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Speaker 1: hoops and I you're at the volume heavy Thursday. Everybody

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Speaker 1: o ball. You guys are having a great end to

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Speaker 1: your week. So we are continuing our player rankings today

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Speaker 1: with number fifteen and number fourteen. We're also going to

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Speaker 1: have a mail bag at the tail end where we

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Speaker 1: go over your guys's arguments from our previous video number

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Speaker 1: sixteen and number seventeen. The kind of game plan for

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Speaker 1: the US this week. As we're doing fifteen and fourteen today,

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Speaker 1: we'll break out the mail bag tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm actually

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Speaker 1: recording thirteen and twelve, but that's going to run on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: That will run the mailbag from that on Sunday, and

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Speaker 1: then we're going to get into our Superstar tier, which

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Speaker 1: is eleven players deep at this point in NBA history

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Speaker 1: and we'll be starting that next week on Monday. You

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Speaker 1: guys are the Joe. Before we get started, it's subscribed

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Speaker 1: to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLTS.

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Speaker 1: You guys, don't miss anyhow announcements. Don't forget about a

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Speaker 1: podcast feed reve you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget it's helpful if you leave a rating in

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Speaker 1: a review on that front, and then don't forget to

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mail bag questions and those YouTube comments. I

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Speaker 1: want you guys to if you disagree with any of

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Speaker 1: these rankings, to argue why and break it down, and

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Speaker 1: we will get into it in the mailbag portions at

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Speaker 1: the tail end of these rankings videos then the last,

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Speaker 1: but not at least before we get started, I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about game time. Obviously, there's tons of events going

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Speaker 1: on out there these days. Between Major League Baseball, there's

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Speaker 1: concerts and comedy shows, and then foot is right around

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Speaker 1: the corner, if I'm not mistaken. Two weeks from today

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Speaker 1: is the first NFL regular season game, but there's preseason games,

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Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure there are even some college football

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Speaker 1: games this weekend, So there's just a ton of events

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Speaker 1: I found out that worked really well for me on

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Speaker 1: Just keep checking the app and every once in a

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Speaker 1: get some really good deals. It helped me a lot

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Speaker 1: What time is it? Game Time? All right, let's talk

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Speaker 1: some basketball. So we're gonna mix things up a little

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Speaker 1: bit today because I want to get into the rationale

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Speaker 1: behind offense versus defense when it comes to valuing players.

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Speaker 1: Because the two players we have today at fifteen and

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Speaker 1: fourteen are Jalen Brown at number fifteen and Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: at number fourteen. These are two players that are pretty

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Speaker 1: hotly contested in terms of who people think are better.

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Speaker 1: I actually sent out a poll about this about two

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, a little over two weeks ago, and ninety

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Speaker 1: five hundred of you guys voted in. Sixty percent voted

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Speaker 1: for Devin Booker and forty percent voted for Jalen Brown.

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Speaker 1: But that was kind of towards the end. For a

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Speaker 1: long time, in the early phase of that poll, it

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Speaker 1: was really hovering right around that fifty to fifty mark,

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Speaker 1: maybe with a very slight edge to Devin Booker. This

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Speaker 1: is a hotly debated ranking between these two particular players,

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Speaker 1: and honestly, like to me, it was a pretty easy

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Speaker 1: decision to give Devin Booker the edge. And that comes

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Speaker 1: down to one of my overarching basketball philosophies, which is,

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Speaker 1: obviously I value the defensive end of the floor, but

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Speaker 1: I value the offensive end of the floor a little

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Speaker 1: bit more and there's a very specific reason why. So

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Speaker 1: I want to take some time to break that down

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Speaker 1: before we get into the individual players. So again we're

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Speaker 1: gonna mix these this up today. Before we get into

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Speaker 1: the individual players, we're gonna talk some big picture stuff.

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Speaker 1: So and again I have to emphasize this again as

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Speaker 1: a disclaimer, This doesn't mean I don't value defense. I've

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Speaker 1: played in and watched enough basketball games to know that

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Speaker 1: you have to defend in order to win. I'm not

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Speaker 1: underrating that. It's more about team construct in the role

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Speaker 1: of superstars within the context of offense and defense, especially

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Speaker 1: when you talk about the fact that when we're ranking players,

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Speaker 1: we're almost always talking about superstars and stars, right, So

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Speaker 1: the reason why I value the offensive end in these

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Speaker 1: discussions is simple. The defensive end mostly comes down to

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Speaker 1: executing a scheme forcing teams into certain types of shots.

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Speaker 1: No defense, even the most elite defenses, just shut teams down.

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Speaker 1: That's not how it works. You still give up a

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Speaker 1: lot of points. It's not like elite defenses just block

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Speaker 1: every shot you try to attend, right, They just try

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Speaker 1: to play you into your weaknesses and try to limit

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Speaker 1: your efficiency. So, for example, the Minnesota Timberwolves were the

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Speaker 1: best defense in the NBA this year, they still allowed

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Speaker 1: one hundred and eight points per one hundred possessions. The

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee Buck we're nineteenth in defense. That's a defense that

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Speaker 1: we most of us considered to be below average to bad. Right,

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Speaker 1: they allowed one hundred and fifteen points per one hundred possessions.

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Speaker 1: So we're talking about a difference of seven points over

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Speaker 1: a hundred possessions between a bad defense and the very

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Speaker 1: best defense. So on that end of the floor, it's

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Speaker 1: not about supreme talent just shutting people down. It's about

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Speaker 1: the coaching staff scouting the opponent and putting together a

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Speaker 1: smart game plan and then having a couple of guys

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Speaker 1: who can do the really tough jobs on defense. So

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Speaker 1: for instance, having who can guard the ball, just a

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Speaker 1: guy who can guard the person with the basketball, a

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Speaker 1: guy who can guard ball screens, so a big guy

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Speaker 1: that can navigate ball screen coverages, or another forward who's

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Speaker 1: like a low man who can help while also getting

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Speaker 1: out to shooters while also helping secure defensive rebounds. Those

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Speaker 1: are like the really hard jobs on the defensive end

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Speaker 1: of the floor. From there, you can actually make easier

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Speaker 1: jobs for weaker defenders. So I thought the best example

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Speaker 1: of this last year was the Dallas Mavericks, who were

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Speaker 1: in elite defense in the tail end of the season

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Speaker 1: and then that carried over into the postseason as they

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Speaker 1: made their run to the finals. Look at their roster build.

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Speaker 1: They had a guy who could guard the ball and

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Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior. And obviously they had other guys for

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Speaker 1: bench units, but I'm mainly focusing on their starters. They

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Speaker 1: had a guy who can guard the ball and Derek

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Speaker 1: Jones Jr. They had a guy who could defend ball

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Speaker 1: screens and Derek Lively. And then Daniel Gafford was more

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Speaker 1: of a deep drop kind of rim protector, but he

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Speaker 1: also could do that job. But Derek Lively's an example

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Speaker 1: of a super versatile kind of pick and roll defender,

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Speaker 1: and then they had a Ford who could be their

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Speaker 1: low man in PJ. Washington. Those three guys did the

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Speaker 1: really hard jobs so that Kyrie and Luca had small,

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Speaker 1: achievable roles and the MAVs were at awesome defense. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't until the Boston series that they kind of ran

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Speaker 1: into some issues, and even then it was usually just

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Speaker 1: for and I went over this extensively. After that series,

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Speaker 1: the Dallas defense fell apart for stretches for like a

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Speaker 1: quarter here or a half there, where Boston just ran

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Speaker 1: over them, and it was usually when they were rarely

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Speaker 1: deliberate about attacking Luca. But they had good stretches in

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Speaker 1: that series too, and overall statistically their defense performed pretty well.

