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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, Well, good hoops tonight, you're at

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Speaker 1: the volume heavy Monday, everybody, O ball. If you guys

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Speaker 1: had an incredible weekend. We had an insane weekend of basketball,

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Speaker 1: a bunch of entertaining and interesting NBA stuff going on,

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Speaker 1: and my Arizona Wildcats are going to the Final Four

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Speaker 1: for the first time since I was ten years old.

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Speaker 1: I'm very very excited. I am very scared or worried,

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Speaker 1: or at least I have the appropriate fear of Michigan.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that later on in the show,

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Speaker 1: but I've kind of liked this format when we've had

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Speaker 1: these crazy weekends. I want to go through ten big

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Speaker 1: takeaways from a wild weekend of basketball. You guys know

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Speaker 1: the drill before we get started. Subscribe to Hoops and

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Speaker 1: O YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos. Make sure you like this video and sign

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Speaker 1: up for post notifications. That helps us a lot. And

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Speaker 1: the last minutet least, if you guys want to get

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Speaker 1: mailbag questions into our weekly mail bags, drop them in

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Speaker 1: the YouTube comments underneath these videos. Right mailbag call retro question.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to them in our weekly mailbags throughout the

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Speaker 1: remainder of the season. All Right, we're gonna start NBA.

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Speaker 1: Our first big takeaway from the weekend shake Kills Alexander

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Speaker 1: got out of his bizarre slump just in time to

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Speaker 1: save the thunder against the New York Knicks. Shay has

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Speaker 1: been in a very rare slump over the last couple

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Speaker 1: of games. At one point in the fourth quarter yesterday,

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Speaker 1: he missed twenty five of his previous thirty five shots.

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Speaker 1: Jay is generally immune to these types of stretches compared

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Speaker 1: to most perimeter players because he's relatively low volume from

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Speaker 1: three and he's lethally efficient from mid range. For example,

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Speaker 1: that eight for twenty four performance against Chicago is just

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Speaker 1: the third time this season that he's missed at least

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Speaker 1: two thirds of his shots. I saw a lot of

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Speaker 1: Luca fans talking about, how, you know, Shay had this

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Speaker 1: bad stretch, And for the record, it was a bad stretch,

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Speaker 1: and it was deeper than just the shooting. I thought

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Speaker 1: it affected his all around game. He was really trying

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Speaker 1: to force his way out of the hump, taking a

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Speaker 1: lot of out of the slum by taking a lot

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Speaker 1: of bad shots over the two games. I didn't think

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Speaker 1: he was at his best defensively yesterday, either was making

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Speaker 1: some mistakes off the ball, getting backcut missing on offensive rebounds. Now, again,

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Speaker 1: it's important to call that stuff out, but I just

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Speaker 1: don't think it's something that is a general negative in

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Speaker 1: like Shay's MVP case, for example, because he's just been

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Speaker 1: way less prone to these stretches than his peers around

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Speaker 1: the league. For example, Luca has had twice as many

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Speaker 1: games this year where he's missed at least two thirds

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Speaker 1: of his shots, and his true shooting percentage is dramatically

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Speaker 1: lower because he does lean on the three point shot

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Speaker 1: more and that leads to more volatility on a game

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Speaker 1: by game basis. But he did get out of it

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Speaker 1: with a brilliant stretch to close out the Knicks yesterday.

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Speaker 1: The Knicks bench group ended up closing the gap midway

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Speaker 1: through the fourth quarter. Karl Anthony Towns continues to be

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Speaker 1: very effective in this matchup for a variety of reasons.

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Speaker 1: He's just way too big for Oklahoma City around the rim,

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Speaker 1: can really do damage attacking matchups and especially on the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass. And then on defense, the Knicks kind of

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Speaker 1: just load up and pick and roll behind him, and

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Speaker 1: that can play Oklahoma City into some of their worst tendencies,

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Speaker 1: like some bad process where they force issue, forced the

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Speaker 1: issue in the lane a little bit, or they can

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Speaker 1: have you know, they got some guys that can go

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Speaker 1: cold from three and so they actually did defend pick

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Speaker 1: and roll really well, especially for the first three quarters

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Speaker 1: when the thunder were trying to attack Karl Anthony Towns.

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Speaker 1: But then Shake comes in halfway through the fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: and was absolutely brilliant down the stretch. Found a way

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Speaker 1: to get his rhythm at the foul line. He did

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Speaker 1: a low gather move on a little drive off of

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Speaker 1: the right wing where he just caught McHale Bridges on

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Speaker 1: a dig down, just raked him across the arms that

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Speaker 1: got him to the foul line. Get a couple of

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Speaker 1: free throws. You find your rhythm right he attacks Josh

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Speaker 1: Hart and a switch hits a tough, little right handed

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Speaker 1: step back around the right elbow area. Then he starts

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Speaker 1: going at Karl Anthony Towns with much more success in

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Speaker 1: pick and roll. With about four minutes left, New York

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Speaker 1: had a really bad rep where they didn't load up.

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Speaker 1: It was a double drag at the top of the key.

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Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns is in his deep drop coverage. You

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Speaker 1: have Chet Homer in the right corner, aj Mitchell in

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Speaker 1: the left corner. An all game long, the Knicks had

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Speaker 1: just been loading up in that situation, but they did

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Speaker 1: not in this case. No help off of the corners.

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Speaker 1: That left cat by himself and a drop. Shaye was

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Speaker 1: able to go right at him and get a left

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Speaker 1: handed layup. Then he finally gets a pull up three

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Speaker 1: to go another kind of deep drop look along the

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Speaker 1: left wing. They were kind of allowing Shaye to get

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Speaker 1: to those tougher threes if he could get separation off

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Speaker 1: the ball screen. The cat wasn't coming up too high,

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Speaker 1: and Shae ends up getting a pretty clean look off

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Speaker 1: of the left wing knocks down to three. After getting

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Speaker 1: just zero point nine points per possession including passes in

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Speaker 1: pick and roll in the first three quarters, they got

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Speaker 1: fourteen points on ten ball screens in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 1: So Oklahoma City explodes in pick and roll in that

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter thanks to Shay. Next thing you know, the

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Speaker 1: Knicks are hard doubling Shay thirty feet from the rim

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Speaker 1: to get the ball out of his hands and the

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Speaker 1: game is over. So that slump for Shay was short

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Speaker 1: lived and he blew that game open and led his

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Speaker 1: team to victory against the Knicks last night. Also, Jay

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Speaker 1: Dubb finally has a pretty much his best game since

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Speaker 1: coming back from his hamstring injury. We've talked about this

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Speaker 1: concept a lot, but there's like a conditioning element when

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Speaker 1: you first come back. You're back, you have your leg strength,

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Speaker 1: you may even have some of your athletic pop, but

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Speaker 1: then you start running up and down the court a

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Speaker 1: couple of times, you just get gassed out, and then

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Speaker 1: it starts to affect every part of your game. You're

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Speaker 1: finishing that little extra bit of burst, the lift you

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Speaker 1: have on your jump shot, things along those lines. Jadub

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Speaker 1: was awesome, twenty two points on just eleven shots. Was

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Speaker 1: attacking the rim like crazy, which is always when he's

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Speaker 1: been at his best. He had this transition driving layup

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Speaker 1: in the second half where he went coast to coast

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Speaker 1: through four knicks and just bulldozed through all of them

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Speaker 1: and got all the way to the rim for his

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Speaker 1: right handed layup, and I was like, that's a hamstring play.

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Speaker 1: Anybody who's ever been a transition player knows when you

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Speaker 1: start taking those big, long steps in traffic, every time

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Speaker 1: you pound that leg into the ground. You feel it

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Speaker 1: in your hammy. So I thought that that was a

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Speaker 1: good sign for how Jadub is feeling athletically. Really nice

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Speaker 1: win for the Thunder. Number two. We got another look

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Speaker 1: at a potential two seven matchup between the Charlotte Hornets

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Speaker 1: and the Bostoneltics, and this time Boston got their revenge.

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Speaker 1: A month or so ago, the Hornets went into Boston

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Speaker 1: and crushed the Celtics on their home floor. I was

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Speaker 1: actually really excited to watch yesterday's game because I think

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Speaker 1: there's a decent chance that these two teams see each

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Speaker 1: other in the first round. I think Charlotte's capable of

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Speaker 1: passing Orlando in the standings before the end of the season.

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Speaker 1: Those back to back losses didn't help. The losses to

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Speaker 1: Boston into Philly, and that has hurt their chances slightly.

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Speaker 1: But they're only one game back in the lost column

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Speaker 1: and they have a tie breaker there, so they only

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Speaker 1: have to make up one game between now and the

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Speaker 1: end of the season and they'll pass Orlando to get

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Speaker 1: up into that eight seed. Do I think Charlotte can

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Speaker 1: go into Philly and win a play in game. Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Do I think they can go into Atlanta and win

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Speaker 1: a play playing game. Absolutely. So like this Celtics matchup

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Speaker 1: is at least worth looking at closely because I think

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Speaker 1: there's a pretty substantial chance, maybe less than fifty percent,

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Speaker 1: but certainly a lot more than zero chance that we're

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Speaker 1: going to see Boston versed Charlotte in that first round

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Speaker 1: series and Boston just dominate them. That dominated them in

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Speaker 1: this game from the start, even without Jalen Brown and

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Speaker 1: without Derek White. I've long thought that Charlotte's biggest weakness

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Speaker 1: right now is just big physical ball pressure. That's not

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Speaker 1: some sort of indictment on the long term future of

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Speaker 1: Charlotte or anything. Every young up and coming team has

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Speaker 1: a demon they have to conquer, whether it's like Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: City in years past, conquering shooting. I feel like that's

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Speaker 1: gonna be what San Antonio has to deal with this

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Speaker 1: year and in the coming years. Like being able to

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Speaker 1: consistently knock down open, catch and shoot jump shots and

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Speaker 1: their ball handlers being able to handle some coverages that

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Speaker 1: concede jump shots. That's going to be a big part

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Speaker 1: of those teams developments. Right the Denver Nuggets, for a while,

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Speaker 1: there was like are they going to be able to

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Speaker 1: figure out what they need to do defensively to reach

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Speaker 1: their goals. And all the Okahoma City and Denver obviously

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Speaker 1: figured those things out. I think san Antonio will eventually

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Speaker 1: figure those things out. For Charlotte, they really only have

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Speaker 1: two guys that can handle the ball at a high

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Speaker 1: level too now thanks to the addition of Kobe White right.

