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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. I hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys had an incredible week. We are also live on AMPS,

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Speaker 1: so if you're listening on YouTube or on the podcast feeds,

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Speaker 1: don't forget that AMP is the very first place that

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Speaker 1: you guys can get these shows. We are continuing our

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Speaker 1: player rankings today with number twelve and number eleven before

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Speaker 1: we go ten through one over the course of the

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Speaker 1: next two weeks. You guys know the drill before we

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Speaker 1: get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you

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Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on

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Speaker 1: Twitter at underscore Jason ltus. You guys don't miss any

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight and last but not least,

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Speaker 1: lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. Starting

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Speaker 1: with No. Number twelve. Devin Booker finished the season averaging

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Speaker 1: twenty eight points, five rebounds, and six assists per game.

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Speaker 1: Sixty percent true shooting, and then went up an obscene

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Speaker 1: level from there in the playoffs thirty four points, five rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and seven assists on sixty nine percent true shooting through

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Speaker 1: two rounds. Had one of the craziest pull up jump

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Speaker 1: shooting hot streaks I've ever seen in my time watching basketball.

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Speaker 1: In back to back home games home wins against the

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Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets, he was nineteen for twenty five on pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots, including six for ten from three oh

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Speaker 1: and in the paint, he was sixteen for twenty one

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Speaker 1: in those two games, meaning he averaged eight makes per

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Speaker 1: game in the paint. To go with the outrageous pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shooting, he did cool off in Games five

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Speaker 1: and six, shots just twelve for thirty two from the

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Speaker 1: field as they lost those last two games kind of

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Speaker 1: got their butts kicked too. Average margin of victory for

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Speaker 1: Denver in those last two games was twenty one points.

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Speaker 1: It's the weirdest thing about that series, like Phoenix was

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Speaker 1: both the only team that got two wins off of

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Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets and the team that got their ass

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Speaker 1: kicked the most, because outside of those two wins, they

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Speaker 1: just got pretty much dominated. So it was kind of

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Speaker 1: a strange playoff run from that perspective. But so I

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Speaker 1: want to zoom out before we zoom back in on

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker. To me, I told you guys kind of

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Speaker 1: coming in that there were tears, and to me, everybody

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Speaker 1: from roughly about number thirteen all the way to number

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Speaker 1: thirty nine call it with the fourteen guys that I

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Speaker 1: had that were kind of honorable mention, those are all

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Speaker 1: really close. There are the guys that have listed. I've

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Speaker 1: listed based on who I think is better, for sure,

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Speaker 1: but there's small gaps between all of those guys. But

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Speaker 1: from here on, from number twelve on, starting with Devin Booker,

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Speaker 1: I believe these are the superstars in the NBA. I

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Speaker 1: view this as a very exclusive club that includes a

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Speaker 1: top tier regular season performance for a team as well

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Speaker 1: as a top tier playoff performance for a team. I

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Speaker 1: think there's only twelve of these guys in the entire NBA,

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Speaker 1: but I thought Devin Booker this year cracked into that group.

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Speaker 1: And I want to zoom in in exactly why so

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Speaker 1: that you guys can see because I do think there

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Speaker 1: are some specific check marks that I look at for

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Speaker 1: that superstar tier, and I think Devin Booker is officially

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Speaker 1: hit those Oh and by the way, they're my one

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Speaker 1: through twelve. I do have those split into two tiers

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Speaker 1: as well, So like one for one through three for

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Speaker 1: me is like my top tier superstars. These are the

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Speaker 1: guys that I think are just a small level above

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Speaker 1: the rest of the superstars, and then from four to twelve,

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Speaker 1: it's all very close, and you can actually make a

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Speaker 1: case for any one of the guys from four to

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Speaker 1: twelve to be above any of the other guys. And

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Speaker 1: totally would respect and understand if any of you guys

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Speaker 1: disagreed with the order that I had in this stretch.

