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Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, presented by Fan will here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had
Speaker 1: a great weekend. We are just about to pull up
Speaker 1: into Juno. We had a really cool moment this morning.
Speaker 1: Ut our little schedule it said something about like a
Speaker 1: scenic passage from six am to ten am. I woke
Speaker 1: up at six am, open my window and there were
Speaker 1: icebergs floating like right next to the ship. Then UM
Speaker 1: walked up to the upper deck and when I got
Speaker 1: up there we were pulling up. The ship was pulling
Speaker 1: directly up to a glacier, a huge glacier that was
Speaker 1: flowing into the Fiord I guess they call it. It's
Speaker 1: basically like a water passageway that is formed by a glacier.
Speaker 1: One of the coolest things I've ever seen. It was
Speaker 1: a really, really nice treet this morning. Um, I did
Speaker 1: a recording yesterday that I didn't have a chance to upload,
Speaker 1: so it'll be a piggybacked onto the end of this
Speaker 1: for the podcast folks, I think on YouTube it'll end
Speaker 1: up being something different. But we talked about some war years.
Speaker 1: We talked about some Lakers with Buddy Healed and Miles Turner.
Speaker 1: Also talked about some sons with Monty Williams getting extended
Speaker 1: and what I expect from them over the course the
Speaker 1: next couple of years. And then we did a little
Speaker 1: deep dive into five out basketball as part of the
Speaker 1: series I'm trying to do this summer when we talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, um some larger basketball concepts. So for your
Speaker 1: for your podcast listeners, that will be tagged onto the
Speaker 1: end of this. For the YouTube folks, today we're just
Speaker 1: hitting Kevin Durant, so uh. Adrian Morzanowski reports that the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics are a serious threat to potentially acquire Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: um that they're willing to include Jalen Brown. Now, the
Speaker 1: report comes with a couple of big caveats. First of all,
Speaker 1: Brian Windhors reported on ESPN that this is kind of
Speaker 1: old news that's been out for about a month almost
Speaker 1: that this particular offer was already on the table, essentially
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. I believe it's Grant Williams as well possibly
Speaker 1: some other filler. And then um, I believe it's the
Speaker 1: first pick swap in another swap, So it's a pretty
Speaker 1: significant offer. Nets want more, you know how that all
Speaker 1: goes um, But apparently this offer has been around according
Speaker 1: to Brian Winhorse and then Adrian Warznowski in the piece
Speaker 1: also specifically stated that the Celtics were quote unquote no
Speaker 1: closer to obtaining Kevin Durant than any of the other teams.
Speaker 1: So I'm not really sure what to make of this
Speaker 1: particular report, the timing of it, what exactly uh the
Speaker 1: goal is. It could just be ESPN trying to spice
Speaker 1: things up in the middle of the summer. But I
Speaker 1: do want to talk about this particular deal because it's
Speaker 1: an interesting one that I recommended a while back, Um,
Speaker 1: and one that I think is a smart move for Boston.
Speaker 1: As we looked at Boston last year, I actually thought
Speaker 1: they were the most talented team in the finals. They
Speaker 1: were just incredibly undisciplined and they struggled, particularly with ball
Speaker 1: handling and offensive decision making. So the idea of flipping
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Grant Williams and maybe a Daniel Tis
Speaker 1: or something along those lines for Kevin freaking Durant instantaneously
Speaker 1: makes you, by far the best team in the league
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the title favorite, the team that I
Speaker 1: would pick to win the championship this year. So if
Speaker 1: I was running the Celtics, I would do it. I
Speaker 1: understand the hesitation, I understand the idea with the draft picks.
Speaker 1: I understand Kevin Durant's injury history, although I think some
Speaker 1: of the injury history stuff with Kevin Durant is over blown.
Speaker 1: He takes his sweet time coming back from injuries, which
Speaker 1: he should. He's Kevin Durant. He understands the long run
Speaker 1: with the playoffs, but he's been available for each of
Speaker 1: the last two playoff runs. Played extraordinarily well two years ago,
Speaker 1: then struggled against the Boston Celtics last year and in
Speaker 1: a series where his entire team was completely overmatched. Right,
Speaker 1: But I think the injury stuff is just overplayed. With
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, I think it's a no brainer. I think
Speaker 1: the Celtics should do it, but I understand the hesitation.
Speaker 1: This is where it comes down into the classic debate
Speaker 1: over pushing your chips in the middle versus playing the
Speaker 1: long game. We had this as a question in the
Speaker 1: mail bag, and like I told you guys, I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody's right or wrong. It's just a matter of preference.
Speaker 1: I think because of the current structure of the c
Speaker 1: b A, it's better to push your chips in. Players
Speaker 1: are fickle, they get a wandering eye, they get sick
Speaker 1: of their situation, they get authority fatigue, they want something new,
Speaker 1: and so more often than not, they don't want to
Speaker 1: stay in a place for seven to ten to fifteen years. Right.
Speaker 1: You know when we look at the the the the
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green type of pairing. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's organizational excellence. Yes, the Warriors make it easy to stay.
Speaker 1: But it's also a matter of loyalty. Because I've seen
Speaker 1: teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder in the early two thousands,
Speaker 1: where it's like you've got Kevin Durant, you've got James Harden,
Speaker 1: you've got Russell Westbrook, you've got good veteran players, you've
Speaker 1: got a good coach. Everything's right, but the guys just
Speaker 1: get they just want to leave. Kevin Duranty, I want
Speaker 1: to leave, James Harden, I want a bigger role. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to leave right like So, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I think it's a little bit harder than
Speaker 1: people think to get people to stay so under the
Speaker 1: current c b A because of how easy it is
Speaker 1: for player movement to occur, and because of the fact
Speaker 1: that players don't really feel a ton of loyalty. I'm
Speaker 1: a believer in pushing your chips in. If you stick
Speaker 1: with Jalen Brown, there's no guarantee that sometime over the
Speaker 1: next two years that he won't look at the situation
Speaker 1: with Jayson Tatum and be like, Yeah, I'd rather be
Speaker 1: somewhere else where I have a bigger role, or man,
Speaker 1: I'd rather play with somebody who's a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a playmaker, is a little bit more of someone
Speaker 1: who sets me up right, there's no guarantee that there's
Speaker 1: gonna be loyalty there. That's why I'm a believer under
Speaker 1: the current system, push your chips in the middle, go
Speaker 1: after the Kevin Durant of the world, make a run
Speaker 1: to the title. Read your situation. Like with the Brooklyn Netts.
Speaker 1: If you don't think you have enough, sell the farm
Speaker 1: and restart right now. If they go renegotiate the c
Speaker 1: b A and they make it more difficult for players
Speaker 1: to leave, and they heavily incentivize players to stay, that's
Speaker 1: where the strategy might shift, where player movement limits and
Speaker 1: now it becomes more about scouting and player development and
Speaker 1: and building continuity and doing the things that the Warriors do.
