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Speaker 1: welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys are having a great week
Speaker 1: so far. We got a jam pack day for the show. Today,
Speaker 1: we're doing two episodes, and this particular episode we're gonna
Speaker 1: be hitting Spurs suns from last night Victor Wembin Yama
Speaker 1: versus Kevin Durant. Then we're gonna do a deep dive
Speaker 1: on the Dallas Mavericks and a deep dive on the
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies, two teams that are performing unexpectedly to start
Speaker 1: the season. The Grizzlies are zero and four, the Mavericks
Speaker 1: are three and oh. We're gonna do deep dives on
Speaker 1: both of them and what I've learned from film so
Speaker 1: far this season, and then later this evening, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be doing a breakdown of the two ESPN games in
Speaker 1: the Wednesday Night Slate, finishing off with Lakers Clippers in
Speaker 1: the evening, which should be a fun one. The Clippers
Speaker 1: have had the Lakers number for a while. Lakers aren't
Speaker 1: playing very good basketball right now, so I have a
Speaker 1: feeling they might get their butts kicks, but we'll see
Speaker 1: how it goes. You guys know the Joe before we
Speaker 1: get started, subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is our
Speaker 1: brand new YouTube channel. We're trying to get it off
Speaker 1: the ground. I sincerely appreciate you guys' support over the
Speaker 1: first week and a half or so. We're already over
Speaker 1: twenty thousand subscribers. I am incredibly thrilled with how the
Speaker 1: show launch has gone on this channel. If you guys
Speaker 1: haven't done so yet, it would mean a lot to
Speaker 1: me if he took a second to scrip down and
Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed
Speaker 1: wherever Euchre podcast under Hoops tonight. Follow me on social media,
Speaker 1: particularly on Twitter, is where I've been doing when I'm
Speaker 1: doing my film sessions. I'm clipping stuff that I noticed
Speaker 1: and I'm putting it on Twitter. I posted like fifteen
Speaker 1: clips this morning, and so I'm gonna be referencing them
Speaker 1: throughout the show. I recommend following me there because that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a good way to kind of get a
Speaker 1: visual representation of some of the concepts that I talk
Speaker 1: about on the show. And the last, but not least,
Speaker 1: any more mailback questions. We're hitting three of them at
Speaker 1: the end of the show today, but I need more
Speaker 1: of them for the future. Put those in the YouTube comments.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So Victor Wemnyama versus
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. You know, we forget that Kevin Durant's an
Speaker 1: alien two, right, Like, We've had three players try to
Speaker 1: iso Victor WebM Minyama so far to start this season.
Speaker 1: There was a Dylan Brooks step back jump shot that
Speaker 1: he missed badly. There was a Paul George step back
Speaker 1: jump shot that he missed badly, and then there was
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving trying to recreate his twenty sixteen step back
Speaker 1: jump shot, which was also way off on the right,
Speaker 1: and then you know, figures, we forget that Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: in and of himself is a unicorn in his combination
Speaker 1: of length and size and ability to move in his
Speaker 1: coordination as a score. And he ends up in a
Speaker 1: late clock situation in a late first quarter, and he
Speaker 1: tries to call a ball screen to get Victor wemen
Speaker 1: Yama switched off of him, and Victor does a really
Speaker 1: nice job navigating the screen and then applies a little
Speaker 1: ball pressure to disrupt Kd's rhythm. But Kdie just goes, well,
Speaker 1: guess I got to iso Wemby here, don't have enough
Speaker 1: time to do anything else, hits him with a hard
Speaker 1: dribble drive to the right and a step back jump
Speaker 1: shot along the baseline, gets it off over Wemby's contest
Speaker 1: and knocks it down. It was one of those like
Speaker 1: kind of iconic basketball moments you see him over the years.
Speaker 1: It reminded me of this clip that you can find
Speaker 1: if you look around of Wilt Chamberlain blocking back to
Speaker 1: back Kurreem abdul Jabbar skyhooks, and it's one of those
Speaker 1: things where Kareem was kind of like that generation's you know,
Speaker 1: Victor in a lot of ways, and then you know
Speaker 1: Wilt is the previous generations, and like he's winning that
Speaker 1: individ duel battle, right And that's the thing is, like,
Speaker 1: it's kind of weird seeing Kevin Durant at this phase
Speaker 1: in his career where he's kind of like the elderly scholar,
Speaker 1: the guy that we're like, oh yeah, I forgot. He's
Speaker 1: freaking incredible as we've kind of turned our focus towards
Speaker 1: the future, and it just kind of felt like a
Speaker 1: cool moment to watch that game last night. The Sun's
Speaker 1: controlled the game throughout. Kevin Durants is on a ridiculous
Speaker 1: offensive run right now, twenty seven to seven and five
Speaker 1: on fifty nine percent true shooting, despite his co stars
Speaker 1: being out and facing unbelievably aggressive defensive coverages. Again, like
Speaker 1: the Suns right now, with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: out of the lineup, are playing a lot of players
Speaker 1: that teams aren't gonna guard at the three point line.
Speaker 1: Josha Kogi is not getting guarded out there, Jordan Goodwin's
Speaker 1: not getting guarded out Their use of Nurkic made a
Speaker 1: couple threes in crunch time last night, but they're all open.
Speaker 1: They're not guarding him out there. Drew Eubanks is a
Speaker 1: non scoring threat. And then to here little who knocked
Speaker 1: down a couple of threes in the game last night,
Speaker 1: also not being guarded when he's at the three point line.
Speaker 1: And so as a result, teams are able to to
Speaker 1: zone up on the strong side, meaning like ignore a
Speaker 1: player off ball to then come on the other side
Speaker 1: of the block so that they don't get a defensive
Speaker 1: three seconds call and just basically make driving not an
Speaker 1: option for KD so that he has to take pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots right and then they're basically just filling
Speaker 1: the gaps on the weak side to make those skip
Speaker 1: passes difficult. They're doubling him on ball screens, they're doubling
Speaker 1: him a lot on ISOs as well. They're able to
Speaker 1: throw the kitchen sync at KD because there's just not
Speaker 1: a lot of offensive skill around him. Right now, that said,
Speaker 1: they do you know, this is what the third game
Speaker 1: in a row that the Sons have played without Booker
Speaker 1: and Beal, and so they're starting to get that little
Speaker 1: you know, driving kick thing down on the back side
Speaker 1: of that to generate high quality threes. They did not
Speaker 1: shoot very well in the Jazz game or in the
Speaker 1: Laker game, but they did shoot much better in this
Speaker 1: particular game generate a lot of high quality threes that
Speaker 1: guys were knocking down. Kind of were stiff arming the
Speaker 1: Spurs around like ten points for most of the game,
Speaker 1: but then Greg Popovich breaks breaks out a three to
Speaker 1: two zone in the middle of the fourth quarter. They
Speaker 1: get three stops in a row on it, and then
Speaker 1: Devin Vessel has a nice little scoring run where he
Speaker 1: rejects the ball screen with Josha Koge on him and
Speaker 1: gets downhill, hits a and one over use of Nurkic,
Speaker 1: and then he hits a nasty step back three over
Speaker 1: Eric Gordon and suddenly it's a three point game, right,
Speaker 1: And so then the Spurs go back to Manda Man
Speaker 1: and Keldon Johnson's guarden Kevin Durant on a couple of
Speaker 1: possessions and kd gets him twice in a row, one
Speaker 1: on one to put the Spurs back up by five.
