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Speaker 1: All right, So, um, as you can see, I officially

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Speaker 1: have a microphone. I'm gonna be trying this Today's show,

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Speaker 1: whatever you wanna call it, is gonna be above all else,

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Speaker 1: kind of a guinea pig of sorts, because I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: be trying a couple of different formats as I released this.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do the live video obviously what you guys

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Speaker 1: are part of, and then I'm going to rerelease it,

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Speaker 1: hopefully as a podcast. And this initial recording that I'm

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Speaker 1: using is going to be my guinea pig for that. Um.

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Speaker 1: But I'm also planning on covering some basketball stuff and

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Speaker 1: going over what I've got planned for the next few

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Speaker 1: months as we head into the off season. So uh,

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Speaker 1: first and foremost, today I'm going to be doing I

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Speaker 1: did a list of my potential top ten players in

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Speaker 1: the NBA going into next season, and I listed the

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Speaker 1: nine four sure names, meaning that there's one spot available

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Speaker 1: for you know what, you might consider that last top

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Speaker 1: ten player in the NBA. I know this kind of

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Speaker 1: stuff seems silly, especially to the super super casual fans,

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Speaker 1: but to me, I think it's a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, if you think of the

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Speaker 1: NBA like a horse race that effectively pauses every offseason,

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Speaker 1: and then when we start playing, everyone kind of jockeys

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Speaker 1: for position as as they go up the NBA leader board.

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Speaker 1: These kinds of conversations, to me, are what make this

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Speaker 1: league so interesting. It's the only league league in all

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Speaker 1: of sports, in my opinion, and all of team sports,

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Speaker 1: where a single player can have such a huge impact

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Speaker 1: on whether or not a team wins. And I think

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Speaker 1: that talking about the proverbial horse race, so to speak,

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Speaker 1: is what makes it so much fun. Um. And I

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Speaker 1: think that it's a it's an honor to call yourself

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Speaker 1: one of the ten best basketball players in the world.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's a position that we shouldn't take

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Speaker 1: very lightly. I think it's something that we should think

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Speaker 1: hard about and uh, you know, pay additional and extra

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Speaker 1: respect to those players who are considered in that tier

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Speaker 1: of players. UM. And then also I plan on doing

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Speaker 1: a little bit of Lebron and MJ stuff. I don't

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Speaker 1: want to go too far into it. I talked about

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Speaker 1: that that this morning, But the reality is is that

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Speaker 1: so many people are so entrenched in their position on

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Speaker 1: the Lebron MJ debate that it's effectively a giant waste

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Speaker 1: of everyone's time, because I saw someone this morning say that, uh,

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Speaker 1: someone who works in the media say that the uh,

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Speaker 1: there is a gap in the career accomplishments of Lebron

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Speaker 1: and Michael Jordan's and that gap, in and of itself

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Speaker 1: standing alone, that gap is a Hall of Famer and

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Speaker 1: in addition to being just absolutely not true. Um, it

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Speaker 1: just goes to show you that people that are on

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Speaker 1: that side of the debate are very well entrenched. And

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Speaker 1: then you know, for me, as a guy who's a

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Speaker 1: fan of Lebron, I didn't think before this title, I

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Speaker 1: didn't think he had any case, any legitimate case at

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Speaker 1: that um, as far as that goes to making that claim.

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Speaker 1: And now I think that he does have a case.

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Speaker 1: But it just goes to show you that even before

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Speaker 1: this title, there were large groups of people who thought

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Speaker 1: that Lebron was the runaway, you know, greatest basketball player

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Speaker 1: of all time, which just goes to show you that

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Speaker 1: everyone's very entrenched, and that makes it extremely discouraging to discuss.

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Speaker 1: It makes it an uninteresting topic in my opinion. That said,

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Speaker 1: what I do think is interesting is the actual cases themselves.

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Speaker 1: If you are having that conversation with somebody who's being honest.

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Speaker 1: If you're sitting at a bar with your friend and

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Speaker 1: your friend is honestly having a you know, nuanced conversation

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Speaker 1: with you about who the great greatest basketball player ever is,

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Speaker 1: then those conversations and the cases for each player is

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Speaker 1: are interesting in my opinion, and so I plan on

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Speaker 1: doing something along those lines. And then a friend of

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Speaker 1: mine named Tommy, who I think is perfect for this

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Speaker 1: kind of thing because he is very, very on the

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Speaker 1: opposite end of the spectrum from me. I'm gonna have

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Speaker 1: him kind of jump on at some point in the

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Speaker 1: future to provide the dissenting opinion and him and I

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Speaker 1: can go back and forth and try to kind of

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Speaker 1: make some headway in that regard. And then I plan

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Speaker 1: on a couple of other fun things. I want to