Speaker 1: But the Warriors are the exception to the rule. Don't
Speaker 1: let them fool you into thinking that that's easy to do.
Speaker 1: It is not easy to do, all right. The last
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to hit on this guy on this
Speaker 1: KD story is the Kyrie report that came out from
Speaker 1: sham Serani is saying that he has made it clear
Speaker 1: to the Nets front office that he intends to play
Speaker 1: out the season with Brooklyn with or without Kevin Durrett. Now,
Speaker 1: first of all, just like after the season when Kyrie said, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this as a partnership with Sean Marks and
Speaker 1: Josiah and Kevin. No, no no, no, that's not really the case.
Speaker 1: He doesn't understand that that's not his decision. Whether or
Speaker 1: not Kyrie plays basketball for the Nets is entirely up
Speaker 1: to Brooklyn, and they don't want him unless Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: reinvests in the franchise, in which case they understand he's
Speaker 1: better than the alternative. Right, but if they reset, if
Speaker 1: KD is leaving, which I believe he is, which we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about here in just a minute, there's no
Speaker 1: universe in which they keep Kyrie. They will flip him
Speaker 1: for a first round pick, probably to the l A Lakers.
Speaker 1: This that's just smoking mirrors. That's just Kyrie. I think.
Speaker 1: What what Kyrie is really trying to accomplish there is
Speaker 1: demonstrate a willingness to play basketball, because he understands that's
Speaker 1: his biggest red flag surrounding him right now. He knows
Speaker 1: it hurt him in his extension conversations this summer, and
Speaker 1: he probably wants a lengthy deal after this year, so
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna do a lot to try to rehab
Speaker 1: his image over the course of this next season to
Speaker 1: you know, kind of make people believe that he's committed
Speaker 1: again so that he can get a long term deal.
Speaker 1: That's what I think this is about. Now, is kde
Speaker 1: coming back? I don't think so. You're gonna see threats.
Speaker 1: You're gonna see Brooklyn say things like we're going to
Speaker 1: take them to camp. We've talked about this before. Training
Speaker 1: camp is your best opportunity to set a tone for
Speaker 1: the season. You never want to bring a mail content
Speaker 1: into training camp. You never want to bring someone who's
Speaker 1: not committed into training camp. In this particular circumstance, Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant wants out. If you bring him back, all that's
Speaker 1: gonna do is cause your your three season to get
Speaker 1: off to a really ugly start with lots of in
Speaker 1: fighting and passive aggressiveness and things that are gonna hurt
Speaker 1: a basketball team. Now, remember, one of the big reasons
Speaker 1: why Sean Markson and jos I want to get out
Speaker 1: of this relationship is they don't like having Katie and
Speaker 1: Kyrie and control. They don't like the you know, the
Speaker 1: kind of like uh this like you know, entrepreneur, businessman
Speaker 1: type of approach to the way that these players are
Speaker 1: running the Nets. They want to be in control. They
Speaker 1: want to run it like a basketball team. They want commitment,
Speaker 1: they want buy in. They don't want drama. They don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with that that like diva type of
Speaker 1: personality from those two guys, right, So they don't want
Speaker 1: to They want to reset. They want to build a
Speaker 1: new culture moving forward. So chances are this is all
Speaker 1: a leverage play and they're looking to raise Katie's value
Speaker 1: to some extent. I don't think you're gonna get much
Speaker 1: more than the offers that they've seen. A Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: with three first and two swaps is probably the best
Speaker 1: that you can do in this situation. And my guess
Speaker 1: is at some point over the next couple of months,
Speaker 1: the Nets will relent and they will make that deal again.
Speaker 1: Like I've said several times, the one thing that can
Speaker 1: turn this into Katie returning to the Nets is Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant himself. If he gets a change of heart and
Speaker 1: really is that he doesn't actually want to leave, and
Speaker 1: that he wants to stay in Brooklyn and play with
Speaker 1: Kyrie and all those things, then yes, I believe they
Speaker 1: would bring them back to camp, but I don't think
Speaker 1: that's going to happen. And Katie has leaked once again,
Speaker 1: and I think he leaked it to Jake Fisher about
Speaker 1: a week and a half ago that he's still very
Speaker 1: intent on getting traded. So not sure what to make
Speaker 1: of this Woes report. I do think Boston is a
Speaker 1: legitimate threat. I love the deal for them. I think
Speaker 1: they should do it, but it again, like Brian Wintre said,
Speaker 1: it's an old report, and like Adrian Warsnowski said, they're
Speaker 1: no closer to obtaining Katie than every everybody else, So
Speaker 1: this is probably just more summer drama. But I do
Speaker 1: think Boston is a great example of the type of
Speaker 1: team that should make this type of deal because it's
Speaker 1: pushing all the chips in the middle and gives you
Speaker 1: a very very good chance to win the title. Let's
Speaker 1: start with the Heel Turner news. So the report is
Speaker 1: that what's on the table from the Lakers already is
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook plus a first round draft pick in return
Speaker 1: for Buddy Heald and Miles Turner. So obviously there's a
Speaker 1: lot of there's a lot of debate as to whether
Speaker 1: or not Buddy held and Miles Turner are worth the
Speaker 1: first round picks, and so on and so forth. We
Speaker 1: don't need to get too for too far into the
Speaker 1: leverage elements of it, because I've gone over it with
Speaker 1: you guys so many times. But I think the reality
Speaker 1: is when you're taking Russell Westbrook, who, as we've talked
Speaker 1: about so often on this show, is a guy that
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that the lake that any team in
Speaker 1: the NBA would sign if he was available for a
Speaker 1: veteran minimum, right That's the type of situation that his
Speaker 1: value is in right now. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: he's also making forty seven million, and chances are if
Speaker 1: you as a process of the team taking on his salary,
Speaker 1: they're also gonna have to send him home or direct
Speaker 1: him somewhere else. It's a very very complicated situation. So
Speaker 1: you can't look at it straight up as is Buddy
Speaker 1: Healed worth a first round pick, or is Miles Turner
Speaker 1: worth their first round pick? Or are the two of
Speaker 1: them worth two first round picks. That's not the exchange
Speaker 1: that's taking place here. It's Buddy Healed and Miles Turner
Speaker 1: and are dealing with the Russ problem for you, and
Speaker 1: so you're paying on two fronts. You're paying for the
Speaker 1: value of the players in return, and you're paying to
Speaker 1: send Russ out obviously now to be clear, kind of
Speaker 1: like what happened with the Kwhi Leonard situation the year
Speaker 1: that the Lakers won the title. I still think Kyrie
Speaker 1: should be their top priority. We've talked about this on
Speaker 1: previous episodes. The reality of the situation is is guys
Speaker 1: like Kyrie, what they do is very difficult to replicate
Speaker 1: on any level. It is a superpower essentially, and everyone
Speaker 1: else is kind of a regular human, right, And there
Speaker 1: are these there's like a dozen or you know, maybe
Speaker 1: two dozen players in the league to have these like
Speaker 1: legit superpowers that there's no scheming or effort or anything
Speaker 1: that can be done to counter what they bring to
Speaker 1: a basketball team. And so it's a lot easier to
Speaker 1: take Kyrie Irving and and unleash his superpower and then manufacture,
Speaker 1: if fact, simile of what Miles Turner does than it
Speaker 1: is to bring in Buddy Heild and Miles Turner and
Speaker 1: go to Buddy Held and be like, I need you
Speaker 1: to create shots in a playoff series the way that
Speaker 1: Kaye Irving does that's just not realistic, right, So Kyrie
Speaker 1: needs to be the number one option. But if they
Speaker 1: have some sort of intel or some sort of understanding
Speaker 1: that Kyrie is off the table, this is a great
Speaker 1: backup plan. If you would have told me coming into
Speaker 1: this summer that the Lakers could flip Russell Westbrook into
Speaker 1: two quality, starter level NBA players, I wouldn't have believed you.
