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Speaker 1: welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys are having a great week
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Speaker 1: Angeles Clippers today with the full seas in preview. They
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Speaker 1: at the end of these shows last min not least
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Speaker 1: some basketball so quick. Little offseason recap for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: They lost Eric Gordon. They added Kenyon Martin Jr. In
Speaker 1: a trade from the Rockets. A super athletic forward. He
Speaker 1: averaged thirteen points and six rebounds per game last year.
Speaker 1: He was an ok shooter when he was wide open,
Speaker 1: fifty two point four percent effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoots. Not great in other situations. He
Speaker 1: was forty three percent in effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 1: guarded catching shoots, and he was zero for five on
Speaker 1: off the dribble jump shots. But he was one of
Speaker 1: the best rim finishers in the league. Last year. He
Speaker 1: shot seventy percent at the rim. He made three hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty seven shots at the rim last year. That
Speaker 1: was the fifteenth most in the entire NBA. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, there were only nine players in the
Speaker 1: last year who made at least two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: shots in the restricted area on at least seventy five
Speaker 1: percent shooting, and it was eight centers all dudes who
Speaker 1: are six to eleven in taller, and Keny Martin junior
Speaker 1: at six foot seven. So, especially on this particular team
Speaker 1: that struggles with getting to the rim consistently and finishing
Speaker 1: there consistently, I think Kenyon Martin can help there a lot,
Speaker 1: especially as a cutter working off the ball. With all
Speaker 1: of the ball handling and shooting that the Clippers have,
Speaker 1: they also drafted Kobe Brown. He's a big, rim pressuring forward.
Speaker 1: He's a little on the short side. He's only six
Speaker 1: six and a half without shoes, so he's about you
Speaker 1: call that six to seven and a half six to
Speaker 1: eight ish with shoes. But he's got super long arms.
Speaker 1: He's got a seven foot one wing span, and he
Speaker 1: weighs two hundred and fifty two pounds. He's a big dude,
Speaker 1: and he was one of the most efficient post players
Speaker 1: in the country last year at Missouri. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, only two hundred and forty eight players in
Speaker 1: the entire country and all of Division one basketball ran
Speaker 1: at least one hundred post ups, and Kobe Brown ranked
Speaker 1: third on that list out of two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: eight players, scoring one point two points per possession. He's
Speaker 1: got this really quick baseline spin where he'll kind of
Speaker 1: catch and look towards the middle, spin back towards the baseline,
Speaker 1: hit you with that baseline elbow, kind of gets away
Speaker 1: with a little bit of a chicken wing, which he'll
Speaker 1: continue to get away with at the next level, and
Speaker 1: then basically if you cut him off, he'll spin back middle.
Speaker 1: But he's not looking to take tough shots. He's not
Speaker 1: taking a ton of hooks, he's not taking a ton
Speaker 1: of fadeaways. It is a power post game. It's all
Speaker 1: about positioning and ceiling himself inside of an area where
Speaker 1: he could rise up and quickly finish. I think it'll
Speaker 1: serve him well attacking switches at the NBA level. I
Speaker 1: don't think he'll have the same strength advantage obviously when
Speaker 1: he gets to the NBA level going against grown men,
Speaker 1: but in switching situations or when he does have a mismatch,
Speaker 1: maybe a cross match and transition, he's going to have
Speaker 1: opportunities to beat players in the post and those quick
Speaker 1: duckins and passes over the top, he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to quickly finish. And he actually shot the ball
Speaker 1: really well last year as well, not so much early
Speaker 1: in his college career, but really well last year six
Speaker 1: in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots,
Speaker 1: seventy nine percent when he was unguarded, and even fifty
Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: He had lots of rescue possessions last year where he'd
Speaker 1: end up with the ball with four or five seconds
Speaker 1: left on the shot clock and he would just go
Speaker 1: to a quick, wonderable pull up. And because he's got
Speaker 1: good long arms and he gets good lift on his
Speaker 1: jump shot, he could just rise over the top of
Speaker 1: guys in fire and and that was kind of like
Speaker 1: a nice little release valve last year for Missouri. And
Speaker 1: then obviously with his physical tools, with the super long
Speaker 1: arms and his athleticism and strength, he's capable of being
Speaker 1: an impact defender, especially with the Clippers who do a
Speaker 1: lot of switching one through four. So I think I
Speaker 1: think Kobe Brown's gonna be an interesting player for the
Speaker 1: Clippers in the long run. The interesting thing there is
Speaker 1: going to be there just super deep at forward and
Speaker 1: whether or not he's gonna be able to get minutes.