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Speaker 1: do some rehashes of NBA Finals series. I think the

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Speaker 1: most fascinating thing in all of basketball is a seven

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Speaker 1: game playoff series where coaches make adjustments, where players make adjustments,

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Speaker 1: and over the course of time, the team that wins

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Speaker 1: the chess match wins. And there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: really classic playoff chess matches, particularly in the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: So I plan on doing some stuff uh around those

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Speaker 1: just to just to kill time during this three month

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Speaker 1: or so period that we have until the NBA season

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Speaker 1: starts back up again. UH. And then as we get

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Speaker 1: into the free agency period after the collective bargaining agreement

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Speaker 1: that is amended to uh, you know, make up for

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Speaker 1: the virus issues, and the Lakers actually start actively pursuing

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Speaker 1: their offseason moves, I think there there will be some

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Speaker 1: a lot of good content around that stuff. But so

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Speaker 1: on that note, I want to get started with the uh,

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Speaker 1: the honorable mention for these top ten players. So I

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Speaker 1: think there are nine guys in the league that are

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Speaker 1: definitively top ten players, guys that there is no coherent,

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Speaker 1: legitimate argument for why they would not be top ten players,

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Speaker 1: and in no particular order, because we will eventually get

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Speaker 1: to this order. Those players, in my opinion, are Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: Janice Antenna, Compo, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Lebron Kawhi, Leonard

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Speaker 1: James Harden, Nicola Yokich, and Luca don Chich. Those nine players,

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Speaker 1: if you argue for them outside of the top ten,

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Speaker 1: I think you have to make some leaps into some

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Speaker 1: discourse that I don't think is very honest, and you

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Speaker 1: probably disliked the guy. I mean, I dislike Harden with

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Speaker 1: a pretty fiery passion, and I can't even make a

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Speaker 1: case for why he would not be in the top ten.

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Speaker 1: So back a couple of days ago, I asked all

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Speaker 1: of you guys to present to me what you thought

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Speaker 1: were the players who were candidates for that final spot,

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Speaker 1: and the most common names that I saw were Jimmy Butler,

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Speaker 1: Paul George, Dame Lillard, CP three, Joe l Embiid, and

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Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum. So the format for how I want to

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Speaker 1: do this is I want to go to each player

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Speaker 1: and just kind of quick recap how their season was

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Speaker 1: last year, the things that I perceived to be their

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Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses, and just overall evaluating where I think

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Speaker 1: they stand in the league after their most recent campaign.

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Speaker 1: And then after all of that, I'll explain who I

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Speaker 1: think is number one and why or who I think

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Speaker 1: is number ten I should say and why. So I

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Speaker 1: want to start with uh, Paul George, because this is

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Speaker 1: gonna be the guy who has received the most slander

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Speaker 1: coming into this playoff exit, and for good reasons. So

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Speaker 1: we uh in the regular season, Paul George average twenty

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Speaker 1: two points, six rebounds, and four assists. He was effective

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage. I prefer to use effective field goal

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage instead of true shooting percentage because effective

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage factors shots that are actually taken in

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Speaker 1: the flow of the game. One of the things that

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Speaker 1: I think is foolish and inaccurate about true shooting percentage

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Speaker 1: is it factors. A free throw is a normal field

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Speaker 1: goal attempt, which two for lack of a better term,

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Speaker 1: it's just not it's just not a real field goal attempt.

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Speaker 1: A a attempt to draw free throws. While it is valuable,

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Speaker 1: it is not equally valuable to a made or missed

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Speaker 1: shot because it doesn't come in the flow of a game.

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Speaker 1: Every free throw is a a it's something that stops

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Speaker 1: the flow of the game. It can stop the rhythm.

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Speaker 1: So for a for instance, a team that loves to

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Speaker 1: play at a slow pace, free throws are good. For

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Speaker 1: a team that likes to play at a high pace,

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Speaker 1: free throws can actually hurt them and you I ironically

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Speaker 1: saw that from the Lakers as that series progressed in

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Speaker 1: the finals, as they got out and going in transition,

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Speaker 1: which really opened things up for them. Particularly in Game six,

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Speaker 1: they weren't getting to the free throw line, which was

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Speaker 1: actually a good thing for them because it kept them

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Speaker 1: in the flow of their offense. It kept things from

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Speaker 1: slowing down too much for them, you know, whereas a

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Speaker 1: you know, something like Lebron drawing three free throws in

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Speaker 1: Game seven of the two thousand sixteen Finals was an

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Speaker 1: example of a free free throw line trip that has

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Speaker 1: a ton of value because it did bog down the

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Speaker 1: game and it, you know, manufactured points. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: true shooting percentage is always gonna favorite players who get

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Speaker 1: to the free throw line a lot. And while I

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Speaker 1: do think that's something that we should factor in, and

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Speaker 1: it's something I did factor in with these players, it's

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Speaker 1: I think the best and most accurate way to measure

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Speaker 1: a player's efficiency is effective field goal percentage. It weighs,

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Speaker 1: you know, because a three point shot made or missed

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Speaker 1: absolutely carries more weight in the flow of a game,

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Speaker 1: but is within the flow of a game, and so

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Speaker 1: it's our field goal percentage waited for three point shots.