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Speaker 1: So the point is you can use quality role players

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Speaker 1: and smart coaching to put together an elite defense. The

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Speaker 1: offensive end is much more complicated, and the reason why

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Speaker 1: is you are guaranteed to run into multiple elite defenses

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Speaker 1: along the way to the title, and those defenses are

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Speaker 1: guaranteed to have a smart game plan and to execute

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Speaker 1: it well. They are going to play you into your

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Speaker 1: lower percentage shots. Right. Those problems cannot be solved with

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Speaker 1: quality role players and smart In a smart game plan,

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Speaker 1: it requires elite, high end offensive talent to break down

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Speaker 1: those types of defenses, either by making the tough shots

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Speaker 1: that the defense is trying to get you to make,

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Speaker 1: or by bringing two to the ball, which breaks down

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Speaker 1: the base defensive scheme and forces them to be in rotation,

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Speaker 1: so that now your offensive role players have easy jobs

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Speaker 1: like knocking down open shots or attacking a closeout. So again,

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Speaker 1: like those specific problems on the defensive end that a

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Speaker 1: defense presents to an offense, they can only be solved

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Speaker 1: by superstar offensive talent, Whereas, like we saw with Dallas,

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Speaker 1: you can create an elite defense even with defensively limited stars.

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Speaker 1: So to put it very simply, it's a lot easier

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Speaker 1: to create an elite defense around a defensively limited star

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Speaker 1: than it is to create an elite offense around an

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Speaker 1: offensively limited star. That's why I have guys like Luka

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Speaker 1: and Nikola Jokic over Yannis. That's why I have a

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Speaker 1: guy like Shaye Yelojas Alexander over Jason Tatum. And that's

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Speaker 1: why I have Devin Booker over Jalen Brown. Now, to

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Speaker 1: be clear, Jalen Brown is not a weak offensive player

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Speaker 1: and Devin Booker is not a weak defensive player, right,

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Speaker 1: But the best and most useful superpower that either of

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Speaker 1: those guys has is Devin Booker's ability to consistently generate

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Speaker 1: quality shots for his team in the half court. So

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Speaker 1: if I was a GM and I needed to build

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Speaker 1: a championship team from scratch with the first pick in

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Speaker 1: an open draft of the NBA's players, I would have

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Speaker 1: an easier time constructing a championship team around Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: as my first pick than around Jalen Brown. It's not

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Speaker 1: an exact science, to be clear, Like I have guys

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Speaker 1: that are defensive minded stars that are very high on

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Speaker 1: this list that we just haven't even got to yet.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you saw how hig I've bam adebio for instance.

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Speaker 1: So it's not an exact science. But when all things

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Speaker 1: are equal, that's a differentiator for me, and that's why

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Speaker 1: I have Devin Booker over Jalen Brown. So on that note,

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Speaker 1: hopefully that's clear. If you guys have any questions about that,

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Speaker 1: drop in the mailbag, and we can get into it

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Speaker 1: more later on in the series. If you disagree with me,

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Speaker 1: make a basketball case for it, put it in YouTube

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Speaker 1: and on the comments that we can break it down

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Speaker 1: a little bit more since we got some time here

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Speaker 1: over the summer. Jalen Brown number fifteen last year, played

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Speaker 1: in seventy games, averaged twenty three points per game, five

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Speaker 1: point five rebounds on three point six assists. That was

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Speaker 1: actually a career high and assist for Jalen Brown, and

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Speaker 1: that was despite his usage being the lowest since twenty twenty,

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Speaker 1: So career high and assists with a proportionally lower usage

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Speaker 1: rate right also his fewest turnovers per game since twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: And the main thing that I think is really cool

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Speaker 1: about this is Jalen heard all of the slander last

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Speaker 1: summer and he went into the gym and he made

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Speaker 1: himself a much better ball handler last summer. It's one

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Speaker 1: of the big things I talked about with Colin Coward

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Speaker 1: after the two disappointing losses in the finals and in

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Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference Finals. I said to him, like, the

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Speaker 1: Celtics are are more poised to benefit by Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: just getting better than they are trying to trade him.

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Speaker 1: And I thought they made the right decision by staying

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Speaker 1: committed to this core and like here's the thing. He

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Speaker 1: went into the gym and he worked on that handle,

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Speaker 1: and you can really tell the difference in a couple

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Speaker 1: of really key areas. Specifically, he just looks like he's

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Speaker 1: reading the floor a little bit more patiently, And a

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Speaker 1: big part of that is the ability to protect the ball.

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Speaker 1: When a ball pressure defender forces you to get squeamish

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Speaker 1: with your handle, all of a sudden, your attention comes

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Speaker 1: inward towards regaining control of the ball. But once you

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Speaker 1: have control of the ball, you can stop worrying so

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Speaker 1: much about the pressure and take time to see what's

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Speaker 1: happening around you. And that I thought was abundantly evident

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Speaker 1: in that career high and assist in that fewest turnover

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Speaker 1: since twenty twenty, all under a load usage. You can

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Speaker 1: literally see his confidence with especially with that left hand

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Speaker 1: coming to fruition. I thought it was cool that he

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Speaker 1: iced Game two of the Finals with that left handed

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Speaker 1: drive by Mexic Lee, but to put him up seven

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Speaker 1: with thirty seconds left, that was the thing that he

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Speaker 1: was criticized for. And he rode that specific skill to

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Speaker 1: a huge bucket in a big moment in an NBA

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Speaker 1: Finals game. And so that honestly is the big piece

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Speaker 1: of improvement I thought that we saw from Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: this year. He just got better at handling the basketball,

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Speaker 1: which allowed him to protect the basketball so that he

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Speaker 1: could focus outward on seeing the floor and making reads

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Speaker 1: from there. He also got one point seven stocks per game.

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Speaker 1: That's the second highest mark of his career. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to rip through some shooting numbers real quick. He shot

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Speaker 1: forty nine point nine percent from the field, thirty five

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Speaker 1: point four percent from three to seventy percent from the line.

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Speaker 1: That amounts to fifty six percent an effective field goal

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Speaker 1: percentage waited for threes and fifty eight percent true shooting percentage.

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Speaker 1: Good not great. Other ways to improve his true shooting

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Speaker 1: percentage just raising that three point volume and getting to

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Speaker 1: the line more. That's most of the high true shooting

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Speaker 1: guys guys that are over sixty percent other than the

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Speaker 1: big bullyball guys around the rim. Most of them are

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Speaker 1: guys who shoot a lot of threes and guys who

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Speaker 1: get to the foul line a lot shooting percent energy

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Speaker 1: one point zero four points per jump shot, one point

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Speaker 1: zero eight in catch and shoot situations. He was actually

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Speaker 1: a little better when he was open, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of interesting in the context of the conversations we had

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Speaker 1: about Donovan Mitchell, like Jalen Brown, likes to slow himself

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Speaker 1: down when he's open and shoot more of like a

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Speaker 1: like a less athletic shot, which is interesting considering how

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Speaker 1: good of an athlete he is. But I think that

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Speaker 1: manifests in him just being a little bit more accurate

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Speaker 1: when he's open Versus the guys that really elevate on

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Speaker 1: their shot. They're almost a little better when they're guarded

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Speaker 1: because they don't slow themselves down, they get that lift

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Speaker 1: that they need. He was zero point nine to nine

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Speaker 1: points per shot off the dribble. That's completely respectable, one

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Speaker 1: point zero nine in face up. Had a really good

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Speaker 1: jab step jumper last year. Shot forty seven percent on floaters,

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Speaker 1: but not super high volume. He took about two every

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Speaker 1: three games, and then he was sixty two percent at

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Speaker 1: the rim, which is solid for a wing, fifty eight

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Speaker 1: percent on layups. Playtype data pers energy. He was in

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Speaker 1: the eighty fifth percentile for pick and roll players. He

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Speaker 1: actually got one point zero eight points per possession including passes,

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Speaker 1: which is excellent, but only four hundred and thirty reps,

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Speaker 1: so he's relatively low volume. Most of that was him.