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Speaker 1: The rest of their guys they kind of prefer to

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Speaker 1: score in the low of the offense, like con Or

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Speaker 1: Brandon or their play finishers right. So that's why the

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Speaker 1: on off numbers are so crazy with LaMelo. They need

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Speaker 1: LaMelo to break the defense down. To be clear, I

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Speaker 1: think Charlotte's gonna be fine in the long run. Con

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Speaker 1: has shown plenty of on ball chops this year in

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Speaker 1: a relatively small sample. I'm sure that will continue to grow.

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Speaker 1: Miles Bridges has been showing some upside as like a

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Speaker 1: matchup attacker, a guy that can take smaller guards down

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Speaker 1: to the post, as like a different type of bully

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Speaker 1: ball attack for them. Brandon Miller will continue to get better.

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Speaker 1: So again, I don't think this is going to be

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Speaker 1: a long term issue. I just think it's probably how

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Speaker 1: Charlotte loses this year. Some team will get physical up

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Speaker 1: into LaMelo, throw them off his game. They'll rotate well

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Speaker 1: enough to rush their shooters a little bit, their shot

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Speaker 1: quality will tank, and they'll lose to somebody either in

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Speaker 1: the play in or in the first round. Again, that's

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Speaker 1: just what I view as like Charlotte's short term like

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Speaker 1: barrier between where they are now and sustained playoff success,

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Speaker 1: and Boston showed that formula last night. Jordan Walsh to start,

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Speaker 1: obviously with the injuries, and he just did an awesome

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Speaker 1: job on LaMelo right away. We've seen several examples of

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Speaker 1: this this year when when Jordan goes against more of

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Speaker 1: the upright, skinnier skill guards or skill players in the league.

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Speaker 1: He's just bigger, faster, and stronger and plays so insanely

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Speaker 1: hard that he's so good at staying attached he can

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Speaker 1: cause problems for them. And I thought he did an

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Speaker 1: amazing job from the start of this game, viciously fighting

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Speaker 1: over screens and staying attached over the top, which works

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Speaker 1: really well alongside Nimi Keda and drop coverage. We talked

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Speaker 1: about this all the time. Drop coverage is a bracket

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Speaker 1: and yeah, like if the guy's getting caught up on

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Speaker 1: the screen all the time, and the biggest too far back.

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Speaker 1: There's all sorts of comfortable space in the middle there

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Speaker 1: for the guard to operate. But if you're staying attached,

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Speaker 1: you can funnel into the size right, and that can

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Speaker 1: cause all sorts of problems. Or if you have some

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Speaker 1: crazy rangy big that can get up to the level

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Speaker 1: and protect the rim, that can fix the bracket on

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Speaker 1: the other side of the coverage right. And I thought

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Speaker 1: Jordan Watsh just did an amazing job on the ball

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Speaker 1: on LaMelo and immediately played him into a pretty rough night.

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Speaker 1: Just had some over penetration possessions where once again the

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Speaker 1: bracket forced him into the paint into some tough shots

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Speaker 1: and he started taking some bad threes. Baylor Schierman came in.

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Speaker 1: I thought he did some good work on LaMelo as well.

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Speaker 1: Just LaMelo had a rough game. And then as a team,

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Speaker 1: the Celtics showed that aggregate perimeter speed communication in and

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Speaker 1: out of action, overall effort and intensity and rotation getting

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Speaker 1: out to shooters. It sped the Hornets up off the catch,

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Speaker 1: they shot poorly, They generally struggled to score. The Celtics

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Speaker 1: held him under a hundred points and the Celtics controlled

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Speaker 1: this game from start to finish. Jason Tatum had his

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Speaker 1: first thirty point game of the season. He had a

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Speaker 1: couple of big drives early in the game, a dunk

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Speaker 1: where he kind of split a ball screen, went up

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Speaker 1: and dunked it with two hands. Another one where he

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Speaker 1: went all the way to the rim on Colchburner finished

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Speaker 1: through contact at the rim with his right hand. Both

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Speaker 1: of those are really strong signs of strength from him

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Speaker 1: and his conditioning starting to come around that same concept

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Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier, right, It was funny Brian

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Speaker 1: Scalabrini was getting super hyped on the broadcast early because

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Speaker 1: he could just he could tell, as someone who's obviously

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Speaker 1: watching the Celtics every single night, that there was another

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Speaker 1: gear to Jason athletically in that game that I think

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Speaker 1: is a strong sign for him. He got his ISO

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Speaker 1: three point shot going early in the game, the dead

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Speaker 1: giveaway as he I think it was lamello. He got

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Speaker 1: him to bite on a pump fake and he was

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Speaker 1: able to get to the foul line. But like when

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Speaker 1: Tatum's got his three point shot going, guys start to

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Speaker 1: play up on him more and that can unlock both

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Speaker 1: the foul drawing but also the drive. And then he

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Speaker 1: had his usual excellent floor game, just reading late double

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Speaker 1: teams like oh, I'm attacking at the y elbow and

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Speaker 1: here comes a player from behind. There's Peyton Pritchard on

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Speaker 1: the left wing. Pitch it back wide open three, or

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Speaker 1: just like simple coverage stuff like oh, Kata comes out

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Speaker 1: and sets the screen two on the ball for a second,

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Speaker 1: flip it over the top to Cato, or guard slipping

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Speaker 1: out of an inverted screen. He ended up having eight

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Speaker 1: assists to just zero turnovers. Just a really encouraging performance

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Speaker 1: from Jason Tatum. I talked about this when if you

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Speaker 1: guys remember when Lebron went out and everyone was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my gosh, look at Austin. He's playing way better

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Speaker 1: without Lebron. Austin and Lebron were always capable of playing

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Speaker 1: well together. Just when Austin was coming back from an injury,

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Speaker 1: the building rhythm process took a long time, and so

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Speaker 1: taking Lebron out for a couple of games just kind

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Speaker 1: of forced a bunch of additional reps onto Austin, which

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Speaker 1: accelerated that process. And that's the thing, like Tatum would

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Speaker 1: have eventually found his rhythm even if Jason Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: didn't have this Achilles tendonitis that he's been dealing with.

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Speaker 1: But the Achilles tendonitis just kind of gave Jason Tatum

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Speaker 1: a bunch of extra reps that are helping accelerate the

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Speaker 1: process of him building his conditioning in his rhythm as

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Speaker 1: an on ball handler. Peyton, Pritchard and Nimi Kayta had

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Speaker 1: I thought they had a great game attacking the caul

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Speaker 1: render drop coverage. Obviously, there's a two man element to that,

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Speaker 1: the vertical spacing from Nimi Kyta. I thought Nimi was

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Speaker 1: great on the offensive glass in this game as well,

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Speaker 1: just kind of attacking loose balls and going up with

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Speaker 1: physicality after he get them. Peyton obviously the drop coverage,

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Speaker 1: scoring and passing. Pritchard and Tatum combined for sixty points

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Speaker 1: in this game. The Celtics are really rounding into form

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Speaker 1: as a top tier championship contender. I don't think Charlotte

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Speaker 1: has much of an upset champ. It's there. The Celtics

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Speaker 1: are basically just a more developed and experienced version of

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Speaker 1: that Charlotte Hornets team. I still like the Hornets in

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Speaker 1: the long run way more than I did to start

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Speaker 1: this year for sure, but I think they're more likely

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Speaker 1: to upset someone like Detroit. So we'll see if they

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Speaker 1: end up landing in the one to eight or the

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Speaker 1: two seven. That could end up being a big part

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Speaker 1: of whether or not they could get a long first

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Speaker 1: round series in there. Number three. Sometimes you just need

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Speaker 1: to play better, and that's how Albern Shangoon is saving

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Speaker 1: the Rockets. The Rockets dominated the Pelicans in New Orleans yesterday,

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Speaker 1: and the Pelicans team is actually prety feisty now that

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Speaker 1: they're healthy, although Trey Murphy was out in yesterday's game.

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Speaker 1: But the story of the game was Albern Shangoon, who

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Speaker 1: had thirty six points, thirteen rebounds, and seven assists with

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Speaker 1: zero turnovers and six stocks. A couple of the deals

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Speaker 1: were just the ball kind of landing in his hands

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Speaker 1: as someone lost it, but still he had several really

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Speaker 1: good defensive rotations at the rim where he either stripped

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Speaker 1: the ball or blocked somebody up top, and look, his

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Speaker 1: defensive inconsistency is super frustrating, like that Wolves game was

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Speaker 1: the classic example. He's like amazing at the tail end

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Speaker 1: of regulation and like almost single handedly just as a

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Speaker 1: wrecking ball on both ends of the floor, brings his

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Speaker 1: team back in the game, and then in overtime he

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Speaker 1: just like lets his foot off the gas and is

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Speaker 1: straight up terrible on defense for five minutes and it

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Speaker 1: costs his team the game. But when he's engaged defensively,

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Speaker 1: he has the physical tools to be very impactful. He

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Speaker 1: had several help side rotations yesterday where he's anticipating the

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Speaker 1: driver the cut before it happens, getting there athletically in time,

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Speaker 1: and he's able to blow up a play at the rim.

