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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fandel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having an incredible week so far. We are going to
Speaker 1: hit on four additional teams today that we have not
Speaker 1: hit yet in this preseason. Last night, the Grizzlies and
Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic had a very interesting game because they
Speaker 1: left their starters in at the end and we're actually
Speaker 1: trying to win in the Orlando Magic looked really impressive.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Paalo Benchero and Franz Wagner and
Speaker 1: Wendell Carter Jr. We're also going to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about the Memphis Grizzlies and some stuff that I
Speaker 1: didn't like out of them in that game. And then
Speaker 1: on today night, the Clippers and the Timberwolves played. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a good opportunity for us to see
Speaker 1: the Clippers within the context of this John Wall situation,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out whether or not he's gonna start.
Speaker 1: We got to see John Wall be aggressive in that
Speaker 1: game in the context of playing alongside Kawhi Leonard and
Speaker 1: Paul George. So I thought that was very informative. Um,
Speaker 1: you guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe
Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore
Speaker 1: Jason Lts. You guys don't miss any show announcements. That's
Speaker 1: also where I put NBA footage, footage, breakdowns, little clips,
Speaker 1: things along those lines. That's where we're gonna see that stuff.
Speaker 1: So you want to follow me there. And the last
Speaker 1: but not least, if for whatever reason, you guys miss
Speaker 1: one of these shows and you can't get back over
Speaker 1: to YouTube to finish them, you can find them wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. And on that note,
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So with the Timberwolves, I want
Speaker 1: to cover them more in depth later this week when
Speaker 1: Gobert actually plays. I targeted this game more for the
Speaker 1: purpose of seeing John Wall as well as Kauai and
Speaker 1: Paul Joe Orge. Um, but I do think the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: are going to rely on Gobert, probably more than any
Speaker 1: player on their roster this year, specifically because of how
Speaker 1: much he's gonna have to clean up on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. They play against the Lakers tonight,
Speaker 1: and I would expect Gobert to play then. Um, if
Speaker 1: he doesn't play tonight, then there's a game from last
Speaker 1: week where they played against the Lakers without their stars.
Speaker 1: We'll at least get to take a look at how
Speaker 1: they looked offensively in some things along those lines. But
Speaker 1: We're not gonna spend too much time on the Timberwolves today.
Speaker 1: In this game, like I said, Gobert didn't play. The
Speaker 1: perimeter defense was atrocious, as was their help defense. I
Speaker 1: was concerned about that coming into this season because they
Speaker 1: shipped off a lot of their best perimeter defenders. Jordan
Speaker 1: McLoughlin in particular, one of the guys that they talked
Speaker 1: about filling in kind of in that Patrick Beverley role
Speaker 1: was getting absolutely barbecued, giving up a ton of straight
Speaker 1: line drives, really struggling, is just a little bit undersized
Speaker 1: and just doesn't have good instincts, doesn't move his feet
Speaker 1: super well. That was definitely concerning. Anthony Edwards and particular
Speaker 1: had some really nice isolation defense possessions against both Kauai
Speaker 1: and Paul George that just kind of reveal what his
Speaker 1: ultimate ceiling is, which is this dominant, you know, downhill
Speaker 1: power guard mixed with some legitimate wing defense in there.
Speaker 1: But it just was a whole It was a whole
Speaker 1: lot of Clippers getting that initial dribble penetration and then
Speaker 1: no help on the backside. A lot of like the
Speaker 1: Clippers were really hurting Minnesota in this game with slips.
Speaker 1: So you know, uh, the Clippers are playing a lot
Speaker 1: of perimeter players. For the most part, all those Zubos
Speaker 1: gets in there, right. But what was happening in a
Speaker 1: lot of cases is because so many players on the
Speaker 1: Clippers can shoot so well off the dribble, Like if
Speaker 1: you go under a ball screen against almost anybody in
Speaker 1: their rotation, they're gonna pull up off the dribble. And
Speaker 1: so as a result of that, they had to come
Speaker 1: really high out of their drop coverages and they would
Speaker 1: just you know, identify, you know, push the ball in transition,
Speaker 1: identify who had the big on them, run up to
Speaker 1: set the ball screen, and then immediately slip it. And
Speaker 1: they were consistently hitting that guy slipping to the basket,
Speaker 1: and there just was no resistance on the back line.
