard is not as good on defense as Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday and it doesn't matter quote from Drew. He inevitably
Speaker 1: got asked about it on media Day, he said, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna come in here and be Drew Holliday. I think,
Speaker 1: in my personal opinion, he's the best defender on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: He later went on to say I ain't a pushover,
Speaker 1: basically saying like, I won't be like Drew, but I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be an easy guy to score on either.
Speaker 1: And he's right, he's not Drew, and this move fundamentally
Speaker 1: changes the defensive identity of the Bucks. That goes without saying.
Speaker 1: He's also right that he's not a pushover. Dame is
Speaker 1: a good athlete. Dame is strong. Dame is a fire
Speaker 1: hydrant guy that can hold his ground and beat people
Speaker 1: to spots. But he definitely needs to make a greater
Speaker 1: commitment on the defensive end in this particular season. But
Speaker 1: I expect him to. You know, there's a reason why
Speaker 1: Dame wasn't super committed on the defensive end in Portland. Like,
Speaker 1: at a certain point, as a player, you have to
Speaker 1: make a decision about what the team needs from you.
Speaker 1: I'll use Lebron to make this example. Lebron in twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen that caz team needed him to do everything offensively,
Speaker 1: and the identity of that team was to outscore people,
Speaker 1: so he didn't devote as many resources to the defensive end.
Speaker 1: He'd focus on particular plays like a rim protection opportunity here,
Speaker 1: a transition chase down there. But he would like you
Speaker 1: concede threes to some players and not make extra defensive
Speaker 1: rotations at times because on that team, it actually made
Speaker 1: the most sense for him to have all of his
Speaker 1: energy devoted to becoming this great offensive engine. Then he
Speaker 1: gets to twenty twenty with the Lakers. That team's identity
Speaker 1: was defense. There was a lot more ball handling and
Speaker 1: shooting on that particular team than was on the twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen Caves. He had Rajon Rondo to take over possessions right,
Speaker 1: He had Anthony Davis as a guy, especially in the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season, that he could throw the ball to
Speaker 1: and get quality offense out. So Lebron was a more
Speaker 1: dedicated defensive player. Lebron is one of the best defensive
Speaker 1: seasons of his career in twenty twenty, So that's a
Speaker 1: decision you have to make based on the construct of
Speaker 1: the roster. Those Portland teams were never going to be
Speaker 1: defensive juggernauts, and their best chance to win was get
Speaker 1: enough stops and let Dame just beat you with his
Speaker 1: unbelievable offensive skill. This Milwaukee team totally different. He's not
Speaker 1: the best player anymore. Giannis is going to be able
Speaker 1: to help a lot in those areas, and they have
Speaker 1: a bigger defensive identity than the Portland Trailblazers did, so
Speaker 1: I expect Dame to make a decision to devote more
Speaker 1: resources to the defensive end as a result, it's a
Speaker 1: no brainer at that point. Again, I think there's a
Speaker 1: difference between a guy who's a bad defensive player and
Speaker 1: a guy who's playing bad defense. I don't think Dame's
Speaker 1: a great defensive player, but there's no reason in the
Speaker 1: world why he can't do a job within the Milwaukee
Speaker 1: Bucks scheme, especially with their improtection. He's plenty athletic enough
Speaker 1: to do so, all right. Number five, Jamal Murray's gonna
Speaker 1: make an All Star team this year. We had a
Speaker 1: quote from Mike Malone on media Day. My goal for Jamal.
Speaker 1: My challenge for Jamal is to show that you can
Speaker 1: do what you did in twenty playoff games. Because what
Speaker 1: Jamal did in the playoffs was ridiculous. I want him
Speaker 1: to be the first time All Star this year. I
Speaker 1: want you Murray to be an All NBA player. He's
Speaker 1: got to do it in October. He's got to do
Speaker 1: it in November. He can't be the slow start. The
Speaker 1: guys that are on top of their game, they bring
Speaker 1: it every single night. Now, I want to be clear there.