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Speaker 1: It's all about engagement and anticipation for Shangoun, and when

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Speaker 1: he is locked in in those areas, he actually can

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Speaker 1: be a very impactful defender, which I think is going

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Speaker 1: to be a major swing factor for the Rockets in

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Speaker 1: the postseason this year. And he's really starting to put

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Speaker 1: it all together on offense right now. That was his

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Speaker 1: third thirty point game in the last four, in his

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Speaker 1: third seven assists game in the last four. I talk

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Speaker 1: about this concept all the time, but more often than not,

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Speaker 1: the answer to your team's problems is just play better.

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Speaker 1: I've noticed this just especially around the league and NBA media,

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Speaker 1: But like we always feel the need to identify some

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Speaker 1: sort of magical adjustment. And to be clear, adjustments matter,

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Speaker 1: tactics matter, strategy does help win basketball games. We talk

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Speaker 1: about tactics and strategy and adjustments on the show all

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Speaker 1: the time, but usually the biggest difference between where you

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Speaker 1: are as a player or as a team and where

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Speaker 1: you want to go as a player and as a

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Speaker 1: team is just play better as a team. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: need to just play with more physical force to help

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Speaker 1: you win all of the battles on the floor, containing

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Speaker 1: at the point of attack. We talk about that shoulder battle,

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Speaker 1: sliding your feet, anticipating angles and then not getting that

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Speaker 1: shoulder blown through. Just playing with more force at the

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Speaker 1: point of attack makes everything way easier for your team

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00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:54,960
Speaker 1: box out. Those are physical confrontations that you either win

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Speaker 1: or lose on a possession to possession basis. Loose balls,

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Speaker 1: whether it's crashing the offensive glass or just any general

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Speaker 1: loose ball that happens on the floor, whether or not

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Speaker 1: you beat the other team there can make a huge

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Speaker 1: difference and whether or not you're winning the game. That's

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Speaker 1: a physical force piece. When you're on the ball, are

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Speaker 1: you attacking the paint and using the jump shot as

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Speaker 1: a counter, or are you settling without putting any pressure

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Speaker 1: on the defense. These are all examples of things that

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Speaker 1: aren't necessarily tied to tactics, but that can swing basketball

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Speaker 1: games far more often than any sort of tactical adjustment will.

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Speaker 1: And it's literally just a measure of whether or not

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Speaker 1: you're bringing the requisite force to win all of those

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Speaker 1: little physical battles on the floor, even individually as a

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Speaker 1: basketball player, Like you're you're having a stretch where you're

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Speaker 1: not playing well, maybe it's you get in better shape,

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Speaker 1: you improve your conditioning. I found that with me, Like

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Speaker 1: I had a while back at a slump that was

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Speaker 1: cosmy some issues on the court, and I was like

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Speaker 1: repping all this stuff off the floor, like um jump shooting,

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Speaker 1: getting all these reps in and it wasn't helping. And

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Speaker 1: then finally I was like, I need to get in

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Speaker 1: better shape, and I like worked on my condition and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I went back to the gym

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Speaker 1: and I just wasn't getting tired on the court, which

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Speaker 1: was all of a sudden helping me in every phase

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Speaker 1: of the game. And next thing you know, I'm making

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Speaker 1: shots and everything starts to come around. There's all these

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Speaker 1: little things that you can do individually as a basketball player,

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Speaker 1: that can turn things around for you. And more often

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Speaker 1: than not, whether it's you individually or as a team,

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Speaker 1: just playing better can go a long way to fixing

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Speaker 1: your problems. As an Arizona fan, I saw that in

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Speaker 1: the Purdue game, like, yeah, there was an adjustment. They

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Speaker 1: went from having Kharchenkov guard Braden Smith to start the

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Speaker 1: first half, where he was just kind of bigger, and

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Speaker 1: he's just a much larger human being that's not as fast,

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Speaker 1: and he was getting caught up on screens too much,

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Speaker 1: and so Braden Smith was just able to comfortably operate

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Speaker 1: in drop coverage and either hit shots or get Krevas

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Speaker 1: to commit, which would then open up the pocket pass

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Speaker 1: and other little things that were breaking them down. And then, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Tommy Lloyd made an adjustment in the second half. He

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Speaker 1: put Jayden Bradley on Braden Smith, and he's just a smaller,

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Speaker 1: quicker player who was able to get over the top

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Speaker 1: of screens more and stay more attached to bradon Smith,

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Speaker 1: which was allowing Krevas to stay closer to the paint

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Speaker 1: and closer to the role man. And yeah, that really

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Speaker 1: helped them. It was an adjustment that absolutely helped the team,

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Speaker 1: But if you watch that game as an Arizona fan,

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Speaker 1: there was a gigantic difference in the overall physical intensity

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Speaker 1: of the entire team. In that second half. Krevas had

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Speaker 1: been losing battles to kluff around the basket, just physical intensity,

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Speaker 1: battles getting to loose balls, like efforts at the rim

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Speaker 1: that he suddenly started winning in the second half, and

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Speaker 1: so like again, like this is why you see so

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Speaker 1: many coaches in postgame interviews talk about effort and energy

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Speaker 1: and intensity and that sort of thing, rather than stepping

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Speaker 1: up and being like, oh, I made this magical adjustment

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Speaker 1: in the second half, because the coaches know. The coaches

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Speaker 1: know that, yeah, they can give you a strategy that

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Speaker 1: gives you your best chance to win. And it's certainly

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Speaker 1: a part of how teams win and lose games, but

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Speaker 1: more often than not, it's just about playing better your

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Speaker 1: individual star, playing better your team collectively, bringing more force

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Speaker 1: to bear in every phase of the game, and how

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Speaker 1: that helps you win all these little battles. That's how

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00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,159
Speaker 1: you win and lose basketball games. And when Alpura and

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Speaker 1: Shangoon is playing at the level of a superstar, the

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Speaker 1: Rockets are just a much better basketball team. Too often

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Speaker 1: this year, Shangoon was playing well below that level. Shanggun

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Speaker 1: had gone for thirty points just once in his previous

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Speaker 1: twenty games before going for thirty three of the last

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Speaker 1: four games. When he plays better, that does a lot

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Speaker 1: to help the Rockets on both ends of the floor.

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Speaker 1: I know it's such a simple, kind of like reductive thing,

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Speaker 1: but it makes a huge difference and whether basketball teams

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Speaker 1: can reach their goals. Today's show is brought to you

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442
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443
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444
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445
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446
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448
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449
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Speaker 1: or Virginia Number four. Paul George and Joel Embiid are

450
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 1: both back. They both look great, and suddenly the Eastern

451
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,159
Speaker 1: Conference looks like it has the deepest playoff field in years.

452
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,000
Speaker 1: I had basically written off the Sixers, as they had

453
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 1: been resting all their three best players for such a

454
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,280
Speaker 1: large chunk of time. Now there is reporting that the

455
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,720
Speaker 1: Sixers were gonna try to bring everybody back and make

456
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,879
Speaker 1: a run at some point. But you know how that

457
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,639
Speaker 1: goes with guys like Joel and Beat and Paul George.

458
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,119
Speaker 1: You're always just like, yeah, okay, but we'll believe it

459
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: when we see it, right, But here they all are.

460
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: Paul George and Joel Embid and Tyres Maxie are all back.

461
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,479
Speaker 1: They all look great, and Beat is averaging thirty two

462
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: points per game in his first two games back. Paul

463
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:02,959
Speaker 1: George is averaging twenty seven points per game in his

464
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,320
Speaker 1: first two games back. Both guys are shooting the shit

465
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,919
Speaker 1: out of the ball from three. Both guys made huge

466
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: plays down the stretch in the win and Charlotte, Paul

467
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,280
Speaker 1: George hits basically the game winner coming off of a

468
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,439
Speaker 1: sideline that of bounds there towards the left corner, a

469
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,520
Speaker 1: really tough movement three that he just strokes. It was

470
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: like perfect Joel Embiid's making a defensive rotation in the

471
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 1: left corner blocking a shot. The benches all fired up.

472
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: There's like an energy around the Sixers. Now, that win

473
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,879
Speaker 1: in Charlotte was massive. That was right after they hung

474
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,840
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty seven points on the Bulls a

475
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,119
Speaker 1: couple of nights prior, Tyre's Maxie came back from his

476
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 1: long absence and looked like Tyre's Maxi, and all of

477
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 1: a sudden, the Sixers looked like a legit threat in

478
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. Now we look at the East and

479
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 1: this is the deepest Eastern Conference playoff field that I

480
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:51,120
Speaker 1: can remember in a very very long time. For many years,

481
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,639
Speaker 1: they're a decade ago, the East was basically just Cleveland

482
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 1: and then like one or two teams that would have

483
00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: strong regular seasons before they'd get dominated by Brown and

484
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,199
Speaker 1: then the rest of the conference was terrible. Then we

485
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,120
Speaker 1: had that recent stretch where it was like the last

486
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 1: half decade or so, it was like the top three

487
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 1: or four teams would be awesome, but then there'd be

488
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: a massive drop off. The first round was always bad

489
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,880
Speaker 1: and the bottom of the conference was terrible. It felt

490
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 1: like a JV conference. Now I look at the field

491
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,879
Speaker 1: and I think we're gonna have six or seven really

492
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 1: good Eastern Conference playoff teams. Obviously we have our top

493
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: four Detroit, Boston, New York, and Cleveland, but Philly could

494
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: be really dangerous, Charlotte could be really dangerous. And between that,

495
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 1: like Toronto, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, t here they're all super

496
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 1: inconsistent and super flawed, but like one of those teams

497
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,399
Speaker 1: is gonna pop and give somebody a run for their money.