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Speaker 1: But as I look kind of below Booker, I see

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a drop off. Like shaeke Yio

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Speaker 1: justs Alexander is insane, but he needs to build a

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Speaker 1: playoff resume. He literally has not played a playoff game

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Speaker 1: as the number one option on his team, so I

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Speaker 1: can't call him a superstar, right. Damian Lillard has only

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Speaker 1: won two playoff games in the last four years and

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Speaker 1: has missed the playoffs a couple times, So like that's

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Speaker 1: it's hard for me to put him in that group

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Speaker 1: until he kind of gets back to the point where

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Speaker 1: he's playing meaningful basketball. And then Anthony Edwards, who I

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Speaker 1: had at fifteen, is just twenty one years old and

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Speaker 1: has only played in eleven playoff games himself and has

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Speaker 1: never gotten out of the first round. So, like as

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Speaker 1: we go up from Dame Sga and Anthres, this clear

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Speaker 1: elevation in regular season dominance in playoff dominance within the

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Speaker 1: recent years, and so that's where I have that delineation

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Speaker 1: there at number twelve with Devin Booker, he was one

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Speaker 1: of only nine players in the regular season last year

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Speaker 1: to average twenty seven, four and five at least twenty

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Speaker 1: seven points, four rebounds and five assists, only nine guys.

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker has now played in forty three career playoff games,

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Speaker 1: all in the last three seasons, and in those forty

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Speaker 1: three playoff games, he's averaged twenty eight points, five rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and five assists on sixty percent for shooting. That's a

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Speaker 1: ridiculous resume for a twenty six year old shooting guard.

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Speaker 1: So in my opinion, as you kind of zoom out

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Speaker 1: on this three year stretch, in the regular season, for

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Speaker 1: three years now, he's twenty seven, five and five on

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Speaker 1: fifty nine percent for shooting, and in the playoffs he's

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Speaker 1: twenty eight five and five on sixty percent your shooting.

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Speaker 1: So he actually has consistent regular season dominance and he

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Speaker 1: goes up a little bit of a level in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: So the last box there for being considered a legitimate

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Speaker 1: superstar is can he be the best player on a

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Speaker 1: title team? And in my opinion, the answer is absolutely yes,

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Speaker 1: because let's not forget that three years ago, a lesser

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Speaker 1: version of Devin Booker was the very best player on

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Speaker 1: a team that came two wins away from an NBA championship.

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Speaker 1: You can tell talk all you want about that being

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Speaker 1: the season after COVID and all the weird factors that

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Speaker 1: were at play there, but you guys know how I

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Speaker 1: feel about that kind of stuff. Everybody's dealing with the

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Speaker 1: same circumstances. A win is a win is a win.

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Speaker 1: I do not believe in diminishing playoff success, regardless of

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Speaker 1: the circumstances. I feel the same way about the bubble

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Speaker 1: the year before that. I feel the same way about

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Speaker 1: the lockout year. I just don't care. To me, everyone's

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Speaker 1: got the same circumstances. A win is a win is

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Speaker 1: a win, and the bottom line is is it was

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Speaker 1: two really close games too that kind of swung the

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Speaker 1: outcome of that series. The Suns were this close, and

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Speaker 1: that was a lesser version of Devin Booker. So I

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Speaker 1: absolutely think Devin Booker can be the best player on

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Speaker 1: a legitimate championship team. And I mean on that team,

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Speaker 1: his second best player is Chris Paul and his third

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Speaker 1: best players Deandreton or maybe Michael Bridge, depending on that

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Speaker 1: you ask. So I didn't actually think he had some

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Speaker 1: sort of super team either. I think that you can easily,

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Speaker 1: relatively easily build a championship quality roster around Devin Booker,

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Speaker 1: and I actually have Kevin Durant above Devin Booker on

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Speaker 1: the list this year, but we'll see how it plays out.

