Speaker 1: The volume. It's Hoops Tonight presented by FanDuel. The NBA
Speaker 1: season is kicking into gear and there's no better place
Speaker 1: to get in on the action than with FanDuel. The
Speaker 1: app is safe and secure, getting your money out is
Speaker 1: super easy. You can jump into the action at any
Speaker 1: time during the game with live betting and I love
Speaker 1: building those same game parlays and Fanduels now live in Ohio,
Speaker 1: so use promo code Jason T and download the fandel
Speaker 1: app today to start making every moment more twenty one
Speaker 1: plus In select states, gambling problem called one hundred gambler
Speaker 1: or visit FanDuel dot com. Slash r g in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, and Ohio. Called one
Speaker 1: next Step or text next step to five three three
Speaker 1: four two in Arizona called one eight seven eight nine
Speaker 1: seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Slash
Speaker 1: chat in Connecticut called one hundred nine with it in Indiana.
Speaker 1: Visit k S gambling help dot com in Kansas called
Speaker 1: one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in l
Speaker 1: A visit www dot m d gambling help dot org
Speaker 1: in Maryland, dial one eight seven seven eight Hope and Why,
Speaker 1: or text hope and Why to four six seven three
Speaker 1: six nine in New York, called one D five to
Speaker 1: two four seven zero zero in Wyoming, or visit www
Speaker 1: dot one hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right,
Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by fand Will here at
Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Saturday, everybody, Congrats on making it to
Speaker 1: the weekend. By the time you listen to this, I
Speaker 1: will actually be skiing on the slopes of Mount Humphries
Speaker 1: and Flagstaff, Arizona. Very very excited to get my skis
Speaker 1: on snow finally this year. Today we're gonna be hitting
Speaker 1: six burning questions for the second half of the NBA season.
Speaker 1: Good opportunity for us to hit on a bunch of
Speaker 1: topics on some of the better teams near the top
Speaker 1: of the league. You guys know the drill before we
Speaker 1: get started. Subscribed to the Volumes YouTube channel so you
Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on
Speaker 1: Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you guys don't miss
Speaker 1: any show announcements. And then, for whatever reason, you guys
Speaker 1: miss one of these videos and you can't get back
Speaker 1: over to YouTube to finish. You can find them wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Under Hoops Tonight, and last, but
Speaker 1: not least, sports around the country are really heating up
Speaker 1: to start. Obviously, we just had the college football National
Speaker 1: Championship beat down, but we also have the NFL playoffs
Speaker 1: starting this weekend. My hot take for this NFL playoff
Speaker 1: run is I think the Dallas Cowboys are gonna get
Speaker 1: beat by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then I think
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are gonna get absolutely destroyed the
Speaker 1: following week. But that's just me as a pessimistic Cowboys fan.
Speaker 1: But we also got basketball, We've got college hoops heating
Speaker 1: up um, and we have the NBA as we head
Speaker 1: out of football season and into their next four months,
Speaker 1: dominating the sports schedule. So obviously I'd like to watch
Speaker 1: all of these games, But how about we get out
Speaker 1: of the house and go see some of these games
Speaker 1: in person. I want you guys to check out game Time,
Speaker 1: the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. Game
Speaker 1: Time offers amazing last minute deals to all of your
Speaker 1: favorite NBA, NFL, NHL, and n C Double A teams,
Speaker 1: and on top of that they sell last minute concert
Speaker 1: and comedy show tickets too. So if you're in California
Speaker 1: and you want to see the Lakers or the Warriors,
Speaker 1: game time has you covered. If you're in Detroit and
Speaker 1: you want to go see the Pistons, game time has
Speaker 1: you covered. Or if you want to go see there's
Speaker 1: this concert I think it's in July that's up in
Speaker 1: Montana and it's got a bunch of my favorite singer
Speaker 1: songwriters like Zach Bryan is gonna be there, and Ryan
Speaker 1: Bingham is gonna be there. Marcus King, one of my
Speaker 1: favorite singer guitar players, is gonna be there. Great place
Speaker 1: to get tickets for that would be Game Time. Download
Speaker 1: the game Time at Create an account and redeem code
Speaker 1: Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase terms apply again.