Speaker 1: So translation, some of that is just the predicament that
Speaker 1: the Clippers put you in with how skilled they are
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. But a lot of it is just
Speaker 1: like Rudy Gobert is gonna have his work cut out
Speaker 1: for him. These perimeter players can't at least put up
Speaker 1: a little bit more resistance at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: It's gonna look a lot like the Utah Jazz over
Speaker 1: the course of the last couple of years, so that
Speaker 1: was definitely concerning. Early on in the game, Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: was spending a lot of time trying to attack, specifically
Speaker 1: Marcus Morris on switches, and early on Morris was holding
Speaker 1: up pretty well, but then he started to finally just
Speaker 1: kind of ripped through and use his speed and athleticism,
Speaker 1: and he was and when, as is to be expected,
Speaker 1: when Anthony Edwards got downhill, they got good stuff. Um
Speaker 1: Delo hit some shots. He had a nice dunk off
Speaker 1: of like a high post cut where he passed made
Speaker 1: a post entry and then just cut off of him
Speaker 1: and got it and ended up dunking on um. I
Speaker 1: can't remember who was he dunked on somebody on the Clippers,
Speaker 1: but just in generally struggled to get separation. I'm not
Speaker 1: the biggest deal fan out there. I still think that
Speaker 1: when push comes to shove this team, the eventual version
Speaker 1: of this team is gonna involve him either being a
Speaker 1: six man or being out being shipped off somewhere in
Speaker 1: pursuit of a player that's a better fit for them. Again,
Speaker 1: we're gonna dive deeper into the Timberwolves later on because
Speaker 1: I do want to spend a lot of time that
Speaker 1: with spending a lot of time talking about Gobert. But
Speaker 1: we're gonna hopefully get a better sample of that tonight
Speaker 1: against the Lakers. So looking at the Clippers, UM, John
Speaker 1: Walls started in this game and Reggie Jackson came off
Speaker 1: the bench. UM in their first preseason game where they
Speaker 1: played all these guys, which I believe was like a
Speaker 1: week ago this past Monday, UM, in that game, Reggie
Speaker 1: Jackson started, John Wall came off the bench, and you
Speaker 1: can tell almost right away John John struggled kind of
Speaker 1: identifying one to be aggressive in that particular lineup. Today
Speaker 1: with the starting group, he was super aggressive. We have
Speaker 1: not heard from Tyler whether or not he plans on
Speaker 1: starting one or the other. My expect he is that
Speaker 1: he starts Reggie and that he brings John Wall at
Speaker 1: the bench, and I think that makes the most sense.
Speaker 1: He's just gonna have to get through to John that
Speaker 1: specifically with that bench group, that's when he can really
Speaker 1: turn it on and be aggressive. Because in this game
Speaker 1: with the starting group, John was persistently trying to put
Speaker 1: his head down and get to the rim, and he
Speaker 1: was having a lot of success, got to the foul
Speaker 1: line nine times, he had a man once he was
Speaker 1: he was John Wall looked usable, more than usable. It
Speaker 1: looked like a downhill guard that is going to be
Speaker 1: able to apply rim pressure and that is absolutely going
Speaker 1: to bring a positive dynamic to this team. However, in
Speaker 1: that first shift Paul Georgian Kwai Leonard, it was kind
Speaker 1: of difficult to see where they were trying to get
Speaker 1: their touches and where their flow was in that particular
Speaker 1: offensive group. So I think it just makes more sense.
Speaker 1: First of all, Reggie Jackson is an aggressive guard. To
Speaker 1: the differences is Reggie Jackson is a gunner from the
Speaker 1: three point line, so he's just more natural off ball
Speaker 1: alongside those two. It makes more sense to me to
Speaker 1: start Reggie. He's a little bit more willing to layoff ball.
Speaker 1: He's got experience playing alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: in a tertiary role. Let him kind of run that spot.
Speaker 1: Bring John Wall as your first sub, and you know,
Speaker 1: around the six minute mark of the first quarter, then
Speaker 1: have Reggie Jackson go to the bench, and you give
Speaker 1: john a better opportunity to be aggressive there. But again,
Speaker 1: he was getting to the room. He's drawing fouls, drawing
Speaker 1: a lot of help defenders. There were a couple of
Speaker 1: crazy plays in this particular game where like he may
Speaker 1: or may not have gotten foul, but like he's elevating
Speaker 1: to the rim and bodies are just just colliding in
Speaker 1: mid air, and like three dudes would go to the
Speaker 1: ground like John and two players from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: And then in the ensuing chaos, you know, they'd be pushing.