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Speaker 1: He personally shot forty eight percent field goals in pick

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Speaker 1: and roll situations and ISO two hundred and seven points

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Speaker 1: on two hundred and six possessions including passes that was

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Speaker 1: sixty sixth percentile, and then in the post two hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirteen points on two hundred and two possessions including

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Speaker 1: passes that was in the fifty seventh percentile. He personally

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Speaker 1: shot fifty six percent in the post up area of

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Speaker 1: the floor. Big part of that was he was the

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Speaker 1: best fadeaway jump shooter in the league last year. And

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Speaker 1: this is where I want to kind of get into

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Speaker 1: the late season run because Jalen Brown's early part of

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Speaker 1: the season, and a big part of this too is

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Speaker 1: just you're adding in a couple of new players. It

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Speaker 1: kind of tweaks some of the ball handling responsibilities. It

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Speaker 1: messes with your head a little bit. Jalen Brown really

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Speaker 1: started to come around at the tail end of the season.

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Speaker 1: His scoring ramped up to twenty six points per game

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Speaker 1: in his last nineteen season games, and I actually thought

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Speaker 1: he was the best player on the Celtics in the

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Speaker 1: playoff run. I think we all agree Tatum is the

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Speaker 1: best player on the team, Like if you're in a

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Speaker 1: vacuum evaluating the roster and who's the most valuable player

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Speaker 1: if like everyone was available for trade, obviously Tatum is

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Speaker 1: the guy that would get the most in return. He's

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Speaker 1: the best player. But Tatum was in a bad shooting slump,

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Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown just played better basketball than Tatum over

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Speaker 1: the course of those two months. A simple stat to

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Speaker 1: demonstrate that Jalen Brown shot over fifty percent in fourteen

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Speaker 1: of the playoff games, Jason Tatum shot over fifty percent

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Speaker 1: in three of them, and Tatum averaged twenty five. Jalen

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Speaker 1: Brown averaged twenty four. So Jalen Brown basically matched Tatum

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Speaker 1: scoring efficiency or scoring volume and was far more efficient

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Speaker 1: and far more reliable on a night in, night out basis,

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Speaker 1: And both of them played massive defensive roles. Tatum was

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Speaker 1: obviously the guy guarding the center and making a lot

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Speaker 1: of that stuff work, But Jalen Brown is a guy

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Speaker 1: guarding the ball, and like we've talked a lot about

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Speaker 1: how you put Tatum on the center that alleviates your

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Speaker 1: center to then row him off of a bat above

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Speaker 1: the break shooters, so we can help at the rim.

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Speaker 1: But the other part of that is you switch pick

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Speaker 1: and roll right. So like if you bring the center

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Speaker 1: up into the ball screen, Tatum just switches. But in

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Speaker 1: order for that to work, you need your point of

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Speaker 1: attack defender to be able to switch on to centers,

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Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown is big enough to do that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum both were monumentally important on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, and so like I mean,

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Speaker 1: I just thought Jalen Brown in this particular two month

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Speaker 1: stretch played better and that's why he deserved different Eastern

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Speaker 1: Conference Finals MVP, and that's why he deserved finals MVP.

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Speaker 1: All that said, separate point on Tatum, I do think

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Speaker 1: this Tatum slump is temporary, and I do think he's

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Speaker 1: gonna have a huge bounce back year. We're gonna get

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Speaker 1: more into that when we get into our top ten

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Speaker 1: when we start talking Tatum. But the point is that

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown was playing at an extremely high level over

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Speaker 1: the final third of the season and in the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: and for me, it really felt like he went up

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Speaker 1: a level in three main areas because like, if we

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Speaker 1: were tiering players last year, I had Jalen Brown in

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Speaker 1: that next tier below with all those other guards that

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Speaker 1: we hit at the start of the list. I didn't

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Speaker 1: think he was good enough to be the best player

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Speaker 1: on a championship team. He has gone up an entire

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Speaker 1: tier he is now. I mean, to put it simply,

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Speaker 1: he's in this tier, which is players that can be

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Speaker 1: the best player on a championship team as long as

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Speaker 1: they have overwhelming support. And we literally know that because

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Speaker 1: he just was. He just was the best player on

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Speaker 1: a championship team with overwhelming support around him. So he

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Speaker 1: actually kind of perfectly fits the definition of this tier

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Speaker 1: of players. But the main basketball improvements that put him

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Speaker 1: into that tier, the three improvements are Number One, he

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Speaker 1: got more committed to defending at the point of attack

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Speaker 1: right around halfway through the season. And I mean, he

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Speaker 1: did it periodically over the previous seasons, but he really

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Speaker 1: seemed to take a more intentional approach to guarding the

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Speaker 1: other team's best player every night around halfway through the

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Speaker 1: year and just applying a lot of ball pressure and

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Speaker 1: being super physical. And he's just awesome at it. He's big,

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Speaker 1: he's strong, he attacks the basketball, he applies physicality without

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Speaker 1: committing too many fouls, he has the length to apply

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Speaker 1: back pressure. He can switch on to Biggs. Like I

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Speaker 1: talked earlier in the Jason Tatum defensive scheme, I thought

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Speaker 1: it was the best defensive season Jalen Browns had in

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Speaker 1: a long time. So that was piece number one, just

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Speaker 1: recommitting and inflicting his athleticism on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the four. Number two his feel for the game. Talked

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Speaker 1: about this earlier. Being able to handle the ball more

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Speaker 1: allowed him to see beyond his defender and make better reads.

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Speaker 1: And so even though his usage went down, his assist

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Speaker 1: totals went up and his turnovers went down. That's a

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Speaker 1: really strong indicator that he took a leap in terms

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Speaker 1: of just his overall feel for the game. And a

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Speaker 1: lot of that too, is just experiences being in a

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Speaker 1: lot of these situations, been there, done that, you derive

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Speaker 1: confidence from that. And then, lastly, short to mid range

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Speaker 1: shot making. He was the best turnaround fadaway jump shooter

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Speaker 1: in the league last year. Did a good job of

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Speaker 1: initiating contact and getting good separation with his athleticism as

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Speaker 1: he'd drift away from the rim, but also staying balanced

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Speaker 1: so that he can knock the shot down and he

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Speaker 1: made several in big moments in the NBA five. In

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Speaker 1: Game three, he had that deep seal over Luca where

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Speaker 1: he just fade over his right shoulder quick in the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and then the huge shot late it was

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Speaker 1: I want to say it was a three point game

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Speaker 1: with like a minute left and he got Tim Hardaway

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Speaker 1: Junior on a switch and just drove at him and

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Speaker 1: got into that like kind of fifteen foot area by

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Speaker 1: the elbow and like pump faked and then just leaned

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Speaker 1: back and elevated over the top and knocked it down.

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Speaker 1: Those were huge shots that Jalen Brown worked really hard

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Speaker 1: for a long time to develop. And so between the

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Speaker 1: overall feel for the game, the improvement as a shot maker,

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Speaker 1: and then the commitment to the defensive end, those three

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Speaker 1: things vaulted Jalen Brown up a tier as a player,

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Speaker 1: and he clearly demonstrated that he's capable of being the

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Speaker 1: best player on a championship team as long as you

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Speaker 1: give him the necessary amount of support. I actually thought like,

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Speaker 1: if you look back at this Celtics season, his story

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Speaker 1: in Al Horford's story to me were the two coolest

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Speaker 1: overall elements to the Celtics title. Run al Horford obviously,

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Speaker 1: just because he was a rock solid fringe star slash

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Speaker 1: super high level role player on a lot of good

433
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,920
Speaker 1: teams for a long time and he just never got

434
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,399
Speaker 1: over the hump and then he finally does and so

435
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,439
Speaker 1: that was a really cool moment for Al Horford. But

436
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,639
Speaker 1: the Jalen Brown piece is awesome. I mean, catches a

437
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 1: world of slander after that disappointing playoff run against Miami,

438
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 1: He's getting open. I mean we've got Jimmy Butler talking

439
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,200
Speaker 1: about him on Instagram. Obviously, the public opinion turned against

440
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: him in a lot of different ways, and he got

441
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,840
Speaker 1: in the gym, got better in one finals MVP the

442
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: following year. That's really cool. I'm happy for Jalen and

443
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,880
Speaker 1: it's just awesome to see him this high on this

444
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,680
Speaker 1: list and in this tier of players.