Speaker 1: But then down the stretch the Spurs just straight up
Speaker 1: steal the game. They're down by five, they run a
Speaker 1: baseline out of bounds play where KD and you do
Speaker 1: want to Nobby accidentally miscommunicate to switch. Uta is a
Speaker 1: little slow to get out, and Victor just hits a
Speaker 1: really nice shot, a little movement jump shot, a little
Speaker 1: seventeen footer kind of move into his right, rises up
Speaker 1: and knocks the shot down. On the very next possession,
Speaker 1: the Suns once again rotate the ball around and hit
Speaker 1: you to want Nabby for a wide open three in
Speaker 1: the left corner, and again it's maker, miss league. You
Speaker 1: just shot fifty one percent on corner threes last year,
Speaker 1: missed this one. Suddenly it's a three point game and
Speaker 1: the Spurs have the ball, and so they run this
Speaker 1: play like a ball screen action with Victor. Webbin Yaman,
Speaker 1: Devin Vessel, and Reggie Miller on the TNT broadcast said
Speaker 1: a really nice I've been calling out how Victor was
Speaker 1: bailing out of screens early, and this is something he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to work on, because, like there's a tendency
Speaker 1: when you're setting ball screens to want to get out
Speaker 1: quickly because you want to be ready for the basketball, right,
Speaker 1: So you want to roll quickly, you want to pop
Speaker 1: quickly and you want to be ready to catch the
Speaker 1: ball right. But at the end of the day, your
Speaker 1: opening is actually going to be a bigger result of
Speaker 1: how good of a screen you set, because if you
Speaker 1: don't set a solid screen and the on ball defender
Speaker 1: is able to stay with the primary initiator, then then
Speaker 1: they don't need to overhelp on the backside and you
Speaker 1: just won't be open. But if you set a solid
Speaker 1: screen and you allow your ball handler to get separated
Speaker 1: from Josha Kogi or whoever it is that's at the
Speaker 1: point of attack, then the backside has to help. And
Speaker 1: when the backside has to help, that's when if you
Speaker 1: pick and pop to the top of the key, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be wide open. Or if you're rolling down the lane,
Speaker 1: you're either gonna be open for the pocket pass or
Speaker 1: the skip pass is going to be open. It requires
Speaker 1: you to set a good screen, and this is something
Speaker 1: that doesn't get discussed nearly enough in the league. Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, a matchup like Jokich and Anthony Davis, Like
Speaker 1: we talk about all these differences between them, but one
Speaker 1: of the key differences between them is Nikole Jokis is
Speaker 1: an excellent screener and Anthony Davis is a bad screener
Speaker 1: for his position, and so that sort of thing is
Speaker 1: a huge area of opportunity with big men in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and it's something that Victor has to get better at.
Speaker 1: But anyway, he bails out of the screen right and
Speaker 1: so when Devin Vessel dribbles over to the right side
Speaker 1: of the floor, the on ball defenders on him, so
Speaker 1: the play completely falls apart. But on the play, Devin
Speaker 1: Vessel settles for a tough pull up three and Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant gets caught ball watching and doesn't box Victor wemen
Speaker 1: Yam out, who slips right behind him for the tip
Speaker 1: dunk to make it one fourteen to one thirteen. And
Speaker 1: then on the inbounds play again, like a lot of
Speaker 1: times traps on the inbounds what they'll do is the
Speaker 1: guy who throws the inbound pass, the guy guarding him
Speaker 1: will then quick trap right, and then a lot of
Speaker 1: times like teams will rotate down and take away the
Speaker 1: inbounder as he comes in and make you throw it
Speaker 1: over the top pass. But the Spurs didn't even do that.
Speaker 1: They ignored a kogie when he slid back in bounds,
Speaker 1: and so he was right there waiting for the basketball,
Speaker 1: but Katie just didn't see him, didn't even and then
Speaker 1: he also didn't see Keldon Johnson looping around behind him
Speaker 1: for that steal takes the ball away. Then Keldon Johnson
Speaker 1: just goes right downhill and attacks the rim and makes
Speaker 1: the shot to end up essentially winning the game. KD
Speaker 1: misses a prayer at the buzzer that was an extremely
Speaker 1: difficult shot. Now, this is kind of the reality of
Speaker 1: Phoenix's offensive limitations without Devin Booker and Bradley Bial. This
Speaker 1: is the second time in the last three games that
Speaker 1: the Sons basically controlled a game throughout and then blew
Speaker 1: it late, particularly struggling on the offensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: because they've actually been a really good defensive team without
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and Bradley Bial For the season, the Suns
Speaker 1: are sixth in defensive rating. They are eleventh and half
Speaker 1: court defense. According to Cleaning the Glass, they have the
Speaker 1: third best transition defense. They are allowing again, like they
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of interior side, so they're struggling
Speaker 1: a little bit. In the paint. They're nineteenth and opponent's
Speaker 1: points in the paint allowed per one hundred possessions, but
Speaker 1: they are sixth and opponent three three pointers made in
Speaker 1: second and opponent three point percentage. You're seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of the elements that Frank Vogel brings to a team
Speaker 1: taking place, physical point of attack defense, right chasing teams
Speaker 1: off the three point line, especially on the ball. He's
Speaker 1: always into ball pressure and chasing over the top of
Speaker 1: screens to try to funnel to his rim protection. Now,
Speaker 1: his rim protection is not great, but he's doing a
Speaker 1: great job of making opposing stars feel uncomfortable. And then
Speaker 1: another thing, and again, remember I covered Frank Vogel pretty
Speaker 1: closely when he was with the Lakers, when I covered
Speaker 1: the Lakers full time, and another element of Frank Vogel's
Speaker 1: kind of defensive philosophy is leave the right guy open. Essentially,
Speaker 1: at any given moment, if there is a guy that
Speaker 1: he doesn't trust to be able to consistently knock down shots,
Speaker 1: he will basically ignore that guy and overhelp on the
Speaker 1: other side of the floor. And the idea there is
Speaker 1: make their stars feel uncomfortable, guard their good shooters, leave
Speaker 1: their bad shooters open. They're gonna get wide open shots,
Speaker 1: but they'll get wide open shots for the wrong guys,
Speaker 1: And that's a great example of that. They're second in
Speaker 1: opponent three point percentage, so that what that's telling me
Speaker 1: is that when teams are getting three point looks, it's
Speaker 1: for the right shooters, right, and that that's textbook Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel basketball. I definitely did did not do a good
Speaker 1: enough job in my season preview and just kind of
Speaker 1: accounting for what Frank Vogel's defensive philosophy and just his
Speaker 1: ability to get buy in would due to this basketball team.
Speaker 1: Now again, the question will be are they going to
Speaker 1: be able to maintain that level of physicality and attention
Speaker 1: to detail when Bradley Beal and Devin Booker get back
Speaker 1: in the lineup. My guess is yes, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: But every game is felt like Kevin Durant is being
Speaker 1: heroic on offense until eventually the other team wears them
Speaker 1: down with super aggressive coverage. Is then they start to
Speaker 1: miss shots, and then they start turning the basketball over.