498
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 1: And so we're probably gonna get like three really good

499
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: first round series in the Eastern Conference. We're gonna get

500
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,560
Speaker 1: like a really good Eastern Conference playoff from start to finish,

501
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,640
Speaker 1: which really hasn't been a thing basically in my entire

502
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,119
Speaker 1: adult life. So it's a good sign for the NBA

503
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,360
Speaker 1: that the East is the way that it has this year.

504
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: And obviously we're going to get a return of a

505
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,879
Speaker 1: team like Indiana into that field next year. Charlotte is

506
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: going to continue to get better. Who knows what we'll

507
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 1: get from Washington with Trey Young and Anthony Davis like

508
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: the East is on the way up and by the way,

509
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,959
Speaker 1: this year, the West was just two hundred and twenty

510
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 1: and two oh four and head to head games against

511
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: the East, which is a far better performance from the

512
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: East than we had in the previous two seasons. Number

513
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:31,440
Speaker 1: five Friday Night was an absolute travesty. But I do

514
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: have an idea for how to fix tanking. So we

515
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: had this kind of like consistent theme on Friday Night

516
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 1: from several teams, mainly the Clippers, the Lakers, and the Nuggets.

517
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,879
Speaker 1: You have a really good team who plays a really

518
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 1: bad team plays really bad basketball just because they have

519
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,680
Speaker 1: no real interest in being there. And then the really

520
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: bad team benches all their best players in the fourth quarter,

521
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: and the really good team ends up getting the win,

522
00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 1: satisfying the tanking needs of those teams. And all I

523
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,160
Speaker 1: could think while I was watching is why are these

524
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: teams even playing each other? It's terrible for everyone involved.

525
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:16,200
Speaker 1: Like for the great teams, they just are practicing playing

526
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 1: bad basketball. Why because they don't want to be there

527
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: as competitors. They're just completely disengaged. I know, as a

528
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: Lakers fan, I've been worried about this stretch because the

529
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 1: Lakers need to win because they have Denver hot on

530
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,679
Speaker 1: their heels and Denver's probably gonna win out. They have

531
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 1: basically one tough game left on the schedule that's that

532
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: Spurs game, and like if the Spurs and the Thunder

533
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,359
Speaker 1: bench their stars for those final couple games of the season,

534
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,400
Speaker 1: like Denver's gonna win out, and so the Lakers need

535
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: to win. And so I'm scared of this like Cleveland

536
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 1: game on Tuesday and this Oklahoma City game on Thursday,

537
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 1: and it worries me that they're playing Indiana, Brooklyn, Washington

538
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 1: back to back to back right before those games. Why

539
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: because it builds bad habits. They don't want to be there.

540
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 1: They go out on the court, they practice playing bad basketball,

541
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: and then what happens is you run into a Cleveland

542
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,159
Speaker 1: and it's like a buzz saw that chews you up

543
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 1: and spits you out because you're just not ready for

544
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: that level of competition. It's bad for the good teams.

545
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 1: It's bad for the bad teams because you have these good,

546
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: competitive young players on the teams that actually are playing well,

547
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: and then their competitive nature just gets jammed down in

548
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 1: the mud as they get pulled out and they don't

549
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: even get an opportunity to try to win, and then

550
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:29,959
Speaker 1: it's bad for us because it's objectively a terrible basketball product,

551
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,440
Speaker 1: Like it's hard to watch those games. The basketball is

552
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 1: not good, and so as I'm sitting there watching, like, look,

553
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: I know, I don't think tanking is as big of

554
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: a deal as people make it sound. I saw some

555
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: numbers going around like there's just as big of a

556
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: problem in the NFL as with teams like intentionally losing

557
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: to try to get high draft position, And generally speaking,

558
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 1: I think the league is in a really good spot.

559
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 1: There's all these young stars on the rise. The obviously

560
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: the social media part of the game is still losloting.

561
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 1: It's arguably the best social media sport in the world.

562
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: Right now. You have TV ratings up like things are

563
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 1: good for the NBA. I just generally think it's always

564
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: a good idea to be trying to improve and to

565
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: try to make things better. And there are way too

566
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: many games in this final third of the season that

567
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 1: are absolute garbage because you have good teams that don't

568
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 1: want to be there and bad teams that aren't allowed

569
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: to win. And so I had an idea. I've been

570
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 1: thinking about this for a few weeks, and like, look,

571
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 1: I don't think the league's gonna do much of anything,

572
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,879
Speaker 1: and if they do, it'll just be more flattening of

573
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: the lottery odds all in all likelihood, and it's just

574
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 1: going to continue to lead to similar problems. And look,

575
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: tanking is what it is, and teams are going to

576
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:42,199
Speaker 1: try to be bad to get to the top of

577
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: the draft. I understand that as a reality. No matter

578
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: what the league does, a franchise altering talent that you

579
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: get at the top of the draft is still the

580
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: best pathway between point A and point B. Point A

581
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: being bad and point B being consistently good. So teams

582
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,679
Speaker 1: are gonna do that no matter what. My thing is,

583
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 1: like cool, why are we having them play the good teams?

584
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 1: And so what I would do is I would split

585
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 1: the schedule into two portions from the beginning of the

586
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: season to the All Star break. Have everybody play everybody

587
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 1: normal schedule, just like we've had for years and years. Obviously,

588
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 1: you'd have to do some tweaks to make sure everybody

589
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,840
Speaker 1: plays everybody in that span, so you'd have less repeat

590
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: opponents and more variety as you play all twenty nine

591
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: other teams at some point in that stretch. But then

592
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 1: when I get to the All Star break, I would

593
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: cut a new schedule, and I'd have the top ten

594
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 1: teams in both conferences. So the top twenty teams in

595
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,960
Speaker 1: the league separate and continue to play each other as

596
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: they jockey for position and tune up for the postseason.

597
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 1: They're always playing a serious team that's trying to win.

598
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: And then I would take the bottom ten teams to

599
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: the bottom five in each conference. Just have them play

600
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: each other. Then what you get, And like whether or

601
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: not you want to what you want to do with

602
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 1: the odds, that's up to Adam Silver if he wants

603
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: to flattenum completely and give everybody you know, so I'd

604
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: have the teams that lose the play in obviously end

605
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: up in the same lottery in some capacity. So like

606
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: whether you want to flatten the odds and have all

607
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: of them get the same or you want to tweak

608
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: the odds so that the worst team does get the

609
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: best draft odds. And you do have teams tanking, at

610
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 1: least let them tank against each other so we don't

611
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: have to watch and there would be inteidive if you're

612
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: on the CUSP. It now becomes more complicated. If you're

613
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 1: in that right around the twenty first, twenty second best record,

614
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: or you're right outside the top ten in your conference.

615
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 1: You're sitting there as an owner and you're like, man, like,

616
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: do I want to be playing against the best teams

617
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: in the league over the final third of the season,

618
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 1: or do I want to be playing against the bad

619
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 1: teams in the final third of the season. There's a

620
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,719
Speaker 1: revenue conversation there that might drive teams to be like,

621
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: let's try to win here, right. I think at the end,

622
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: what you'd end up getting is a much better thing

623
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: for a much better deal for the broadcast partners, because

624
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: now the broadcasters just get a plethora of awesome games

625
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 1: to choose from. Because all the good teams are playing

626
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 1: against each other and all the bad t at least

627
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 1: if they're tanking against each other, they have an opportunity

628
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: to build some semblance of a winning culture. Has all

629
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 1: the young talent that's just trying to get reps is

630
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 1: playing against the other young talent trying to get reps,

631
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: it would essentially function as like a temporary relegation, not

632
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: a full season relegation. But like, hey, I don't want

633
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets play in the Utah Jazz, who are

634
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 1: intentionally trying to lose. When we get to late March,

635
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: it's utterly pointless. During that first two thirds of the season,

636
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: everybody plays, everybody, everybody gets their shot. At the All

637
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: Star break, you have a full week to put together

638
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: a new schedule. In that new schedule, have all the

639
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: good teams play against each other, have all the bad

640
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 1: teams play against each other. And I've heard people say like, oh, well,

641
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: how do you do this with this? They found a

642
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 1: way to add a bunch of games to the schedules

643
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,959
Speaker 1: surrounding the play in tournament. They excuse me, the nd

644
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,120
Speaker 1: season tournament, and like, oh, if you make it or

645
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: you don't make it, we populate all these new games. Yes,

646
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: the concert schedules are complicated. Things are complicated. The league

647
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 1: could absolutely do this. They could absolutely build a schedule

648
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: in a week towards the tail end of the season.

649
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: I just think they got to try something because I

650
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 1: was watching it, and look again, like the league, there's

651
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: a reason why all those games were on Friday night.

652
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 1: It's because the NCAA Tournament. The NBA knew not many

653
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: people would be watching, But ultimately, why are we doing

654
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: anything that's a complete waste of everybody's time. Even though

655
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: the league is healthy, even though things are trending in

656
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: the right direction, why not make a tweak to try

657
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: to again, Tanking is tanking is tanking. Teams are going

658
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: to tank. They want to get the stars. But there's

659
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: no reason in the world to have a team that

660
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 1: is intentionally losing playing against a team that is trying

661
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: to win. That should never happen in the first two

662
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 1: thirds of the season. There's a certain amount of that

663
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 1: you can't avoid, but it always is especially egregious in

664
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 1: the tail end of the season because why in the

665
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: first chunk of the season, the young teams are like, hey,

666
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 1: let's see what we got. Let's play our guys and

667
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 1: like identify where we're at in this process. Then they go, oh,

668
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: we okay, let's shut it down and let's see if

669
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: we can't try to get a high draft pick. That

670
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 1: the best chance for the bad teams to see their

671
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: young talent actually perform and play hard is in that

672
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 1: first two thirds of the season. All these games at

673
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: the tail end are trash, and by the way, the

674
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 1: owners still gets satisfied Lebron James still comes to town.

