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Speaker 1: All right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fandel here
Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys had an incredible weekend. My wife and I
Speaker 1: spent the weekend moving. We are veterans of the moving game.
Speaker 1: We've done it nine times since her and I met
Speaker 1: back in two thousand fourteen, including across the country twice. Um.
Speaker 1: What's funny is, no matter how many times I do it,
Speaker 1: it literally never gets any easier. It's a complete, in
Speaker 1: total pain in the ass every single time. But there's
Speaker 1: a light at the end of the tunnel. On Friday,
Speaker 1: We're going on our first ski trip of the season.
Speaker 1: Skiing is my second favorite thing to do in the world,
Speaker 1: behind basketball, so I'm very excited for this time of year,
Speaker 1: finally going to get the skis on snow for the
Speaker 1: first time. This weekend. We are halfway through the NBA season.
Speaker 1: Most teams have played around games. Um, I love doing
Speaker 1: the game breakdowns. I love that cadence that we normally
Speaker 1: have during the week, but we're gonna take a break
Speaker 1: from that this week. We will do an instant reaction
Speaker 1: video on Thursday night when Boston plays Brooklyn. At least
Speaker 1: that's the plan as of right now. We'll see when
Speaker 1: we get closer, because I know that Kevin Durant injury
Speaker 1: is a little bit of a factor there. But the
Speaker 1: rest of this week, we're gonna be focused on mid season,
Speaker 1: kind of like zooming out and taking a look at
Speaker 1: the league. So today we're gonna do all NBA teams.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow we're gonna do the other awards, so like m VP, Defense,
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, Rookie of the the Year, most Improved,
Speaker 1: things along those lines. Wednesday, we're gonna do, uh, look
Speaker 1: at just how I would rank the contenders at this
Speaker 1: point in the season, kind of like a power ranking slash,
Speaker 1: putting the teams into tears based on the new information
Speaker 1: we have, now that we have a half season's worth
Speaker 1: of games under our belt. And then later this weekend
Speaker 1: I'll have it recorded before I go out of town.
Speaker 1: But later this weekend we're gonna have a video where
Speaker 1: we go over the five biggest questions going into the
Speaker 1: second half of the season. So this is a good
Speaker 1: week to zoom out and get a feel for what's
Speaker 1: going on throughout one half of the NBA season. You
Speaker 1: guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to
Speaker 1: the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason
Speaker 1: lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And
Speaker 1: then last but not Leasta, For whatever reason, you guys
Speaker 1: miss one of these videos and you can't get back
Speaker 1: over to YouTube to finish, you can find them wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight. All right, So
Speaker 1: here's how I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go from
Speaker 1: the first team to the third team, and then at
Speaker 1: the end, I'm gonna list for you guys the guys
Speaker 1: that I considered for the teams that didn't actually make it.
Speaker 1: And there are three specific picks that I've viewed to
Speaker 1: be very difficult decisions, and we'll do a little bit
Speaker 1: deeper dives when we get to those specific players. So
Speaker 1: the way I organized it because I thought we had
Speaker 1: three really solid center prospects this year. In terms of
Speaker 1: options for the All NBA Team, typically the All NBA
Speaker 1: Team gets convoluted because we have forwards that clearly played guard, like,
Speaker 1: for instance, Lucas kind of a forward, but for all
Speaker 1: intents and purposes, he's an NBA guard. They usually UM
Speaker 1: are are functionally using him the way that any other
Speaker 1: team would use a point guard. So I'm gonna consider
Speaker 1: him a guard. But we're not gonna put any forwards
Speaker 1: in the center position because I think we have three
Speaker 1: legit centers that are clearly playing like top fifteen players
Speaker 1: in the league this year, and they deserve consideration at
Speaker 1: that center spot. So we're not gonna do any jankie
Speaker 1: stuff with this centers um in this particular list. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be guard, guard, forward, forward, center for all
Speaker 1: three teams uniquely this season. I think that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So first team at guard, I have Luca don Chees.
Speaker 1: This year, He's averaging thirty four nine and nine on shooting,
Speaker 1: having a bad defensive season, but his offensive workload is
Speaker 1: so huge that you know, honestly, it's hard to expect
Speaker 1: him to devote any resources there. And then honestly, like
Speaker 1: they need him to play that style for this team
Speaker 1: to have any chance to win. And what's crazy is
Speaker 1: there's like a tone and tenor surrounding the Mavericks and
Speaker 1: Luca this year that's kind of negative. Like they're twenty
Speaker 1: three and eighteen, which is actually pretty solid, but we
Speaker 1: talk about them like they're a team that hovers around
Speaker 1: five hundred. We're critical of Luca because we don't like
Speaker 1: the way he is. He in a helio centric style.
Speaker 1: Not me, but a lot of people around the league
Speaker 1: have been critical of his play style this season. I
Speaker 1: tend to think that it's literally their best chance to
Speaker 1: win games because of the way the roster is put together.
Speaker 1: And I also strongly believe that Luca would cater his
Speaker 1: game to acquiesce to another star should that situation and
Speaker 1: ever rise. And really, when you look close, guys, the
Speaker 1: Mavericks are twenty three and fourteen when Luca plays, because
Speaker 1: they're oh and four when he doesn't play, three and fourteen.