Speaker 1: So let's take a look at the depth chart really quick.
Speaker 1: So I guard Russell Westbrook Norman Powell, Terrence Mann, Bones Island,
Speaker 1: and Jason Preston. And at the forward position, again, this
Speaker 1: is probably the deepest core of forwards in the league. Kawhi, Leonard,
Speaker 1: Paul George, Marcus Morris, Nicholas Patoom, Robert Coveyon A Mere Coffee,
Speaker 1: Kobe Brown, Kenyon, Martin Junr and Brandon Boston. And then
Speaker 1: they're bigs right now with Vika Zubac, Mason plum Lee
Speaker 1: and Musa Diabate. So I'm relatively certain their starting lineup
Speaker 1: will look like what it did in Game one versus
Speaker 1: the Suns last year. So it's probably gonna be Kawhi, Leonard, Paul, George,
Speaker 1: Nick Batoum, Russell Westbrook and if you Ka Zubak. Now
Speaker 1: what I would like to see them do in the
Speaker 1: long run is especially since Batoum kind of started to
Speaker 1: show some signs of decline in that series. Didn't attack
Speaker 1: closeouts very well. He was like just barely over half
Speaker 1: of a point spot up situations, not the same defender
Speaker 1: that he used to be as he's starting to get older.
Speaker 1: I'd actually like to see them go with Terrence Mann
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup. I think there's this thing with
Speaker 1: Tyleru in general, where he seems to think of those
Speaker 1: two as kind of like one or the other. Like,
Speaker 1: if he's feeling Russ, he'll stay with Russ. Man'll come
Speaker 1: off for the bench for him, and then he might
Speaker 1: close with Man over Russ if it gets to that
Speaker 1: point at the end of the game and Russ isn't
Speaker 1: really all that engaged. That seems to be kind of
Speaker 1: the way Tylu sees it. I actually think I go
Speaker 1: with both of them. I think, first of all, that's
Speaker 1: your five best players. If you're ranking the players on
Speaker 1: this team, Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook are are in
Speaker 1: that list, right, Like it's Terrence Man, Russell Westbrook, and
Speaker 1: i Vica Zubac are your third, fourth and fifth best
Speaker 1: players probably right. Norman Powell could be in that discussion,
Speaker 1: but I'd say Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook, right. So
Speaker 1: if that's the case, you're allowing yourself to play your
Speaker 1: best five guys. You're adding two rim pressure guys in
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and Terrence Man to kind of compliment Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard and Paul George as you know, guys who are
Speaker 1: more driving to look for pull up jump shots, right,
Speaker 1: they're driving to get positioned for pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: and so getting a couple of guys who pressure the
Speaker 1: rim well. Also they both both of those guys can
Speaker 1: switch on to forge defensively and quiet and Paul George
Speaker 1: can switch onto guards defensively. I also like the idea
Speaker 1: of being more aggressive. This is a defense that did
Speaker 1: not force as many turnovers as they probably could last
Speaker 1: year and didn't get out in transition as much as
Speaker 1: they probably could last year, and so I would in
Speaker 1: the long run if I was running this team, I
Speaker 1: would start Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook together with Paul George,
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubak. So, just so you know,
Speaker 1: that lineup played zero minutes last year, so it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see if we get a chance to see
Speaker 1: it this year. Before we go into the offensive ended four,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk really quickly about load management, so
Speaker 1: Tyleru referenced this in I believe in the postseason presser
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, But basically he wants them to
Speaker 1: take the regular season more seriously this year, and I
Speaker 1: think that's a good idea on a bunch of different levels.
Speaker 1: I think, especially when you're integrating a newer piece like
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, continuity is going to be an important advantage.
Speaker 1: Most importantly, like the load management thing, you got to
Speaker 1: look at it in the bigger picture. There is no
Speaker 1: evidence that load management actually prevents injuries from taking place, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean one of the best case studies of
Speaker 1: that is the Clippers. They're incredibly careful about making sure
Speaker 1: that their stars don't play too much, and those two
Speaker 1: guys missed a third of the season. Basically, they combined
Speaker 1: to miss fifty six games last year. And as we
Speaker 1: look back at the last three playoff runs that they've
Speaker 1: been in, actually four playoff runs, so we have this year,
Speaker 1: neither Kawhi Leonard or Paul George were able to finish
Speaker 1: a playoff run. Right. Last year, Paul George is healthy,
Speaker 1: but then is a late COVID scratch, but I won't
Speaker 1: blame him for that. But only one of them is
Speaker 1: healthy for a potential playoff run, right, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: only one of them is healthy, right, because Kahi Leonard
Speaker 1: gets hurt in the towards the end of the Jazz series, Right,
Speaker 1: So Paul George ends up finishing that playoff run by himself.