675
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: You still get your stars into your arenas, you still

676
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: get the high profile matchups in that first two thirds

677
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 1: of the season. I just don't see any point posts

678
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 1: all Star Break in having the Washington Wizards play the

679
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers. It's a huge waste of time for

680
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 1: everybody involved. Number six, the MVP discourse is completely off

681
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: the rails, but I actually think the top five is

682
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: pretty clear at this point. Barring some weirdness to end

683
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:51,720
Speaker 1: the season. The MVP discussion has become incredibly toxic. I

684
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: think it mainly stems from stand culture, because you can't

685
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: make a point about one player having an advantage over

686
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 1: another for one reason or another without that play. Fans

687
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: becoming outraged that you would ever be nitpicky about the

688
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 1: highest standard of basketball individual greatness in the world. And

689
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 1: I will freely admit that the media doesn't do itself

690
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 1: any favors here. I've seen plenty of ridiculous reasoning get

691
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 1: thrown around by actual NBA Awards voters. I get on.

692
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: I understand that that throws everybody into consternation. You have

693
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 1: the discussion about Wemby, as people have pointed out and

694
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 1: This is factually accurate. He just hasn't played as much

695
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 1: as the other guys, and that's certainly a factor, but

696
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: it also lacks context. Yes, Wemby hasn't played as many

697
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,280
Speaker 1: minutes as the other stars in the NBA this year,

698
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: but he's literally second in the league in raw plus

699
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: minus despite being one hundred and third in total minutes played.

700
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: That means nobody in the NBA is doing more to

701
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 1: impact winning per minute than MB Wemby. Everybody gets caught

702
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,160
Speaker 1: up in these cherry picked stats like, oh, he's only

703
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,799
Speaker 1: averaging twenty four points and three assists, or he's been

704
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,279
Speaker 1: a bad isolation defender this year, something we've actually talked

705
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,920
Speaker 1: about on the show. But even in the context of

706
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: those numbers, his overall impact is so overwhelming it cannot

707
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: be ignored. We've talked about it before, but he is

708
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,920
Speaker 1: way better offensively than his numbers look, because his vertical

709
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 1: spacing and his role gravity and how it consistently breaks

710
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: the defense at the rim consistently generates open threes for

711
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 1: the Spurs. They generate the most corner threes in the

712
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,280
Speaker 1: history of the NBA. Even with the bad isolation defense

713
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 1: the Spurs with Wemby off the floor have a one

714
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: point eighteen defensive rating, which is terrible, and they have

715
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:48,919
Speaker 1: a one oh four point five with him on, which

716
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:53,799
Speaker 1: is awesome. So yeah, some social media dude for the

717
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,520
Speaker 1: NBA posted a stupid tweet of Torny and Prince passing

718
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 1: up on a mid range jumper because he's under a

719
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: de active to market an up and coming star. It

720
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: was a dumb tweet. It doesn't change the fact that

721
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,439
Speaker 1: Wenby is already the most impactful defender in the history

722
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: of the NBA. And for all to talk about Wemby's

723
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: minutes as a team, they're plus six hundred and thirty

724
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 1: when he's on the floor this year, which is second

725
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,959
Speaker 1: in the NBA, and they're minus twenty eight when he's

726
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,640
Speaker 1: off the floor in a massive sample because his minutes

727
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 1: are so low, So they're like actually legitimately threatening for

728
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: the number one overall seed in the entire NBA, literally

729
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,799
Speaker 1: because of how earth shatteringly dominant Wenby has been when

730
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:45,919
Speaker 1: he's been on the floor. And the thing is, there's

731
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:48,440
Speaker 1: some precedent for this with Giannis in twenty twenty. He

732
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,399
Speaker 1: only played thirty minutes a game that year, And what's

733
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 1: funny is is, like I actually thought Yanna shouldn't have

734
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,080
Speaker 1: won MVP that year because they were blowing out eight

735
00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 1: terrible Eastern Conference That conference was legitimately able. The Lakers

736
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: were right behind Milwaukee in the standings, with Lebron James

737
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,759
Speaker 1: being just a better basketball player playing against way better

738
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:09,760
Speaker 1: teams every single night. Like, I didn't even think Gianna

739
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 1: should have won that year. But the minute totals are

740
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: kind of similar to what we're seeing with Wemby. Giannas

741
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,320
Speaker 1: is playing thirty minutes a game and they were cruising

742
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:24,760
Speaker 1: through a weak Eastern Conference schedule. Wemby, again, his team

743
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: is losing the minutes when he's off the floor, and

744
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 1: he is so incredibly dominant when he's on the floor

745
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,760
Speaker 1: that in the brutal blood bath of a Western conference,

746
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,640
Speaker 1: he legitimately has a shot over the final couple weeks

747
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: here to get the number one overall seed. I personally

748
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: have Shay as the MVP right now, and unless he

749
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 1: like gets badly outplayed by Luca in these next couple

750
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: of games and he gives up the one seed to

751
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 1: San Antonio, I think Shay should win the award. And

752
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 1: my reasoning they're simple because Shay's case is that he's

753
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,479
Speaker 1: looked like the best player in the world this year,

754
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 1: and he's on the best team. So if he had

755
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,520
Speaker 1: two bad losses to Luca, where Luca just looked better,

756
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 1: that undercuts his best player in the world case. And

757
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 1: if Wemby gets the one seed, that undercuts his his

758
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,799
Speaker 1: best team in the league case. Right, So, if that's

759
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 1: certainly a chance there, But I don't think that's gonna happen,

760
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,759
Speaker 1: and I think Shay's probably I think Oklahoma City will

761
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:20,760
Speaker 1: probably win at least one, if not both, of those games,

762
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 1: and Shaye will probably look every bit as good as Luca,

763
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 1: if if not better than Luca, in those two games. Right, So, like,

764
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:29,439
Speaker 1: I think Shay's gonna win the award. But we would

765
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 1: be absolutely foolish to pretend as though Wemby doesn't have

766
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:38,600
Speaker 1: an awesome MVP case this year. He does. No one

767
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 1: has done more to impact winning on a permanent basis

768
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 1: this year than Wemby, And even if you take out

769
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: all the time he's been off the floor, he's been

770
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: so incredibly good in those minutes that it's been enough

771
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: to drive maybe the best team in the league. We'll

772
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:54,360
Speaker 1: see over the last couple of weeks and the Lucas

773
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: stuff is insane to me. His stands has been the

774
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 1: craziest that I've seen, because like even saying something simple like, hey,

775
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,040
Speaker 1: Luca's amazing. He might even be the best player in

776
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 1: the world post All Star Break. But Wemby and Shay

777
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 1: have had better start to finish seasons and have impacted

778
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 1: winning more overall, so they should probably be ahead of

779
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:15,880
Speaker 1: Luca in the MVP voting. Even if you say something

780
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,759
Speaker 1: like that to Lucas stands, it's like slanderous. And again

781
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 1: I'll repeat this from earlier. I've heard some really dumb

782
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:27,399
Speaker 1: shit from some actual NBA voters about Luca's MVP case

783
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: over the last few weeks, so they have some reason

784
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 1: to be upset. But I'm sorry, guys, Luca has zero

785
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,840
Speaker 1: shot to win the MVP this year. Like the conversations

786
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,800
Speaker 1: surrounding the defense, First of all, defensive metrics are super flawed,

787
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: even stuff like steals and blocks, and like advanced metrics

788
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: like the defensive catchalls are especially flawed. You have to

789
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: trust your eyes with defense more than any other part

790
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,760
Speaker 1: of the game. And guess what, Luca has been great

791
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:02,880
Speaker 1: on defense post All Star Break. But he was bad

792
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 1: on defense pre All Star Break. I don't care what

793
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: the ISO numbers say. Any objective Laker fan that was

794
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,319
Speaker 1: watching the game, watching their games every night pre All

795
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: Star will tell you the same. Yeah, it wasn't all

796
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: his fault. The Lakers as a team were a terrible defense,

797
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 1: but Luca was a huge part of that problem pre

798
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 1: All Star Break. Now the team is playing way better

799
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 1: on that end, and Luca has been a big part

800
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 1: of that solution. And he's up to scoring volume in efficiency,

801
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,239
Speaker 1: and he's turning the ball over less. That's why he

802
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: might be the best player in the world right now.

803
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: But MVP is a season long award. It's not who

804
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: played the best defense in March, and Luca finishing third

805
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 1: in MVP isn't gonna affect his standing in the league much.

806
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 1: It's sure as hell isn't gonna save the Rockets. So

807
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves from him in late April. No one's gonna

808
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:00,839
Speaker 1: care whether or not he he has the trophy when

809
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,759
Speaker 1: they're trying to guard him in Psycho's scoring mode in

810
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,240
Speaker 1: Game four of a two to one series. Who cares.

811
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: It's an award, Luca's not gonna win it. He shouldn't

812
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 1: win it, and it will be okay. Like I said

813
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 1: at the start of the segment, the top five to

814
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,880
Speaker 1: me is pretty clear. Here are the odds right now,

815
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:23,000
Speaker 1: and again all of our lines are provided by a

816
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,840
Speaker 1: partner Hard Rock Bet. Shay is the favorite at minus

817
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: two seventy five. Wemby's in second place at plus two ten.

818
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: That feels right to me. Shaye's the clear number one.

819
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: But yeah, if Shaye gets his butt kicked by Luca

820
00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,320
Speaker 1: twice and loses that best player in the world aura

821
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: and the Spurs pass the thunder and the standings. Like

822
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,439
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, Wemby has an awesome case and he'll

823
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 1: probably win. I think that line, those lines minus two

824
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 1: seventy five plus two ten, that strikes me as an

825
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:55,080
Speaker 1: accurate representation of the likelihood of those two things happening.