Speaker 1: In this NBA, with all the talent there is around
Speaker 1: the league, with the talent limitations that that Mavericks roster has,
Speaker 1: that's truly remarkable stuff from Luca this year. He's shooting
Speaker 1: thirty eight percent on seven hundred and nine pull up
Speaker 1: jumpers because he's taken so many jumpers in that short
Speaker 1: to mid range. He's also up to up over one
Speaker 1: point zero five points per possession on post ups, ices
Speaker 1: and pick and rolls. He is a one man offense.
Speaker 1: It's not pretty, it can be stagnant, it can be
Speaker 1: ugly sometimes, but it's damned effective. And in a stacked NBA,
Speaker 1: they're strongly over five hundred when he plays, clear cut
Speaker 1: first team All NBA guy to me, alright, second guard
Speaker 1: on the first team, I put Donovan Mitchell averaging four
Speaker 1: and five on sixty three true shooting on dribble jumpers.
Speaker 1: That's the large part of what's working with that offense,
Speaker 1: and it's something that is perfectly complimentary to what Cleveland
Speaker 1: does because they have Jared Allen and Evan Mobile in
Speaker 1: the front court. Evan Mobile is still not a consistent shooter,
Speaker 1: so they don't really have a ton of spacing, so
Speaker 1: it's steady pick and roll and they desperately need somebody
Speaker 1: that can knock down pull up jumpers at a high rate.
Speaker 1: That's what Donovan Mitchell gives them, particularly from three, which
Speaker 1: is something like it's but from an effective field goal
Speaker 1: percentage it's drastically higher than that because of how good
Speaker 1: he is at pull up three point shots, and so
Speaker 1: that that complimentary fit has actually made him a legit
Speaker 1: MVP candidate this year. The calves are twenty four and
Speaker 1: twelve when he plays, and they're thriving on offense despite
Speaker 1: that lack of spacing. And he's not a great defensive player,
Speaker 1: but he has enough physical tools as an athlete to
Speaker 1: help with contested rebounds or two an easier defensive responsibilities,
Speaker 1: like on ball responsibilities, he can do enough to at
Speaker 1: least not be detrimental to a great extent to that defense.
Speaker 1: Um he's been an outsid any offensive engine all season.
Speaker 1: They're averaging one point one three points per possession out
Speaker 1: of Donovan Mitchell pick and rolls including passes, and one
Speaker 1: point zero six points per possession in ISO clear cut
Speaker 1: first team All NBA guard. Obviously, in a perfect world,
Speaker 1: you put another guard, another forward up there, Like if
Speaker 1: we're being Jankie and I can do three guards on
Speaker 1: the second team and three forwards on the first team,
Speaker 1: then I'd move Jayson Tatum up. But if we're sticking
Speaker 1: true to positions. You gotta go with Donovan Mitchell there
Speaker 1: at guard. Alright, the first team All NBA fowards first,
Speaker 1: I have Kevin Durant thirty points, seven rebounds, five assist,
Speaker 1: sixty true shooting, driven by an astonishing fift on pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots. You know that is you know, pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting is the most difficult shot in basketball. Um,
Speaker 1: it's the shot that all defenses forced you to take
Speaker 1: because they want to take away the easier shots, right,
Speaker 1: driving kicks too easy, three point shots, shots at the
Speaker 1: rim easier, you know, uh, catch and shoot opportunities. They're
Speaker 1: trying to avoid that as much as possible. So the
Speaker 1: coverage is dictated towards allowing pull up jump shots to
Speaker 1: take away that those other things away. That's the trade off.
Speaker 1: And so when you have a guy that can be
Speaker 1: knocked down in those in those specific shooting situations, it's
Speaker 1: immensely valuable in the m b A. What's crazy with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is he's hitting those at in efficiency. That
Speaker 1: literally doesn't make any sense. He's hitting him more efficiently
Speaker 1: than a lot of guards do at the rim. He's
Speaker 1: shooting fifty this year on pull up jump shots and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna talk about this, talk about this a
Speaker 1: lot more when we get to Kyrie. But that's specifically
Speaker 1: ultra valuable to Brooklyn because they have to play a
Speaker 1: couple of non shooters often, like they're playing Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: and Nick Claxton, both just under thirty minutes a game,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of overlap when those guys are
Speaker 1: on the court together. And if you're gonna thrive with
Speaker 1: two non shooters on the court or one non shooter
Speaker 1: at the court at all times, you're gonna need guys
Speaker 1: that can comfortably shoot over the top of defense. And
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is the best in the world at hitting
Speaker 1: those jump shots uh off the Drew Bill over defensive players.
Speaker 1: He's also gonna make an All Defense team this year.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of film this morning on on
Speaker 1: Brooklyn's defense, because you know, I'm so intrigued by how
Speaker 1: they've been so dominant after such a bad start to
Speaker 1: the season, And it really comes down to this a
Speaker 1: ton of switching, but not in an unnecessary way, like
Speaker 1: when teams set got screens or sloppy screens, they'll stay home,
Speaker 1: they'll chase over the top um when they get a
Speaker 1: switch onto a guard in the post. They always pre
Speaker 1: help with shell drill. So like let's say, for instance,
Speaker 1: that Kyrie Irving switches out to a player on the
Speaker 1: perimeter and they immediately walk him down to the post.