Speaker 1: Create an account and enter code Hoops. That's h o
Speaker 1: O p S for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today,
Speaker 1: last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, I can
Speaker 1: keep it real simple. I'm gonna ask the question, then
Speaker 1: we'll answer them. So question number one, first earning question
Speaker 1: for the second half of the NBA season, who will
Speaker 1: be the aggressive team at the trade deadline. There are
Speaker 1: two things in particular that I think make this question
Speaker 1: very interesting. One, the league is wide open. And for
Speaker 1: the record, these stats and standings that I'm reading are
Speaker 1: recorded as of Wednesday, as those you guys who've been listening, though,
Speaker 1: I went out of town on Friday to up to
Speaker 1: Flagstaff to ski um, so that's when I'm recording this,
Speaker 1: and that's when these stats are current. But as of Wednesday,
Speaker 1: the top eight teams in the league are all separated
Speaker 1: by just four games. The Celtics, the Nuggets, the Nets,
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies, the Bucks, the SS, the Calves, and the
Speaker 1: Pelicans all just four games apart. Then the next fourteen
Speaker 1: teams are all just four games apart, so the Pacers,
Speaker 1: the MAVs, the Kings, the Knicks, the Heat, the Clippers,
Speaker 1: the Sons, the Warriors, the Timberwolves, the Jazz, the Hawks,
Speaker 1: the Blazers, the Bulls, and the Lakers all just four
Speaker 1: games apart. So there are twenty two teams right now
Speaker 1: in the NBA that can conceivably convince themselves that they
Speaker 1: have a real chance to go on a run and
Speaker 1: end up near the top of the pile in the
Speaker 1: standings and have a chance to win this thing. So
Speaker 1: that is factor number one. Factor number two is there
Speaker 1: seems to be more available trade targets this year than
Speaker 1: I can remember in recent NBA history. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of teams that are likely to become sellers. When
Speaker 1: you're in a bunch like that of twenty two teams, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be teams that I think will be like, hey,
Speaker 1: we can go get this thing, let's go after it.
Speaker 1: But I also think there will be teams that will
Speaker 1: pull out and try to see the opportunity to move
Speaker 1: into the lottery. Because if there's twenty two teams that
Speaker 1: are relatively close to the top, that means there's only
Speaker 1: eight teams really competing for those lottery spots, and you
Speaker 1: could see some teams pull out pretty quickly. For instance,
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz. A lot of good players there that
Speaker 1: could be had. Jordan Clarkson a good backup ball handling,
Speaker 1: interesting guy that I'd like to see someone like Dallas
Speaker 1: go after. For instance, Mike Conley, similar type of deal.
Speaker 1: Rudy Gay as an inexpensive wing for somebody who just
Speaker 1: need someone who's six eight and can do some stuff
Speaker 1: off the bench. Malik Beasley for shooting. Go to Charlotte.
Speaker 1: There's Terry Rosier, Jalen McDaniels is flowing floating around in
Speaker 1: trade rumors. PJ. Washington, Kelly Ubre. They're a good spot
Speaker 1: if you just need a bench wing or something along
Speaker 1: those lines. Detroit is probably gonna trade Boyen Bagdanovitch at
Speaker 1: some point before we get to the deadlight. Washington. Washington
Speaker 1: and Chicago and particular are two teams that a couple
Speaker 1: more losses before the deadline, and you could see them
Speaker 1: trying to consider blow things up. Blowing things up. That's
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma and Bradley Beale and Kristaps Porzingis potentially being available,
Speaker 1: that's Zach Lavine and Nikolavuseovitch, maybe even DeMar de Rosen
Speaker 1: being available. So there's tons of quality NBA players that
Speaker 1: could be significantly significant ceiling raisers for good teams that
Speaker 1: could probably be available this year, and twenty two teams
Speaker 1: that are conceivably in range of trying to make a
Speaker 1: run at this thing. So what that means is, I
Speaker 1: think that it's very likely that we have at least one,
Speaker 1: if not multiple teams that view this as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to push their chips in Now. For the record, that's
Speaker 1: my favorite ideology as it pertains the roster building. And
Speaker 1: there's three reasons why one razor thin margins. The difference
Speaker 1: between the best team in the league and the two
Speaker 1: best team in the league is smaller than it's ever been.