Speaker 1: Maybe they get a defensive rebound and push the other way,
Speaker 1: but maybe the Clippers would get an offensive rebound put back.
Speaker 1: The point being he's like a wrecking ball just flying
Speaker 1: down hill. He's a lot bigger and stronger, uh than
Speaker 1: he was earlier on in his career when he was
Speaker 1: more thin, wiry and athletic. And it's just it's just
Speaker 1: a really interesting dynamic on this team, you know, um,
Speaker 1: the Clippers. One of the biggest downsides with the Clippers
Speaker 1: over the course of this era, this really disappointing Kauai
Speaker 1: and Paul George era has been their unwillingness to drive
Speaker 1: to the basket. Kawhi Leonard does it from time to time, Um,
Speaker 1: but he likes to turn his back to the basket
Speaker 1: and operated on the post a lot. Paul George like
Speaker 1: last year was one of his best years attacking the basket.
Speaker 1: He had two point two made restricted area attempts per game,
Speaker 1: which was a huge part of why it was a
Speaker 1: resurgent season from him. And I think, um, I think
Speaker 1: in general, if you look back to the previous yere
Speaker 1: one when he had his playoff run, that kind of
Speaker 1: erased a lot of the stigma that surrounded him throughout
Speaker 1: his career. The the the genesis of that kind of
Speaker 1: redemption for Paul George was putting his head down and
Speaker 1: getting to the rim that at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: this is a driving kick team, not a pull up
Speaker 1: jump shooting team. That doesn't mean you can't take pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots, and this team has a lot of
Speaker 1: guys who are good at taking and making pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots, but at the end of the day, that's
Speaker 1: a lower quality shot that should be designed more to
Speaker 1: rescue possessions and or when a defense runs a really
Speaker 1: good two two v two pick and roll coverage and
Speaker 1: you need to take that type of shot. That's one thing.
Speaker 1: But this team is at their best when they're at
Speaker 1: the rim. And shooting catch and shoot three. So getting
Speaker 1: another guy like John Wall in there who's very intentional,
Speaker 1: intentional about putting his head down and getting to the rim,
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be a positive dynamic for
Speaker 1: this team. Um. I did not get to see enough
Speaker 1: of John Wall defensively, mainly because the Wolves just weren't
Speaker 1: really trying to get downhill. The guy that Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: kept trying to attack on switches was Marcus Morris Delos
Speaker 1: just not much of a downhill player. This just wasn't
Speaker 1: the right game to get a good feel for John
Speaker 1: Wall in perimeter defense, sliding his feet and trying to
Speaker 1: contain quicker ball handlers. So I think I think I
Speaker 1: need to see a little bit more before I start
Speaker 1: making proclamations about how well he's gonna fit, because if
Speaker 1: he struggles defensively, that's gonna be an issue. But over all,
Speaker 1: kind of zooming out the John Wall thing for what
Speaker 1: it was, which was a mid level exception signing of
Speaker 1: a player coming off an achilles tear who didn't play
Speaker 1: any basketball last year. There's a range of outcomes that
Speaker 1: could potentially happen there, and this is better than expected
Speaker 1: so far. I think Clippers fans should be excited about that,
Speaker 1: but there is a lot to learn still there where
Speaker 1: he fits in the rotation, specifically either off the bench
Speaker 1: or or starting, and how he works on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Um looking at Kauai, So you
Speaker 1: know there was some place that I wanted to take
Speaker 1: this opportunity to talk about the difference between being yourself
Speaker 1: and being your best self as a basketball player, because, um,
Speaker 1: I think all of you guys who listen to the show,
Speaker 1: who play in some capacity or used to play in
Speaker 1: college or in high school are somewhat familiar with this concept,
Speaker 1: but people who don't play as much may not be.
Speaker 1: You know, there's like a there's like a baseline of
Speaker 1: what you can do on a basketball court, like your
Speaker 1: ability to shoot, your ability to dribble, you know, your
Speaker 1: kind of natural feel for the speed of the game,
Speaker 1: right and there are there are stretches in your life
Speaker 1: when you're healthy and you're playing a lot, and you
Speaker 1: feel like your best self. You feel explosive. You feel
Speaker 1: like when you rise up into jumpers you're getting great lift.