Speaker 1: Nick Claxton's probably gonna be guarding a player on the
Speaker 1: week side of the floor. He will be in help side,
Speaker 1: almost directly under the rim. Then as the post entry
Speaker 1: is happening, he'll run and guard the post player, and
Speaker 1: as the post entry is happening, Kyrie will sprint out
Speaker 1: to guarden at Claxton's guy. So it's a really smart
Speaker 1: switching scheme that doesn't switch when they have to saves
Speaker 1: their switched defenders out of post mismatches that they don't like.
Speaker 1: In a huge heavy part of what makes this all
Speaker 1: work is when they stagnate teams and force them to
Speaker 1: ice so they don't want to iso Kevin Durant because
Speaker 1: he's so long. They don't want to isso Nick Lackson.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they do, but he does pretty well on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: So those guys are in help all the time. And
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in particular has done an outstanding job helping
Speaker 1: at the rim with his length in athleticism. He will
Speaker 1: make an All Defense team this year if he stays healthy. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's been ruled out with this MCL sprain, but the
Speaker 1: intel this morning was that it's not very severe and
Speaker 1: they're expecting him back in less than a month, so
Speaker 1: it should not impact his defense, his All Defense voting,
Speaker 1: it should not impact his m v P voting all
Speaker 1: that much. He's also been the best pick and roll
Speaker 1: ball handler in the league this year, and in my opinion,
Speaker 1: if the season stopped today and we were just focused
Speaker 1: on the basketball that was played by the basketball players
Speaker 1: in this season, not counting the playoffs, he's been the
Speaker 1: best player that I've seen on both ends of the
Speaker 1: floor this year in terms of total impact on winning.
Speaker 1: The other first team forward to have is Jana Santana Compo.
Speaker 1: This was my first really tough call of these All
Speaker 1: MBA teams. It was either him or Jayson Tatum Um.
Speaker 1: And again, as I said earlier, if we're fudging the positions,
Speaker 1: then I'd put Tatum in over Mitchell, and I'd go
Speaker 1: with three guards on the second team. But at that
Speaker 1: forward position, I had to choose between Janice and Tatum,
Speaker 1: and there's some weird metrics with your honest that don't
Speaker 1: look good, Like, for instance, the Bucks have only a
Speaker 1: plus three point to net rating, uh so they're outscoring
Speaker 1: teams by only three point two points per one hundred
Speaker 1: possessions when Janice is on the floor this year. That's
Speaker 1: not very good compared to a lot of the other
Speaker 1: best players in the league, especially the ones that are
Speaker 1: on good teams. UM below six true shooting for the
Speaker 1: first time since two thousand eighteen, that's really weird. For
Speaker 1: your honest, he's just eighty four for three D and
Speaker 1: thirteen outside of the restricted area, which is just twenty percent.
Speaker 1: So even though he's having an other worldly season at
Speaker 1: the rim, everything away from the rim, he's missing basically
Speaker 1: three out of four times, which is kind of problematic
Speaker 1: at this point, but I keep coming back to the
Speaker 1: supporting cast, like with Drew Holiday missing as much time
Speaker 1: as he's missed, with Chris Middleton missing basically being entirely
Speaker 1: unavailable this entire season. As a result, this team is
Speaker 1: extremely weak in spot up shooting. The Bucks score less
Speaker 1: than one point per possession on spot up possessions, which
Speaker 1: is twenty two in the n b A, so teams
Speaker 1: are really loading up on Jannice, so he's having to
Speaker 1: take more perimeter jump shots than ever. His individual defender
Speaker 1: has more leeway to press up into his airspace, which
Speaker 1: makes those into tougher shots. It's just an extremely high
Speaker 1: degree of difficulty for Johannice, and in spite of all
Speaker 1: of that, he's still producing at an extremely high level.
Speaker 1: And the Bucks are only two point five games back
Speaker 1: of Boston, so Janice has had a better I think
Speaker 1: he's a better player overall. He has that championship resume
Speaker 1: that adds legitimacy. He's working with less talent because I
Speaker 1: think Boston has the best roster in the league, and
Speaker 1: yet the Bucks are just two and a half games
Speaker 1: back of the Celtics. So I ended up giving the
Speaker 1: nod to Janice for that first team forward. But like
Speaker 1: I said, Jayson Tatum has been one of the five
Speaker 1: best players in the league this year, and he would
Speaker 1: have that guard spot if we were fudging the positions.
Speaker 1: Um At center, Nicola Yoki legit m VP candidate for
Speaker 1: the third year in a row, eleven and ten on
Speaker 1: six true shooting. The Nuggets are twenty five and eleven
Speaker 1: when he plays, He's only missed three games, so he's
Speaker 1: been very available, and the Nuggets are twenty six points
Speaker 1: per one possessions better when Yoki is on the floor
Speaker 1: versus when he's off. And the big thing with Yokich
Speaker 1: and you know, Yoki is one of the most polarizing
Speaker 1: players in the NBA. Like, I feel like I'm pretty
Speaker 1: in the middle. There's a lot of people that think
Speaker 1: he's worse than I think he is, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people who think he's better than I think
Speaker 1: he is. There's kind of a pretty heavy Yoki is
Speaker 1: the best player in the world crowd, and then there's
Speaker 1: a pretty heavy like Yokich is such a bad defensive
Speaker 1: player that he's actually, you know, nowhere near to the
Speaker 1: level of the top players in the league. There's those
Speaker 1: kinds of guys that are, uh that on the other
Speaker 1: side of the spectrum, I'm pretty much in the middle.
