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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at
Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. We are live on AMP.
Speaker 1: Don't forget if you're watching this on YouTube or on
Speaker 1: one of our podcast feeds, that AMP is the very
Speaker 1: first place that you guys can get these shows. We
Speaker 1: have a jam Pack show today. We're bringing my guy
Speaker 1: Carson on and we're gonna hit five big questions around
Speaker 1: the league, just like we did last week. You guys
Speaker 1: seem to like that, obviously. I always love talking basketball
Speaker 1: with Carson. We're gonna be hitting on a ton of teams.
Speaker 1: That incredible offensive explosion between the Dallas Mavericks and the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers. We're gonna talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about what's wrong with the Los Angeles Clippers, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit some Eastern Conference teams, a lot of
Speaker 1: Celtics a lot of bucks of the New York Nicks
Speaker 1: on a seven game winning streak with some impressive wins,
Speaker 1: and we're talking a little bit of the Warriors as well.
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Speaker 1: Jason lt. So you guys don't fit us, So you
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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right, let's bring
Speaker 1: my guy Carson on. Carson, what's up man? I'm excited
Speaker 1: to talk some basketball with you man, as am. I
Speaker 1: grate to be back on as always, And as you said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start by talking about a really exciting game
Speaker 1: that we saw last night between the Sixers and the MAVs.
Speaker 1: Dallas ended up winning one thirty three one twenty six.
Speaker 1: We saw forty plus from both Luca and Kyrie. Who
Speaker 1: do you think that game said? More about Jason Philly
Speaker 1: or Dallas, So I'm probably gonna go a direction that
Speaker 1: you guys won't expect. I feel like that game was
Speaker 1: the perfect encapsulation of what this season would look like
Speaker 1: for the Dallas Mavericks. I've said a lot over the
Speaker 1: course of their struggles here since Kyrie and Luca have
Speaker 1: been playing together that I think that their limitations in
Speaker 1: front court size and personnel, just defensive personnel, dirty work
Speaker 1: personnel in general, are going to make it so that
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie have to be out of their minds
Speaker 1: offensively to give them any chance to beat good teams.
Speaker 1: And make no mistake, it was an impressive win yesterday,
Speaker 1: but that was the high end of the shot variants
Speaker 1: equation there. They shot fifty two percent from three fifty
Speaker 1: five percent from the field. Luca and Kyrie seemingly made
Speaker 1: every single one of their difficult pull up jump shots
Speaker 1: there was. There was just an element of shot result
Speaker 1: there that I don't think you can dependably count on.
Speaker 1: And I want to be clear, I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: shape this entire Kyrie trade around this topic, because that
Speaker 1: particular move was made in a way that made it
Speaker 1: extremely difficult for them to contend within this season because
Speaker 1: of the way it depleted them. I'll give you an example.
Speaker 1: When the Lakers made the trade for Anthony Davis, they
Speaker 1: gave up everything, like literally everything. Every good basketball player
Speaker 1: on the team that was not named Lebron James went
Speaker 1: out the door. But they had a full off season
Speaker 1: to target players that would compliment them and to fill
Speaker 1: the specific holes they would need with that particular pairing.
Speaker 1: And again, it's gonna be a little tougher for Dallas
Speaker 1: because they're gonna have to work more on the margins
Speaker 1: in terms of like the mid level exception and maybe
Speaker 1: a trade here there. They've got a few draft picks
Speaker 1: they can use, but this summer they'll be able to
Speaker 1: go into it with, Hey, this is our core. We've
Speaker 1: got Kyrie and Luca. Let's put you know, this specific
Speaker 1: type of personnel. You know, I think they can forego
Speaker 1: some offensive skill set with the role players and prioritize
Speaker 1: defense just because of the level of offensive skill that
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie have. But last night it would concern
Speaker 1: me because they could not have possibly played better offensively
Speaker 1: and Philly was still hanging tough, like even when they
Speaker 1: threw that punch to start the third quarter, right there
Speaker 1: at the end of the third early fourth, they got
Speaker 1: cold for a little bit and Philly was back into
Speaker 1: it like that. So I do think that that was
Speaker 1: a little bit concerning. I don't know that they'll be
Speaker 1: able to shoot that well to beat any good team
Speaker 1: four times out of seven. What do you think. I
Speaker 1: really like the angle that you've taken here. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is, in a lot of ways an encapsulation of
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks experience this year. It was one of
Speaker 1: the best collective backcourt performances I can remember in my life,
Speaker 1: and through three quarters it was like the MAVs were
Speaker 1: effectively playing perfect offensive basketball just because of unbelievable pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting from Luca and Kyrie, who were a
Speaker 1: combined I think thirteen of twenty in this game or
Speaker 1: something like that's absurd from beyond the arc, and then
Speaker 1: their ability to get the defense in rotation and to
Speaker 1: find shooters who were unbelievable. I mean, they were twenty
Speaker 1: five or forty eight from deep in this game. We
Speaker 1: know that's what they're capable of. At the same time,
Speaker 1: there's a reason that they're four and five since Kyrie's debut,
Speaker 1: and that reason is that they're twenty fifth and defensive
Speaker 1: rating and they have maxie Klibaback, now, which is nice.
Speaker 1: He does. I mean, he is their best defensive option
Speaker 1: in multiple situations. He's the best guy for them to
Speaker 1: go small ball five, certainly against a lot of big wings.
Speaker 1: He's their best option. But as you said, he's not
Speaker 1: enough to correct just a glaring deficiency in terms of
Speaker 1: front court in overall defensive talents. So this is why
Speaker 1: I don't view them as a legitimate contender this year.
Speaker 1: It's as you said, they have to be perfect offensively
Speaker 1: to beat good teams, and I just don't think it's sustainable.
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie may be the most talented scoring back
Speaker 1: or we've ever seen, but bottom line, they can't score
Speaker 1: forty plus every night, and you can't trust Reggie Bullock
Speaker 1: in the supporting cast to shoot as well as they did.
Speaker 1: What I will say on the Philly front is I
Speaker 1: don't think there's as much to take away. This isn't
Speaker 1: as much of like a quintessential wow, look at the
Speaker 1: highs and the lows as it is for the MAVs.
