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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by Fando here at the volume Happy Friday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had an amazing week
Speaker 1: and that you got big plans for the weekend. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna be hitting on three preseason games today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit on Pelicans Bulls our first time seeing Zion
Speaker 1: Williamson and over a year Lakers Sons, another impressive performance
Speaker 1: from a Lakers team that a lot of people were
Speaker 1: pessimistic about going into the season. And then last but
Speaker 1: not least, Cavaliers Sixers, our first taste of Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 1: with the Calves and of James Harden in his revenge
Speaker 1: tour this year. I'm also gonna hit on a couple
Speaker 1: of you guys comments from uh the YouTube comments from
Speaker 1: the Victor Wemban Yama and Scoot Henderson video yesterday. I
Speaker 1: really want to work hard this year to get you
Speaker 1: guys is involved impossible and have more back and forth.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of plans on that front. I'll
Speaker 1: keep you guys posted. You guys know the drill before
Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels so
Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you get you guys,
Speaker 1: don't miss show announcements. That's also where I drop NBA
Speaker 1: footage since I'm not allowed to use it here. That's
Speaker 1: a great place for you guys to see some visual
Speaker 1: aids for some of the concepts that I talked about
Speaker 1: on the show. And last but not least, if you
Speaker 1: miss one of these shows and you can't get back
Speaker 1: over to YouTube to finish them, you can find them
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. So there
Speaker 1: were two main disagreements that I saw in my Victor
Speaker 1: Women Yama and Scoot Henderson video yesterday. There were some
Speaker 1: of you guys that tried to give other examples of legitimate,
Speaker 1: you know, stretch bigs that were great rim protectors, and
Speaker 1: there were two that were thrown out, one that I
Speaker 1: disagree with and one that I do agree with. But
Speaker 1: I think that at Victor is going to be even
Speaker 1: another level above that. So a lot of people throughout
Speaker 1: Joel em beat and the reality is that he's just
Speaker 1: too low volume, you know, like he does shoot about
Speaker 1: three three pointers per game, and he does shoot in
Speaker 1: the high thirties right like about thirty give or take
Speaker 1: a few depending on the year. But the reality is
Speaker 1: his teams aren't guarding him out there because it's a
Speaker 1: really low volume. If James Harden and Joel embiad run
Speaker 1: a pick and pop, they're conceding that shot to try
Speaker 1: to take away things in the paint. When guys are
Speaker 1: closing out on him, they're closing out short preparing for
Speaker 1: him to attack that close out. And the reason why
Speaker 1: he's only taken three per game and he's not exactly
Speaker 1: lighting you on fire with them. That's three completely wide
Speaker 1: open attempts per game that he's barely making over a
Speaker 1: third of. That's not a real stretch big. Also, when
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Victor women Yama and this concept of
Speaker 1: being a stretch big and rim protector, I'm talking about
Speaker 1: it within the role. Obviously, Embeat is fifty times the
Speaker 1: player that Victor is right now, So is Nicola Yokich,
Speaker 1: So is Karl Anthony Town, so are so many of
Speaker 1: the bigs around the league. But I'm just specifically talking
Speaker 1: about plugging a player into a role as a rim
Speaker 1: protector and as a stretch big, a legitimate stretch big
Speaker 1: that teams would guard on the perimeter and be scared
Speaker 1: of giving up open shots too. So there was one
Speaker 1: other one of you guys, a couple of you guys.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Brook Lopez a few years back. Now. His
Speaker 1: shooting has fallen off of a cliff since this season,
Speaker 1: so it kind of appears to be some kind of outlier,
Speaker 1: but a few years back, he averaged over two Maye
Speaker 1: threes per game and over two blocks per game, and
Speaker 1: he was averaging right around I think six or seven
Speaker 1: attempts per game. Most of them were catching shoot and
Speaker 1: pretty wide open, but there were some complicated shots in there,
Speaker 1: a few jab step pull ups, and occasionally some wild
Speaker 1: step back threes that he would take and make from
Speaker 1: time to time. Um So, I do think that that's
Speaker 1: a good example of a legitimate stretch, big rim protector
Speaker 1: that we had in the league a few years ago.
