1
00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:14,760
Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at

2
00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,600
Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. This NBA Finals Game four

3
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: Instant Reaction is brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited.

4
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: How do you cash back? Well, you can't fake desperation.

5
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,319
Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics run into an absolute buzz saw in

6
00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,680
Speaker 1: Game four against the Dallas Mavericks. Here's the plan for tonight.

7
00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: I got about ten to fifteen minutes off the top,

8
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,239
Speaker 1: not too much to get into into a game like

9
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,519
Speaker 1: this that goes off the rails so quickly. So what

10
00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:41,760
Speaker 1: we're gonna do at the tail end is just do

11
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,960
Speaker 1: a mailbag. So drop questions in the chat. Paul, our producer,

12
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:47,599
Speaker 1: is going to text them to me so we can

13
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: hit them at the tail end of the show. Drop

14
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,240
Speaker 1: questions in the chat. We'll go for about ten minutes

15
00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 1: on the game, and then we'll get into the mailbag.

16
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:55,960
Speaker 1: You guys are the drop before we get started. Subscribed

17
00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,760
Speaker 1: to the Hoops and I YouTube channel so you don't

18
00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,280
Speaker 1: miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter

19
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,120
Speaker 1: at underscore JCNLTS. You guys, don't missow announcements. Don't forget

20
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under

21
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,039
Speaker 1: Hoops tonight and then keep dropping mail back questions in

22
00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,399
Speaker 1: those YouTube comments so that can keep hitting them over

23
00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,679
Speaker 1: the course of the rest of the summer. All right,

24
00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,319
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball, so storry. This game was obviously

25
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:23,559
Speaker 1: Dallas's improved defensive effort. Now, Dallas is defended pretty well

26
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,960
Speaker 1: in this series, not as well as they're capable of,

27
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,560
Speaker 1: not as well as the numbers would show. Either. There's

28
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:33,920
Speaker 1: a couple of pretty bad, like specifically inept Boston stretches,

29
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,559
Speaker 1: particularly spamming the second and third quarters of Game one,

30
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,360
Speaker 1: and then obviously that bad run in the middle of

31
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,280
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter in Game three, and then there's also

32
00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 1: some shooting variants there. But Dallas has done a decent job.

33
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,480
Speaker 1: But we all can agree that they are capable of

34
00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,600
Speaker 1: doing a much much better job. And there's been a

35
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,720
Speaker 1: lot of focus on the dribble penetration element in containing

36
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,080
Speaker 1: the basketball, a lot of that on this show as well,

37
00:01:58,120 --> 00:01:59,920
Speaker 1: and I want to make sure we call attention to that.

38
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,560
Speaker 1: But I thought that Dallas did an amazing job in

39
00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,880
Speaker 1: all four phases of half court defense in this game.

40
00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,120
Speaker 1: I would kind of delineate the roles of a defense

41
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,680
Speaker 1: or the four parts of the defensive job down to

42
00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 1: these things. First, containing the ball. Second, what you do

43
00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,360
Speaker 1: in rotation, meaning like when you suffer some sort of

44
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,280
Speaker 1: defensive breakdown, whether it's a coverage related thing or some

45
00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 1: dribble penetration, how do you kind of, like on the fly,

46
00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:31,960
Speaker 1: go from the next matchup to the next matchup in

47
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,680
Speaker 1: your rotation to try to regain control of the situation.

48
00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 1: It's like with the fire extinguisher, trying to put out

49
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 1: whatever the problem is. Right, the third piece of it

50
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,760
Speaker 1: is contesting without fouling, and the fourth piece of it

51
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,000
Speaker 1: is the defensive rebound, and all of them are actually

52
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,639
Speaker 1: connected to each other. But that ball contained piece is

53
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 1: what we're going to start with, because all of those

54
00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,800
Speaker 1: other three become easier when you do a better job

55
00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,519
Speaker 1: containing the basketball. So to put it simply, I talk

56
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,640
Speaker 1: a lot about on this show the concept of flattening

57
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,160
Speaker 1: out drives. What that means is there's gonna be a

58
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,840
Speaker 1: certain amount of dribble penetration that you can't control, whether

59
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,680
Speaker 1: it's pushing the pace in transition, whether it's you're just

60
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,440
Speaker 1: dealing with freaky athletes, Like you don't go into a

61
00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,639
Speaker 1: series against Anthony Edwards thinking like, we're just gonna completely

62
00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,840
Speaker 1: stop him from beating anybody off the dribble. It's like, no,

63
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 1: that's not how it works, right. So at a certain point,

64
00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,480
Speaker 1: what you're trying to do is turn a straight line

65
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,440
Speaker 1: drive into a rounded off drive. You're trying to turn

66
00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,360
Speaker 1: a straight line drive into something where there's contact that

67
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,080
Speaker 1: he has to fight through or he has to make

68
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,040
Speaker 1: a counter move, so it's easier for that next help

69
00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 1: defender to get into place. And when you do a

70
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,840
Speaker 1: better job of that, when you flatten out drives, suddenly

71
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,720
Speaker 1: what could be a hard help turns into maybe a

72
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,960
Speaker 1: dig down. So for instance, like let's imagine that a

73
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,080
Speaker 1: guy is dribbling on the left wing and he makes

74
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: an aggressive move towards the let's just say towards the

75
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 1: left side, towards the sideline because the defender's kind of

76
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,480
Speaker 1: funneling him that way, and he gets just absolutely toasted

77
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:00,800
Speaker 1: off the dribble. Then the next guy, the low man

78
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:02,800
Speaker 1: out of that weakside corner, has to come all the

79
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,720
Speaker 1: way over in hard help and it turns into like

80
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,880
Speaker 1: a super easy kickout pass to the corner, or if

81
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,240
Speaker 1: they rotate, it's an easy kickout pass to the wing. Right,

82
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,040
Speaker 1: But if you flatten out the drive, then instead of

83
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,479
Speaker 1: that guy having to hard help, maybe he sinks in

84
00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 1: a little bit, maybe he stunts, but he's in a

85
00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,840
Speaker 1: better position to rotate. All of a sudden, that closeout

86
00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,800
Speaker 1: is a little bit easier, right, Or the next guy

87
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:28,600
Speaker 1: who's up on the wing doesn't have to sink all

88
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,359
Speaker 1: the way down to the corner, and maybe he's just

89
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,960
Speaker 1: kind of stunting down, right, Like, that job gets easier

90
00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:38,200
Speaker 1: the contesting without fouling piece when you actually contain the

91
00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,880
Speaker 1: ball and then do a good job in rotation. The

92
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 1: last piece of it is eventually someone's gonna be looking

93
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,840
Speaker 1: up at the clock and it's like we just tried

94
00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:48,640
Speaker 1: this drive and this drive and this drive and this drive,

95
00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,040
Speaker 1: and oh shit, there's four seconds on the shot clock.

96
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,160
Speaker 1: One of us has to shoot. From there. You're gonna

97
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,200
Speaker 1: be in a position where that guy's probably gonna have

98
00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,159
Speaker 1: to take a tough contested either shot at the rim,

99
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: shot in mid raine, or catch and shoot three. Right,

100
00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:07,280
Speaker 1: That contesting without fouling piece is easier when you do

101
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,000
Speaker 1: a better job containing the ball throughout the possession and

102
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,760
Speaker 1: then finally the defensive rebound. I was looking at the

103
00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:14,320
Speaker 1: stats at the end of the third quarter when we

104
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,360
Speaker 1: started getting ready for the show. When I checked, I

105
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,400
Speaker 1: think Boston only had two offensive rebounds. They only had

106
00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,440
Speaker 1: like eleven free throw attempts. So that's a clear sign

107
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,480
Speaker 1: of you contesting without fouling and getting the defensive rebound. Now,

108
00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,000
Speaker 1: think of it like this. If you get toasted off

109
00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,560
Speaker 1: the dribble and somebody has to hard help, and now

110
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:38,240
Speaker 1: everyone's in rotation, nobody's matched up. If nobody's matched up,

111
00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,839
Speaker 1: then when the shot goes up, it gets that much

112
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,800
Speaker 1: harder to box out because now everyone's caught in that

113
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,360
Speaker 1: blender and no one has a clear matchup to box out.

114
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,039
Speaker 1: But if you flatten out the drive and you make

115
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,479
Speaker 1: your rotations easier, and you do a good job in

116
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,279
Speaker 1: those rotations, and you work deep into the clock and

117
00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,839
Speaker 1: the guy has to settle for some tougher contested jump shot,

118
00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,320
Speaker 1: everyone is now all of a sudden, there aren't these

119
00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,119
Speaker 1: like free runs to the rim from a wide open

120
00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,960
Speaker 1: guy because his defender got pulled into rotation. Elsewhere, everything

121
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,080
Speaker 1: waterfalls down from containing the basketball. But I want to

122
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,320
Speaker 1: be clear, they did an amazing job in all four

123
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 1: of those areas. I want to turn my attention to

124
00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,600
Speaker 1: Luca for just a minute, because I want to be clear,

125
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,360
Speaker 1: because like, there's been a lot of criticism directed towards

126
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,080
Speaker 1: Luca in this series, including from myself, and I believe

127
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,400
Speaker 1: it's fair. I believe the criticism of some of the

128
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,880
Speaker 1: whining at the officials, the stuff with his effort, focus

129
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,720
Speaker 1: and energy on the defensive end is completely fair criticism.