Speaker 1: I thought Jamal started to take this leap in the bubble,
Speaker 1: and then, like a lot of players that came back
Speaker 1: from the bubble, they had a really quick turnaround, like
Speaker 1: less than two months to hop into training camp, and
Speaker 1: so a lot of those guys struggled. Even Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: who was playing like a top five player in the
Speaker 1: world before he got hurt. Even at the beginning portions
Speaker 1: of the season, ad was a shell of himself. He
Speaker 1: averaged like twenty one points a game, and before the
Speaker 1: injury wasn't the same guy. Neither was Jamal. Neither were
Speaker 1: a lot of the players that came out of the
Speaker 1: bubble like that. That's typical from that specific circumstance. Then
Speaker 1: Jamal gets hurt, misses the rest of that season, in
Speaker 1: an entire additional season. Then he comes back last year
Speaker 1: and it's that first year back from a significant injury,
Speaker 1: which comes with its own list of drawbacks as you're
Speaker 1: trying to regain confidence in planting hard on that knee
Speaker 1: and all those different hurdles that you have to get over, right.
Speaker 1: This is his first full healthy season, after a normal summer,
Speaker 1: after a normal training camp, after his injury, after his
Speaker 1: ascendance in the twenty twenty playoffs, when he showed what
Speaker 1: he could do in that series against the against the Jazz,
Speaker 1: and again against the Clippers, and again against the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So like, I expect him to play well enough. The biggest,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of hurdle was going to be, does
Speaker 1: he have a spot on the All Star team? Just
Speaker 1: with the talent at his position, But now Damian Lillard's
Speaker 1: out of the conference, So if Jamal comes in in
Speaker 1: shape and is ready to go, I expect. I don't
Speaker 1: think he just randomly gets better in the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: think he's just that good at basketball, So I expect
Speaker 1: him to come into the season and play that well.
Speaker 1: Making all NBAS a little bit tougher just because of
Speaker 1: the depth at that position across the league. But I
Speaker 1: don't see any reason at all why Jamal can't be
Speaker 1: an All Star this year. And I certainly expect him
Speaker 1: to average at least twenty three points a game for
Speaker 1: the season. I expect the best regular season of Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray's career this year. All right, Number six, No, the
Speaker 1: Suns do not need a point guard, but they do
Speaker 1: need their stars to take on a bigger role than
Speaker 1: they're used to taking on. We had a quote Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant was asked about the point guard position on the
Speaker 1: Suns and he said, I don't think you have a
Speaker 1: true position anything. I think a lot of guys can
Speaker 1: help play each position. Now we've been talking about the
Speaker 1: last few years positionless basketball. Book has brought it up,
Speaker 1: has brought the basketball up his whole career. Brad and
Speaker 1: myself have done the same thing. I'm sure it'd be
Speaker 1: done by committee, if anything. Referring to the point guard position,
Speaker 1: and he's absolutely right. What is a point guard's job.
Speaker 1: A point guard's job is to on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: on the offensive job, and the point guard's job is
Speaker 1: to get your offense organized. It's his job to bring
Speaker 1: the ball at the floor, navigate ball pressure if there
Speaker 1: is any, and get the ball to a spot where
Speaker 1: you have an advantage to help you run your offense. Nowadays,
Speaker 1: we're less running offense and more running action, right, So
Speaker 1: like we're not trying to run like five players in emotion,
Speaker 1: we're trying to get the ball at the floor to
Speaker 1: the right ball handler and then running a ball screen
Speaker 1: or dribble handoff or something along those lines. And then
Speaker 1: you might have a separate action on the opposite end
Speaker 1: of the floor to try to occupy help defenders. But
Speaker 1: a lot of times it's just two man game or
Speaker 1: three man game. It's not a five man action, right,
Speaker 1: And so a point guard is not as important as
Speaker 1: it used to be. It's more important to have guys
Speaker 1: who can make plays. How many guys do you have
Speaker 1: on your roster that can bring the ball to the
Speaker 1: floor against pressure and run a two man game or
Speaker 1: run a three man game and consistently generate quality shots.