Speaker 1: The Sons are turning the ball over at a rate
Speaker 1: of twenty one point two times per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, which is the second highest rate
Speaker 1: in the league for teams turning the ball over in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, and again like it really just will ease,
Speaker 1: like because Kevin Durant in general has not quite been
Speaker 1: as good at his as his peers at managing like
Speaker 1: super aggressive coverages. Like I've always thought that Jannis and
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum in particular were a little bit better at it.
Speaker 1: Lebron's definitely a lot better at it, Luca is obviously
Speaker 1: a lot better at it. So like compared to the
Speaker 1: other like big you know, wing initiators in the league,
Speaker 1: Katie hasn't been the best at that. But it's just
Speaker 1: not really that relevant because the Sons aren't winning a
Speaker 1: title of Devin Booker and Bradley Bal aren't playing anyway,
Speaker 1: and Bradley Bal excuse me, Devin Booker said on the
Speaker 1: broadcast last night that he'll be back soon. Now who
Speaker 1: knows what that means, but him coming back is going
Speaker 1: to solve a lot of the problems on the Spurs front.
Speaker 1: Victor women Yama once again super confident in a clutch situation,
Speaker 1: four key points in crunch time. It's a huge story
Speaker 1: early here in the season. These are the leaders, the
Speaker 1: league leaders for clutch baskets made. Now, remember that's within
Speaker 1: five minutes less than five points. Lebron is number one
Speaker 1: with eight clutch field goals, but then Victor wem Minyama
Speaker 1: is tied for second with Luka Doncicc at six clutch
Speaker 1: field goals made. He's six for nine from the field
Speaker 1: in clutch situations. He's got two blocks in his steel
Speaker 1: in clutch situations, three offensive rebounds in clutch situations, once
Speaker 1: again crashing the offensive glass for key bucket late last night,
Speaker 1: and the Spurs are plus nine and fifteen minutes of
Speaker 1: clutch basketball with Victor wem Minyama on the floor, and
Speaker 1: like he just looks confident, he wants the ball. He's
Speaker 1: taking like difficult shots and making him like that. Based
Speaker 1: on that of bounds play, He's been actually hitting those
Speaker 1: movement jump shots at a high rate. I almost like
Speaker 1: trust him more on the move than in a standstill situation.
Speaker 1: He has a remarkable ability to slow himself down and
Speaker 1: get really good lift as he rises up to knock
Speaker 1: those shot down. There's a lot of leg strength. I
Speaker 1: think people have underestimated with how thin Victor Womenyam is,
Speaker 1: how pliable, flexible and strong he is, especially in his
Speaker 1: lower body, with his ability to rise up and knock
Speaker 1: down shots. He had four more blocks last night. I
Speaker 1: saw this crazy piece of lineup data when I was
Speaker 1: digging into it this morning. According to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 1: with Victor wemen Yama on the floor, the Spurs have
Speaker 1: a one hundred and three defensive rating, which is awesome.
Speaker 1: That's an excellent defensive rating. When he's off the floor,
Speaker 1: the Spurs have a one hundred and thirty defensive rating,
Speaker 1: a twenty seven point per one hundred possession drop. So
Speaker 1: you're seeing the Victor Wembenyama effect on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor here early on. And I don't even think
Speaker 1: he's been as aggressive offensively as he could be in
Speaker 1: the big picture. Just you know, he had so many
Speaker 1: plays last night that I would consider to be like
Speaker 1: true wow plays at the NBA level. There was that
Speaker 1: dunk that he had at the end of the first
Speaker 1: half where he beat or kd on the close out
Speaker 1: and then rose up with his left hand. He had
Speaker 1: another play late in the it was either late third
Speaker 1: early fourth where he kind of like got pirouetted through
Speaker 1: the lane and had his back turned and then just
Speaker 1: like looked up and saw the rim and just threw
Speaker 1: it in off the glass behind his head for an
Speaker 1: and one. He is absolute musty television. And I can
Speaker 1: tell you on this show we're going to be covering
Speaker 1: him throughout the season because I just want to watch.
Speaker 1: And if I'm going to watch, for sure is hell
Speaker 1: going to talk about it. And I'm gonna enjoy covering
Speaker 1: this kid's career. Devin Vessel made two huge plays late.
Speaker 1: We talked about it, that rejected screen against Joshakogi and
Speaker 1: then that step back three over Eric Gordon on the
Speaker 1: left wing. He's thirteen for twenty nine and pull up
Speaker 1: jump shot so far the season. That's forty five percent,
Speaker 1: so that's really really good. And he's also nine for
Speaker 1: nine at the rim, just being really selective about when
Speaker 1: he goes, not over penetrating making reeds when he doesn't
Speaker 1: see an option there. And then Kelden Johnson, he was
Speaker 1: the victim of Frank Vogel ignoring him last night. He
Speaker 1: was being left wide open at the three point line.
Speaker 1: He attempted nine threes, seven of which were wide open,
Speaker 1: meaning the defender was at least six feet away. He's
Speaker 1: finding out quickly that that's the way teams are gonna
Speaker 1: guard him until he demonstrates that he can make them,
Speaker 1: but last night he did. He made four of them,
Speaker 1: including three kind of important ones down the stretch of
Speaker 1: the game. All right, let's move on to our first
Speaker 1: in depth kind of like dive in on the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 1: So just a quick heads up for people. I want
Speaker 1: you know, I'm always wanting this show to be the
Speaker 1: best it could possibly be for you guys, because obviously
Speaker 1: there is no job for me here unless you guys
Speaker 1: come watch this show. And I really really want to
Speaker 1: work on giving better coverage of the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that happens is we do
Speaker 1: these instant reactions, right, and I end up covering the
Speaker 1: top six or seven teams really frequently, and like we'll
Speaker 1: hit of those teams will hit like two thirds of
Speaker 1: their games, right, and then the rest of the league
Speaker 1: we end up not hitting nearly as much. And what
Speaker 1: ends up happening is then we do talk about them
Speaker 1: at the end of some show in some instant reaction,
Speaker 1: and we spend five six minutes on it, and I
Speaker 1: just don't really feel like we get enough into the
Speaker 1: weeds to really kind of dive into some of the
Speaker 1: interesting concepts that surround these teams, and so what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start doing more is fewer instant reactions. We're still
Speaker 1: gonna do them, they're gonna be a part of the show,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna do a lot more of what I'm
Speaker 1: about to do right now, which is like just taking
Speaker 1: like like a three or four game sample of a
Speaker 1: team and then just doing a deep dive and just
Speaker 1: spending ten to fifteen minutes on one team, not focusing
Speaker 1: on an individual game in what happened, but bigger picture trends,
Speaker 1: which players are playing well, which lineups are performing well,
Speaker 1: things they're doing well or poorly on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor, areas of opportunity, things I'm noticing schematically. And
Speaker 1: so that's what I want to try today. And I'm
Speaker 1: interested in hearing your guys' feedback because I want again,
Speaker 1: I want to cater the show towards what you guys want,
Speaker 1: because you guys are the ones that make this all work. Right,
Speaker 1: So let's start with the Dallas Mavericks. They are three
Speaker 1: to no. They beat the Spurs in the nets in
Speaker 1: their first two games, crazy crunch time games right where
Speaker 1: Lukadancic basically saved them down the stretch but then they
Speaker 1: notch a really quality road win on the road versus
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies without Kyrie Irving, as they controlled the
Speaker 1: game throughout and went up doubled figures in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and basically won without any sort of stress involved.