130
00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,280
Speaker 1: And by the way, you want to know why, ask

131
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,040
Speaker 1: a Dallas Mavericks fan what do you think of Luca?

132
00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,040
Speaker 1: Ninety nine percent of them are going to tell you

133
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 1: he's the best player in the world. Ninety nine percent

134
00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,400
Speaker 1: of them are going to tell you he's an all

135
00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,760
Speaker 1: time great in the making. Ninety nine percent of them

136
00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,479
Speaker 1: are going to tell you he's better than this guy,

137
00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,080
Speaker 1: that guy, and this guy and that guy at that

138
00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,640
Speaker 1: phase of their careers. What that means is he's held

139
00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,480
Speaker 1: to a different standards, not held to the standard of

140
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,919
Speaker 1: you know, let's say forty year old Lebron James, who's

141
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:09,680
Speaker 1: on the tail end of his prime, and it's like

142
00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 1: he's not being held to that best player in the

143
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,160
Speaker 1: world standard. You understand, when forty year old Lebron takes

144
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,440
Speaker 1: a random possession off here or there. You understand when

145
00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,840
Speaker 1: you see a player that's not considered one of the

146
00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,840
Speaker 1: top tier apex predators in the league, making him a

147
00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:28,320
Speaker 1: lackadaisical effort or something like that, you just kind of

148
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,160
Speaker 1: just allow it, right, You don't even think that much

149
00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,640
Speaker 1: about it. Luca has put himself through the by virtue

150
00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,280
Speaker 1: of his greatness under a microscope. That's just that's the

151
00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,120
Speaker 1: it's the it's at all. It's that old expression. Right,

152
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,320
Speaker 1: heavy looks like heavy is the head that wears the crown,

153
00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,240
Speaker 1: right Like there is a there is a pressure and

154
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,200
Speaker 1: an expectation that comes from his individual greatness. I want

155
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,240
Speaker 1: to be clear, He's not why they're down for one

156
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,880
Speaker 1: in this series. He is the reason why they're here,

157
00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,000
Speaker 1: as so many have been saying. That is that that

158
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,560
Speaker 1: I want to be clear. He his indomitable offensive greatness,

159
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,880
Speaker 1: got them to this point. However, it is unquestionable that

160
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,120
Speaker 1: this series had a better chance to be competitive had

161
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,080
Speaker 1: Luca given a better effort to this point. And again,

162
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,120
Speaker 1: as I talked about, like there was so much focus

163
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:17,680
Speaker 1: on the blowbys, and he still got beat off the

164
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,440
Speaker 1: dribble a couple of times tonight. But as I said,

165
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,280
Speaker 1: like that is nowhere near as damaging as not doing

166
00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,240
Speaker 1: your job. When the highlight clip was going around, If

167
00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 1: you guys remember after I think it was after Game two,

168
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,200
Speaker 1: the highlight clip that was going around of Luca getting

169
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,120
Speaker 1: blown by and it was like the most blowbys in

170
00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,160
Speaker 1: over ten years of NBA Finals history, right, If you

171
00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,439
Speaker 1: guys remember that video, a lot of Mavericks fans were

172
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,559
Speaker 1: saying things like, this is by design, this is what

173
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 1: we do. We funnel with Luca's job is to funnel

174
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:52,360
Speaker 1: guys into the paint. Now, that's obviously ridiculous. However, I

175
00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:56,520
Speaker 1: guarantee you that Jason Kidd is prepared for that. Luca's

176
00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:58,880
Speaker 1: job is to do a better job containing the basketball.

177
00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,880
Speaker 1: He needs to compete better on the perimeter. That goes

178
00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,400
Speaker 1: without saying, but there is some truth to the fact

179
00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:05,959
Speaker 1: that when Jason Kidd is sitting down with his assistant

180
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,040
Speaker 1: coaching staff and they're coming up with the game plan,

181
00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,920
Speaker 1: they're sitting there like, Luca's gonna give up a certain

182
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,000
Speaker 1: amount of dribble penetration. How do we deal with this? Well,

183
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,520
Speaker 1: there's obviously the back line element that's the other four players,

184
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,560
Speaker 1: but they've crafted a job for Luca. His job after

185
00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:23,720
Speaker 1: he gets beat off the dribble is to make the

186
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,520
Speaker 1: next rotation. That was something that was missing in the

187
00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,160
Speaker 1: first three games of this series. There was a specific

188
00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,760
Speaker 1: play tonight that I thought encapsulated Luca doing that job

189
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,600
Speaker 1: a much better in a much better way. Luca gets

190
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,480
Speaker 1: beat off the dribble by Jason Tatum in the left corner,

191
00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,280
Speaker 1: and in the sequence the ball gets worked, driven and

192
00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,120
Speaker 1: kicked over to the right corner. There's another drive. There's

193
00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,360
Speaker 1: a drop off to Jason Tatum in the dunker spot

194
00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 1: in the right side. Luca had gotten thrown into the

195
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 1: blender with everybody else, but he made an extra rotation.

196
00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,520
Speaker 1: He came across the lane at the last second, jumped

197
00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,480
Speaker 1: up with verticality, contested Tatum at the rim, enforced to miss.

198
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,200
Speaker 1: That is the important part of the defense. As I

199
00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,960
Speaker 1: said in the mailbag episode yesterday, the blowbys are the

200
00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,160
Speaker 1: least concerning thing with Luca. You want him to do better,

201
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:15,800
Speaker 1: and he did a much better job of containing the

202
00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,880
Speaker 1: basketball tonight, forced a bunch of turnovers by just applying

203
00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,480
Speaker 1: some physical ball pressure. Luca was much better on the ball.

204
00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,560
Speaker 1: But the more important piece is making sure he's back

205
00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:30,120
Speaker 1: in transition defense. After giving up any sort of dribble penetration,

206
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,320
Speaker 1: or if a teammate gives up dribble penetration, being in

207
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,520
Speaker 1: the right spot in the rotation, and then making those

208
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,760
Speaker 1: efforts on the defensive glass. That is what it takes

209
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:44,559
Speaker 1: to run a functional defense. Every single offensively limited star

210
00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,400
Speaker 1: or excuse me, I should say defensively limited star, whether

211
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,880
Speaker 1: it's Steph Curry in the mid twenty tens or it's

212
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,480
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic in this era, they are

213
00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,120
Speaker 1: still just asked to do a job. Okay, Jokic, you

214
00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,480
Speaker 1: struggle to protect the rim. Here's what we need you

215
00:10:58,520 --> 00:10:59,800
Speaker 1: to do. We need you to come up to the

216
00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,840
Speaker 1: level of the screen, be active with your hands, and

217
00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,040
Speaker 1: be more of a disruptor. We'll put more of the

218
00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,480
Speaker 1: rim protection responsibility of on Aaron Gordon. As long as

219
00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,720
Speaker 1: you do those things up at the level and you

220
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,160
Speaker 1: get back into the lane to grab defensive rebounds, we

221
00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,079
Speaker 1: can as a team put together a functional defense. And again,

222
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,440
Speaker 1: that was all that we were asking for from Luca.

223
00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,200
Speaker 1: We know he's the reason why they're here. We know

224
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,680
Speaker 1: he's an APEX superstar. We know he's on an all

225
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,520
Speaker 1: time great trajectory. That shit he did in the first

226
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 1: three games was not good enough. It was not good enough,

227
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,600
Speaker 1: did it wasn't befitting of his reputation in the league.

228
00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,520
Speaker 1: And what you saw tonight was much more in line

229
00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,160
Speaker 1: with what he's capable of, which is, yeah, he's gonna

230
00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,280
Speaker 1: get beat off the dribble sometimes, but he can do

231
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,160
Speaker 1: his job within the defensive scheme, and I thought he

232
00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,760
Speaker 1: did a beautiful job of that tonight. In addition to

233
00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,080
Speaker 1: him and Kyrie completely dominating the game offensively, they pour

234
00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,600
Speaker 1: in fifty points through the first three quarters, shot fifty

235
00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,520
Speaker 1: percent from the field, only two turnovers between the two

236
00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,079
Speaker 1: of them. Come, you've got their best and most efficient

237
00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,480
Speaker 1: offensive game of the series. By far their best defensive

238
00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,319
Speaker 1: game of the series. They soundly outplay Jason Tatum and

239
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:10,839
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown. And by the way, like I want to

240
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:12,880
Speaker 1: be clear about something else, from the beginning of this game,

241
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,640
Speaker 1: this was there was an effort element, and we're going

242
00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:17,760
Speaker 1: to get into that that You'd be foolish to not

243
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,480
Speaker 1: pretend that's not a factor here. However, I did think,

244
00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,280
Speaker 1: especially early in the game, Tatum and Brown were trying

245
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,880
Speaker 1: to get downhill. There were several plays where Mavericks made

246
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,640
Speaker 1: defensive slides to cut off driving angles, and Tatum and

247
00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:34,040
Speaker 1: Brown were being really persistent about trying to beat that

248
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 1: guy off the dribble. Dallas was just doing doing a

249
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,960
Speaker 1: good job of flattening them out, so like it wasn't

250
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,040
Speaker 1: for It wasn't like Boston was just passing the ball

251
00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 1: around the perimeter and just trying to jack up threes.