Speaker 1: And the Suns have three of those dudes, so they're
Speaker 1: gonna be just fine. They do not need a point guard. However,
Speaker 1: what is the defensive role of a point guard? The
Speaker 1: defensive role of a point guard is to be your
Speaker 1: primary point of attack defender, usually guarding the other team's
Speaker 1: primary bell handler. And that's the thing is he says,
Speaker 1: we've got to do it by committee. If anything, I
Speaker 1: would apply that to the defensive roles as well. Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant's gonna have to help with rim protection. Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: in particular, is gonna have to step up his defensive
Speaker 1: focus and energy kind of the way Devin Booker has
Speaker 1: in recent years. They're gonna need all three of those
Speaker 1: guys to be bought into the dirty work because there
Speaker 1: will be fistfights along the way. There are gonna be
Speaker 1: teams that are all so good and talented that might
Speaker 1: be more committed in those areas. Remember the mail back
Speaker 1: question yesterday. Parody has made it so that those details
Speaker 1: matter more now because we have five, six really damn
Speaker 1: good teams at the top of the league. How well
Speaker 1: do you defend? What is your natural basketball chemistry, like
Speaker 1: you know, how well coached are you? What's your injury history?
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things that are gonna end
Speaker 1: up playing a role. And so, yeah, they don't need
Speaker 1: a point guard, but they do need guys to take
Speaker 1: on bigger roles, particularly on the defensive end of the
Speaker 1: four All right, mailback questions, So first one, this one,
Speaker 1: I'm not calling out any specific question I had the
Speaker 1: Warriors video yesterday, and I had a ton of guys
Speaker 1: bringing up the free throw disparity in that series, and
Speaker 1: so I wanted to point out an obvious fact Warriors fans, Yes,
Speaker 1: the Lakers shot a lot more free throws than you
Speaker 1: in that series. Also, did you know that the Lakers
Speaker 1: led the NBA in free throw attempts per one hundred
Speaker 1: possessions and the Warriors were dead last in the entire
Speaker 1: NBA in free throw attempts per one hundred possessions for
Speaker 1: the whole season. Also, did you know the Lakers allowed
Speaker 1: opponents to shoot the fewest amount of free throw attempts
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions in the entire NBA and the
Speaker 1: Warriors ranked twenty third on that list. So all season
Speaker 1: for eighty two games, the Lakers were really good at
Speaker 1: drawn fouls and never fouled anybody, and the Warriors were
Speaker 1: absolutely terrible at drawing fouls and fouled too much. So
Speaker 1: it's literally impossible for those two teams to play each
Speaker 1: other and not have a big free throw disparity. If
Speaker 1: you're focusing on the free throw disparity, you're losing sight
Speaker 1: of all of the other things that are happening on
Speaker 1: the court. I also had guys talking about Andrew Wiggins's ribs,
Speaker 1: like Lebron was playing on a bad foot that cut
Speaker 1: his regular season points per game by six. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone's banged up. I'm not trying to say that like
Speaker 1: there aren't wrinkles and things that can happen in a
Speaker 1: series that sway the outcome, of course, but it happens
Speaker 1: to everybody, and it's a loser mentality to not accept
Speaker 1: the loss and identify where you can improve to make
Speaker 1: sure that doesn't happen again, versus making excuses. Because I
Speaker 1: promise you, if the Warriors go about this season thinking
Speaker 1: we're gonna win as long as we get a better
Speaker 1: whistle and as long as Andrew Wiggins's ribcage doesn't get ca,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you're just gonna lose again. So like I again,
Speaker 1: like I'll give you the Lakers as an example. You
Speaker 1: guys know I'm the Lakers are the team that I
Speaker 1: root for the most. They did. They lost in the
Speaker 1: Nugget Series because they were too unathletic in the backcourt,
Speaker 1: because Lebron James and Anthony Davis couldn't make jump shots,
Speaker 1: and because they did not have a playoff playable backup center.