Speaker 1: I thought it was more realistic that the Lakers would
Speaker 1: get kind of like other bad contracts, and maybe if
Speaker 1: they were fortunate one solid player, like like right, like
Speaker 1: I was looking at, maybe okay, they could get Gordon
Speaker 1: Hayward is salary filler, and then and then maybe they
Speaker 1: could get Terry Rosier that's like a really solid guard.
Speaker 1: So you get one solid piece and the rest might
Speaker 1: be like Mason Plumle or Gordon Hayward kind of like
Speaker 1: just salary filler type of pieces. The idea of getting
Speaker 1: two functional NBA starters in return, that does so much
Speaker 1: to erase the damage of the Russell Westbrook trade. I've
Speaker 1: said this before on the show, but Russell Westbrook is
Speaker 1: not responsible for what happened to the Lakers last year.
Speaker 1: That's not fair to him. But the Russell Westbrook trade
Speaker 1: is absolutely what caused the Lakers season to go that
Speaker 1: the way that it did last year. Beyond the injuries,
Speaker 1: which obviously we're out of everybody's control, but if you
Speaker 1: look at it, even in the previous season, Lebron and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis missed a ton of time, the roster was
Speaker 1: still functional enough to carry them to the playoffs in
Speaker 1: the way that this year's wasn't. It wasn't just Russ
Speaker 1: coming in, and we don't need to get into the
Speaker 1: things that Russ does on a basketball team that can
Speaker 1: be damaging, but it was Russ coming in, and it
Speaker 1: was contagious Callbo Pope going out a starting level NBA
Speaker 1: to guard, right, it was Kyle Kuzma going out a
Speaker 1: starting NBA level four, you know, three or four wing forward,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call him. That type of player
Speaker 1: Montrose Harold, you know, is what it is as a
Speaker 1: bench big. But also in that deal, the Lakers took
Speaker 1: in more salary, considerably more salary and Russ's contract, and
Speaker 1: as it as a result, when the Lakers came to
Speaker 1: look at the final numbers of the finances, they decided
Speaker 1: they couldn't afford out x Crusoe, So in my opinion,
Speaker 1: you have to partially factor in the loss of Alex
Speaker 1: Cruso as a side effect or collateral damage from the
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook trade. So that trade is what decimated the roster.
Speaker 1: And last year when Lebron James and Anthony Davis went down,
Speaker 1: they struggled so bad because they didn't even have NBA
Speaker 1: level players on the roster. NBA level starters. We've talked
Speaker 1: about this before. Under roster control. I really like Austin Reaves.
Speaker 1: I like Stanley Johnson, I like Quantas Ganna Anderson and
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Jr. And all of these guys, but they're
Speaker 1: not starting level NBA players. Their bench players that will
Speaker 1: have to play bigger roles on this team because of
Speaker 1: the lack of talent. So obviously it's expensive, but fixing
Speaker 1: your mistakes is expensive. I had a weird thing happened
Speaker 1: with the gate at the complex that my wife and
Speaker 1: I live in right now, and it like knocked off
Speaker 1: the side mirror of my truck and I was kind
Speaker 1: of impatient as I was going through the the gate
Speaker 1: and bam, it was a mistake, And you know, the
Speaker 1: mistake costs a few hunter bucks. It sucks, but it
Speaker 1: is what it is. That's what I had to pay
Speaker 1: to undo the damage that I did to my truck.
Speaker 1: I was able to install. It was easy. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a big deal, but cost me money. Right, you're screwed up.
Speaker 1: You made a really bad deal. It hurts your team.
Speaker 1: The price to fix the problem is two first round
Speaker 1: picks in the after. It's not the same players as
Speaker 1: KCP and Kyle Kuzma and and Alex Cruzoe, but it's
Speaker 1: starter level NBA players. Say what you want about Buddy Heald,
Speaker 1: He's a starting level NBA guard. Say what you want
Speaker 1: about Miles Turner, He's a starting level NBA center. Here's
Speaker 1: why that's important. The core philosophy of the Lakers has
Speaker 1: always been Lebron James, Anthony Davis and role players, guys
Speaker 1: that do the dirty work. Where things went off the
Speaker 1: rails last year was losing the quality role players. It
Speaker 1: was Lebron James, Anthony Davis, the shell of Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: and poor role players. So if you can get quality
Speaker 1: role players back into the mix, you can recapture the
Speaker 1: formula from one The Lakers won almost eight of their
Speaker 1: games when Lebron James and Anthony Davis were on the
Speaker 1: floor healthy playing basketball. That is what happens when you
Speaker 1: surround them with quality role players. When Miles Turners on
Speaker 1: the Pacers, he has to do so much more. When
Speaker 1: Buddy Healed is on the Kings or on the Pacers,
Speaker 1: he has to do so much more to contribute to
Speaker 1: the team. When they are playing behind Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: Lebron James, their roles shrink way down. And when their
Speaker 1: roles shrink down, it allows them to focus their talents
Speaker 1: into it. They can focus their exceptional talents Buddy Yield
Speaker 1: as a shooter and as a guy who can create
Speaker 1: shots off the dribble, and Miles Turner as a shot
Speaker 1: blocker who can also space the floor, roll hard to
Speaker 1: the rim, and the things that he can do. When
Speaker 1: you take their elite skills and take away all the
Speaker 1: extra stuff they have to do and allow them to
Speaker 1: focus their elite skills, they can be very effective basketball players.
Speaker 1: So I like that as a backup plan in the UH.
Speaker 1: In terms of the XS and os, there's a couple
Speaker 1: of things that stand out out to me. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk more about five out basketball later in the show.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Miles Turner is a textbook five out center.
