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Speaker 1: we'll go to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy
Speaker 1: Friday again, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having
Speaker 1: a great week so far. If you missed it, we
Speaker 1: did do an instant reaction to the first preseason game
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty four twenty twenty five NBA season
Speaker 1: between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets. Get a
Speaker 1: lot of film in that one too, So go a
Speaker 1: little bit further back in the feed and you'll see
Speaker 1: that today's show, we are continuing our season previews power
Speaker 1: ranking style with Number six, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers.
Speaker 1: And then I have a mail bag with a bunch
Speaker 1: of good questions from you guys at the tail end
Speaker 1: of the show. You guys have the job before we
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Speaker 1: throughout the remainder of this season. All right, let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball. So Number six the Philadelphia seventy six Ers,
Speaker 1: a lot of roster turnover lost from last year. Mobamba,
Speaker 1: Nicholas Patom, Robert Covington, Tobias Harris, Buddy Heel, the Anthony
Speaker 1: Melton Campaign and Paul Reid. Added for this year Andre Drummond,
Speaker 1: Paul George, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson, Caleb Martin, Isaiah Mobley, Leicester, Kenones,
Speaker 1: Whershaan Ybussle, or Yabuselli, and Jared McCain a first round
Speaker 1: pick in this year's draft. So of the players who
Speaker 1: played minutes in the playoffs for the seventy six ers
Speaker 1: last year, Joel Embiid, Tyree Maxey, Kelly Ubra and Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry are the only four players returning to this year's roster.
Speaker 1: So let's do a little depth chart. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: a lot about the roster with this particular team because
Speaker 1: it's really difficult to tell what they're gonna look like
Speaker 1: until they get on the floor because it's all new players.
Speaker 1: Right at the guard spot, they have Tyree Maxey, Reggie Jackson,
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Jared McCain, and Lester Keynons on
Speaker 1: the wing that these are like thinner like kind of
Speaker 1: like perimeter based forwards. Guard forwards Paul George, Caleb Martin,
Speaker 1: and Ricky Counsel, who's a young player that I really like.
Speaker 1: At the forward spot. Kelly Ubray kJ Martin, Coryshan Yabuselli,
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Mobley, and then for centers Joel Embid Andre Drummond,
Speaker 1: but obviously some crossover a guy like where Sean could
Speaker 1: play the five. If Embiid is out on any given night,
Speaker 1: he could play backup five a little bit. So who's
Speaker 1: going to start. We know Tyris Maxey, Paul George, and
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid are going to start. Those are one, three, five.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I think Paul George is best fitted
Speaker 1: as a three, so you need a two and a four.
Speaker 1: And if Tyrese is your skill guard, you want like
Speaker 1: a bigger, stronger guard that can defend guards playing next
Speaker 1: to him. I think that's Caleb Martin, so I think
Speaker 1: he'll probably end up starting at the two. Kelly Ubray
Speaker 1: is by far the best four man on the team,
Speaker 1: so I'd go with him. So I think it'll end
Speaker 1: up looking Tyrese Maxey, Caleb Barton, Paul George, Kelly Ubray,
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiid. Nice mix of perimeter defense, shooting, scoring talent.
Speaker 1: That sort of thing. Not bad. It's an interesting lineup
Speaker 1: to look at. The only thing that could get a
Speaker 1: little tricky is Caleb and Kelly can both be a
Speaker 1: little inconsistent shooting the ball, but Tyree's, Paul and Joel
Speaker 1: are all great shooting the ball, and I do think
Speaker 1: you could swap guys in and out depending on the
Speaker 1: matchup in what you need tons of flexibility for bench units.
Speaker 1: You know, you want to try to keep two of
Speaker 1: the three stars on the floor whenever is possible. Need
Speaker 1: to have shooting next to Draymond. So like this is
Speaker 1: where greyshon Yabuseli I think becomes really important because if
Speaker 1: you play any of the other forwards like a kJ
Speaker 1: Martin or Kelly Ubray next to Drummond, you can go
Speaker 1: run into some serious spacing issues. Greshan shot the ball
Speaker 1: really well with France. Shot I got one point two
Speaker 1: to zero points per jump shot in all the FEBA
Speaker 1: games this summer. One point two eight points per jump
Speaker 1: shot in one hundred and eighty six reps with Real
Speaker 1: Madrid last year, so really good catch and shoot guy.
Speaker 1: I think that's an interesting front court, that pairing of
Speaker 1: Gershan and Andre Drummond. Think that could be really interesting, especially
Speaker 1: with Tyrese Maxi and Paul George on the floor. For
Speaker 1: like non embid lineups. As far as like other bench groups,
Speaker 1: I think you could probably look to pair Reggie Jackson
Speaker 1: and Paul George. That duo played over six exteen hundred
Speaker 1: possessions together in twenty twenty one with the Clippers, and
Speaker 1: they had a good net rating together. They've got some
Speaker 1: experience with a little one to two punch between the
Speaker 1: two of them. Let's zoom in on some specific characteristics
Speaker 1: of this team. They're ball handling. How many guys do
Speaker 1: they have that can run action like guys that you
Speaker 1: trust to dribble the ball and create shots for others.