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker has a chance over the course of the

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Speaker 1: season to demonstrate that he's a better player. And like

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Speaker 1: I said, the gap between four and twelve is really

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Speaker 1: non existent in this group, and all those guys can

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Speaker 1: be jumbled around in a bunch of different ways. But

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Speaker 1: as we look at that Superstar list, I think he's

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Speaker 1: clearly at the bottom of that list, but I think

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Speaker 1: he's clearly on the list. Consistent regular season dominance, consistent

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Speaker 1: playoff dominance, even going up a level, a clear pattern

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Speaker 1: of winning basketball games for your team, and you get

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Speaker 1: to be in the club if you do those things.

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Speaker 1: That's just the way that I view it. Devin Booker's

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Speaker 1: turned himself from a pure scorer into a really versatile

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Speaker 1: offensive engine. The Sun scored one point zero five points

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Speaker 1: per possession of possession and pick and roll with Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker this year. That was seventy fourth percentile. He's actually

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Speaker 1: become a very good passer out of pick and roll

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Speaker 1: over the course of the season. That was one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest things that stood out to me every time

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Speaker 1: I watched the Suns this year was just how gifted

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Speaker 1: he was at making the right play as he was

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Speaker 1: coming off of ball screens. He was down in ISO

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Speaker 1: situations in the regular season, down to zero point eighty

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Speaker 1: seven points per possession, kind of just fluky, missing a

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Speaker 1: lot of shots, but he was great in the post

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Speaker 1: one point one points per possession, which was in the

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Speaker 1: sixty ninth percentile. His shot making was ridiculous forty seven

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Speaker 1: percent on catch and shoot jumpers, forty three percent on

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Speaker 1: pull up jumpers, and he made four point nine pull

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Speaker 1: up jumpers per game. Which was second in the entire

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Speaker 1: league against you guessed at Kevin Durant in first place.

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Speaker 1: He was forty nine percent on runners in a really

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Speaker 1: really good mark of sixty eight percent in the restricted area,

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Speaker 1: which for a two guard is really really good, although

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Speaker 1: somewhat low volume, only two point six makes per game,

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Speaker 1: which is in the middle of the pack for starting

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Speaker 1: guards around the league. That's kind of like one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest weaknesses in my opinion in Phoenix's roster is

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Speaker 1: they've got tons and tons of offensive skill, but they

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Speaker 1: don't generate a lot of rim pressure. As a matter

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Speaker 1: of fact, between Beal, kd and Booker all combined last year,

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Speaker 1: I think they were right around like eight restricted area

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Speaker 1: makes per game. That's I mean, I think I think

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Speaker 1: the top tier guys in the league are averaging that

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Speaker 1: by themselves. So they're not getting a ton of rim

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Speaker 1: pressure from those guys, and that's going to be the

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Speaker 1: interesting thing to look at with that team. But as

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Speaker 1: we've seen with teams like Denver, if you're really good

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Speaker 1: at everything else, you can win anyway, and so that

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Speaker 1: will be the challenge for Phoenix this year. These are

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker's ridiculous shooting percentages during this year's playoff run

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Speaker 1: sixty three percent on catch and shoot jumpers, fifty on

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Speaker 1: pull up jumpers, fifty eight percent on floaters, and seventy

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Speaker 1: one percent at the rim. Legitimately one of the most

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Speaker 1: accurate shot making playoff runs I have ever seen in

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Speaker 1: my time covering the NBA, albeit only in two rounds.

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Speaker 1: One of the key things in my opinion, that has

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Speaker 1: helped Devin Booker reach the superstar level. When we talked

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Speaker 1: a little bit about this yesterday, especially when we were

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Speaker 1: talking about Jamal Murray or two days ago with Jamal Murray,

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Speaker 1: he's actually committed to the defensive end, and I think

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Speaker 1: I think the tool that Devin Booker used to kind

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Speaker 1: of reach this level is his competitiveness. Seven. Booker is

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Speaker 1: a freaky competitor. He talks a lot of shit. He

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Speaker 1: takes this stuff super personally, and I think that's kind

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Speaker 1: of a need when it comes to winning basketball games