Speaker 1: Right they are the number one offense in the league
Speaker 1: so far one hundred and twenty one point three offensive rating.
Speaker 1: They're scoring one hundred and six points per one hundred
Speaker 1: half court possessions, which is also the very best mark
Speaker 1: in the league. And it all starts with Lukadancis. He's
Speaker 1: playing at a MVP level to start this season. Thirty
Speaker 1: nine points, twelve rebounds, and ten assists, seventy percent true shooting.
Speaker 1: His jump shot has been on fire. He's shooting seventy
Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on jumpers so far
Speaker 1: this season. A Lukadanciic jump shot is worth one point
Speaker 1: four points per possession right now, which is insane. You're
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of again, like seventy five percent effective
Speaker 1: field goal percentage on pull up jump shots. He's sixteen
Speaker 1: for thirty on his step back three to start the season.
Speaker 1: You're seeing a lot of Luca beating switches in the
Speaker 1: Memphis game the other night, like they kept switching Jaron
Speaker 1: Jackson or Xavier Tillman onto him in pick and roll,
Speaker 1: thinking like, oh, Luca's a bullyball player. We can switch
Speaker 1: this action and basically force Luca to try to back
Speaker 1: down players that are just as strong as him. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: Luca's counter for that is the step back three. And
Speaker 1: when he's hitting it in the low thirties, it's less
Speaker 1: than a point per possession. It's something that the opposing
Speaker 1: coach can live with. But when he's hitting it at
Speaker 1: sixteen for thirty to start the season, it becomes untenable.
Speaker 1: And you saw it once again in that Grizzlies game.
Speaker 1: Just step back three, step back three, step back three.
Speaker 1: We looked at the Brooklyn Nets game. Step back three,
Speaker 1: step back three, step back three. That's becoming essentially his
Speaker 1: go to move against switches, and he's just making it
Speaker 1: at an extremely high level. He's shooting seventy five percent
Speaker 1: in the restricted area as well. His shot creation has
Speaker 1: been absolutely ridiculous. He is picking everybody apart for the
Speaker 1: amount of help that they offer. Wherever it is on
Speaker 1: the floor, he blitzes. He's able to just quickly step
Speaker 1: back and throw that two hand over the top skip
Speaker 1: pass to the right guy. He had a really nice
Speaker 1: one against Memphis where he took that step back against
Speaker 1: the blitz and noticed the wide open player on the
Speaker 1: right wing and kind of looked at him to get
Speaker 1: Desmond Bayn to kind of nudge up, and then he
Speaker 1: hit the roll man with the overhead pass that ended
Speaker 1: up getting swung to the corner for a wide open three.
Speaker 1: He's just got complete mastery of half court offense at
Speaker 1: this point. The shot creation data is insane. He's averaging
Speaker 1: one point one to four points per pick and roll
Speaker 1: in ISOs, and again, this is beating those switches that
Speaker 1: we talked about. One point four to six points per possession.
Speaker 1: Luca ISOs have led to fifty four points including passes
Speaker 1: so far this season's that's literally, by far the most
Speaker 1: in the league. Here's how much. Second place is Tyrese
Speaker 1: Haliburton at twenty seven ISO points created. So Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: has twice as many isolation points that he is directly
Speaker 1: created either by his own shot making or off the pass,
Speaker 1: twice as much than the second most in the league.
Speaker 1: This is like unbelievable, unprecedented perimeter shot in the perimeter
Speaker 1: initiation that we're seeing out of Luca one point three
Speaker 1: to eight points per post up. All this is insane, right,
Speaker 1: but again you got to have the off ball production
Speaker 1: to make it all work. Derek Lively has been an
Speaker 1: excellent pick and roll lob threat for him. He's four
Speaker 1: to five from the field on rollman possessions. One of
Speaker 1: the early season kind of like big exciting things for
Speaker 1: MAMS fans, Like, like we talk about this when you're
Speaker 1: in a situation where your payroll is tied up and
Speaker 1: you don't have flexibility to go out and free agency
Speaker 1: and pay for players or have the ability to bring
Speaker 1: guys back because of their current salary, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, at a decent fair number where you end
Speaker 1: up not losing them, right. One of the things you
Speaker 1: end up having to do in that situation is you
Speaker 1: have to hit on veteran minimum signings because when you're
Speaker 1: over the cap and you don't have the ability to
Speaker 1: bring certain players back with bird rights, it pretty much
Speaker 1: comes down to mid level exception, veteran minimum exception, bi
Speaker 1: annual exception once every other year, right, and then occasionally
Speaker 1: you can do something like they did with Grant Williams
Speaker 1: and make a sign in trade, right, But you're limited
Speaker 1: in your ability to make these types of moves, and
Speaker 1: so hitting on veteran minimum signings is like an absolute must, right.
Speaker 1: And they've just had a lot of guys that have
Speaker 1: played really well for them that they didn't have to
Speaker 1: move mountains to get. Derek Jones Junior started all three games.
Speaker 1: He's doing a really nice job of punishing nail help. Now.
Speaker 1: Nail help again is like just imagine you have a
Speaker 1: corner three point shooter, corner three point shooter, three point
Speaker 1: shooter on the wing right, and then you're having your
Speaker 1: guy come up and set a ball screen. Now, Derek
Speaker 1: Jones Junior is typically not a great shooter, right, but
Speaker 1: he's a very good athlete. And what a lot of
Speaker 1: teams have been doing is cutting and driving out of
Speaker 1: that weak side wing as opposed to shooting. And so
Speaker 1: they're putting athletes over there rather than putting them in
Speaker 1: the corner in the unker spot like you would like
Speaker 1: you'd expect, right. And what's crazy is he's also making
Speaker 1: the above the break three as well. Now, what is
Speaker 1: nail help if Lucas calling for that ball screen, right,
Speaker 1: or if he's even on a switch attacking an ISO
Speaker 1: or just dribbling the ball down the floor and attacking
Speaker 1: his individual matchup. If he's on the right wing and
Speaker 1: Derek Jones is on the left wing, and Derek Jones's
Speaker 1: defender SAgs down to basically where the free throw line is,
Speaker 1: where the nail is, he's taking away the left handed
Speaker 1: drive from Luka Doncics, right, But that's a closeout opportunity
Speaker 1: that's basically gift wrapped for you, right. And now, a
Speaker 1: lot of the reason why coaches will go that way
Speaker 1: is they'll think, oh, and above the break three point
Speaker 1: shot is not going to be made at a high
Speaker 1: enough clip to really bother us, right, But Derek Jones
Speaker 1: has done a really nice job of driving that as well.