Speaker 1: Tyrees MAXI I have in this list, Paul George obviously
Speaker 1: on this list, Reggie Jackson, Kyle Lowry, and then some
Speaker 1: end of the bench guys too, but guys that I
Speaker 1: don't think I'll be in the rotation. So there's four
Speaker 1: main ball handlers that you have around Joel Embiid, right,
Speaker 1: I think that's more than enough for this team, especially
Speaker 1: playing with Embiid. This is not a team that moves
Speaker 1: the ball a ton. Last year they were twenty fifth
Speaker 1: in assists percentage. They do run some five out concepts,
Speaker 1: but now the talent is higher this year, so I
Speaker 1: wonder if they'll run more five out concepts, just because
Speaker 1: you don't want to just heavily rely on maxium bid
Speaker 1: two man game. You want to have some side to
Speaker 1: side flow, especially with Paul George out there. But in
Speaker 1: the past, the majority of their possessions basically came down
Speaker 1: to maxium bid two man game or embiid post ups.
Speaker 1: It's very much like a brute force type of attack.
Speaker 1: But they do have five out concepts in their offense,
Speaker 1: and I would like to see them explore that a
Speaker 1: little more. That said, I think they have plenty of
Speaker 1: ball handling for the style of offense that they want
Speaker 1: to play. Shooting, all three of their stars are great shooters.
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson is a good catch and shoot guy. Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry is a good catch and shoot guy. Eric Gordon
Speaker 1: is a good catch and shoot guy. Caleb Martin shot
Speaker 1: well when he was wide open, but struggled against contests.
Speaker 1: Kelly Ubra is not a good jump shooter. He was
Speaker 1: below thirty two percent on catching shoo jump shots last year.
Speaker 1: kJ Martin is not a good jump shooter. Kwershan Yebusllly
Speaker 1: is a good jump shooter. I think that's plenty of shooting,
Speaker 1: especially at the guard spot. They're definitely a little weak
Speaker 1: at ford. Kwer Shan has got to keep an eye
Speaker 1: on there though. If that's if that specific signing pans
Speaker 1: out and he can defend well enough as a low man,
Speaker 1: that kind of solves some of the shooting issues. One
Speaker 1: of the typical things, too, are one of the specific
Speaker 1: things that I think will help is last year they
Speaker 1: used Kelly Ubra a lot as their primary point of
Speaker 1: attack defender. They put him on guards, even in the
Speaker 1: playoff series, spend a lot of time with him on
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson. That ends up taking him out of like
Speaker 1: that like low man responsibility, right because he's on the
Speaker 1: perimeter specifically, having like for instance, in the past, because
Speaker 1: they didn't have a really good guard defender that would
Speaker 1: be playing in that starting lineup the other than Ubre,
Speaker 1: that you if you couldn't imagine putting a guy like
Speaker 1: gwer Shan in that spot because then as a total lineup,
Speaker 1: they just didn't have enough perimeter defense, right. But now
Speaker 1: you can imagine lineups with Caleb Martin on the floor.
Speaker 1: And this is the advantage of Caleb Martin. He can
Speaker 1: guard guards. He's like that type of perimeter athlete that
Speaker 1: kind of unlocks an opportunity for Guershan to function more
Speaker 1: as a lowman, and if that works out, his ability
Speaker 1: to shoot the basketball might be an interesting lineup option
Speaker 1: for them to look at this year. Again, I think
Speaker 1: we'll see a lot less of Gwershan than I'm probably hoping,
Speaker 1: but that's a potential swing factor this year with how
Speaker 1: well he shoots the ball. Perimeter defense, what does this
Speaker 1: team look like as a perimeter defense unit? Guards aren't good,
Speaker 1: but Caleb Martin is really good, and I look at
Speaker 1: him as kind of like a guard forward hybrid. He's
Speaker 1: not really a ball handler, but he kind of functions
Speaker 1: as like a two to three three and D guy, right,
Speaker 1: a D and three guy more than three and D guy.
Speaker 1: But you get the point. But Caleb Martin's a really
Speaker 1: good option there. Paul George isn't what he used to be,
Speaker 1: but he's still pretty good, and Kelly Ubra is solid.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't say perimeter defense is a strength of
Speaker 1: this roster, but they should be able to set up
Speaker 1: a decent base scheme, especially with their starters, because you
Speaker 1: have Ubra and Martin that you can put on the
Speaker 1: two best perimeter players, right, Martin's gonna guard the best guard,
Speaker 1: Kelly's gonna guard the get the best forward. You can
Speaker 1: imagine that base defensive scheme working right like em beat
Speaker 1: in a drop coverage, Kelly and Caleb chasing over the top.
