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Speaker 1: presented by FanDuel here at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you are having a great week
Speaker 1: packed show. Tonight, we're gonna break down that blowout that
Speaker 1: the Sun's just put on the Mavericks, and then we're
Speaker 1: gonna break down the blowout that the heat put on
Speaker 1: the Sixers, and then we're gonna do some previews for tomorrow,
Speaker 1: which I think is gonna be a really really interesting
Speaker 1: night of basketball. Then if you guys stick around for
Speaker 1: the end, we're gonna talk a little bit of Lakers
Speaker 1: and specifically the Genie bus interview and some of the
Speaker 1: issues that I have with the things that she said
Speaker 1: to Bill Plashki of the l A Times. A couple
Speaker 1: of quick housekeeping notes before we get started tonight. Make
Speaker 1: sure you liked this video and subscribe to the Volumes
Speaker 1: YouTube channel so that you can stay up to speed
Speaker 1: about all this stuff we've got coming up on the horizon.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be live every day this week. We're gonna
Speaker 1: push through uh this this stretch here in the conference
Speaker 1: semise and the Conference finals, So make sure you come
Speaker 1: back after every big game. We will be here with
Speaker 1: breakdowns in the weeds as well as films up as
Speaker 1: we get further away from the games. And let's not
Speaker 1: least follow me on Twitter. I underscore Jason lt. It's
Speaker 1: the best place to stay up to speed with the
Speaker 1: video content that I put out that supports all the
Speaker 1: things that we talked about on the show. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna start about the Suns, and you know there's a
Speaker 1: theme here tonight. I like to have a theme to
Speaker 1: the show if I can, if there are enough things
Speaker 1: that line up. And there's a postgame quote from Rik
Speaker 1: Spoelsture tonight, Um, I can't remember off the top of
Speaker 1: my head to who the gentleman was who asked the question.
Speaker 1: But someone asked Eric Spoelsture about, you know, fighting through screens.
Speaker 1: I talked about how after game four or late into
Speaker 1: game four, because Philly had some really interesting counters to
Speaker 1: the front and back help system that Miami was using
Speaker 1: to guard m B, they had some interesting, interesting counters,
Speaker 1: and so they were fighting through those switches more are
Speaker 1: avoiding switches as much as they could to try to
Speaker 1: keep BAM on and beat. And so someone asked Eric
Speaker 1: Spoulsture that basically was like, hey, it looked like you
Speaker 1: were trying to keep BAM on, Joel not switch as much,
Speaker 1: Like what's the deal with that? And and spoil Sure
Speaker 1: kind of went on a little rant for about a
Speaker 1: minute where he basically talked about how you know, you
Speaker 1: do game plans, You study the film, you come up
Speaker 1: with the scheme, and you implement that strategy and practice,
Speaker 1: and then you go out into the game and you
Speaker 1: try to execute. And he talked about how more often
Speaker 1: than not, you get out there and a lot of
Speaker 1: the stuff that's in the game plan either immediately doesn't
Speaker 1: work or you don't get much of a chance to
Speaker 1: try to implement it because of circumstances that are out
Speaker 1: of your control. And he said, but there's one thing
Speaker 1: that we did control tonight. Eric Sposter said, we made
Speaker 1: multiple efforts all over the floor, and he said he
Speaker 1: basically talked about how that's what ends up being the
Speaker 1: controlling factor in most cases. And we do talk schemes
Speaker 1: on this show, and we spent a lot all of
Speaker 1: you guys who've been listening though that I we like
Speaker 1: to get into the weeds there, but it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things where more often than not, that ends
Speaker 1: up being the determining factor. And one of the interesting
Speaker 1: things that happened that that specific circumstance applies a lot
Speaker 1: more to the Sixers game because the Sixers came in
Speaker 1: and completely mailed it in tonight. But I also thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting as it relates to role players in
Speaker 1: the difference between the way these two teams, Dallas and
Speaker 1: Phoenix have looked at home versus on the road. Phoenix
Speaker 1: is two and three on the road in these playoffs
Speaker 1: kind of reminds me a little bit of the two
Speaker 1: thousand eight Celtics who struggled to win on the road
Speaker 1: early in their playoff run, although they had some key
Speaker 1: pivotal wins just like the Sun's team has. They had
Speaker 1: a huge win in Game six in New Orleans, and
Speaker 1: they had a huge win in Game three in New
Speaker 1: Orleans when that series is tied at once. So I
Speaker 1: know that they're capable of that. But why is it
Speaker 1: do you guys think that you know, one guy on
Speaker 1: their home floor feels a certain amount of comfort and confidence,
Speaker 1: and then when he gets on the road, it doesn't
Speaker 1: feel the same. And it generally applies to role players
Speaker 1: because most stars around the league are kind of immune
Speaker 1: to that kind of thing, right, And I have a theory.
Speaker 1: There's no exact science. My theory is that like players
Speaker 1: derive confidence from hustle plays and from defense. I've always
Speaker 1: told my high school kids that I coach, because it's
Speaker 1: the same thing I used to tell myself when I
Speaker 1: go through a slump. When you're not shooting well, if
Speaker 1: things aren't going your way in the things that are
Speaker 1: out of your control, focus on the things that you
Speaker 1: do have control over. Defend like crazy, try to make
Speaker 1: plays because if you make plays in maybe it's a
Speaker 1: big offensive rebound or running the floor and transition for
Speaker 1: a dunk or a layup or a defensive rotation where
Speaker 1: you blow up a play that makes you feel good
Speaker 1: about yourself and that's what gives you the confidence to
Speaker 1: then knock down the shot in your next opportunity. And
Speaker 1: I think it's easier to work hard on defense and
Speaker 1: to make hustle plays when you're at home because you're
Speaker 1: feeding off of the general energy of the crowd and
Speaker 1: the endorphant Russian everything that comes from making a big
Speaker 1: play in front of twenty people. So that's my theory.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, in this series, Dallas in particular,
Speaker 1: but it's affected Phoenix as well. They have these different punches, right,
Speaker 1: And I always talk about how in any playoff matchup,
Speaker 1: you have like your best punch and you have your
Speaker 1: worst punch, and you're gonna land somewhere in between on
Speaker 1: most nights, right, But like maybe the worst punch for
Speaker 1: the better team is lesser than the best punch for
Speaker 1: the worst team, and that's how you lose games. That's
Speaker 1: how a series goes to six, or goes to five,
Speaker 1: or goes to seven, even though the better team is
Speaker 1: you know, going to end up winning the series. And
Speaker 1: so this has been one of those series, Dallas is
Speaker 1: best punch what they which they seem to only be
Speaker 1: capable of throwing at home, particularly on offense, the ability
Speaker 1: to knock down shots and guys on the perimeter creating
Speaker 1: their own shots for whatever reason, that punch is good
Speaker 1: enough to beat the bad punch that Phoenix is throwing
Speaker 1: on the road. But then we go back to Phoenix
Speaker 1: and it's like Dallas is overmatched because Phoenix is best punch,
Speaker 1: which they are most likely to throw at home, is
Speaker 1: way better than what Dallas can throw, in particular on
Speaker 1: the defensive ent fix at a level defensively in their
Speaker 1: containment tonight that was not even recognizable compared to what
Speaker 1: happened in Games three. In Games four, there was some
Speaker 1: interesting strategy stuff like, for instance, like Phoenix and Dallas
Speaker 1: in particular are implementing two very different strategies with how
Speaker 1: to handle perimeter initiators. So Dallas is trying to get
Speaker 1: the ball out of Chris Paul's hands and trying to
Speaker 1: get the ball out of Devin Booker's hands when they
Speaker 1: have a chance and they want to rotate around in
Speaker 1: the back, and that's been a consistent strategy for them
Speaker 1: all season, all year long, they've been a double and
Speaker 1: recover team. That's what they've fed on during the last
Speaker 1: two thirds of the season when they went on their
Speaker 1: defensive run, whereas Dallas on offense, Phoenix strategy is like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna single coverage Luca and we're gonna stay glued
Speaker 1: to all these role players and if Luca beats us
Speaker 1: going for forty points, so be it. And they're two
Speaker 1: different they're very unique strategies in a bunch of different
Speaker 1: ways because it can blow up on you and either situation.