Speaker 1: They had a great offseason, They addressed a lot of
Speaker 1: regular season depth needs. Did they get any more athletic
Speaker 1: in the backcourt? No? Did Lebron or Anthony Davis get
Speaker 1: better as jump shooters? We will see. Did they bring
Speaker 1: in a playoff playable center. Probably not. Now Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: is gone, so their athletic mismatches in the back court
Speaker 1: might not be as big of a deal. But here's
Speaker 1: the deal. The Lakers can blame. Like I saw Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis yesterday talk about, oh h we had to hit
Speaker 1: it hard for two months going into the playoffs. That's great,
Speaker 1: but you also had problems against the Nuggets. And so
Speaker 1: if you think just because we have a full training
Speaker 1: camp and we can have a normal season, we're gonna
Speaker 1: beat the Nuggets, now you're not beating the Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: piece will help you with your athleticism matchup in the
Speaker 1: back court. That's good. But if Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis don't start making damn jump shots, and if they
Speaker 1: don't find somebody that can anchor the center position with
Speaker 1: Lebron on the floor of Anthony Davis off, you're gonna
Speaker 1: lose to the Nuggets Again. You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: As teams, excuse making might offer you some sort of
Speaker 1: temporarily temporary emotional benefit, but reality is the only way
Speaker 1: you're going to identify your problems, address your problems, and
Speaker 1: make the necessary steps to win the next time you
Speaker 1: get there. That's what winners do, and I expect the
Speaker 1: Warriors to do so. I promise you the Warriors aren't
Speaker 1: going into this season thinking the Lakers beat us because
Speaker 1: of the refs, or the Lakers beat us because Wiggins's
Speaker 1: ribcage got caved in. I promise you that's not what
Speaker 1: they're thinking. They're thinking, we have to be better in
Speaker 1: these specific areas to be able to beat the Lakers.
Speaker 1: All right, Next mail back question. This one's from Ryan.
Speaker 1: How much value do you see in the plus minus
Speaker 1: stat on a standard stat sheet? I know you like
Speaker 1: to deep dive on stats, but I look at the
Speaker 1: standard stat sheet during and after games, and I always
Speaker 1: find it odd when I see a player scored, say
Speaker 1: thirty points in their team one, but they are minus
Speaker 1: five on the stats, even though I know they needed
Speaker 1: their points to win, but technically they lost those minutes
Speaker 1: they were on the floor. So plus minus is one
Speaker 1: of the most convoluted stats in basketball because there are
Speaker 1: tons of things that can poison the data, so to speak. Right,
Speaker 1: Let's say, for instance, Nuggets fans going like, ah, we
Speaker 1: always suck with Jeff Green on the floor last year,
Speaker 1: and it's like, yeah, but you were always terrible with
Speaker 1: Jokic on the bench in general, and it like in
Speaker 1: your offense falls apart. Right, Lebron at center units for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, they got destroyed, but they didn't have a
Speaker 1: backup center, so like those units were not physically equipped
Speaker 1: to win basketball games, and they had to use them
Speaker 1: against really good playoff teams, and so Lebron's plus minus
Speaker 1: was all messed up because he would just get his
Speaker 1: butt kicked in the bench group and then he'd come
Speaker 1: back and look great when he was playing alongside Ad.
Speaker 1: You get the point. But like anytime I'm looking at
Speaker 1: any piece of data, I want to look at the
Speaker 1: bigger picture again. We like, my whole thing with analytics
Speaker 1: is not it's useless. It's just another piece of data.
Speaker 1: And you should never watch the games without looking for
Speaker 1: the production that backs it up. And you should never
Speaker 1: look at the production without walking watching the games to
Speaker 1: see what happens they are It's a symbiotic relationship between
Speaker 1: all those pieces. You can't just look at any one piece.