Speaker 1: I think you keep Paul George on the weakest forward
Speaker 1: that the opponent has and use him more as a
Speaker 1: low man just to save his legs, and then Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxey on the overall weakest offensive player so that he
Speaker 1: can hedge and recover. I think that'll work fine for
Speaker 1: the regular season when you run into the teams that
Speaker 1: have three ball handlers. I still like the idea of
Speaker 1: keeping Paul George as the low man, so I would
Speaker 1: just put Tyrese Maxi on the weakest perimeter player of
Speaker 1: those three. Again, I think that's solid for the regular season. Well,
Speaker 1: they have some issues in the postseason with teams like
Speaker 1: spacing them out and kind of driving and kicking them. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: that's always been the case with Embiid though. That's kind
Speaker 1: of just the reality of this roster. When you get
Speaker 1: him in space, he can struggle a little bit. So
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a something you could do with
Speaker 1: the roster to counter that specifically, that's just going to
Speaker 1: be something they have to deal with. How about size,
Speaker 1: Is this team big enough? I think it's a strength.
Speaker 1: Embiid is huge and does well against all the bullieball
Speaker 1: centers in the league. He's one of the best at
Speaker 1: guarding Nikola Jokic as well. Should they make the finals.
Speaker 1: If Denver were to get there, Andre Drummond is a
Speaker 1: massive backup center. Gerschon Yabuseli is a massive forward. They're
Speaker 1: big on the wing. Kellyubre has got good size, Paul
Speaker 1: George has good size. They're a little small and slow
Speaker 1: in the guard core off the bench, but they do
Speaker 1: have some trunky, like strong guys a Kyle Lowry and
Speaker 1: Airic Gordon that can guard up a little bit defensive versatility.
Speaker 1: This is definitely a weakness of this roster, and it's
Speaker 1: the main reason why I have Philly outside of the
Speaker 1: top tier contender list again my top four, like my
Speaker 1: top tier contenders, and then five through eleven, or like
Speaker 1: the if things go right contender. There's two main reasons
Speaker 1: why I have them as like an if they things
Speaker 1: go right contender. One is Joel Embid, which we'll talk
Speaker 1: about a minute. The second piece is their lack of
Speaker 1: defensive versatility. Like their base scheme should do fine in
Speaker 1: the regular season in the large sample, I expect them
Speaker 1: to be at least a top fifteen defense, and I
Speaker 1: think they'll be fine over the eighty two for all
Speaker 1: the reasons we talked about earlier. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of teams that could break their base defense by
Speaker 1: spacing them out and driving and kicking them to death.
Speaker 1: Boston obviously, it is an example of that the Knicks
Speaker 1: now that Karl Anthony town Towns is there. Like if
Speaker 1: the Knicks play Cat at center, who is embiid guarding
Speaker 1: He's guarding Cat. The Brunson cat pick and pop could
Speaker 1: give them massive issues, right the Pacers Miles Turner is
Speaker 1: a pick and pop, big lots of footspeed on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Several teams out West as well. So there are some
Speaker 1: teams in the league that I think are gonna be
Speaker 1: able to break Philly's base defensive scheme and makes them
Speaker 1: a little bit more vulnerable to specific matchups. But they
Speaker 1: have Joe LMB that is one of the biggest parts
Speaker 1: of their If things go right, some of these teams
Speaker 1: need a trade. Some of these teams need a young
Speaker 1: rotation player to pop. Some of these teams need matchup luck.
Speaker 1: As we're discussing the other teams, and if things go
Speaker 1: right tier for Philly, they need Joel Embiid to be
Speaker 1: healthy and ready to rock by April, and they need
Speaker 1: him to confront and defeat his playoff demons once again.
Speaker 1: He was fatiguing at the end of games last year,
Speaker 1: shot just six for twenty six and fourth quarters during
Speaker 1: the next series, shot just four for fourteen in the clutch.
Speaker 1: Philly's clutch offense was bad. They had just a one
Speaker 1: to twelve point eight offensive rating when the score was
Speaker 1: within five with less than five minutes left. In all
Speaker 1: four of their losses in that series came down to
Speaker 1: clutch situations, and Embiid just wasn't able to leverage himself
Speaker 1: offensively in those moments, which has been a big part
Speaker 1: of his playoff history. Right Game six, super bizarre. You
Speaker 1: win a crazy game, you extend the series, you're coming
Speaker 1: back home, opportunity to send it to seven. And they
Speaker 1: came out like flat as shit, like just dead and
Speaker 1: dropped down. I think they went down by like twenty
Speaker 1: two to twenty three points in the first quarter. Now
Speaker 1: they battled back and they actually took the lead in
Speaker 1: that game, but they inevitably ended up losing. But like,
Speaker 1: how is it that in a must win game at
Speaker 1: home you come out that flat again? And that has
Speaker 1: been something that we've seen with Embiid led teams over
Speaker 1: the years. So like, again, it's not just about being healthy,
Speaker 1: it's about confronting his playoff demons. Joel Embiid has the
Speaker 1: ability to be such an overwhelming force that Philly's weaknesses
Speaker 1: wouldn't even matter. That's the swing factor. So what if
Speaker 1: Embiid just finally has the stars aligned for him with
Speaker 1: health and he figures out how to contribute more consistently
Speaker 1: the playoffs and he just goes on a wrecking ball
Speaker 1: tour against the rest of the league. That is the upside.