Speaker 1: I think he's, you know, top five or six player
Speaker 1: in the league. I think he's probably the best offensive
Speaker 1: player in the league, if not in that conversation with
Speaker 1: Steph and defensively, I don't think he's very good and
Speaker 1: I think he can be targeted. I think that's a differentiator.
Speaker 1: But I do think that that gets overplayed when people
Speaker 1: are ranking him compared to some of his peers around
Speaker 1: the league. And I think the reason why he's so
Speaker 1: polarizing is how easy he makes the game. Look. We've
Speaker 1: talked about this a lot on the show, but Nicola
Speaker 1: Yoka just constantly targeting the easy opportunities that present themselves
Speaker 1: on the basketball court. And he's not a guy that
Speaker 1: will put up six or seven highlight level shots to
Speaker 1: rescue possessions over the course of the game. He does
Speaker 1: have rescue possessions. He can hit nifty one like fade
Speaker 1: aways or crazy high difficulty hook shots over great defense.
Speaker 1: He can do that stuff, and he doesn't get enough
Speaker 1: credit for that stuff that he deserves more credit. But overall,
Speaker 1: he does have a very easy and simplistic approach to
Speaker 1: the game, which I think is smart and it's what
Speaker 1: makes him so damned defective, and that kind of thing
Speaker 1: I think goes over a lot of basketball fans heads,
Speaker 1: and so as a result, I don't think he gets
Speaker 1: the appropriate credit that he deserves. But he clearly is
Speaker 1: the first team All NBA center through half the season,
Speaker 1: all right. Moving on to the second team guard f Curry,
Speaker 1: I think he's been the second best player that I've
Speaker 1: seen this year overall. If you if you just took
Speaker 1: the minutes that they've played during this season, Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: has been the best player I've seen this year. Steph
Speaker 1: Curry has been the second best player that I've seen
Speaker 1: this year. He probably would be first team All NBA
Speaker 1: right now if it wasn't for the injury in that
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell spot. He is having a bit of a
Speaker 1: down defensive season. He's had some bad defensive games in
Speaker 1: a way that I think Kevin Durant has been better
Speaker 1: on that end of the floor this year, and obviously
Speaker 1: he just has the physical tools to have more impact there.
Speaker 1: So that was why I'm giving Katie the nod in
Speaker 1: terms of who's the best player I've seen this year.
Speaker 1: But Steff is having an all time great offensive season
Speaker 1: thirty points, seven rebounds, seven assists, sixty seven percentury shooting,
Speaker 1: which is just amazing. He's the second best pick and
Speaker 1: roll ball handler in the league to run at least
Speaker 1: two hundred behind Kevin Durant, and the Warriors offense scores
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty one points per one hundre possessions when
Speaker 1: he's on the floor, just one oh eight when he's
Speaker 1: off the floor, So still one of the best offensive
Speaker 1: engines in the NBA. Alright, So the second guard for
Speaker 1: the second team for all NBA. This was my second
Speaker 1: really tough call. I had to choose between Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: or Shay gil Just Alexander. I went with Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: but I want to explain because I do think s
Speaker 1: g A right now is a better basketball player overall. However,
Speaker 1: Kyrie I think is providing more winning impact, more value
Speaker 1: to his team right now. Like we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: the Nets are playing Nick Claxton and Ben Simmons big minutes.
Speaker 1: They're both playing almost thirty minutes a game. They've been
Speaker 1: on the floor together this season for seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty four possessions, and the Nets are plus four net
Speaker 1: in those possessions four points positive per one possessions. That's
Speaker 1: really solid when you factor in severe spacing concerns with
Speaker 1: those types of lineups. At any given moment, they either
Speaker 1: have two or one of those guys on the floor
Speaker 1: that teams are able to help off of, right, and
Speaker 1: so this team is not a good spacing team. They
Speaker 1: do have a lot of shooting in the perimeter, but
Speaker 1: interior wise, there's always help defenders around the rim. So
Speaker 1: have guys that can consistently rise up and hit pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots over the top of defense is vitally important.