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Speaker 1: at the highest level, and he has channeled that into

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Speaker 1: just working and committing on the defensive end of the floor. Now,

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Speaker 1: he's not the quickest player or the most athletic player

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Speaker 1: in the league, and he doesn't have great size, so

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Speaker 1: even at that level of commitment, he's just become more

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Speaker 1: of like an average defensive player at his position. But again,

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Speaker 1: so many of these stars, they're giving you a lot

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Speaker 1: on one end and taking away on the other end,

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Speaker 1: and it diminishes their overall winning impact by becoming average

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end. Devin Booker has made it so

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Speaker 1: that his offensive impact can shine through as a basket

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Speaker 1: for the basketball team. Not to mention, it sets an

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Speaker 1: example when your stars are willing to commit, that works

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Speaker 1: its way down the roster, and then other people defend it. Also,

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Speaker 1: it also just flat out helps you win games to

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Speaker 1: have another player on the floor that's at least average

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Speaker 1: defensively at his position. He's become a very well rounded player.

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Speaker 1: He's a bona fide top tier three level score, a

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Speaker 1: very good playmaker, and an average defensive player at his position.

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Speaker 1: To me, that puts him in the superstar tier. We

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Speaker 1: got twelve of them in the league. He's at the

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Speaker 1: bottom of that list, but he's on the list, and

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Speaker 1: that's a very big deal in my opinion. Moving on

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Speaker 1: to number eleven, Kawhi Leonard. This is a player who

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Speaker 1: at his peak, I genuinely believe is a top five

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Speaker 1: player in this league. He's gonna be. I won't reveal

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Speaker 1: it right now for the sake of the suspense, but

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Speaker 1: I would either if he was. If I was just

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Speaker 1: looking at healthy peaks, i'd have him at either four

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Speaker 1: or five in this current field of superstars. I thought

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Speaker 1: he demonstrated that pretty profoundly in the two playoff games

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Speaker 1: he played this year before he got hurt. He's down

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Speaker 1: at eleven because of health issues. End of story. Looking

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Speaker 1: at his last three seasons, he looked great in a

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Speaker 1: playoff run and then got hurt in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a series, missed in a season entirely, and then looked

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Speaker 1: great in a playoff run before getting hurt in the

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Speaker 1: middle of a series. So it doesn't really matter how

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Speaker 1: good you are if you're never able to actually complete

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Speaker 1: a playoff run, which is why I have him down

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Speaker 1: at number eleven. But at his best, he's so clearly

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Speaker 1: better than just about everybody in the league that I

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Speaker 1: have to have him up at eleven. I still think

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Speaker 1: that there's all let's just put it simply. There is

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Speaker 1: a chance, a non zero chance, probably a pretty decent chance,

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Speaker 1: not a great chance, but a decent chance that Kawhi

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Speaker 1: can finish the season this year. If he does, he's

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Speaker 1: a top five player. That flips all of the math

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Speaker 1: and all of the way that we have to project

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Speaker 1: this NBA season. So in my opinion, if we're factoring

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Speaker 1: that in and you're a superstar, so I still have

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Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard at the superstar level. This year, he played

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Speaker 1: in fifty two games. Scoring volume was way down twenty

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Speaker 1: four points per game, seven rebounds, four assists, but super

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Speaker 1: efficient sixty two percent true shooting off off the charts

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Speaker 1: creation season one point one four points per possession of

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, which is insane. That's ninety second percentile,

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Speaker 1: although somewhat low volume, only four hundred and forty five

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Speaker 1: possessions one point zero eight points per possession in IO.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys remember that list I had of the

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Speaker 1: twenty five players that I considered high volume ISO players

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Speaker 1: running at least two hundred and fifty. Kawai came in

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Speaker 1: on eighth at that list, at eighth with that list

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Speaker 1: at one point zero eight points per possession, and then

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Speaker 1: he was one point one to two points per possession

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Speaker 1: of the post. There were thirty one players in the