Speaker 1: Everything else kind of is what it is like. Tyras
Speaker 1: Maxey is a legit number two. You guys know how
Speaker 1: much of a fan I am of his. I think
Speaker 1: I had him at number twenty one in my player rankings,
Speaker 1: like ahead of guys like Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge believer in Tyres Maxey. I trust him
Speaker 1: to be great again all year. Whatever your issues are
Speaker 1: of Paul George as in number three, I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be fine. There's not going to be real pressure
Speaker 1: on him to be great every single night. You can
Speaker 1: handle some of his inconsistencies as the third best player
Speaker 1: on the team. I view him within this offense too
Speaker 1: as like almost like a star version of Michael Porter Junior,
Speaker 1: really really capitalizing on those skip passes that Embiid makes
Speaker 1: out of post ups and out of some of his
Speaker 1: short role situations. He obviously can run action too. He
Speaker 1: had an awesome regular season last year before struggling in
Speaker 1: the postseason. But finally, like again, like that when Philly
Speaker 1: last year they were like I want to say, they
Speaker 1: were like eighteenth or nineteenth and three point attempts per game, eighteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteenth and three point percentage. I think they were like
Speaker 1: fifteenth in spot up efficiency on Synergy. So, like just
Speaker 1: Paul George is just a massive influx of talent in
Speaker 1: off ball scoring ability that should help that a lot.
Speaker 1: I think Daryl did about as well as he possibly
Speaker 1: could to surround them with free agent talent around those
Speaker 1: core three guys. But Embiid is the key. He's the
Speaker 1: guy that has the ability to push them over the top.
Speaker 1: My prediction for the Sixers this year, I think they
Speaker 1: might run into some regular season issues in the standings
Speaker 1: just because of the Embiid load management piece like Maxi,
Speaker 1: George Drummond kind of like framework. If they can hover
Speaker 1: around five hundred, then then they'll be fine. They'll stay
Speaker 1: out of the plan. But like I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if some of these younger, more athletic teams, like teams
Speaker 1: like Indiana, Orlando or Cleveland, if one of those teams
Speaker 1: passes them in the regular season standing. So I think
Speaker 1: somewhere in that like four to six range is realistic.
Speaker 1: But recent history tells us that when they get to
Speaker 1: the postseason and Biid will probably be banged up, probably
Speaker 1: be less than hundred percent, that he'll struggle, and that
Speaker 1: they'll probably lose in the second round. But Embiid has
Speaker 1: the power to overcome that history. He has the power
Speaker 1: to flip the script and carry this team to the trophy.
Speaker 1: It is on him to prove everybody wrong. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get into our mail background. We're gonna be covering
Speaker 1: the Sixers really closely this year. It's just hard to
Speaker 1: really learn too much about them until we watch them play.
Speaker 1: First question, Hey, Jason, wanted to know what you think
Speaker 1: about Steph and Steve Kerr emphasizing that they need to
Speaker 1: evolve to accommodate their current personnel and young guys, specifically
Speaker 1: mentioning simplifying things and implementing more structure. What could this
Speaker 1: change look like in your opinion? How much does it make?
Speaker 1: How much sense does it make when considering their off
Speaker 1: season additions seem to be perfect for the current system.
Speaker 1: How do the comments about more structure and play calls
Speaker 1: aligned with some of your previous mentions of the Warriors
Speaker 1: being at the top of the league when it comes
Speaker 1: to running organized offense. So like, the Golden State system
Speaker 1: is so much about making really quick decisions right that
Speaker 1: when you see think about guys that haven't played as
Speaker 1: much over the court, like Moses Moody for instance, like
Speaker 1: kaminga before last year. A lot of the reason why
Speaker 1: those guys didn't get into the rotation is Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: didn't trust them in the machine that is the Golden
Speaker 1: State five out offense to consistently make the right decision.
Speaker 1: So like, if you can simplify decisions and make it
Speaker 1: so that each read is very easy for specific types
Speaker 1: of players, then you can put yourself in a position
Speaker 1: where they have a better chance to succeed. I kind
Speaker 1: of go the other way though, in the sense that
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the Warriors five out concepts
Speaker 1: are kind of taking hold elsewhere around the league, and
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys, like guys that kaminga, guys
Speaker 1: like Moody, they need to learn how to play and
Speaker 1: read and react basketball anyway, you know. And so obviously
Speaker 1: by creating simpler reads, by creating simpler roles, you help
Speaker 1: in the short term. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned in your question, they brought in some
Speaker 1: guys that fit the system. The system is a big
Speaker 1: part of Golden State's success over the years, and create
Speaker 1: like those guys just kind of have to learn how
Speaker 1: to exist within that system. That's the reality of it.