Speaker 1: That also gives them the flexibility to play like a
Speaker 1: defensive minded guard like Edmund Sumner, even though he can't shoot,
Speaker 1: you can put him out there for you know whatever
Speaker 1: it is, seventeen twenty minutes a night. Because of all
Speaker 1: the pull up shooting you have with Kevin Durant and
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, that whole roster construct fundamentally works with Kyrie
Speaker 1: in a way that I don't think it necessarily would
Speaker 1: with Shakils Alexander. Shay is a solid pull up jump shooter,
Speaker 1: but Kyrie is eight per cent better in effective field
Speaker 1: goal percentage on pull up jump shots because he's a
Speaker 1: bit better from two, but he's much much better on
Speaker 1: pull up three point shots, which obviously brings a ton
Speaker 1: of efficiency. It's actually become one of Kyrie's go to
Speaker 1: shots of late, especially in uh in clutch situations. And
Speaker 1: so you know, in Shakils Alexander, he's making five shots
Speaker 1: a game in the restricted area. So like he is
Speaker 1: very reliant on spacing and those pick and pop bigs
Speaker 1: like MIKEA Mscala and shape in Alexei Pokachevski to play
Speaker 1: for okay, see, those are vitally important to opening up
Speaker 1: the paint for Shade to get where he needs to
Speaker 1: go on the floor. Kyrie and Uh and Uh Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant in their ability to consistently shoot over the top
Speaker 1: allows them to play non shooters in the in the
Speaker 1: front court. So as I'm zooming out, Shea is a
Speaker 1: little better player in terms of overall impact on a
Speaker 1: winning team. I mean, we're talking about the second best
Speaker 1: player on the second best team in the league. I
Speaker 1: think he pretty clearly is Uh is good enough to
Speaker 1: be that second team All NBA guard twenty five and
Speaker 1: five on six true shooting. I also think he's having
Speaker 1: a much better defensive season than say John marae itt
Speaker 1: Um and again, like I said, uniquely makes the nets
Speaker 1: roster more functional. So I've got Kyrie Irving as the
Speaker 1: second team second guard alright, first forward on the second team,
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum. I talked to you guys earlier about why
Speaker 1: I had you Honese over him, so I won't go
Speaker 1: any further into thatt eight and four this year on
Speaker 1: true shooting. Still an outstanding defender, but he has had
Speaker 1: some bad games, like I like that Denver game was
Speaker 1: a really annoying one for me because it was another
Speaker 1: opportunity for the Celtics to send a message, and Justin
Speaker 1: Tatum just mailed that game in defensively, especially in his
Speaker 1: off ball possessions. Yokis caught him sleeping a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: It's kind of disappointed in him there. Um that said,
Speaker 1: still a bona fide m VP candidate. Just Johannest and
Speaker 1: Katie are better right now and I think they deserve
Speaker 1: those two spots second forward on the second team Lebron
Speaker 1: James So Anthony Davis went down on December six, and
Speaker 1: since then, Lebron has been playing arguably like the best
Speaker 1: player in the world. It's either him or Yokis. Over
Speaker 1: the course of the last month or so, Lebron and
Speaker 1: Yokis have been a step above everyone else in the league. Uh.
Speaker 1: Since Anthony Davis went down, Lebron's averaging thirty four points
Speaker 1: per game, eight rebounds, seven assists, fifty from the field,
Speaker 1: true shooting, and the Lakers managed somehow over that span
Speaker 1: to go eight and five despite severe personnel limitations. They
Speaker 1: do not have a backup center that they trust that
Speaker 1: they can play. They do not have any perimeters or shooting.
Speaker 1: It's basically Lebron, Thomas Bryant in a bunch of guards,
Speaker 1: and they are winning games. Now they're getting contributions. Dennis
Speaker 1: Schroeder is playing really well, Thomas Bryant's playing really well.
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook is having his second significant good stretch of
Speaker 1: basketball u uh in this season. All those guys are
Speaker 1: playing well, but Lebron is the guy functionally makes it
Speaker 1: work on the defensive end of the floor. He makes
Speaker 1: up for so many size related issues because of his
Speaker 1: ability to guard, contest, grab contested rebounds. Again, I encourage you.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite Lebron things that you guys have
Speaker 1: to start paying attention to when he's playing that a
Speaker 1: lot of people miss is the contested rebounds. Watch a
Speaker 1: three ball goes high in the air, There's two centers
Speaker 1: down there jumping, and here comes Lebron towering over everybody
Speaker 1: to tap the ball to Dennis Schroeder. Something along those lines.
Speaker 1: Watch Lebron in contested rebound situations. That is how he
Speaker 1: as basically a wing can functionally replace a good percentage
Speaker 1: of front court athleticism in size in those defensive rebounding situations.
Speaker 1: He's also been playing really good help defense over the
Speaker 1: course of this recent stretch. Lebron, it's it's it's truly bizarre,
Speaker 1: how reliably great he's been on a night and night
Speaker 1: out basis in his twenty season. I did have a
Speaker 1: little bit of a run in with uh Cuffs, the
Speaker 1: legend Lebron's friend on Twitter on Saturday night. He got
Speaker 1: after me because I was critical of Lebron earlier in
Speaker 1: the season. And I have to say this every year
Speaker 1: to Lebron fans because they can't handle it. To make
Speaker 1: it simple, I am a big Lebron fan. He's my
Speaker 1: favorite player. He's the reason why I got into the league.
Speaker 1: Why the reason why I got into basketball. I was
Speaker 1: raised on football and baseball, and watching Lebron got me
Speaker 1: to fall in love with this game, which in turn
Speaker 1: has paid for my schooling and become my career. I
Speaker 1: owe everything to Lebron getting me to fall in love
Speaker 1: with basketball. So yes, I have a great deal of
Speaker 1: attachment there. That's why I decided to cover the Lakers
Speaker 1: when I got into this industry. It's why we talked
Speaker 1: about a lot of Lakers on this Know I'm a
Speaker 1: fan of Lebron, but I at least try, even though
Speaker 1: I do have my biases, I at least try my
Speaker 1: best to be as objective as possible. So I'm not
Speaker 1: going to analyze based on what I feel about a
Speaker 1: player in the grand scheme of things. I'm gonna analyze
Speaker 1: based on the way they're playing in the actual basketball
Speaker 1: games that are actually taking place. So early in the season,
Speaker 1: Lebron wasn't good, not compared to his standard. He's been
Speaker 1: much better as of late. So how has this show
Speaker 1: looked When I've talked about Lebron? What was it like
Speaker 1: early in the season when he was struggling. I'd point
Speaker 1: out that he was struggling. I'd also point out he's sick,
Speaker 1: he's dealing with the foot injury. I would point those
Speaker 1: things out, but I would also say, he's just not
Speaker 1: playing well. Now, what's happening. He's healthy? What did I
Speaker 1: tell you guys earlier in the season. I'm like, if
Speaker 1: he can get his rhythm, if he can play fifteen
Speaker 1: games in a row and not get hurt, I believe
Speaker 1: his legs will get underneath them and he'll take off.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what happened. So even when he was struggling,
Speaker 1: I predicted that he would get better. I just was
Speaker 1: pointing out the simple fact that he was struggling. And
Speaker 1: I will continue to do that with every single player.