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Speaker 1: It's a really clean and easy metric. So anyway, Paul

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Speaker 1: George six and four on fifty affective field goal percentage.

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Speaker 1: In the regular season, he played fewer than fifty games.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't very available. The Clippers were thirty four and

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Speaker 1: fourteen when he played, which was very good. When the

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Speaker 1: Clippers had their guys this year, they did play well,

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Speaker 1: they just didn't have their guys all the time. And

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Speaker 1: then moving into the postseason, he had that really, really

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Speaker 1: rough first round series against Dallas. He finished his postseason

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Speaker 1: run with twenty six and four on forty percent effective

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage. Now one of the things we've looked

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Speaker 1: but like as far as Paul George's strengths. To start

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Speaker 1: on the positive end, he has proven to be one

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Speaker 1: of the best high volume three point shooters in the league.

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Speaker 1: He's up there in that Stephan Clay category, guys who

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Speaker 1: shoot over you know seven, they're so attempts in a

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Speaker 1: game and they're shooting in the high thirties, low forties.

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Speaker 1: Uh in their efficiency. He's he can do with it

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Speaker 1: from the spot up, he can do it off the dribble.

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Speaker 1: He is That is the absolute you know, bread and butter.

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Speaker 1: If his game is off the dribble and catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot three point shooting. But the flip side of that

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Speaker 1: is he's not a very versatile score Paul George. While

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Speaker 1: he can get into the mid range area, and while

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Speaker 1: he can score at the rim, he's not great at either.

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Speaker 1: And the reason why you see his playoff efficiency takes

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Speaker 1: such a huge dip is because defense is over time

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Speaker 1: know how to make Paul feel uncomfortable, which is a

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Speaker 1: product of his lack of offensive versatility. And then the

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Speaker 1: one other strength that Paul George provides something that separates

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Speaker 1: him from his peers his defensive versatility. He can guard

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Speaker 1: multiple positions. He's never gonna hurt you on the defensive

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Speaker 1: end of the floor, uh, you know, as a playoff player.

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Speaker 1: And then last, but not least, And this was his

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Speaker 1: biggest weakness and the biggest reason why I think Paul

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Speaker 1: George is not a top ten player and the reason

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Speaker 1: why I will not be giving him that tenth spot

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Speaker 1: his lack of confidence or moxie or whatever it is

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Speaker 1: you want to call it. He's not an alpha. He's

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Speaker 1: not wired in a way to where when he finds

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Speaker 1: himself struggling, he views it as just a blip and

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Speaker 1: not a trend. You know, a very confident player, when

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Speaker 1: they miss shots, they view it as the blip, and

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Speaker 1: they do whatever it takes to get out of that

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Speaker 1: trend and to try to write the ship. Whereas a

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Speaker 1: player that is not confident when they start to miss

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Speaker 1: shots and gets in their head and they start to

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Speaker 1: worry about whether or not, you know, they are even

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Speaker 1: capable of getting out of whatever that rut is. You know.

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Speaker 1: The greatest example I can think of is Lebron in

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Speaker 1: this playoff run. He had a handful of really bad

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Speaker 1: games against Denver and a really bad half in Game

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Speaker 1: four against Miami, and in both cases he was able

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Speaker 1: to rebound and play extremely well in the Miami series

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Speaker 1: in the second half of that game, and then in

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Speaker 1: in Game three against Ever when a d made the

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Speaker 1: game winner. He came out in the rest of the

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Speaker 1: series and shot from the three point line extremely well

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Speaker 1: and from the mid range extremely well. So the a

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Speaker 1: player that has the moxie and has the confidence when

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Speaker 1: they struggle, they are far more likely to get out

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Speaker 1: of that rut. And so Paul George is the really

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Speaker 1: really bad combination of not very offensively versatile, which makes

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Speaker 1: defenses kind of it gives defenses an advantage when it

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Speaker 1: comes to trying to knock him off of his game,

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Speaker 1: and then when he gets knocked off his game, he's

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Speaker 1: far more likely to remain knocked off of his game

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Speaker 1: than to bounce back. Alrighty, So next we have Dame Lillard.