826
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,440
Speaker 1: More likely than not that Shay at a very least,

827
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,440
Speaker 1: at the very least plays Luca to a draw and

828
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: wins at least one of those two games. They'll probably

829
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 1: keep the one seed even if they do get the

830
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 1: even if the Spurs do poach the one seed, if

831
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 1: Shay still has that aura of best player in the world,

832
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,560
Speaker 1: he's probably the MVP minus two seventy five kind of

833
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,759
Speaker 1: reflects that Wemby there's this long shot of him getting it.

834
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 1: That makes sense. Huge drop off to number three Luca

835
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: plus fifteen hundred. That makes sense to me. I don't

836
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 1: think he has any real shot to win. It would

837
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: require Luca kicking Shay's ass and Shaye being in an

838
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 1: awful shooting slump the rest of the season, and Wemby

839
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: missing games and getting disqualified. That's the shot. That's a

840
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 1: long shot from there. Big drop off to Jokic, I

841
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:44,280
Speaker 1: think that makes sense. I saw a lot of people

842
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,440
Speaker 1: have Jokic over Luca, and some of the conversations I've

843
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,759
Speaker 1: seen in the last few weeks, I thoroughly disagree. I

844
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:52,279
Speaker 1: think Jokic was clearly better than Luca up to his

845
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 1: knee injury, but then he missed a bunch of time

846
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 1: with his knee injury, and I don't think Jokic has

847
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 1: been nearly as good as Luca post injury. So I

848
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 1: think Uca clearly has the edge over Yokic. That makes sense.

849
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: And then there's another massive drop off from yokicch at

850
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 1: plus six thousand to Jalen Brown at number five at

851
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 1: plus twenty five thousand. That makes sense to me. Maybe

852
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: Caid gets that if he stays healthy, but he doesn't,

853
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:19,759
Speaker 1: Caid's not gonna qualify. Here's Jalen Brown that makes sense

854
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: to be at number five, and the number six is

855
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,400
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell at plus fifty thousand, another massive gap. So,

856
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,439
Speaker 1: like I said, like the toxicity has been insane. There's

857
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 1: been so much unreasonable shit getting thrown around by everybody.

858
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:37,799
Speaker 1: Everyone's entirely too sensitive about it. But like the top

859
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:41,040
Speaker 1: five feels pretty clear to me. Shay's probably gonna win,

860
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,640
Speaker 1: slight chance for Wemby. Luca is a clear number three,

861
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,640
Speaker 1: Jokic is a clear number four. Jalen Brown's a clear

862
00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 1: number five. That's how I think it's gonna end. And

863
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,399
Speaker 1: I think that that's right. That's exactly how I would

864
00:42:53,400 --> 00:43:03,160
Speaker 1: have it. Number seven. Some injury weirdness is starting to

865
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,239
Speaker 1: pop up, and we would do well to remember that

866
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 1: most of the time, it ends up playing a bigger

867
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 1: role in any other than any other thing. When it

868
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 1: comes to the NBA playoffs, Jalen Browns has dealing with

869
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 1: some achilles ten to nine ers Aaron Gordon missed last

870
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 1: night's game. Was some tightness in his calf as we

871
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,239
Speaker 1: look back through NBA history looking at last year, whether

872
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,439
Speaker 1: it was Damian Lillard tearing his achilles in the first round,

873
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 1: or it was Jason Tatum tearing his achilles in the

874
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 1: second round, or if it was Aaron Gordon pulling his

875
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: hamstring in game six of the second round series against

876
00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:42,240
Speaker 1: the Thunder, whether it was Tyres Halliburton tarring his achilles

877
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:44,120
Speaker 1: in Game seven of the finals when the Pacers were

878
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:46,759
Speaker 1: playing really well. Like more often than not, we talk

879
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 1: about all this stuff. We talk about matchups, we talk

880
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: about what teams are good at, what teams are bad at.

881
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,279
Speaker 1: We would do well to remember that a lot of

882
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:56,200
Speaker 1: this is just who wins the war of attrition, who

883
00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:58,839
Speaker 1: actually has their best players available and at the top

884
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:03,239
Speaker 1: of their games when they get to the postseason. Number eight,

885
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: the assist stat is broken and should probably be replaced

886
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: with something that actually captures playmaking talent. This was the

887
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,280
Speaker 1: other big thing that kind of went wildfire like wildfire

888
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 1: around the NBA. There was a game that Nikole Jokic

889
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,160
Speaker 1: had last week where he had nineteen assists, and if

890
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 1: you dig into the actual assists, a lot of them

891
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: were like him throwing a dribble hand off to Jamal

892
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 1: Murray and then Jamal Murray like getting into his bag

893
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:33,439
Speaker 1: and hitting like multiple dribble, multiple step back combination, step back,

894
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,240
Speaker 1: contested crazy shots that he was making, and you're watching

895
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: it and you're like, this is silly. This shouldn't be

896
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 1: an assist. And of course it bled right into stay

897
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 1: in culture because then every Nikola Jokic fan was like,

898
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 1: oh my god, we're trying to undercut Nikolajokic, and it's like,

899
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,560
Speaker 1: come on, guys, we can have common sense here for

900
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,960
Speaker 1: a second. I think Nikole Jokic is the best passer

901
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:59,480
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I also think Nanakola Jokic is literally

902
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 1: the best offensive player I have ever seen. I have

903
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:07,320
Speaker 1: said that on the show many times. And those assists

904
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: for bullshit. It can be both. It's not an indictment

905
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 1: of yo kitch that some of these assists are ridiculous.

906
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 1: By the way, it's a league wide problem. Way too

907
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,840
Speaker 1: often you throw a swing pass to a dude on

908
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: the wing and he hits a dribble combination to hit

909
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:28,920
Speaker 1: a shot and it counts as an assist. I just

910
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,279
Speaker 1: generally think that it's okay for us to be like Hey,

911
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 1: Yo Kitch is the greatest offensive player ever. Yo Kitch

912
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: is the best passer in the League's let's fix the

913
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,239
Speaker 1: assist stat. I take it a step further, like, like,

914
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 1: because I saw a lot of yokicch fans be like, oh, well,

915
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,320
Speaker 1: he has this gravity when he sets his screens. He

916
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 1: sets really good screens, and then his man stays attached

917
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,279
Speaker 1: to him, and then that gives Jamal Marie advantage. Yeah,

918
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:56,960
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. It gives Jamal Murrie an advantage. You

919
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:01,240
Speaker 1: don't think Steph Curry has through his gravity as a screener,

920
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:05,640
Speaker 1: created a million dunks as a screener for the exact

921
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:08,759
Speaker 1: same threat that you're talking about with Jokic. How many

922
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 1: of those counted as assists for Steph curryet. I would

923
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:17,839
Speaker 1: tweak it to where anything that involves an action where

924
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:21,440
Speaker 1: the player is getting free off of a screen, the

925
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 1: person who throws in the pass should not get credited

926
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: with an assist. The assists that should be reworked to

927
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,600
Speaker 1: specifically reflect a player hitting a player in finishing position,

928
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes, lob dunks, cuts underneath the basket,

929
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:42,600
Speaker 1: kick ahead pass to a guy in transition who's open

930
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:46,320
Speaker 1: for a layup. The assist stat should reflect a player

931
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: identifying a broken defense and making a read to a

932
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:53,280
Speaker 1: player in finishing position, a player coming off of a screen.

933
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,920
Speaker 1: In scoring, there's too many moving parts. What happened before

934
00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,600
Speaker 1: the screen, who's setting the screen, who's passing to the

935
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:02,799
Speaker 1: guy who's coming off of the screen. There's too many

936
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:06,239
Speaker 1: moving parts to give one single player the credit for

937
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 1: that shot going in and again. Jokic fans, don't be

938
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 1: like the Luca fans. Don't be like like stand behavior

939
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 1: is literally ruining basketball discourse. I love Nikola Jokic. He's

940
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players to watch. When I'm doing

941
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 1: my film sessions and I get to watch the Nuggets,

942
00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: I'm stoked. You guys know how I feel about him

943
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,920
Speaker 1: as a player. Those assists are bullshit. They shouldn't be assists.

944
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:31,520
Speaker 1: We should fix the stat. I don't think that that's

945
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:36,680
Speaker 1: a hot take. Number nine. Arizona and Michigan are playing

946
00:47:36,680 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 1: for the National championship on Saturday night. We had a

947
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,239
Speaker 1: crazy weekend of college shops. Once again, as an Arizona fan,

948
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: I was panicking a little bit in that Perdue game.

949
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: We talked about it earlier. They just came out kind

950
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:49,960
Speaker 1: of lacking that intensity. I thought they forced the issue

951
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,600
Speaker 1: a lot on offense in that first half, just taking

952
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:54,279
Speaker 1: a lot of shots on the first attack that were

953
00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:58,680
Speaker 1: kind of like sketchy contested two's. The Kartchenkov dropped coverage

954
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: with Krevas in a waka and every other one of

955
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: their bigs who played like they that wasn't working. Karhankov

956
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:07,479
Speaker 1: was getting caught on the screens, Krevas and a Walker

957
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,719
Speaker 1: were struggling in space, so it was coepete. It just

958
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 1: wasn't work, and the kluff was kicking their ass on

959
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 1: the offensive glass. They were knocking down threes. Their bench

960
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: came in and was super active and did a lot

961
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,000
Speaker 1: of damage in that stretch. It was tough Perdue looked

962
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:23,480
Speaker 1: like they were in control of that game, and then

963
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:26,399
Speaker 1: Arizona just came out and slight adjustment. Jaden Bradley goes

964
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,160
Speaker 1: on to goes on to Bradon Smith instead of Kartankov.