Speaker 1: But I think that even that, even what we saw
Speaker 1: from Brooke, I don't think it's gonna be nearly like
Speaker 1: what we're gonna see from Victor. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be the type of movement shooting and running him off
Speaker 1: of screens and the off the dribble shooting you're gonna
Speaker 1: see from him. I think he's gonna run picking inverted
Speaker 1: pick and roll as the ball handler a lot, and
Speaker 1: elevating to pull up threes. I think that what you
Speaker 1: saw from Brooke that season, that one outlier season that
Speaker 1: kind of stands out from the rest of his career.
Speaker 1: I think You're gonna see that from Victor every single
Speaker 1: season of his career, which is why I think he's
Speaker 1: such a unique prospect. And then the other complaints. Several
Speaker 1: of you guys were asking why I don't include Dwyane
Speaker 1: Wade and aunt Uh Edwards in the um in the
Speaker 1: like small super athletic guard archetype that we were talking about,
Speaker 1: And the main reason why is that they're both bigger,
Speaker 1: and Dwyane Wade is about six four or six five
Speaker 1: with basketball shoes on, and Anthony Edwards is like six five,
Speaker 1: six six with basketball shoes on, and so they have
Speaker 1: like a a legitimate presence, a physical presence on the floor.
Speaker 1: Like Dwyane Wade was routinely operating out of the post
Speaker 1: um as a as a guard when he was in
Speaker 1: his prime, he was, like it, consistently played significantly above
Speaker 1: his size as an impact rebounder, at shot blocker, as
Speaker 1: a back line defender, and things along those lines. Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards I have I've called him, I've called him like
Speaker 1: mini Lebron with the way he attacks the rim because
Speaker 1: he has such an incredible athletic presence going down the lane.
Speaker 1: These guys that I'm talking about, these you know, John
Speaker 1: Morants and Scoot Henderson and John Wall and Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and all these guys, they're all shorter, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I think John Wall is the tallest of that group,
Speaker 1: and I think he's about six four was shoes on um.
Speaker 1: But there's a specific reason why I'm kind of parsing
Speaker 1: those guys out, Like Dwyane Wade and Anthony Edwards will
Speaker 1: be able to like Dwyane Wade and his prime could
Speaker 1: consistently guard bigger wings, and Anthony Edwards when he gets
Speaker 1: to where he's going to be as a defensive player,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be able to guard big wings as well.
Speaker 1: But I since really appreciate you guys offering lots of
Speaker 1: feedback and questions and comments and stuff in the YouTube comments.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to make more effort every single day
Speaker 1: during our live shows, will respond to comments at the
Speaker 1: end of the show, and then during these shows, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try better drop questions, comments and things like that
Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments and I'll address them in the
Speaker 1: next show that we do. So moving on to Pelicans bulls,
Speaker 1: So this was kind of an as kicking the Pelicans
Speaker 1: really man handle the bulls on both ends of the
Speaker 1: floor that that roster is loaded, that Pelicans roster. And
Speaker 1: it's such an interesting combination of ball handling because they
Speaker 1: have all these guys like c. J. Mccollumn that can
Speaker 1: dribble the ball well, Brandon Ingram can dribble the ball well.