Speaker 1: This was, though, I thought, a good point for the
Speaker 1: argument that you have made many times about the value
Speaker 1: of bigs being diminished in today's NBA because of their
Speaker 1: exploitability defensively, and I thought that's why the MAVs had
Speaker 1: such a great offensive game. Of course, shop making, right,
Speaker 1: you have to make twenty five or forty eight threes,
Speaker 1: but man, a lot of those forty eight threes were
Speaker 1: wide open because of their repeated exploitation of Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: in space. Whether it's not a pick and roll him
Speaker 1: dropping them shooting right over that, or if it's just
Speaker 1: his inability to recovering contest shooters at all. I mean,
Speaker 1: and Beid got embarrassed in this game, and that's why.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's a great rim protector, but he is in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways exploitable defensively, like a well, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna bring up yok, but you know right, he's
Speaker 1: not the kind of complete, great defensive big man that
Speaker 1: like a Jaren Jackson junior is. So I don't think
Speaker 1: it's any coincidence that the six or seventeen old run
Speaker 1: they got them right back into this game was them
Speaker 1: going smaller and beat on the bench Paul read out
Speaker 1: there because they could finally actually guard a five out offense.
Speaker 1: So I don't think that Dallas is gonna face enough
Speaker 1: teams that have that sort of exploitable center, and who
Speaker 1: are I mean, really, it's Yoki's right who they could
Speaker 1: go out in a playoff series, but I think Yoki
Speaker 1: just too complete offensively and the Nuggets are too good
Speaker 1: offensively and better defensively than the MAVs. So I don't
Speaker 1: think that that matchup exploitation is enough for them to
Speaker 1: like make it through. But it does show you that, man,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna play a traditional big out there, the
Speaker 1: MAVs can absolutely kill you. And it also says I
Speaker 1: think the Sixers are lucky that there isn't really that
Speaker 1: kind of insane pull up jump shooting team out east.
Speaker 1: In that same way, because the mav scored thirty two
Speaker 1: points in the paint and they scored one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty three points, it doesn't matter that Joel Embiid is
Speaker 1: a force in there. They're not even going in there.
Speaker 1: They're just shooting right over and they're going around him
Speaker 1: over and over again. So that would probably my big takeaway,
Speaker 1: on top of what you already touched on, that's a
Speaker 1: super interesting element that I haven't really even thought about.
Speaker 1: And I'm really glad you brought that up, Like matchups
Speaker 1: are everything in the NBA playoffs, and you're right, like
Speaker 1: Boston is not a good pull up jump shooting team,
Speaker 1: Miami's not a good pull up jump shooting team. The
Speaker 1: Waukee's not a good pull up jump shooting team. They're like, really,
Speaker 1: the only team that would be capable of consistently get
Speaker 1: causing Philly problems in that type of situation is Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they'll face them. I think I
Speaker 1: think it's an extremely low percentage chance that they'll end
Speaker 1: up in that type of matchup. Now that that could
Speaker 1: be a problem when they get out of the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference for sure, but it is super interesting how that
Speaker 1: matchup element has to be factored in. I want to
Speaker 1: give Embiat some credit, like some of it was shot making,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, Luca hit a couple of step back
Speaker 1: thories on Joel that he contested really well, it's not
Speaker 1: so much even to me. It was the drop coverage
Speaker 1: in rotation, drawing that second defender and then easily getting
Speaker 1: wide open shots on the back line. That is a
Speaker 1: consistent problem we see with drop coverage bigs, with their
Speaker 1: inability to be impactful in pick and roll defensively when
Speaker 1: they have to really come out from the rim. And again,
Speaker 1: that's just been one of my fundamental basketball ideologies forever.
Speaker 1: It's why I've always had Embeat and Yokich kind of
Speaker 1: further behind the perimeter guys that we have around the league.
Speaker 1: It's not that I don't see their value. I think
Speaker 1: it's more just a product of the way the game
Speaker 1: of basketball has changed, and just the sheer amount of
Speaker 1: footspeed and offensive skill on the floor and the way
Speaker 1: those things can be exploited really quickly. Before we move
Speaker 1: on on the Dallas front, you know this idea, you know,
Speaker 1: I've always said pull up because we're gonna We're gonna
Speaker 1: have a very similar conversation here in a minute about
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Pull Up shooting is monumentally important as a
Speaker 1: playoff skill, as like a ceiling raiser, But in my opinion,
Speaker 1: it cannot be your foundational ability as a basketball team.
Speaker 1: You have to have an identity that extends into the
Speaker 1: physicality areas of the game, whether that's you're an excellent
Speaker 1: defensive team or you're a team on offense that can
Speaker 1: relentlessly punish the rim. Because those things can be depended
Speaker 1: on on a night in, night out basis in the
Speaker 1: postseason in a way that pull up jump shooting cannot.
Speaker 1: I mean, last year the Brooklyn Nets are the perfect example.
Speaker 1: They were by far the best pull up jump shooting
Speaker 1: team in the league. Kyra Irving and Kevin Durant, We're
Speaker 1: damn near fifty percent on pull up jump shots through
Speaker 1: that entire regular season. And then they got into Boston
Speaker 1: and suddenly their pull up jump shooting dropped into the
Speaker 1: mid thirties and that was their only identity. Suddenly they
Speaker 1: got swept. And so I think that's just something that
Speaker 1: we can learn from these teams, is that, like we
Speaker 1: have to look at that high level skill as a
Speaker 1: ceiling raiser and it cannot be a foundational skill, which
Speaker 1: we'll get into a little bit more here With the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I agree with that point completely, and I think it's
Speaker 1: something that we've seen bite the Clippers in meaningful situations
Speaker 1: the couple times that we have seen them in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and now they've got bigger problems than just pull up
Speaker 1: jump shooting there oh and four with Russell Westbrook, they
Speaker 1: continue to slide in that fight for the five six
Speaker 1: seven spot that they're in with Golden State in Dallas. So, Jason,
Speaker 1: what's wrong with the Clippers and how concerned are you?
Speaker 1: So there's several problems in my opinion, I used to
Speaker 1: say this a lot about the Lakers, but when you're
Speaker 1: underachieving to this extent, when you have that kind of
Speaker 1: talent on the roster, it's usually a bunch of different things.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear here upfront too, because we're
Speaker 1: not going to talk a lot about Russ today. I
Speaker 1: don't think Russ is the problem with this recent losing streak.