Speaker 1: So for instance, like Phoenix went with the you know,
Speaker 1: and when they were in uh in Dallas, they went
Speaker 1: with that strategy and Luca beat him and Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: beat him. Jalen Brunson got going and he beat they
Speaker 1: and they beat him, and then over the course of
Speaker 1: the game they had to send some more help and
Speaker 1: then everyone else started making shots. But then they got
Speaker 1: into game, they got into tonight, and you saw the
Speaker 1: other side of that coin. Luca looks comfortable. He's getting
Speaker 1: whatever shots he wants. Jalen Brunson played pretty well in
Speaker 1: Phoenix for the first time in this series, after looking
Speaker 1: really bad in games one and two. Spencer Dinwoodie is
Speaker 1: still completely a wall. That's a whole other story. But
Speaker 1: what you saw is no one else was getting shots actually,
Speaker 1: but didn't going get going, don't Finnie Smith made eight
Speaker 1: threes in game four. Different type of player tonight. That's
Speaker 1: the advantages. It throws everyone out of whack, especially against
Speaker 1: this particular Dallas style of offense, which we'll get to
Speaker 1: in a minute. You know, there's CP three, over the
Speaker 1: course of his career, has a reputation for being a
Speaker 1: slow player. He's very methodical and similar to Luke in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Like Luca, they're an inbound the
Speaker 1: ball and he's gonna walk the ball up the floor.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get into the offense at like fifteen fourteen seconds, right,
Speaker 1: and by the time he creates his first advantage, there's
Speaker 1: only like six or seven seconds left. And so when
Speaker 1: he kicks the shooters on the wing, they have they
Speaker 1: can shoot and they might be able to attack the rim,
Speaker 1: but there's not enough time to continue to make multiple rotations.
Speaker 1: And that used to be an issue with Chris Paul
Speaker 1: as well. To Chris Paul's credit, he's been adaptable in
Speaker 1: this Phoenix system. Dallas is thirty in pace this year.
Speaker 1: They strangle the pace of the game and they play
Speaker 1: incredibly slow. That's the way they play. It's the only
Speaker 1: way they play. Phoenix is eighth in pace, which is
Speaker 1: kind of remarkable with Chris Paul and the roster, and
Speaker 1: it's a credit to him quicker decisions, adjusting his game
Speaker 1: as he has aged, being more willing to seed responsibility. Now,
Speaker 1: seating responsibility is easy when you have that much talent
Speaker 1: surrounding you. The pretty with lucas a little bit different,
Speaker 1: but it's interesting seeing the difference between those two styles
Speaker 1: because the quick style with Phoenix, if you get down
Speaker 1: the floor and you're initiating your offense at twenty seconds
Speaker 1: instead of fifteen, and you make that first, you compromise
Speaker 1: the defense. With twelve or thirteen seconds left, now you're
Speaker 1: kicking it to the wing and he has time to
Speaker 1: attack that close out and further compromise the defense and
Speaker 1: then kick it to someone else who might have the
Speaker 1: best opportunity. That's where Phoenix is getting all their great
Speaker 1: shot quality, especially with Dallas, and how aggressive they're being
Speaker 1: on all of Chris Paul's picking rolls like a lot
Speaker 1: of trapping, a lot of trying to get the ball
Speaker 1: out of their hands. So they're getting really good, you know,
Speaker 1: defensive rotation in that first action, and then they have
Speaker 1: enough time to do multiple things on the possession. That's
Speaker 1: the advantage of going quick. And this is this is
Speaker 1: where I have to be a little bit critical of
Speaker 1: Luca because and I think Luca is incredible, and I
Speaker 1: do think that it's important to add context here. Part
Speaker 1: to the reason why Luca is so heliocentric and so
Speaker 1: slow is because he has so much on his plate.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson is gonna have a big payday this summer,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy for him because he didn't make nearly
Speaker 1: enough this year for what he did. But the truth
Speaker 1: of the matter with Jalen Brunson is he's not the
Speaker 1: same level of player as any of the other perimeter
Speaker 1: initiators in this playoff run. Like he's not even as
Speaker 1: good as like a Drew Holiday, for instance in Milwaukee. Right.
Speaker 1: So the reality is is Luca has to have and
Speaker 1: Spencer Din what he we just talked about has been
Speaker 1: nowhere to be found offensively, and so Luca has so
Speaker 1: much on his plate. That's why he plays slow to
Speaker 1: conserve energy. To make it so that he's not sprinting
Speaker 1: as much up and down the floor. That's why he
Speaker 1: tries to save energy on the defensive end, although he's
Speaker 1: been better defensively as the series has progressed. He does
Speaker 1: that out of necessity. But there's a downside to that,
Speaker 1: a couple of things. First of all, like we just
Speaker 1: talked about, when you don't make quick decisions, the possession
Speaker 1: starts slowly, you don't compromise the defense early enough in
Speaker 1: the possession, don't give your guys enough chance to to
Speaker 1: continue to make plays off of that. But secondly, it
Speaker 1: affects rhythm, and I think this is a big part
Speaker 1: of why the role players didn't play super well tonight,
Speaker 1: why they haven't played super well on the road. Like
Speaker 1: when you have a guy standing on the perimeter holding
Speaker 1: the ball that long, it just throws you out of whack.
Speaker 1: You're standing in the corner for seventeen seconds and then
Speaker 1: finally the ball pops into your hand with three seconds left.
Speaker 1: It's tough. And again, like the thing with the thing
Speaker 1: with it from Luca's perspective is you have to acknowledge
Speaker 1: it's a product of a situation. And as far as
Speaker 1: team building goes moving forward. That's something they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to address. And when it looks good, it looks great. Man,
Speaker 1: When lucas really cooking, when he's getting to his spots
Speaker 1: and he's making stuff, when the shooters he's kicking too
Speaker 1: are making shots, it looks great. It's not like James Harden.
Speaker 1: James Harden used to do a version of this that
Speaker 1: was even worse because of the fact that when he
Speaker 1: would do it, he would always attack from the exact
Speaker 1: same spots on the floor and do the exact same move,
Speaker 1: so his personal efficiency and effectiveness would crater as series progress.