Speaker 1: You know, Um Davante Graham coming off the bench can
Speaker 1: dribble the ball well, uh Um, Jose Alvarado can dribble
Speaker 1: the ball. Well. They've got all this ball handling, but
Speaker 1: they also have all these big rim pressuring forwards, like
Speaker 1: like obviously Jonas Malan Tunas causes a lot of rim
Speaker 1: pressure just with his presence around the basket. Zion Williamson
Speaker 1: was just straight up frightening once again. And when he
Speaker 1: catches the ball on that right kind of like uh
Speaker 1: like high, like it's kind of like baseline extended short
Speaker 1: corner he catches there and like he had a play
Speaker 1: where he just ripped through and Patrick Williams just literally
Speaker 1: had absolutely no chance. The next thing he knows, Zion
Speaker 1: is hanging on the rim or when he rips through
Speaker 1: to the left, he just he doesn't actually need to
Speaker 1: get separation. If he gets the slightest edge on you
Speaker 1: he's so strong in his center of gravity is so
Speaker 1: low that he's just gonna blow through your shoulder and
Speaker 1: get to where he wants to go. And you know,
Speaker 1: he was driving and kicking to c J. McCollum for
Speaker 1: wide open shots. And Davante Graham just a really interesting
Speaker 1: combination of guys who can apply for rim pressure, guys
Speaker 1: who can handle the basketball and shoot off of the dribble,
Speaker 1: and just overall athleticism everywhere. And so as a result,
Speaker 1: they generated a ton of rim pressure, and they generated
Speaker 1: a ton of good, high quality three point shots, and
Speaker 1: that's the two most efficient shots in basketball. And I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be a damn good offensive team as
Speaker 1: result of all of that talent. Ziion Williamson was actually
Speaker 1: especially active on the defensive end, trying to make plays
Speaker 1: at the rim. He had a really nice chase down
Speaker 1: block in transition, and then when he was in help side,
Speaker 1: he was really loading up and trying to cause problems
Speaker 1: around the rim. Still has a long way to go there,
Speaker 1: but I do appreciate the effort that he's putting in
Speaker 1: there and and and it is showing some results. Um
Speaker 1: Jackson Hayes, he had a really, really good first shift,
Speaker 1: playing the passing lanes and getting out in transition. He
Speaker 1: just has these super long steps and super long arms.
Speaker 1: He made two big plays in transition where I don't
Speaker 1: know if any other player in the league would have
Speaker 1: been able to score. Maybe a small handful of players
Speaker 1: in the league could have scored in those specific situations,
Speaker 1: like a bad bobbled pass that he tracked down on
Speaker 1: the right wing and then still just grabbed and took
Speaker 1: like two long steps to the basket and finished. He
Speaker 1: had another one where he did like a dramatic kind
Speaker 1: of pull over dribble over his head and then shot
Speaker 1: a floater and he made it. Uh really impactful minutes
Speaker 1: from him playing off ball defense and getting out in transition.
Speaker 1: Davonte Graham, He's had a rough run so far in
Speaker 1: New Orleans in the last couple of years, but he
Speaker 1: actually a r might might even only be one year
Speaker 1: with DeVonta Graham, but his pull up shooting is a
Speaker 1: big impact thing, a big impact talent for this particular team.
Speaker 1: He shot the ball really well last night. Just a
Speaker 1: really impressive performance from the Pelicans again one preseason game.
Speaker 1: But I'm really excited about that team and what they
Speaker 1: could accomplish this year. Um, the Bulls are just clunky
Speaker 1: and weird. Their offense is just a weird mix of
Speaker 1: Mardros and pump faking as he comes off of screens
Speaker 1: and Zach Lavine taking really difficult three point shots. They're
Speaker 1: still way too thin on the front line. I know
Speaker 1: they brought in Andre Drummond to try to address that,
Speaker 1: but his fit is clunky, He's got bad hands, he
Speaker 1: doesn't finish around the rim very well, and he just
Speaker 1: was getting cooked in transition when the Pelicans really tried
Speaker 1: to run the floor. So I I really, I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm not. I feel like even in my power rankings
Speaker 1: at sixteen, I might have had the Bulls too high.
Speaker 1: They're a couple of teams there that I might have
Speaker 1: to consider moving above them if we ever do. Uh.