Speaker 1: Um when you get into a playoff series and it's
Speaker 1: seven game series, you know, a player here, a player
Speaker 1: there could be the difference between you winning and losing.
Speaker 1: When you're dealing with razor thin margin's talent does matter
Speaker 1: and influx of talent could be the difference between you
Speaker 1: losing in the second round or getting the trophy at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. Secondly, playoff matchup flexibility when
Speaker 1: you get a specific player to address a need. Let's
Speaker 1: say if it's a bench big for a team like
Speaker 1: Golden State, a shooting wing for a team like the Lakers,
Speaker 1: a physical wing for the team like the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: a backup ball handler for a team like the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 1: All of that gives you additional flexibility in a playoff series.
Speaker 1: In the chess match, it's like putting an additional piece
Speaker 1: on the board. It increases your options when you're in
Speaker 1: that setting, and you need a move to counter a
Speaker 1: move that your opponent has made. And the last, but
Speaker 1: not least, I think a lot of teams around the
Speaker 1: league overvalue draft picks. You know, the Lakers are obsessed
Speaker 1: with the first round pick, and the reality is is
Speaker 1: all it really takes is one bad season or two
Speaker 1: bad seasons taking on other teams bad contracts to recoup
Speaker 1: draft assets, and then cap space in general is worth
Speaker 1: less than ever because teams are just resigning players because
Speaker 1: players want the financial security, and then they work out
Speaker 1: deals for trades after the fact. So draft picks are
Speaker 1: just not all that important to me. If you see
Speaker 1: a two or three year window to go for it,
Speaker 1: I'm all about spending your draft picks to go for
Speaker 1: it there, because then there can be a two or
Speaker 1: three year reset window where you recoup those draft assets
Speaker 1: and then that can be your cycle. I think, personally,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, that's the best way to go about
Speaker 1: trying to win in the modern NBA. So I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in pushing chips in. So one of these
Speaker 1: teams is gonna say screw it and make a splash
Speaker 1: deal at the deadline. It's just a question of who.
Speaker 1: The specific teams that I think are most likely are
Speaker 1: the Mavericks, the Lakers, and the Heat because those are
Speaker 1: all teams that have excellent, high end star power that
Speaker 1: need to fix specific personnel weaknesses, so I expect them
Speaker 1: to be aggressive. We went over those potential deals yesterday.
Speaker 1: For the MAVs, I'd be looking at someone like a
Speaker 1: Jordan Clarkson or Terry Rozier. For the Lakers, I'd be
Speaker 1: looking at someone like Kyle Kuzma or boy and Magdanovich.
Speaker 1: And for the Heat, I'd be looking at someone like
Speaker 1: Jay Crowder or o g And and Noby because they
Speaker 1: need someone a little bit more physical. But other teams
Speaker 1: I keep an eye on, like Brooklyn. It's really thin
Speaker 1: physically on the wing. Perimeter size is kind of an
Speaker 1: issue for them. So what if Brooklyn got someone like
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma That would be super interesting. Um. The other
Speaker 1: team I'd be looking at is what about the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: You know what if they take Chris Paul for salary
Speaker 1: filler and a bunch of draft picks with like Cam
Speaker 1: Johnson is an interesting young player and went to Washington
Speaker 1: and said, give us Bradley Beale and let's go at
Speaker 1: this with Devin Booker and Bradley bald McHale Bridges and
Speaker 1: DeAndre eight. Now, there there's gonna be someone that gets
Speaker 1: wacky at this deadline. I'm just genuinely curious to see
Speaker 1: who it's going to be. Everyone needs to get better
Speaker 1: and that's the best way to do it within the season, alright.