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Speaker 1: So Dame Lillard regular season numbers thirty points a game,

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Speaker 1: four rebounds a game, eight assists per game, fifty six

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Speaker 1: percent effective field goal percentage. This was primarily a product

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Speaker 1: of the fact that he shot from the three point

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Speaker 1: line on high volume. But then in the postseason against

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Speaker 1: now mind you, this was against that amazing Laker defense,

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Speaker 1: he was twenty four four and four on effective field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage. Dames strengths are what you would guess. He's

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Speaker 1: a great spot up shooter and a grade off the

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Speaker 1: dribble shooter, which means at all times he's uh, he

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Speaker 1: requires the defense's attention even when he doesn't have the ball,

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Speaker 1: and then he's great at playmaking. We saw this a

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Speaker 1: lot from Portland's In the Bubble, where it got to

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Speaker 1: the point where Dame was shooting so well that he

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Speaker 1: was getting trapped on every single pick and roll up

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Speaker 1: and down the floor, and then he was really good

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Speaker 1: at making that quick drop off to the short roll

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Speaker 1: man who was usually Nurkic and giving his teammates the

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Speaker 1: advantage to make plays off of him. But his biggest

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Speaker 1: weakness right now, and I've talked a lot about this,

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Speaker 1: the big thing that separates Dame from Steph is his

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Speaker 1: ability to work off the ball. It's to maintain offensive versatility.

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Speaker 1: So for instance, what Day did by drawing doubles off

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Speaker 1: of those trapped pick and rolls and dropping the ball

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Speaker 1: to Nurkics on the short roll, that's the exact same

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Speaker 1: thing that Steph Curry does. And what Dame does as

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Speaker 1: a high volume three point shooter who shoots at a

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Speaker 1: high percentage both off the ball and on the ball,

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Speaker 1: That's exactly what Steph does. But the one thing that

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Speaker 1: Steph doesn't do that or excuse me, that Steph does

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Speaker 1: do that Dame does not do is continue to work

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Speaker 1: after he's given up the ball. And that is what

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Speaker 1: allowed an elite defense like the Lakers to completely shut

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Speaker 1: Portlands down. Like I said, Dame goes down to twenty four,

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Speaker 1: four and four on affective field goal percentage because an

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Speaker 1: elite defense is not gonna let you continually run the

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Speaker 1: same thing if you want to, if you think you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to continue to to come off of

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Speaker 1: a pick and roll, draw trap, drop it off to Nurkics,

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Speaker 1: and let Nurkics play four on three. That's gonna work

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Speaker 1: a lot. But then what's gonna happen is a really

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Speaker 1: elite defense. It's especially a defense that rotates as well

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Speaker 1: as the Lakers do. They're gonna be great in that recovery,

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Speaker 1: and they're eventually gonna get really good at playing four

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Speaker 1: on three, especially when the guy who's giving up the

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Speaker 1: ball off of the pick and roll is not willing

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Speaker 1: to stay engaged and involved in the play off the ball.

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Speaker 1: And so that's one of those things where you know,

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Speaker 1: if I'm Dame, the number one area of improving, there's

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Speaker 1: he's already so good at everything else. He's actually better

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Speaker 1: than Steff at some of his At the rim stuff,

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Speaker 1: he's a bit quicker, he can hit those straight line

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Speaker 1: when the openings in the defense are there, he can

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Speaker 1: hit those straight line drives a lot better. And then

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Speaker 1: he's he's extremely athletic, a lot more athletic than Steff.

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Speaker 1: Stuff is better in the mid range, and he's got

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Speaker 1: better finishing moves around the basket, like floaters and scoop

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Speaker 1: shots and so on and so forth. But Dame has

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Speaker 1: the ability of his athleticism makes up for that gap,

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Speaker 1: the giant gap. The difference between Dame being you know,

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Speaker 1: in that ten to fifteen range and where Steph is

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Speaker 1: in the in the top range of the league. Is

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Speaker 1: that a bill lead to work off the ball. And

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Speaker 1: then obviously Dame has a defensive weakness. I'm not as

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Speaker 1: as you know, I don't punish defensive weaknesses as much

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Speaker 1: as long as players learned to be not negative defenders.

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Speaker 1: This is something that we've seen so much from guys

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Speaker 1: like Steph and Uh. Trying to think of another good

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Speaker 1: example at the top of the le Kevin Durant is

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Speaker 1: a good example to you know, Kevin Durant and Steff

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Speaker 1: are not great defensive players there. You know, Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: should be, but he just never cared enough. But neither

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Speaker 1: of them are actively hurting their team. And that's the

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Speaker 1: next step for guys like Yo Kitchen, Dame and Uh

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Speaker 1: and Uh don Chitch is finding a way to not

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Speaker 1: be a gaping hole in your defense. Al right. Next

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Speaker 1: is Jimmy Butler. So Jimmy Butler regular season twenty points

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Speaker 1: seven rebounds, six assists, forty seven percent effective vehical percentage. Really,

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Speaker 1: by any measure, just not a very good offensive. Regular

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Speaker 1: season playoffs twenty two points a game, seven or excuse me,

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Speaker 1: seven rebound and six assists effective field goal percentage. Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Butler's strengths are what you would expect. He is a

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Speaker 1: the definition of a a Swiss army knife. He is

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Speaker 1: the definition of a poor man's version of Lebron James.