Speaker 1: I mean, most of our power rankings this season will
Speaker 1: probably focus on the top ten. But I think you
Speaker 1: can safely say that the Raptors are probably better. The
Speaker 1: Pelicans are probably better. I might have jumped the gun
Speaker 1: on that one, but again, let's give it a little
Speaker 1: bit more time. And also, I was expecting a Lonzo
Speaker 1: ball to be ready to start the season, all right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the Lakers. So this is their
Speaker 1: second back to back encouraging preseason performance. And I know
Speaker 1: they lost both games, but their core lineups when the
Speaker 1: Stars were playing one both matchups one against a bad
Speaker 1: but talented Sacramento Kings team and then last night or
Speaker 1: Wednesday night against a very talented Phoenix Suns team that
Speaker 1: has had a psychological hold over this team ever since
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis pulled his groin in Game four of the
Speaker 1: Western Conference first round series. And uh, they've whooped their
Speaker 1: ass every single time they've played. And so for them
Speaker 1: to go out there without Anthony Davis with a ballball
Speaker 1: grouping of when you and Gabriel with Lebron, James Russell, Westbrook,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, and Patrick Beverley, for them to go out
Speaker 1: and play as well as they did is an excellent
Speaker 1: indicator for this team. I told you guys when we
Speaker 1: started preseason breakdowns, I care about the preseason. I think
Speaker 1: it is the best opportunity to build good habits, to
Speaker 1: build an identity, to build conditioning, to build continuity, To
Speaker 1: see the way you stack up against other teams. I
Speaker 1: think it matters. And so to see the Lakers come out,
Speaker 1: and some of it's Darvin Ham, some of it's just
Speaker 1: them getting a different voice in the locker room and
Speaker 1: them not wanting to listen to Frank Vogel anymore. A
Speaker 1: lot of it is effort and focus and just trying
Speaker 1: to actually be a good defensive team. And then a
Speaker 1: lot of it is an influx of some better defensive players.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley is a great defensive player. Getting Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: a little bit more muscular over the summer that makes
Speaker 1: him a better defensive player. I want to look at
Speaker 1: the defensive ent from two different angles here. So first
Speaker 1: of all, Austin Reaves and Patrick Beverley, the two of
Speaker 1: them are, you know, both for undersize because they're both
Speaker 1: considered undersized for their respective positions. Both of them are
Speaker 1: are teams that are players that teams love to attack
Speaker 1: in isolation. Their ability to hold their own in those
Speaker 1: isolation situations and their ability to fight over the top
Speaker 1: of ball screens just adds a dynamic to the Lakers
Speaker 1: perimeter defense that they haven't had in uh in the
Speaker 1: in the last year or so. Um Austin Reaves in
Speaker 1: particular is an excellent positional defender. He gives ground. He
Speaker 1: does not go for the basketball until you expose it
Speaker 1: as you're going up for a shot. And so so
Speaker 1: often you'll see guys put their head down and try
Speaker 1: to drive past Austin and they're just driving right into
Speaker 1: his chest, and he's just holding his ground, holding his ground,
Speaker 1: And then you show the basketball and he'll poke it
Speaker 1: away and or he'll just wall up and make you
Speaker 1: make a tough shot over the top. He he got
Speaker 1: stops on Devin Booker, he got stops on Landry Shammit.
Speaker 1: He was sliding his feet and playing really solid defense.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley is a more aggressive defend He's going after
Speaker 1: the basketball and trying to make you feel uncomfortable. But
Speaker 1: from the start of this game, the Sun's stars were
Speaker 1: way less comfortable than usual, and as a result of that,
Speaker 1: their shot quality was lower and had set its tone
Speaker 1: for that game. Defensively, every other time the Sons have
Speaker 1: played the Lakers in the previous year, they come out easy,
Speaker 1: breezy basketball because they just weren't making them feel uncomfortable
Speaker 1: from the opening tip. The second dynamic here that you're
Speaker 1: seeing with the Lakers, and last night he was even
Speaker 1: with their small ball groupings because when You Gabriel and
Speaker 1: Lebron James were flying around trying to block shots, this
Speaker 1: team is blocked seven and a half shots per game
Speaker 1: through the first two preseason games. A lot of Damien Jones,
Speaker 1: a lot of one You Gabriel, a lot of Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: a lot of Lebron James. Because of that, they are
Speaker 1: building this unique reputation of a a perimeter pressure team
Speaker 1: with their guards like Austin Reeves, Russell westbrookom Patrick Beverley,
Speaker 1: that is going to swallow everything up around the rim.