Speaker 1: You guys know, Russell Westbrook is probably my least favorite
Speaker 1: player in the entire NBA, and and rooting for a
Speaker 1: Lebron James team is extremely frustrating. With Russell Westbrook on
Speaker 1: the roster. What have I done when Russ has played
Speaker 1: well this year? I've pointed it out because it's just true.
Speaker 1: I'm about at the core. I love basketball, and and
Speaker 1: when I see Russ do good basketball things that lead
Speaker 1: to a team that I root for to win games,
Speaker 1: of course I'm going to acknowledge that. And so I
Speaker 1: always think that's funny and it and I get it.
Speaker 1: It's Lebron's friend. He's got to come to his defense.
Speaker 1: But like, if you were a Lakers fan and you
Speaker 1: were critical of Lebron early in the season, you were right.
Speaker 1: You weren't wrong, you weren't being you weren't being dishonest,
Speaker 1: you weren't hating, you were simply pointing out what was
Speaker 1: happening on the basketball court. UM. On the season, Lebron
Speaker 1: eight and seven true shooting since the groin injury, which
Speaker 1: is now a twenty one game sample size, so over
Speaker 1: a fourth of the season, Lebron is averaging eight and
Speaker 1: seven on shooting. Just unbelievably ridiculous stuff. And for the
Speaker 1: season the right around five hundred when he plays despite
Speaker 1: a d missing a ton of games, and all the
Speaker 1: general roster issues which we've talked to death on this show. UM,
Speaker 1: I think he's a clear cut second team forward and
Speaker 1: as of this exact moment in time, he's playing like
Speaker 1: a top three player in the world. Center for the
Speaker 1: second team. Joe l em bat ten and five career
Speaker 1: high sixty true shooting. Talked about Janice and his shooting
Speaker 1: outside the restricted area earlier. Check this out. Joel Embiad
Speaker 1: is one seventy three for three outside of the restricted
Speaker 1: area this season. That's now we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: how important that is as it pertains to his playoffs success.
Speaker 1: Joe Embiad is not a great passer, so as teams
Speaker 1: packed the paint on him in his especially his face
Speaker 1: up ISOs in terms of backside help, it's more important
Speaker 1: than ever for him to be able to knock down
Speaker 1: those perimeter jump shots, especially when he gets into the postseason.
Speaker 1: And this is his best perimeter sho eating season, and
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see if that translates. So I'm
Speaker 1: very excited for this playoff run for Joel Embiid because
Speaker 1: if he shoots this well from the perimeter, they are
Speaker 1: going to be extremely difficult to beat, Like they are
Speaker 1: going to be every bit as talented and have a
Speaker 1: legit chance to beat Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, Cleveland, Brooklyn, anybody
Speaker 1: Phil He's got a chance if Joel embid is gonna
Speaker 1: shoot that well. He's been the fourth best isolation player
Speaker 1: in the league this year to run at least a
Speaker 1: hundred possessions at one point one six points per possession.
Speaker 1: He's been the third best post player in the league
Speaker 1: to run at least a hundred postops at one point
Speaker 1: one eight points per possession, and he's been the fifth
Speaker 1: best roleman in the league to run at least one
Speaker 1: roman possessions at one point one five points per possession.
Speaker 1: And then on the other end of the floor, he's
Speaker 1: completely anchoring the fourth best defense in the league, and
Speaker 1: if you really look close, they're playing batist thigh bowl
Speaker 1: a little bit more frequently. Now, he's a very good
Speaker 1: defensive player. Tobias Harris is underrated, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: of minutes being played by you know, Tyrese Maxie, who's
Speaker 1: having a better defensive season but still is not very good.
Speaker 1: James Harden better defensive season, is still not very good.
Speaker 1: You know, Shake Milton's out. There's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: that are playing. George's neeting is another one. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that are bought leeway on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor because of what Joel emb Joel
Speaker 1: Embi does as a back line rim protector. He's our
Speaker 1: second team center all right, third team guard. Shake Gildas
Speaker 1: Alexander best combination of rim scoring and pull up shooting
Speaker 1: in the NBA. He's tent and pull up shooting percentage
Speaker 1: among players who take at least five pull up jump
Speaker 1: shots per game. He's also twelve and restricted area makes
Speaker 1: per game at four point five that is the most
Speaker 1: among all the guards in the league, including John Morand.
Speaker 1: So he's finishing at the rim more frequently in the
Speaker 1: NBA games than John morant Is. That's how crazy is
Speaker 1: is a downhill threat. The only players that are ahead
Speaker 1: of him, the eleven players that are ahead of him
Speaker 1: and restricted area makes are all centers, guys who basically
Speaker 1: function as centers, like Aaron Gordon. We've talked about how
Speaker 1: he basically functionally runs the center in their offense as
Speaker 1: like a dunker spot guy. And then the Aliens lebron
Speaker 1: Zion and Janice those are the only guys that are
Speaker 1: ahead of Shake Gils Alexander at the guard position in
Speaker 1: rim finishing for the season thirty five and six. On shooting,
Speaker 1: He's a solid defensive player with good length to bother shooters.