Speaker 1: He gives you the ability to pick and pop to
Speaker 1: the three point line. He can also spot up and
Speaker 1: attack closeouts. Right. Him and Anthony Davis can even play
Speaker 1: together and play five out basketball, which is a super
Speaker 1: interesting concept that we can get into further later into
Speaker 1: the show With Buddy Heald. What excites me the most
Speaker 1: with him in the same principle takes place with Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: but it's also exciting with Buddy held as a backup option.
Speaker 1: The ability to shoot the ball off the dribble while
Speaker 1: also being a small, quick player that does not lend
Speaker 1: teams to be willing to switch their big man out
Speaker 1: onto them. So when Lebron James and Anthony Davis run
Speaker 1: high screen and roll, chances are Lebron is gonna be
Speaker 1: being guarded by a big, versatile defensive forward and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is gonna be guarded by a big, versatile defensive forward. Right,
Speaker 1: That's just the way that it's gonna work. So chances
Speaker 1: are any team, if Lebron and Anthony Davis run pick
Speaker 1: and roll, they're gonna switch it, and now you're pulling
Speaker 1: the ball out and running isolation. And it doesn't really
Speaker 1: accomplish much. That's the issue of that specific action with
Speaker 1: those two players now with you. When you added Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving or a Buddy Yield in this case, they can't
Speaker 1: switch because Buddy's too quick, Anthony Davis is too big,
Speaker 1: Miles Turners too big. Right now, they have to run
Speaker 1: some variation of drop coverage. If they run drop coverage,
Speaker 1: Buddy Healed uniquely forces you to chase over the top
Speaker 1: of screens. When they had Russell Westbrook, Dennis Shrewder, Jon Rondo,
Speaker 1: because they couldn't shoot off the dribble, the guard had
Speaker 1: the flexibility to go underneath the screen. When the guard
Speaker 1: can go underneath the screen, he doesn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about the drive as much, which allows the big man,
Speaker 1: the screen defender, to stay back and take away the
Speaker 1: role man. So by making the rollman's job easier and
Speaker 1: by making the guards job easier, you can run a
Speaker 1: drop coverage that is damned effective against good basketball players.
Speaker 1: For instance, you guys remember the Thunder beating the Lakers
Speaker 1: twice this year. One of the big reasons why they
Speaker 1: were able to do that was towards the end of
Speaker 1: the game, the Lakers tried to go to Russ Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis pick and roll, but they had Lou Dort on
Speaker 1: Russ and they had I'm blanking on his name, but
Speaker 1: the backup big that used to play for the Jazz
Speaker 1: a few years ago, I'm forgetting his name, but the
Speaker 1: guy who was playing big for the Thunder last year
Speaker 1: on Anthony Davis. And when Russ came over the ball screen,
Speaker 1: Dort just dropped underneath the screen. And Uh, it's killing
Speaker 1: me that I can't remember his name. But the big
Speaker 1: man would drop back and it turned Russ and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis into jump shooters. They're both bad jump shooters. The
Speaker 1: results were they ended up losing to the Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: Thunder twice. That's what happens when you can run that
Speaker 1: super aggressive conservative back to the rim drop against Russ
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis. When you make the guard chase over
Speaker 1: the top because of your shooting threat. Because if Buddy healed,
Speaker 1: if you go under that screen, he's knocking down that
Speaker 1: three probably forty percent of the time. If he's open
Speaker 1: off the dribble, that forces you to chase over the top.
Speaker 1: If you chase over the top, now the guard is
Speaker 1: in a disadvantage as Buddy Heald is going downhill. Now
Speaker 1: the screen defender has to step over to contain Buddy Healed.
Speaker 1: Now Anthony Davis is rolling hard to the rim. That's
Speaker 1: what opens up the pocket pass or forces the help
Speaker 1: defender to come over, so you can swing for open
Speaker 1: threes on the weeks out of the floor. It's a
Speaker 1: simple concept. There's not a whole it's not very complicated,
Speaker 1: but it makes a huge difference in how difficult it
Speaker 1: is to guard your pick and roll action. So I
Speaker 1: love the idea of the Lakers getting a real ball handling,
Speaker 1: aggressive pull up shooter in that guard position, and I
Speaker 1: think Buddy yields a great fit there. So again, the
Speaker 1: Leakers are smart to hold the first pick and and
Speaker 1: hold out on the second pick until they absolutely have to.
Speaker 1: They should still be prioritizing Kyrie, but as a decent
Speaker 1: backup option, I like the Healed Turner fit. And if
Speaker 1: it costs two picks, it costs two picks. That's what
Speaker 1: it costs to fix the mistake that you made. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the Warriors for a second. So
Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, Klay Thompson's father said, quote, they won't be complacent.
Speaker 1: You've got three competitors leading the way, and Draymond, Steph
Speaker 1: and Clay they've got four, but you know they want
Speaker 1: to get five, they want to get six. So the
Speaker 1: question here is how many more titles do I believe
Speaker 1: that the Warriors will win? So first of all, I
Speaker 1: do want to talk about the motivation part, because I
Speaker 1: do find it interesting. You know, I used to work
Speaker 1: in real estate. Calling Coward has used to have this
Speaker 1: one liner that had used in a show. I'm sure
Speaker 1: he's been using it still to this day, but he says, like,
Speaker 1: you know, with the real estate agent, any real estate
Speaker 1: agent can have one great year. You have a bunch
Speaker 1: of deals fall in your lap. You're motivated, you're working hard,
Speaker 1: your pipeline gets full, you have a bunch of stuff, clothes,
Speaker 1: you make a ton of money, right, But the truly
Speaker 1: great realtors are good year in and year out. You know. Um.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I learned early on in
Speaker 1: that business was like the difference between your pipeline and
Speaker 1: the deals that you're actually working, because there's transactional work
Speaker 1: as a realtor and then there's the actual lead generation,
Speaker 1: you know, doing open houses, cold calling, door knocking, whatever
Speaker 1: it was that you did. Some some realtors even pay
Speaker 1: for leads from the larger companies of own. But what
Speaker 1: will happen a lot with realtors is they'll fill their
Speaker 1: pipeline and then they'll start closing a bunch of deals.
Speaker 1: And when they're closing the deals, they start making a
Speaker 1: lot of money, but they're doing this transactional stuff and
Speaker 1: they're not filling the pipeline. So then like you get
Speaker 1: to the end and the and the deals all closed,
Speaker 1: and you've made all this money, but then your pipeline
Speaker 1: is empty, and then you can go six months without
Speaker 1: closing another deal because you didn't continue to fill the
Speaker 1: pipeline along the way. And you see that a lot
Speaker 1: in professional sports. You see it a lot with specific
Speaker 1: types of athletes. Right you have guys that are you know, competitive,
Speaker 1: guys that are very competitive, and then you have guys
Speaker 1: that are psychotically competitive. You see UH teams and players
Speaker 1: where it's like one year they're completely locked in and
Speaker 1: and everything is working, and you could tell the motivation
Speaker 1: is on level ten out of ten, but then the
Speaker 1: next season it's just not quite the same. James Harden
Speaker 1: is my favorite example of this if you look at
Speaker 1: the two thousand eighteen season, the year that he won
Speaker 1: the m v P. He was so locked in trying
Speaker 1: on the defensive and the Rockets are following his lead.