Speaker 1: Now they're going to give things up. They've been great
Speaker 1: defensively these two games. One major caveat against the Phoenix
Speaker 1: Suns pick and roll. They were offering help out of
Speaker 1: the strong side wing every single time. So pretend Devin
Speaker 1: Bookers on the left wing, he's coming over the eight
Speaker 1: and ball screen, he's getting downhill, Russell west broke his
Speaker 1: guarding Mcail Bridges, let's say, on the left wing. On
Speaker 1: the right wing, so where the direction that Devin Booker
Speaker 1: is driving, Bridges is right there. Russ is coming into
Speaker 1: the elbow to contain that Devin Booker drive, and they're
Speaker 1: consistently making that swing pass one pass away to a
Speaker 1: wide open shooter. They did it about six times in
Speaker 1: that first quarter and only made one of them. That is,
Speaker 1: for the record, a staple of the Milwaukee Bucks defense
Speaker 1: and presumably the scheme that Darvin Ham brought with him
Speaker 1: to the Lakers. They give up threes at the expense
Speaker 1: of taking everything away at the point of attack and
Speaker 1: at the paint. It's it's a concept that can beat you,
Speaker 1: and it's a concept that that can beat the other team.
Speaker 1: If you bait teams into taking those shots and they
Speaker 1: miss them, like the Sunstead last night, you get a
Speaker 1: good result. You do what the Milwaukee Bucks did to
Speaker 1: the Celtics in Game seven in Game six last year,
Speaker 1: they make forty something threes or whatever they did in
Speaker 1: the last two games, and you end up getting beat.
Speaker 1: So there's a it's a gamble there. But at the
Speaker 1: very least, they're going to be very good in two
Speaker 1: specific areas defensively, they're gonna be good at the point
Speaker 1: of attack, and they're gonna be good in the paint.
Speaker 1: That is enough to build a functional defense around. But
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to figure out some way to at
Speaker 1: least make it a little bit more difficult for these
Speaker 1: teams to shoot threes, especially in easy kickouts like they
Speaker 1: do when they're helping out of the strong side like
Speaker 1: that um on the The other thing that that I
Speaker 1: wanted to point out as it pertains to the shot blocking, again,
Speaker 1: seven and a half blocks that would have led the
Speaker 1: league last year. I think that the lead. The team
Speaker 1: that led the league had about six and a half
Speaker 1: blocks per game last year, again just two preseason games,
Speaker 1: but a good indicator of their activity around the rim.
Speaker 1: Most of this is extra efforts, and you're seeing it
Speaker 1: from Lebron James, and you're seeing it from when you
Speaker 1: and Gabriel. You're seeing it from Anthony Davis seeing a
Speaker 1: a that you could let happen. You could just let
Speaker 1: him go, but instead saying no, I'm gonna go get
Speaker 1: this thing. There was a play in transition where Michael
Speaker 1: Bridges ended up getting a run out and he had
Speaker 1: an opportunity at the rim. Lebron could have just let
Speaker 1: him go, but instead he loaded up and went for
Speaker 1: the block. It sends The most important part of that
Speaker 1: is once you start making those extra effort plays, once
Speaker 1: you start getting block shots to the two and of
Speaker 1: seven and a half per game, you start to get
Speaker 1: in the other team's heads. It gets to the point,
Speaker 1: and we saw this a ton with the Lakers. Guys
Speaker 1: start to start thinking their shot blockers around them even
Speaker 1: when there's not, and it makes them feel again the
Speaker 1: big key defensive concept that I talked about comfort. When
Speaker 1: you make teams feel uncomfortable because they're getting in you
Speaker 1: at the point of attack and they're flying around trying
Speaker 1: to block shots at the rim, that right there, in
Speaker 1: and of itself will make stars feel uncomfortable, which makes
Speaker 1: them less confident when the rising up into shots, which
Speaker 1: directly affects shot results. So I really like what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing so far from the Lakers on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: even though it's not perfect, even though they're gonna have
Speaker 1: some work they gotta do, I really like what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing there. Um, the Lakers are making a concerted effort
Speaker 1: to get out in transition so far in preseason. Once
Speaker 1: again last night, Lebron James and Russell Westbrook attacking down
Speaker 1: the floor when they get stops. Russ had a really
Speaker 1: nice left handed finish in transition on the first possession
Speaker 1: of the game, and then Lebron one of the most
Speaker 1: ridiculous finishes I've ever seen where he was going along
Speaker 1: the left side of the rim and extended like he
Speaker 1: was gonna go with his right hand, and then basically
Speaker 1: turned his body and flipped a left handed spinning shot
Speaker 1: off the glass. Just a ridiculous shot. The main key
Speaker 1: there is this is not gonna be a good half
Speaker 1: court offensive team. They don't shoot the ball well enough.