Speaker 1: What do you think about this starting lineup for the Dubs,
Speaker 1: Steph Wiggins, KAMINGA Draymond and tray Jackson Davis surrounding the
Speaker 1: dynastic duo with athleticism and speed, and if Wiggs can
Speaker 1: return close to forty percent from three with three point
Speaker 1: efficiency and Kaminga continues to score in the twenties, their
Speaker 1: offense should flow well and the defensive ceiling they could
Speaker 1: reach would be extremely high. Love the show. The main
Speaker 1: issue with that specific lineup is not enough shooting. I think,
Speaker 1: especially with what we know about Steve Current his penchant
Speaker 1: for wanting to have guards on the floor, Like this
Speaker 1: guy routinely puts three guards on the floor. You think
Speaker 1: he's going to go to one guard, Like, That's probably
Speaker 1: not going to happen, right, That's just the way that
Speaker 1: he likes to structure lineups. I understand why you'd want
Speaker 1: to go big. We talked a lot in a previous
Speaker 1: mail bag about lineup a structure for the Warriors, and
Speaker 1: last year the air two best lineups by far were
Speaker 1: like Steph clay Wiggins Kminga Draymond and Steph pods Wiggins
Speaker 1: Kminga Draymon. But I also understand why you maybe don't
Speaker 1: want to do that the entire regular season because all
Speaker 1: of that mileage on Draymond at the five could lead
Speaker 1: to some wear and terry issues, especially at his age.
Speaker 1: So I understand the idea of wanting to build out
Speaker 1: a big look. That said, if it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: big look. I don't think it's gonna be slotting up
Speaker 1: with the Fords. I think it's gonna be replacing a
Speaker 1: forward with a big So like, for instance, I think
Speaker 1: you'd have to move one of Wiggins or Kaminga to
Speaker 1: the bench, keep Pods in with the starters, and then
Speaker 1: put someone like Trace Jackson Davis in for whichever forward.
Speaker 1: So basically going like Steph POD's Kaminga Draymond Jackson Davis
Speaker 1: or Wiggins Draymond Jackson Davis, something like that, right, And
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows if Wiggins can handle mentally the
Speaker 1: idea of going to the bench. That's where it gets
Speaker 1: a little tricky. But if you're going to go big,
Speaker 1: I think you still I would be let's just put
Speaker 1: it this way. I would be stunned if Steve Kurr
Speaker 1: didn't start Brandt Pitzamski this year. I just think that's
Speaker 1: the direction he's gonna go. He was one of their
Speaker 1: best plus minus guys all year last year. There's a
Speaker 1: lot more that he can get into offensively that he
Speaker 1: didn't really show last year. I think Pods is going
Speaker 1: to start. Russ is absolutely not going to be playing
Speaker 1: meaningful minutes with Murray and starters. As a two guard,
Speaker 1: he is a backup point guard and a point of
Speaker 1: attack defender. When he sees starting minutes, it's going to
Speaker 1: be because Murray is hurt and he will have Christian
Speaker 1: Brown or Shrawther at the two edit. I generally agree
Speaker 1: with what Jason is saying, but I didn't like how
Speaker 1: he characterizes Russ's role on the Nuggets. He isn't a
Speaker 1: KCP replacement. He is a Reggie Jackson replacement. Yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: he is a Reggie Jackson replacement. I never viewed him
Speaker 1: as anything different. The only reason I discussed his mix
Speaker 1: with the starters is he will play some minutes with
Speaker 1: the starters. He did play some minutes with the starters
Speaker 1: in this preseason game. Malone even in his media day
Speaker 1: press conference, specifically discussed the possibility of Russ potentially closing
Speaker 1: game for them, which would imply that they're at least
Speaker 1: considering it right. So, like again, I was just discussing
Speaker 1: the possibility of what that could look like with the starters,
Speaker 1: because we will see bits and pieces of it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the majority of Russ's role this year will be in
Speaker 1: those bench led units. The thing people aren't acknowledging about
Speaker 1: Russ and the Nuggets is the situation and culture he's
Speaker 1: in now. Denver isn't like the Lakers or Clippers. The
Speaker 1: Nuggets actually are a team and a brotherhood and aren't
Speaker 1: going to scapegoat Russ like the LA teams did. And
Speaker 1: Jokic is different than their stars. He empowers his teammates
Speaker 1: and they want to play hard for him. I believe
Speaker 1: this will happen for us and he'll have a great season. Also,
Speaker 1: Russ has a skill that Denver actually needs, unlike his
Speaker 1: last couple stops. Also, nobody on the Nuggets are expecting
Speaker 1: Russ to come in and be this amazing player like
Speaker 1: in his prime. He's a Reggie Jackson replacement. And the
Speaker 1: non Yokic minutes have been abysmal for so long that
Speaker 1: even if Uss has his head scratching plays, it's not
Speaker 1: like those plays didn't already exist when Yokich isn't on
Speaker 1: the floor. There's truth to that, and that's why the
Speaker 1: risk reward factor with Russ is, you know, made some sense, right,
Speaker 1: Like Denver's bench has always been bad, so if for
Speaker 1: us comes in and the bench is still bad, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the situation you've always had. But there's at least
Speaker 1: some upside there, right, That's that's the case for it, right.