Speaker 1: You have to look at the full picture. I've said
Speaker 1: this before, but like even play type points per possession, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know this player had a bad pick and roll
Speaker 1: per possession? Okay, what was his spacing? Like what was
Speaker 1: his roleman Like? Like Damian Lillard was killing teams in
Speaker 1: pick and roll last year with poor spacing and bad
Speaker 1: roleman Like, I would imagine his points per possession and
Speaker 1: pick and roll is gonna go up this year playing
Speaker 1: alongside Giannis as a screen partner. Right, So like again,
Speaker 1: there's always contexts and stats plus minus. I think there's
Speaker 1: use in it. I try to look at it in
Speaker 1: a larger sample size, like in the whole season versus
Speaker 1: one game. But even then, lineup structure can have a
Speaker 1: lot to do with it. So we're gonna look at
Speaker 1: that data. I'm gonna present that data, but never just
Speaker 1: take it at face value. Always look at the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: Analysts often talk about players being soft with respect to
Speaker 1: getting coached. As a former player and current coach, have
Speaker 1: you noticed a shift in the way coaches communicate with
Speaker 1: players now, so every coach has a different style, and
Speaker 1: I played with coaches. I played for coaches that were
Speaker 1: very emotional and highly energetic, and then I played with
Speaker 1: coaches that were more chill and always kept an even
Speaker 1: keel throughout any situation. Doesn't mean there's a right or
Speaker 1: wrong way to do it. I do think that there's
Speaker 1: a line to cross, like when you start hitting players
Speaker 1: that can be rough. But I also think it's important
Speaker 1: for coaches to be hard on players. And one of
Speaker 1: the main reasons why is, like, like Draymond said, you're
Speaker 1: gonna run into assholes on the court, and so I
Speaker 1: think it's valuable to have a coach that's willing to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of an asshole to you because
Speaker 1: we can talk about like society and mental health and
Speaker 1: all these things all we want, and those things matter,
Speaker 1: but on the court, it's it's ruthless. They don't care.
Speaker 1: Like they might sympathize with your personality type and the
Speaker 1: way you handle tough love off the court, but if
Speaker 1: they know that if I talk some shit to you,
Speaker 1: you're gonna crumble, they're gonna talk shit to you on
Speaker 1: the court, and so I think it's valuable to have
Speaker 1: a coach that's willing to poke and prod you a
Speaker 1: little bit. It because it tests out those emotions. It
Speaker 1: builds toughness so that when you're in the game and
Speaker 1: you encounter some of that same adversity, you can respond
Speaker 1: to it better. And so again, like I think, I
Speaker 1: don't think coaching is becoming too soft, but I do
Speaker 1: think I see occasional comments about coaching that are ignorant
Speaker 1: to that fact. Yeah, and I in an ideal environment,
Speaker 1: we could compete and it'd be all sunshine and rainbows.
Speaker 1: But that's not how it works. Everyone's looking for every
Speaker 1: tiny little edge they can get, and it's a significant
Speaker 1: edge when you can get in your opponent's head. The
Speaker 1: mental warfare is a big part of the game. All right,
Speaker 1: last mailbag question. I remember you going over your fascination
Speaker 1: with Star Wars and have your other podcast on Star
Speaker 1: Wars two Suns. I want to believe I'm fairly new
Speaker 1: to this amazing series, and I know these mail bags
Speaker 1: are mainly for basketball, but I wanted to hear your
Speaker 1: take on who do you think is the most powerful
Speaker 1: character in Star Wars canon or legends? Great question, So, yes,
Speaker 1: I do have a Star Wars podcast later tonight. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'll be breaking down with my buddy Luke, who lives
Speaker 1: here in Tucson with me, doesn't literally live with me,
Speaker 1: but lives here in Tucson. Him and I do a
Speaker 1: podcast together where we cover the Star Wars and we're
Speaker 1: gonna be covering Ah Soca in the season finale tonight.