Speaker 1: You feel like when you try to make a move
Speaker 1: to get around a defensive player, you feel like you
Speaker 1: have a physical advantage when you're getting to the rim
Speaker 1: and contact is happening around you, you power through the
Speaker 1: contact and you finish at the rim. But then there
Speaker 1: are these stretches where maybe you're dealing with a nagging injury.
Speaker 1: This happens to me a lot with my wife, fills
Speaker 1: up my social calendar when we end up going on vacation,
Speaker 1: you know, out of town for a week or two.
Speaker 1: Here they're like where you come back and it's like
Speaker 1: you still could shoot, you still have your handle, but
Speaker 1: like your body is just not right, Like you're you're
Speaker 1: not moving as well as you normally do, You're not
Speaker 1: getting the right amount of lift on shots. You're kind
Speaker 1: of like losing those contact battles around the rim, and
Speaker 1: and that that is like a very frustrating phase to
Speaker 1: be in as a basketball player because you know that
Speaker 1: there's this better version of you that's there, but you
Speaker 1: know it's going to take a few weeks to get there,
Speaker 1: and that can get frustrating. And it's just kind of
Speaker 1: like the natural ebb and flow of being at your
Speaker 1: peak physically versus being somewhere beneath that. And when you
Speaker 1: watch an NBA player who's in that phase, in the
Speaker 1: lower phase, in the phase where he's not quite where
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be. It's easy to think like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's Kauai, he's healthy, he's out there playing. Or you
Speaker 1: know Steph in the two thousand sixteen finals or Lebron
Speaker 1: in the two thousand fifteen finals when he had his
Speaker 1: back injury. You can you can look at it and
Speaker 1: be like, you know that that looks like that player,
Speaker 1: but deep down they know that that's not their best
Speaker 1: version of their of themselves. And that's kind of the
Speaker 1: vibe that I was picking up from Kauai in this game,
Speaker 1: Like Kauai's back, he's playing, um, he's still big and strong,
Speaker 1: and he's still can knock down, turnaround, fade away, and
Speaker 1: can knock down a pull up jumper going to his
Speaker 1: left or going to his right, but he just doesn't
Speaker 1: quite have the burst that he had in that playoff
Speaker 1: run when he really had it going, and there were
Speaker 1: still some highlights in there right like he had a
Speaker 1: he had a play in the second quarter where he
Speaker 1: was running a pick and roll on the right side
Speaker 1: of the floor and he split the pick and roll
Speaker 1: and he dunked it, but it wasn't the same as
Speaker 1: when he like absolutely obliterated. I can't remember who it
Speaker 1: was on the Utah Jazz in playoff run uh dunking
Speaker 1: in his face where there's just like a ferociousness to
Speaker 1: it that wasn't there on this dunk where he's kind
Speaker 1: of just extending his arm and and putting the ball
Speaker 1: in the basket like it's still highlight. It's still Kauai,
Speaker 1: but it's not the best version of himself. He made
Speaker 1: mid range fade away on the on the left elbow.
Speaker 1: He made a pull up jumper softly off the rim,
Speaker 1: going to his left, driving to the basket once in
Speaker 1: a pick and roll situation like he's he's making shots.
Speaker 1: He's Kauai, but there's just not quite that same burst.
Speaker 1: And you know, the reality is is there's some combination
Speaker 1: of of factors at play here. It's some amount of
Speaker 1: you know, like chronic you know, degenerative knee stuff, and
Speaker 1: then some amount of that natural like I was been
Speaker 1: talking about with all the teams, that natural preseason training
Speaker 1: camp breaking through the physical wall thing. There's a little
Speaker 1: bit of both of that happening there. The question is
Speaker 1: how much how much of is it of it is
Speaker 1: the knee which will not get better, and how much
Speaker 1: of it is the conditioning, which absolutely will get better,
Speaker 1: And that will be end up being the biggest swing
Speaker 1: factor for the Clippers in this season because if he
Speaker 1: can get his legs underneath them and look like the
Speaker 1: old kaway at some point, they're gonna be fine. Because
Speaker 1: that dude is one of the top six players in
Speaker 1: the NBA. But if he's you know, somewhat compromised physically,
Speaker 1: then he turns into a guy that can attack some
Speaker 1: mismatches and knocked down some shots, and he can play
Speaker 1: some solid defense, but that's not that's not a top
Speaker 1: ten player if he can't move his feet and he
Speaker 1: doesn't have that burst that he usually has. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a really really interesting thing to track with him. Um.