Speaker 1: And in twenty twenty, both Paul George and Kwhi Leonard
Speaker 1: were available, they just didn't play well, right, So I've
Speaker 1: got one time in four postseasons that both of them
Speaker 1: were actually able to finish the playoff run. So load
Speaker 1: management's not working for them. And you know, I can't
Speaker 1: say for certain if you know, playing more frequently in
Speaker 1: the regular season and conditioning yourself for the playoff run
Speaker 1: is actually a good thing or whether it would work,
Speaker 1: but it's worth a try at this point because the
Speaker 1: status quo is not working, and so I would like
Speaker 1: to see the Clippers attack the season with more urgency
Speaker 1: throughout hunt for a higher seed. Then you might be
Speaker 1: able to limit minutes in the first round and not
Speaker 1: have to push your guys to a crazy intense level
Speaker 1: in the first round series against Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Right, Like,
Speaker 1: there's advantages to taking the regular season more seriously, not
Speaker 1: to mention continuity, helping Rustlern to fit in with this group.
Speaker 1: That's the way that I would approach the season. I
Speaker 1: believe that's the approach that Tyler's going for, and if so,
Speaker 1: it could be potentially a sign of things changing with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. All right, let's talk about the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor for a minute now. Again, it's hard
Speaker 1: to read too much into these numbers because Kawhi and
Speaker 1: PG missed fifty six games combined and Russell Westber came
Speaker 1: into the offense at the end of the season. But
Speaker 1: they were seventeenth in offensive rating last year, seventeenth and
Speaker 1: half court offense according to Cleaning the Glass Heavy into
Speaker 1: matchup attacking, they were top ten ISO and top ten
Speaker 1: post up team. This is not a team that runs
Speaker 1: as much pick and roll as the other teams in
Speaker 1: the league. This is not a team that methodically looks
Speaker 1: to pick you apart with ball movement and high level playmaking.
Speaker 1: This is a team that runs some sort of action,
Speaker 1: typically a pick and roll or a dribble handoff or
Speaker 1: an off screen action off the ball to try to
Speaker 1: get one of their ball handlers Kawhi Leonard or Paul
Speaker 1: George in advantage situation, so they can look for pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots, and if there's a switch, then they
Speaker 1: will go to facing up, ice, isolating or posting up
Speaker 1: in those specific situations. It's kind of a brute force
Speaker 1: offense in that sense, and they were good at it.
Speaker 1: They were the sixth best post up efficiency team in
Speaker 1: the league. Both Kawhi and Paul George were incredibly efficient
Speaker 1: all play types. Both of them were well over a
Speaker 1: point per possession in pick and rolls, post ups, and ISOs.
Speaker 1: But again, that's their bread and butter. This is not
Speaker 1: a team that moves the ball a lot. They were
Speaker 1: twenty fourth and assists last year. They do not you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, they don't have like a really high
Speaker 1: level playmaker that's looking to pick you apart and make
Speaker 1: super high level reads. It's very heavy a matchup attacking offense, right.
Speaker 1: As a result of that, they do suffer a little
Speaker 1: bit from the brute force offense is as you expect
Speaker 1: to see in the regular season. Right Like in the
Speaker 1: dregs of the regular season, they're not gonna get as
Speaker 1: many high quality easy shots as the other teams in
Speaker 1: the league, so their offensive ratings are going to struggle.
Speaker 1: But what do I always say about brute force offense
Speaker 1: is they typically go up a level when they get
Speaker 1: to the postseason. And that's what happened. Like you gotta remember,
Speaker 1: no Paul George in the Sun Series and you're still
Speaker 1: integrating Russ. But Kawhi is still just a machine that
Speaker 1: can get to his spots right, and in the same
Speaker 1: way that like you know, a set offense and like
Speaker 1: ball player movement offense can get to the postseason and
Speaker 1: start to struggle a little bit as teams scout and
Speaker 1: play harder. Right, you get the exact opposite effect with
Speaker 1: brute force. A player that is really good at getting
Speaker 1: to his spots and taking and making tough shots, his
Speaker 1: impact stays at the same or improves when he gets
Speaker 1: to the postseason. And so like that's what you saw.