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Speaker 1: He is both offensively versatile and defensively versatile. He can

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Speaker 1: create shots, he can make plays for his teammates. He

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Speaker 1: can score out of the post. He can score from

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Speaker 1: the three point line. He can score at the basket,

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Speaker 1: he can score off the dribble in the midrange. He

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Speaker 1: can do all of those things. His biggest weakness is

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Speaker 1: that he's not great at anything. There's nothing that Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Butler does that when a defense or an offense keys

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Speaker 1: in on him, that that makes that that specific area

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Speaker 1: of his game can overcome whatever someone's throwing at it,

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Speaker 1: even on the defensive end. As great of a defensive

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Speaker 1: player as Jimmy is, he's a little small. He's six

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Speaker 1: ft seven, and so you know when Lebron really wanted

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Speaker 1: to bully him. There was nothing that Jimmy Butler could

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Speaker 1: do with him, and so from that standpoint, I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure if there's really an area Jimmy so developed in

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Speaker 1: his game at this point, He's had such an advanced

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Speaker 1: stage of his career, I'm not really sure there's an

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Speaker 1: opportunity for him to improve any of that. But you know,

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Speaker 1: like you know, Jimmy Butler gained a lot of a

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Speaker 1: lot of clout in the uh uh in the bubble

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Speaker 1: from those handful of NBA Finals games where he put

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Speaker 1: up monster numbers, and then he had a lot of

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Speaker 1: you know, big time late game plays, particularly against Milwaukee

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Speaker 1: and Boston, which, by the way, veteran players make big

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Speaker 1: time late game plays. That's what Region Rondo did in

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Speaker 1: the in the finals as well. Like guys who've been

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Speaker 1: around for a while, they just know how to make

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Speaker 1: plays at the end of games that will help your

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Speaker 1: team win games. But outside of those two games, the

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Speaker 1: thirty five point triple double in Game five of the

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Speaker 1: Finals and the forty point triple double in Game three

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Speaker 1: of the Finals, Jimmy Butler was the same guy he

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Speaker 1: was in the regular season, a twenty point of game

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Speaker 1: guy right around forty seven percent effected field goal percentage.

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Speaker 1: The Lakers laid two big fat eggs on the defensive

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Speaker 1: end of the ball in the finals, and it massively

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Speaker 1: inflated the way we perceived Jimmy Butler. I do not

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Speaker 1: think Jimmy Butler is one of the ten best players

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Speaker 1: in the league. And the reason why is because of

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Speaker 1: the fact that he's not great at anything. And while

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Speaker 1: we did see, like you guys gotta remember, coming into

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Speaker 1: that NBA Finals, no one was picking uh, No one

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Speaker 1: was picking Jimmy Butler as the best player on the heat.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was thinking it was bam at a Bio or

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Speaker 1: that it was you know, uh, Gore and Dragic. He

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Speaker 1: became perceived as their alpha. He became perceived as their

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Speaker 1: best player because of a handful of really really great

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Speaker 1: outlier performances. And that's not to say that Jimmy doesn't

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Speaker 1: deserve credit for that. He certainly does. But when I'm

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Speaker 1: project thing forward, when I'm talking about who the ten

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Speaker 1: best players in the league are, I just think there's

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Speaker 1: a better option for that ten spot, and we'll get

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Speaker 1: to who that is in just a minute. So next

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Speaker 1: is CP three. CP three eighteen, five and seven in

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Speaker 1: the regular season on affect a field goal percentage one

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Speaker 1: seven and five in the postseason affective field goal percentage.