252
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:47,240
Speaker 1: Boston was trying to get dribble penetration in this game.

253
00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,720
Speaker 1: It was the desperate effort from Dallas that rejected those attempts.

254
00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 1: And again, it starts from your superstar, it trickles down.

255
00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,040
Speaker 1: Another guy I really want to shout out tonight is

256
00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,680
Speaker 1: Derek Lively. At the end the third quarter, get eleven

257
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,679
Speaker 1: points and twelve rebounds in just twenty two minutes of play.

258
00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,840
Speaker 1: He had seven offensive rebounds, just an athletic wrecking ball

259
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,360
Speaker 1: in this game. Was really intrigued by that corner three

260
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,480
Speaker 1: he hit early on. One of the things with Lively.

261
00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,240
Speaker 1: I tweeted this out during the game, but like the

262
00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,800
Speaker 1: when I look at Dallas's potential and like, here's the thing.

263
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,320
Speaker 1: Do I think They're going to be back in the

264
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,800
Speaker 1: finals next year? Probably not, But that's literally because of

265
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,080
Speaker 1: what NBA history tells us, right, Like, we have not

266
00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,679
Speaker 1: had a Western Conference team make more than one trip

267
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,400
Speaker 1: to the finals in the totality of the last six

268
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:41,280
Speaker 1: years since Kevin Durant and Steph Curry broke up as teammates, Right, So,

269
00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,600
Speaker 1: like that's just the West is too deep with teams.

270
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,040
Speaker 1: Chances are we'll be sitting here exactly twelve months from

271
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,760
Speaker 1: now talking about a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves, or

272
00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,040
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Memphis Grizzly, just some

273
00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:56,360
Speaker 1: random team that just kind of rises from the midst right, Like,

274
00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,720
Speaker 1: But if there is a dominant version of this Dallas

275
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:01,640
Speaker 1: Maverick team that takes shape over the course of the

276
00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:05,559
Speaker 1: next few years, there's your guy. It's Derek Lively. If

277
00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,320
Speaker 1: Derek Lively turns into Tyson Chandler Across with like a

278
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,439
Speaker 1: little bit of Anthony Davis Cross with a little bit

279
00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,720
Speaker 1: of like legitimate like can shoot corner threes and stretch

280
00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,560
Speaker 1: the floor a little bit, that's a top thirty, top

281
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,640
Speaker 1: thirty five player in the NBA that can be a

282
00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:26,440
Speaker 1: profoundly impactful foundational piece alongside Luca and whoever his secondary

283
00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:28,280
Speaker 1: star is in the long run, whether it's Kyrie or

284
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,600
Speaker 1: it's someone else, and like, just I mean kind of

285
00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 1: removing ourselves from the scope of this series for a minute.

286
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,760
Speaker 1: Derek Lively, just what if he's just awesome? If he's

287
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 1: just awesome, that could go a long way towards adding

288
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,200
Speaker 1: another layer of resilience to what this Dallas Mavericks team

289
00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,880
Speaker 1: can accomplish year on a year out. What's the pathway

290
00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,920
Speaker 1: for Dallas. Dallas is going to somehow win this series?

291
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,760
Speaker 1: What does it look like? Well, it's really simple. You

292
00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,120
Speaker 1: gotta win one basketball game on Monday. It's in Boston.

293
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,280
Speaker 1: To my Mavericks fans that are listening, are you confident

294
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,440
Speaker 1: any you think that you're a better team than Boston,

295
00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,480
Speaker 1: If any of you think that the level of optimism

296
00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,600
Speaker 1: that you had going into the series, if you think

297
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,240
Speaker 1: there's legitimacy to that, go in a game. Go in

298
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 1: one game in Boston on Monday. Contain. Do exactly what

299
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,480
Speaker 1: you did tonight. Work on the ball to contain flap maout,

300
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,280
Speaker 1: dribble penetration, make for easier rotations so that it's easier

301
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,600
Speaker 1: to contest without fouling, so that you can contain on

302
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,680
Speaker 1: the contain defensive rebounds, right, and all of those things

303
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:38,040
Speaker 1: trickle down to transition opportunities, which trickle down into cross

304
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:42,240
Speaker 1: matches which prevent Boston from establishing their game plan. Not

305
00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,240
Speaker 1: to mention, we have the Porzingis injury wrinkle in all

306
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:49,320
Speaker 1: of this. Right, So go to Boston on Monday and

307
00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:53,720
Speaker 1: win one game from there, you're the home team on Thursday,

308
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,720
Speaker 1: You'll be favored. You'll be favored to send this thing

309
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,360
Speaker 1: back to Boston for a game seven, where the exact

310
00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,720
Speaker 1: same principle applies. Like, we have never seen a team

311
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,760
Speaker 1: come back from down three to zero, but we have

312
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,160
Speaker 1: seen a team come back from down three to one

313
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,440
Speaker 1: before in the NBA Finals, right, and it's a momentum thing.

314
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 1: Once Cleveland won Game five, which, by the way, how

315
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,520
Speaker 1: did they win? They won because Lebron James and Kyrie

316
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,560
Speaker 1: Irving went into that building and dropped eighty two points.

317
00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,360
Speaker 1: Do we think Luca and Kyrie are capable of that?

318
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,160
Speaker 1: I sure as hell do that. It's a long shot,

319
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,120
Speaker 1: but they're capable of it. Right, you win that game,

320
00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,320
Speaker 1: you come home with all the momentum. Do you guys

321
00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,760
Speaker 1: remember that Cavs Warriors Game six, It was like thirty

322
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:39,880
Speaker 1: three to eleven or something in the first quarter, like

323
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:44,080
Speaker 1: they jumped them early. That game was never truly competitive, right,

324
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,240
Speaker 1: and then you end up in the knockdown, drag out

325
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,960
Speaker 1: fight Game seven. So that's the pathway. If you believe

326
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,560
Speaker 1: you're the better team, go into Boston on Monday, execute

327
00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,000
Speaker 1: on the details, win that game. From there, you have

328
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:57,640
Speaker 1: a home game with a chance to send it to

329
00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,480
Speaker 1: send yourselves to a winner take all game seven. So yeah,

330
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,480
Speaker 1: like do I think that's going to happen? Obviously not,

331
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 1: But that is the pathway, and that's where you have

332
00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 1: to drive that belief. And there's no way you can

333
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,680
Speaker 1: do it if you don't believe. And that is what

334
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,520
Speaker 1: the mentality of that locker room is going to be

335
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:15,239
Speaker 1: over the course of the next couple of days on

336
00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,200
Speaker 1: the Boston front. Like it's really this simple, Like you

337
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:24,600
Speaker 1: can't fake urgency, it's completely impossible. There's playing hard and

338
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,160
Speaker 1: then there's playing like your life depends on it. And

339
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,040
Speaker 1: like playing hard is a character thing. It's what we

340
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,400
Speaker 1: refer to as motor right. You either have the willingness

341
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,360
Speaker 1: to push yourself when you're tired or you don't. Right,

342
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,119
Speaker 1: that is like a thing that goes comes down to

343
00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:43,239
Speaker 1: the individual, right. But playing hard and playing desperate are

344
00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,080
Speaker 1: two fundamentally different things. It's impossible to replicate what you

345
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:51,919
Speaker 1: saw tonight was a crazy desperate Dallas effort, right, So

346
00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,359
Speaker 1: all you have to do is bring that same level

347
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,560
Speaker 1: of desperation in game five. For you, it's the exact

348
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,280
Speaker 1: same concept in reverse that were talking about with Dallas.