445
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,439
Speaker 2: So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well, then

446
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,719
Speaker 2: you need to check out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.

447
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450
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451
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 2: take that first QB off the board, and which manager

452
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 2: is going to always reach for that hometown player every

453
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Speaker 2: single time. And then you can take those patterns directly

454
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455
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,399
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456
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457
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,120
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458
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,960
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459
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,959
Speaker 2: to draft them. You can see all of this and

460
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,640
Speaker 2: more at fantasypros dot com. Slash Volume Today.

461
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: Number fourteen. Devin Booker last year sixty eight games played,

462
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,160
Speaker 1: twenty seven point one points per game, four point five

463
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,919
Speaker 1: rebounds per game, six point nine assists per game, just

464
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 1: two point six turnovers, and one point three stocks per game.

465
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,399
Speaker 1: The shooting splits forty nine point two percent from the field,

466
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,040
Speaker 1: thirty six point four percent from three, eighty eight point

467
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 1: six percent from the line. That all adds up to

468
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 1: fifty five percent in effective field goal percentage weighted for threes,

469
00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: and sixty one percent in true shooting percentage, which also

470
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 1: includes foul shooting. His overall jump shooting or shot making

471
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 1: numbers from Synergy. You got one point zero seven points

472
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: per jump shot one point zero eight and catch and

473
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,560
Speaker 1: shoot situations. Kind of a weird split between one he

474
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,120
Speaker 1: was guarded and when he was open. He was zero

475
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 1: point nine to one when guarded, but one point two

476
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: eight when unguarded. That's just a really bizarre split. I

477
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: would imagine that's mostly an outlier. He got one point

478
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 1: zero seven points per pull up jump shot. That was

479
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 1: the second best high volume jump shooting performance in the

480
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,879
Speaker 1: league last year. A little trivia for you guys, So

481
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 1: there were nine players in the NBA who attempted at

482
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,360
Speaker 1: least five hundred pull up jump shots and also got

483
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 1: at least one point per pull up jump shot. Number one,

484
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 1: take a guess, it's Luka Doncic, Number two, Devin Booker,

485
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 1: as we said, number three, Kevin Durant, number four, Steph Curry,

486
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:45,959
Speaker 1: number five, Jalen Brunson, number six, Shay Gilders, Alexander number seven,

487
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: Fred Van Vliet on the list that was a surprise

488
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 1: to me. Number eight Dejonte Murray also a surprise to me,

489
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: and number nine Damian Lillard. And those are in order

490
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: of efficiency. So that was actually your top nine high

491
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 1: volume pull up sho shooters last year. That all got

492
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: over five hundred attempts in over one point per shot.

493
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 1: Devin Booker did shoot just thirty six percent on floaters

494
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: and made only twenty one in the whole season. Not

495
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,200
Speaker 1: really a part of his game. He prefers to get

496
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 1: into that like pull up jump shot even really close

497
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 1: to the rim. So I mean it's not like he

498
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:18,879
Speaker 1: needs a floater, he just has a different shot that

499
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,560
Speaker 1: he goes to there. Really surprising here, this is a

500
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,160
Speaker 1: stat that I think would shock most NBA fans. Devin

501
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: Booker shot sixty five percent at the rim last year,

502
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 1: including sixty four percent on layups. He made three point

503
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,440
Speaker 1: five per game. That's pretty high volume. As a matter

504
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 1: of fact, there were only four players in the league

505
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 1: that were six six or less sixty six or shorter

506
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 1: that made more shots per game in the restricted era

507
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 1: in more shots per game in the restricted area, Tyres Maxi,

508
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Edwards. That's it among the

509
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 1: smaller guys, So like those are all freaky out. Tyres

510
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,120
Speaker 1: Maxey one of the fastest guys in the league. Jalen

511
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: Brown one of the best all around athletes in the league.

512
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,639
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell one of the best all around athletes in

513
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: the league, Anthony Edwards potentially the best athlete in the league.

514
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 1: That's the list that Devin Booker, a guy who's not

515
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: a great athlete, has put himself on getting to the

516
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,119
Speaker 1: rim and not just there with volume, but with the

517
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,119
Speaker 1: efficiency to boot. And so I actually went back and

518
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:16,880
Speaker 1: I watched a bunch of his rim attempts this morning

519
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: because I was like, how is it that he's so

520
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: damn efficient? And it comes down to a couple of

521
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: different things. One similar to Steph Curry, really good at

522
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: weaponizing the high hesitation. This is a move that I

523
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: talked about a lot with the kids that I'm training

524
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: in high school. It is a bridge move from the

525
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: high hesitation. You can go to anything from there. So

526
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 1: just imagine that you're guarding me and I do it

527
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: between the legs, dribble into the high hesitation. I'm just

528
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 1: sitting there kind of pausing for a second. Now, technically,

529
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: by the rule book, it's a carry. But one of

530
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: the things I always tell the kids is at every level,

531
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: as long as you look like you know what you're

532
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,880
Speaker 1: doing and you can control the basketball like you look

533
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: like a good ball handler, they're usually gonna let you

534
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 1: get away with it, right, Like we all see that

535
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,120
Speaker 1: high hesitation in every level of basketball, where the hand's

536
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,919
Speaker 1: like kind of on the side of the ball and

537
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 1: the ball kind of comes to a rest for a second.

538
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 1: If you're sloppy with it, they'll call you for a carrot.

539
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: But if you have it on a string and you

540
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 1: have it under control, they'll usually let you get away

541
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: with it. But once you get there, you can go

542
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 1: to any move right. I'm sitting in the high hesitation.

543
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: Guys too far far back, boom, I rise up into

544
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: a jump shot. The guy is coming up too close

545
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 1: on the jump shot, maybe on my right shoulder. I

546
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: push ahead to drive to the basket. If I need

547
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: to cross over, I can cross. I can go between

548
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 1: the legs, I can go behind the back, or if

549
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 1: I need to create additional separation, I can in and

550
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: out to a step back, or I can go between

551
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 1: the legs and to a step back. Like we talked

552
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,919
Speaker 1: about with Donovan Mitchell, that high hesitation is your bridge

553
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 1: move to everything right, But in order to get a

554
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 1: defender to commit to one thing or the other, you

555
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: need to have a threat right. So like for really

556
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: good downhill guys, they get into their high hesitation and

557
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: the defenders so far back on their heels because they're

558
00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 1: terrified that he's just gonna hit the jets and go

559
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: right by them, so they can easily get to high

560
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,159
Speaker 1: hesitation pull up jump shots. Right. We talked about this

561
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: with Anthony Edwards. Anthony Edwards gets really high quality pull

562
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,400
Speaker 1: up jump shot looks because dudes are on their heels

563
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,360
Speaker 1: because of how athletic he is. Right, Devin Booker gets

564
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: the reverse form of that. He gets in that high hesitation.

565
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: And I watched so many clips today where like the

566
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: big guy and pick and roll, like he'll come off

567
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: the ball screen and he'll get into that mid range.

568
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: He'll just look at the rim and sit in a

569
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: high hesitation, and the big will get up out of

570
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 1: his stance and like stand upright and then come up

571
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,440
Speaker 1: and then he'll just go right around him and he'll

572
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,440
Speaker 1: kind of sleep a slip inside and shoot a little

573
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: finger roll off the glass or something like that. A

574
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,119
Speaker 1: lot of times in he'll do it too, where like

575
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: the big guy will stay back, but the guard will

576
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: recover and kind of get back in front, but Devin

577
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: Booker will kind of sit in that high hesitation until

578
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 1: the guy comes all the way over and then he'll

579
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: just cross back over between his legs and he's right

580
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: back to the basket right And then a big part

581
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: of his passing too, so by using his shooting as

582
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: a threat, it's the fear of his pull up jump shot.