Speaker 1: Luca has a ton of variety. It talks, attacks from
Speaker 1: a ton of different spots on the floor. He'll mix
Speaker 1: in post ups, he'll mix in high isolations, he'll mix
Speaker 1: in pick and roll. He does everything, and that's great.
Speaker 1: But playing at this pace has downsides. You could not
Speaker 1: score tonight. No one looked comfortable other than you and
Speaker 1: a little bit of Jalen Brunson. So that's the downside there.
Speaker 1: And you know, this is where one of the things
Speaker 1: that I've I've grown to appreciate. I've always been a
Speaker 1: lebron fan. You guys know that but like, as Lebron
Speaker 1: is aged and we're looking at this new crop of superstars,
Speaker 1: you start to see the reasons why Lebron is the
Speaker 1: second best player to ever play the game and maybe
Speaker 1: the first. You start to see the reasons and the
Speaker 1: way and the way that they have allowed Lebron to
Speaker 1: separate himself. Kind of like Lebron is basically what Luca is,
Speaker 1: but he's capable of seating responsibility. Lebron, like the hell
Speaker 1: eocentric Lebron ball is way easier for guys to play
Speaker 1: with in the heliocentric Luca ball because Lebron is actually
Speaker 1: like desperate for other people to make place. He loves
Speaker 1: playing with playmakers. He wants to get rid of the
Speaker 1: ball quickly. Lebron does make quicker decisions and then also
Speaker 1: he has the physical conditioning to thrive in an up
Speaker 1: and down environment. He does attack and transition all the
Speaker 1: time in a way that Luca doesn't, and he can
Speaker 1: be deeply impactful on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: And it's just kind of interesting because ever since Lebron
Speaker 1: won the title as a heliocentric guy twice basically two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen and two thousand twenty. Ever since then, no
Speaker 1: one's been able to do it. Harden couldn't do it,
Speaker 1: Luca couldn't do it. And I think you're seeing the
Speaker 1: reasons why you need the variety. You need the physical
Speaker 1: conditioning to be able to hold up. You also need
Speaker 1: to be able to change pace more. You can't just
Speaker 1: strangle the pace of the game. You have to have
Speaker 1: the ability to get into a flow sometimes so that
Speaker 1: your teammates can get going. When you remember those like
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen Calves teams, they were going quickly in
Speaker 1: transition off a lebron pushing the ball and guys are
Speaker 1: running the floor. There was a flow to it, and
Speaker 1: so those are the Those are the little details as
Speaker 1: Luca continues to develop that he's gonna have to figure out.
Speaker 1: One last note on this series CP three. He's in
Speaker 1: his first eight playoff games and this run he averaged
Speaker 1: twenty three points per game. In the last three games
Speaker 1: he's averaged eight, and in that he had a disastrous
Speaker 1: seven turnover game in game three, and in game four
Speaker 1: he had this weird game where he was getting into
Speaker 1: foul trouble, making really silly decisions, gambles and things along
Speaker 1: those lines that we're above or beneath the basketball I
Speaker 1: Q of a player of Chris Paul's caliber, which just
Speaker 1: really strange. And then tonight he was. Tonight Chris Paul
Speaker 1: was good, great on the defensive end, you know, did
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff as uh as a playmaker
Speaker 1: that we expect from Chris. But his scoring just has
Speaker 1: fallen off. And I don't know what the deal is there,
Speaker 1: and I hope it's not anything significant. I hope he's
Speaker 1: not hurt. There are some scheme related things there. Dallas
Speaker 1: is ever since the game to Debuckle when Chris Paul
Speaker 1: destroyed them at the end, Dallas is airing on the
Speaker 1: side of sending more attention to Chris more traps more
Speaker 1: uh more, two guys going with him on the ball screen,
Speaker 1: that more aggressive drop coverage. Is that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: They're doing stuff to try to dissuade Chris. The thing
Speaker 1: that concerns me is if you're gonna beat the really
Speaker 1: good teams like Dallas is a puncher's chance, dark horse
Speaker 1: title contender, that's great, but you're gonna have to go
Speaker 1: through Golden State and then you're probably gonna have to
Speaker 1: go through Boston or Miami. Or Milwaukee, three really really
Speaker 1: good teams that are a lot better than this Dallas team,
Speaker 1: so that you're gonna need Chris to be able to score.
Speaker 1: And one of the issues was is last year, in
Speaker 1: that postseason run, Chris was amazing until suddenly he ran
Speaker 1: into the team that was at full strength. He looked
Speaker 1: great against the Lakers without Anthony Davis, he looked great
Speaker 1: against the Nuggets without Jamal Murray, he looked great against
Speaker 1: the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard. But then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he ran into Drew Holiday in a full strength Bucks
Speaker 1: team that ran a really good drop coverage in suddenly
Speaker 1: he couldn't score. And so that would be my my
Speaker 1: fear if I'm a Son's fan, is that Chris Paul
Speaker 1: seems to be tailing off a little bit now. The
Speaker 1: silver lining to that in the difference between this year
Speaker 1: and last year. I think Devin Booker is a much
Speaker 1: better basketball player this year than he was last year.
Speaker 1: It's showing in his consistency. This guy is amazing every night,
Speaker 1: which is the hallmark of greatness, which we'll talk about
Speaker 1: a little bit later when we get into Joel Embid
Speaker 1: like give every night, bringing that same level intensity and
Speaker 1: and and impact. That's what the that's what the best
Speaker 1: guys do that differentiates them from the guys below. And
Speaker 1: so that is a huge obvious swing factor that helps,
Speaker 1: you know, compensate for some of Chris Paul. But the
Speaker 1: other thing too is just mckel bridges is better, Kim
Speaker 1: Johnson is better. DeAndre Ayton was unbelievable today. He's got
Speaker 1: this like quick catch, turnaround jumper over his right shoulder
Speaker 1: that's completely unguardable. That's turned into a really nice release
Speaker 1: valve for Phoenix to try to rescue possessions. Phoenix is
Speaker 1: better than they were last year, so it it might not matter.
Speaker 1: But my guess is because the rest of the league
Speaker 1: is better, because Boston is better, because Golden State is
Speaker 1: in this field and they weren't last year, I think
Speaker 1: they are going to need that out of Chris Paul.
Speaker 1: So it'll be really interesting to see if he can
Speaker 1: regain that form. Hopefully it's just a product of whatever
Speaker 1: weirdness happened in Dallas and hopefully he can shake it
Speaker 1: off at some point. If you're a Sons fan, all right,
Speaker 1: before we move on, I'm gonna kick it to a
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Speaker 1: of the NBA. Let's move on to that absolute travesty
Speaker 1: of a basketball game that was Philly rolling up into
Speaker 1: Miami repeatedly getting punched in the face and doing absolutely
Speaker 1: nothing about it and just sitting there and saying, I'll
Speaker 1: take another one right here. That was just very very
Speaker 1: strange basketball game. And you know, like you guys know me,
Speaker 1: I like to get into the weeds. It's the way.
Speaker 1: That's the way that I like to break down the game.
Speaker 1: I like to talk xs and os. I like to
Speaker 1: talk about counters, like to talk about coverages, and like
Speaker 1: talk about all that stuff. Here's the problem. I can't
Speaker 1: talk about any of that stuff if the team isn't trying.