Speaker 1: I think he's played fine. I think his good has
Speaker 1: outweighed his bad at least to some extent. He had
Speaker 1: a rough second half last night, and he wasn't too
Speaker 1: great in the second half against Denver. But for the
Speaker 1: most part in his shifts, he's been I think a
Speaker 1: positive impact player, and he's been a decent fit. I
Speaker 1: think there's a I think there's a couple of key problems,
Speaker 1: and the one I want to focus on here to
Speaker 1: start is that exact same thing we were just talking
Speaker 1: about with the Dallas Mavericks. Did you know that the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Clippers are twenty ninth in points in the
Speaker 1: paint scored. So like, I think this is a basketball
Speaker 1: concept that we lose sight of all the time, where
Speaker 1: it's like we'll see Marcus Morris as like the seventh
Speaker 1: best player on the Clippers or whatever, hit like a
Speaker 1: really nifty pull up jump shot in the middle of
Speaker 1: the lane, and then you'll see Norman Powell like like
Speaker 1: come off of a dribble handoff and rise up and
Speaker 1: knockdown at three, and then obviously everything that Paul George
Speaker 1: and Kawhi Leonard can do off the dribble, and you
Speaker 1: go like, man, this team just has an insane amount
Speaker 1: of offensive skill. And they do, but once again, the
Speaker 1: vast majority of that offensive skill is predicated on perimeter
Speaker 1: ball handling and perimeter shooting. They do not have a
Speaker 1: downhill presence. They well, they do with Russ Now, but
Speaker 1: they haven't been able to weaponize that yet. They do
Speaker 1: not have a consistent paint presence. And that to me
Speaker 1: goes back to our conversation from the beginning, if you're
Speaker 1: not otherworldly defensively, which we Strangely enough, the Clippers have
Speaker 1: not been very good defensively as of late after they
Speaker 1: were great to start the season. I think there's another
Speaker 1: conversation to have about being too wing heavy, because as
Speaker 1: much as wings can help in a bunch of versatility
Speaker 1: type situations, they are not great at the point of attack. Typically,
Speaker 1: like there is a making no mistake, there's still a
Speaker 1: place for guards in the NBA. Guards are very quick,
Speaker 1: they have low centers of gravity, they can slide their feet,
Speaker 1: and they can contain ball handlers. There's a point where
Speaker 1: you have too many guards on the floor and suddenly
Speaker 1: you're you start to lose other areas of the game.
Speaker 1: But you do need to have the ability to contain
Speaker 1: ball handlers on the perimeter. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: guys in the Clippers rotation that are are lengthy and
Speaker 1: tall and skilled and can shoot, but do not have
Speaker 1: quick feet, and that causes them problems getting caught in
Speaker 1: rotation on the defensive end of the floor. So they
Speaker 1: do not have that high end defensive ceiling we're hoping for,
Speaker 1: and offensively, they don't have an identity that lives in
Speaker 1: the paint that they can rely on. So really with
Speaker 1: the Clippers, it's like, are they hitting their perimeter shots
Speaker 1: and they haven't been as of late, and you've seen
Speaker 1: them losing as a result. And the last thing I
Speaker 1: want to say is just Paul George in his last
Speaker 1: nineteen games, twenty one points per game, forty six percent
Speaker 1: from the field, thirty six percent from three, not a
Speaker 1: minute's restriction thing. He's playing thirty four minutes a night.
Speaker 1: He's not getting to the ram. Norman Powell is averaging
Speaker 1: more restricted area makes than Paul George over that span.
Speaker 1: His shot selection in general has been really just shitty.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, He's just taken a lot of really
Speaker 1: difficult off the dribble jump shots is just a part
Speaker 1: of his normal shot diet. The way I look at it,
Speaker 1: he had that interview with JJ Reddick and he's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm comfortable sliding into the second role, and
Speaker 1: like I admire the psychology of that, like the selflessness
Speaker 1: and all that and the willingness to buy in. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is that's not how basketball works anymore.
Speaker 1: Like you can have two sometimes even three as long
Speaker 1: as their complimentary skill sets go to guys, like there's
Speaker 1: no reason for you to have to withhold things offensively.
Speaker 1: And Paul George is not being the aggressive, assertive superstar
Speaker 1: that he's capable of being, and it's actually hurting the
Speaker 1: team right now. And in the twenty twenty one playoffs
Speaker 1: when he took them to the ceiling that he did
Speaker 1: nearly making the finals without Kawhi Leonard, he was a
Speaker 1: relentless rim attacker that used his pull up jump shooting
Speaker 1: as a counter to that, and that has completely flipped
Speaker 1: on its head, and I think has led to a
Speaker 1: lot of his recent struggles. So they've got a lot
Speaker 1: of things wrong with him, But I think in large
Speaker 1: part it starts right now with offensive approach being perimeter
Speaker 1: first as opposed to paint first. I think that's a
Speaker 1: great point that you make about PG and that has
Speaker 1: that many times been like the determining factor in what
Speaker 1: Paul George are gonna get. Are we gonna get Paul George,
Speaker 1: who sure is a great pull up jump shooter but
Speaker 1: is settling consistently, or are we gonna get eight free
Speaker 1: throws a game downhill force, therefore enhancing his playmaking impact. Two.
Speaker 1: That's the best Paul George when he blends those two,
Speaker 1: And I agree he hasn't done that well enough recently.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think there's a lot of concerns with
Speaker 1: this team, and I agree completely with your reliance on
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting and overall jumpshooting. Point, we have
Speaker 1: seen to a t the Clippers manufacturer at least the
Speaker 1: first couple of years of the KAUAIPG pairing all time
Speaker 1: regular season offenses, all time shooting teams, and then in
Speaker 1: the three playoffs series they've won, they've shot about forty
Speaker 1: percent from deep. In the two playoff series they've lost,
Speaker 1: they were under thirty four percent from deep in both.
Speaker 1: It's like there isn't a counter, there isn't an alternative,
Speaker 1: There isn't a Hey, we can have a Lebron just
Speaker 1: impose as well in the game and get downhill over
Speaker 1: and over again, eat up sixteen free throws right create
Speaker 1: shots for others by being in the pain, attacking the
Speaker 1: paint they don't have. So I agree that is a
Speaker 1: big problem that this team is facing. I will say, though,
Speaker 1: I'm very concerned about the defensive regression that we've seen
Speaker 1: from them since January first. They're twenty third in defensive rating,
Speaker 1: and I do not think these small ball lineups that
Speaker 1: they're trotting out are tenable in playoff situations. I think,
Speaker 1: as you said, they've lost something at the point of attack.