583
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 1: Like we talked about. He was the second best pull

584
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: up jump shooter in all of basketball last year. So

585
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: as a defender, whether it's on the ball or the

586
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: big guy, you're keyed in on that. So when he

587
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 1: gets into his high hesitation, you're overplaying up, which allows

588
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: him to get passed. And then the second piece of it,

589
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: the passing piece. Devin Booker is one of the most

590
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: underrated passers in the league. That'll end up putting him

591
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 1: in situations where guys don't want to help, and then

592
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 1: he can get all the way to the rim. But

593
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 1: those are the main things that I saw in terms

594
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: of getting those opportunities from there. Using his body at

595
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: the rim, he doesn't try to go like he doesn't

596
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: try to like jump with you and finish as high

597
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 1: as possible. He gets into your chest and just kind

598
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: of gets that little bit of separation and leans back

599
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 1: and knocks down a shot, or he'll get into your

600
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: chest and then stretch out with his left hand like

601
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: he just uses his body well. And then the last

602
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: piece of it is off ball situations, understanding the angles

603
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: that are available when you're attacking closeouts. I talk about

604
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: this all the time with the kids that are trained,

605
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 1: but it's the concept of baked in driving lanes. Very

606
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 1: simply put. If I'm on the left wing and Kevin

607
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 1: Durant's on the right wing, and my man is helping

608
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 1: down at the nail, meaning like he is somewhere between

609
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 1: me and Kevin Durant. If Kevin Durant throws me a

610
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 1: rifle pass, the defender is closing out at my right

611
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: closing out at my right shoulder. So if I catch

612
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: and just immediately ripped to the left, I'm gonna have

613
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 1: a baked in driving lane. And I was amazed at

614
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: how many of the rim attempts Devin Booker got last year.

615
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: We're just him running his lane in transition and then

616
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: catching and ripping on the catch and just getting an

617
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: easy driving lane. Or so and so's got the ball,

618
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: whether it's Bradley Beel or Devin Booker or useif Nurkic

619
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: and they draw a second defender, they draw nail, help

620
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 1: swing and he'll just catch and rip again. Like usually

621
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: when you're talking about the super efficient scorers in the league,

622
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: it's not because they make every single tough shot they make.

623
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: It's like the best pull up jump shooters in the

624
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 1: league might get one point zero five one point one

625
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: point points per pull up jump shot. Right, they're not

626
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: getting the offensive ratings that you see where teams are

627
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: getting one twenty offensive rating, one twenty two offensive rating.

628
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 1: In order to hit those efficiencies, you need to capitalize

629
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: on the easy stuff. The same thing goes for these players,

630
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: these guys that are up over sixty percent through shooting.

631
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: It's not because they just make every tough shot they make.

632
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 1: They take four or five really tough shots per game,

633
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: and they make two of them, and then they take

634
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: four or five kind of like coverage beater types of shots, right,

635
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 1: Like guys in a drop coverage he dies on the screen.

636
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: Guys in a drop coverage I get a wide open

637
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 1: midrange jump shot, Like those are coverage beaters, right, And

638
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 1: then like the other seven to eight shots that you take,

639
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: they're all like in the flow, like transition driving layup,

640
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: offensive rebound, putback, driving a close out, shooting a wide

641
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,479
Speaker 1: open catch and shoot three. That actually makes up like

642
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: that shoult make up like half your offense, right, And

643
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: so the guys that end up being super efficient are

644
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: usually the guys that like shoot seventy percent on that stuff,

645
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 1: and then they shoot forty percent or whatever on everything else.

646
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 1: But that's okay. Those are the tough shots. Those are

647
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,479
Speaker 1: usually late in the shot clock. Those are usually, oh,

648
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: they're defending the ball screen two on two. I have

649
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 1: to make this shot because that's what the defense is giving, right,

650
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: Like the easy stuff is so underrated when it comes

651
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 1: to efficiency, and these guys that hit thesevolume scoring numbers

652
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,719
Speaker 1: and keep their percentages high, and a big part of it,

653
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 1: like I was amazed at Devin Booker today, is just

654
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 1: like how many easy layups he gets every game just

655
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 1: by understanding the angles that are available when he's driving closeouts.

656
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 1: And again, sixty five percent for a I mean he's

657
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 1: sixty six or the six to eight wingspans. I don't

658
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 1: want to sit here and talk like he doesn't have

659
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: physical tools, but at his you know, particular lack of

660
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 1: athletic burst compared to some of the guards at the

661
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: top of the league. He gets to the rim as

662
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: much and is more efficient than most of them, And

663
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 1: that's pretty that's pretty impressive under the circumstances. I'm going

664
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: to really quickly go through play type data and then

665
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit about Devin Booker on the

666
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. So he was one of

667
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:41,480
Speaker 1: the top pick and roll play makers in the league

668
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: last year. He got one point one to five points

669
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: per possession on one thousand and thirty two possessions under

670
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: a high volume list. Out of the fifteen players to

671
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 1: run at least a thousand, Devin Booker ranked third. So

672
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:51,960
Speaker 1: he's one of the best pick and roll players in

673
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 1: the league. We know what he does is a score.

674
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 1: I just talked about it at length, but passing a

675
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: couple things. First of all, a lot of those like

676
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: five those five out quick decisions. I had a mail

677
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: bag yesterday talking about like high level offensive players being heliocentric.

678
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 1: Devin Booker is a great example of a really high

679
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: level offensive shot creator that does it in a five

680
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: out context. And when you watch these thousand pick and

681
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 1: rolls that Devin Booker runs, and I've watched several dozen

682
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: of him this morning. When you watch those videos, he's

683
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: not pounding the air out of the basketball like Luca.

684
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,560
Speaker 1: He brings about the floor, ball screen, comes, comes flying

685
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: off the screen, makes a read. That's what he does.

686
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 1: It's it makes him easy to play with because he

687
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: makes a quick decision. It also leaves a lot of

688
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 1: time on the tail end of the shot clock for

689
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 1: guys to make for guys to make plays. The second

690
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,560
Speaker 1: piece of it is he takes the easy stuff that

691
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 1: is available. So like if he comes off and Kevin

692
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 1: Durant's man is just syncing in a little bit, he'll

693
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: just throw the ball right into Kevin rant shooting pockets

694
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 1: so that he can shoot a three. If he's driving

695
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:50,720
Speaker 1: on the right wing and there's nail help off the

696
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 1: left wing, just throw the swing pass. It's there, Just

697
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 1: take it. He's got the high level stuff. He can

698
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 1: make the skip passes, he can read the low man.

699
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: But those easy reads that are able, those go a

700
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 1: long way. Similar to what I was talking about with

701
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 1: the shot making piece, you gotta take advantage of the

702
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 1: easy passing reads that are available. Don't make the game

703
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: harder than it needs to be. If there are easy

704
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,359
Speaker 1: opportunities that are there, you got to jump on them.

705
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he got a lot of

706
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 1: hockey assists where he would just make the read that

707
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 1: led to the read that led to the bucket. NBA

708
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 1: dot Com refers to these as secondary assists, and the

709
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,719
Speaker 1: way they count them is if you pass to a

710
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 1: guy who then immediately makes another pass within one second

711
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 1: without dribbling to the guy who makes the shot, they

712
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 1: call that a secondary assist, and Devin Booker had eighty

713
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: four of them this year, which was the seventh most

714
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 1: in the entire NBA, even in just sixty nine games played.