Speaker 1: They simply don't. So this is a brute force offense
Speaker 1: that's gonna rie heavily on Lebron James and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: generating rim pressure when when things get tight. But as
Speaker 1: much as they can avoid the half court, the better,
Speaker 1: because if they can get out in transition where they're
Speaker 1: gonna be a much better off pensive team, let's say
Speaker 1: twenty percent of the time, then that buffers and ads
Speaker 1: and supports your half court efficiency. I'll give you an example,
Speaker 1: the Lakers. That team, according to Cleaning the Glass, was
Speaker 1: not a very good half court offense team. But before
Speaker 1: they went into the bubble, I believe they were fourth,
Speaker 1: it was either sixth or fourth. Before they went into
Speaker 1: the bubble, they were a top six offense and by
Speaker 1: offensive rating. Even though they were a bad half court offense.
Speaker 1: It was because they got out in transition so frequently
Speaker 1: that it bolstered those numbers enough. And the best way
Speaker 1: to get out in transition is to get stops. And
Speaker 1: so they're building an identity as a defensive team that
Speaker 1: prioritizes the point of attack and the rim, and when
Speaker 1: they get the basketball, they run the damn floor because
Speaker 1: that's their best opportunity to score. I like the identity
Speaker 1: that they're building so far. A couple other quick notes
Speaker 1: that I wanted to hit Austin reads the ball handler.
Speaker 1: So uh, we heard a lot about Austin Reeves doing
Speaker 1: well in early training camp as a primary ball handler.
Speaker 1: I've always really liked him attacking closeouts making reads, but
Speaker 1: I had heard over the summer that he put on
Speaker 1: a little bit of muscle and then he had been
Speaker 1: working a ton on his handling and shooting, and I
Speaker 1: he's flat out turning into a very good second side creator.
Speaker 1: He's running pick and roll. He's not he's not an
Speaker 1: excellent athlete, right, but what he's doing is he's playing smart,
Speaker 1: old man basketball at the point at the as the
Speaker 1: initiator and pick and roll, he's getting over the top
Speaker 1: of the screen. Getting the defender on his back side,
Speaker 1: slowing down his dribble, pinning him on his backside, working
Speaker 1: into the lane. He was drawing fouls yesterday by shooting
Speaker 1: those little floaters and push shots as the defenders draped
Speaker 1: on his back. He's consistently making good reads and swing
Speaker 1: passes out of it, and he's attacking closeouts as well
Speaker 1: as he does. I put an example of one of
Speaker 1: Austin's closeout attacks in our video in video form on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feeds, you guys can find that there. Really
Speaker 1: like what I'm seeing from Austin Reeves so far. Last
Speaker 1: note on this game, the Suns continue to have weird
Speaker 1: negative energy. Now some of that youve got to give
Speaker 1: the Lakers credit for for the way they played defensively,
Speaker 1: but once again, DeAndre Ayton was awful on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, really bad in tape. I shared
Speaker 1: one specific clip of that on my Twitter feed. You
Speaker 1: can see that there. Look, I said that the Sons
Speaker 1: were gonna go out and win a ton of games
Speaker 1: just on the strength of their talent. And it's still
Speaker 1: early and there's a long way to go, but there
Speaker 1: are two preseason games. If they come out with this
Speaker 1: kind of effort. They're just simply going to lose a
Speaker 1: lot of games this year if they're not careful. All right,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, um, Sixers Calves. I
Speaker 1: only watched the first shift of this game, so I'm
Speaker 1: only gonna give you a couple of notes on the
Speaker 1: Calves front. And when I say first shift, I just
Speaker 1: watched the starters go against each other for about six
Speaker 1: minutes each. I just have a ton of film that
Speaker 1: I still have to watch, and I haven't gotten to
Speaker 1: this full game yet. So Um, First of all, they
Speaker 1: started Caris LeVert. Now Evan Mobley is dealing with an
Speaker 1: ankle sprain, so they plugged Kevin Love into the power
Speaker 1: forward position. We're gonna talk about him in a minute,
Speaker 1: because he was awesome at least in that first shift.