Speaker 1: Like I think even Pat bev Right was an upgrade
Speaker 1: compared to anything that they have on this roster in
Speaker 1: terms of guarding, like dynamic guards. And so if you're
Speaker 1: putting Russ out there, who is not a good defender,
Speaker 1: and now with Russ out there as well, I will
Speaker 1: say I do think that he hurts this team. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: he has played well in a vacuum. When he has
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands, he's been good, I'll say,
Speaker 1: because he has so much space to work with here,
Speaker 1: he's attacking open paints, he is shooting all around him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's been some turnovers. Yeah, he's been baited into some
Speaker 1: mid range pull ups that aren't great, But overall he's
Speaker 1: been productive there. The problem is when you look at
Speaker 1: down the stretch in that King's game, or when you
Speaker 1: look at late in this Warriors game and teams literally
Speaker 1: are not guarding him because he shoots thirty point seven
Speaker 1: percent on wide open threes. Now you have a guy
Speaker 1: who's completely ineffective away from the ball. His athleticism is
Speaker 1: playmaking doesn't matter because he doesn't even have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to get downhill because nobody's guarding him. Like that, to me,
Speaker 1: is just really problematic when you also don't have good
Speaker 1: enough defensive personnel. Overall that Yokis matchup, they were fronting
Speaker 1: him the entire game, and he gave him a forty
Speaker 1: point triple double. Like I just think there's too many
Speaker 1: flaws here to consider them a legitimate contender. What we've
Speaker 1: talked about offensively, I do think the rust fit bottom line,
Speaker 1: in crunch time minutes, you don't want a decision making liability.
Speaker 1: You don't want him taking the ball out of the
Speaker 1: hands of Peg and Kauai, and he's a liability away
Speaker 1: from the ball, and yet we've still seen Tyler play
Speaker 1: him in crunchtime minutes in three of these four games.
Speaker 1: So I think there's a lot to be concerned about
Speaker 1: with LA and I do not see them as a
Speaker 1: top like contender. I think they get out physical in
Speaker 1: a lot of matchups. I think their pull up shooting
Speaker 1: reliance hurts them, and I don't think their defense is
Speaker 1: good enough. We've just seen a lot of regression there.
Speaker 1: So you had some Warriors points you wanted to hit
Speaker 1: on from this game. They're now better than five hundred
Speaker 1: without Steph this year and have had a couple of
Speaker 1: incredible third quarters just this week, So what's your take
Speaker 1: on them? So really quickly, I just want to say,
Speaker 1: I do agree with what you're saying about Russ, But
Speaker 1: to me, that's the late game situation, which is what
Speaker 1: I've been saying this whole time. Don't play him in
Speaker 1: those specific situations, and then you can benefit from the
Speaker 1: positives without as many of the negatives. I will say, though,
Speaker 1: their offense has struggled just as much when he's been
Speaker 1: off the floor. So that's particularly why I've been defensive
Speaker 1: of him in this particular situation, is like he has
Speaker 1: been brought in to assist in specific areas and they're
Speaker 1: struggling everywhere else, and so he's becoming like the easy
Speaker 1: narrative target in this particular situation. So I you know,
Speaker 1: and as far as the Clippers as a threat, I
Speaker 1: one hundred percent agree. They cannot beat Denver, which means
Speaker 1: they need an extremely fortunate path to get out of
Speaker 1: the conference, which would would then in turn expect them
Speaker 1: to beat all of those particular teams, which I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily think they would. So I view them like in
Speaker 1: that tier with like Memphis and Cleveland and teams that
Speaker 1: are like interesting and talented, but don't really have that
Speaker 1: much of a significant chance to win the title. So
Speaker 1: I just wanted to really quick shout out Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: because you know, he went jankie last night with Draymond
Speaker 1: Green just completely blatantly ignoring Russell Westbrook sitting down in
Speaker 1: the paint. And then a couple nights ago against Portland,
Speaker 1: and I actually misinterpreted this in my first rewatch. I
Speaker 1: was watching and I was so hyper focused on Kavan
Speaker 1: Looney and Draymond Green operating on the back end that
Speaker 1: I thought it was a three two zone. It actually
Speaker 1: was a box in one. Shout out to some of
Speaker 1: the people in the comments on our video that corrected
Speaker 1: me on that the boxing one is a super janky
Speaker 1: thing that you might not be able to get away
Speaker 1: with seven times in a series, but it helps you
Speaker 1: win that one game in a must win situation with
Speaker 1: Steph Curry out Andrew Wiggins out a that is a
Speaker 1: regular season just outwitting your opponent and finding a way
Speaker 1: to get a win when you're down twenty something against
Speaker 1: the decent talented team in Portland. And then last night,
Speaker 1: same thing. Like I thought before that game that the
Speaker 1: Warriors had little to no chance of winning because of
Speaker 1: how much talent the Clippers do have and how desperate
Speaker 1: the Clippers were for a win, and then their perimeter
Speaker 1: size advantages that they have over the Warriors, and I
Speaker 1: was I was flat out wrong and incredibly impressed with
Speaker 1: the way the Warriors grind it out a just literally
Speaker 1: a chess match type of win. And what I appreciated
Speaker 1: so often during the regular season, you'll see coaches just
Speaker 1: stick with their base scheme because they almost look at
Speaker 1: each game as effectively a practice and they're trying to
Speaker 1: build like habits and tendencies for the postseason. And what
Speaker 1: I appreciate about what Steve Kerr has done is he's like, nah,
Speaker 1: screw that we have ground to make up in the standings.
Speaker 1: This is playoff basketball from out till the end of
Speaker 1: the season. We are coaching every single game as if
Speaker 1: it is a must win situation. Now, Steph Curry's coming
Speaker 1: back on Sunday against the Lakers, so they can probably
Speaker 1: slide back into a more traditional model from there. But
Speaker 1: I just to me, that is that level of like
Speaker 1: absolute commitments to making the stretch run that you like
Speaker 1: to see, and it's making me want to put the
Speaker 1: Warriors up on that top tier of contenders, which we'll
Speaker 1: talk about here in this next question. I agree completely.
Speaker 1: There's been urgency, it's been really fun to watch, and
Speaker 1: the battle for seating for them does matter. It could
Speaker 1: be the difference between playing the Kings in the first
Speaker 1: round and the Nuggets if you fall into that play
Speaker 1: and you know, you lose your first playing game, or
Speaker 1: of course you can miss the playoffs entirely. I don't
Speaker 1: think that'd be likely, but it's possible. So it's been
Speaker 1: very fun and the Dubs are looking better for sure.
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Speaker 1: looking better right now than the Milwaukee Bucks Jason who
Speaker 1: have won fifteen straight games. Given that, should they be
Speaker 1: the title favorites, I think so, I think again, Like
Speaker 1: I had them as my second favorite coming into the season.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about Golden Stay here
Speaker 1: in the second My main skepticism there is just their
Speaker 1: playoff path and just how difficult the next few months
Speaker 1: are going to be in just what that means for
Speaker 1: an old veteran team that has some guys that have
Speaker 1: been in and out of the lineup this year. But
Speaker 1: in terms of every team, when you factor in their
Speaker 1: current predicament in the standings and what they look like
Speaker 1: as a basketball team, the Bucks check the most boxes.