Speaker 1: A couple things. First of all, the idea that Russ
Speaker 1: has a skill set that Denver actually needs unlike his
Speaker 1: last couple of stops, that's not true. The Clippers have
Speaker 1: been begging for a point guard forever. The Lakers didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily have a need for what Russ does, but the
Speaker 1: Clippers definitely did, and they allowed him to play exactly
Speaker 1: his style and it still was the same issues that
Speaker 1: he had in previous stops. As I mentioned in our
Speaker 1: film session, and I did a whole those are of
Speaker 1: you guys I haven't seen this. I did a whole
Speaker 1: film session on the preseason game and we had a
Speaker 1: segment where we talked about Russ and some of those
Speaker 1: mistakes that he makes. And guess what his first game
Speaker 1: with Denver looked exactly like just about every other game
Speaker 1: that he's played in his career. A lot of good,
Speaker 1: a lot of bad, awesome driving, kick possessions where he
Speaker 1: creates easy layups and threes, some awesome on the ball
Speaker 1: defensive possessions, getting back cut, getting ram by for offensive
Speaker 1: rebounds smoking a bunch of that's just that's the experience.
Speaker 1: It's like that. It doesn't there's not a You can
Speaker 1: blame organizations all you want. By the way, the Lakers
Speaker 1: are actually a shit show. They had a bad coach,
Speaker 1: They had a front office that is, you know, not
Speaker 1: necessarily the most respected in the league. Right like, they
Speaker 1: have their issues that you could necessary that you could
Speaker 1: potentially point to you with Russ Clippers, that don't. They
Speaker 1: have a very good front office, an excellent coaching staff,
Speaker 1: and they needed what he did. And I watched him
Speaker 1: with the Clippers, and he made all the same mistakes
Speaker 1: he made with the Lakers. It doesn't matter how good
Speaker 1: of a leader Yokich is. It doesn't matter the quality
Speaker 1: opportunities that he sets them up with. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: how good Denver's coaching staff is, it doesn't matter the
Speaker 1: role that they need him to play. The issues are
Speaker 1: still there. He's bad at making layups, he's a poor
Speaker 1: decision maker, and then on the defensive end, he loses
Speaker 1: sight of his responsibilities off the ball regularly. And until
Speaker 1: those things change, we all know the good that Russ
Speaker 1: brings to the table. It's about the bad that cancel
Speaker 1: it out. Hey, Jason, you didn't get to MAVs media Day,
Speaker 1: but I was interested in what you think of the
Speaker 1: potential upside of Derek Lively. Interesting The front office is
Speaker 1: comp for him is said to be Joe Kim Noah
Speaker 1: as an elite defensive anchor and for his passing skills.
Speaker 1: Both him and Kid during media day really emphasize his
Speaker 1: improvement in trying to dominate the paint and offensive ability
Speaker 1: and post moves. Derek Lively, to me, is like the quintessential,
Speaker 1: quintessential modern NBA center. I would be shocked if within
Speaker 1: the next five years he's not like one of the
Speaker 1: top ten centers in the league. Elite rim protection, the
Speaker 1: ability to guard in space and switches, the ability to
Speaker 1: read and react as a five out big meaning like
Speaker 1: and he doesn't even need to do this in Denver
Speaker 1: or Dallas excuse me, just because they don't really run
Speaker 1: this system. But like, I think if you were to
Speaker 1: pick him up and drop him in a five out system,
Speaker 1: he'd look great. But like the ability to dribble at
Speaker 1: guys and make reads and hit guys, cutting the rolling
Speaker 1: hard to the rim and providing vertical spacing. He's got
Speaker 1: good touch, Like, I actually think this is a guy
Speaker 1: that in the long run will make some jump shots
Speaker 1: and will become a guy that can duck in against
Speaker 1: a smaller defender and hit a little left shoulder hook
Speaker 1: or something like that. I think he's a quintessential modern
Speaker 1: NBA center. I think he's awesome. I think his potential
Speaker 1: is through the roof. Like I like, there's no reason
Speaker 1: in the world why he couldn't be like Jared Allen
Speaker 1: and do a lot of the stuff that he does
Speaker 1: for Cleveland in the long run. Again, there's stuff he's
Speaker 1: got to get to. Jared Allen has that like floater
Speaker 1: that he hits all the time and the hook that
Speaker 1: he's really efficient with. He's got good hands around the basket.
Speaker 1: But I think Lively can build that stuff out over time.
Speaker 1: The Bucks weren't bad against above five hundred teams, though
Speaker 1: it was the bad teams that beat them. It was there.
Speaker 1: It was when their lineup inconsistency and bad stagger lineups
Speaker 1: with poor bench players that led to losses, not their starters.