715
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 1: So like Devin Booker again, when it comes down to

716
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: pick and roll, he's just one of the best shot makers,

717
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 1: shot creators, and shot makers in the league. And then

718
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:51,759
Speaker 1: we know what he's like on the ball. You know

719
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 1: he can hit the pull up three if you die

720
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: on the screen or if you go underneath. He's excellent

721
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:57,799
Speaker 1: at putting the defender in jail and then taking quick

722
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,440
Speaker 1: sidestep fifteen footers. We talked about everything that he does

723
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 1: at the rim, using weaponizing, the high hesitation dribble. He's

724
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 1: just one of the best at what he does in

725
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: the league. ISO situations one point zero eight points per

726
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: possession on three hundred and thirty two reps. He also

727
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 1: made a high volume list. Out of the twenty four

728
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 1: players to run at least two hundred and fifty, he

729
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,879
Speaker 1: ranked ninth. He only ran seventy seven post ups last year,

730
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 1: but did get one point zero eight points per possession,

731
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,840
Speaker 1: which is very good. Now, looking at the playoff series,

732
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: I thought he had a little bit more of a

733
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,399
Speaker 1: rough series against Minnesota than the box score numbers would

734
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 1: lead you to believe. Like he averaged twenty eight, three

735
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,359
Speaker 1: and six on sixty six percent through shooting. So so

736
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:36,880
Speaker 1: you look at that on the surface and you're like, oh,

737
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,760
Speaker 1: he was awesome, But he was the primary ball handler

738
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 1: for the most part, and I thought he missed a

739
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 1: lot of the easy reads that he was making during

740
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:45,840
Speaker 1: the regular season. Now, if you want to see evidence

741
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: of this, I did at least two film sessions during

742
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: the playoff series that went extensively into breaking this concept down.

743
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 1: But the gist of it is the Suns, And if

744
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 1: you want to see those videos again, you just want

745
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: to go back on our feed and scroll back to

746
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 1: the Sun's Timberwolve series and just looked to the look

747
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,240
Speaker 1: for the film session videos I did around that time.

748
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 1: But to put it simply, the Sons were at their

749
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 1: best as a drive in kick team, meaning they were

750
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 1: when they were taking catch and shoot threes and driving

751
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,879
Speaker 1: into layups or taking easy fifteen footers off of close

752
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: out situations. They were at their worst when they would

753
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 1: just take turns, taking pull up jump shots off of

754
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: ball screens or ISOs. Right, and it really seemed to

755
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: come together for them right around the end of the

756
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,359
Speaker 1: end of the year, like post All Star break aus.

757
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,320
Speaker 1: A matter of fact, post All Star they were seventh.

758
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 1: The Sons were seventh in assist percentage. Sixty six percent

759
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 1: of their made field goals were assisted. That dropped all

760
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 1: the way down to fifty six percent in the first

761
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 1: round series against Minnesota, I thought Minnesota was successful at

762
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: speeding Devin Booker up and forcing him to kind of

763
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: lose sight of the bigger picture a little bit. Again,

764
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,240
Speaker 1: we talked about this earlier, but like when you speed

765
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 1: an offensive player up with good ball pressure, they don't

766
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 1: see the rest of the floor. They're primarily focused on

767
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,800
Speaker 1: surviving their individual matchups. So like that's one of the

768
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 1: benefits of ball pressure when you make a ball handler

769
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,799
Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable, doesn't see the bigger picture as much, doesn't

770
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: see the four as much, and he can start to

771
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: make mistakes. Not to be clear, I don't think Devin

772
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: Booker was the reason Phoenix lost or got swept. I

773
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,320
Speaker 1: think it mostly came down to the physical mismatch. Minnesota

774
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 1: was just a lot bigger and a lot stronger, and

775
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 1: they just basically bullied Phoenix on both ends of the floor.

776
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 1: Is it was a roster issue. I'm just saying. I

777
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: also didn't think it was the best playoff series that

778
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 1: Devin Booker played, and I thought the box score numbers

779
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 1: were a little bit deceiving in that regard. In summery though,

780
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: Devin is one of the best half court shot creators

781
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,799
Speaker 1: in the league. To the mailback question the other day,

782
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: like we talked about, he does it in a five

783
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 1: out context. He doesn't dribble the air out of the basketball,

784
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:37,960
Speaker 1: He comes down the floor, uses ball screen, makes a

785
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,439
Speaker 1: quick read. He was top five and pick and roll.

786
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 1: He was top ten in ISO and the main reason,

787
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,919
Speaker 1: the main reason that I have him ahead of other

788
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,800
Speaker 1: elite half court shot creators, the guys like Donovan Mitchell

789
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brunson, who I had multiple people complain about

790
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 1: me having Devin Booker over them in the comments yesterday.

791
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:57,399
Speaker 1: The main reason why I have him over those guys

792
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,720
Speaker 1: at the defensive end of the floor, and it's especially

793
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: impressive because he's not particularly explosive, but he is six '

794
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,399
Speaker 1: six with a six to eight wing span that goes

795
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 1: a long way to giving you a fighting chance. There

796
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 1: are two main areas that I want to hit with

797
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 1: Devin Booker on the defensive end of the floor. First

798
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,239
Speaker 1: is off ball communication, and I did a bunch of

799
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 1: film sessions on this towards the tail end of the year,

800
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:21,399
Speaker 1: but especially when Phoenix was starting to get going there

801
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,799
Speaker 1: at the end, they were really trying to ramp up

802
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: on defense, and you can see Devin taking a personal

803
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 1: responsibility for their lack of communication that they were having before.

804
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:33,040
Speaker 1: He was in a lot of and usually it's their center.

805
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 1: Usually it's the center that it operates as their primary communicator.

806
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: But Devin Booker was taking a lot of those off

807
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 1: ball like kind of backline communication responsibilities, calling out coverages,

808
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: pointing guys out, telling him where they need to go,

809
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,360
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing takes a lot of effort

810
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: and takes a lot of mental focus and uses energy,

811
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: but it goes a long way towards helping a unit defend,

812
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: and Devin Booker took that responsibility on the second piece

813
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 1: of it was on ball competitiveness. We saw some of

814
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,279
Speaker 1: this with Phoenix and we saw a lot of it

815
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 1: with Team USA. But you can ask Devin Booker to

816
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,319
Speaker 1: guard the other team's best guard. You can ask him

817
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,799
Speaker 1: to apply ball pressure and to fight over the top

818
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,799
Speaker 1: of screens. Now, Phoenix doesn't need him to do They

819
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:12,360
Speaker 1: usually will use a guy like a Kog to do

820
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: something like that, but when they would go to their

821
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,480
Speaker 1: more skilled lineups, they could ask Booker to do that.

822
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:20,440
Speaker 1: For Team USA, he was guarding the best player on

823
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 1: the other team every night. He can navigate screens, he's

824
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,320
Speaker 1: got good footwork, he's got good attention to the detail

825
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 1: in the game plan. He puts consistent effort in on

826
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 1: that side of the floor. You can actually have I

827
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 1: remember when I was talking earlier about the tough jobs.

828
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: You can't ask Donovan Mitchell or Jalen Brunson to do

829
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: one of the tough jobs. You have to craft them

830
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,359
Speaker 1: the easier jobs, which both teams did. We talked about

831
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,359
Speaker 1: Cleveland putting usually putting Donovan Mitchell on like an off

832
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 1: ball shooter and asking him to dig down and use

833
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,799
Speaker 1: his athleticism to close out right, Jalen Brunson, same sort

834
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 1: of thing, a lot of hedging and recovering, holding up

835
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:54,920
Speaker 1: in ISO just because he's big and strong. But they

836
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: weren't asking him to do a tough job. You can

837
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,200
Speaker 1: ask Devin Booker to do a tough defensive job. You

838
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: can ask him to be your primary point of attack defender.

839
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: That's a real value add within the context of trying

840
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,920
Speaker 1: to build a roster that can win the title. He

841
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: gives you similar offensive juice as those guards while also

842
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 1: giving you real defensive value, and that to me was

843
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 1: the main differentiator. Brunson doesn't hurt you. Mitchell helps you

844
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 1: a little bit. Booker can actually take a significant defensive role,

845
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:34,359
Speaker 1: and that's what sets him apart ETHO. All right, moving

846
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,919
Speaker 1: on to the mailbag. I only have about five questions today,

847
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,360
Speaker 1: since we're going one video at a time now. Feel

848
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 1: like sixteen I got a lot of questions like this

849
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,680
Speaker 1: about Brunson. Feels like sixteen is way too low for Brunson.