Speaker 1: They're locked in. They win sixty five games, they come
Speaker 1: up short, but then something's missing. The next season, the
Speaker 1: whole vibe is off. Now he's beefing with Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: Like it's just not the same the year internet it
Speaker 1: was like, for one year, everything came together and he
Speaker 1: locked in and he damned near won a title, and
Speaker 1: then he's never been able to replicate that start to finish,
Speaker 1: effort and focus that he had in that specific year. That's,
Speaker 1: you know, one side of the spectrum, and then you've
Speaker 1: got like guys like Tom Brady on the other side
Speaker 1: of spectrum, where it's like, dude, you've won seven Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: you're unassailably the best quarterback to ever play the game
Speaker 1: of football, probably the best football player of all time.
Speaker 1: Why are you still trying to win? Like? Why why
Speaker 1: are you still trying to play it? But it's it's
Speaker 1: really that simple. He he wants eight, you know, like
Speaker 1: once he gets eight, you'll probably want to come back
Speaker 1: to get nine, and it'll take some combination of his
Speaker 1: body failing him and his wife yelling at him for
Speaker 1: him to finally and inevitably hang things up. Like that's
Speaker 1: the spectrum there, and you know you're your all time Grades,
Speaker 1: your Lebron's, your Steph Curries, your Warriors, your Spurs. There
Speaker 1: on the far side, there, on the Tom Brady side
Speaker 1: of that spectrum, they are psychotically competitive, and you always
Speaker 1: see stories and anecdotes that kind of lend credence to
Speaker 1: that idea. But that's why, that's why they're not satisfied
Speaker 1: with number four, and that's why they're gonna keep coming back.
Speaker 1: Now as far as the basketball goes, you know, when
Speaker 1: someone asks me, do I think the Warriors can win five?
Speaker 1: Or do I think the Warriors can win six? Like
Speaker 1: so much of it just comes down to luck. Same
Speaker 1: thing goes for Lebron if in his pursuit of five
Speaker 1: and six. I'm not worried about Lebron trying hard next season.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about Steph Curry and Clay Thompson and
Speaker 1: Draymond Green being locked in. Those guys are all gonna
Speaker 1: be locked in. But things gotta break your way. Things
Speaker 1: gotta break your way with the roster, you know, Like
Speaker 1: the Warriors lost two key rotational players in Auto Porder
Speaker 1: Junior and in Gary Payton the second right, So like
Speaker 1: it's important for Moses Moody and Dante de Vincenzo to
Speaker 1: kind of slide into those roles in order to fill
Speaker 1: those rolls. Right. Health is a big part of it.
Speaker 1: Like the Warriors had horrible health luck there for basically
Speaker 1: two and a half seasons, right, but things kind of
Speaker 1: all broke right, Like Steph got healthy just in time
Speaker 1: for the playoffs, Draymond got healthy really just before the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson was kind of getting his legs underneath him
Speaker 1: right around that time, and it all just kind of
Speaker 1: broke right for them. And you can also see it
Speaker 1: go the other way, right, like the Bucks their cruising along,
Speaker 1: everything looks great, uh, you know, they look like a
Speaker 1: team that absolutely could repeat and win another championship. And
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton goes down and next thing you know, they're
Speaker 1: completely overmatched in a series against the Celtics that somehow,
Speaker 1: on the strength of Janice's unbelievable, untamable greatness, they dragged
Speaker 1: it out to seven games. But the point is you
Speaker 1: gotta be lucky along the way to so many things
Speaker 1: have to go your way. So the question of whether
Speaker 1: or not the Warriors are gonna win five or six
Speaker 1: titles or just stay at four is like, well, everybody
Speaker 1: stay healthy, you know, or you know, also the things
Speaker 1: like what happened with Kevin Dury in two thousand and
Speaker 1: seventeen that can derail a championship opportunity, right, Like the
Speaker 1: Calves were probably thinking, hey, we're repeating in two thousand seventeen.
Speaker 1: We like our chances. We're bringing everybody back. We're that
Speaker 1: we have Kyle Korver. Now, like Kevin Love is gonna
Speaker 1: play better because he's not gonna be concussed. You know,
Speaker 1: Lebron's actually getting better in two thousand seven, eighteen ten,
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen, and two thousand eighteen. But it's like
Speaker 1: here comes to Kevin Durant move and now it's like
Speaker 1: window over. No one's beating that team, right, So, like
Speaker 1: there's all these factors that are fluid in these situations,
Speaker 1: and so many things have to go your way to
Speaker 1: win a championship that the reality is that it's not
Speaker 1: really a percent under their control. They've got to be
Speaker 1: lucky along the way as well. But here's the reality.
Speaker 1: I have them as the favorite going into next season
Speaker 1: because I don't see any reason to believe that they
Speaker 1: won't be right there back in the mix next year.
Speaker 1: And if I'm picking between Steph Curry since Lebron James
Speaker 1: is basically out of the I mean he's out of
Speaker 1: contention right now, and the unless the Lakers work a
Speaker 1: miracle here over the course in the next couple of months,
Speaker 1: if I'm picking against Steph, with Steph Curry against the honest,
Speaker 1: or picking with Steph Curry against a you know, uh,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant or Nicola Yokitch or a Kawhi Leandard, Like,
Speaker 1: I just trust him more. I trust him more. I
Speaker 1: trust Steve kermore, I trust Raymond Green more, I trust
Speaker 1: them more. So Yeah, Like, if all things break right,
Speaker 1: I absolutely think the Warriors can win five or six titles.
Speaker 1: But it's just not as simple as going out and
Speaker 1: doing it. You need things to break your way. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's be one of the Suns. So uh, Monty Williams
Speaker 1: assigns assigns a contract extension. He's staying with the staying
Speaker 1: with them as a head coach. You know, we were
Speaker 1: wondering whether or not they were gonna end up going
Speaker 1: after k D. They did not. Um Well, they obviously
Speaker 1: made some offers, but they didn't make an offer that
Speaker 1: was legitimately interesting to the to the nets um DeAndre
Speaker 1: Ayton goes out signs a offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers,
Speaker 1: he ends up getting signed or the Sun's end up
Speaker 1: matching the offer. Like I told you, guys, I found
Speaker 1: that whole situation to be really strange. I didn't understand
Speaker 1: if your goal all along was to keep eating at
Speaker 1: something close to the max, then why we're on the
Speaker 1: risk of all the of all the you know, emotional
Speaker 1: baggage of making your player feel unwanted essentially as part
Speaker 1: of the process. I didn't get all that. But either way,
Speaker 1: it looks like because as a result of that, he
Speaker 1: can't be traded until uh a significant chunk into the season,
Speaker 1: and he has a trade veto power for one calendar year.