Speaker 1: But man, it was glaring on tape. Left a lot
Speaker 1: of jumpers short in that game, which is always a
Speaker 1: telltale sign of a player doesn't have his legs underneath them.
Speaker 1: Paul George more or less looked like PG in this game.
Speaker 1: He just didn't shoot well. Um. The one of the
Speaker 1: things that one of the thing I wanted to point
Speaker 1: out with the Clippers before we move on to the
Speaker 1: next game. Uh, overall slow footedness, and this kind of
Speaker 1: goes for both teams. By the way, there were some
Speaker 1: moments in this game where you're watching them run up
Speaker 1: and down the floor and you're like, man, these teams
Speaker 1: are slow because first of all, they started zoobots and
Speaker 1: he's not overly fast, right, And then you go over
Speaker 1: to Minnesota and Carl Towns isn't overly fast. Angelo Russell
Speaker 1: isn't overly fast like. They just kind of looked a
Speaker 1: little bit slow. And a big part of it is
Speaker 1: the Clippers. You know, it's funny because myself included, we've
Speaker 1: talked a lot about how many wings they have, and
Speaker 1: they do have a ton of wings, make no mistake,
Speaker 1: but a lot of their wings are wings and size,
Speaker 1: but not wings and quickness. They've got some older guys
Speaker 1: that are aging that don't move super well, like Marcus Morris,
Speaker 1: a good wing. Played really well, good versatile offensive game
Speaker 1: from him in this game, but he's just a little
Speaker 1: bit slow footed and when Anthony Awards really tried to
Speaker 1: get around him, he couldn't stop him. Nick Betune, really
Speaker 1: solid role player in this league, a good smart wing
Speaker 1: starting to get a little slow Robert Covington, you know,
Speaker 1: had some plays in this game cutting to the basket,
Speaker 1: you know, making plays in passing lanes just a little
Speaker 1: bit slow. And and then when you factor in Kawai
Speaker 1: and John Wall coming in off of these significant injuries,
Speaker 1: it's just this it's gonna be matchup dependent. But it'd
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see if they ran into a
Speaker 1: team like the Golden State Warriors in a Western Conference
Speaker 1: finals series. They're gonna have a size advantage on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: but the Warriors are gonna have a big quickness and
Speaker 1: footspeed advantage. So it's just it's just something to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. There is no perfect team in this
Speaker 1: league right now. All the teams of glaring flaws, even
Speaker 1: the teams on the top. But it's just something to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. With the Clippers tip off the
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Speaker 1: to the Grizzlies in the Magic. So I want to
Speaker 1: start with the Magic here because they were I turned
Speaker 1: on this game because I wanted to see, like John
Speaker 1: Moran and how his progression is defensively and just in general,
Speaker 1: how the Grizzlies look in terms of their sharpness on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. Uh, and in the
Speaker 1: habits and stuff like that. But I would ended up
Speaker 1: being kind of taken aback by one how talented the
Speaker 1: Magic are, to how organized and well coached they are.
Speaker 1: We need to take some time to shout out Jamal
Speaker 1: Moseley here, because like this team looked organized on offense,
Speaker 1: they were running a ton of stuff out of horns,
Speaker 1: which is like the perfect set to run when you
Speaker 1: have two really good post players and in this case
Speaker 1: are two really good forwards, I should say, And in
Speaker 1: this case you got Wendell Carter Jr. And Alboncero. Both
Speaker 1: of them are huge. Wendell is a really solid defensive
Speaker 1: player who's got vertical spacing. He knocked down at three
Speaker 1: in this game, at least one three in this game.
Speaker 1: And then Paula Boncero is just a walking mismatch creator
Speaker 1: at six ft ten and as big and strong as
Speaker 1: he is, and they were running a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff out of Horns to get their best
Speaker 1: players in the right spots. They had a really interesting
Speaker 1: action to start the game. Um that was a kind
Speaker 1: of a cross screen action in Horns that flowed into
Speaker 1: a double uh double high ball screen and Wendell Carter Jr.
Speaker 1: Just slipped it while Paula popped. Like we always talked
Speaker 1: about that double pick and roll. Someone slipped, someone's pop,
Speaker 1: someone pops, but you don't know who it is. They
Speaker 1: both can shoot, they both can dive to the rim.