Speaker 1: I can't talk about the way Miami's coverage was working
Speaker 1: or not working, or the way Phillies coverages were working
Speaker 1: or not working. When one of the teams mailed in
Speaker 1: that basketball game. Think of it like this, Like James Harden,
Speaker 1: who is pretty you know, he has an established reputation
Speaker 1: as a guy that can shrink away from big games
Speaker 1: more often than not. Game four, what he did was
Speaker 1: the unusual circumstance, right. He was the best sixer today
Speaker 1: by a mile. He was the only guy that looked
Speaker 1: like he cared about what was happening on the floor.
Speaker 1: He wasn't fantastic defensively, but nobody was, but at least
Speaker 1: on the offensive, and he was repeatedly applying rim pressure
Speaker 1: getting feed into the paint. Pretty Much everything James Harden
Speaker 1: initiated went well, and anything anybody else did went poorly.
Speaker 1: I want to give some credit to Miami before we
Speaker 1: move on. You know, Miami's a that you just know
Speaker 1: going into that game that they're not going to mail
Speaker 1: it in right there. Well coat, they're disciplined from training
Speaker 1: camp on their team that is committed to effort. I've
Speaker 1: been low on Miami all year because I don't think
Speaker 1: they have the top end talent to compete with some
Speaker 1: of the best teams in the league. I think Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler is probably like the sixth best player remaining in
Speaker 1: this playoff field, so I don't I'm not as high
Speaker 1: on Miami as other people. But if there's one thing
Speaker 1: you could say about Miami, They're not gonna leave points
Speaker 1: on the table. They're not gonna leave opportunities on the table.
Speaker 1: They are going to squeeze their sponge to get every
Speaker 1: drop of potential success that that team can get out,
Speaker 1: whereas Phieley feels like the exact opposite of that. So
Speaker 1: credit to Miami. Credit Arry Spolstra. Jimmy Butler continues to
Speaker 1: be the best player in this series, even though I
Speaker 1: think Joe and Beads a better player than him. Overall. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like Jimmy has been the better player in the series.
Speaker 1: He's been fantastic. That well, we we're not gonna get
Speaker 1: into it right now, but I'm incredibly intrigued by a
Speaker 1: potential Boston Celtics Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a defensive slug fest for the Ages,
Speaker 1: but we're not gonna get into that right now. Miami
Speaker 1: is an interesting team. But today the story is Philly.
Speaker 1: Today the story is Philly in a too two series,
Speaker 1: going into a game where Miami clearly approached it as
Speaker 1: if it was a must win game, the opportunity to
Speaker 1: swing the series, whereas Philly seemed to go into it
Speaker 1: like it's cool. We got Game six in Philly, We'll
Speaker 1: get him in Game seven, which guess why you're not
Speaker 1: guaranteed to get Game six, which is exactly why you
Speaker 1: have to treat Game five like a must win and
Speaker 1: come out with the requisite effort. It's just embarrassing from
Speaker 1: Philly down the line. Like I said, James Harden was
Speaker 1: the best effort on the table on the team. I
Speaker 1: gotta I have to be. I have to be very
Speaker 1: critical of Joel Embiade today. And here's why. Because Joel
Speaker 1: Embiide fancies himself as one of the best basketball players
Speaker 1: in the world. Joel Embide thinks he deserved to win
Speaker 1: m v P. Joel Embiide thinks that when you guys
Speaker 1: are at the sports bar or at work, or wherever
Speaker 1: it is that you're talking basketball, they think he thinks
Speaker 1: that his name should come up first when you're ranking
Speaker 1: basketball players. Here's the problem with that, Joel. There's an
Speaker 1: expectation that comes with that the guy that you're piste
Speaker 1: off got the m v P over you. There wasn't
Speaker 1: a single moment in that series against the Warriors where
Speaker 1: you felt like he wasn't caring that you that you
Speaker 1: felt like he was mailing in the game. And I
Speaker 1: get that he's injured. I get that he's banged up,
Speaker 1: he's got stuff going on with this thumb, he's got
Speaker 1: stuff going on with his face. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Did anybody cut Steph Curry slack in two thousand sixteen
Speaker 1: for playing on a spray knee? Did anybody cut Lebron
Speaker 1: slack for playing with back spasm and nietendan nitis in
Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen? Did anybody cut Janice slack in two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty or excuse me, in two thousand twenty one
Speaker 1: last year when he sprayed literally inverted his knee in
Speaker 1: the conference finals. Did anybody cut him any slack when
Speaker 1: he fell down to zero to the Phoenix Suns in
Speaker 1: the finals. No, because, again, no one's saying the injuries
Speaker 1: aren't a factor, but everyone's dealing with stuff. Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: missed a playoff game in this series with the stuff.
Speaker 1: Everyone's banged up, Everyone's dealing with stuff, and no one's
Speaker 1: gonna cut you slack for your stuff, especially when you
Speaker 1: fancy yourself one of the best players in the world.
Speaker 1: This is the standard that comes with being in that conversation.
Speaker 1: Is there any chance in the world that in Game
Speaker 1: five tomorrow you think Janice is gonna roll up into
Speaker 1: Boston and lay down and just get beat. There's no
Speaker 1: way I think Boston's gonna win big tomorrow. But I
Speaker 1: know for a fact Janice is gonna come out like
Speaker 1: the Tasmanian devil, trying to do everything he can to
Speaker 1: impact that game. And look, maybe that's the kind of
Speaker 1: guy em beat is. Maybe he's the guy that some
Speaker 1: nights he feels that some nights he does. And Chris
Speaker 1: Haynes talked about in the broadcast, he talked about going
Speaker 1: up to him and shoot around, and in shoot around
Speaker 1: he said he was distancing himself from the team, not
Speaker 1: talking to anybody. Very short, short spoken, wouldn't what would
Speaker 1: would only make small talk with Chris Hayes, wouldn't elaborate
Speaker 1: on anything. Chris Haynes went over to the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and was like, is Joel sick? And they're like, no,
Speaker 1: he's fine. So he was pounding today about who knows what,
Speaker 1: pounding about the injuries. I don't know, pouding about the
Speaker 1: m v P. I don't know. The guys from inside
Speaker 1: the n b A on TNT certainly took their chance
Speaker 1: to get all over and beat for uh for potentially
Speaker 1: pouting about the m v P, which is Look, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna jump to that conclusion, but whatever it is
Speaker 1: that's bothering you, there's no doubt that like these kinds
Speaker 1: of things can have an effect on you mentally. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing. All the guys at the top of
Speaker 1: the league also are dealing with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And again, this is why I am so slow to
Speaker 1: push guys above established guys at the top of the league.
Speaker 1: This is why I want to see year in, year
Speaker 1: out success. This is why I waited till Janice is
Speaker 1: second dominant postseason before I put him as my guy
Speaker 1: that I think is the best player in the world. Like,
Speaker 1: we start looking at the Joel and beat stuff. In
Speaker 1: his playoff career since two thousand seventeen two thousand eighteen,
Speaker 1: he's twenty seven and twelve in the regular season, goes
Speaker 1: down to twenty four and a evan in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty significant drop off. Twenty four points per game.