Speaker 1: So Etan's not getting traded. Mcail Bridges is not enough
Speaker 1: to get k D. So the Sons are probably not
Speaker 1: getting KD unless some miracle breaks for them here in
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks, Right so it looks like
Speaker 1: it's going to be largely the same team now. In
Speaker 1: these types of situations, it all comes down to whether
Speaker 1: or not you look at your team and their outcome
Speaker 1: in the last season is something that was bad luck
Speaker 1: or if you read the reality of what happened on
Speaker 1: the court, you could as a Sons fan look at
Speaker 1: it as bad luck. Like man Devin Booker, he went
Speaker 1: cold there towards the end of that series. Um, he
Speaker 1: had a hamstring issue in the first round, so like
Speaker 1: maybe he wasn't a physically. They probably had some conversations
Speaker 1: behind the scene. Devin Booker probably went up, um, you know,
Speaker 1: to their front office and was like, hey, just you
Speaker 1: guys know, like I wasn't healthy. You know, he probably
Speaker 1: said something like that, Chris Paul had a quad injury.
Speaker 1: Did it looked like literally was incredibly dominant through eight
Speaker 1: playoff games if I remember correctly, and then was a
Speaker 1: horrific shell of himself. So Chris Paul can say, hey,
Speaker 1: I was hurt. You know, you can look at it like, hey,
Speaker 1: deandreton is gonna get better. Um, Michael Bridges is gonna
Speaker 1: get better. Cam Johnson's gonna get better. You can look
Speaker 1: at it and from a very optimistic light, or you
Speaker 1: can look at the reality of the basketball, and the
Speaker 1: reality of the basketball for the Suns is they damned
Speaker 1: ear loss to the Lakers two years ago and fortunately
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis went down with injury and they were able
Speaker 1: to close that series out in six games. Okay. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then they beat the Denver Nuggets without Jamal Murray. Okay.
Speaker 1: Then they got dragged to six by the l a
Speaker 1: Clippers without Kawhi Leonard. And then they lost four consecutive
Speaker 1: games in the NBA Finals to lose to the Milwaukee
Speaker 1: Bucks in Janice and in the first two games they won,
Speaker 1: but you could argue that Janice was freshly back from
Speaker 1: having his knee inverted and probably wasn't close to Then
Speaker 1: we come into this season and they get dragged to
Speaker 1: six games by the New Orleans Pelicans. Mind you, they
Speaker 1: had some injuries in that series. And then they lose
Speaker 1: to the Dallas Mavericks. Now this was not them losing
Speaker 1: to the Warriors, This was not them losing to a juggernaut.
Speaker 1: They lost to a dark horse title team that was
Speaker 1: significantly like the Dallas Mavericks, had significantly less talent than
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns, but they lost largely on the strength
Speaker 1: of Luca's greatness. All last season, I told you, guys,
Speaker 1: I thought the Phoenix Suns were the most talented team
Speaker 1: in basketball from the top down, but they were missing
Speaker 1: that alpha dog talent, and I thought that this season
Speaker 1: would be a great indicator of whether or not they
Speaker 1: were real or fake, you know, frauds or real legitimate
Speaker 1: title contenders, because you know, in this particular case, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul can play is one of the best playmakers in
Speaker 1: the league, right, and Devin Booker is a fantastic three
Speaker 1: level score So in theory, the two of them can
Speaker 1: kind of combine and masquerade as a superstar, right. But
Speaker 1: then they ran into a real superstar in Luka don Chez,
Speaker 1: who did not have the level of surrounding talent that
Speaker 1: they did, and they looked completely and utterly overmatched, helpless,
Speaker 1: lying on the ground as Lucas stomped them in the
Speaker 1: ground like that. That that's what happened. And so to me,
Speaker 1: that's if I was looking at that situation as the
Speaker 1: general manager, and I was trying to decide whether or not,
Speaker 1: you know, bad luck was the reason for our outcomes
Speaker 1: or a fundamental flaw and team construction, meaning the lack
Speaker 1: of alpha dog superstar was the problem. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: option number two there, and so if they run it back,
Speaker 1: which it looks like they're going to, that's what I
Speaker 1: would expect. I would expect more of the same dominant
Speaker 1: regular season engine. You know, Monty Williams, to his credit
Speaker 1: and the reason why he's getting an extension. You know,
Speaker 1: if you watch that team, they are extremely well coached.
Speaker 1: Their offense is a machine five pick and roll, they
Speaker 1: are floor spacing is excellent. They put their backside players
Speaker 1: like Michael Bridges Cam Johnson in great position to capitalize
Speaker 1: on the defensive attention thrown to the Paul Eyton pick
Speaker 1: and roll, to the book or eight and dribble handoffs
Speaker 1: and everything that they do they have that they're They're
Speaker 1: just extremely well coached and obviously they're a great defensive
Speaker 1: team as well. So they they're gonna be a great
Speaker 1: regular season team. They're gonna want a ship ton of games,
Speaker 1: and then they're gonna end up running into one of
Speaker 1: the many superstars in the Western Conference. Hey guess what
Speaker 1: You've got to go through? Lebron staph Kauai, Nicola Yo
Speaker 1: Kids uh, Luca done. It's like you're just you're gonna
Speaker 1: run into potentially five opponents. Obviously you're not gonna play
Speaker 1: all five of them, but one of five opponents, two
Speaker 1: or five opponents, three or five opponents that could have
Speaker 1: the will have by far the best player on the
Speaker 1: floor in that series. And so I I would hope
Speaker 1: that at a certain point, whoever's you know, at this point,
Speaker 1: James Jones needs just kind of read the writing on
Speaker 1: the wall and understand that that he doesn't have enough talent,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have that big piece that he needs to
Speaker 1: get this done, and it's time to start looking elsewhere. Alright,
Speaker 1: couple of cool hitters before we get out of here.
Speaker 1: So The Volume posted a social media post the other
Speaker 1: day where they put Lebron and Kobe m J and
Speaker 1: k D. Shack and Tim Duncan on a photo and
Speaker 1: said which one would you betch? And I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time on this because I think
Speaker 1: it's super cut and dry. You're bench and Tim Duncan.