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Speaker 1: NBA this year that ran at least one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty post ups. Kauai came in at seventh on that

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Speaker 1: list with one point one to two points per possession,

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Speaker 1: so still super super versatile with his shot creation. He's,

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Speaker 1: as we kind of zoom out from there, sixty two

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Speaker 1: percent true shooting. Obviously low volume compared to his peers,

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Speaker 1: but in terms of actual shot making efficiency, some top

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Speaker 1: tier stuff from Kawhi this season. And then he had

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Speaker 1: two incredibly dominant playoff games thirty five points, seven rebinds

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Speaker 1: and six sists on sixty seven percent true shooting, which,

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Speaker 1: by the way, in the twenty twenty one playoff run

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Speaker 1: before he got hurt, he was at sixty eight percent

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Speaker 1: true shooting on thirty three points per game for eleven games.

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Speaker 1: So he's only played thirteen playoff games in the last

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Speaker 1: three seasons because of his injuries. But in those thirteen

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Speaker 1: playoff games, he's been off the charts good. And that's

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Speaker 1: again why I keep talking about how I view his

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Speaker 1: ceiling so high. But obviously we've talked enough about his

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Speaker 1: injuries to this point, so I want to kind of

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Speaker 1: focus on why Kawhi is such a dominant playoff player

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Speaker 1: compared to his peers, because again, as we look at that,

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Speaker 1: you know, averaging, what's that over two years, somewhere between

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Speaker 1: thirty and thirty five points per game, probably closer to

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Speaker 1: thirty one thirty two, right, because of the small volume

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Speaker 1: this year, But like thirty two ish points per game

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Speaker 1: on sixty seven and a half percent true shooting. That's

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Speaker 1: like way better than everybody. That's like Steph Curry's right.

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Speaker 1: That puts you in the very top tier in terms

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Speaker 1: of offensive production. Right, And we know that that's not

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Speaker 1: flukey because we've seen Kawhi do it as a finals

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Speaker 1: MVP and in long playoff stretches before that. So what

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Speaker 1: is it about Kawhi Leonard that makes him so freaking

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Speaker 1: good in the NBA playoffs? I put it down to

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Speaker 1: four things. First of all, he has no shot making weaknesses.

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Speaker 1: Forty eight percent on catch and shoot jumpers this year,

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Speaker 1: fifty percent on pull up jumpers, forty six percent on floaters,

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Speaker 1: sixty percent on hooks out of the post, and sixty

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Speaker 1: five percent at the rim. Those are all off the

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Speaker 1: charts good percentages. If he gets to a spot, he's

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Speaker 1: got a really good chance of making it. Secondly, he's

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Speaker 1: one of the strongest players in the league at his position.

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Speaker 1: We talked about this a lot with Anthony Edwards yesterday.

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Speaker 1: It's about the concept of getting to your spots when

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Speaker 1: you are physically strong, especially when you have a low

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Speaker 1: center of gravity, meaning you have strength in your legs.

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Speaker 1: That makes it so that when you fight for position

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Speaker 1: anywhere on the basketball court, whether that's setting your man

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Speaker 1: up for a screen, whether that's ducking into the post,

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Speaker 1: eneral calling for post position, just for an iso if

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Speaker 1: you're fifteen sixteen feet away from the basket, whether that's

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Speaker 1: dealing with hand checking in ISOs, dealing with hand checking

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Speaker 1: and pick and roll, putting your defender in jail, in

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, dislodging your defender when you're posting up

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Speaker 1: on those back down dribbles. Every single one of those

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Speaker 1: things becomes infinitely easier when you have a strength advantage,

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Speaker 1: particularly with a low center of gravity. And so in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, that's what gives Kawhi the ability to get

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Speaker 1: easy shots so frequently. He's so good at getting to

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Speaker 1: his spot. Now again, we talked about this a little

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Speaker 1: bit with the strong guys yesterday. There are guys that

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Speaker 1: are more skilled than the big, strong guys in the league.