Speaker 1: They are the number one defense in the league. They
Speaker 1: have the best player in the league in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and Janis. They have championship pedigree, so they know what
Speaker 1: it takes at every single level. They've experienced the pain
Speaker 1: of loss and the joy of the final goal. They
Speaker 1: understand that up and down nature of the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 1: Their half court offense has actually been pretty good. That's
Speaker 1: been one of the big knocks on the Bucks throughout
Speaker 1: the regular season, but this season, when Chris Middleton, Drew Holiday,
Speaker 1: and Janis are on the floor together, they have one
Speaker 1: hundred and one offensive rating in the half court, which
Speaker 1: is fine. It's perfectly fine. It's not Denver with Yokitchen,
Speaker 1: Murray and Porter, but it's a good half court offense,
Speaker 1: good enough. They're spot up shooting and spot up a
Speaker 1: close out attacking has improved. They're all the way up
Speaker 1: to twelfth in the league for the whole season now,
Speaker 1: which was one of their biggest weaknesses early on. Shout
Speaker 1: out to Joe Engles, Shout out to Chris Middleton coming
Speaker 1: back and helping in that specific department. And I think
Speaker 1: out of all of the teams that we consider top
Speaker 1: tier contenders or really anybody that we consider to be
Speaker 1: a potential contender, I think they're the best equipped team
Speaker 1: in the league to win rock fights. And way too
Speaker 1: often we see these games a Denni grate down into
Speaker 1: rock fights when everyone My favorite example of this was
Speaker 1: the other night when Philly was playing Miami, where like
Speaker 1: even the skill players on the floor completely lose their
Speaker 1: jump shot just because the game is so physical and
Speaker 1: everyone's at a rhythm and it's just super disjointed, and
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, do you have a guy that can
Speaker 1: just barrel into four people and make a layup? Oh? Heait?
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler did, and Philly didn't, and so they ended
Speaker 1: up losing, right Like, I think Milwaukee's uniquely equipped for
Speaker 1: those specific types of battles. So I think that that
Speaker 1: inherently puts them as my championship favorite right now. I
Speaker 1: do only have Boston as the other top team in
Speaker 1: that tier, but I am extremely tempted to put Golden
Speaker 1: State back in that tier. They beat another good team
Speaker 1: last night without their two best players. They're in kind
Speaker 1: of in a sneaky good position in the standings with
Speaker 1: an outside chance of getting especially if they can kind
Speaker 1: of time things out to get the sixth seed to
Speaker 1: catch Sacramento in the first round. I really like how
Speaker 1: that would line up for them going Sacramento, Memphis, Denver,
Speaker 1: or whoever is in the one seed through the rest
Speaker 1: of the conference. They also check I think as we're
Speaker 1: going down boxes, I think they check the most boxes
Speaker 1: out of the Western Conference teams. Like I do think
Speaker 1: Steph is a better playoff player than Nickel Yokich. I
Speaker 1: think they're a better defensive team when they're completely healthy
Speaker 1: and put together. With Andrew Wiggins healthy and playing like
Speaker 1: the top tier perimeter defender that he is, I think
Speaker 1: they're better defensively. I think they've got more experience. I'm
Speaker 1: just extremely tempted to put them back in that tier.
Speaker 1: And Denver is starting to fall back off on the
Speaker 1: defensive end. They have started to let go the rope.
Speaker 1: They're just a little bit. They've slipped down to fourteenth
Speaker 1: in the league after getting up very close to getting
Speaker 1: into that top ten. But I will say this, if
Speaker 1: Golden State keeps winning at the way they're right they're winning,
Speaker 1: they could end up falling into a Phoenix matchup in
Speaker 1: the first round, and that could be extreme. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, extremely interesting for us because can you imagine
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant with his newest super team versus the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors in a seven game series in the first round.
Speaker 1: It just be incredible for us. So I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if they try to kind of meander their way
Speaker 1: down to the sixth seed, just because that's a much
Speaker 1: easier playoff path. But again, when I'm comparing that to
Speaker 1: the Bucks, it's just so much more has to go
Speaker 1: right for Golden State. And then with Boston, I still
Speaker 1: have some concerns about their execution on the playoff stage.
Speaker 1: So I think Milwaukee's the safest bed. I agree, and
Speaker 1: this is the side that I've been on. I also
Speaker 1: agree that it is still a top tier of Boston
Speaker 1: and Milwaukee. I think they're honestly two of the most
Speaker 1: talented teams of this century. I do like Golden State
Speaker 1: a lot, and the depth has also come along with them, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, Devincenzo for twenty plus games has been great.
Speaker 1: Kamingo's looked his best, you know, He's not necessarily battle
Speaker 1: tests that are polished for that stage, but improving. So
Speaker 1: I still think though it comes down to me basically
Speaker 1: to a faith in Yannis versus Tatum in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways, I think both of these rosters are absolutely loaded,
Speaker 1: having incredibly high two way ceilings. But I think you
Speaker 1: put it well, the rock fight environment, the hey, I
Speaker 1: will get mine no matter what right you can build,
Speaker 1: the wall, you can double me relentlessly. I might not
Speaker 1: even have, as we saw last year, my best perimeter
Speaker 1: shotmaker on the floor. I'll get my thirty four and
Speaker 1: seven with solid efficiency and dominate the game. On the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, that's Yannis. And when both
Speaker 1: these teams have great supporting casts, I have to favor
Speaker 1: that over sometimes decision making, liability, sometimes over really relying
Speaker 1: on the jump shot, the difficult shot making that may
Speaker 1: not go his way. With Tatum, I do think that
Speaker 1: that does matter when again, both these teams are so
Speaker 1: strong top to bottom, and I think the ingles and
Speaker 1: the crowder editions on the wings are hugely important. I
Speaker 1: think this Bucks team is better than the team that
Speaker 1: won the title, and they're gonna have a tougher path.
Speaker 1: I think Boston's better than anybody who they played in
Speaker 1: that run, and they might have to face Philly two
Speaker 1: right before they even get out of the East. Like,
Speaker 1: that's a really, really tough path. This is the best
Speaker 1: top three out East of this century too, I would
Speaker 1: confidently say. But I do believe that they're cut out
Speaker 1: for it. They have an elite shooting ceiling. They are
Speaker 1: going to be elite defensively. They have a three headed
Speaker 1: monster at the top with the best player alive, and
Speaker 1: they have great depth on the wings that can be physical.