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Speaker 1: Uh CP three's biggest strength this his ability to control

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Speaker 1: the pace of a game. He is the one guy

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Speaker 1: outside of Lebron James in the entire league that I

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Speaker 1: feel like, just by the way that he dribbles the

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Speaker 1: basketball and makes decisions coming up and down the floor,

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Speaker 1: can actively change the flow of a game. He It

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Speaker 1: is a d n a thing. It's not something anybody

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Speaker 1: can be taught. It's not something anybody can learn. It's

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Speaker 1: simply just what you are as a basketball player and

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Speaker 1: the way you were born. And that is his biggest strength,

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Speaker 1: his playmaking and ability to control the pace of a

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Speaker 1: game to his roster, whether it's going fast when the

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Speaker 1: game dictates that he needs to go fast, or whether

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Speaker 1: it's going incredibly slow when the game dictates that it

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Speaker 1: needs to go slow. Um, and then he's good in

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Speaker 1: isolation when you get Chris Paul in a mismatch against

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Speaker 1: a big or we even saw him do it against

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Speaker 1: Robert Covington in the Houston series, or p J. Tucker

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Speaker 1: or Jeff Green. Uh CP three is incredibly good at

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Speaker 1: finding what opening there is an isolation offense to get

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Speaker 1: a quality shot off. My biggest issue with CP three

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Speaker 1: has to do with his size and the fact that

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Speaker 1: when teams really, really, really really clamped down on him,

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Speaker 1: he has a physical limitation that makes it difficult for

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Speaker 1: him to generate quality shots, and this in turn has

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Speaker 1: caused one of the weirdest phenomenons that I've seen since

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Speaker 1: I've been following basketball, which is a guy with the

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Speaker 1: clutch gene who makes a lot of clutch mistakes. See

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Speaker 1: P three is wired like a guy who is not

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Speaker 1: afraid of the moment. He famously said that he's built different.

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Speaker 1: You know that he wants this moment, that a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys don't want this moment, and he's right. Chris

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Speaker 1: Paul is one of those guys who genuinely is comfortable

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Speaker 1: in those moments, but randomly he's not. And he has

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Speaker 1: a lot of moments in his playoff career where when

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Speaker 1: the chips got down and things got a little crazy

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Speaker 1: that he kind of just spazzes out and makes an

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Speaker 1: uncharacteristic mistake, And after doing it often in his career,

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Speaker 1: he did it again. In my opinion, in Game seven

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Speaker 1: of that Houston Rockets series. So p J. Tucker attacks

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Speaker 1: the close out, makes a little floater, puts the Rockets

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Speaker 1: up one, and they dropped a final play for Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul is dribbling along the right wing and has

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Speaker 1: Robert Covington on him, a player that he has torched

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Speaker 1: in isolation multiple times in this series, particularly from the

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Speaker 1: three point line, and he just he looks visibly uncomfortable.

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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, takes a bunch of really like

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Speaker 1: funky dribbles right into Robert Covington like dribbles into the

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Speaker 1: help I can't remember who it was in the right corner.

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Speaker 1: I think it was um. Uh, I think it was

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Speaker 1: the guard. I'm blinking on his name now all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, but um, he's not open in the corner

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Speaker 1: and there's a help defender over there. I can't remember

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Speaker 1: exactly who it is. It might have been, Um, it

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Speaker 1: might have been Jeff Green. And he throws a pass

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Speaker 1: that's not there because it's not open because he's in

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00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 1: your classic help side defense where his right hand is

433
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: up in the passing lane. The pass gets deflected. Uh,

434
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 1: the young guard. I'm blinking on his name again, Shake

435
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,280
Speaker 1: gil Just Alexander's who it was? Shake guil Just Alexander

436
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,479
Speaker 1: has to like scramble to get the tipped pass and

437
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 1: throws that looping cross court pass to Dort which he

438
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 1: gets blocked on. So essentially like as you're as I'm saying,

439
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: they're like. Through that entire series and up until that moment,

440
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 1: he was the man, he was the alf fun but

441
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,680
Speaker 1: once again, in a really weird and bizarre way, he

442
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 1: randomly lost all of that confidence and fell apart at

443
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,640
Speaker 1: the end of a game and made, in my opinion,

444
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 1: uh it took. He made a mistake that cost his

445
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,640
Speaker 1: team a chance to win that series. Next is Joe

446
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: LMB Joel Embiid twenty three, twelve and three in the

447
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: regular season, fifty one percent affective field goal percentage in

448
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: the playoffs, thirty twelve and one, one assist on affective

449
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: field goal percentage. So Joel Embiad has a slew of strengths.

450
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 1: He's one of the most talented players in the league,

451
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,679
Speaker 1: and he's incredibly gifted at drawing fouls. He gets to

452
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: the free throw line better than any young player you'll

453
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: ever see. That's usually a veteran thing Joe ell Embiad

454
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,439
Speaker 1: has the the gene of the ability to manipulate refs

455
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: and get fouls. He's a great one on one post score.

456
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 1: If you get him downlow against just about anybody except

457
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,160
Speaker 1: for Al Horford, he can find openings in a defense

458
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: um and then he's uh. He provides elite rim protection,

459
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: so as long as an offense can't scheme him out

460
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: of the paint, he will absolutely shut down the pain.