Speaker 1: Question Number two, can Milwaukee fix their offense? The Bucks
Speaker 1: are just four and six in their last ten games. Again,
Speaker 1: as of Wednesday, they're dead last in offensive rating over
Speaker 1: that span, scoring just a hundred and six point nine
Speaker 1: points per one hun possessions. On the season, they are
Speaker 1: just twenty third and half court offense. So I attribute
Speaker 1: the Bucks offensive struggles to three things. One spot up
Speaker 1: shooting their nineteenth and spot up points per possession. Big
Speaker 1: part of that is Chris Middleton being out, Joe Ingles
Speaker 1: missing the first chunk of the season with rehabbing his injury,
Speaker 1: and Drew Holiday, who has been in and out of
Speaker 1: the lineup all year long. Number two, they're not running
Speaker 1: nearly enough in transition. That's always been a huge part
Speaker 1: of the Bucks offense. Last year, um, only the Grizzlies
Speaker 1: ran more frequently than the Bucks they ran one of
Speaker 1: their possessions last year, so almost a fifth of their
Speaker 1: offense came in transition last year. This year they are
Speaker 1: a middle of the pack transition frequency team. They only
Speaker 1: run on sixteen point six percent of their possessions, which
Speaker 1: ranks thirteen in the NBA. So they're not getting out
Speaker 1: of the half court frequently enough to generate higher quality
Speaker 1: offense to supplement their offense. When you're the twenty three
Speaker 1: half court offense, you've got to be looking to run
Speaker 1: more frequently than that. And then, third, lastly, Janice's perimeter shooting. Uh.
Speaker 1: Janice has been the best rim finisher in the league
Speaker 1: this year, but he only takes about his shots at
Speaker 1: the rim, so that means that of his shots are
Speaker 1: taken away from the rim. So he's taken three twenty
Speaker 1: two shots outside of the restricted area this year and
Speaker 1: he's only made eighty six of them. That's twenty six
Speaker 1: point seven percent. Now, as you guys know, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about Janice, I don't think Janice needs a reliable
Speaker 1: perimeter jump shot as it pertains to the ceiling of
Speaker 1: the team when they're all healthy, because I think his
Speaker 1: combination of relentless rim pressure, and his ability to pass
Speaker 1: the basketball is a perfectly fine counter to what he
Speaker 1: does in the paint. But when the personnel has dipped
Speaker 1: below a certain point, with Chris Middleton being out, with
Speaker 1: your Holiday being out a lot, now it's at a
Speaker 1: crisis point in Janice's inability to make perimeter jump shots
Speaker 1: has stopped him from being able to elevate the team anyway.
Speaker 1: Um So I don't think it necessarily matters as far
Speaker 1: as we evaluate Jannice, but I do think his inability
Speaker 1: to knock down those shots has been part of the
Speaker 1: reason why their offense hasn't been very good within this season.
Speaker 1: Now here's the silver lining. When Janice is on the
Speaker 1: court with Joe Ingles, they've now played together two d
Speaker 1: and thirty two possessions, which is a decent chunk. And
Speaker 1: in those possessions, the Bucks have an offensive rating of
Speaker 1: one twenty four, which is amazing. That's how just adding
Speaker 1: one competent spot up player and one guy that can
Speaker 1: do some stuff off the dribble has completely reinvigorated their offense.