Speaker 1: He's made the shot. He's four for five on above
Speaker 1: the break three point shots so far this season, had
Speaker 1: a bunch of them. I think he made three of
Speaker 1: them against Memphis if I remember correctly, which is funny
Speaker 1: because he's zero for five from the corner, so he
Speaker 1: can't make a corner three save his life. But he's
Speaker 1: making that wing three point shot a lot. But he's
Speaker 1: also slashing to the rim off of those possessions. He
Speaker 1: had two driving layups at the rim in the last game.
Speaker 1: Attacking out of that slot. He's converting spot up possessions
Speaker 1: at one point two to seven points per possession, which
Speaker 1: is excellent. And he's also taking some of their primary
Speaker 1: point of attack assignments. So like hitting on the Derek
Speaker 1: Jones signing, just something little like that can change the
Speaker 1: trajectory of a basketball team. Josh Green has been excellent.
Speaker 1: He's shooting the ball and attacking closeouts really well. He's
Speaker 1: like a real downhill rim pressure guy attacking closeouts, and
Speaker 1: you actually see the defense on his rip throughs really
Speaker 1: react to him, and he's good at making that secondary
Speaker 1: reid attacking closeouts. Tim Hardaway Junior has been j R.
Speaker 1: Smith ESQ with some of his freelance offense. He's eight
Speaker 1: for fourteen on pull up jump shots and three for
Speaker 1: four on pull up threes. It's not really part of
Speaker 1: the offense when it's happening, it's kind of just like
Speaker 1: That's why I say it reminds me of Jared Smith,
Speaker 1: because like sometimes the ball just ends up in Tim
Speaker 1: Hardaway's hands and everyone just stands around and he goes
Speaker 1: one on one and really it's it's a great when
Speaker 1: you have guys like that that are bucket getters. It
Speaker 1: is actually a useful tool in the offense in bench
Speaker 1: groups as long as he's knocking shots down, and early
Speaker 1: in the season he's knocking them down. Grant Williams has
Speaker 1: been another signing again now through this one through the
Speaker 1: sign in trade, that has been a hit so far
Speaker 1: forty five percent from three on seven attempts per game.
Speaker 1: I think he's been a useful defensive player and a
Speaker 1: very good rebounder for them as well, which we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about in a minute. The main area for
Speaker 1: opportunity in the MAVs offense, and again, like the MAVs
Speaker 1: are the best offense in the league, the best half
Speaker 1: court offense in the league, biggest area of opportunities. Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving's got to get going. He's passed the ball really well.
Speaker 1: I thought. I thought Kyrie was excellent down the stretch
Speaker 1: in that in that Spurs game, in particular in the
Speaker 1: early fourth quarter, setting his teammates up for easy baskets.
Speaker 1: He's got good role chemistry with Dwight Powell, but he's
Speaker 1: just not making his jump shot right now. He's five
Speaker 1: for twenty one on jump shots, and he's also missing
Speaker 1: at the rim. He's just seven for fifteen at the rim.
Speaker 1: So that'll push them to another level when he gets
Speaker 1: going at the rate that Luke is going. But to
Speaker 1: be clear, like as bad as his individual scoring numbers
Speaker 1: have been, when Luke's off the floor and Kyrie's on
Speaker 1: the floor, of the MAVs offense has been very good,
Speaker 1: so I don't view it as an issue. It's just
Speaker 1: something that can raise their ceiling in the big picture
Speaker 1: when he gets better again. The biggest question coming into
Speaker 1: the season was could they defend and rebound at a
Speaker 1: high enough level to allow their offense to win games
Speaker 1: for them, And they've rebounded extremely well. They've grabbed seventy
Speaker 1: five percent of available defensive rebounds. That's the sixth best
Speaker 1: mark in the league. After the Kyrie Irving trade last year,
Speaker 1: they were twentieth in defensive rebound percentage, So they're rebounding
Speaker 1: much better than they did at the end of last season.
Speaker 1: Derek Lively has been great there, getting a lot of
Speaker 1: contested rebounds around the basket. Luka Doncic and we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about this in general, he's way more engaged on
Speaker 1: the details compared to where he was last year, He's
Speaker 1: competing on the glass. He's closing out hard to the
Speaker 1: perimeter and funneling guys the way that he's supposed to.
Speaker 1: He's averaging fourteen defensive rebounds per one hundred possessions so
Speaker 1: far this season. That's thirty one percent more than he
Speaker 1: averaged last year. So there's unquestionable, bit unquestionably been a
Speaker 1: higher level of commitment out of Luca, and then Grant
Speaker 1: Williams and Tim Hardaway have both really helped on the
Speaker 1: defensive glass. They're both really good with ball pursuit and
Speaker 1: they're they're both physically equipped to handle NBA players crashing
Speaker 1: from the perimeter, which can be a problem for some
Speaker 1: other teams that don't have that type of physicality. Those
Speaker 1: two guys are combining to grab twelve point seven defensive
Speaker 1: rebounds per one hundred possessions. Josh Green is really the
Speaker 1: only guy on the roster who's not contributing in a
Speaker 1: big way on the glass. Right now. The Mavericks are
Speaker 1: allowing just eleven point six second chance points per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions, which is the sixth best mark in the league.
Speaker 1: On the defensive end of the floor. They're eighteenth in
Speaker 1: defensive rating. After the Kyrie Irving trade. Last year they
Speaker 1: were twenty seventh. So again, they went from being one
Speaker 1: of the very worst defense and rebounding teams at the
Speaker 1: end of last season to being a very good rebounding
Speaker 1: team and an average defensive team so far this season.
Speaker 1: And that's enough when your offense is as good as
Speaker 1: they are. They're twenty second in half court defense. They're
Speaker 1: the eighth best team protecting the paint. Josh Green and
Speaker 1: Derek Jones have been doing a really good job of
Speaker 1: applying ball pressure in funneling guys to the rim. They're
Speaker 1: offering smart help at the rim, essentially prioritizing the paint
Speaker 1: in allowing three point shots on the back end as
Speaker 1: a result, And again, like that's gonna manifest in the
Speaker 1: three point numbers right Like they're giving up the twenty
Speaker 1: sixth they're twenty sixth an opponent three pointers made per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions. They are twenty fifth in opponent three
Speaker 1: point percentage, So they're giving up a lot of threes
Speaker 1: and teams are making them. But that's like the one
Speaker 1: week point. They're guarding the paint well they're rebounding well,
Speaker 1: they're actually forcing a decent amount of turnovers. They're forcing
Speaker 1: fifteen point two turnovers per one hundred possessions. That's the
Speaker 1: twelfth most in the NBA. So, like, I like that approach.
Speaker 1: This is not a team that's going to be a
Speaker 1: top ten defense. They're not physically capable of it. They
Speaker 1: don't have the players, they don't have the rim protection,
Speaker 1: they don't have the perimeter defense to be a top
Speaker 1: ten defense. But what they can be is a team
Speaker 1: that makes your opposing stars uncomfortable, funnels you into their
Speaker 1: packed paint defense, and forces you to make good decisions
Speaker 1: and make shots on the back end, which can be
Speaker 1: a problem when on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: Luca's killing you and it slows down the rhythm of
Speaker 1: the game. It gets you in your head. We've talked
Speaker 1: about this with the Nuggets as well. Like, I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in like, when you're making offense look easy,
Speaker 1: it gets in the head of the other team. And
Speaker 1: so like, you put the onus on them to make
Speaker 1: the right decisions and to make those kickout passes. They're
Speaker 1: gonna miss a lot of them. Grab the rebounds when
Speaker 1: they're there, right, and then when you have opportunities to
Speaker 1: force turnovers like you have, take advantage of that as well.