Speaker 1: But I really thought it was interesting that they put
Speaker 1: Harris Lavert at small forward. Who knows if that's something
Speaker 1: that they plan on doing during the regular season or
Speaker 1: if that was just something they did for this specific
Speaker 1: preseason lineup, but it's a redundancy and ball handling. They
Speaker 1: don't need him with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on
Speaker 1: the floor, and he's simply not as good defensively as
Speaker 1: some of the other wings that they have on the roster,
Speaker 1: So I thought that was strange. But the natural give
Speaker 1: and take between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on the
Speaker 1: offensive end already looks pretty good. They're actively hunting each other,
Speaker 1: they're making quick decisions, they're not dribbling their out of
Speaker 1: the basketball. There's already a good natural give and take there.
Speaker 1: If that's very encouraging for Calves fans. Also, um, let's
Speaker 1: let's do uh Kevin Love first. Kevin Love is a
Speaker 1: legitimate knockdown three point shooter, as you guys all know,
Speaker 1: and I know this from what I covered him with
Speaker 1: the Calves. He every single time the Sixers offered help
Speaker 1: out of his posis issue. In this game, Kevin Love
Speaker 1: made them pay, knocking down shots on the on the wing,
Speaker 1: above the break and in the corner as well. He's
Speaker 1: got a quick release, He's got a good pump fake
Speaker 1: that gets people to blow by. I don't necessarily like
Speaker 1: it the fit necessarily next to Alan Um because I
Speaker 1: think it'll be I I just don't quite think they're
Speaker 1: fast enough in terms of overall foot speed with that grouping.
Speaker 1: But and when they actually are healthy. You're gonna see
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley next to Alan. But I really like the
Speaker 1: idea of running a bench line up with Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: and Kevin Love because I think Kevin Mobley's overall foot
Speaker 1: speed will allow them to hang in transition and in
Speaker 1: five out settings really well. And Kevin Love just shoots
Speaker 1: the ball so damn well. It's gonna help solve a
Speaker 1: lot of their spacing concerns. And then you saw a
Speaker 1: lot of that classic Kevin Love transition passing yesterday as well.
Speaker 1: I like it as a as a mix up when
Speaker 1: spacing becomes an issue to put him next to Mobile
Speaker 1: and just give you a different look, especially if Mobile
Speaker 1: develops as a three point shooter. Last note from the
Speaker 1: Calves in this game, Donovan Mitchell the opening tip, decided
Speaker 1: to guard James Harden, got up into him, got up
Speaker 1: into his airspace, made him uncomfortable. Look. This guy got
Speaker 1: fairly and legitimately criticized for being atrocious on the defensive
Speaker 1: end last year. One preseason game wasn't perfect, but I
Speaker 1: liked I liked the mentality of him trying to address
Speaker 1: that concern early in this season. Going over to the Sixers,
Speaker 1: James Harden to me, looked about the same. And I
Speaker 1: say that as a biased person who sincerely believes he's
Speaker 1: gonna have a bounce back year. But this is preseason.
Speaker 1: As I've said, almost all of the players are a
Speaker 1: little bit slow legged right now because they're out of shape.
Speaker 1: They're building up their conditioning. I always refer to it
Speaker 1: as breaking through the wall. In your preseason conditioning. There's
Speaker 1: about four weeks where your body is just getting destroyed
Speaker 1: because you're not used to playing every day to this
Speaker 1: level of intensity. You're not used to this level of
Speaker 1: physicality every single day. You're worn out. But right around
Speaker 1: that fourth week in this case, basically the end of
Speaker 1: if training camp started September thirty, we're talking like second
Speaker 1: third week of the regular season is where I'm really
Speaker 1: going to start looking at athleticism. If James Harden still
Speaker 1: looks pretty slow in early November, then I'll start to
Speaker 1: be concerned. But I'm not overly concerned here. He's still
Speaker 1: got into the paint a couple of times, made a
Speaker 1: really nice and one floater um drew a foul in
Speaker 1: a driving lay up going left once. He's still got
Speaker 1: some dribble penetration, but still doesn't look like he had
Speaker 1: the burst that he had a few years ago. But
Speaker 1: I'm not concerned until about a month from now. The
Speaker 1: same goes for Joe l Embiid, and he's gonna be
Speaker 1: one of the last guys to get his conditioning going,
Speaker 1: so I'm not worried about his shot blocking or shot
Speaker 1: making as well. Last note from this game, p J Tucker.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things about p J. Tucker is
Speaker 1: he knows what he's good and bad at, and he
Speaker 1: tries to find ways to impact the game. As a result,
Speaker 1: this guy is not a knockdown shooter and he struggles
Speaker 1: to attack close outs. That's just reality. He had a
Speaker 1: stretch with the Houston Rockets where he shot corner three
Speaker 1: as well, but that doesn't appear to be going on anymore.