965
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 1: That puts more speed on the ball, which helped their

966
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,680
Speaker 1: drop coverage. All of their guys up to their defensive

967
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: intensity and their rotations and just beating Purdue to the

968
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,359
Speaker 1: ball on some plays that they weren't beating to the ball,

969
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 1: and then I thought Copete really saved their ass on offense.

970
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: It's been really fascinating to watch Copete this year in

971
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 1: the sense that he just had such a brutal offensive

972
00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 1: season for most of the middle chunk of the season,

973
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 1: and then he's been one of the most reliable players

974
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:59,000
Speaker 1: in this NCAA tournament, just his relentless rim pressure and

975
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,520
Speaker 1: his ability to either finish on the first attack or

976
00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:03,880
Speaker 1: follow his own miss because he just like bulldozes to

977
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:05,439
Speaker 1: the rim and he'll miss a layup, but he'll bump

978
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 1: the dude with his shoulders so hard that he'll like

979
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 1: clear out all his space and then he'll just get

980
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:10,960
Speaker 1: his own rebound and go back up with it. Krevas

981
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,120
Speaker 1: has been amazing at stretches. Jayden Bradley continues to just

982
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,920
Speaker 1: like provide the big shot making in big spots. I thought,

983
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 1: like in the Utah State game, he had a bunch

984
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:22,960
Speaker 1: of big buckets late. He had that crazy like double

985
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 1: pump step through Lefty sawt finish off the glass at

986
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:29,080
Speaker 1: the end of the Purdue game. That was insane. Brydon

987
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: Burry's like, the dude is just such a knockdown shooter.

988
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:34,520
Speaker 1: And he just continues to hit tons of big threes

989
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 1: as a team, all the little bits of defensive effort

990
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,480
Speaker 1: here and there. It was just really fun watching Arizona

991
00:49:40,600 --> 00:49:43,880
Speaker 1: in that comeback. Now Michigan scares me again. If you

992
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 1: looked at the one seeds, it was fascinating. Coming into

993
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,560
Speaker 1: the tournament, Florida was clearly the weak link. All the

994
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:52,600
Speaker 1: other teams were both elite on offense and on defense

995
00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:56,080
Speaker 1: statistically speaking, and then you looked at Florida and they

996
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,000
Speaker 1: just they were like, they weren't a very good jump

997
00:49:58,000 --> 00:49:59,799
Speaker 1: shooting team. It was very clear that they were not

998
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:03,840
Speaker 1: quite as good offensively as the other three and one seeds,

999
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 1: and so Florida was the most likely one seed to

1000
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:09,319
Speaker 1: get upset, and they did, right, And then we get

1001
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:11,839
Speaker 1: into the tournament, and then it obviously looked like Duke

1002
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:16,319
Speaker 1: was a level below that Arizona Michigan tier. They just

1003
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:19,800
Speaker 1: they really struggled in their first round game, they struggled

1004
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:22,040
Speaker 1: in their Sweet sixteen game. They like they just it

1005
00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 1: was clear that Duke just didn't quite have the juice

1006
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 1: of the other two teams. And Duke ends up blowing

1007
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:29,279
Speaker 1: yet another big lead in a tournament game yesterday and

1008
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 1: that wild finished in the Yukon game. I was joking

1009
00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: with Jackson before the end of that game was absolute

1010
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:38,200
Speaker 1: chaos because you have obviously you have like, okay, what

1011
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,120
Speaker 1: are they gonna do. Are they gonna foul after they

1012
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:42,719
Speaker 1: make this free throw or are they not? And it's

1013
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 1: like because they were in the one and one right,

1014
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: so you think, like, oh, just foul because if he

1015
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 1: misses the front end and then you get the ball

1016
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,720
Speaker 1: back down too, and it's like no, Dan Hurley decides

1017
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,239
Speaker 1: not to foul. They end up getting the turnover. You

1018
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 1: can literally see on the camera that Dan Hurley's calling

1019
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,359
Speaker 1: a time out, but he doesn't get it, thank God,

1020
00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:00,800
Speaker 1: because that ended up leading to the Mullins wide open three.

1021
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:05,680
Speaker 1: Mullins then bombs the three. Then one of the UK

1022
00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 1: players briefly runs on the floor, which is hilarious. We

1023
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,479
Speaker 1: hear the Duke radio broadcast saying like, oh, it should

1024
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:12,919
Speaker 1: be a technical, which obviously it shouldn't be. But then

1025
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:16,319
Speaker 1: like Dan Hurley straight up head butt the ref, like

1026
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: straight up head butt the ref. And I'm watching that

1027
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:22,319
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, like that that could

1028
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:24,319
Speaker 1: have been a technical. Like if we woke up this

1029
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 1: morning and Duke, and Duke had won that game because

1030
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,800
Speaker 1: Mullins hits the three and then Dan Hurley head butts

1031
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: the ref and the ref step backs and steps back

1032
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:35,919
Speaker 1: and tees him up. We're having a conversation this morning

1033
00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:38,000
Speaker 1: about how Dan Hurley runs too hot and he just

1034
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,560
Speaker 1: cost his team a Final Four birth because he head

1035
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:43,560
Speaker 1: butt a damn ref like the kid running on the court.

1036
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:45,320
Speaker 1: That would have been a travesty if they called that

1037
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:48,920
Speaker 1: a technical. Dan Hurley is extremely lucky he did not

1038
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,239
Speaker 1: get called for a technical when he head butt the

1039
00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:54,200
Speaker 1: damn ref after a guy hit the shot. So you

1040
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,879
Speaker 1: kind of advances that game was just absolute bat shit.

1041
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,520
Speaker 1: That Illinois team is fascinating. They've got like just a

1042
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:04,680
Speaker 1: bunch of dudes from Europe and they're super skilled and

1043
00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:08,480
Speaker 1: good offensive rebounding team, and they ended up just kind

1044
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:12,160
Speaker 1: of wearing Iowa down over time. But I thought I

1045
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 1: thought that Bennett Startz could have been more aggressive in

1046
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 1: that game. I thought that was one of the big

1047
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:17,239
Speaker 1: things that bothered me in the Iowa game. Is like

1048
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:19,600
Speaker 1: just no one else for Iowa really and anything else

1049
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:21,600
Speaker 1: going offensively, and it felt like the best shot for

1050
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:24,359
Speaker 1: Iowa was just Bennett throwing something up, so I felt

1051
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:26,000
Speaker 1: like he could have probably taken ten more shots, but

1052
00:52:26,239 --> 00:52:30,200
Speaker 1: ultimately Illinois just wore them down physically. To me, Illinois

1053
00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:33,120
Speaker 1: and yukonn are both like a clear tier like, if

1054
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 1: not two tiers below that Michigan and Arizona group. So

1055
00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:39,480
Speaker 1: to me, Michigan Arizona on Saturday and night, that is

1056
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:43,360
Speaker 1: your National championship game. I'm worried about it specifically because

1057
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,480
Speaker 1: I think Michigan has the size to match up with

1058
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:49,640
Speaker 1: Arizona and they both kind of neutralize each other in

1059
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:53,360
Speaker 1: that way physically, but I think Michigan's frontline is just

1060
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:56,240
Speaker 1: a little bit more experience and a little more skilled,

1061
00:52:56,280 --> 00:52:59,440
Speaker 1: and so that scares me if like the physical battle

1062
00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,880
Speaker 1: turns into like the physical batle, You're always trying to

1063
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,520
Speaker 1: go through people, but if the physical battle stops you

1064
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:07,480
Speaker 1: from going through, it turns into an over the top

1065
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:10,439
Speaker 1: kind of game. And I trust Michigan over the top

1066
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:12,960
Speaker 1: a little bit more than Arizona in the front line. Now,

1067
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:15,600
Speaker 1: obviously the equalizer there are Buries and Bradley. I think

1068
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,359
Speaker 1: they do have a slightly better backcourt, so like, if

1069
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:21,160
Speaker 1: Arizona can dominate there, that can make a huge difference

1070
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:24,640
Speaker 1: I would be, we would all be foolish to count

1071
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:27,160
Speaker 1: Arizona out there, just too resilient of a team. I

1072
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:28,719
Speaker 1: haven't seen the line since, but I know it opened

1073
00:53:28,719 --> 00:53:30,120
Speaker 1: at a pick them like a minus one to ten

1074
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,960
Speaker 1: bone going both ways. But like with as a as

1075
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:36,640
Speaker 1: an Arizona fan, like I obviously have belief, but like

1076
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,960
Speaker 1: Michigan is just a completely different animal than the other

1077
00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:44,040
Speaker 1: teams that Arizona faced along the way. So that's gonna

1078
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,320
Speaker 1: be really fun one on Saturday night. Whoever wins I

1079
00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:49,320
Speaker 1: think is gonna beat the winner of that Yukon Illinois

1080
00:53:49,320 --> 00:53:52,920
Speaker 1: game on Monday night. And I was telling Jackson before,

1081
00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,200
Speaker 1: like Arizona has gotten me into college troops in a

1082
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:57,240
Speaker 1: way that I haven't been in years, just simply because

1083
00:53:57,719 --> 00:54:00,440
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, like I literally it was

1084
00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,239
Speaker 1: like religion and Tucson. Every time Arizona played, we all

1085
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:05,279
Speaker 1: were in front of the TV. And like, you know,

1086
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:06,960
Speaker 1: one of my buddies at groomsman in my wedding ended

1087
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:08,560
Speaker 1: up actually playing at the UV And I remember, I

1088
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:10,480
Speaker 1: still remember the day when he got the call from

1089
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: Sean Miller. At the time, like it was just like

1090
00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 1: like it was every kid's dream to go play at

1091
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 1: Arizona was such a big deal for me growing up.