Speaker 1: Is not a dominant offensive player in the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 1: You know, Like, I'll cut you some slack for that
Speaker 1: Boston series two years ago. You're overmatch. Ben Simmons was out.
Speaker 1: You had no business losing to the Atlanta Hawks. Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons or not passing up on a dunk or not,
Speaker 1: you have no business losing to the Atlanta Hawks if
Speaker 1: you swap Janice for him beat in that series. Does
Speaker 1: anybody think that the Sixers are losing to the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 1: It's just this is the standard. We have to hold
Speaker 1: the guys too at the top of the league. And look,
Speaker 1: and it's not just about the scoring. Like and Bead
Speaker 1: was embarrassingly bad on defense tonight, embarrassingly bad. I have
Speaker 1: some clips on my Twitter feed you can look at
Speaker 1: he's just like passively kind of waving at guys as
Speaker 1: they come into the lane. He's not embraced. Miami can
Speaker 1: cannot score against Philly and the half court when Joel
Speaker 1: embiad is engaged as a ram protector. We saw that
Speaker 1: in games three, in game four. But the mark of greatness,
Speaker 1: the mark of being the best guy, is that you
Speaker 1: do it in game five two. Maybe you miss shots,
Speaker 1: maybe your field goal percentage doesn't look great, maybe you
Speaker 1: have some sloppy turnovers. That kind of thing can happen
Speaker 1: on a game in game out basis, But your effort,
Speaker 1: you're attacking the basketball game that has to be the
Speaker 1: same every single night, and if it's not, you can't
Speaker 1: be in that conversation. And look, it's not over for
Speaker 1: Joe and Bide. I'm not trying to This isn't like
Speaker 1: a James Harden situation where we have a decade of
Speaker 1: evidence that this that this guy just kind of struggles
Speaker 1: in these settings. This is that type of deal. But
Speaker 1: what it is is get another playoff round where Philly
Speaker 1: looks like they're probably gonna lose to a team that
Speaker 1: they were very capable of beating, and their best player
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. And again
Speaker 1: it's like, maybe he goes into game six and he dominates,
Speaker 1: and maybe he goes into game seven and he dominates,
Speaker 1: and then you know what, I'll get up on here
Speaker 1: and I'll credit him for dominating. But the type of
Speaker 1: guy who would dominate Game six in game seven in
Speaker 1: the series is the same type of guy that would
Speaker 1: I'm in the game five tonight and attack the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: and he just didn't. It's just disappointing, Like you are
Speaker 1: mad that you didn't get named m v P, but
Speaker 1: the guy who got named m v P seems to
Speaker 1: care more about his team winning playoff games than you
Speaker 1: do at this point. That's a problem, man. And again,
Speaker 1: I I understand the injuries, but it's just try to
Speaker 1: convince Jimmy Butler, who missed a playoff game this year
Speaker 1: with a sore knee, that you should be cut some
Speaker 1: slack because of injuries. Try to convince Janice, try to
Speaker 1: convince all these guys that have long dominant playoff runs
Speaker 1: despite having a bad injury. It's part of the game.
Speaker 1: Yours is not debilitating. Your lower body is fine, your mobile,
Speaker 1: you can move, you can protect the freaking rim, which
Speaker 1: is your job on this defense. It's just embarrassing, and
Speaker 1: I'm just disappointed. I'm disappointed because you know, for a
Speaker 1: guy who's as ambitious as he is to try to
Speaker 1: be at the top, do you think he you think
Speaker 1: he'd take out a little bit more seriously, But it
Speaker 1: is what I'm sorry. I don't have more like in
Speaker 1: the details X and O stuff to get into in
Speaker 1: this game. I just don't think it's worth it. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's worth it when you have a team
Speaker 1: that comes in and mails it in like that. So
Speaker 1: I mean, is a series over, No, But you'd be
Speaker 1: stupid to pick anybody about Miami at this point, because
Speaker 1: Philly is demonstrating to you right in front of us
Speaker 1: that they don't want it as bad. So there you go.
Speaker 1: It is what it is. But yeah, like I, at
Speaker 1: this point, I think you have to pick Miami, and
Speaker 1: I'm just disappointed in Joel Embid and I hope at
Speaker 1: some point he understands that this kind of performance is
Speaker 1: not okay if you're going to be considered one of
Speaker 1: the top guys. Hi, it's Colin Coward. I started the
Speaker 1: volume to bring you some of the most apathetic voices
Speaker 1: in sports. While you're here, make sure you hit subscribe. Thanks.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a few minutes to preview a
Speaker 1: couple of game fives tomorrow that are gonna be really interesting,
Speaker 1: one of which I think is going to be a
Speaker 1: very good betting opportunity. We'll get to that here in
Speaker 1: a minute. I want to start with the Bucks in
Speaker 1: the Celtics. So I dove into a bunch of the
Speaker 1: film and I dove into a bunch of the numbers
Speaker 1: again this morning. I wanted to share with you guys
Speaker 1: what I saw A lot of it is going kind
Speaker 1: of as I expected based on the stuff that we
Speaker 1: saw before the series. So the story of this series
Speaker 1: that I've been harping on NonStop has been half court basketball.
Speaker 1: Half court basketball is what wins NBA playoff series that
Speaker 1: because for the most part, over the course of the series,
Speaker 1: teams will figure out how to slow each other down
Speaker 1: in transition and they all understand that that's where the
Speaker 1: series is going to be won. So throughout this series,
Speaker 1: in every one of the first three games, Boston was
Speaker 1: the better half court team by a pretty significant margin,
Speaker 1: and that has continued into Game four. Milwaukee actually had
Speaker 1: their best half court offense game of the series. They
Speaker 1: scored zero point nine four points per half court possession,
Speaker 1: which is actually an okay number. It's not a great number,
Speaker 1: but it's an okay number, and it's certainly a lot
Speaker 1: better than they have been doing. As as a point
Speaker 1: of perspective, that's almost twenty points per one hund possessions
Speaker 1: better than they did in Game three. Okay, here's the problem, though,
Speaker 1: Boston also had their best half core game of the series.
Speaker 1: They scored one point zero nine points per one possessions
Speaker 1: excuse me, per possession in the half court. So another
Speaker 1: way to look at that To make it a little
Speaker 1: bit simple for you guys, if we had a hundred
Speaker 1: half court possessions, Boston was fifteen points better than Milwaukee
Speaker 1: in the half court in Game four. That gap has
Speaker 1: considerably grown larger each game in this series. It's been
Speaker 1: the story of this series, and it's the reason why
Speaker 1: it was so confident in Boston to begin with a
Speaker 1: couple of other things that are not great if you're
Speaker 1: a Milwaukee Bucks fan. Boston finally didn't shoot well. They
Speaker 1: shot on wide open threes in the first round. They
Speaker 1: shot forty two wide open threes in the first three
Speaker 1: games of this series, and they were only six for
Speaker 1: seventeen in Game four, and it wasn't enough for Milwaukee
Speaker 1: to get a win there. They finally got some of
Speaker 1: that like shot value, shot result stuff to go their
Speaker 1: way and it didn't work. And when you factor in
Speaker 1: that Milwaukee dominated on the offensive glass. They had a
Speaker 1: thirteen to four offensive rebound advantage. That's nine xt your possessions.