Speaker 1: Kawhi is just bigger, stronger and a better athlete than
Speaker 1: most of the forwards in the league, so he can
Speaker 1: get to his spots and take and make the shots
Speaker 1: that he's accustomed to making. Russell west Brook, you know,
Speaker 1: Game one of that Sun series, grabs five offensive rebounds
Speaker 1: because he's just bigger and stronger and a better athlete
Speaker 1: than most of the guards on the floor. He ended
Speaker 1: up getting a massive offensive rebound that he kicked out
Speaker 1: to Kawhi on the right wing for basically what was
Speaker 1: the dagger in Game one when the Clippers got that win,
Speaker 1: and then on the defensive end, they upped their physicality
Speaker 1: and turned finesse pull up shooters and kd Into and
Speaker 1: Devin Booker into players that weren't as efficient as you're
Speaker 1: accustomed to seeing them, and they ended up getting a
Speaker 1: big win, and they were actually up by thirteen in
Speaker 1: Game two, but obviously the Suns end up playing the
Speaker 1: game out, Kawhi Leonard gets hurt, Russ has to revert
Speaker 1: back to basically on ball Russ, and then things kind
Speaker 1: of fall apart from there. But like again, like that's
Speaker 1: whenever I gauge offenses that take a more brute force
Speaker 1: approach to thing things, you got to kind of differentiate
Speaker 1: between regular season success and postseason success. This is a
Speaker 1: Clippers team that, when push comes to shove, is really
Speaker 1: difficult to guard, regardless of what the offensive ratings says.
Speaker 1: And we didn't even get Paul George in that, we
Speaker 1: didn't even get to see as much Terrence Man and
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook alongside of those guys, obviously we got to
Speaker 1: see zero of that. But like, I think they're capable
Speaker 1: of being a much better regular season offense as well.
Speaker 1: But don't be dissuaded by low regular season offensive ratings
Speaker 1: from into thinking that this team is easy to guard,
Speaker 1: because they definitely are not the biggest area of opportunity
Speaker 1: for this offense is rim pressure. They ranked twenty fifth
Speaker 1: in the NBA in restricted area makes and that's a
Speaker 1: big part of what limits their ball movement and efficiency
Speaker 1: in general and offense. Right, Like, they don't get the offense,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't get the defense into rotation as
Speaker 1: often as they probably should, and they really should. Like this,
Speaker 1: this Clippers team has a shit ton of shooting, like
Speaker 1: down the roster, and it's not just the role players,
Speaker 1: it's the stars too, Like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
Speaker 1: are both deadly spot up guys, and so when you
Speaker 1: have Russell Westbrook running pick and roller trying to post
Speaker 1: up or beat someone off the dribble, you've got a
Speaker 1: lot more space to operate than you see elsewhere in
Speaker 1: the league. They were the second best spot out team
Speaker 1: in the entire NBA, second only to the Philadelphia seventy
Speaker 1: six ers. And so that's where I think playing more
Speaker 1: Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook with the Stars could help
Speaker 1: a lot, because this is a team that doesn't generate
Speaker 1: a lot in rim pressure and doesn't get the defense
Speaker 1: into rotation and play drive and kick as much as
Speaker 1: they should given the amount of shooting they have. So
Speaker 1: how about you get Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook with
Speaker 1: room to operate beating guys off the dribble, get more
Speaker 1: catch and shoot opportunities for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Speaker 1: Paul George in particular can struggle with efficiency because he
Speaker 1: almost solely takes extremely difficult shots, so getting him more
Speaker 1: off ball opportunities could be really good. Playing more driving
Speaker 1: kick basketball, I think that is when the Clippers are
Speaker 1: at their best. And so when they use the tougher
Speaker 1: shot making as a counter and as like a late
Speaker 1: clock rescue situation type of thing, and rely more on
Speaker 1: their aggregate ball handling and shooting to carry them in
Speaker 1: the rest of these possessions, I think that's a better
Speaker 1: way for them to play offensively. And that's another reason
Speaker 1: why I'd like to see them start Terrence Man and
Speaker 1: Russell west Brooke together on the defensive end of the four.
Speaker 1: And again, these are you know, these numbers are a
Speaker 1: little bit limited because we had Kawhi and Paul George
Speaker 1: missed so many games, and Russell Westbrook came in late.