Speaker 1: Their starters dominated teams more than any other team in
Speaker 1: the NBA, including the Celtics, who also played in the
Speaker 1: Weak East. By the way guys like this was in
Speaker 1: regards to some of my comments about the Bucks in
Speaker 1: their relationship with the Lakers. I had the Lakers a
Speaker 1: tiny bit above them, one spot in the same tier
Speaker 1: of teams. I think the Bucks are the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. Why the upside is based on their
Speaker 1: top end talent, Like, if you're a Bucks fan, it's
Speaker 1: like we got Damon Giannis. If you're a Lebron fan,
Speaker 1: it's a Lakers fan. We got Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: The role players are really flawed in one dimensional right,
Speaker 1: same issue for both teams. The team severely lacks defensive personnel.
Speaker 1: Same issue for the Lakers as for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: They were better against the good teams and lost too
Speaker 1: many games to mediocre and bad teams. Same thing for
Speaker 1: the Lakers is for the Bucks, they're they're to me,
Speaker 1: the same type of team in either conference. Lots of upside,
Speaker 1: but lots of laws, right, And that's why I have
Speaker 1: them right next to each other in the standings. The
Speaker 1: reason why the Lakers a little bit above is I
Speaker 1: thought they were a little bit better. Obviously, the Bucks
Speaker 1: won two more games, but in a substantially weaker conference,
Speaker 1: the Lakers were a little better against the best teams
Speaker 1: in the league, and the Lakers beat the Bucks head
Speaker 1: to head twice without Lebron James, so that was the
Speaker 1: main reason why I gave them that slight edge. Hello, Jason,
Speaker 1: do you think Karl Anthony Towns can play the same
Speaker 1: role for the Knicks similar to how KP played for
Speaker 1: Boston for a championship or Am I crazy to think
Speaker 1: like that? Appreciate the content as always, so chrisops Porzingis
Speaker 1: is a much better rim protector. So that's the thing
Speaker 1: for Boston that Minnesota excuse me, for New York that
Speaker 1: Kat could never do that KP does for Boston. Right
Speaker 1: on the offensive end, though, it's like the identical role
Speaker 1: pick and pop being aggressive above the break, three point shooter,
Speaker 1: drive close out when you see opportunities, and when they
Speaker 1: switch ball screens and put Jalen Brunson's defender on you
Speaker 1: can you quickly duck down to the elbow and score
Speaker 1: against the switch The way that chrisps Porzingis can Porzingis
Speaker 1: is better in my opinion, and not from a health standpoint,
Speaker 1: but when he's actually healthy and available on the floor,
Speaker 1: he's better at attacking switches, he's a better above the
Speaker 1: break three point shooter, he's a better rim protector. So
Speaker 1: like KP's just a better player, but Kat's obviously more available.
Speaker 1: That said, I do think Kat can fill a similar
Speaker 1: role and if that optimizes, if that all comes to fruition,
Speaker 1: it just elevates the ceiling for this NIXT team in
Speaker 1: a major way. All Right, three more quick ones. I'm
Speaker 1: a little confused as to why to no One, nobody
Speaker 1: seems to be to have considered moving Rudy Gobert to
Speaker 1: the bench and starting nos Read for the Timberwolves. Nas
Speaker 1: has been a consistently above average shooter and creator for
Speaker 1: the center spot the last couple of years, and having
Speaker 1: him in the starting lineup instantly makes the spacing much
Speaker 1: more competitive and I feel creates a much more logical rotation.
Speaker 1: Aunt and Randall will have more room to attack the rim,
Speaker 1: while Randall would also have another option to kick out
Speaker 1: too on the perimeter. Also on paper, I feel like
Speaker 1: the guards on the bench would be better served by
Speaker 1: the defensive presence of Rudy Gobert in the second unit,
Speaker 1: while also spacing the floor out more so you can
Speaker 1: have better cleaner lanes for dunks. I'm not a Timberwolves
Speaker 1: fan or anything, so I'm not approaching that scenario from
Speaker 1: the mindset of trying to cope with the trade. But
Speaker 1: I'm curious what you think Jason is having Gobert come
Speaker 1: off the bench just completely out of the question and
Speaker 1: outside of the media optics benching a player with such
Speaker 1: a large contract, What basketball issues do you see that
Speaker 1: would make this adjustment non viable. So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: It's situational, like you start go bear, but yeah, like
Speaker 1: if you're having trouble spacing the floor and Aunt and
Speaker 1: Julius both like really hesitant and uncomfortable, and is a
Speaker 1: late game situation, I could see a version of it
Speaker 1: where they go, Okay, let's go we'll supplement a little
Speaker 1: extra defense. We'll take con Lee out and we'll put
Speaker 1: Dante DiVincenzo in. We'll go Aunt, Dante, Jaden Julius nas
Speaker 1: for like a key a key stretch of possessions. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's an end of the second quarter when you're trying
Speaker 1: to go into the half on a run, or end
Speaker 1: of the game in a clutch situation. You absolutely can
Speaker 1: consider that based on what's going on with the team.
Speaker 1: But I think you start the game with Gobert. There's
Speaker 1: also continuity thing there. One of the things with Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert too, is like he legitimately is one of the
Speaker 1: you know, five or six best defensive players in the world.