461
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 1: He's capable of doing what we saw Anthony Davis do

462
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: in Game six of the Finals, which is, if I

463
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: don't have to guard the guy who's guarding me, I

464
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: can camp in the paint and I can absolutely shut

465
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 1: down the paint. His weakness is he's not a consistent

466
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 1: perimeter shooter, but he relies on the perimeter shot often

467
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,879
Speaker 1: and uh, he's not very defensively versatile. So if you

468
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: get him out of the if you can somehow scheme

469
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: him out of the paint, he cannot impact the game

470
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 1: as well as he can when he can stay inside

471
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 1: the paint. Joe Labat's biggest weakness, in my opinion, the

472
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,479
Speaker 1: thing that will hold him back until further notice, is

473
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 1: his ability to read defenses and make plays out of

474
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: double teams. Think about what happened in that series you

475
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,399
Speaker 1: lose Ben Simmons. You know, Tobias Harris is just not

476
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,359
Speaker 1: an alpha. He's not a guy who can create for

477
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,120
Speaker 1: your offense often, so you're resorting to posting up Joe

478
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:57,479
Speaker 1: l Embiid, you know, and trying to create plays. And

479
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,360
Speaker 1: the reason why, um, the reason why Philly went away

480
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: from posting up Joel was because he wasn't handling the

481
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: double teams. Well, think about how hard it is in

482
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 1: a situation or you're the best player on your team

483
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: by a mile, to only end up with one assist.

484
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,160
Speaker 1: It's damn near and possible considering the amount of defensive

485
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: attention that's being thrown his way. And it just goes

486
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 1: to show you that he struggles with the basic concept

487
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,680
Speaker 1: of embracing the double team, letting them get closer to him,

488
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 1: and being willing to turn the ball over, you know,

489
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 1: accepting the risk that comes with letting the defense collapse

490
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,479
Speaker 1: on you, accepting the risk of the turnover to create

491
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,800
Speaker 1: openings for your teammates that they to create, you know,

492
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,640
Speaker 1: because in fear NBA players don't make mistakes when they're

493
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: left wide open. They will inevitably eventually have success, and

494
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: it just was unfortunate in that series that that Joel

495
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 1: never embraced that he got his thirty points a game.

496
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: You know, he put up his thirty and twelve. He

497
00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: can look himself in the mirror, I guess, and pretend

498
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 1: like it wasn't his fault, But the reality is, as

499
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: a player of his talent against a team like that

500
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 1: that's really not that great, he should have been able

501
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: to succeed to a higher level than he did, especially

502
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: against the Boston team that never really provided much interior resistance.

503
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 1: So last but not least is Jayson Tatum, and this

504
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: is the player that I picked as the tenth best

505
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 1: player in the league. In the regular season, he averaged

506
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: twenty three, seven and three on fifty effective field goal percentage,

507
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,439
Speaker 1: and in the postseason the average ten and five on

508
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage. His strengths are three point shooting,

509
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,479
Speaker 1: off the dribble and off the catch three level scoring.

510
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 1: He can score effectively with his back to the basket

511
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 1: from that ten to fifteen foot range, and off the

512
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,640
Speaker 1: dribble in that fifteen ft range, he can score at

513
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: the basket. He's gotten a lot better at drawing fouls,

514
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: and he can score off the dribble and pick and roll.

515
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 1: He's he's he's a master of side step threes, which

516
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 1: is a really good efficient way of turning um, you know,

517
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: a defensive aggressive an aggressive defender that's going to chase

518
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: you off the line. It's a very effective and efficient

519
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: way of turning that into a three point shot instead

520
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: of Along to his weaknesses, though he's not a great

521
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 1: decision maker, he's still struggling at feeling games out and

522
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 1: understanding when and where to be aggressive his uh shot selection.

523
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: This is a classic case, you know, you know, for instance,

524
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 1: I've talked about this with Lebron. Lebron is really good

525
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 1: at taking what we would consider settle shots, him settling

526
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: for long jump shots over the defense. He's really good

527
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 1: at taking those shots when he's specifically using it for rest.

528
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: So for instance, middle of the fourth quarter, teams on

529
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: a run, his team is on a run, he's recently

530
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: got to the basket a couple of times, either drawing fouls,

531
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: making shots at the rim, or kicking the shooters, and

532
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 1: it's a late shot clock situation or whatever reason, the

533
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 1: defense was in his face, and you know, there's only

534
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: six seconds left on the shot clock. He'll take a

535
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: long three when the defender goes underneath the screen because

536
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 1: he knows it's a low, it's a it's a it's

537
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: not a very strenuous shot for him, and it's effectively

538
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 1: him saving energy. But you're not going to see him

539
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,760
Speaker 1: take that shot in moments like pivotal moments of the

540
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: game where the team desperately needs a higher quality shot.