850
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 1: He was top five in MVP votes last year and

851
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,600
Speaker 1: was one of the best playoff performers, if not the best.

852
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,760
Speaker 1: Variations of that question talking about top five and MVP,

853
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,640
Speaker 1: the sheer amount of scoring volume that he did in

854
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: the postseason, all that kind of stuff. Here's how I'm

855
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,320
Speaker 1: gonna try to explain it. Before I go any further.

856
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 1: Don't forget that I primarily am using tiers to demonstrate

857
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:14,479
Speaker 1: a large gap in value. Okay, so all of these

858
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,280
Speaker 1: guys are in the same tier, so I don't see

859
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 1: large gaps between them. So I could see Brunson as

860
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: high as twelve or as low as seventeen, and all

861
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,759
Speaker 1: of those are pretty close to me, so that to

862
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: be clear, Like, it's the eleven guys at the top

863
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 1: of the league, the superstar tier that I think Brunson

864
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 1: has no case over. But I understand the case, the

865
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 1: case for Brunson over Booker. I prefer Booker, but I

866
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 1: understand the case. I understand the case for Brunson over

867
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: to the two guys recovering tomorrow or on Saturday, I

868
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 1: should say, but to upfront explain, you know, just the

869
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 1: format of this particular list these tiers. The guys are

870
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 1: all kind of close. So a lot of this just

871
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 1: has to do with the sheer amount of talent that's

872
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 1: in the league. The two guys I had ahead of

873
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,960
Speaker 1: him today are the defending Eastern Conference Finals MVP in

874
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 1: the defending Finals MVP, and Jalen Brown, a guy who's

875
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 1: one of the best two way players in the game,

876
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:12,400
Speaker 1: Devin Booker, who's a similar level of half court shot creator.

877
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,600
Speaker 1: He's a career twenty eight points per game in forty

878
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:18,719
Speaker 1: seven playoff games on over sixty percent true shooting, and

879
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 1: he was the best player on a team that made

880
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 1: it to within two wins of an NBA championship, and

881
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: he's a substantially more impactful defender. That's the guy that

882
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: you want to put I mean that, let's just put

883
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 1: it this way. If you think Brunson's better than Booker,

884
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 1: I respect that, But Booker's got a damn good case

885
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:38,160
Speaker 1: to be better, right. And then the two guys were

886
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 1: hitting on Saturday, They're both like, we're not gonna get

887
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try. You guys can probably guess who they are,

888
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna try not to reveal it. The two

889
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,720
Speaker 1: guys that we got on Saturday are like Bona fide

890
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 1: superstars who have health issues and when they are healthy

891
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 1: are both clearly better than Jalen Brunson. So and then

892
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 1: the other guys are the eleven superstar guys that I have,

893
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 1: and trust me, you're gonna have a really hard time

894
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,960
Speaker 1: bumping any of those guys for Jalen Brunson. So it's

895
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: mostly just a product of the sheer amount of awesome

896
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,160
Speaker 1: players that we have in the league, the kind of

897
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:12,920
Speaker 1: guys that used to look at the screen and go like,

898
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:15,160
Speaker 1: oh man, that's a top ten player. By the way,

899
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 1: I made this mistake. I'm pretty sure there was a

900
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,080
Speaker 1: day during the regular season where I was like, holy shit,

901
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,799
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson's playing like a top ten player. But then

902
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: you actually sit down and you start writing names down

903
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:26,799
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh shit, there's just a lot of

904
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 1: really good players. So, like I mean to put it simply,

905
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: like what used to be top ten is now kind

906
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 1: of like top seventeen, what used to be top twenty

907
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:42,120
Speaker 1: five is now kind of like top forty, top forty five.

908
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 1: Like we talked about we did that forty five player

909
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: list at the start, there are a lot of guys there.

910
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: Paul George not even on my list. Trey Young not

911
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,720
Speaker 1: even on my list. There's a lot of really, really

912
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,719
Speaker 1: good basketball players in the NBA, and that is the

913
00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:00,359
Speaker 1: main thing that is driving this. Like I could bump

914
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 1: him over any of the eleven. I explained to you

915
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 1: guys why I thought Booker was better. I explained to

916
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: it to you guys, why I thought Jayleen Brown was better. Again,

917
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: I can. I can personally see the reasoning for Brunson

918
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:13,480
Speaker 1: as high as twelve, but for me, he happens to

919
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 1: be at sixteen. One other way to look at it,

920
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: I think Brunson is the best small guard in the

921
00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 1: league other than Steph and that's a hell of an

922
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: accomplishment in the league that has this type of guard depth.

923
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,879
Speaker 1: I have Jalen Brunston over Donovan Mitchell. I have Jalen

924
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,720
Speaker 1: Brunson over Tyres Halliburton. I have Jalen Brunson over Tyres Maxey.

925
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: I have Jalen Brunson over John Morant. I have Jalen

926
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:36,360
Speaker 1: Brunson over Damian Lillard. I Jalen Brunson over Daron Fox.

927
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:38,400
Speaker 1: I have him over Kyrie Irving, I have him over

928
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: Trey Young. I have Brunson over all those guys right now.

929
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,560
Speaker 1: It's just the guys that have above him are bigger athletes,

930
00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:47,200
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously I view that as value, and

931
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: there are guys above him that bring the same at

932
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 1: least similar type of offensive shock creation without some of

933
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,320
Speaker 1: the downsides that come from having a guard that's small.

934
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 1: Here's another follow up question, how the heck is a

935
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,400
Speaker 1: top five MVP vote getter last season sixteenth on this

936
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 1: list Steph Curry ahead of Brunson at this point is crazy.

937
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 1: Brunson will be putting his team in championship contention this season.

938
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: Curry will lead his team to the lottery. Make it

939
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,200
Speaker 1: make sense, dude, tired of the Brunson disrespect. To put

940
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,600
Speaker 1: it simply, Jalen Brunson will contend for a championship this

941
00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:24,719
Speaker 1: year because he also has Julius Randall og N and

942
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:27,759
Speaker 1: Obi McHale bridges in high level two way players like

943
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: Dante DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. Curry might end up in

944
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 1: the play in or the lottery. Just I'm not even

945
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:36,400
Speaker 1: gonna talking about it. Just go ahead and pull up

946
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: Golden State's roster for this season and you'll find out

947
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,480
Speaker 1: really quickly why the Knicks are gonna do more than

948
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:44,840
Speaker 1: the Warriors are going to do in all likelihood this season.

949
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,239
Speaker 1: It doesn't have anything to do with Jalen Brunson or

950
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,240
Speaker 1: Steph Curry. I do think Jalen Brunson had a better

951
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,239
Speaker 1: and more productive regular season last year, but a big

952
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:55,760
Speaker 1: part of that was him being surrounded by more talent.

953
00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 1: That Warriors team, similar to the Lakers, similar to the Suns,

954
00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:03,319
Speaker 1: just doesn't have any role players that can play both

955
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 1: ends of the floor effectively. That's the main issue that

956
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,279
Speaker 1: they have. It's a major roster issue. To put it like,

957
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:13,719
Speaker 1: I'll put it even more aggressively. If the Knicks today

958
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 1: traded Jalen Brunson straight up for Steph Curry, the Knicks

959
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:22,760
Speaker 1: title odds would skyrocket because Steph is a better basketball player.

960
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,240
Speaker 1: It's not an insult to Brunson. He's Steph fucking Curry,

961
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:29,200
Speaker 1: and that's why I can't like put him up on

962
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 1: that particular level. Next question one more Brunson. One bro

963
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 1: miss the mark here. He gained a huge boost an

964
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,320
Speaker 1: audience for the way he covered the Knicks and Brunson

965
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 1: all of last season, only to rate him sixteenth best player. Nah,

966
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:45,919
Speaker 1: it's it's my job to be authentic and tell you, guys,

967
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,080
Speaker 1: exactly how I feel, not to propagandaize to your fan base.