Speaker 1: So like, I like the approach that to me is
Speaker 1: the kind of area of opportunity for this team is
Speaker 1: be like right in that fifteen to twenty range on defense,
Speaker 1: be the best offense in the league, and be a
Speaker 1: great rebounding team. If you do those things, you have
Speaker 1: a puncher's chance to do some real damage in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And again, like that was kind of why I put
Speaker 1: the MAVs. Everyone called me crazy when I said they
Speaker 1: had a one percent chance to win the title, and
Speaker 1: I consider them to be like the ninth or tenth best,
Speaker 1: like actual championship contender. And it's because you can't count
Speaker 1: out that high level offensive initiation if they can get
Speaker 1: enough rebounds and if they can get enough stops. We
Speaker 1: literally just saw that last year with the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: even if it is a long shot, all right, Moving
Speaker 1: on to the Memphis Grizzlies ozh to four obviously not
Speaker 1: what you'd expect. This was a team that won consistently
Speaker 1: without John Morant and the lineup last year, and they
Speaker 1: brought in pieces to try to rectify that right with
Speaker 1: the Marcus Smart trade right, a lot of focuses on
Speaker 1: the offensive end right now, and the offense is brough
Speaker 1: twenty seventh in offensive rating, a lot of specific issues.
Speaker 1: The shot creation with Marcus Smart and Desmond Bain has
Speaker 1: actually been okay. Desmond Bain is having a really good
Speaker 1: season so far. Marcus Smart is actually having a really
Speaker 1: good offensive season as well. If you look at the
Speaker 1: the uh the numbers, they have a one oh six
Speaker 1: offensive rating with both been Baine and Marcus Smart on
Speaker 1: the floor, which is bad, but like not that bad, right, like,
Speaker 1: especially if you're a great defensive team, and the offense
Speaker 1: has actually been pretty solid when one of them's on
Speaker 1: the floor and the other guy is off. But they're
Speaker 1: playing a lot of minutes with both of them off
Speaker 1: the floor, which is confusing to me because you think
Speaker 1: they'd stagger them a little bit more considering they're their
Speaker 1: two best perimeter initiators right now. And the Grizzlies have
Speaker 1: a ninety two offensive rating when both Desmond Bane and
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart are off the floor. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like this team was always going to
Speaker 1: struggle to score in the half court. That's kind of
Speaker 1: what their identity is they just don't have enough offensive
Speaker 1: skill outside of their initiators to consistently be a great
Speaker 1: half court offense. What they've always done to bolster their
Speaker 1: offense is kill people on the offensive glass and kill
Speaker 1: people in transition. Right. Last year they were fifth in
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds per one hundred possessions. This year so far
Speaker 1: twenty fourth. That's what it's like not having Steven Adams
Speaker 1: or in your lineup anymore. Right, And then in transition
Speaker 1: they were fifteen. They were second in the league last
Speaker 1: year in transition points per possession excuse me, and transition
Speaker 1: points scored per game and at one point one to
Speaker 1: four points per possession, so really efficient number, and the
Speaker 1: second most frequent transition team. This year, they're fifteenth in
Speaker 1: transition points per game and scoring at a rate of
Speaker 1: just one point zero eight points per possession. So usually
Speaker 1: their offense is bolstered by all of this transition offense,
Speaker 1: in all of these offensive rebound opportunities to make up
Speaker 1: for their other limitations in half court offensively, because even
Speaker 1: when John Muran was out there last year, they were
Speaker 1: a bad half court offense. That's not what I'm expecting
Speaker 1: from this team. I don't think they're going to fix that, right,
Speaker 1: but they are not getting the easy stuff now, the
Speaker 1: offensive glass without Steven Adams. That's hard to replicate. However,
Speaker 1: you can be a good transition team like you were
Speaker 1: last year. There's a very specific reason why they haven't
Speaker 1: been as good this year, and it comes down to
Speaker 1: the defensive end. Again, Like, this is a team different
Speaker 1: from the Dallas Mavericks, who, like you're just trying to
Speaker 1: strive for mediocre on defense because that gives you a
Speaker 1: chance with your elite offense. This team has to go
Speaker 1: the route of the twenty twenty Lakers in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one Bucks, which is, like, we are an outstanding,
Speaker 1: ferocious defensive team that forces a lot of turnovers and
Speaker 1: gets out in transition after defensive rebounds. Right, that's what
Speaker 1: you're expecting from this Memphis Grizzlies team. Right Then, in
Speaker 1: half court situations, you're hoping for Joah Moran and Desmond
Speaker 1: Baine to just make enough plays to push you over
Speaker 1: the top, like Lebron and Ady did in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: like Giannis and Chris Middleton and Juw Holliday did in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Right, Like that formula works as long
Speaker 1: as you are an absolute top tier defense twenty twenty
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis one of the best defensive playoff runs I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. Yannis twenty twenty one, one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive playoff runs that you'll ever see. Right, that's what
Speaker 1: you have to have. You have to have that top
Speaker 1: tier defense. And this team has been mediocre on defense.
Speaker 1: Mediocre in a sense that it's actually kind of flown
Speaker 1: under the radar, right, Like all the talk has been
Speaker 1: around Memphis's offense, but they're fifteenth in defensive rating. And
Speaker 1: this is a team that has always defended well when
Speaker 1: Jaws out of the lineup, because they usually are removing
Speaker 1: a negative defender and putting a positive defender on the floor. Right.
Speaker 1: According to Cleaning the Last, they're twenty third and a
Speaker 1: half court defense. And I found this really interesting, so
Speaker 1: I spent a bunch of time watching the film this morning.
Speaker 1: Grizzlies fans, go to my Twitter feed at underscore Jason
Speaker 1: lt I clipped like fifteen clips to demonstrate this concept
Speaker 1: that I'm about to go over. But to me, the
Speaker 1: number one issue I'm noticing on tape is way way,
Speaker 1: way too much unnecessary overhelping, specifically at the nail off
Speaker 1: the ball, and then on the back line when they're
Speaker 1: overreacting with that lowman help, that bringing that third defender
Speaker 1: over on ball screens when they really don't need to.
Speaker 1: And I want to give some specific examples. So first
Speaker 1: of all, nail help. You saw a bunch of examples
Speaker 1: of this at the Dallas Maverick, right, So just imagine
Speaker 1: Luka Doncicic or whoever it is that has the ball
Speaker 1: on the right wing right, and then you got like
Speaker 1: Grant Williams or Derek or excuse me, Derek Jones Junior
Speaker 1: on the left wing right, way too many possessions primary culprits.
Speaker 1: I notice on taper has been baying in Jakelbavia, But
Speaker 1: I don't really think it's their fault. I think this
Speaker 1: is a schematic thing, right, So it comes down to
Speaker 1: Taylor Jenkins. Those guys are sitting at the nail in help,
Speaker 1: allowing really easy swing passes to the perimeter for guys
Speaker 1: to either knock down threes or just quick rip through.