Speaker 1: I fe factor in they had a seventeen to eleven
Speaker 1: points off a turnovers advantage. So they won a bunch
Speaker 1: of these areas of the game that would theoretically put
Speaker 1: you in a position to win. It just so happens that, hey,
Speaker 1: guess what, Boston gets stronger as the series goes along
Speaker 1: as well. They had their best offensive game of the series,
Speaker 1: and it was too much for them to overcome a
Speaker 1: couple of the things. Boston. This is what's insane. Boston
Speaker 1: in just the fourth quarters of this series is outscoring
Speaker 1: Milwaukee by thirty two point three points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: That's an outrageous number. So a lot of stuff going
Speaker 1: Boston's way in the metrics, stuff that I saw in
Speaker 1: the film, and I'll if you guys go to my
Speaker 1: Twitter feed, you'll actually see some clips that that demonstrate
Speaker 1: exactly what I'm talking about. But the shots that Boston
Speaker 1: was getting were wide open, like if you look at
Speaker 1: you know, so, Milwaukee's up eight to seventy in the
Speaker 1: late third quarter and Boston gets to stop runs out
Speaker 1: in transition, there's a quick swing pass, swing pass to
Speaker 1: Derek White. He's wide open in the corner. It is
Speaker 1: a completely unguarded shot. The next possession down, Marcus Smarts
Speaker 1: kind of working his way into the lane and both
Speaker 1: uh Drew A, Drew Holiday, Ambrook Lopez are lingering around
Speaker 1: the basket. Al Horford is standing at the free throw
Speaker 1: line completely unguarded, and he makes it. It's a wide
Speaker 1: open shot. I'm not really sure what else you could
Speaker 1: expect to happen there. Then next possession down, it's Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum getting all the way all the way to the
Speaker 1: rim for a layout. Next possession down it's the one
Speaker 1: where al Horford gets the dunk on Janice where he
Speaker 1: beats him on a close out and there's no backside
Speaker 1: help and he dunks on everybody. Going into the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: it's just open shot after open shot after open shot
Speaker 1: for Boston Celtics players. That's why that's manifesting is a
Speaker 1: plus thirty two point three net rating and fourth quarters,
Speaker 1: Boston's shot quality is winning the day. Go on the
Speaker 1: other end, for Milwaukee, there are some good shots in there,
Speaker 1: but so much is reliant on Janice running people over
Speaker 1: and getting into the rim, which fatigue is starting to
Speaker 1: play a role in the series. Johannest is starting to
Speaker 1: show some signs that he is getting tired as the
Speaker 1: series is progressing. You know, there's it's a lot of
Speaker 1: like Drew Holiday gets in the lane and picks up
Speaker 1: his dribble and he's completely swarmed by Celtics, but he
Speaker 1: happens to know in the back of his head that
Speaker 1: Brooke happens to be at the rim, and he turns
Speaker 1: and throws a blind pass up at the rim and
Speaker 1: brook Lopez catches it and dunks it. Again. Unbelievable basketball play,
Speaker 1: but it's a low percentage play in the sense that,
Speaker 1: like it required an unbelievable play from Drew Holiday to
Speaker 1: get a basket. There, Janice working into the lane, pump, fake,
Speaker 1: pump fake. Finally, Jayson Tatum gambles and he can work
Speaker 1: in the lane and get a dunk or that beautiful
Speaker 1: pass he had when he was on the left block,
Speaker 1: and he works into the lane out of the post
Speaker 1: and hits brook Lopez underneath the basket on a jump pass.
Speaker 1: Like really impressive stuff, but it's hard. It's hard for
Speaker 1: Milwaukee to score, whereas the stuff Boston's getting is easy.
Speaker 1: And generally, in a small sample size, you can beat
Speaker 1: shot quality difference, right if just because you happen to
Speaker 1: make them and they happen to miss them. But in
Speaker 1: any sort of significant sample size, the team that's getting
Speaker 1: the better shots is going to win, and Boston has
Speaker 1: been getting the better shots to their credit. That's why
Speaker 1: they went up bigg in that fourth quarter. That's why
Speaker 1: I think they're going to win game Game five at home.
Speaker 1: I believe Boston's a five and a half point favorite.
Speaker 1: I would be on that side of the line. I
Speaker 1: think this game is gonna look a lot like Game too.
Speaker 1: I think Boston's gonna come out in front of their
Speaker 1: home crowd and have a little bit of a coming
Speaker 1: out party in this series because in the series they've
Speaker 1: been the They have them in the underdog, but they've
Speaker 1: been the team playing from behind for the whole time.
Speaker 1: This is their first opportunity to take a lead, and
Speaker 1: I think they're going to do so. Moving on to
Speaker 1: Grizz Warriors, so a couple of things. I I think
Speaker 1: this is a really interesting betting opportunity. I think Golden
Speaker 1: State's clearly going to win the series. I expect them
Speaker 1: to close them out at six, but at home, especially
Speaker 1: without Job, if they continue to play big, all of
Speaker 1: that length and size and athleticism, feeding on the energy
Speaker 1: of that Memphis crowd, with the intensity and the urgency
Speaker 1: of being down in the series three games to one,
Speaker 1: I think Memphis I think this is a buzz saw
Speaker 1: type of game. I think this is a game that
Speaker 1: won't necessarily be close. I wouldn't be surprised if Memphis
Speaker 1: won by ten or fifteen points. I think it's a
Speaker 1: good opportunity for Memphis to get one more game, not
Speaker 1: an indicator of the series. Still think Golden State wins
Speaker 1: the series. I just think this is a really tough,
Speaker 1: closeout team, a closeout game to win against a really
Speaker 1: good team. Golden State has won this series with their experience.
Speaker 1: Their experience will obviously give them a chance, don't. It's
Speaker 1: It's not one of those things where I'm counting Golden
Speaker 1: State out. I just think this is an opportunity for
Speaker 1: Memphis to get one more win. A couple of notes
Speaker 1: that I wanted to hit on from Draymond Green's reaction
Speaker 1: to this series. So first of all, he talked about
Speaker 1: I always like it when you hear these players mentioned
Speaker 1: things that we specifically talk about on the show, because
Speaker 1: one it's just as an Indica eight or that we're
Speaker 1: doing the work, that we're in the weeds, that we're
Speaker 1: watching the film, we're doing what needs to be done
Speaker 1: to actually know what's happening. On the floor, and so
Speaker 1: when you hear guys like Draymond come and say the
Speaker 1: same thing, that's a good sign for us. It means
Speaker 1: that we're doing our job right, which is what we're
Speaker 1: supposed to do. So Draymond specifically shouted out rebounding in
Speaker 1: this series, which is what I talked about, was a
Speaker 1: huge indicator coming into this series. Memphis was one of
Speaker 1: the most dominant offensive rebounding teams in the league, and
Speaker 1: half course settings, I think they were rebounding thirty of
Speaker 1: their own misses in the regular season, which is just
Speaker 1: an absolutely insane number, and that was gonna be that
Speaker 1: physical wear and tear raal element that I was worried about.