Speaker 1: But they were seventeenth in defensive rating last year fourteenth,
Speaker 1: and half court defense according to cleaning the glass eighteenth,
Speaker 1: and protecting the paint opponent's points in the paint per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions, seventeenth, in protecting the three point line
Speaker 1: three pointers made opponent three pointers made per one hundred
Speaker 1: possessions twenty fourth, and first forcing turnovers, and they were
Speaker 1: sixteenth in keeping teams from scoring in transition. So they
Speaker 1: were basically below average in every major defensive category except
Speaker 1: for two. They were really good at rebounding. There were
Speaker 1: seventh in defensive rebounding, and again a lot of that
Speaker 1: is wing athleticism and being able to get contested rebounds
Speaker 1: that come long out to the perimeter right. And then
Speaker 1: they didn't foul. They committed the seventh fewest. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: they put opponents on the free throw line the seventh
Speaker 1: fewest times per one hundred possessions in the NBA. But
Speaker 1: this is another reason why I liked the idea of
Speaker 1: Terrence Man and Russell West were playing together. We mentioned
Speaker 1: this earlier, but improving your point of attack aggressiveness. You know,
Speaker 1: Zubo's actually a pretty decent rim protector. He's not great like,
Speaker 1: I don't think you're ever going to be a dominant
Speaker 1: rim defense, but he's actually a pretty solid rim protector.
Speaker 1: And I love the idea of switching one through four
Speaker 1: with man Russ, you know, Kawhi and PG even with
Speaker 1: some of the other guys coming in, guys like Norman Powell, right,
Speaker 1: he's a guy that can switch on to bigger players.
Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about kJ Martin earlier as
Speaker 1: a guy who's got a lot of athleticism at the
Speaker 1: forward position. This is a team that can do a
Speaker 1: lot of switching, be very aggressive at the point of
Speaker 1: attack with their strength and athleticism, be very physical at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, knowing that you've got Zu back
Speaker 1: on the back line, and I think they can force
Speaker 1: a lot more turnovers and get out and transition more.
Speaker 1: This is a team that only they were eighteenth and
Speaker 1: transition points scored offensively last year, so they did not
Speaker 1: get out in transition a lot last year. With guys
Speaker 1: like Russell Westbrook and Terence Man on the roster and
Speaker 1: kJ Martin, they should be looking to get out and
Speaker 1: transition more, and so I'd like for them to be
Speaker 1: more more physically aggressive. You know, a point of attack defense,
Speaker 1: trying to force turnovers and get out in transition to
Speaker 1: supplement their half court offense. So the big silver lining
Speaker 1: for Clippers fans when Paul George and Kawhi Leonards shared
Speaker 1: the floor last year, the Clippers outscored opponents by eight
Speaker 1: point three points per one hundred possessions and they were
Speaker 1: a lead offensively. They had an offensive rating of one
Speaker 1: twenty point three when the two of those guys were together.
Speaker 1: So this team is still super dangerous when they're healthy.
Speaker 1: It's just, you know, we shouldn't bet on them being healthy. Like,
Speaker 1: like we said, there's been one time in the last
Speaker 1: four seasons that the two of them have been healthy
Speaker 1: for a playoff run right and throughout the playoff rount.
Speaker 1: So it's not something we should bet on, but we
Speaker 1: have to be prepared for that as a possibility because
Speaker 1: if we get to a second round series and Kauhi
Speaker 1: and Paul George are healthy and they're going against anybody
Speaker 1: in the league, they are capable of winning. Now, if
Speaker 1: I had to make a prediction, obviously, I think it's
Speaker 1: more likely that they end up having injury issues, like
Speaker 1: chances are they'll probably end up as a bottom half seed,
Speaker 1: like in the five to eight range, and they'll probably
Speaker 1: end up losing in the first round with one of
Speaker 1: their stars. That's what's probably going to happen. But we
Speaker 1: always have to be prepared for the reality of what
Speaker 1: can happen when Kawhila Leonard and Paul George are healthy.