Speaker 1: They're big, they have dynamic shot making. I think that
Speaker 1: they have it all and Boston has a lot of
Speaker 1: it too. But yeah, that Yannis, that physicality factor does
Speaker 1: mane lean Milwaukee. Okay, let's talk about another team out East.
Speaker 1: It has been really the second hottest in the league
Speaker 1: as of late, and that is the New York Knicks,
Speaker 1: who will continue to climb in those standings up to
Speaker 1: the five seed now and creating separation with the rest
Speaker 1: of that field. Out East. What's their ceiling? Jason, how
Speaker 1: seriously should we take them? You know, everything comes down
Speaker 1: to Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson, as I've been saying
Speaker 1: all season, and you know, during this seven game winning streak,
Speaker 1: it really is this simple. They're doing all the same
Speaker 1: things they've done all season, but Julius Randall and Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson have produced like superstars on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor during this stretch. All year long, They've been
Speaker 1: a pretty good defense, not a great defense. I kind
Speaker 1: of look at them like the Memphis of the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference from the standpoint of like their physical profile, like
Speaker 1: they are going to kill you on the rebound, on
Speaker 1: the glass, on both ends of the floor, They're going
Speaker 1: to be a good defensive team. They don't have that
Speaker 1: same defensive ceiling as Memphis. But honestly, Mitchell Robinson starting
Speaker 1: to flash some of that high level shot blocking and
Speaker 1: rim protection that you get from a Jaren Jackson. So
Speaker 1: you're starting to see a little bit of that. But
Speaker 1: they've always struggled when the game slows down. They haven't
Speaker 1: been a great half court team on either end of
Speaker 1: the floor. They've got too many entry points on offense,
Speaker 1: and when they're on offense, their stars are somewhat limited, right,
Speaker 1: but during this specific stretch, those stars have been incredible.
Speaker 1: During the seven game winning streak, they're seventh in defense.
Speaker 1: What you would expect, best rebounding percentage in the league
Speaker 1: by mile, over fifty five percent of available rebounds. But
Speaker 1: both Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall Brunson twenty eight points
Speaker 1: per game on fifty three percent from the field forty
Speaker 1: three percent from three, Julius Randall twenty seven seven and
Speaker 1: four on forty nine percent from the field thirty nine
Speaker 1: percent from three. And suddenly they're super tough to beat.
Speaker 1: And then they've been just racking up the wins, back
Speaker 1: to back road wins in Atlanta and Washington, which are
Speaker 1: not easy. I mean that they're not great teams, but
Speaker 1: they're not easy wins to get. Then they come home,
Speaker 1: they eat the shit out of the Pelicans, and then
Speaker 1: they got the signature win against Boston, which I watched yesterday,
Speaker 1: albeit without Jaylen Brown. But Julius Rando just came right
Speaker 1: out the gates and was gunning over the top with
Speaker 1: pull up shooting from three and was knocking shots down.
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson was locking down the paint and now Boston
Speaker 1: was missing a lot of their open threes in that
Speaker 1: particular game. But I always, I always want to give
Speaker 1: some of the credit for that sort of shot result
Speaker 1: to physical teams, because lyft is a huge part of
Speaker 1: jump shot result, And when you're battling the best rebounding
Speaker 1: team in the league and they're you know, beating up
Speaker 1: and playing physical on the defensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: I do believe that sort of thing directly leads to
Speaker 1: shot result in some cases. But that's not to say, like,
Speaker 1: obviously I'd picked Boston over New York in a series.
Speaker 1: But the point is is like when they defend that
Speaker 1: way and they rebound that way and they get superstar
Speaker 1: level production out of their stars, they suddenly become very good.
Speaker 1: Now the question what is their ceiling. It's entirely up
Speaker 1: to those two guys. If they are efficient twenty seven
Speaker 1: point per game scorers in the playoffs, they can beat anyone,
Speaker 1: end of story. But the reality is is, you know,
Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs notoriously exposed basketball players for who they
Speaker 1: really are. And my guests as to what will happen
Speaker 1: is that when they get into the postseason and the
Speaker 1: physicality ratchets up and the defense is ratchet up another level,
Speaker 1: that they'll come back down to their realistic level, which
Speaker 1: is low twenty point per game scoring on moderate efficiency,
Speaker 1: and I think from there they'll have some issues. But
Speaker 1: last thing I'll say, I you know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: shaping up with the way the standings are coming along,
Speaker 1: that they might end up facing the Calves in that
Speaker 1: first round series. I give the Knicks a real chance
Speaker 1: to win that series. I think the Calves are an
Speaker 1: extremely flawed team on their own, and I think specifically
Speaker 1: their flaws play into New York strengths, especially with the
Speaker 1: Tom Tivotau and his ability to ignore shooting to help
Speaker 1: around the paint, and the way that's going to make
Speaker 1: things difficult with Cleveland in their lack of front court
Speaker 1: offensive skill. So I give them a puncher's chance, a
Speaker 1: real chance that I'd say, I'd have to think about it.
Speaker 1: I might even pick the Knicks to win that series,
Speaker 1: but I would give them no chance to beat Boston.
Speaker 1: I mean, as we're discussing, as we're discussing their ceiling,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think that that is shaping
Speaker 1: up to be a really interesting looking series, because I
Speaker 1: do think that there are clear advantages that the Knicks
Speaker 1: have right significantly better depth, better wings, and as you said,
Speaker 1: when they have that dynamic star tandem, then they can
Speaker 1: easily go toe to toe with Cleveland. I mean, they
Speaker 1: may not have the defensive ceiling, but they have other
Speaker 1: things that can compensate for that. Outside of that, though, yeah,
Speaker 1: I really don't think just because of how good the
Speaker 1: top of the East is, there's any world in which
Speaker 1: I can see the Knicks making like a conference finals run.
Speaker 1: They are so much better than the team two years
Speaker 1: ago that everybody, I think really overhyped, like that was
Speaker 1: a bad offensive team. We knew that all year. People
Speaker 1: just decided to ignore it because it was exciting, and
Speaker 1: it was like, yeah, they're overlying on Randall. They can
Speaker 1: load up on him and if his jump shot isn't
Speaker 1: consistently falling, they'll get dismantled by the Atlanta Hawks. And
Speaker 1: you know, this team is in an entirely different stratosphere
Speaker 1: right now because of Jalen Bronson, and also, I mean
Speaker 1: the role guys are improved like quickly. Josh Hart, those
Speaker 1: guys are first Team All Role Player right now. They
Speaker 1: are doing their jobs exceptionally well. This bench is really good,
Speaker 1: but it's Brunson man. Like you said, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: been one of the best guards in the league in
Speaker 1: this calendar year. He's been unbelievable. And he's an incredibly skilled,
Speaker 1: versatile pick and roll score, high level shotmaker on all
Speaker 1: three levels, good playmaker, good leader, competitor. He's the difference maker.