Speaker 1: You guys know, I prefer perimeter players and spaced out basketball,
Speaker 1: So obviously I'm gonna go with Katie, Kobe, Lebron, and
Speaker 1: MJ and then for the center position. Tim Duncan has
Speaker 1: a better career resume. He was dominant for longer, but
Speaker 1: Shack was better at his absolute peak. That just goes
Speaker 1: without saying it kind of reminds me of the Steph thing. Like,
Speaker 1: I have the utmost respect for Tim Duncan. He was
Speaker 1: never really the best player in the league, but he
Speaker 1: was always up there in that conversation, and he was
Speaker 1: such a good leader, and he was so coachable that
Speaker 1: he was kind of the ultimate foundational piece for a
Speaker 1: dynastic franchise. So it's not as slight against him Duncan.
Speaker 1: I have the utmost respect for him, But Shack was
Speaker 1: a better player at his peak. You just gotta slot
Speaker 1: him into that role. But I'm curious here what your
Speaker 1: guys thoughts are, So put that in the YouTube comments,
Speaker 1: um before we get out of here. You know, like I,
Speaker 1: like I said, when we get into these off seasons,
Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of filler. There's a certain amount
Speaker 1: of drama, you know. Like I don't like getting on
Speaker 1: here and talking about Russell Westbrook every day. I actually
Speaker 1: hate it. It's just what we have to do, uh,
Speaker 1: as part of the job. And because he's in the news.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just the reality, right Like, But the
Speaker 1: basketball is always what I love the most, and um,
Speaker 1: I always want to I want to take time in
Speaker 1: each show to dive into some sort of basketball concept,
Speaker 1: and so here at the end, I want to talk
Speaker 1: about five out basketball, which is something I preach all
Speaker 1: the time in the show, is something that I personally
Speaker 1: advocate for Now, at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 1: about personnel. You have to you have to run what
Speaker 1: fits best for your team. If you consistently have to
Speaker 1: have a player on the floor that can't shoot or dribble,
Speaker 1: you can't run five out basketball. So you're limited in
Speaker 1: what you can do there. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, if I have the correct personnel, I've always
Speaker 1: preferred five out basketball as a core offensive motion, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a couple of minutes to kind
Speaker 1: of break down why that is. So. First of all,
Speaker 1: what what what is five out basketball? It is It
Speaker 1: is the motion offense you run when all of your
Speaker 1: actions are finished. So offense is like a progression. The
Speaker 1: first progression is try to score the basketball and transition
Speaker 1: you're gonna stop. You get a rebound, your unlike hell
Speaker 1: to the front of the rim and try to dunk
Speaker 1: it or get a layup until someone stops you. If
Speaker 1: someone stops you there, you might run what's called a
Speaker 1: secondary break or like a semi transition play. Essentially, it's
Speaker 1: an action that you run as part of transition. It
Speaker 1: might be the guard's interchanging. It might be your point
Speaker 1: guard doing a dribble pitch back to the big nn
Speaker 1: trailing the floor for three. It might be a quick
Speaker 1: pin down or a quick double screen, something along those lines.
Speaker 1: But it's like a brief action that you run as
Speaker 1: part of the transition sequence. If that fails, you might
Speaker 1: run your actual play that you call right and but
Speaker 1: if there's a play that you call, there's a couple
Speaker 1: of steps to it, but you reach the end of it. Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, the high school kids that I coach, we
Speaker 1: run a play called Shuffle and Shuffle. You have two
Speaker 1: bigs at the two elbows, and you have two guards
Speaker 1: on the wing. It's like a four high offense right,
Speaker 1: and there's a guy making the entry, the guard making
Speaker 1: the entry up top, and you entry enter the ball
Speaker 1: to the high post and there's like a flex cut
Speaker 1: off of the elbow where you try to hit the
Speaker 1: guy cutting to the basket. Um. But and then after
Speaker 1: that flows into a couple of like double pin downs
Speaker 1: for shooters coming off. But if those don't work, the
Speaker 1: plays over and so what do you do? You know,
Speaker 1: Like some some coaches might have you run another play,
Speaker 1: but every coach I played for and every coach that
Speaker 1: I know of, typically you flow out of the play
Speaker 1: into your core motion offense. It's a it doesn't have
Speaker 1: a step by step instruction. It's more of like a
Speaker 1: a concept, right, It's like spacing principles. That's where you're
Speaker 1: supposed to stand on the floor, and just some basic rules.
Speaker 1: But there's usually a lot of freedom to do what
Speaker 1: you want within that. So you design that based on
Speaker 1: your talent and what fits your team. I played on
Speaker 1: a bunch of different I played on three different teams
Speaker 1: in college, and our core motion offense was different for
Speaker 1: each team based on personnel. Right, my second year in JUCO,
Speaker 1: we ran a three in two out motion offense because
Speaker 1: we were primarily a post up team that had really
Speaker 1: good post players, and the post players would cross screen
Speaker 1: for each other and then the third post player would
Speaker 1: say set a pin down from one of them. To
Speaker 1: come up to the top of the key. It was
Speaker 1: kind of like a triangle essentially, uh not not the
Speaker 1: triangle offense, but a triangle of post players and you're
Speaker 1: essentially running high low. You're trying to enter the ball
Speaker 1: to the high post that you can make a post
Speaker 1: entry down underneath the basket. That's just what we did
Speaker 1: for the personnel that we had there. My last year
Speaker 1: in college, we ran three out, two in once again
Speaker 1: because had really good post players, and so it was
Speaker 1: kind of like an incessant set of screening rolls where
Speaker 1: you know, the the one big would run up to
Speaker 1: set the screen while the other screen would go to
Speaker 1: the opposite block to sit in the dunker spot. And
Speaker 1: if that didn't work, then the bigs would rotate and
Speaker 1: the other big would come up to set the screen
Speaker 1: and the other guy would go to the other dunker spot.
Speaker 1: Right like, It's just kind of a flowing run of
Speaker 1: pick and rolls. That's what we did. My high school team.
Speaker 1: We run five out, and again it's not a play.
Speaker 1: Anything can happen in five out, it's just spacing principles.
Speaker 1: In our high school with our high school team, there's
Speaker 1: gut Top, the key guy, in both wings, guy in
Speaker 1: both corners, which is the way five out exists in
Speaker 1: every level basketball because there's just not enough room on
Speaker 1: the floor to stay in anywhere else. But from there
Speaker 1: it's pretty much you can do whatever you want. The
Speaker 1: guy who has the basketball can attack the basket, try
Speaker 1: to get to the rim. The guy can do a
Speaker 1: dribble hand off, like dribble to the next guy and
Speaker 1: pitch it to him and try to hit his man right.
Speaker 1: You can pass and screen away. You can call for
Speaker 1: a ball screen. You can look for the ball and
Speaker 1: cut hard and try to get open. As a cutter,
Speaker 1: you can do literally anything. But as players are moving
Speaker 1: around the floor, you're always rotating and filling in spaces.