968
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:52,080
Speaker 1: So I'm just not gonna do that. Me ranking Brunson

969
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: sixteen doesn't change how much I love watching him play basketball,

970
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:57,360
Speaker 1: or the simple fact that we're gonna be covering the

971
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,839
Speaker 1: Knicks very closely this year. It's a player ranking, and

972
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:04,080
Speaker 1: it really only matters in the summer when we're talking hypotheticals.

973
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: As soon as we get into the regular season. In

974
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 1: the playoffs, it's like, can Brunson with this supporting cast

975
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: beat this star with his supporting cast? These two teams

976
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:16,719
Speaker 1: facing against each other. The player rankings go out the

977
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:21,800
Speaker 1: window in October, Guys like this is not I can't

978
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:23,719
Speaker 1: just sit up here and lie and say things that

979
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 1: I don't believe to appeal to a fan base, especially

980
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:29,120
Speaker 1: on something as simple and foolish as player rankings, which

981
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 1: don't really matter in the grand scheme of who gets

982
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:33,680
Speaker 1: to hoist hilario'brian trophy at the end of the day.

983
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 1: I have three more wait, yeah, three more questions. The

984
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,360
Speaker 1: problem with arguing that the Laker slash Lebron greatly benefited

985
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,040
Speaker 1: from the break in twenty twenty is that there's no

986
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:49,000
Speaker 1: proof whatsoever besides feelings. They weren't limping into the break,

987
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 1: they weren't injured at all, they didn't look tired or slow.

988
00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:53,040
Speaker 1: They actually were just about to hit a good stride

989
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 1: beating the Bucks and Clippers back to back. This is

990
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:59,319
Speaker 1: in relation to a question we had two days ago,

991
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:02,799
Speaker 1: basically insinuating that we don't know if Lebron can make

992
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: it through a playoff run, and then I kind of

993
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:06,960
Speaker 1: piggybacked off that with another take that I had received

994
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:08,719
Speaker 1: from a buddy of mine a few weeks back, that

995
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,719
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty Lakers benefited from the break because they

996
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:14,920
Speaker 1: looked like they were gonna break down. And what I

997
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: said two days ago was that that's just completely theoretical.

998
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:21,840
Speaker 1: Lebron's never missed a playoff game. But this is a

999
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 1: really good additional point, which is that in March, when

1000
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:27,320
Speaker 1: they beat the Bucks and Clippers back to back and

1001
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 1: Lebron literally looked like the MVP, I thought he should

1002
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,080
Speaker 1: have won the MVP that year. They were cooking with

1003
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: gas and actually ramping up, and it actually kind of

1004
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:38,480
Speaker 1: fell in line with most Lebron teams that tended to

1005
00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:41,919
Speaker 1: ramp up around March for the playoff run. So like, yeah,

1006
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:47,279
Speaker 1: I think that retroactively looking at the Lakers is as

1007
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:50,000
Speaker 1: a team that should have broken down is based entirely

1008
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 1: on fantasy. All Right, two more bail back question. We've

1009
00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 1: seen that the Olympics and specifically Lebron's performance have impacted

1010
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: Jason's view on the all time king of Lebron's place.

1011
00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: That being said, did the Olympics impact how you see

1012
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:05,719
Speaker 1: players in the context of the NBA And did any

1013
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,440
Speaker 1: of these rankings in these videos change because of the Olympics.

1014
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 1: So the short answer is no. But I did go

1015
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:14,840
Speaker 1: look at the list after the Olympics before I decided

1016
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:17,280
Speaker 1: did not make any changes, and so the reason is simple,

1017
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:20,600
Speaker 1: I didn't. I don't think Jason Tatum's shooting slump is

1018
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:23,040
Speaker 1: going to last through next season. I would venture to

1019
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:25,399
Speaker 1: guess that his jumper will be fixed by training camp.

1020
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:28,440
Speaker 1: The Olympics were pretty damn close to the finals, and

1021
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:30,360
Speaker 1: I guarantee you he took some time off after the

1022
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,280
Speaker 1: finals as he should have. He played basketball into mid June,

1023
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 1: so I doubt he was as polished for the Team

1024
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 1: USA as some of his peers. I think Tatum is

1025
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:39,360
Speaker 1: going to get back in the gym this summer, and

1026
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:40,480
Speaker 1: I think he's going to fix a shot and I

1027
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:42,080
Speaker 1: think he's going to look great, So I didn't factor

1028
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:45,680
Speaker 1: that in. Two. I know Embiid is better in Philly's

1029
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,799
Speaker 1: offensive system, and I already knew Joel Embiid didn't know

1030
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,759
Speaker 1: how to play, read and react basketball, so that I

1031
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 1: didn't learn anything new about Embid. I already knew that stuff,

1032
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:57,880
Speaker 1: So that wasn't something that I was gonna change my

1033
00:49:57,960 --> 00:50:00,200
Speaker 1: opinion about him when he's going to be playing for

1034
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: the Sixers and he's gonna have the dam ball all

1035
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:06,960
Speaker 1: the time. Three. I have always felt like Steph, Cady

1036
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,000
Speaker 1: and Lebron are still some of the very best players

1037
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 1: in the world in a small sample size. I felt

1038
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:16,359
Speaker 1: that way before the Olympics, and I'm not surprised at all.

1039
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 1: I was disappointed in how some of the young guys played,

1040
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:22,080
Speaker 1: but I expected Steph, cad and Lebron to play as

1041
00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 1: well as they did. They're just three of the greatest

1042
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: winners of all time, and so of course they're gonna

1043
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,440
Speaker 1: figure out and they're still playing at or near that level.

1044
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,640
Speaker 1: They just at their ages, they can't superhero their way

1045
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:36,120
Speaker 1: through an eighty two game season like they used to,

1046
00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:39,600
Speaker 1: and they can't overcome some of the limitations that their

1047
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:42,759
Speaker 1: rosters have. Again, all three of those rosters don't have

1048
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,200
Speaker 1: any two way role players, guys that play both ends

1049
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:49,399
Speaker 1: of the four really well. Outside of their stars. That's

1050
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:52,839
Speaker 1: a problem, and that's why they struggle in the eighty

1051
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:56,160
Speaker 1: two game season, and at their age, they can't overcome that.

1052
00:50:56,520 --> 00:51:00,279
Speaker 1: In the Olympics, it's a shorter window and it's just

1053
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: an easier grind, and so they were able to handle it. So, Yeah,

1054
00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:05,880
Speaker 1: I took a look at my list after the Olympics.

1055
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 1: I just didn't change my mind on anything because most

1056
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:11,320
Speaker 1: of that was stuff that I already had established. Last question,

1057
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,399
Speaker 1: calling Lebron substantially better than Tatum in a two week

1058
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:17,080
Speaker 1: stretch is ridiculous. And here's all I'm gonna say to that.

1059
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 1: Just for a second in your head, just close your

1060
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:24,920
Speaker 1: eyes and imagine Lebron James playing basketball with Drew Holliday,

1061
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,240
Speaker 1: Derek White, Jalen Brown, Christops Porzingis, Al Horford, Sam Houser,

1062
00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:30,919
Speaker 1: and Peyton Pritchard. Just imagine it for a minute and

1063
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,439
Speaker 1: you'll pretty quickly come to the same conclusion. That I did.

1064
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:35,440
Speaker 1: All right, guys. That is all I have for today.

1065
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:37,880
Speaker 1: As always, a sincerely appreciate you for supporting the show.

1066
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:40,400
Speaker 1: We are going to be back on Saturday. Oh I

1067
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:43,200
Speaker 1: have this mail bag will run as a breakout tomorrow Saturday,

1068
00:51:43,239 --> 00:51:46,279
Speaker 1: I'll run the thirteen and twelve, and then starting next

1069
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:49,000
Speaker 1: week we're going to be getting into the top eleven,

1070
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Speaker 1: which is just an incredible list of players that was

1071
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Speaker 1: incredibly difficult to rank and I'm excited to break it

1072
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Speaker 1: down and to debate it with you guys. I will

1073
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Speaker 1: see you guys. Then the volume