Speaker 1: He's a little fin that's his big weakness on defense
Speaker 1: right now and for the season. The thunder are basically
Speaker 1: even when he plays, and then they lose big time
Speaker 1: in all the minutes when he's off the floor. Definitely
Speaker 1: been one of the top six cards in the league
Speaker 1: this year. Second guard for the third team All NBA.
Speaker 1: This was my third and final super tough call. It's
Speaker 1: either gonna be Devin Booker or John Morant and it
Speaker 1: will probably be job by the end of the season
Speaker 1: because Devin Booker is dealing with this growing injuries, probably
Speaker 1: gonna miss at least another few weeks, maybe even more.
Speaker 1: But at this point in time, Jah has only played
Speaker 1: four more games. And I'd like to give book Or
Speaker 1: some love here because I don't think he's going to
Speaker 1: get the love at the end of the season. So
Speaker 1: at this point, halfway through this season, let's take some
Speaker 1: time to appreciate Devin Booker. He I actually think he's
Speaker 1: been a better offensive engine when you actually factor it.
Speaker 1: Like I used to think the Sons had the most
Speaker 1: talented roster in the league after the Stars, but injuries
Speaker 1: have really piled up. Chris Paul has completely declined and
Speaker 1: he's no longer the same player that he was in
Speaker 1: the playoffs before the Dallas Maverick series. Um Cam Johnson
Speaker 1: obviously huge loss in perimeter shooting at that forward position.
Speaker 1: Jay Crowder obviously with the trade request, has taken himself
Speaker 1: out of the lineup. In totality, the team's roster has
Speaker 1: lost a good amount of talent through injuries and age
Speaker 1: with Chris Paul, and despite that, the Sons have a
Speaker 1: one two offensive rating with Devin Booker on the floor
Speaker 1: and a one oh seven offensive rating when he's off
Speaker 1: the floor. That's the same type of split we were
Speaker 1: seeing with Steph Curry. That's the type of impact he
Speaker 1: has on that Son's offense. I also think he has
Speaker 1: more variety. I think John can get a little repetitive
Speaker 1: with his high I so high pick and roll attack.
Speaker 1: Devin Booker is a lot more versatile and the spots
Speaker 1: in the where he can attack, he's a little more patient.
Speaker 1: I actually John Morant is a more productive passer in
Speaker 1: the way that his downhill presence creates tons of opportunities
Speaker 1: and with his heliocentric style to rack up assists. But
Speaker 1: in terms of really high level reads, I think Devin
Speaker 1: Booker is pretty close to where John Morant is, and
Speaker 1: so I do think he gets nowhere near enough credit
Speaker 1: for what he does as a passer in this league.
Speaker 1: And then honestly, Devin Booker is just a much much
Speaker 1: better defensive player right now. It will eventually, like I
Speaker 1: said b Jaws spot as we get towards the end
Speaker 1: of the season and games played becomes a bigger factor.
Speaker 1: But I want to show love to Booker here five
Speaker 1: and six for the season on fifty nine percent try shooting,
Speaker 1: eighteen and eleven are the Sons when Devin Booker plays
Speaker 1: just two and ten when he doesn't alright first forward
Speaker 1: position on the third team. Jalen Brown seven and three
Speaker 1: on fifty percent true shooting, very good pull up shooting
Speaker 1: season on six attempts per game. That's eighth in the
Speaker 1: league among players who take at least five per game.
Speaker 1: To give you an idea, Jayson Tatum is making just
Speaker 1: thirty two percent of his pull up jump shots, so
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is literally fourteen percent better on pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots this year. In the Jayson Tatum He's also
Speaker 1: having an underrated playmaking season compared to what you'd expect
Speaker 1: from Jalen Brown inn pick and rolls this year, where
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown has passed out of it, the Celtics have
Speaker 1: scored ninety eight points, which is that overall is contributing
Speaker 1: to him in pick and roll to the tune of
Speaker 1: one point one points per possession, which is sixteenth in
Speaker 1: the league out of a hundred and twenty six players
Speaker 1: that have run at least one hundred pick and rolls.
Speaker 1: So better pick and roll passing has led to him
Speaker 1: being one of the best pick and roll ball handlers
Speaker 1: in the league, and he's still a very good defensive player.
Speaker 1: It's a similar type of season to Jayson Tatum, like
Speaker 1: when he's locked in, he's very good, but he's just
Speaker 1: having too many nights where he mails it in. That's
Speaker 1: been an issue with the Celtics and their arrogance all season.