Speaker 1: One last note on Russell Westbrook because obviously I talked
Speaker 1: a lot of positive with Russell Westbrook today and he
Speaker 1: deserves He played really good basketball with the Clippers, and
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I emphasize that up front,
Speaker 1: but I want to push back on one specific idea,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of a narrative that came out
Speaker 1: of the whole Russell Westbrook trade, and most of it
Speaker 1: was coming from you know, you know, like obviously, the
Speaker 1: Lakers have a very loud and obnoxious fan base and
Speaker 1: a lot of like Laker non Laker fans like to
Speaker 1: have fun at their expense, so that's part of this, right,
Speaker 1: But there was this narrative that like, Russell Westbrook succeeded
Speaker 1: with the Clippers because they let Russ be Russ and
Speaker 1: they didn't downtrod him with external pressure, and like it
Speaker 1: was all the Lakers' fault that Russ struggled, and as
Speaker 1: someone who literally covered every single game during the Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook era in a Lakers jersey, I want to emphasize
Speaker 1: that that's very much not what happened. Okay, yes, it
Speaker 1: was a It was an awful basketball fit. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt that Russ on the Lakers was a bad fit, right,
Speaker 1: Like him and Lebron were kind of redundant, right as
Speaker 1: like big, rim pressuring playmakers. Right the Lakers before the
Speaker 1: trade deadline had no shooting, so Russ didn't have much
Speaker 1: space to operate. Like playing Russell Westbrook in lineups with
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis, you know, especially as declined
Speaker 1: jump shooters, not a great idea. That first year. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of ad at the four with like DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan on the floor with Russell Westbrook. So like, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, there were a lot of like fit
Speaker 1: things that were not great. And then you go to
Speaker 1: the Clippers and it was an obvious fit, right, Like
Speaker 1: they needed a rim pressuring playmaker because they didn't have one.
Speaker 1: They're the second best spot up team in the league, right,
Speaker 1: so they've got a lot more space for Russ to
Speaker 1: operate right, like they obviously were a much better fit.
Speaker 1: And then just in general in terms of call it,
Speaker 1: you know, societal pressure pressure from the fan base. The
Speaker 1: Clippers were a lower pressure situation, so there's no doubt
Speaker 1: that it was a better fit with the Clippers. But
Speaker 1: like to be clear, Russ also started doing things with
Speaker 1: the Clippers that he didn't do with the Lakers. Like
Speaker 1: Russ was awesome defensively, especially in the first half of
Speaker 1: that Sun series before he had to start doing everything
Speaker 1: on the offensive end, like he was incredible, you didn't
Speaker 1: get that with the Lakers, I promise you. He had
Speaker 1: thirteen steals and blocks in the five game series against
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix ball handlers attempted thirteen shots in
Speaker 1: pick and roll with Russ as the primary defender, and
Speaker 1: they went just three for thirteen on those shots. His
Speaker 1: back pressure was insane. He would basically get in a
Speaker 1: trailing position behind the screen and explode, jump off of
Speaker 1: his left leg and just swat or contest everything from behind.
Speaker 1: He like legit God in Devin Booker's head in the
Speaker 1: early part of that series forced him into missus inside
Speaker 1: the three point line. Like Russ was downright disruptive on
Speaker 1: the defensive end in a Clippers jersey in a way
Speaker 1: that he was not with the Lakers. Okay, like, he
Speaker 1: crashed the offensive glass much more with the Clippers. He
Speaker 1: had eleven offensive rebound putbacks in twenty six games in
Speaker 1: a Clippers jersey. He had thirteen in fifty two games
Speaker 1: in a Lakers jersey. So like, he was roughly twice
Speaker 1: as active on the offensive glass when he went to
Speaker 1: the Clippers than he was with the Lakers. He logged
Speaker 1: eight rollman possessions in twenty six games in a Clippers jersey.
Speaker 1: He logged just four in fifty two games in a
Speaker 1: Lakers jersey. So like, even shot way better. He shot
Speaker 1: forty nine percent in effective field goal percentage in a
Speaker 1: Clippers jersey, forty two percent in a Lakers jersey. So like, again,
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Russell Westbrook when he's playing
Speaker 1: winning basketball. Obviously, it was a frustrating experience with him
Speaker 1: in a Lakers jersey. But like, I've always been a
Speaker 1: fan of Russell Westbrook coming up in the league. It
Speaker 1: just was frustrating watching him in this transition, especially for
Speaker 1: a team that I was specifically rooting for. But when
Speaker 1: Russ is playing winning basketball, he's actually a ton of
Speaker 1: fun to watch and someone that I'm rooting for. But
Speaker 1: let's get one thing clear. Yes, the Lakers and Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook were not a great basketball fit, but Russ also
Speaker 1: shares a lot of the blame for not being willing
Speaker 1: to do the things that the Lakers needed him to do,
Speaker 1: and then he suddenly ended up doing those things with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. And so again, I'm happy for Russ. I'm
Speaker 1: happy that he's happier with the Clippers. I think it's