1092
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:18,160
Speaker 1: But then when I started covering the NBA, I just

1093
00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:20,920
Speaker 1: so much NBA, so much basketball for so long, I

1094
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,319
Speaker 1: just didn't really have the bandwidth for it. And this

1095
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:26,160
Speaker 1: year has been the closest I've followed college basketball in years,

1096
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,200
Speaker 1: and I just I love it so much. And I

1097
00:54:28,239 --> 00:54:30,040
Speaker 1: was telling Jackson, like, I think I'm just gonna try

1098
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 1: to do a better job of following it in the

1099
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:33,279
Speaker 1: future because of how much I love it and how

1100
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,319
Speaker 1: much I've enjoyed it this year, last one number ten.

1101
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 1: The tough coaching style has its place in moderation, but

1102
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:44,520
Speaker 1: I am really fascinated. I would have been fascinated to

1103
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:46,279
Speaker 1: see what a guy like Dan Hurley would have looked

1104
00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:47,680
Speaker 1: like if he coached an NBA team, Like if you

1105
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:50,759
Speaker 1: would have taken that Lakers job. So there was all

1106
00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 1: this conversations arounding tough coaches because we had you know,

1107
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:57,280
Speaker 1: several coaches in this tournament have moments where yelling at screaming,

1108
00:54:57,360 --> 00:54:59,920
Speaker 1: yelling and screaming at players. The overall level of intensity

1109
00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:02,880
Speaker 1: and like my my opinion lands kind of firmly in

1110
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:04,920
Speaker 1: the middle there because like on the one hand, you

1111
00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:06,520
Speaker 1: have these some of these coaches, and I think Dan

1112
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:09,960
Speaker 1: Hurley's specifically is I'm trying to prep menton for the

1113
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,359
Speaker 1: real world. And it's like, yeah, like that doesn't mean

1114
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:14,919
Speaker 1: you have to be an asshole all the time either,

1115
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:17,120
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, like, I think that

1116
00:55:17,239 --> 00:55:20,160
Speaker 1: tough coaching has its place, but I think that when

1117
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:22,360
Speaker 1: it's kind of like the only thing you do. And

1118
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:24,319
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not accusing Hurly of this, I'm just saying,

1119
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:28,920
Speaker 1: like I think that coaches that run at like that

1120
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:32,160
Speaker 1: crazy off the charts intensity all the time can be

1121
00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:34,719
Speaker 1: a little much, and I actually think it can have drawbacks.

1122
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:38,520
Speaker 1: Like to me, the like the best style of coaching

1123
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:43,000
Speaker 1: is a coach that has a control over his emotions,

1124
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:46,160
Speaker 1: but that can bring the intensity when it's needed. The

1125
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:50,480
Speaker 1: reason why I feel that way is like basketball games

1126
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:54,399
Speaker 1: are are very emotional things, and especially at the college level.

1127
00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:57,400
Speaker 1: In the high school level, you're dealing with kids, Like

1128
00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:00,520
Speaker 1: I've coached high school basketball, like the their kids, and

1129
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:04,560
Speaker 1: they are very emotional and they do lose their composure often.

1130
00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:08,040
Speaker 1: And so having a coach that like, even when you're

1131
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,520
Speaker 1: playing really well, comes to the huddle and is like

1132
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:13,400
Speaker 1: measured and under control. But then also when you're playing

1133
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:16,319
Speaker 1: really shitty is like measured and under control. But that

1134
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:19,839
Speaker 1: also when shit that cannot be allowed is happening, can

1135
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:22,520
Speaker 1: step up and bring the intensity. Like one of the

1136
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:25,920
Speaker 1: defining moments I can think of my basketball development was

1137
00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:28,879
Speaker 1: in my second year playing in college in Juco. I'm

1138
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:32,759
Speaker 1: up in Price, Utah. It's like wintertime, and we used

1139
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 1: to have six am workouts out on the soccer field

1140
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:40,279
Speaker 1: and it was cold and wet and miserable, and we

1141
00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:42,640
Speaker 1: were just doing like planks and I was like giving

1142
00:56:42,719 --> 00:56:45,879
Speaker 1: up on the plank and I remember shout out coach

1143
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:48,640
Speaker 1: Carter Row, literally my favorite assistant coach that I ever

1144
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:51,120
Speaker 1: had in my time playing, and he's just a really

1145
00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:54,320
Speaker 1: good friend of mine and a dude that I absolutely

1146
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:57,840
Speaker 1: loved playing for. He like got down in my face

1147
00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:01,040
Speaker 1: and basically called me a post and said I that

1148
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:03,239
Speaker 1: I my problem was that I wasn't tough, and he

1149
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:05,399
Speaker 1: was like screaming in my damn face at like six

1150
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:07,360
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning while I'm in a plank position

1151
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:10,240
Speaker 1: in like thirty seven degree weather and it's like wet,

1152
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 1: like it was like, and I think it was like

1153
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:14,880
Speaker 1: a wake up call for me because it's like, yeah,

1154
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:18,160
Speaker 1: like there's a toughness element that I was missing as

1155
00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:20,880
Speaker 1: a player at that point, or like, you know, I

1156
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:23,360
Speaker 1: that's just one example, but there are dozens of examples

1157
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: over the years where when I was playing where like

1158
00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:31,120
Speaker 1: a coach was able to reach a point emotionally with me,

1159
00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:36,200
Speaker 1: as like an intense level of coaching that resonated with me.

1160
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:38,200
Speaker 1: But there are also times when like you're down on

1161
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:40,240
Speaker 1: yourself and the last thing you need is a coach

1162
00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:42,800
Speaker 1: that gets in your face and calls you a pussy, right, Like,

1163
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,720
Speaker 1: there's also a point where like you need someone that

1164
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:48,880
Speaker 1: can help infuse you with confidence, right And so like

1165
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:51,960
Speaker 1: I just think it's complicated, Like to me, everything is

1166
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 1: on an individual basis. There are certain players that handle

1167
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:57,400
Speaker 1: tough coaching really well, and there's certain players that don't.

1168
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:00,680
Speaker 1: There are certain situations that call fors tough coaching, and

1169
00:58:00,720 --> 00:58:03,720
Speaker 1: there are certain situations that don't. So like the answer

1170
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:05,840
Speaker 1: to my kind my kind of take on the tough

1171
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:08,760
Speaker 1: coaching thing is like, as a coach, it should be

1172
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:11,800
Speaker 1: something you're capable of doing, but you should be able

1173
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: to have enough control over your emotions as the coach

1174
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:17,680
Speaker 1: to be able to pick and choose when you bring

1175
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:20,520
Speaker 1: that level of intensity. That's just my take on it.

1176
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 1: The other small important detail here is like there are

1177
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:27,880
Speaker 1: super calm coaches that have won lots of championships and

1178
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:30,400
Speaker 1: there are super intense asshole coaches that have won lots

1179
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,000
Speaker 1: of championships. So, just like anything else, there's a million

1180
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:34,800
Speaker 1: ways to skin a cat, and like you can do

1181
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:37,040
Speaker 1: the job in a million different ways and be successful.

1182
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 1: Dan knowing good luck talent, Dan Hurley, he's doing anything wrong,

1183
00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:43,080
Speaker 1: Like even the head butt thing, good luck talent, Dan

1184
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:45,120
Speaker 1: Hurley is doing anything wrong. The dude keeps winning, so

1185
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:47,880
Speaker 1: like there is no like right way to do it.

1186
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:51,960
Speaker 1: My personal opinion on that profession is that if you

1187
00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 1: have control over your emotions and you can pick and

1188
00:58:54,920 --> 00:58:57,520
Speaker 1: choose when to be intense, that's for the best because

1189
00:58:57,520 --> 00:59:00,640
Speaker 1: you're dealing with kids that don't have control over their emotion. See,

1190
00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:02,200
Speaker 1: you kind of have to be the adult in the room,

1191
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:05,800
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Lastly, how funny would it have

1192
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:07,919
Speaker 1: been just watching Dan Hurley trying to coach the Los

1193
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:12,160
Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers? Like to coach this team with like Luca

1194
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:14,840
Speaker 1: and Lebron and Austin, and like, I think it could.

1195
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:18,400
Speaker 1: I think it would go one of two ways. It

1196
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:20,280
Speaker 1: would either go amazing and the dudes would all go

1197
00:59:20,360 --> 00:59:23,520
Speaker 1: to war for him, or he'd get in a fistfight

1198
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,520
Speaker 1: behind closed doors with one of his players within the

1199
00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:28,320
Speaker 1: first three weeks and he'd get quit or he'd get fired.

1200
00:59:28,440 --> 00:59:32,360
Speaker 1: Like there's no middle ground there because, like again, there's

1201
00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:35,680
Speaker 1: something about the reverence you get from youth that kind

1202
00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:37,640
Speaker 1: of allows Hurley to get away with a lot of

1203
00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 1: the stuff he does that like grown ass men might

1204
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:42,720
Speaker 1: be like, dude, chill the fuck out and get out

1205
00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:44,000
Speaker 1: of my face, you know what I mean. So, like,

1206
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:47,520
Speaker 1: I think it would have been really really interesting just

1207
00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:50,840
Speaker 1: to watch from an entertainment standpoint, to watch Dan Hurley

1208
00:59:50,880 --> 00:59:53,160
Speaker 1: try to coach an NBA team. All right, guys, it's

1209
00:59:53,160 --> 00:59:55,240
Speaker 1: all I have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate

1210
00:59:55,240 --> 00:59:57,680
Speaker 1: you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We

1211
00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:00,560
Speaker 1: would be back tomorrow with more game reaction. See you guys,