Speaker 1: You can find that on YouTube under Tucson's Podcast. But
Speaker 1: I am a general, like in general, a Star Wars nerd,
Speaker 1: and not just Star Wars but all fantasy. So big
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones fan, big Lord of the Rings fan.
Speaker 1: Big I've been liking that Rings of Power series in general.
Speaker 1: I'm a big sci fi fan. I'm just like I
Speaker 1: love Alien Invasion movies are like my absolute favorite. I
Speaker 1: want to go see this new movie, The Creator that's
Speaker 1: coming out that's based on artificial intelligence. I like sci
Speaker 1: fi like fantasy. I like any show or movie or
Speaker 1: book that has like deep lore. I've always appreciated like
Speaker 1: really good storytelling in that sense. Star Wars. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go who's the most powerful character in Star Wars canon
Speaker 1: the legends? Obviously there are a lot of powerful characters
Speaker 1: in Star Wars lore. I am gonna go though with
Speaker 1: this particular question with Darth Bain. There are three Darth
Speaker 1: Baine books. They're technically legends, although Darth Baine has been
Speaker 1: canonized in the Clone Wars TV show. I actually am
Speaker 1: going through the books right now and we're doing reviews
Speaker 1: on them. We're gonna be doing a review on the
Speaker 1: first Bane book probably next week. But Darth Baine is
Speaker 1: basically the Sith lord that came up with the Rule
Speaker 1: of two and so like, there were all these Jedi
Speaker 1: and all these Sith, and there were like thousands of them, right,
Speaker 1: but the Jedi were like teammates and they all wanted
Speaker 1: to work together for the greater good and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: In the Sith, It's like the Sith ideology is very
Speaker 1: selfish and like trying to be ambitious and get all
Speaker 1: the power you can, and so naturally, if you have
Speaker 1: a thousand of them, they'll kill each other. And you know,
Speaker 1: you might have one guy who's super powerful, but two
Speaker 1: weaker guys will team up and kill him, you know,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. So Darth Baine was a Sith
Speaker 1: a thousand years before the Phantom Menace who kind of
Speaker 1: identified this problem and was like I'm not gonna let
Speaker 1: this happen anymore. And he literally killed all of the
Speaker 1: Sith and then started the order himself with just one
Speaker 1: apprentice who he trained, and then the apprentice would take
Speaker 1: a spot and take a new apprentice, and that's how
Speaker 1: things passed down. And that Bain line, or Bain's Grand
Speaker 1: Plan as he called it, actually culminates with Darth Sidius
Speaker 1: or Emperor Palpatine overthrowing the Republic and killing all the Jedi. Right. So,
Speaker 1: like Darth Baine is literally the guy who killed all
Speaker 1: the old Sith, created the modern version of the Sith,
Speaker 1: and started the plan that culminated in the Star Wars
Speaker 1: movies that we watched. I think he's one of the
Speaker 1: coolest Star Wars characters, one of my personal favorites. The
Speaker 1: books are really good. Drew Carpishen wrote them. He also
Speaker 1: wrote Mass Effect. But they're very straightforward. It's not a
Speaker 1: lot of fluff. It's not a lot of bouncing back
Speaker 1: and forth between plot lines. They're short books that are
Speaker 1: just all action, really really good reads. They're very dark,
Speaker 1: a lot of diving into syth ideology and stuff. But
Speaker 1: big Star Wars fan highly recommend the Darth Maine Books.
Speaker 1: Make sure you check out my Ahsoka breakdown with Luke
Speaker 1: after I'll put it up tonight, probably right around like
Speaker 1: a thirty nine o'clock specific standard time, but yeah, so
Speaker 1: if you want. But basically a lot of all my
Speaker 1: non basketball content is going to be on that particular channel.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, That is all I have for tonight.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support and I'll see
Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow. The volume