349
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,679
Speaker 1: You have to win on Monday, because if you don't,

350
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,199
Speaker 1: you got to go to Dallas where they're gonna be

351
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,160
Speaker 1: favored to send this thing to seven. Right, So everything

352
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,040
Speaker 1: comes down to closing the deal on Monday, bringing that urgency,

353
00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,800
Speaker 1: flipping that dynamic, riding the home crowd again, a lot

354
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,800
Speaker 1: of like game plan discipline stuff. So like Joe Mizula

355
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,520
Speaker 1: has been talking a lot about spacing. That was the

356
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,520
Speaker 1: quote coming out of halftime. All those same diligent all

357
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,720
Speaker 1: the things that Boston was being very diligent about in

358
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,119
Speaker 1: the first three games. Getting the right matchup, running action

359
00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,040
Speaker 1: early in the set to get switches so that you

360
00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:41,040
Speaker 1: have Dallas's rim protectors above the break rather than along

361
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:46,160
Speaker 1: the baseline, and then from there creating dribble penetration, hunting

362
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,560
Speaker 1: the great shot instead of the good shot. You do

363
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,160
Speaker 1: all of that. You score. If you score, you get

364
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,600
Speaker 1: to set your defense. If you set your defense, you

365
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,360
Speaker 1: don't have transition cross matches. If you don't have transition

366
00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,760
Speaker 1: cross matches, you can execute your defensive game play, which

367
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,359
Speaker 1: is something that Boston has done really well over the

368
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 1: course of this series. I think Boston is gonna win

369
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:10,280
Speaker 1: Game five. However, we would all be foolish to write

370
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:12,760
Speaker 1: off Luca and Kyrie in a must win game like that.

371
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,879
Speaker 1: That certainly is a possibility that's on the table. But

372
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:17,960
Speaker 1: I do think Boston is going to close it out

373
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,240
Speaker 1: in game five. All Right, Well, you're going to get

374
00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,800
Speaker 1: into the mailbag, drop questions to the chat, and we're

375
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,200
Speaker 1: going to get to as many as we can here

376
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,600
Speaker 1: over the next twenty minutes or so. We're this close

377
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,640
Speaker 1: to crowding a new NBA champion, and with the action

378
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:32,760
Speaker 1: heating up on the court, it's even hotter. At Draft

379
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,000
Speaker 1: Kings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Draft

380
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,200
Speaker 1: Kings Sportsbook has you covered every step of the way

381
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,080
Speaker 1: with same game parlays, live betting odds, boosts in so

382
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,240
Speaker 1: much more. Don't miss out as the NBA postseason winds down,

383
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,640
Speaker 1: it's super easy to get started with DraftKings. If you're

384
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,520
Speaker 1: a first timer, try betting on something like a team

385
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 1: to win. Go to the Draft Kings sportsbook app, select

386
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,160
Speaker 1: your team and place your first bet. It's that simple.

387
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:54,840
Speaker 1: The odds in the NBA Finals right now, you can

388
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,119
Speaker 1: get the Celtics to win at minus two ten. Or

389
00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,840
Speaker 1: if you're into the underdog Dallas Mavericks, they're at plus

390
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: one seventy five. And if you're new to DraftKings, you

391
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,639
Speaker 1: gotta check this out. New customers bet five bucks to

392
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,479
Speaker 1: get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets. Instantly download

393
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,160
Speaker 1: the DraftKings sportsbook at now and use code hoops. That's

394
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:16,000
Speaker 1: h oops. That's code hoops for new customers to get

395
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,560
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty in bonus bets when you bet

396
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:22,439
Speaker 1: just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.

397
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,160
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West

398
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: Virginia visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net.

399
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 1: In New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why,

400
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,480
Speaker 1: or text hope and Why to four six seven three

401
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,400
Speaker 1: six nine. In Connecticut, help us available for problem gambling

402
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,840
Speaker 1: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven

403
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 1: seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on

404
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Twenty one

405
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,639
Speaker 1: plus age varies by jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bonus bets

406
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: expire one hundred sixty eight hours after issuance. See DKG

407
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,879
Speaker 1: dot co slash BB for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms

408
00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 1: and responsible gaming resources. All right, first question, is Derek

409
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,879
Speaker 1: White the best role player in the NBA? If not,

410
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,359
Speaker 1: who is? This is a tough one. I'd have to

411
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,679
Speaker 1: I'd have to take some time to really think about,

412
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 1: to really think about who the other candidates for that

413
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,719
Speaker 1: type of kind of title is. That said, I do

414
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 1: think Derek White is kind of like the perfect NBA

415
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,159
Speaker 1: role player. And the main reason why is there's like

416
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: a positional versatility with him. Like he's a guard, but

417
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,840
Speaker 1: he's pretty big, and he's pretty athletic, and like can

418
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,960
Speaker 1: do things with his length and athleticism on the back

419
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,439
Speaker 1: line as a rebounder and as a shot blocker. You know,

420
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 1: there was a a comment I can't remember, Oh, it's

421
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:46,760
Speaker 1: a tweet. It was a tweet that came out of

422
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,600
Speaker 1: like a report somebody I'm gonna blank on who it was,

423
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: but somebody reported that Derek White could be considered for

424
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: the Olympic team spot should should Kawhi Leonard be on

425
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,240
Speaker 1: a to participate? And when I saw that, I thought

426
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: that was interesting because like there's these other names that

427
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 1: you're going to see thrown around, right, Like, well what

428
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: about Tyrie? What about Jaylen Brown? And like both of

429
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 1: those guys would certainly be more deserving, right Like, if

430
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,959
Speaker 1: you're just going on who has the better basketball reputation,

431
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:18,719
Speaker 1: that player should get the spot. I agree, but strictly's

432
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,199
Speaker 1: thinking about the game of basketball. Derek White, to me,

433
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: is an incredible spot up player who can run inverted

434
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 1: ball screen actions and has a ton of experience running

435
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,679
Speaker 1: inverted ball screen actions, meaning he can set screens for Lebron,

436
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,199
Speaker 1: set screens for KD, set screens for Jason Tatum who

437
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: will be on that team as well, and pop and

438
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:43,200
Speaker 1: create advantages there a second piece of it, Like Derek

439
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,119
Speaker 1: White is a professional off ball player, he is a

440
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: professional off of Superstars player, right. He is a guy

441
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: that has made his living learning how to be next

442
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,919
Speaker 1: to a supreme talent and fit his talent a lot

443
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,440
Speaker 1: longside what he does and to accentuate what the team does.

444
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: And so I actually reeded when I saw that. I

445
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,880
Speaker 1: was like, Derek White would be perfect. He'd be willing

446
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: to take an on ball defensive role like it was

447
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: the most important thing that he's doing. Right. I think

448
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: Derek White is the consummate NBA role player that you

449
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 1: could plug into any team anywhere around the league. He's

450
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: great above the break, he's great in the corners. He

451
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,479
Speaker 1: can run action, he can run inverted action. He's an

452
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: athlete that can impact the game on both ends. I

453
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 1: absolutely think that Derek White's in the conversation for best

454
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,360
Speaker 1: role player in the NBA. Let's see should Joe Mizzoula

455
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 1: play Krisops Porzingis in Game five? There's two things that

456
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 1: you have to factor in here when it comes to Porzingis. One,

457
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 1: like Boston has a chance to repeat, like they're not

458
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,200
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference where it's like ten bloodbath teams

459
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: every single year. Like the East is gonna be better

460
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,160
Speaker 1: next year, but I think Boston is gonna be favored

461
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 1: to win the East next year, right, And so what

462
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,479
Speaker 1: you can't do with is risk potentially him having some

463
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 1: sort of bigger injury that extends into next year or

464
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: affects his ability to stay in shape over the summer. Right, Like,

465
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,960
Speaker 1: we don't even know what the fallout of this injury

466
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,119
Speaker 1: is going to be like in the short term. So

467
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: there's that piece of it. There's like a risk reward factor.

468
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: If you think you can win the series without porzingis

469
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 1: you got to try to win the series without porzingis.

470
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: Second piece of it is how's mobility? Like, part of

471
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,560
Speaker 1: what happened with Christops porzingis is he was playing awesome

472
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,719
Speaker 1: in the first two games and a lot of that

473
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: had to do with his mobility. After he kind of

474
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: tweaked it, he wasn't playing as well, right, So, like

475
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if he's out there. If he's not

476
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,639
Speaker 1: Christops porzingis, So like it really depends on the coaching

477
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: staff to know how much risk there is for severe

478
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 1: additional injury and two and I guess that's up to

479
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,320
Speaker 1: the medical staff. And then two for the coaching staff.

480
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 1: How well is he actually moving? Is he actually moving

481
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 1: in a way where he can impact things? Because if

482
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: he's not, then it's not worth it all. Right, next question,

483
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: is there an argument that Tatum is the most switchable

484
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 1: defender in the league. So uh yeah, absolutely at this

485
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 1: point in time, because like we've seen, like there are

486
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,920
Speaker 1: guys that are in that conversation for like best permitter defender,

487
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,960
Speaker 1: Guys that are like Jaden McDaniels, who are like too

488
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 1: thin to guard the bigger, stronger players in the league.

489
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 1: But like to be clear, like Lucas had a lot

490
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: of success against Jason Tatum in this series too, So

491
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:24,879
Speaker 1: like I wouldn't go as far as to say, like

492
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 1: some of that's just Luca being unguardable, right, But yeah, Tatum,

493
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: with his size and strength, should in theory be able

494
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:32,400
Speaker 1: to do a better job on him than a guy

495
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 1: like Jada McDaniels. A. Jalen Suggs is another guy who's

496
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,440
Speaker 1: regarded as one of the best permitter defenders in the league.