Speaker 1: Who's it gonna be? Well when Dell slipped it and
Speaker 1: he was actually the first screen in the action and
Speaker 1: he was wide open and ended up throwing down a dunk,
Speaker 1: And like, uh, just in general, they they were um
Speaker 1: running actions on a lot of their possessions down the floor,
Speaker 1: which is uncommon in the end yea. They were working
Speaker 1: with smart stuff to get Palo and advantage either curling
Speaker 1: around screens or to get him switched on too smaller
Speaker 1: defensive players. They were just really well organized. They even
Speaker 1: ran They even ran a two to one full court
Speaker 1: zone press for large portions of this game, which is
Speaker 1: almost unheard of at the NBA level. And it was
Speaker 1: just a really smart little wrinkle from Jamal Moseley because
Speaker 1: what it ended up doing was it turned a lot
Speaker 1: of Memphisis possessions into late clock possessions before they even
Speaker 1: got across half court. Like they swing the ball back
Speaker 1: and forth and methodically work their way up against the press.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, there's eleven seconds on the shot
Speaker 1: clock and and John Muran's got the ball at the
Speaker 1: top of the key. You can't really run anything. It's like,
Speaker 1: go create a shot. You better, you better beat someone
Speaker 1: off the dribble, and and that was kind of an
Speaker 1: interesting dynamic. Now, I don't think you could ever run
Speaker 1: that extensively over the course of the season because I
Speaker 1: think eventually teams would figure out how to beat your
Speaker 1: press for dunks. So that's the one thing to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. But I like the effort. I like
Speaker 1: the effort, and who knows, maybe maybe it ends up
Speaker 1: being something that they can lean on for large portions
Speaker 1: of the season. But I did want to take a
Speaker 1: second to shout out Jamal Moseley. The other thing that
Speaker 1: kind of just popped off the screen was just the
Speaker 1: talent on this roster. Franz Wagner we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: here in a little bit, just do everything, big wing,
Speaker 1: Pala Moncero another do everything, big wing. Wendow Carter Jr.
Speaker 1: Was super impressive this game on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: Just flashes of jump shooting, heat window. Carter Jr. Really
Speaker 1: really took this game home at the end. Like I said,
Speaker 1: both teams left their starters in and Wendell in particular
Speaker 1: made every big play down the stretch of this game.
Speaker 1: And then obviously Franz Vogner made two plays at the
Speaker 1: end of the game. We're going to get to that
Speaker 1: in a minute. But Bowl Bowl was out there looking
Speaker 1: like a good NBA basketball player. And then don't forget
Speaker 1: Jalen Sucks is on this team. Although he's dealing with
Speaker 1: an injury right now. I believe the injury was less
Speaker 1: severe than they originally thought, so I think that's good
Speaker 1: news on that front. Hopefully ends up coming back at
Speaker 1: some point in the season. It is. This is a
Speaker 1: team that is really fascinating and like and and Terence
Speaker 1: Ross for for you know, for the record, is just
Speaker 1: a really solid NBA two guard that can do a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff on both ends of the floor, and
Speaker 1: a really important pull up jumper off of a curl
Speaker 1: at the end of this game. You obviously have Jonathan
Speaker 1: Isaac potentially coming back into the picture if he can
Speaker 1: ever get his ramp up going. This team has a
Speaker 1: ton of talent, and so I know it's been a
Speaker 1: long boring stretch of Orlando Magic basketball, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: be an interesting team, uh in a good league. Pass
Speaker 1: watch this year. Uh. And for for starters, they they
Speaker 1: came out the gates in this game and just kind
Speaker 1: of beat Memphis ass. They were up twenty three nine,
Speaker 1: I believe at one point off of a trailing Window
Speaker 1: Carter Junior three in the first quarter, and then it
Speaker 1: got close late in the game. John Conchard made a
Speaker 1: three to tie the game at nine, and then from
Speaker 1: there it was the Window Carter Junior and Frons Wagner show.
Speaker 1: So uh, John Contrat makes a three to tie the
Speaker 1: game at ninety five. They go down the floor, they
Speaker 1: run one of their horn sets, and Window Carter Jr.
Speaker 1: Just fakes a dribble handoff and and whips around to
Speaker 1: his left and goes all the way to the rim.