Speaker 1: But he does two things that make him an impactful
Speaker 1: offensive player. Despite that one crashing the offensive glass, he'll
Speaker 1: just run down the lane and just truck stick somebody
Speaker 1: to fight for a position and go get the basketball.
Speaker 1: But secondly, off ball pain screens, so like if there
Speaker 1: if p J. Tucker's man abandons him out of the
Speaker 1: corner to go help on a drive somewhere and Tobias
Speaker 1: Harris is on the wing with him and he's in
Speaker 1: the corner. Rather than just staying there knowing that if
Speaker 1: he catches it, he's got a thirty four percent chance
Speaker 1: or whatever of knocking down that corner three, he will
Speaker 1: just run and screen Tobias Harris's man, which then gets
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris a wide open three. So now even though
Speaker 1: the um the Calves in this case, made a decision
Speaker 1: to leave p J. Tucker open, the result is Tobias
Speaker 1: Harris got open, and that that off ball screening he
Speaker 1: did a bunch of this in that first shift that
Speaker 1: I wish Russell Westbrook would just watch it, watch tape
Speaker 1: of that for a while and gain an understanding of
Speaker 1: how you can be an impactful off ball player even
Speaker 1: when you're not shooting the ball well. And again, I
Speaker 1: like what I've seen from Russ through two games. He's
Speaker 1: got a long way to go before I start believing
Speaker 1: in what he can do, but those are types of
Speaker 1: little things that will help him be more impactful um
Speaker 1: in off ball situations, especially on the offensive en I
Speaker 1: didn't even get to Russ when we were talking to
Speaker 1: Lakers really quickly. You know by a little one minute rule. UM.
Speaker 1: I thought he was really good in transition on offense.
Speaker 1: I thought he was really good off ball and offense,
Speaker 1: made a couple of threes, attacks closeouts well, but he
Speaker 1: did not do well in primary creation against that Sun's
Speaker 1: set defense. And that's to be expected. He's just not
Speaker 1: good enough anymore as a primary creator to be able
Speaker 1: to successfully create good shots against an elite defensive team.
Speaker 1: But I'm not as concerned about that because I think
Speaker 1: on this team, with Kendrick Nunn, with a healthy Lebron,
Speaker 1: healthy Anthony Davis, with Patrick Beverley, what he's been doing
Speaker 1: with the basketball, and with Dennis Schroeder, They're not gonna
Speaker 1: need him to create as much. They need him to
Speaker 1: defend the hell out of the basketball on and off
Speaker 1: the ball. They need him to attack in transition. They
Speaker 1: need him to attack in off ball situations, at driving closeouts,
Speaker 1: knocking down the occasional corner three. That's where he's gonna
Speaker 1: be an impactful basketball player for this team. If he
Speaker 1: does all of those things, then he will be a
Speaker 1: huge plus for this team and they won't need to
Speaker 1: trade him. But he needs to demonstrate that he's willing
Speaker 1: to do those things night in and night out. We're
Speaker 1: two games in and he's done a good job, but
Speaker 1: we've got a long way to go. All right. That
Speaker 1: is all I have for this week. Guys. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take the rest of the weekend off. Monday, We're gonna
Speaker 1: have a show coming out late at night. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: going to San Diego tomorrow morning, and I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: gone through Monday at about you know, sometime in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: But that night I'm going to watch those games and
Speaker 1: some games from the weekend. We'll have our first film
Speaker 1: breakdown of next week coming out on Monday night, and
Speaker 1: then we'll go back to our normal schedule starting on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I will see you after the weekend.
Speaker 1: The volume