497
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,120
Speaker 1: He's a touch on the small side, right, like Lou

498
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 1: Dort is a guy that I think can cause a

499
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 1: lot of problems to some power players, but like you know,

500
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,880
Speaker 1: he can be a little bit on the underside side

501
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: in terms of lengths. So what about pull up shooters

502
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 1: when it comes to against a guy like him. Tatum

503
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 1: has that unique capability of like real size and strength

504
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 1: and perimeter mobility. Now, I don't think Tatum has been

505
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: the same level of defender that he was in twenty

506
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 1: twenty two this year. I think Jalen Brown has made

507
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: improvements since then. I think Tatum has gone down a

508
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 1: little bit of a level since then. But like, Tatum

509
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 1: hasn't done as good a job on the perimeter in

510
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,400
Speaker 1: this series, but he's been really good at the rim.

511
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,680
Speaker 1: He's been really good on the defensive glass, He's done

512
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 1: a good job holding up under any sort of physicality

513
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,680
Speaker 1: that Gafford brings to the table. But like in terms

514
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: of switchability, meaning actual ability to guard one through five,

515
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,439
Speaker 1: Tatum is certainly in that conversation. Again, I'd have to

516
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,399
Speaker 1: think more about it to give you guys an actual list.

517
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: Let's see how do the Warriors become contenders next season. So,

518
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,679
Speaker 1: anytime I see a team get written off, and we

519
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: just saw this last year with Dallas and we're seeing

520
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: it this year with Golden State, when you're writing a

521
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: team off, usually if they've got a couple of real

522
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 1: key foundational pieces, in this case Kyrie and Luca, or

523
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: in the Warriors case like Steph Curry. Some draft compensation.

524
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,120
Speaker 1: Jonathan kaminga Draymond Green is still one of the best

525
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 1: defensive players in the league. Right, You've got foundational pieces,

526
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: so it's really about smart Tweaks. It's a little bit

527
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: more complicated for Golden State because Steph wasn't playing well

528
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 1: to end the season. He was like he was like

529
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 1: seventy five percent of himself for basically the last half

530
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: of the year. So like Steph is gonna have to

531
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,400
Speaker 1: one get back to being Steph and then just smart Tweaks.

532
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 1: I think they absolutely have to get a bona fide

533
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: secondary shot creator. There's been a lot of buzz surrounding

534
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: like Zach Lavine with Golden State. In recent weeks. I've

535
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: talked about like Dejontay Murray. We've talked about, you know,

536
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 1: like like more on the margins moves, guys like Michale Bridges.

537
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 1: There are a bunch of different directions they could go.

538
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: But whoever that guy is, he needs to be somebody

539
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: that can legitimately take the reins from Steph for large

540
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 1: doses of basketball games. One of the underrated pieces of

541
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,439
Speaker 1: the Warriors decline over the last couple of years is

542
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: Jordan Poole, kind of fell off and Andrew Wiggins kind

543
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,199
Speaker 1: of fell off, and those two guys kind of like

544
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 1: combined for that legitimate secondary star in terms of offensive firepower.

545
00:27:57,119 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 1: I don't know that Wiggans ever is going to get

546
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 1: back to that, and Jordan is gone. I don't think

547
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: Chris Paul is going to be that. I'm not even

548
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 1: sure if he's gonna be on the roster next year.

549
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 1: So like you got to find a bona fide secondary

550
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 1: shot creator. A little bit more interior size, I think

551
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 1: is the second piece. I actually like their wing athleticism.

552
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 1: They just need to have a big look where they

553
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: can be more physically imposing, maybe a Draymond Green at

554
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:23,280
Speaker 1: the four type of look. But again, don't underestimate small

555
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 1: tweaks on the margins and how they can improve a

556
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: team like Dallas literally just got a like a couple

557
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:36,880
Speaker 1: of rim runners and a legitimate forward in PJ. Washington

558
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 1: and they nailed one veteran minimum signing and then boom

559
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. So like that, that's again this stuff is

560
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: I always talk about that quote that I got from

561
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: Mark Titus that basketball is more art than science. That's

562
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: the kind of thing I'm talking about, Like you can't

563
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: just add up the pieces on paper. There's like a

564
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 1: synergy to the way basketball players fit together, and slight

565
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 1: tweaks that accentuate each other's strength can kind of lock

566
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: into place and allow you to become a basketball team

567
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: that is greater than the sum of its parts. With

568
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 1: the passing of the great Jerry West, I've always wondered

569
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: your favorite players from the older generations, and who do

570
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: you think would play well in today's NBA. I'm not

571
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,480
Speaker 1: going to go that far back, mainly just because for me,

572
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: like as a basketball fan, I especially when you go

573
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: out past the eighties, I just I have not watched

574
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 1: enough of those guys to give an educated opinion on

575
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 1: how an opinion about how I believe they would fit

576
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: into today's game. All I will say is like, for me,

577
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 1: the guys that I ended up watching a ton of

578
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 1: even though I didn't watch them when I was actually

579
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: a kid, but more as an adult, is like the

580
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 1: kind of players that kind of had my same build.

581
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 1: So like I'm six ' six, I have long arms,

582
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: and I play on the wing. So like I watched

583
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: a lot of Bobbie Bryant growing up, I watched a

584
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 1: lot of Michael Jordan. Growing up, I watched a lot

585
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: of Grant Hill, Anny Hardaway, those kind of guys, because

586
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: those guys just kind of like played a we had

587
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 1: similar like frame to me, so like I would try

588
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 1: to play like they played because I wanted to do

589
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: the kind of things that they could do. And so

590
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 1: those are the guys that, like, I watched a lot

591
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: of like film on and things along those lines, and

592
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: I've watched a lot of like NBA Classic games and

593
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But when it comes to like Jerry

594
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,959
Speaker 1: West generation, I'm just so under exposed to them. And

595
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: one of the things that I try to do on

596
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: this show is like not talk about things unless i'm

597
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,400
Speaker 1: unless I've done the appropriate amount of research. And so

598
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: so I don't talk about the draft until we get

599
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 1: out of the finals. I'm not going to sit here

600
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: and pontificate about draft picks when I haven't done the

601
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: requisite research. But interesting question again to me, Jerry West,

602
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: like I said this on the show with Colin, to me,

603
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: he's just one of the great basketball geniuses of all time,

604
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: and I look at things like him putting Kobe and

605
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: Shack together, him stopping the Kevin love for Klay Thompson,

606
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 1: trade him kind of like being one of the guys,

607
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 1: one of the in the brain trust that assembled to Clippers,

608
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 1: and they're the Clippers were supposed to be like Boston

609
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 1: in so many different ways, right and we're seeing that

610
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,280
Speaker 1: come to fruition in the championship right now. So like

611
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 1: to me, Jerry West was just kind of in touch

612
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 1: with where the game of basketball was going and was

613
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: one of the great geniuses of our time. Hey, Jason

614
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: fan from India enjoyed the content. I've been learning a

615
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 1: lot about about basketball. Keep up the good work. Oh,

616
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: by the way, thank you for the kind words to

617
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate it. The one professional basketball contract I signed

618
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,760
Speaker 1: before I hung up the shoes was in India. I

619
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 1: was going to play in this league called the Uba.

620
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:24,720
Speaker 1: They paid me for like two weeks and then the

621
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 1: league and then the league folded. And then at that

622
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: point I like looked at my wife and I was like,

623
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: I can't keep doing this. I just got to go

624
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: to work. But I got to meet the When when

625
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,239
Speaker 1: that league was being put to it was in like

626
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,400
Speaker 1: the third or fourth season. They were doing like a

627
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: major showcase here in the US, and they've like flew

628
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 1: all these people out and I got to meet a

629
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: ton of people that actually live in India and it

630
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: was just like a really cool part of that experience.

631
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: And big one if for me in my life is

632
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: always wonder what would happened if that season would have

633
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: come to Fruition and then I would have gone over there.

634
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: Work ethic and psycho competitiveness is paramount to the greats.

635
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 1: As a GM, how do you evaluate players in the

636
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: draft for that intangible So here's the thing, Like I'm

637
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 1: a big believer in kind of staying in your wheelhouse.

638
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 1: It's impossible for me to really get into touch with

639
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: the intangibles of draft prospects because the people that do

640
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: it year round and watch every single interview, they do,

641
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: watch every single one of their games and really keep

642
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 1: an eye on their motor in the different their their

643
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 1: competitiveness within games and things along those lines. For me,

644
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 1: I have to do kind of a very abbreviated version

645
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: of that. Like the NBA Finals, let's say they end

646
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: on Monday, that's what the seventeenth. So like, I'm going

647
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,959
Speaker 1: to have less than two weeks to prepare for the draft,

648
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 1: and so for me, I'm gonna be primarily focusing on

649
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 1: skills like skills and tape, Like just as much as

650
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 1: I can digest in a short period of time, that's it.