Speaker 1: a much better basketball fit, and I think he can
Speaker 1: help them as a basketball team and potentially potentially help
Speaker 1: them win a championship. But let's be clear, he wasn't
Speaker 1: doing that stuff for the Lakers. Okay, so let's not
Speaker 1: rewrite history and act like it was the Lakers' fault
Speaker 1: that Russell Westbrook wasn't playing as good as high level
Speaker 1: of basketball as he did with the Clippers. And honestly,
Speaker 1: like it's very possible that the embarrassment from that situation
Speaker 1: for things going the way they did with the Lakers
Speaker 1: that might very well have been the reason why he
Speaker 1: finally accepted that he needed to embrace those things to
Speaker 1: a greater extent. All right, let's move on to the
Speaker 1: mailback questions. First one from Logan, what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on Shaden Sharp? Do you think he could be a
Speaker 1: future first option for the Blazers with Scoot as the
Speaker 1: Westbrook type of guy. So I am not as high
Speaker 1: on Shad and Sharp as everyone else. I watched him
Speaker 1: in Summer League Live again this year, and I watched
Speaker 1: him last year as well, but this year, I like
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a moment in that
Speaker 1: first Rockets game, the game where Jabaris Smith Junior, where
Speaker 1: he hit the game winner, There was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a moment at the end of that game where
Speaker 1: Shaden Sharp started to kind of like he hit a
Speaker 1: really nice turnaround fade away. He started like beating people
Speaker 1: off the dribble. He got ignited by a transition dunk
Speaker 1: he dunked on. I think it was the that big
Speaker 1: dude who was playing for the Lakers G League team
Speaker 1: last year, if I remember correctly. I can't remember his name,
Speaker 1: but he dunked on somebody and got super invinted it
Speaker 1: and like suddenly like unlocked his downhill aggressiveness and he
Speaker 1: started beating people off the dribble and get into the
Speaker 1: rim and he made like a nice little turnaround fadaway.
Speaker 1: He's got that potential. And obviously, like when you combine
Speaker 1: his athleticism with his touch and some of the ability
Speaker 1: that he has, there's there's going to be games where
Speaker 1: you watch Shaden sharp and he looks like you know,
Speaker 1: Vince Carter in his prime. Right. But the reality is
Speaker 1: is like I don't see enough of that like overwhelming
Speaker 1: confidence and audacity and competitiveness to be like a future
Speaker 1: first option personally. That's not to say it can't happen,
Speaker 1: but like, like I said, we had a mailback question
Speaker 1: a few weeks back, it might have been last week,
Speaker 1: talking about like what it takes for a player to
Speaker 1: become a star, right, And in that I remember I
Speaker 1: talked about like like loving basketball, hating losing, overwhelming competitiveness
Speaker 1: and audacity, meaning like just like an overwhelming sense of
Speaker 1: self confidence, right, And like that's the thing is, like
Speaker 1: I think Shaden can be lacking in some of those
Speaker 1: specific areas. And maybe that's just young kid, and maybe
Speaker 1: that bloss later on and we'll see that from him.
Speaker 1: But like if I had to guess between Shad and
Speaker 1: sharp being like a really good number three or four
Speaker 1: in the long run, or being like a number one
Speaker 1: for a team that's contending for championships. I lean more
Speaker 1: towards the former. I think I think he's a guy
Speaker 1: that's going to be a role player in the big picture.
Speaker 1: And for the record, I think there's almost a zero
Speaker 1: percent chance that'll that he'll be better than Scoot Henderson
Speaker 1: in the long run. Next mail back question, do you
Speaker 1: think the Pistons have a chance of making the play
Speaker 1: in or even the playoffs with Kate Cunningham coming back?
Speaker 1: So I picked this question for a very specific reason.
Speaker 1: Those of you guys have been following the show for
Speaker 1: a while know this. But like typically speaking, it's difficult
Speaker 1: to cover the entire NBA, and the way that I
Speaker 1: choose to cover it is to primarily focus on the
Speaker 1: relevant teams, the playoff team. So kind of like this list,
Speaker 1: like we're doing season previews for the top twenty teams right,
Speaker 1: Like I don't have the time, with having to cover
Speaker 1: everything else, to devote you know, eight hours in a
Speaker 1: day to studying film and getting ready to cover the
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons this year, And like, if you are a
Speaker 1: Pistons fan and you're looking for coverage, like you're gonna
Speaker 1: get occasional coverage here. Like I'm obviously if they turn
Speaker 1: out to be relevant, I'll be covering them closely. But
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna watch them, and I'm going to, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll probably watch like ten to fifteen Pistons
Speaker 1: games this year, and I'm gonna dive into Kid Cunningham
Speaker 1: pick and roll numbers and watch his shot creation development.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk about caid and his development. But
Speaker 1: like we're just not gonna cover them particularly closely because
Speaker 1: they're in the lower tier of you know, teams in
Speaker 1: terms of overall interest, right, And it's just bad business,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, for us to do that.