Speaker 1: So now at Chris Middleton to that when he gets
Speaker 1: into a rhythm, add a healthy Drew Holiday to that,
Speaker 1: it starts to get really excited looking at Joe Ingles
Speaker 1: real quick. Just he's been a legit secondary ball handler
Speaker 1: for them. Um. When Joe shoots or passes out of
Speaker 1: pick and roll this year, the Bucks have scored sixty
Speaker 1: seven points on fifty nine possessions. That's one point one
Speaker 1: four points per possession. There are a hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: one players in the league that have run at least
Speaker 1: fifty pick and rolls this year, and Joe Ingles inefficiency
Speaker 1: on those plays. Um. So my answer to the question
Speaker 1: can the Bucks fix their offense is yes. I think
Speaker 1: Joe Ingles and Chris Middleton will give you honice the
Speaker 1: helping needs to get the offense back on track. And
Speaker 1: I actually expect the Bucks to be excellent the rest
Speaker 1: of the season, and I wouldn't be surprised if they
Speaker 1: had the best record over from here towards the end
Speaker 1: of the season. All Right, the third question, can Denver
Speaker 1: fix their defense? The Bucks are The Nuggets are seventh
Speaker 1: in defense over their last fifteen games, which is encouraging,
Speaker 1: but for the season there twenty two in defensive rating.
Speaker 1: They are dead last in transition defense according to Cleaning
Speaker 1: the Glass and when playing against the top ten point
Speaker 1: differential teams in the league. So when the Nuggets played
Speaker 1: the top ten teams in the league, they are twenty
Speaker 1: four in defensive rating. That's also according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: So my answer to can Denver fix their defense is no.
Speaker 1: I think they're capable of manufacturing a fac simile of
Speaker 1: a passable defense for stretches during the regular season, just
Speaker 1: by competing really hard and by running a smart scheme.
Speaker 1: But the reality of their predicament is that their best
Speaker 1: lineup feature there's three average to below average defensive players,
Speaker 1: and two of them, in particular, Michael Porter Jr. And
Speaker 1: Nicola Yo, gets really struggle guarding in space and in transition,
Speaker 1: which is a big part of why they are the
Speaker 1: worst transition team in the league. So inevitably, there's no
Speaker 1: fix for that. There's no trade for that. Those are
Speaker 1: your best players. They have to be on the court
Speaker 1: when we get into April and May, teams are going
Speaker 1: to find a way to target them, and it's going
Speaker 1: to be a problem. The better question is is will
Speaker 1: Denver's offense be good enough to overcome that? And right
Speaker 1: now I'm inclined to say no, but I still view
Speaker 1: them as a contender. So I do think it's a
Speaker 1: chance that they can overcome that. But NBA history has
Speaker 1: just told us too many times that if you can't
Speaker 1: get stops, can't win. And it's a personnel issue, but
Speaker 1: it's a personnel associated with their best players, So it's
Speaker 1: not like you're about to start trading them or benching
Speaker 1: them in favor of defensive minded players. It's just kind
Speaker 1: of a flaw on the roster construct at this point. Alrighty,
Speaker 1: next question, does Golden State go all in at the deadline? Now?
Speaker 1: For the record, I think the Warriors are mostly fine.
Speaker 1: They have some personnel weaknesses. Uh. Like I said before,
Speaker 1: I think they could use it back up big think
Speaker 1: they could use a backup wing. But it's not anything
Speaker 1: that their core players can't overcome. And I think the
Speaker 1: vast majority of their problems are associated with effort, and
Speaker 1: all the metrics show that. You can see that in
Speaker 1: their their road home splits, and mainly just in big
Speaker 1: games and specific settings when they've really needed to be great.