651
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: If I was working in the draft, that would be

652
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:56,959
Speaker 1: a major element to my focus on player development, Like

653
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: player evaluations, I should say to me, Like, it goes

654
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 1: into the competitiveness or your you're like being a psycho,

655
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 1: your work ethic, those sorts of things, those to me,

656
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: they don't just manifest in skill development, they manifest in

657
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 1: the games, right, Like in order to be the kind

658
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 1: of player that buys into a defensive scheme and is

659
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: willing to do the dirty work, you've got to be nasty,

660
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: You've got to be competitive. There are no there are

661
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: no lazy guys that do that type of job. Right

662
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 1: But in addition to that, it's about the competitiveness, the pettiness,

663
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: the wanting to be better than the guy next to you.

664
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: That's what drives you on a daily basis to put

665
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 1: in the work. And one of the things I talk

666
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 1: about a lot on the show. And I know this

667
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: just from my own personal experience because I went through

668
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 1: skill development in my twenties because I was so late

669
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: to pick up the game of basketball, Like it's incremental guys,

670
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: Like you shoot ten thousand jump shots over the course

671
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: of two months over the summer, and you might get

672
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 1: this much better, like it is a year over year,

673
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:04,440
Speaker 1: like just painstaking effort to improve your game on the margins.

674
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 1: The same thing goes with ball handling, ball handling and shooting,

675
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: Like you might experience some initial improvement, but it plateaus

676
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: pretty quickly and then it's like incremental improvement and so

677
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: like you got to be the psycho to be the

678
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: guy that improves in those areas, and it requires like

679
00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: if you're just going into the gym three four times

680
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: a week over the summer with the trainer and shooting

681
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 1: a couple hundred shots, like that's literally not going to

682
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 1: do it. There is a psycho level of work you

683
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 1: have to achieve on a day to day basis to

684
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 1: make those sorts of improvements. How much of Browning having

685
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,960
Speaker 1: better production than Jason Tatum in this playoffs has been

686
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: based on how they're being defended, for example, being guarded

687
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 1: by Nempard versus Nie Smith. It's a huge factor, right,

688
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 1: Like Tatum's always getting the primary defensive player. In terms

689
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 1: of the actions, it's the same, Like both guys are

690
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: getting the same help. Both guys are getting like aggressive

691
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,840
Speaker 1: coverages and ball screens and things along those lines. But

692
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 1: there's no doubt in terms of the individual matchup, Tatum

693
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: has a tougher shake. One of the bigger pieces of

694
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: it is just the jump shooting. Though Jason Tatum is

695
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: just having a nightmare jump shooting postseason, Jalen Brown is

696
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,759
Speaker 1: shooting better. That's the give and take of basketball, right,

697
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 1: Like if I always talk about like defenders being on

698
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 1: their toes or being on their heels, if they are

699
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: terrified of you shooting a jumper, they're going to be

700
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: up on their toes, which will make it easier for

701
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 1: you to go around them. If they're terrified of you

702
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: getting downhill, they're going to be on their heels. But

703
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:30,280
Speaker 1: if they only have to worry about one of those things,

704
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: they can really sit on whatever that is. And so

705
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, it's like offer a late contest and he's

706
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 1: missing it right now. So like these guys are, it

707
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 1: makes containing him easier in dribble drive situations. So again,

708
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,320
Speaker 1: I think it's part of it's the matchups. Part of

709
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 1: it is Jason Tatum is having a bad jump shooting

710
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: stretch and by the way, that can happen. That's part

711
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 1: of the game of basketball, right Like Lebron James last

712
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,840
Speaker 1: year had the worst jump shooting season he's had in

713
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 1: ten years, and then this year he had the best

714
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 1: jump shooting season he's had in ten years. I'm sure

715
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 1: he worked hard last summer. I'm sure that was part

716
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 1: of it, but it's not like Lebron made some gigantic

717
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: improvement year over year in terms of his actual core

718
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:14,279
Speaker 1: shooting capability. He had a rough season, he had a

719
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: hot season. Jason Tatum has been in a shooting slump

720
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,919
Speaker 1: that's been lasting for a few months now. Who would

721
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: you favor in a potential Game six in Dallas? So

722
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 1: Boston deserves to be heavy favorite in Game five, right

723
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 1: as they should be if Dallas were to steal that game.

724
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,720
Speaker 1: My guess is the line will be very slightly in Dallas.

725
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: His favorite something like Dallas minus point five. I also

726
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if Boston was a very slight favorite

727
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:39,359
Speaker 1: in that game, like a minus one and a half,

728
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,319
Speaker 1: a minus point five, something like that. For me going

729
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 1: into Game six in Dallas, it'd be a coin flip

730
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: for me. Main reason why is Boston's been really good

731
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 1: on the road. I do believe Boston is the better team.

732
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,800
Speaker 1: I think that Boston has more advantages in this series.

733
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,960
Speaker 1: And so even if Dallas were to get some sort

734
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: of crazy Kyrie Luca effort to steal Game five, I'd

735
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 1: still make it basically a coin flip in Game six,

736
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:16,279
Speaker 1: but Dallas absolutely could win that game. What do you

737
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:18,239
Speaker 1: think of Jordan Pool to the Nuggets. Wow, that's a

738
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: really interesting type of deal. I went on Washington Sports

739
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 1: radio a few days ago, and I was talking a

740
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 1: lot about how I wouldn't give up on Jordan Pool,

741
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 1: and so I imagine they'll keep him. I think that

742
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 1: young guards in particular have very volatile, you know, kind

743
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 1: of life cycles, and so I think that, you know,

744
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool at age twenty seven is going to be

745
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,720
Speaker 1: a pretty steady pro and I think whatever team bets

746
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 1: on that is going to have some success. Or the

747
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,399
Speaker 1: reason why simple Jordan Poole can beat people off triple

748
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: inting knockdown jump shots. He's like, that's a really good combination.

749
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,400
Speaker 1: Like he's quick as hell and he can knock down

750
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,040
Speaker 1: jump shots. Now, you hadn't shot the ball well in

751
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 1: a couple of years, but that capability is certainly there.

752
00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: We've seen it in the past. As far as the

753
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,520
Speaker 1: Nuggets fit though, one of the things I talked about

754
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 1: a lot with the Nuggets. I love everything about that

755
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:07,360
Speaker 1: team except for they don't have anybody that can just

756
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: generate dribble penetration since Bruce Brown has has left right,

757
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 1: Like everything with Jokich's size related, Jamal Murray's screen related right,

758
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,879
Speaker 1: So like having a guy like Jordan Pooh can beat

759
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 1: people off the dribble would be a would be a

760
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: huge asset to that team. It'd be tricky to figure

761
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,520
Speaker 1: out how to do the to work out that type

762
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: of deal, though, especially at his salary. Is Luca a

763
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: younger James Harden, an excellent scorer who doesn't know what

764
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,920
Speaker 1: defense is. No, Luca's a way better version of James Harden.

765
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: In my opinion, James Harden was. James Harden was. What

766
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: happens when analytics takes too much of a role in

767
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:48,440
Speaker 1: constructing an NBA offense. For instance, like James Harden, the

768
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 1: step back three, the left handed drive off of the

769
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,760
Speaker 1: off of the between the legs dribble, and the occasional

770
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: crossover back to the right. Everything with James Harden in

771
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,239
Speaker 1: his prime was at the rim step back three. The

772
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,920
Speaker 1: rim step back three added a little bit of a

773
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: floater in twenty nineteen right, but like there was a

774
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:11,440
Speaker 1: predictability with James Harden that made him easier to defend

775
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 1: as playoff series progressed. One of the reasons why I

776
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,080
Speaker 1: think Luca has been a better player in the postseason

777
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: than James Harden is he never it seems like every

778
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 1: attack from him looks different. Like he's willing to attack

779
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 1: from the post. He's willing to attack straight iso, but

780
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 1: he's also willing to attack in ball screens. He's not

781
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,160
Speaker 1: just taking step back threes. He's also getting into the

782
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,399
Speaker 1: mid range. He's taking step backs from the mid range.

783
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:39,960
Speaker 1: He's taking turnaround jumpers from the mid range. He can

784
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,120
Speaker 1: put you in jail and kind of like manipulate things

785
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:45,759
Speaker 1: from the middle of the floor. James Harden never would

786
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,040
Speaker 1: stop in the middle of the floor in his prime.

787
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:52,800
Speaker 1: In the twenty eighteen twenty nineteen stretch, that little like

788
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:54,799
Speaker 1: kind of right handed push shot where he kind of

789
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,399
Speaker 1: powers his way along the right lane line and kind

790
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,760
Speaker 1: of fights her position and shoots that little pop shot

791
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: Like there's just so much more variety in Luca's game.