Speaker 1: But like we are gonna cover him to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: just like we will with any of the other young
Speaker 1: players in the league. Right, Like we've done a lot
Speaker 1: of talking about Jabari Smith Junior lately as a young
Speaker 1: player that I really like. I really like Kid Cunningham
Speaker 1: is the big playmaking guard. Right. But the truth is
Speaker 1: I didn't watch the Pistons enough last year to have
Speaker 1: a really strong opinion about them, and so I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how I feel about their chances to make
Speaker 1: the play in I mean, obviously, I think they're probably
Speaker 1: not going to because of the twenty teams that are
Speaker 1: in front of them, but like, obviously it's on the table,
Speaker 1: it's a possibility. And with Kay, it's not just Ky Cunningham,
Speaker 1: Like I'm also blanking on his name now, but the
Speaker 1: guard they drafted last year, the one that I talked
Speaker 1: about all the time, that's my favorite. But I really like, uh,
Speaker 1: it's killing me, Like I I have the weirdest memory
Speaker 1: with this kind of stuff, Like sometimes I'm like laser
Speaker 1: focused and can remember everything, but like occasional player name,
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy, thank you occasional player and player names
Speaker 1: I just completely blank on. But Jade and Ivy is
Speaker 1: another super super exciting young player on that on that roster.
Speaker 1: So I'll watch him a few times. We are gonna
Speaker 1: cover him, but don't expect too much Pissons coverage this year,
Speaker 1: to be honest, unless they start, you know, being a
Speaker 1: five hundred team. Last male back question rank shake Gilesxander, Alexander,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker, and Jason Tatum purely as play purely as
Speaker 1: players right now, not counting their previous team in playoffs.
Speaker 1: So in my player rankings, which were obviously factoring in
Speaker 1: previous team in playoff success, I had Tatum above Booker
Speaker 1: and Booker above Shay Right, so I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: Tatum at the top. I just think he's so much
Speaker 1: more impactful defensively than Devin Booker and Shake Gilds Alexander,
Speaker 1: and he honestly, I think, you know, he gets a
Speaker 1: lot of criticism, as he should, because he's made some
Speaker 1: especially last year in terms of a little bit of
Speaker 1: a decline and defensive commitment and a big decline in
Speaker 1: his overall shot variety, which I think hurt his efficiency
Speaker 1: in the playoffs a little bit. He deserves some criticism,
Speaker 1: but I think he gets too much criticism, and he
Speaker 1: still is a guy that's had a lot more big
Speaker 1: playoff moments than people realize, and is still very very,
Speaker 1: very very impactful on both ends of the floor and
Speaker 1: at the end of my Heat series, like he just
Speaker 1: was better than Jimmy Butler at the end of the series,
Speaker 1: right until he got hurt. So I'm I'm pretty high
Speaker 1: on Jason Tatum. The real question would be would I
Speaker 1: be willing to put Shay over Devin Booker, and Shay's
Speaker 1: a really gifted three level shot creator. I think he's
Speaker 1: a higher level, like overall half court surgeon than Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: That's like what I want to think. Like, if I
Speaker 1: wanted to try to make a case for Shae, that's
Speaker 1: where it would start. I also think Shay is a
Speaker 1: better defensive player than Devin Booker. But here's the reality.
Speaker 1: In the first nine playoff games this year. Now, Devin
Speaker 1: Booker did struggle in the final two games of the
Speaker 1: Nugget series, but this is crazy. In the first nine
Speaker 1: games of the playoff run this year, Devin Booker thirty
Speaker 1: seven points per game, five rebounds, seven point four assists,
Speaker 1: sixty two percent from the field, fifty one percent from three,
Speaker 1: and eighty seven percent from the line. So, like, feels
Speaker 1: kind of stupid for me to put Shae over Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna keep him in the same order that
Speaker 1: I did in my player rankings. I think Tatum is
Speaker 1: better than Booker, and I think Booker's better than Shae
Speaker 1: for right now, All right, guys, that's all I have
Speaker 1: for today is always I sincerely appreciate you supporting the show.
Speaker 1: We will be back tomorrow with number eight. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to drop mail back questions in the YouTube comments and
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys tomorrow. The volume