Speaker 1: Xavier Tilman kind of lunges too far to hedge on
Speaker 1: the dribble handoff and when Dell just takes him right
Speaker 1: to the basket for an and one recurring theme down
Speaker 1: the stretch of this game, Xavier Tilman really struggled defensively,
Speaker 1: jumping out of position way too easily, offering too much help,
Speaker 1: and Wendell Carter Junior made in pay, and that's what
Speaker 1: you want from a big. Bigs are trained to think
Speaker 1: that they can help all over the place because typically
Speaker 1: biggs are unskilled offensively, so they can be roamers defensively.
Speaker 1: If you're big, can consistently make teams pay for not
Speaker 1: guarding him or for helping off of him. It just
Speaker 1: makes a lot of NBA defensive schemes struggled. So after
Speaker 1: he makes the free throw to put him up three, uh,
Speaker 1: John moreen gets switched on Window Carter Jr. And then
Speaker 1: tries to drive to the basket on him and doesn't
Speaker 1: even come close to making the layup because Wen Dell
Speaker 1: just smothers him with his size. John More had a
Speaker 1: really rough night in this game, in large part because
Speaker 1: Window Carter Jr. Was bothering him at the rim and
Speaker 1: then John Morien's jumper wasn't falling, and with these big
Speaker 1: super athletic guard are these little super athletic cars, I
Speaker 1: should say, when they're jumper fails them, teams can really
Speaker 1: sag back on them and then a lot search to
Speaker 1: fall apart for them. On the last play of the game,
Speaker 1: when Franz Wagner picked John Moran, a big part of
Speaker 1: why he picked him is he's able to continuously backpedal
Speaker 1: and he knows Jaw is gonna drive because he doesn't
Speaker 1: have confidence in his shot. It just makes you one dimensional.
Speaker 1: It makes you a lot easier to guard. Um So
Speaker 1: Magic had the ball up three, Franz ended up traveling
Speaker 1: on a post up Uh. Desmond Baine end up driving
Speaker 1: and making a layup on Cole Anthony. Also, Cole Anthony
Speaker 1: did not look great on either end of the floor
Speaker 1: in this game. But then on the next possession, Franz
Speaker 1: Wagner runs a pick and roll with Wendell Carter Jr.
Speaker 1: And when Dell slips it once again, um Uh. Xavier
Speaker 1: Tillman on this play like wildly hedged out on to
Speaker 1: Franz's right hand, even though it was like twenty six
Speaker 1: ft away. From the basket, and he wasn't super aggressive
Speaker 1: shooting off the dribble in this game, although he did
Speaker 1: make a big one at the end and Uh Window
Speaker 1: Carter Jr. Just slipped it, Franz hit him and he
Speaker 1: made an easy, little like twelve foot jump shot. Once again,
Speaker 1: Xavier told me he was just all over the place
Speaker 1: in this game. But from there, Uh Dylan Brooks ended
Speaker 1: up missing a three, and then Terence Ross got fouled
Speaker 1: on the three. He made two out of three free
Speaker 1: throws to put them up five. Jah ended up having
Speaker 1: a crazy out of control drive where he lost control
Speaker 1: of the basketball but then just threw up some junk
Speaker 1: and it went in and he got an and one
Speaker 1: brought it back to two. But on the last possession,
Speaker 1: the last sequence, Franz Woggner gets Brandon Clark on a
Speaker 1: switch and he does that high hesitation with his right hand.
Speaker 1: And again I always tell young basketball players build your
Speaker 1: offensive set out of high hesitations, because one, refs don't
Speaker 1: call carries anymore, and two it's the perfect bridge move
Speaker 1: that bridges all moves together. You can go from a
Speaker 1: high hesitation into it in and out back into a
Speaker 1: high hesitation into it through your legs, high hesitation, behind
Speaker 1: the back, high hesitation, or any combination to high hesitation.
Speaker 1: You could do it anywhere. And then most importantly, from
Speaker 1: a high hesitation, you can go up to a jump shot,
Speaker 1: or you can just push the ball in front of
Speaker 1: you and go to the basket. It's like the ultimate
Speaker 1: bridge move. So Franz has Brandon Clark on an ice,
Speaker 1: so does like a stutter step and goes into his
Speaker 1: high hesitation and then just pulls the ball back. And
Speaker 1: when he pulls the ball back, Brandon Clark kind of
Speaker 1: takes a defensive slide step to the left and now
Speaker 1: there's like ten ft of separation and France just sticks
Speaker 1: a cold blood at three from the top of the
Speaker 1: key to put him up five. And then like I
Speaker 1: told you, guys, Jaw forces the action back down on
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor and immediately gets stripped
Speaker 1: by France. So a lot of talent in this on
Speaker 1: this team. They went out there and they whooped Memphis
Speaker 1: ass in that game. They're gonna be a fun team
Speaker 1: to watch in League pass. I I I think I
Speaker 1: think that uh, I think that they're going to be
Speaker 1: a team that is up and coming over the course
Speaker 1: of the next few years. One last note on Palabun
Speaker 1: Chair before we get out of here. He first of all,
Speaker 1: he looks huge, which is not a big surprise. He
Speaker 1: looks huge when I went to go watch him in
Speaker 1: Summer League. Um, the size thing is legitimately going to
Speaker 1: be a problem for teams. There was a really interesting
Speaker 1: play that Jamal Moseley ran which I thought was smart.