Speaker 1: They've been great in defense and in rebounding and in
Speaker 1: all of those things that they've struggled in as they've
Speaker 1: racked up losses. Particularly on the road. So I think
Speaker 1: this is just a case of really bad championship malaise,
Speaker 1: and I'm not particularly worried about it. But the question
Speaker 1: is does Golden State go all in in terms of
Speaker 1: trades at the deadline, And it's kind of My answer
Speaker 1: is split, because I believe they should, but I don't
Speaker 1: think they will. The case to push all your chips
Speaker 1: in is that the top tier contenders are all better
Speaker 1: than last year. Milwaukee will have Christmas Alton and Joe
Speaker 1: Ingles they did not last year. Brooklyn is a much
Speaker 1: better contender this year than um some of the options
Speaker 1: that we had last year. And then Boston with the
Speaker 1: addition of Malcolm Brogden, in the improvements of Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum, they're better than they were last year. Now,
Speaker 1: the West is still wide open, but the challenge waiting
Speaker 1: for the Warriors in the finals is going to be
Speaker 1: very tough. And so I think making a move with
Speaker 1: the young players for a legit backup big and a
Speaker 1: legit backup wing just gives you a much better chance
Speaker 1: to succeed in those environments. And again, let's just make
Speaker 1: it for the sake of argument, let's just make it
Speaker 1: a simple math equation. Let's say that you know you're
Speaker 1: turns out that you get to the NBA Finals and
Speaker 1: your nine seven percent good enough to beat the Milwaukee
Speaker 1: Bucks at full strength, or the Brooklyn Nets or the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. It would be really unfortunate at that point
Speaker 1: that you didn't make that trade to where you have
Speaker 1: that slight edge over your opponent. Again, the idea here
Speaker 1: is razor thin margins, and when you have razor thin margins,
Speaker 1: pushing your hips in actually could be the difference between
Speaker 1: you losing and winning. So again that's just always been
Speaker 1: my take. Don't like multiple timelines, don't like planning for
Speaker 1: the future. In the NBA, quick rebuilds are possible, I
Speaker 1: would push chips in the middle. But I have a
Speaker 1: feeling that Joe lacop is more pessimistic about this. I
Speaker 1: would imagine that he kind of use it more negatively,
Speaker 1: as if like the window is closing and his players
Speaker 1: are getting old. There's been some weird quotes about There
Speaker 1: is a quote from Joe Engles the other day that
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, we'll always have Steph Clay Andre as
Speaker 1: long as they're playing at a high level, which is
Speaker 1: basically just a fancy way of saying we'll we'll get
Speaker 1: rid of them when they're not good anymore. UM So
Speaker 1: I would imagine Joe lacop kind of used the young
Speaker 1: players more as the future, unless as assets. So again,
Speaker 1: I would push all my chips in, but I don't
Speaker 1: actually expect the Warriors to do so. Alright. Are the
Speaker 1: Nets contenders or pretenders? I think this is probably one
Speaker 1: of the things that a lot of people disagree with
Speaker 1: me about. Um I have Kevin Durant as an m
Speaker 1: VP of the league at this point. If the season
Speaker 1: ended today, and I think the Nets are a top
Speaker 1: tier championship contender, I would venture to guess that about
Speaker 1: half of you probably disagree about the m v P thing,
Speaker 1: and more than half of you probably disagree as it
Speaker 1: pertains to the championship contender piece, just because of all
Speaker 1: the things that have gone wrong with the Nets over
Speaker 1: the years. So I want to just point out three
Speaker 1: reasons why I believe the Nets are a bona fide
Speaker 1: top tier championship contender. Number one is playoff execution. The
Speaker 1: Nets are third and half court offense and second and
Speaker 1: half and half court defense, so their top three in
Speaker 1: the static half court environment on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: In the static half court environment, which is mostly what
Speaker 1: you face in the playoffs because of scouting and just
Speaker 1: better transition defense, that's where games are decided, and the
Speaker 1: Nets are great at both ends of the floor in
Speaker 1: that setting. Secondly, they are an excellent clutch team. The
Speaker 1: Nets are a league best sixteen in three in games
Speaker 1: that involved clutch situations. So any time a game was
Speaker 1: within five with five or fewer minutes left, the Nets
Speaker 1: one sixteen out of nineteen of them. They're outscoring teams
Speaker 1: by twenty eight points per per one possessions in those
Speaker 1: clutch situations. Most playoff games are close, and the Nets
Speaker 1: are great at winning close games. And then three, Katie
Speaker 1: is the best basketball player that I've seen this season
Speaker 1: within this regular season obviously, which is a different conversation. UM.
Speaker 1: I also think Katie has the most to gain by
Speaker 1: winning if you really think about what his career resume is.