Speaker 1: Would Golden State be able to hold up physically in
Speaker 1: this series? And Draymond pointed out they've outrebounded Memphis in
Speaker 1: all four games. That's an amazing accomplishment. And that's not
Speaker 1: done with their You know that it's not a physical
Speaker 1: mismatch for them that they're winning. It's straight up effort
Speaker 1: and just giving a ship more than Memphis to win
Speaker 1: that battle, because Memphis has the bodies to kill them
Speaker 1: on the glass and they just haven't been able to
Speaker 1: do so. A couple of specific guys that I think
Speaker 1: have been huge, you know, driving forces of this, and
Speaker 1: we talked about this on or show. I told you
Speaker 1: guys Auto Porter Jr. And Andrew Wiggins and them in
Speaker 1: their athleticism and size crashing from the wing while guys
Speaker 1: like Looney and Draymond have been stuck in box outs
Speaker 1: underneath the basket. That's been a huge part of why
Speaker 1: Golden State has been able to win some of this
Speaker 1: rebounding battle. To give you an idea, with Auto Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: And Andrew Wiggins on the floor in this series, Golden
Speaker 1: State is grabbing sixty point two percent of available rebounds.
Speaker 1: That's an unbelievable number. They're uh, they are uh gathering
Speaker 1: forty point nine percent of their own misses. So that's
Speaker 1: like every possession is basically one point five possessions almost
Speaker 1: because they're getting all of these additional offensive rebounds. Just
Speaker 1: a massive credit to those guys and the job they've
Speaker 1: done fighting on the glass. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: Draymond mentioned another thing we talked about on the show,
Speaker 1: and that's the job that Steph Curry's doing on Desmond
Speaker 1: Bain now in Desmond Bain's defense, he's dealing with some
Speaker 1: back stuff. That stuff is no fun. But Steph has
Speaker 1: always been an underrated defensive player, and he's done an
Speaker 1: amazing job guarding Desmond Band in this series and removing
Speaker 1: him from the series the way Draymond said he did
Speaker 1: has put a lot more of that shot making responsibility
Speaker 1: on Jaw, which is part of what has caused Memphis
Speaker 1: to struggle in this series whenever Jaw hasn't had the basketball.
Speaker 1: So I'm still picking Golden State, still think they have
Speaker 1: control over this series. I just think this is a
Speaker 1: good betting opportunity. I think Memphis has a good chance
Speaker 1: of winning Game five behind the strength of their size
Speaker 1: and athleticism on their home floor. So again, plus two
Speaker 1: point five for a team at home that has the
Speaker 1: capability of beating Golden State like that, I think it's
Speaker 1: a good bet. And then I would bet on Golden
Speaker 1: State in Game six to close out the series. All right, Last,
Speaker 1: but not least tonight, I want to complain about the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers because, as is always the case with
Speaker 1: a ship show, any anything or person or company or
Speaker 1: any entity that is a ship show has a has
Speaker 1: a remarkable ability to stay at top of mind because
Speaker 1: they can't help themselves. They can't help but be a
Speaker 1: ship show. Even when all of the you know, competent
Speaker 1: folks are doing competent things over here, they just always
Speaker 1: find a way to jam their way into the conversation.
Speaker 1: And this time it was Genie Buss doing an interview
Speaker 1: with Bill Plashki from The l A Times. And there
Speaker 1: are two specific quotes from this interview that I wanted
Speaker 1: to hit on that I thought were super interesting. We'll
Speaker 1: hit him one at a time. So the first, this
Speaker 1: is from Genie again, quote, I'm growing impatient just because
Speaker 1: we had the fourth highest payroll in the league. When
Speaker 1: you spend that kind of money on the luxury tax,
Speaker 1: you expect to go deep into the playoffs. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was gut wrenching for me to go out on
Speaker 1: a limb like that and not get the results that
Speaker 1: we were looking for. I'm not happy, I'm not satisfied.
Speaker 1: End quote. Now, I covered the Lakers for the last
Speaker 1: two years, so I'm intimately involved with this, with this
Speaker 1: disaster that has been and one of the big things
Speaker 1: that I've talked about is that the Lakers have a
Speaker 1: real chance to fix things this summer because you have
Speaker 1: all you need in terms of a core foundation. You
Speaker 1: have Lebron James and Anthony Davis. And let's pretend Lebron declined.
Speaker 1: I thought Lebron was the second or third best player
Speaker 1: in the world this season. I thought he had an
Speaker 1: underrated season on a really bad team. But let's let's pretend,
Speaker 1: for the sake of argument, that in his twentieth season
Speaker 1: he'll be the seventh or eighth best player in the league,
Speaker 1: which I think he has a chance to be better
Speaker 1: than that, but let's let's pretend he's the seventh, right
Speaker 1: best player in the league. Anthony Davis, when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: is the probably the twelve or thirteenth best player in
Speaker 1: the league. Right. So you've got two of the top
Speaker 1: twelve or thirteen players in the NBA, and both of
Speaker 1: them are two way players, and they represent your front court,
Speaker 1: meaning like that's your foundational defensive you know, that's your
Speaker 1: defensive foundation. Those two guys, you have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: bring in a good coach. You have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: make moves on the margins. You have two first round
Speaker 1: draft picks that you can spend this summer in trades.
Speaker 1: And in the Russell Westbrook trade situation, we've seen lots
Speaker 1: of examples of pretty solid opportunities that have come up.
Speaker 1: The Charlotte opportunity, potentially going after the likes of Gordon
Speaker 1: Hayward and like Terry Rogier or even like a Mason
Speaker 1: Plumberly if you wanted to get a backup center, there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of options there that Indiana Pacers offer, centering
Speaker 1: around uh, Buddy Healed and Malcolm Brogden. That's a decent opportunity.
Speaker 1: So the Russell Westbrook trade it looks like it's materializing
Speaker 1: into there might be some decent options there. Then that
Speaker 1: you also have Taylor Horton Tucker and Kendrick Nunn. Taylor
Speaker 1: Horton Tucker had a really bad year, but at his
Speaker 1: salary number, which is right around ten million, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be some team out there that sees some intrigue or
Speaker 1: some value there. And Kendrick Nunn at five million is
Speaker 1: a backup point guard. Obviously this year is really weird
Speaker 1: with his knee issues, but that's a player that somebody
Speaker 1: out there might want. And if you factor in the
Speaker 1: two draft picks that they can attach to either of
Speaker 1: those trades, you have the ability to bring some talent
Speaker 1: in and then in addition to that, you've got you
Speaker 1: found some key rotational pieces last year on the fringes
Speaker 1: when you in Gabriel was a really interesting athletic forward.
Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson showed a lot of potential as a defensive
Speaker 1: primary option. Austin Reeves, we've talked a lot about him,
Speaker 1: is a really really solid defensive player who's great at
Speaker 1: attacking closeouts and kind of a perfect fifth guy in
Speaker 1: any lineup as a glue guy. So you've got a
Speaker 1: core foundation here, but you have to make the right
Speaker 1: trades this offseason, and you have to make the right
Speaker 1: free agent signings. And what I talked about was the
Speaker 1: only way that that's going to happen is if the
Speaker 1: people in charge, and in my opinion, the three people
Speaker 1: running the Lakers are Genie Bus, Rob Polinka, and Lebron James.