541
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: That's one of the things that from a shot a

542
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: shot selection standpoint that Lebron has figured out. You know,

543
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum struggles with the basic concept of understanding that

544
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 1: you know, just because you can get a shot doesn't

545
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 1: mean you should take it in that moment. And you

546
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 1: know he has a tendency to take extremely tough shots

547
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: out of the flow of the offense when there are

548
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: easier shots that he's capable of in that given moment,

549
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 1: Like especially on that Boston team, you would see Kemba

550
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: and Jaylen Brown be aggressive and the ball would eventually

551
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: make it's a way around a Tatum, and Tatum would

552
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: have fresh leg because he hasn't taken a shot in

553
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: a few possessions, and he would go to some ridiculously

554
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 1: tough step back instead of using his fresh legs to

555
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: go to his more dependable moves at the rim, or

556
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: getting using his size to get closer to the basket,

557
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 1: so that instead of a you know, a side step

558
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: eighteen foot over a contest, it's a ten foot over

559
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: a defender that's shorter than him at a higher release point.

560
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,720
Speaker 1: You know, the like it's a It's a classic case

561
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: of of just experience and repetition that will eventually fix

562
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: that flaw. And one of the biggest things that I

563
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 1: look for in a situation like this. This happened to

564
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 1: Steph Curry in two thousand fifteen. Steph Curry in two

565
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen in the regular season was a twenty three

566
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: point a game guy, but in the postseason those numbers

567
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: went way up, and then immediately as the season has

568
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 1: started in two thousand sixteen, he just took off right

569
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: where he left off in two thousand fifteen in the

570
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: playoffs or two in the two thousand fifteen playoffs. Similar

571
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,920
Speaker 1: thing happened with Tatum this year. Twenty three point of

572
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 1: game guy in the regular season, kind of feeling things

573
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: out on his team in this weird role that he

574
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 1: has along a lot of alongside a lot of ball

575
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: handling players, and then all of a sudden, he's uh

576
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: point game in the postseason and still let fifty effective

577
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: field goal percentage. So from that standpoint, I expect him

578
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: to kind of pick up right where he left off

579
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: next season and be that tenth best player in the league.

580
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: And then I, you know, I talk a lot about

581
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 1: how I stick to. I stick to kind of overarching

582
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 1: themes of basketball that I've always believed in, which is

583
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 1: that the most the most valuable skills in all of

584
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 1: basketball our defensive versatility, elite playmaking, an elite three level scoring.

585
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: And if you look at all of these six guys,

586
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 1: none of them are good at all three. But Tatum

587
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 1: is the one guy who's good at two of them.

588
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 1: He's elite in terms of his defensive versatility and eas

589
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: elite as a three level score And in my opinion,

590
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 1: those two that feels two of those three boxes. As

591
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: we get into the higher ranked players, you know, from

592
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: one to nine, we're going to run into a lot

593
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 1: of guys who are grade at all three. But for

594
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 1: the tenth best player in the league, to separate yourself

595
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: from guys like Jimmy Butler, who's not really great at anything.

596
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: From Paul George, who's not an alpha you know, like

597
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum literally will try to dunk on you to

598
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 1: end a playoff game, as he showed he will try

599
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: to dunk on you if you're Lebron James in game

600
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: seven of an Eastern Conference Finals playoff series. Jason Tatum

601
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,959
Speaker 1: has that confidence that Paul George doesn't have. You know,

602
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,880
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard does not bring the defensive versatility. You know,

603
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: CP three does not have the size and that ability

604
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 1: to create shots at an elite level late in playoff games.

605
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: And Joe l Embiid just literally has no idea how

606
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 1: to handle a double team and he lacks the defensive

607
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 1: versatility to guard outside of the paint. So for me,

608
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum clearly separates himself from those guys. It's a

609
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 1: tough decision. This is a deep this is a deeper

610
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: league than we've seen pretty much since the since the

611
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: late eighties. So it's not a slight against any of

612
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: these guys, but I think Jayson Tatum has a clear

613
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 1: case for that number ten spot as of right now. Anyway,

614
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: thank you to you guys for listening. Like I said,

615
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to re release this as a podcast.

616
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: We will see how that goes. This is effectively going

617
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: to be a guinea pig of sorts. And then I'm

618
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:38,360
Speaker 1: going to early next week release my one through nine

619
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: list and go through why I've ranked those players in

620
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: that one through nine range, and then I'm gonna have

621
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 1: Tommy on to talk Lebron and Michael Jordan's stuff and

622
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: to talk uh his interpretation of the top ten players

623
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 1: in the league as well. So thank you guys so

624
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: much for listening, and I sincerely appreciate your support and

625
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: I will let you know next time I'm coming on

626
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: three