Speaker 1: So if you pass, if you're at the top of
Speaker 1: the key and you pass to the right wing and
Speaker 1: you cut through, the guy at the right wing needs
Speaker 1: to fill to the top, and the guy out of
Speaker 1: the corner needs to fill to the wings, so the
Speaker 1: guy who's cutting can fill to the corner. So you're
Speaker 1: always like it's kind of like pieces sliding around on
Speaker 1: the court, and everyone kind of knows their core spaces
Speaker 1: where they're supposed to be. But outside of that, you
Speaker 1: just play basketball. We always tell our kids, just play basketball.
Speaker 1: These are just some rules that you have in place
Speaker 1: to help you know where you're supposed to stay in
Speaker 1: on the floor. That's all. That's all that five out
Speaker 1: basketball is. But there are a couple of key reasons
Speaker 1: why I believe in it so much. Now for starters,
Speaker 1: the we'll start with the detract of what the detractors
Speaker 1: will say. In order to run five out basketball, you
Speaker 1: need to have five players that are comfortable playing on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. That means they have to be able to pass, dribble,
Speaker 1: and shoot. Okay, So you just can't play five out
Speaker 1: basketball if you have a traditional center on the floor
Speaker 1: that can't move his feet, that can't pass the basketball,
Speaker 1: that can't put the basketball on the floor, and they
Speaker 1: can't shoot, it just won't work. I mean, if if
Speaker 1: you had DeAndre Jordan's stand in the week side corner,
Speaker 1: I mean, no one just no one's gonna guard him, right. So,
Speaker 1: as a result, and when you have five perimeter players,
Speaker 1: sometimes you're limited in defensive ability. Sometimes you're limited in rebounding.
Speaker 1: For example, when the dalax Mavericks went away from Dwight
Speaker 1: Powell and went to Maxi Kleiba. He was much better
Speaker 1: in their five out offense because of his ability to
Speaker 1: shoot and put the basketball on the floor. But he's
Speaker 1: not the level of defensive player that Dwight Powell is right.
Speaker 1: He's not the level of rebounder that Dwight Powell. He's
Speaker 1: not the physical presence in the athlete that Dwight Powell
Speaker 1: is right. So there there's a trade off in any
Speaker 1: type of concept of offense. But there's a there's a
Speaker 1: reason why I believe in five out. So let's say
Speaker 1: let's say as a starting point that I'm sacrificing a
Speaker 1: great defensive big man. Okay, I'm ditching a defensive big man.
Speaker 1: I'm bringing in a smaller, more finesse big to play
Speaker 1: my five out offense. So I'm losing something on the
Speaker 1: defensive end and I'm losing something on the glass. But
Speaker 1: here's what I'm gaining now. The simple answer is spacing.
Speaker 1: So if I have a guy standing in the dunker spot,
Speaker 1: the defensive player can play two places at once. He
Speaker 1: can protect the rim while also guarding his man in
Speaker 1: the dunker spot. But if he's in the week side
Speaker 1: corner and there's nobody in the dunker spot. If I
Speaker 1: beat my man off the dribble, now that helper isn't
Speaker 1: coming from the block, He's coming from his man on
Speaker 1: the week side corner. He has to cover so much
Speaker 1: more ground. If I'm protecting the rim and my and
Speaker 1: I'm guarding a post player, I can be in two
Speaker 1: places at once. If I'm guarding the man in the
Speaker 1: week side corner, I have to abandon my man to
Speaker 1: come help at the rim. Now the defense is in rotation.
Speaker 1: That's how the basic spacing concept works. But there's one
Speaker 1: last reason why I wanted to make this point. I
Speaker 1: believe that the best way to win basketball games is
Speaker 1: to have a superstar or an all world talent who's
Speaker 1: better than everybody else on the floor, as good as
Speaker 1: the other team's best player, but he's comfortable and he's
Speaker 1: confident in playing his best basketball. Basketball is a rhythm sport.
Speaker 1: Confidence and belief in your ability is a huge factor
Speaker 1: in the result. Think of like when you see Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson really in a groove and he's high stepping down
Speaker 1: the floor kicking his legs. You know he's gonna play
Speaker 1: well because up here he's fiercely confident. What allows the
Speaker 1: player to be fiercely confident playing his best basketball. To
Speaker 1: play his best basketball, you want him to feel comfortable
Speaker 1: on offense. You want him to have spacing so that
Speaker 1: he feels unguardable, so that he can ride that confidence
Speaker 1: way throughout the game. If you play congested basketball, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have nights where it's like, man, all I'm getting
Speaker 1: is to All I'm getting to is my pull up
Speaker 1: jump shot, and it's just not falling, and I don't
Speaker 1: have the space to get into the ring. So I
Speaker 1: don't feel good about myself. I don't feel good about
Speaker 1: the way I'm playing. I don't feel confident. And so
Speaker 1: even if you are getting better defense, even if you
Speaker 1: are getting better rebounding out of the role players that
Speaker 1: are clunking things up around the rim, your star is
Speaker 1: not feeling good. I want Luca to be stomping the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns into the ground in Game seven, even though
Speaker 1: they're losing things in the physicality areas of the game
Speaker 1: with Maxi Kleiba. Luca don Chich was peaking in that
Speaker 1: series with his confidence, his feel, and his strangling of
Speaker 1: the game, and as a result, he was able to
Speaker 1: utterly demolish the Phoenix suns. So for me, there's always
Speaker 1: a trade off with every style, and you can't run
Speaker 1: a style unless you have the personnel to run it.
Speaker 1: But if I have the personnel to run five out basketball,
Speaker 1: I will always favor that because whatever I lose in
Speaker 1: rebounding or whatever I lose in defensive personnel, I make
Speaker 1: up for an offensive comfort which is gonna lead to
Speaker 1: my star feeling the best about himself, which is gonna
Speaker 1: be what allows him to control the game, especially at
Speaker 1: the late part of the game when it's closing time
Speaker 1: when you have to create and make tough shots. I
Speaker 1: want my star feeling comfortable. I want my best player
Speaker 1: feeling comfortable. So again, there's all these different ways to
Speaker 1: do it. It always should be catered towards your personnel.
Speaker 1: But for me, personally, if you have the personnel, I
Speaker 1: think five out basketball is the best core offensive philosophy
Speaker 1: to win basketball games with the modern iteration of basketball
Speaker 1: that we see around the world. Right now, all right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. I will keep
Speaker 1: you posted on my Twitter feed again. Follow me on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I underscore Jason Lts. You guys can see show announcements
Speaker 1: and things along those lines. I will keep you posting
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed about when the next show is. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate your sport. I'm getting excited about eventually getting
Speaker 1: home and getting back into my studio, but I will
Speaker 1: probably give you guys another show or two on the
Speaker 1: cruise as well. I appreciate you guys rocking for with me,
Speaker 1: and I'll see you next time. The volume