Speaker 1: Those are the three people that have the most power
Speaker 1: and influence in that organization. Those three people have to
Speaker 1: all acknowledge and accept responsibility for what happened, because the
Speaker 1: first step to fixing any problem is admit that you
Speaker 1: were wrong. And the most disappointing thing over the course
Speaker 1: of this last couple of months after the Lakers season ended,
Speaker 1: is no one seems to be accepting responsibility. I've seen
Speaker 1: hit pieces directed at Frank Vogel. I've seen hit pieces
Speaker 1: directed at Russell Westbrook. Don't get me wrong, both of
Speaker 1: those guys deserve a lot of blame for what happened
Speaker 1: this year, but the most blame falls on Genie busses Lap.
Speaker 1: I'd argue she's first in blame. Rob Blink is second
Speaker 1: in blame, and Lebron is third in blame. But those
Speaker 1: three are clearly the top three in blame. Lebron wanted
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. It was a terrible idea. Rob and Genie
Speaker 1: should have shut that down. If they had smart basketball
Speaker 1: people running the team, they would have shot it down.
Speaker 1: But they don't. They don't have smart basketball people running
Speaker 1: the team. The smartest basketball people are Jesse and Joey
Speaker 1: Buss and they just run the scouting department. That's why
Speaker 1: you keep getting Austin Reeves. That's why you keep getting
Speaker 1: Tylor Horton Tucker. So why you keep getting Kyle Kuzma,
Speaker 1: So why you keep getting really quality players further down
Speaker 1: in the draft or even undrafted. Those are the only
Speaker 1: two smart basketball people in that front office. Rob Polinka,
Speaker 1: any GM worth, his salt would have immediately been like, Lebron,
Speaker 1: I understand, he's your buddy. Terrible idea. Can't go that route.
Speaker 1: But Rob Polynk is not a smart basketball guy. He's
Speaker 1: an agent who was a friend of Kobe Bryant's who
Speaker 1: got the job because Kobe Bryant went to Genie and said,
Speaker 1: please give Rob the job. That's what happened, and Genie
Speaker 1: Buss from the top down, her entire persona has consistently
Speaker 1: been favor friends and family over the most quality qualified
Speaker 1: person for the job, which is precisely how you end
Speaker 1: up in a predicament where the guy in charge of
Speaker 1: your basketball operations is not a really smart basketball guy.
Speaker 1: There is a we talked a lot about this on
Speaker 1: the show. There's a level of work diving into the
Speaker 1: film being like literally addicted to watching basketball, not just
Speaker 1: NBA basketball, but rural basketball in parts of the world
Speaker 1: that that the quality is not great, and Rob Polynk
Speaker 1: is just not That guy is more of a personality
Speaker 1: than he is a grinder at this point. That's the
Speaker 1: predicament that they're in, and what I see when I
Speaker 1: see this quote, as I see Genie Buss taking responsibility
Speaker 1: for wanting to fix the problem, but not taking responsibility
Speaker 1: for the problem. And that's precisely what's wrong, which is
Speaker 1: exactly what has manifested. She's leaning on Phil Jackson. Now
Speaker 1: she's leaning on Magic Johnson. Now. Magic Johnson literally decided
Speaker 1: he had the brilliant idea, Let's take the basketball out
Speaker 1: of Lebron James hands. We need more Lance Stevenson with
Speaker 1: the ball. We need more Michael Beasley with the ball.
Speaker 1: We need more Region Rondo with the ball, less Lebron
Speaker 1: with the ball. Please. That was his grand idea. And
Speaker 1: then then we have Kurt Rambis too, like this is.
Speaker 1: This was the other quote that Jeannie had defending Kurt
Speaker 1: Rambis in this article. Quote. I know that there's been
Speaker 1: some unfair criticism of Kurt Rambis. I want to remind
Speaker 1: people he's been involved in the NBA for close to
Speaker 1: forty years, that he has been a part of championship
Speaker 1: teams both as a player and assistant coach. He is
Speaker 1: someone I admire for his basketball knowledge. Guys, again, this
Speaker 1: is why I talked about how like I played college basketball,
Speaker 1: that's a much lower level than the NBA, obviously, but
Speaker 1: that does not mean anything about me understanding the NBA.
Speaker 1: There's any player in the NBA, any coach in the
Speaker 1: NBA that's playing basketball or being involved with basketball is
Speaker 1: not the same as being in the weeds of basketball
Speaker 1: right now. Kurt Rambis, at one point in time, was
Speaker 1: heavily involved in the NBA as a player. Then he
Speaker 1: tried as a coach and it went really poorly. Now
Speaker 1: he's a special advisor to Jennie. Do you think Kurt
Speaker 1: Rambis is on league pass watching ten games a night. No.
Speaker 1: Do you think Kurt Rambis Kurt Rambis is hanging out
Speaker 1: watching games in Europe. No. Therefore, he is not qualified
Speaker 1: to make these decisions. You need basketball people that are
Speaker 1: in the front office, that are in front of computer
Speaker 1: screens watching basketball NonStop, especially modern basketball, so they understand
Speaker 1: why things are working. That's why Kurt Rambis allegedly went
Speaker 1: into Frank Vogel's coaches meeting and literally said, quote unquote,
Speaker 1: we need to play more DeAndre Jordan's If you watched
Speaker 1: any NBA basketball over the course of the last few years,
Speaker 1: you would know that's a terrible idea. He doesn't because
Speaker 1: he didn't watch enough basketball. He should not be involved
Speaker 1: in player personnel decisions. Into Genie Busses point, just because
Speaker 1: you've been involved in the NBA doesn't mean that you're
Speaker 1: a smart basketball guy. It's not the case. There are
Speaker 1: bloggers that never have picked up a basketball in competitive
Speaker 1: situations ever in their life who understand modern NBA basketball
Speaker 1: more than Kurt Rambis does. That concept has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with your playing experience. Ideally, you want both. Ideally
Speaker 1: you want someone who played in the NBA, coached in
Speaker 1: the NBA and as a grinder. But those guys are
Speaker 1: few and far between. They're hard to find. Most players
Speaker 1: are done with their playing career and they want to
Speaker 1: work less as they should. They worked too hard when
Speaker 1: they were playing. But this whole thing just reeks to
Speaker 1: me of yet another example of the Lakers refusing to
Speaker 1: accept responsibility for why they're in their predicament, and it's
Speaker 1: exactly why. If you ask me, Jason, do you think
Speaker 1: the Lakers will get back into title contention next year?
Speaker 1: I say it's possible, but not likely because in order
Speaker 1: for it to happen, you need competence. In hoping for
Speaker 1: competence from this Laker front office as a fool's errand
Speaker 1: all right, guys, that is all I have for tonight.
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate your guys support. As always, remember a
Speaker 1: couple of housekeeping details. We will be going live every
Speaker 1: single night this week, so come hang out after the
Speaker 1: biggest games and we will be breaking them down live
Speaker 1: here on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes
Speaker 1: YouTube channel, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter, and
Speaker 1: make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason
Speaker 1: lt so you can see the video content that I
Speaker 1: do to back up the things that I talked about
Speaker 1: on the show. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys
Speaker 1: support and we will see you tomorrow. The Volume