Speaker 1: Like all the criticism about him on the defensive end
Speaker 1: is literal bullshit. Like I was critical of him on
Speaker 1: the game winner from Luca because I thought he made
Speaker 1: a mental mistake. He took away the drive and gave
Speaker 1: up the step back three when you could trust your
Speaker 1: help defense there and make a lesser player make a
Speaker 1: shot instead of leaving the second best player in the world,
Speaker 1: you know, for a wide open three to end the game.
Speaker 1: Basically not a wide open but an easy three to
Speaker 1: win the game. But aside from that specific possession, all
Speaker 1: those clips of Rudy Gobert getting scored on that we're
Speaker 1: going around, it's kind of byes because on a point
Speaker 1: per possession basis, he was great in isolation and he
Speaker 1: always is. Rudy Gobert is an awesome defensive player. And
Speaker 1: so there's a certain tone you want to set at
Speaker 1: the start of games defensively, and it's part of the
Speaker 1: identity of the Timberwolves, so I'd keep him in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup, but yeah, you absolutely consider benching him for
Speaker 1: Nazried in specific situations if it dictates that. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: love the show, quick mail, bad question. The Timberwolves have
Speaker 1: too many guards and the Lakers have too many forwards.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on the t Wolves and Lakers
Speaker 1: engaging in something around Ruey and Nikil Alexander Walker. Think
Speaker 1: that'd be perfect for both parties involved in the salaries
Speaker 1: work too. I actually had a similar thought the other day,
Speaker 1: but the reason why it turned away from it is
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers need a legit, high level starter,
Speaker 1: and while on Nikkeil Alexander Walker, if it's a positional need,
Speaker 1: which is a guard that can defend, I don't think
Speaker 1: he's quite high level starter. And so at that point,
Speaker 1: Ruey is actually more important to the Lakers right now
Speaker 1: what they do offensively than Nikhil Alexander Walker is to
Speaker 1: the Wolves, or to what Nikil Alexander Walker would be
Speaker 1: for the Lakers if he came over. So it just
Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense if you're gonna trade Ruie or d Lo,
Speaker 1: it's got to be for somebody closer to Bruce Brownsilk,
Speaker 1: which is a bigger, stronger, more like starting caliber two
Speaker 1: way player. Right now, that would require the Lakers to
Speaker 1: include draft compensation, but that's kind of the point, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers should trade draft compensation to get
Speaker 1: better players back in the deal. So that like, that's
Speaker 1: why I wouldn't make Ruey available for a guy like
Speaker 1: Nikil Alexander Walker. But maybe if you're the the uh Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: you could look to make a similar sort of a
Speaker 1: deal with a different team that's deep at forward. So like,
Speaker 1: maybe you call a team like Houston that has a
Speaker 1: ton of guys in their rotation and you offer them
Speaker 1: like somebody offer them Nikaile Alexander Walker for somebody like
Speaker 1: Tarry Easton for instance, and you bring back an athletic
Speaker 1: forward that can help you a little bit. Last question
Speaker 1: hypothetical here, If d Loo and Reeves are redundant, why
Speaker 1: were the Lakers so hell bent on keeping Reeves? He
Speaker 1: is not a substantially better player than d Lo. It's
Speaker 1: a tiny difference at most. The Lakers could have traded
Speaker 1: Reeves for Caruso, and that would have made the Lakers
Speaker 1: a much better team with a much better chance at
Speaker 1: the title. Also, Caruso would guard Murray a million times better,
Speaker 1: and they have a much better chance of beating the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: I can see them in the finals with the Celtics,
Speaker 1: and who knows from there a couple of things. Trading
Speaker 1: a high level starter to get a high level starter
Speaker 1: kind of defeats the purpose. I do think that d
Speaker 1: Lo is close to Austin as a regular season player,
Speaker 1: but I think Austin is like a kasm better than
Speaker 1: d Lo within the postseason. And then it also just
Speaker 1: makes more sense for the Lakers timeline. He's younger, he
Speaker 1: has two more guaranteed years on his deal and a
Speaker 1: player option, although I think he'll drop that and look
Speaker 1: to extend. But he has two more guaranteed years the
Speaker 1: years on the deal both years are less than fourteen millions.
Speaker 1: From a money standpoint, He's not taking up barely any
Speaker 1: of your cap while also being a useful starter. I
Speaker 1: would trade Austin if it brought back like a legit,
Speaker 1: bona fide third star. But he's your only high level
Speaker 1: start next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis right now,
Speaker 1: so you can't trade him for just another high level starter.
Speaker 1: You need to turn a flawed starter, which is d
Speaker 1: lower Ruey into a high level starter if you're going
Speaker 1: to actually dramatically improve the team. All right, guys, that
Speaker 1: as all I have for today is always as sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
Speaker 1: We will be back on Monday with some preseason basketball
Speaker 1: reaction as well as another episode of our Power Rankings.
Speaker 1: I will see you guys then the volume. What's up guys?
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.