Speaker 1: But he's the second best player on the best team
Speaker 1: in the league, absolutely deserving and of an All NBA
Speaker 1: selection to this point, Sorry, I've been dealing with allergies
Speaker 1: the last like four or five days. It's driving me
Speaker 1: and saying somebody somehow identified it and our Saturday morning video,
Speaker 1: but it's just been the sniffles in congestion NonStop, which
Speaker 1: has been so much fun with me trying to move
Speaker 1: my entire life again. Alright. Second forward on the third
Speaker 1: team Zion Williamson seven and five on six century shooting
Speaker 1: eight point two restricted area makes per game, which is
Speaker 1: second in the league behind Just Nice. Having a very
Speaker 1: good passing season. Teams are really loading up in the
Speaker 1: paint when Zion is getting ready to ISO or post
Speaker 1: up um, and he's particularly doing a great job of
Speaker 1: finding three point shooters in those sets. He's passed out
Speaker 1: of postops and ISOs a hundred and fifty seven times
Speaker 1: this year for a hundred and sixty two points, which
Speaker 1: is very good, up over a point per possession. And
Speaker 1: he's made significant improvements as a defensive playmaker. Now he's
Speaker 1: got a long way to go on a possession by
Speaker 1: possession basis and his ability to uphold a defensive scheme
Speaker 1: by being reliable and always in the right spot. However,
Speaker 1: he's starting to make more defensive plays jumping into passing lanes,
Speaker 1: blocking shots at the rammer on the perimeter. Those are
Speaker 1: like impact momentum types plays. They are valuable. It's more
Speaker 1: valuable to be consistent on a possession by possession basis.
Speaker 1: That's why he's still a below average defensive player in totality,
Speaker 1: but those improvements as a playmaker are a good start
Speaker 1: and it goes to show you what he can be
Speaker 1: capable of when he mixes those two aspects together. The
Speaker 1: Pelicans are seventeen and two when Zion plays, and there
Speaker 1: are seven points per one hund possessions better when he
Speaker 1: plays than when he's off the floor. Will be fun
Speaker 1: to see Zion Williams and make an All NBA team,
Speaker 1: which just needs to rest up this hamstring and get
Speaker 1: healthy alright. Center for third team ll NBA. Bam at
Speaker 1: a Bio had a rough shooting night against Broken last night.
Speaker 1: I think he was just five for fifteen from the field.
Speaker 1: But he's having the best scoring season of his career.
Speaker 1: He's averaging a career high twenty one point four points
Speaker 1: per game on fift t shooting, shooting in the short
Speaker 1: midrange that's from ten to sixteen feet. Those are those
Speaker 1: little shots he's like I said in our breakdown of
Speaker 1: the heat the other day, he's always trying to get
Speaker 1: to the middle of the floor, regardless of which block
Speaker 1: he's on or which elbow he's facing up from. But
Speaker 1: when he gets to the middle, he's so good shooting
Speaker 1: those fadeaway jumps shots over both shoulders extremely accurately, and
Speaker 1: that's turned him into a score in a way that
Speaker 1: he's never been in his career. This is the most
Speaker 1: important development with Bam two and sixteen points on Twitter
Speaker 1: and twelve postops and ISOs. So when you ask Bam
Speaker 1: in a set defense environment in the half court, with
Speaker 1: no advantage to create his own shot for himself or
Speaker 1: for his teammates, he's getting over a point per possession.
Speaker 1: That's huge, and that's a vital contribution to an offense
Speaker 1: that desperately needs someone to specifically provide that service. And
Speaker 1: then on the other end, he's still one of the
Speaker 1: better defensive anchors in the league because of his ability
Speaker 1: to protect the rim and help or pick and roll,
Speaker 1: and also his ability to switch out onto perimeter guards
Speaker 1: and wings, which he's one of the best bigs in
Speaker 1: the league at that specific skill. Uh, the heat in
Speaker 1: general for the season are six points better per one
Speaker 1: Hunter possessions offensively when he's on versus when he's off,
Speaker 1: and three points better defensively when he's on versus when
Speaker 1: he's off. So that's a nine point swing in total
Speaker 1: value when Bam at a bios on versus when he's off,
Speaker 1: which is m VP level stuff. I think he's clearly
Speaker 1: the best center in the league that's not named Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid or Nickela Yokis so in summation really quickly. First
Speaker 1: team guards Luca and Donovan Mitchell, first team forwards, Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant Janice, first team center, Nicola Yokich, Second team guards
Speaker 1: Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving. Second team forwards Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: and Lebron Second team center Joel Embiad, Third team guards
Speaker 1: Shade gil Just Alexander and Devin Booker. It's like a
Speaker 1: third team forwards Jalen Brown and Zion Williamson. Third team
Speaker 1: center Bam at a Bio. These were the eight players
Speaker 1: that did not make my cut. So these were players
Speaker 1: that were in consideration that did not make the list.
Speaker 1: At the guard Damian Lillard, John Morant, de Mar de
Speaker 1: Rose and Deer and Fox forwards Pascal Siakum, Laurie markin
Speaker 1: In and Jimmy Butler. And then the center, it was
Speaker 1: a toss up for me between a D and BAM.
Speaker 1: But AD has just missed too much time and BAM
Speaker 1: has been too good. I do think it has been
Speaker 1: better when he's been healthy. But a D has been
Speaker 1: the fourth best center in the league this year in
Speaker 1: total contribution. Al Right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for today. We'll be back tomorrow with the other awards
Speaker 1: like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie the Year
Speaker 1: Most Improved. Wednesday, we're gonna be doing like a power
Speaker 1: ranking style Tier of Contender tears uh Thursday instant reaction
Speaker 1: to net Celtics as of right now that that might
Speaker 1: get canceled because of Kevin Durant. I'll let you guys know,
Speaker 1: and then later in the week we're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: our five biggest burning questions of the second half of
Speaker 1: the season. As always, I appreciate you guys support and
Speaker 1: I will see you tomorrow. Volume