Speaker 1: His only two championships are with that Warriors team. In
Speaker 1: the court of public opinion, most people view those championships
Speaker 1: as less valuable than others. By winning one in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: it kind of changes the entire dynamic of his career resume.
Speaker 1: Now he's a three time champ, and it adds legitimacy
Speaker 1: to what happened in Golden State because you've seen him
Speaker 1: win without Steph and the Warriors. So I just think
Speaker 1: he's extremely motivated, has a lot to gain by it.
Speaker 1: And when I really zoom out from that, there are
Speaker 1: a great half court team. They're an excellent defensive team,
Speaker 1: they are excellent in late game situations, and they have
Speaker 1: a guy that I think is playing better basketball than
Speaker 1: anybody right now. That's enough to make you a top
Speaker 1: tier contender. They do still have flaws. They rely heavily
Speaker 1: on pull up shooting, so when those shots don't fall,
Speaker 1: it could be problematic see the Celtics series last year.
Speaker 1: They're also thin on the perimeter from a physicality standpoint,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I worry about them in specific
Speaker 1: matchups against very strong teams, teams like Boston, but every
Speaker 1: team has issues. So I absolutely think that Brooklyn is
Speaker 1: a contender and a top tier contender that has the
Speaker 1: same type of chance to win as Golden State or
Speaker 1: Boston or Milwaukee. Alright, last question, will the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: keep their foot on the gas so this time last
Speaker 1: year was when Boston really went on their run. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, if you take the last half
Speaker 1: of last year, so the last forty one games last year,
Speaker 1: and the first half of this year, so the first
Speaker 1: forty one games of this year, they're sixty and twenty two.
Speaker 1: So there are sixty win team over the course of
Speaker 1: their full, last full season's worth of games. Uh. They've
Speaker 1: also won three playoff series during that span, and they
Speaker 1: had a to one lead during the finals. So they've
Speaker 1: proven themselves over an extended stretch to be a highly
Speaker 1: capable offense and defense at every single level except for
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. So the question will I will Boston
Speaker 1: keep their foot on the gas, I answer no from
Speaker 1: the stame point of the regular season. I think they're
Speaker 1: content now to just kind of float along and every
Speaker 1: once in a while, whoop, someone's asked to prove they
Speaker 1: can still do it. And you can see that in
Speaker 1: their recent schedule in the way that they've played. The
Speaker 1: Celtics are just eight and seven in their last fifteen games,
Speaker 1: but they have massively impressive wins over that stretch. They
Speaker 1: beat the Lakers, they beat the Milwaukee Bucks, they beat
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Clippers, they beat the Dallas Mavericks, demoralize
Speaker 1: the Mavericks, um, and they beat that Bulls team the
Speaker 1: other night that was playing extremely well. Um, So I
Speaker 1: view the Celtics as more of a switch flipping team now,
Speaker 1: which is fine. For the record, Like, nothing could change
Speaker 1: my opinion of Boston either way. Like, they could lose
Speaker 1: ten in a row right now and I'd be like,
Speaker 1: they're just messing around. You know. They could win twenty
Speaker 1: in a row right now and I'd still be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but can they do it against the Warriors, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? So, Like, Boston to me is purely established.
Speaker 1: All of this is just dress rehearsal for the late
Speaker 1: rounds of the playoffs, and their biggest enemy is themselves
Speaker 1: and their ability to execute on the offensive end when
Speaker 1: the stakes are highest. And the only way that they
Speaker 1: can prove that is to overcome those shortcomings at the
Speaker 1: highest level in the NBA Finals. Um, I think they're
Speaker 1: the best roster in the league. I think if they
Speaker 1: do overcome that individual problem that they will win the trophy.
Speaker 1: That's the type of talent that they have on the roster.
Speaker 1: It's right there. They just have to go do it,
Speaker 1: all right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. I hope you
Speaker 1: guys enjoyed the rest of the weekend and I will
Speaker 1: be back on Monday. The volume