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Speaker 1: And Kuai has great touch for the record, like, he's

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Speaker 1: got better touch than the Anthony Edwards and Lebron James

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Speaker 1: comps that I used yesterday, but he probably has less

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Speaker 1: touch than the top tier guys right in terms of scoring, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have the same touch as Steph Curry or

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker. You know, those guys all probably

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Speaker 1: have a little bit better touch than Kawhi Leonard does

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Speaker 1: in a vacuum. But the difference is is Kauai is

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Speaker 1: always getting great looks, like fantastic looks, and so he

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Speaker 1: hits them at an insanely high percentage. And to me,

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Speaker 1: that comes down to that strength the comp that I use.

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Speaker 1: And we talked about this actually when we did our

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Speaker 1: player rankings last year, but I'll do it again here.

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Speaker 1: I look at Kawi's uh fadeaway jumper as the perfect

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Speaker 1: example of this. The vast majority of guys who shoot

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Speaker 1: fadaway jumpers do it with their athleticism. Like even as

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Speaker 1: we go back to Kobe and MJ like they do

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Speaker 1: a shoulder bump, but most of their separation that they're

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Speaker 1: getting on those fadeaway jumpers is just outrageous athleticism. Like

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan could do a drop step into a pivot

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Speaker 1: fadeaway over his left shoulder and make it look so

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Speaker 1: outrageously quick that the defender just didn't have a chance

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Speaker 1: to get there, and so he's getting a good look

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Speaker 1: every time. Kawhi does it one hundred percent with strength,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's kind of one of his calling

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Speaker 1: cards and what allows him to be so efficient shooting

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Speaker 1: over both shoulder out of the post. He doesn't hit

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Speaker 1: that shoulder and then fade, He hits you hard with

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Speaker 1: that shoulder and almost goes straight up and down. Go

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Speaker 1: on to YouTube and just look up Kawhi Leondard highlights

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Speaker 1: from any one of his big scoring games and just

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Speaker 1: pay close attention to his turnaround fadeaways over both shoulders

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Speaker 1: out of the post. He is not fading a dramatic amount.

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Speaker 1: He is getting into your body with physicality and rising

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Speaker 1: up for largely pretty straight up and down jump shots.

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Speaker 1: And that's the difference. Because guys like mj would shoot

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Speaker 1: fifty percent on post fadeaways with ridiculous fading athleticism, Kawhi

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Speaker 1: is shooting ridiculous percentages on post fadeaways by going straight

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Speaker 1: up and down. So again, he buys himself leeway with

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Speaker 1: his touch just by virtue of him having such a

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Speaker 1: ridiculous strong base and the footwork to get to his

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Speaker 1: spots on any spot on the floor. So one, his

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Speaker 1: redous shot making to his strength compared to his peers. Third,

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Speaker 1: he can impact the game at a very high level defensively,

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Speaker 1: that always is a huge part of playoff winning impact.

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Speaker 1: And then lastly, Kawhi Leonard has worked really hard to

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Speaker 1: become to become an above average playmaker. He used to

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Speaker 1: be flat out bad at it. Kawhi averaged two point

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Speaker 1: three assists per game in San Antonio. He logged an

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Speaker 1: eight assist game just once in his entire time. There

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Speaker 1: was a playoff game against the Houston Rockets in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 1: He's done it twenty one times since joining the Clippers

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Speaker 1: and has averaged five assists per game during his time

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Speaker 1: in a Clippers jersey, which is perfectly fine. That's like

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Speaker 1: right around where his peers are, right Like, most of

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Speaker 1: the big scoring wins in the league are somewhere between

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Speaker 1: four and a half and five and a half assists

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Speaker 1: per game Like that, that's just what those guys average.