Speaker 1: He's the reason that this is now a team do
Speaker 1: you look at and say, yeah, they're a legit playoff
Speaker 1: caliber team. And Randall has been much better after another
Speaker 1: slow start of this year, and his jump shots actually
Speaker 1: come back to some extent, like not quite at two
Speaker 1: years ago level, but also better than last year where
Speaker 1: it was like, oh my god, is this guy literally
Speaker 1: just exactly the same jump shooter he was before and
Speaker 1: there were no fans in the stands. He's at a
Speaker 1: happy medium where he's like thirty five percent from deep,
Speaker 1: forty two percent from mid range, and when he's at
Speaker 1: his best, when he's physical, when he's making good decisions
Speaker 1: with the ball, when his jump shots falling, Yeah, he
Speaker 1: can be a really impactful top two guy offensively. So
Speaker 1: I think we view this team very Similarly, I just
Speaker 1: don't think when you're comparing them to the top three, right,
Speaker 1: those teams have more star power, they have really strong depth,
Speaker 1: They are more gifted on both ends of the floor. Right.
Speaker 1: It's just there's a different level that I don't think
Speaker 1: the Knicks can get to in a seven game series.
Speaker 1: But they've been really fun. They've overachieved my expectations, and
Speaker 1: that Brunson deal, which I wasn't sure about, is clearly
Speaker 1: a massive difference maker, and you know, gets them one
Speaker 1: step closer to where they would like to end up.
Speaker 1: He's done the work. I mean, he's flat out done
Speaker 1: the work, So shout out to him. But I mean
Speaker 1: it's really the simple Take the top two guys out
Speaker 1: of every one of these teams. Take you know, Randall
Speaker 1: and Brunson out, Take the Jay's out for Boston, Take
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday and Janis out, and who has the better roster.
Speaker 1: It's Boston and Milwaukee by a mile. So you're asking
Speaker 1: is for Jalen and Julius to dramatically outplay Jannis and
Speaker 1: True Holiday or the two js, which is just too
Speaker 1: much to ask. So it's just it's just the reality
Speaker 1: of their predicament. Those two guys. Are you know Brunson's
Speaker 1: better off is probably the second or third best player
Speaker 1: on the team, And same thing with Julius Randall if
Speaker 1: you're looking to win a championship. Yeah, And I still
Speaker 1: have current concerns about Randall's offensive consistency and efficiency. And
Speaker 1: RJ you know, is a beast of his own. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have that sort of expectation, but he does get
Speaker 1: a significant volume in this offense, and that can be
Speaker 1: pretty ugly at times. Yeah. Absolutely, the most. He is
Speaker 1: the most predictable offensive player I've ever watched in terms
Speaker 1: of driving, direction and shot selection, Like you, I feel
Speaker 1: like watching the TV. I know what he's going to
Speaker 1: do next every single time. Yeah, and a lack of
Speaker 1: skilled shot making like the intermediate game is, it's not there.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about one more Eastern Conference team who we
Speaker 1: have touched on here within these conversations. The Celtics have
Speaker 1: been quite CONSI instantly right at the top of the
Speaker 1: league this year. I mean literally from the jump last
Speaker 1: year obviously made the finals, slow start, incredible, finished the
Speaker 1: regular season. Jason, Is this Boston team better than last
Speaker 1: year's I think, I think I think they're much better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: their defense isn't quite as sharp as it was last year.
Speaker 1: They're giving up about five points more per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: I do think a big part of that is them
Speaker 1: kind of buying into the long view of the NBA
Speaker 1: regular season, like Man Boston Boston night in and night out.
Speaker 1: Their effort during the springtime last year and the regular
Speaker 1: season was off the charts, and I don't think it's
Speaker 1: realistic to expect them to do that again, especially when
Speaker 1: you understand, like once you've you've seen this with all
Speaker 1: the veteran teams around the league, once you like thoroughly
Speaker 1: embrace and understand that from mid April to mid June,
Speaker 1: you're going to be going through this incredible physical grind,
Speaker 1: like you do, bank some energy there. So I don't
Speaker 1: really hold them over the accountable to that. I do
Speaker 1: think that they'll be able to reach the same defensive
Speaker 1: ceiling when they get to the season. But they are
Speaker 1: a much better offensive team than last year. Malcolm Brogden
Speaker 1: has been a home run trade to bolster their decision
Speaker 1: making and ball handling. To me, in general, their guard
Speaker 1: corps I think is sneaky, one of the best guard
Speaker 1: corps in the league. And it goes completely under the
Speaker 1: radar because of the focus on the two Jays. But
Speaker 1: they're a much much better clutch team and execution team
Speaker 1: than they were last year. So this is crazy. Check
Speaker 1: this out. Last year, the Celtics were the second worst
Speaker 1: win percentage in the entire league in clutch games. They
Speaker 1: were thirteen and twenty two in the postseason. We saw
Speaker 1: that specific problem rise up time and time again. They
Speaker 1: lost five clutch games in last year's postseason, which was
Speaker 1: more than everybody else, albeit they've played longer, but even
Speaker 1: above and beyond that, we just know from watching the
Speaker 1: games that last year they struggled with execution in ball handling,
Speaker 1: but in this particular season, they've completely flipped the script.
Speaker 1: They've been the second best clutch team in the league.
Speaker 1: They are twenty one and eight in games that have
Speaker 1: been within five points with less than five minutes left.