Speaker 1: Right now, again, I the way I would do that
Speaker 1: is I'd stay a couple of steps closer to your
Speaker 1: shooter and then you react to drives right. A lot
Speaker 1: of these times we're seeing the ball handler not even
Speaker 1: looking to be aggressive, standing in a triple threat, fully
Speaker 1: contained on the ball while the nail help is there
Speaker 1: and the swing pass is taking place, and then they're
Speaker 1: driving it or they're either knocking down the wide open three,
Speaker 1: or they're driving it, and now your defense is in rotation,
Speaker 1: which is the whole point of why you would offer
Speaker 1: nail help to begin with, to keep your defense from
Speaker 1: getting into rotation by containing the ball better right. Whereas
Speaker 1: if you stay a little bit closer to home and
Speaker 1: now let's say Luca rips through to the right, you
Speaker 1: lunge in to offer that nail help right when you
Speaker 1: see your man in a compromised position. This is a
Speaker 1: team that has gifted perimeter defenders. They have Marcus Smart,
Speaker 1: they have Desmond Bane right like, they can contain on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. They just have to trust their ability to
Speaker 1: contain on the perimeter. There was a specific play with
Speaker 1: Jake Loravia where he wasn't even at the nail, he
Speaker 1: was all the way on the opposite elbow like right
Speaker 1: behind the on ball defender. Basically, a soft double team
Speaker 1: that just gets swung across the floor for an easy
Speaker 1: close out opportunity. Right again, Like, there's several examples of
Speaker 1: this that I saw on tape, and you're seeing it
Speaker 1: in the numbers. By the way, the Memphis Grizzlies are
Speaker 1: allowing the second most made threes per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: on the second highest percentage. They are allowing twenty two
Speaker 1: wide open threes per game, which means the defender is
Speaker 1: at least six feet away. That's the fourth most in
Speaker 1: the entire NBA. Now, the trade off is that they're
Speaker 1: doing a good job protecting the paint, right they're keeping
Speaker 1: teams out of the paint. They're allowing just forty one
Speaker 1: points in the paint per one hundred possessions, that's the
Speaker 1: second best mark in the league. But it's not working
Speaker 1: for them because they're giving up all these wide open
Speaker 1: shots on the backside. And again, this is a team
Speaker 1: that is capable of defending well enough at the point
Speaker 1: of attack and they're athletic enough on the back line
Speaker 1: in rotation to not have to do this. It's not
Speaker 1: just the nail help. I've seen a lot of over
Speaker 1: aggressive backside help as well. So now think of it
Speaker 1: like this, there's a two man action taking place on
Speaker 1: the right side of the floor. You've got your low
Speaker 1: man who's guarding the guy in the opposite corner. He's
Speaker 1: basically leaving that guy to defend that action three on two.
Speaker 1: And then whoever it is that's guarding the man on
Speaker 1: the right wing is now having to guard two guys
Speaker 1: on the opposite end to the floor, and usually that
Speaker 1: that player's dropping to the baseline and that opposite wing
Speaker 1: is wide open. There is a play. It wasn't even
Speaker 1: a ball screen. Seth Curry has the ball on the
Speaker 1: right wing against John Conchar. I have this play on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. You guys can find it. He rips
Speaker 1: through to the baseline, kind of gets a step on Conchar,
Speaker 1: but Conchard recovers and Seth Curry takes a retreat dribble.
Speaker 1: So Seth Curry has taken a retreat dribble and is
Speaker 1: contained by John Conchar. So worst thing that can happen
Speaker 1: there is Seth Curry takes a contested baseline pull up
Speaker 1: jump shot right. No, because David Roddy, who's guarding the
Speaker 1: man the weak side corner guy, just runs underneath the
Speaker 1: basket offering help. So Seth takes one more advanced dribble
Speaker 1: and throws a kickout pass to the opposite wing for
Speaker 1: a wide open three. And like again, ask yourself, what
Speaker 1: would you rather give up a contested pull up jump
Speaker 1: shot from Seth Curry or a wide open three on
Speaker 1: the backside, This is a consistent shoe. There was another
Speaker 1: play in the in the bench group where Jared Jackson
Speaker 1: was helping at the basket. Because this is the third issue.
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson, as good of a shot blocker as he is,
Speaker 1: he's too aggressive in that regard and he often offers
Speaker 1: shot blocking help when it's not needed, and it throws
Speaker 1: everything out of whack on the backside in terms of
Speaker 1: their rebounding right. There was a play where Dante ExHAM
Speaker 1: is driving down the right lane and I believe Jake
Speaker 1: Lorovi is guarding him doing his job, slides his feet,
Speaker 1: taking contact in the chest, forces Dante xem into this
Speaker 1: wild like hook shot over the top that has no
Speaker 1: chance of going in and spoiler already missed it off
Speaker 1: the side of the rim. But Jared Jackson, for no
Speaker 1: apparent reason at all, even though he had no chance
Speaker 1: to block the shot, just jumps out of his shoes
Speaker 1: to go try to block it, and so his man
Speaker 1: taps the offensive rebound out it goes right to I
Speaker 1: think Seth Curry on the left wing who knocks down
Speaker 1: a three, and so like again, like they're they're doing
Speaker 1: damage to themselves defensively, they're making it more difficult than
Speaker 1: it needs to be. This is, again, not a Dallas
Speaker 1: Mavericks team that needs to require on defensive aggression to
Speaker 1: make up for the fact that they're not capable of
Speaker 1: being a great defensive team. This team is capable of
Speaker 1: being a great defensive team. They can defend ball screens
Speaker 1: two on two. They can contain at the point of
Speaker 1: attack and force guys to take contested shots over the
Speaker 1: top without constantly existing in rotation and giving up all
Speaker 1: of these wide open threes. And again, what do we
Speaker 1: talk about on the offensive end of the floor. This
Speaker 1: is a team that needs to generate easy opportunities in transition.
Speaker 1: The only way to do that is to get stops
Speaker 1: in defensive rebounds and run, or force turnovers and run.
Speaker 1: What's the best way to force turnovers in the NBA
Speaker 1: guard actions two on two and one on one. Why
Speaker 1: Because then you're home off the ball, you're playing in
Speaker 1: the passing lane rather than on the ball. And so
Speaker 1: let's say that Dante Exum dry and misses that right
Speaker 1: handed hook, and so the next time he drives, you know,
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson doesn't help. Everyone stays home. Laavia's chesting him up.
Speaker 1: And now Dante exam realizes he's in trouble and he
Speaker 1: looks around and he just throws a pass to one
Speaker 1: of the shooters. Except for now you've got someone in
Speaker 1: the passing lane who catches the ball, and now they're
Speaker 1: running the other way for a dunkin transition. So like,
Speaker 1: not only would this be the weapon to improve their defense,
Speaker 1: it would also be the thing that would unlock their
Speaker 1: transition attack and get them back to where they were.
Speaker 1: Last year, the Memphis Grizzlies were second in transition frequency.