792
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 1: That makes him a much more a much more resilient

793
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: offensive player, especially against elite defenses down the line, as

794
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:11,320
Speaker 1: far as the defensive end of the floor. Like, I

795
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,680
Speaker 1: think Luca's gonna learn his lesson. I think he's just young.

796
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 1: I think he's arrogant. I think he needs to have

797
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: humiliation to kind of like have that slam slapped in

798
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: his face, right, Like I've talked about it with Lebron

799
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: all the time, Like twenty eleven, Lebron got embarrassed. Dude,

800
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: your jump shots two inconsistent. You don't have much of

801
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 1: it back to the basket game. You just you in

802
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,600
Speaker 1: general just aren't good enough in these details to get

803
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,360
Speaker 1: to where you want to go. And like a huge

804
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 1: part of what turned around his career twenty twelve in

805
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen was his ability to turn his back to

806
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:45,920
Speaker 1: the basket against KWHI Leonard, his ability to knock down

807
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 1: over the top jumpers, like his jumper saved him literally

808
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve on the road in Game six in

809
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:54,680
Speaker 1: Boston when they were down three to two, Like, Lebron

810
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 1: reached a level as a player as a result of

811
00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:01,040
Speaker 1: humiliation he like remember, he like disappeared that entire summer,

812
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 1: like didn't talk to anybody when he came back to

813
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 1: following seasons like reading books and shit, and like he

814
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 1: was just like Lebron, like got straight up humbled in

815
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 1: twenty eleven and it made him a better version of himself.

816
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,920
Speaker 1: I think Luca needed to. I think Luca needed to

817
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:17,879
Speaker 1: get punched in the mouth and like, hey, dude, you're

818
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,399
Speaker 1: really fucking good, but you're not good enough and there's

819
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 1: these clear areas where you can improve, and I think

820
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 1: this series is amounting to that for Luca. What are

821
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,320
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the Luca Carmelo cump As players. I

822
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: don't really see how they're that similar, even if I

823
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:32,719
Speaker 1: point out the point, even if I get the point

824
00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:35,759
Speaker 1: about the poor defense, So don't look at it so

825
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 1: much as the player cump because obviously they're very very

826
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,759
Speaker 1: different types of players. Right, Luca is a playmaking forward.

827
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,760
Speaker 1: Carmelo is a scoring forward, but lucas also an elite scorer.

828
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:48,959
Speaker 1: Right Like to me, Luca is just a much better

829
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 1: player with a much better standing in the league. I

830
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,840
Speaker 1: never thought Carmelo was like a true Apex superstar, Like

831
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,400
Speaker 1: he was just always in that second tier for me,

832
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:02,879
Speaker 1: Like even when he was on those really good Denver

833
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,840
Speaker 1: Nuggets teams in the late two thousands, Like I never

834
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,400
Speaker 1: thought he was like at the Kobe level, at the

835
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,560
Speaker 1: Lebron level. I always thought he was just like a

836
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: tier below that. I think Luca's been an APEX star

837
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 1: for you know, the better part of a half decade now.

838
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: So like to me, I don't see that specific side

839
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 1: of the cup where I do agree. And the point

840
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:24,799
Speaker 1: that I think Colin is trying to point out is

841
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 1: like it's about unachieved potential. Like Luca's insanely good, and

842
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,240
Speaker 1: he can be so much better. Like if he actually

843
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,720
Speaker 1: became psycho competitive about how he cares for his body

844
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: and he became like a leaner, more muscular, better conditioned

845
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,800
Speaker 1: version of himself, that's just a way better basketball player.

846
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,200
Speaker 1: And when you combine that with the mentality to be

847
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 1: engaged on the defensive end, he can achieve anything. He

848
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,480
Speaker 1: could be the goat that like, that's he could absolutely

849
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,040
Speaker 1: go on a run and be remembered. As in the

850
00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 1: conversation with Lebron James and Michael Jordan, that is an

851
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 1: absolute potential for Luca. But it is non negotiable that

852
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: he addresses those things. I don't think Carmelo ever had

853
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: that potential. But if you talked about what held him back,

854
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,840
Speaker 1: it's the same things. It's a lack of attention to

855
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:17,960
Speaker 1: a health and fitness and a lack of commitment to

856
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: the details, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

857
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 1: So I think that's the point he was trying to make. Again, like,

858
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,400
Speaker 1: it's not a perfect comp but there are some similarities there. Somehow,

859
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,319
Speaker 1: some way, somebody has to break the streak and win

860
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 1: from down to three. Could it be this Maps team?

861
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: Of course it could, It's just not likely. What I

862
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:36,920
Speaker 1: always talk about with this is any team that has

863
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,760
Speaker 1: the ability to go up three to zero has advantages

864
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 1: that allowed them to go up three to zero. You

865
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:45,280
Speaker 1: don't go three up three to zero as a fluke.

866
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,680
Speaker 1: You do it with advantages, right, So like, in order

867
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 1: for you to turn around and do the same thing

868
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,040
Speaker 1: and win four in a row, you better have all

869
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 1: the advantages, and that would require roster dynamics flipping. So like,

870
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,360
Speaker 1: I think the team that eventually breaks the three streak,

871
00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,280
Speaker 1: and it'll happen eventually, But the team that eventually breaks

872
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 1: the oh three Strake. It's gonna be injury related. It's

873
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,880
Speaker 1: gonna be some team that goes up three to zero

874
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:12,400
Speaker 1: and then some sort of pivotally pivotally important member of

875
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 1: the team gets hurt and then suddenly it just flips

876
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 1: all those advantages, and then the team with the advantages,

877
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 1: which is the down oh three team, is able to

878
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:23,200
Speaker 1: rack together some wins just for fun. Who do you

879
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,280
Speaker 1: think would win a seven game series between the twenty

880
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 1: twenty Lakers and the twenty twenty four Celtics. I just

881
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:31,800
Speaker 1: think it's an interesting matchup when comparing champions. So I

882
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 1: think the twenty twenty Lakers are the best team since

883
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:40,440
Speaker 1: the two thousand and Night since the twenty eighteen Warriors.

884
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: Main reason why is it's the only team in that

885
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 1: span that had two bona fide top five players in

886
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,919
Speaker 1: the league. The Raptors had Kawhi. Your second best player

887
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 1: is Pascal Siakam, Right, the twenty twenty one Bucks, it's

888
00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:56,120
Speaker 1: like Giannis, and then it's Chris Middleton and Drew Drew Holliday. Right,

889
00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:58,359
Speaker 1: it's twenty twenty two Warriors, it's Steph Curry, and then

890
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:00,560
Speaker 1: it's like Andrew Wiggins is probably second best player on

891
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: the team Denver Nuggets, it's Nicole Jokic and Jamal Murray

892
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 1: is really good. I have the Nuggets, I think if

893
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,239
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, have him second in that list, but

894
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,240
Speaker 1: like that team had like Jamal Murray is like somewhere

895
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:15,160
Speaker 1: around the fifteenth to sixteenth best player in the league, right.

896
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:17,399
Speaker 1: And then you have the Celtics team where I think

897
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,080
Speaker 1: they have two guys that are in that like six

898
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: to ten range, right, So, like the Lakers had the

899
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,680
Speaker 1: unbelievable top end star power. As far as the matchup goes,

900
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:29,239
Speaker 1: the Lakers actually matchup pretty well with the Celtics because

901
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,920
Speaker 1: they were an excellent team on the perimeter. Defensively they

902
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,320
Speaker 1: had had They started Game six of the NBA Finals

903
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: against the Miami Heat with Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Alex Caruso,

904
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:45,600
Speaker 1: Contavious Colwall Pope, and Danny Green. That's KCP dominant perimeter defender,

905
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:48,920
Speaker 1: Alex Cruso dominant perimeter defender. Twenty twenty was the last

906
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,880
Speaker 1: great defensive season of Lebron's career. Anthony Davis was the

907
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: best defensive player in the world. Danny Green was the

908
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: worst defensive player in that lineup. The Lakers would have

909
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: had the best player in the series. They'd had the

910
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 1: best two players in the series. Now, as we all know,

911
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 1: the Anthony Davis host twenty twenty, by virtue of injuries

912
00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:09,280
Speaker 1: and a lack of commitment to the details, has declined

913
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: as a jump shooter and has become a player that's

914
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 1: actually down in that tier with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen

915
00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:17,560
Speaker 1: Brown now. But in twenty twenty, he was better than

916
00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:20,440
Speaker 1: both of those guys, and than these versions of both

917
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,280
Speaker 1: of these guys. Like you guys remember Ad in the bubble,

918
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:24,879
Speaker 1: he was like like Kevin Durant mixed with the best

919
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 1: defensive player in the world right like he was. There

920
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:30,160
Speaker 1: was a case to make that he was at the

921
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,839
Speaker 1: same level as Lebron, and it was certainly close. Although

922
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:34,320
Speaker 1: I still think Lebron is the best player in the

923
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 1: world at that point. Do you think Jalen Brown can

924
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 1: reach top tier superstar status. I don't know. I never

925
00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:45,520
Speaker 1: want to say never, especially to a top tier athlete.