Speaker 1: They have almost a two to one assist a turnover
Speaker 1: ratio and clutch situations this year. So that speaks to
Speaker 1: them just taking better care of the ball. They've just
Speaker 1: been sharper in those areas. But the problem is, and
Speaker 1: you talked about this a little bit when we were
Speaker 1: talking about contenders, but the league around them has gotten
Speaker 1: a lot better. Milwaukee I think is not only much
Speaker 1: better than last year, but I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think they're a much better version of the championship team
Speaker 1: that won a few years back. Albeit that team was
Speaker 1: very much a war of attrition, last man standing type
Speaker 1: of team, which is a credit to you. They're a
Speaker 1: deserving champion, but their path through the playoffs was bizarre
Speaker 1: to say the least. Right, But like Milwaukee's much better,
Speaker 1: Philly I think is much much better than they were
Speaker 1: last year. And then the Western Conference, you're either going
Speaker 1: to get a Golden State team that is the defending
Speaker 1: champion that somehow gets right in time and peaks and
Speaker 1: gets out of the Western Conference, a Denver Nuggets team
Speaker 1: that is a matchup nightmare. When we were talking about
Speaker 1: half court offense earlier, did you know that Michael Porter,
Speaker 1: junior Jamal Ali and Nicola Yokich have an offensive rating
Speaker 1: in the half court of one eleven this year, which
Speaker 1: is just unbelievable. That's like ridiculous, like static set defense
Speaker 1: environment scoring one hundred and eleven points per one hundred possession,
Speaker 1: So that presents a whole other monster. It's like or
Speaker 1: maybe you'll get lucky and it'll just be Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis and Los Angeles Lakers, you know, or
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. It could be or Kevin Freakin, Durant,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker, Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton. Right, So, like
Speaker 1: it's just the Western Conference is going to spit out
Speaker 1: some ridiculously good team at the end of all of this,
Speaker 1: and you've got a tougher challenge up at the top
Speaker 1: of the East. So like this is by the way, Well,
Speaker 1: I've always been such a big believer in repeatedly loading
Speaker 1: the deck, like don't give up upgrading your roster. I
Speaker 1: give the Celtics a ton of credit for the Malcolm
Speaker 1: Brogden trade, you know, going for Mike Mascala, you know,
Speaker 1: the going being aggressive to try to improve on the margins.
Speaker 1: I think has served them well because if they play
Speaker 1: as well as they did last year in the postseason,
Speaker 1: they'll lose in the conference finals. But they have given
Speaker 1: themselves a fighting chance. I still think they're the most
Speaker 1: talented team in the league, So if they do play
Speaker 1: to their actual ceiling on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: I think they'll get the trophy, but you always have
Speaker 1: to bake in their kind of inexperience from a ball
Speaker 1: handling perspective, and that obviously gives That's why I'm leaning
Speaker 1: towards Milwaukee. But I do think that Boston is significantly
Speaker 1: better than they were last year. I agree completely. They
Speaker 1: have been from the jump. I mean, who isn't better
Speaker 1: on this team than they were last year? Right, Like
Speaker 1: Tatum has been more consistently great. Brogen obviously has been
Speaker 1: an awesome edition. Derek White is like an entirely different player.
Speaker 1: You know, Derek White was a problem at times in
Speaker 1: last year players he couldn't make a shot. He just
Speaker 1: averages like twenty and six in an entire month while
Speaker 1: playing the Lade defense. I agree with you completely. I
Speaker 1: think money just also say there's a lot of nights,
Speaker 1: a lot of knights where I think Marcus Smart is
Speaker 1: the third best like true guard on this team, right,
Speaker 1: because I considered Jason and Jalen Wings, they're their own category.
Speaker 1: Derek White and Malcolm Brogden are incredibly talented basketball players,
Speaker 1: so complete versatile. Yeah, in a lot of ways, they
Speaker 1: are like the thing that scares me most about picking Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: because that's the new dynamic that this team has. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's even like you talk about the back end of
Speaker 1: the rotation, just specific matchup guys who are competent, you know,
Speaker 1: adding like a Muscala, you know, Howser actually becoming a
Speaker 1: decent player this year, Blake. I don't know if that
Speaker 1: really matters, but it certainly doesn't hurt. And then I
Speaker 1: agree with you. The lack of consistently defense compared to
Speaker 1: last year doesn't concern me because their personnel is identical
Speaker 1: and we know the ceiling that they're capable of. So
Speaker 1: I think this team is loaded, and as I've said,
Speaker 1: I think that this is the most talented top two
Speaker 1: out East of this century. I think that we are
Speaker 1: in for an absolute war in the conference finals. And
Speaker 1: as good as the West is, I still do view
Speaker 1: whoever comes out of the East as a significant favorite
Speaker 1: because I think they have by far the least question
Speaker 1: marks and they've consistently shown US elite elite basketball and
Speaker 1: have incredibly high ceilings. Yeah, the only team that would
Speaker 1: come out of the West that I'd be really tempted
Speaker 1: to pick over either of those teams would be Golden State,
Speaker 1: just because Like again, it was all like conventional wisdom
Speaker 1: going into last year's NBA Finals, screamed Boston just just
Speaker 1: knowing everything we knew about them from a talent perspective,
Speaker 1: and I picked Golden State for that specific reason. Just there,
Speaker 1: they just that team for whatever reason, You're just always
Speaker 1: going to get their absolute best punch, whereas with some
Speaker 1: of the other teams around the league, it's like, well,
Speaker 1: which team are we getting tonight? You know what I mean? Um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I you know, I'm glad you brought up
Speaker 1: specifically Derek White and Malcolm Brogten because those two guys,
Speaker 1: their their offensive creation has been just through the roof good. Um.
Speaker 1: Both of them are good point of attack defensive players.
Speaker 1: I think that they're I mean, Carson, you could tell
Speaker 1: me if you think I'm wrong. Is there any team
Speaker 1: in the NBA that's got a better two um individual
Speaker 1: defenders for Yannis and Grant Williams and Al Horford, Like
Speaker 1: I mean, I would go maybe Draymond Green as an individual,
Speaker 1: but like in terms of like a duo, like how
Speaker 1: how great is that off the bench to have a
Speaker 1: weapon in Grant Williams that you can deploy on Jannis
Speaker 1: who can competently at least make him work harder in
Speaker 1: those situations. But so much of this though, it's like
Speaker 1: it's so funny because we were talking about this with
Speaker 1: the Nicks earlier, But like you the whistle gets swallowed.
Speaker 1: Everyone's offensive fouling and defensive fouling. Everybody a ton of
Speaker 1: content like you're you're weirdly allowed to like travel around
Speaker 1: the basket and stuff in the postseason when every when
Speaker 1: everything just gets and it's like, I want the football
Speaker 1: player in that situation, and that's Yannis and that's just
Speaker 1: that one big wildcard that just screws all of this
Speaker 1: up is just they won't be able to load up
Speaker 1: on Jannis the way that they did last year because
Speaker 1: of the spot up shooting that's going to be around him.
Speaker 1: And as that series progressed, as good as Grant Williams
Speaker 1: and Al Horford were, Johanna started to go through them
Speaker 1: like tissue paper when it mattered. Yeah, all right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all we have for today. As always, we
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your support. We will be back tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1: I'm staying up late tonight to record on all of
Speaker 1: tonight's games, but that will be uploaded first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning on Saturday. I appreciate you guys rocking with
Speaker 1: us and we'll see you next time. The volume