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Speaker 1: So Kawhi legitimately went from being a guy who was

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Speaker 1: bad passing the basketball and not good at setting up

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Speaker 1: shots for his teammates to perfect fine at it. He

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Speaker 1: took a one of his biggest flaws and turned it

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Speaker 1: into something that no longer hurts his game. This season,

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Speaker 1: he was over a point per possession in every single

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Speaker 1: type of pass out of pick and roll, out of

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Speaker 1: ISO and and post up situations. He also handled traps

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Speaker 1: well one point two to nine points per possession when

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Speaker 1: he was trapped in pick and roll and that happened

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Speaker 1: almost once a game to him this year, and then

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Speaker 1: handled doubles out of the post super well one point

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Speaker 1: one points per possession passing out of doubles in the post. So,

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Speaker 1: like obviously like it's Kawhi is is a super interesting

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Speaker 1: example of a of an archetype of player that is

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Speaker 1: more of a late bloomer, right. And this is what

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Speaker 1: makes Jabari Smith Junior so exciting. Is like You're looking

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Speaker 1: at these guys that come out of college and they

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Speaker 1: have like maybe one thing that stands out as a skill,

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Speaker 1: Like I remember early on Kawhi Leonard showed some flashes

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Speaker 1: of shooting ability Jabari Smith Junior was actually a really

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Speaker 1: good shooter at Auburn, but like there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: raw stuff outside of that, like mostly a defensive player,

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Speaker 1: so was Kawhi, you know not couldn't put the ball

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Speaker 1: on the floor. Neither could Kauhi. Like those guys struggled

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Speaker 1: in a lot of those areas, and then there's like

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00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 1: two phases to their development when they get into the league.

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00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:13,119
Speaker 1: It's like the learning the skill piece, like just relentless

435
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,320
Speaker 1: reps in the gym by yourself with the trainer going,

436
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 1: working on your pull up jump shot, working on your

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00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: ball handling, working on all these different drible combinations and footwork, right,

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00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,200
Speaker 1: But then there's the on court reps part of it,

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00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: and when it comes to making reads and becoming a

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00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,200
Speaker 1: decent passer, you just need a shit ton of five

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00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,200
Speaker 1: on five reps against NBA level competition. And so that's

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00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 1: why when I look at guys like Kawhi like to

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00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 1: go from two point three assists per game for his

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00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: entire San Antonio career, which by the way, he was

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00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,480
Speaker 1: consistently in MVP conversations, won multiple Defensive Players of the

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00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:52,239
Speaker 1: Year if I remember correctly, and also was literally one

447
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:56,120
Speaker 1: Finals MVP, multiple long playoff runs. Just was a dominant

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00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: player in that run and was a bad passer, and

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00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 1: he's taken that and turned it into something that actually

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00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 1: helps his game a good amount now with the Clippers.

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00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:07,679
Speaker 1: I think that's a testament to his work ethic and

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00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: a good example looking forward when we look at really competitive,

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00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 1: really hard working young forwards that have a lot of

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00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,240
Speaker 1: raw potential, and that's what I'm looking for with Jabari

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00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: Smith Junior in the future. But Kawhi Leonard again bona

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00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:23,679
Speaker 1: FIE top five player in the league when he's healthy,

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00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: and he's a bona fi top five player in the

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00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,919
Speaker 1: league when he's healthy, and obviously we have to factor

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00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,359
Speaker 1: in his health in this list, which is why I

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00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,879
Speaker 1: have him down at eleven. But all I'm hoping is

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00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: that we get to see Kawhi finish the season healthy

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00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:39,479
Speaker 1: this year because I think the league is better when

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00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: he's playing, because I think he's a lot of fun

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00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: to watch, and I think he's a really good example

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00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: for young basketball players on the things that they can

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00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,600
Speaker 1: work on to become better in every situation on the court.

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Speaker 1: That's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely

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00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,639
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys. We have number ten coming on Monday,

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00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,400
Speaker 1: and we'll go ten, nine, eight, seven, six Monday through

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00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 1: Friday next week, and then five four three two one

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00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,440
Speaker 1: on Monday through Friday the following week. Because always, I

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00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,440
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys, and I hope you have a great weekend,

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00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: and I'll see you on Monday. The volume