Speaker 1: They cleared the right side for Palo, and Palo is
Speaker 1: in the corner and then they had Cole Anthony go
Speaker 1: and said a wide pinned down on Palo's man who's
Speaker 1: guarding called Anthony John Moran Right, So, um, I can't
Speaker 1: remember who it was that was guarding Um, that was
Speaker 1: guarding Palo, but uh, they had to chase Palo over
Speaker 1: the top of the screen, right, well, who's helping it's
Speaker 1: John Moran. The guy who's helping on the curl is
Speaker 1: John Moran. So uh, Palo's got his defender behind him
Speaker 1: and he catches the ball and he just powered right
Speaker 1: through jaw Um for an easy layup. And I'm just
Speaker 1: sitting there thinking like I'm like, that's such an easy
Speaker 1: basic action that the Magic can run to get just
Speaker 1: about anything. They want around the rim, clear the side,
Speaker 1: put pal Palo over there. Have your smallest guard goes
Speaker 1: set a wide pinned down, have him curl around it.
Speaker 1: If the defender goes underneath the screen, he can pop
Speaker 1: and he can get wide open ten fifteen footers all
Speaker 1: game long, and if he chases him over the top
Speaker 1: of the screen, he's just in a power through jaw
Speaker 1: every single time. Actually, I think on that particular play
Speaker 1: ended up drawing a goaltending called as the defender tried
Speaker 1: to come over the top, which once again, when you're
Speaker 1: chasing over the top of the screen, you're already out
Speaker 1: of position. So it's just it's just a really it's
Speaker 1: just a really interesting dynamic that Palo brings to this team.
Speaker 1: Another size related thing, there was a play where Santi
Speaker 1: Aldama tried to box him out underneath the basket, and
Speaker 1: Pallo just buried him under the rim, jumped over the
Speaker 1: top of him, grabbed an offensive rebound, and put it
Speaker 1: back in for an and one plus the foul. So like,
Speaker 1: he's just a he's a big dude who's skilled as
Speaker 1: hell from all spots on the floor, and he's just
Speaker 1: going to score the basketball easy for his entire NBA career.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a big power forward version of Carmelo Anthony,
Speaker 1: like a little bit bigger version of him, not as quick,
Speaker 1: but bigger and has a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: power game. His handle looks smooth and confident, especially when
Speaker 1: he's given space by big defenders. He can get a
Speaker 1: little bit loose with it when when he gets a
Speaker 1: little congested around him, and then he transitions from dribble
Speaker 1: to shot very smoothly, which is one of the most
Speaker 1: underrated skills in basketball. The ability to go into a
Speaker 1: shot from any spot on the floor. That's what That's
Speaker 1: what's gonna make him such a dynamic pull up shooter
Speaker 1: over the years, and he just thrives in the physicality,
Speaker 1: doesn't shy away from it, inflicts his size on people.
Speaker 1: He's one of my favorite young players in the league.
Speaker 1: I still think I'd like the I'm torn right now
Speaker 1: between whether or not I think Palo's the best or
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy's the best, because I'm so high on
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy and his ability to get drivel penetration.
Speaker 1: But I think I lean Palo right now is the
Speaker 1: best player in this class, all right. That is all
Speaker 1: I have for today guys. As always, I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: your support. Later this week, we're going to have um,
Speaker 1: We're gonna hit on a couple of other teams that
Speaker 1: we haven't hit on yet. We're also going to uh
Speaker 1: do a breakdown of the Redeemed Team documentary, which I
Speaker 1: have not actually watched yet, but it's on my list
Speaker 1: to watch tomorrow morning, so we'll be covering that as well.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys support and I
Speaker 1: will see you next time. And the volume