926
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 1: The one thing with Jylen Brown that I think would

927
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:49,480
Speaker 1: hold him back is even as he's made improvements as

928
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,520
Speaker 1: a playmaker, most of the top tier superstars are at

929
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:55,600
Speaker 1: least above average playmakers, and I don't think Jalen Brown

930
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: has ever been able to reach that level, but I

931
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,680
Speaker 1: would never say never with a guy like Jaylen Brown. Hypothetical,

932
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 1: who would you have picked in the twenty twenty two

933
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:06,359
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals had the Sons beat the MAVs in

934
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:11,080
Speaker 1: Game seven and played the Warriors, that's interesting, but give

935
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:13,560
Speaker 1: me the give me the Warriors. I think Steph Curry

936
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:14,960
Speaker 1: would have been the best player in the series by

937
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,160
Speaker 1: a mile. That Suns team in particular two like they.

938
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:21,319
Speaker 1: I was never as high on that Sun's team as

939
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 1: everybody else. They in twenty twenty one, I thought the

940
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:26,319
Speaker 1: Lakers would have beat him if Anthony Davis didn't get hurt.

941
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:27,759
Speaker 1: The reason why they made it to the finals had

942
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 1: a lot to do with injuries they ended up facing

943
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:35,160
Speaker 1: that injured the Clippers team in the conference finals. Their

944
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,120
Speaker 1: best player was Devin Booker, and I really like Devin Booker,

945
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 1: but I don't think Devin Booker is an APEX star.

946
00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,440
Speaker 1: They would have been. I would have picked the Warriors

947
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 1: against them, for sure. Saw a summer trade rumor of

948
00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 1: marketing into the Knicks. What do you think of that?

949
00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:50,640
Speaker 1: That'd be awesome? That's like a now I think one

950
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:52,600
Speaker 1: of the things with the Knicks is I think they

951
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 1: similarly to what we talked about the Warriors, I think

952
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: they need a legitimate secondary shot creator, and unfortunately Market

953
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:01,760
Speaker 1: is more of a play finisher than a shot creator,

954
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:03,839
Speaker 1: but he would certainly make them better as like kind

955
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,200
Speaker 1: of a slot into that Julius Randall position and putting

956
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: ogn and Obi at the three. But if I was,

957
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,280
Speaker 1: if I was the Knicks, I'd be targeting someone who's

958
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: more capable of creating things off the bounce. Should Lively

959
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: be considered the third best rookie behind Chet and Wemby.

960
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: That's tough, certainly, certainly if you're factoring in postseason contributions, right,

961
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,400
Speaker 1: I'd have to go back and look at all the rookies,

962
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: but certainly considering postseason postseason contributions. Did Joe Missoula leak

963
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: the formula to playing against Luca? So? I talked about

964
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 1: this after game was a one or two? I can't remember,

965
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:45,560
Speaker 1: but like, I immediately thought back to the Minnesota series and

966
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 1: I was like, man, shouldn't should they have just put

967
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:54,120
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels on Daniel Gafford and put Rudy goo Baer

968
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,400
Speaker 1: and Derek Jones Junior and done the exact same thing essentially,

969
00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:03,000
Speaker 1: meaning put your biggest forward on Dallas's lob threats, put

970
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,800
Speaker 1: your rim protector on their bad above the break shooters,

971
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:10,239
Speaker 1: which are Derek Jones and PJ. Washington. I don't know

972
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:11,520
Speaker 1: if it would have been enough to turn around the

973
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,239
Speaker 1: Minnesota series because Minnesota had issues on the other end

974
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,200
Speaker 1: with their inability to penetrate Dallas's load up the strong

975
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:20,359
Speaker 1: side type of defense. But like this, I do think

976
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 1: that Joe Miszoula has put together probably the best game plan.

977
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 1: And again, like when people talk about the Mavericks, like

978
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:30,480
Speaker 1: their build is fine, they have rim protection, they have

979
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:35,239
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders, they have the superstars. The one weakness is

980
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 1: they do not have a guy who can both guard

981
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:41,640
Speaker 1: on the perimeter and hit above the break threes consistently.

982
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:45,960
Speaker 1: So if you look at their situation, there's not really

983
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,840
Speaker 1: a ton of opportunity to improve the roster this summer,

984
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:51,800
Speaker 1: especially because they've gone all in in so many different ways.

985
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:54,080
Speaker 1: But what I would do is I'd go to PJ.

986
00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:56,839
Speaker 1: Washington and I'd be and Derek Jones and I'd be like,

987
00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,080
Speaker 1: and who knows, Derek Jones might end up being poached

988
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:01,600
Speaker 1: this summer because he had such good season and mostly

989
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:03,840
Speaker 1: maybe the I think the Mavericks will probably try to

990
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,920
Speaker 1: keep them with their mid level exception. But if if

991
00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:11,440
Speaker 1: Dallas can keep Derek Jones in PJ. Washington, you basically

992
00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:14,920
Speaker 1: point point to those guys in their postseason kind of

993
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 1: like wrap up meeting, and you say, above the break

994
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,360
Speaker 1: threes all summer long, above the break threes and corner threes,

995
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:24,720
Speaker 1: above the break threes and corner threes. Again, it's there's

996
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:28,880
Speaker 1: a there's a It's not about winning one series against

997
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:31,520
Speaker 1: a really good team. You have to beat four teams,

998
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:34,600
Speaker 1: and every team is going to defend you in different ways.

999
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:38,440
Speaker 1: Boston did put together a nice formula with Joe Miszula

1000
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 1: for how to slow down Dallas' offense, and the only

1001
00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:44,200
Speaker 1: counter for that is to be able to either have

1002
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: Derek Lively turn into a three point shooter so that

1003
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 1: he can pick and pop in those situations, or to

1004
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,200
Speaker 1: have Derek Jones PJ. Washington, that group of guys, Josh Green,

1005
00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:55,560
Speaker 1: you know, that group of guys become effective above the

1006
00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:58,480
Speaker 1: break shooters. Because again, if you if we look at

1007
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,080
Speaker 1: the geometry of the four, if the dunker spot is

1008
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:04,479
Speaker 1: occupied because Tatum or the other team's best forward is there,

1009
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,160
Speaker 1: and guys are glued up on the corners because they

1010
00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:09,600
Speaker 1: don't need to help because the biggest forward is under

1011
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:12,399
Speaker 1: the rim. Then you're setting ball screens to attack their

1012
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:17,120
Speaker 1: center with your forward. If Luca's trying to get downhill

1013
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,080
Speaker 1: in that ball screen, just imagine the geometry of the

1014
00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:24,440
Speaker 1: floor center in the dunker spot, Luca driving shooters in

1015
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:28,680
Speaker 1: the corners. That's four players. Where is the opening. The

1016
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:32,200
Speaker 1: entire above the brake line is open. If you have

1017
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,080
Speaker 1: that guy, the guy setting the screen in this case,

1018
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:36,320
Speaker 1: Derek Jones or PJ. Washington, if you have them roll,

1019
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,880
Speaker 1: they're rolling into all that shit show underneath the rim.

1020
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 1: If you have them pop, there's just a ton of

1021
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,560
Speaker 1: opening above the brake and those guys are going to

1022
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:47,600
Speaker 1: be wide open every single time. So like that is

1023
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:51,279
Speaker 1: the ultimate counter to what Boston is doing is you've

1024
00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:54,279
Speaker 1: got to You've got to force whoever it is that

1025
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:58,359
Speaker 1: they'll stop at that point because they won't want their

1026
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:00,799
Speaker 1: rim protector being pulled out above the break. You can

1027
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:03,719
Speaker 1: literally cancel out that adjustment and force them to go

1028
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,319
Speaker 1: back to putting their center on your center as long

1029
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:08,720
Speaker 1: as that guy's capable of hitting above the break threes,

1030
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:10,400
Speaker 1: and so that I think is going to be a

1031
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 1: big kind of like skill development piece that PJ and

1032
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:17,640
Speaker 1: Derek Jones or whoever it is that they end up

1033
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 1: filling that spot with. We'll have to work on over

1034
00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:21,719
Speaker 1: the summer. All right, guys, that is all I have

1035
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 1: for tonight. I sincerely appreciate you guys' participation in the

1036
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 1: mail bag and as always for supporting the show. We're

1037
00:52:27,239 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 1: going to run. This mail bag is breakout clips probably

1038
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:33,640
Speaker 1: on Saturday and Sunday, and then we'll be back with

1039
00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:37,959
Speaker 1: Colin on Monday night to break down Game five after

1040
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:40,279
Speaker 1: the final buzzer live on YouTube. I will see you guys.

1041
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:43,800
Speaker 1: Then the volume