Speaker 1: This year they're fifteenth. It's a problem. And so again,
Speaker 1: like it's easy to just say, oh or oh to four,
Speaker 1: we need John Morant. And don't get me wrong, John Morant,
Speaker 1: you need him to ever have some sort of championship ceiling, right,
Speaker 1: But this team is just also schematically setting themselves up
Speaker 1: to fail with what they're doing on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. And again, you could tell when these
Speaker 1: if you go look at these clips on my Twitter feed,
Speaker 1: and most of these possessions, the on ball defender is
Speaker 1: doing good work. Force those guys to either take tough
Speaker 1: shots or turn the ball over by passing into to
Speaker 1: your defenders who are staying home run in transition, that
Speaker 1: will help your half court offense just enough to give
Speaker 1: you a chance to win games. This is a team
Speaker 1: that should be a top five defense and then hope
Speaker 1: to be in that fifteen to twenty range on the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor. That is their pathway to
Speaker 1: victory as of right now. Then when John Urank comes back,
Speaker 1: that's when you can go over the top with what
Speaker 1: you can be capable of on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. And again, like I like it in the
Speaker 1: big picture because Marcus Smart is a much better offensive
Speaker 1: player than Dylan Brooks, and you can imagine a scenario
Speaker 1: where the Grizzlies half court offense could operate at a
Speaker 1: much higher level with three high level offensive players on
Speaker 1: the floor as opposed to just two in the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, so let's move on to the mail bag.
Speaker 1: First question, is wiggins starting role threatened by Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 1: and Secondly, if Moody continues to play well, does that
Speaker 1: impact Clay's contract negotiations. I do not think Wigan the
Speaker 1: starting role is threatened by Jonathan Kaminga. He's just too
Speaker 1: reliable of a veteran presence for a Steve Kurr in
Speaker 1: a playoff context. I think with Jonathan Kaminga, the idea
Speaker 1: of bringing him off the bench and then sometimes closing
Speaker 1: with him is the perfect kind of like motivator for
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga to rain in his decision making, because he
Speaker 1: needs to demonstrate quality decision making to be in the
Speaker 1: playoff rotation. Right. So I think what you're doing right
Speaker 1: now is the perfect strategy. Start Wiggins, close, which guy's
Speaker 1: playing better, keep it simple, right. If Moody keeps playing well,
Speaker 1: it absolutely impacts Clay's contract negotiations. Clay Thompson did not
Speaker 1: have a good playoff run last year after a great
Speaker 1: playoff run in the championship year, right, And so if
Speaker 1: you have a second year in a row where Clay
Speaker 1: doesn't play well in the playoffs and Moody looks viable,
Speaker 1: then there's no reason for you to murder your cap
Speaker 1: sheet by overpaying for Klay Thompson, especially when you can
Speaker 1: probably find a decent deal elsewhere just because of his
Speaker 1: value as a shooter. Second question, Alfred, Hi Jason. I
Speaker 1: play in a men's league, and I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: my teammates to focus on some of the nitty gritty
Speaker 1: winning type plays, like making sure we are boxing out,
Speaker 1: playing solid defense and at the base instead of going
Speaker 1: for the block every time and fouling sprinting back and transition, etc.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been quite vocal about this every game,
Speaker 1: but nothing seems to change. My teammates continue to run
Speaker 1: and dive into defenses on offense, turn the ball over, pout,
Speaker 1: don't run back. I can tell they're starting to be
Speaker 1: annoyed at me for winging it, and I feel that
Speaker 1: they are not listening because I only score two points
Speaker 1: a game. How would you best handle this situation? So, Alfred,
Speaker 1: I love this question. By the way, find people who
Speaker 1: love the game as much as you do and play
Speaker 1: in a league with them. Here's the thing, Like, some
Speaker 1: people are crazy like me and approach men's league games
Speaker 1: with the same level of intensity I approached every game
Speaker 1: I was playing when I was in college. Right, and
Speaker 1: then there are a lot. The majority of people are, like,
Speaker 1: they like basketball. They like to play because it helps
Speaker 1: them stay in shape. They have some camaraderie with their guys,
Speaker 1: and so they go up on Sundays or whatever day
Speaker 1: it is that your men's league is and they have
Speaker 1: a good time. If you are wired like me, don't
Speaker 1: play on a team like that, right, Like I have,
Speaker 1: I coordinate my team, I pick the roster, and I
Speaker 1: make sure I have guys that give a shit, And
Speaker 1: so when I go on Sundays, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a fun thing for me because it kind of replicates
Speaker 1: as close as I can at age thirty two, now
Speaker 1: that I'm old and washed, it's as close as I
Speaker 1: can can come to replicating what my you know, competitive
Speaker 1: experience was like when I was younger, because I'm playing
Speaker 1: with guys that also care, and I'm playing in a
Speaker 1: league where I'm challenged, right, and so like again, like,
Speaker 1: if you continue to partner with people that don't take
Speaker 1: it as seriously as you do, you either need to
Speaker 1: adjust your expectations or play with someone else, because otherwise
Speaker 1: you're just gonna go crazy because they're they're not doing
Speaker 1: anything wrong, they're being normal. We're the crazy ones. We
Speaker 1: are the ones who care too much, so you got
Speaker 1: to find other crazy people to play with. It's basically
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Last mail back question, Antonio, you always
Speaker 1: talk about the athletic guards vers skill guard player archetypes.
Speaker 1: Can of skill guard, say, for example, Austin Reeves, D'Angelo
Speaker 1: Russell become athletic? Is it just hitting the gym or
Speaker 1: a height thing? Awesome job covering the season so far?
Speaker 1: A good question, in Tonio. I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things you can do to improve your situation when
Speaker 1: you have physical limitations at the guard position. For one,
Speaker 1: become a great positional defender that can do a little
Speaker 1: bit more switching. That's where you hit the weight room.
Speaker 1: The weight room goes a long way everywhere on the
Speaker 1: basketball court. It's like the number one thing that gets
Speaker 1: overlooked in training. Hit the freaking weight room. It will
Speaker 1: help you, right. But if you're less athletic, you're going
Speaker 1: to be more of a positional defender than a ball
Speaker 1: pressure defender, right because if you press up on a
Speaker 1: better athlete, he's just going to go around you, right,
Speaker 1: So you've got to take give ground and meet them
Speaker 1: at spots and be able to absorb contact. So it's
Speaker 1: about anticipation and your ability to hold your ground. So
Speaker 1: the weight room is the best you can do. That said,
Speaker 1: physical battles take place all over the basketball court, and
Speaker 1: there are certain battles that you're just going to lose.
Speaker 1: There was in when I was watching that Grizzlies Mavericks
Speaker 1: game today, there is a play where Derek Jones Junior
Speaker 1: drove into Derek Rose and had an easy layup. And
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't care how much Derek Rose hits
Speaker 1: the weight room. I don't care how much he's in shape.
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior just is too athletic for him going
Speaker 1: downhill and he's gonna be able to make a shot right.
Speaker 1: And so again there's a limitation. But you do the
Speaker 1: best you can in the weight room and through technique
Speaker 1: and anticipation to be a good positional defender when you
Speaker 1: have physical limitations. All right, guys, that is all I
Speaker 1: have for this part of today's Hoops Tonight programming. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be back later tonight breaking down the ESPN slate.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you
Speaker 1: that the volume