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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoopson I here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy two day, everybody. I hope all of you guys

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Speaker 1: are having a great week so far. Going to jam

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Speaker 1: pack show for you. The Chicago Bulls apparently they're gonna

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Speaker 1: start looking at potentially moving Zach Levine, per a report

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Speaker 1: from Sham Sharania. This morning, we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: the Bulls any one of their four or five trade

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Speaker 1: targets that could be available this season, and what teams

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Speaker 1: could benefit from those potential trades this year. Then we're

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Speaker 1: going to do our first edition of Power Rankings of

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Speaker 1: the season. We're gonna hit the top ten teams in

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Speaker 1: the league and talk about each of them for a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes, and then I have nine mail bag

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Speaker 1: questions for the end of the show. We're going to

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Speaker 1: hit on a bunch of different things during that mailbag.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the jope before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to our brand new YouTube channel. Obviously, the Volume is

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Speaker 1: just all have our own channels now. So the old

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Speaker 1: Volume feed is now the Colin Coward Podcast. This one

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Speaker 1: subscribe button. Shout out to Chris Lee who won our

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Speaker 1: free tickets competition last week. Sorry that Lebron didn't play

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Speaker 1: in the game against the Blazers, but at least it

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Speaker 1: was a very entertaining basketball game. All of you guys

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Speaker 1: who participated in that competition, I appreciate it. But again,

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Speaker 1: even if you did not, I appreciate you guys subscribing

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Speaker 1: it's your podcast under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter

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Speaker 1: as well as video breakdowns. And then don't forget to

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Speaker 1: we can hit them at the end of the shows.

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Speaker 1: Then last, but not least, before we get started. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: baseball's over now, but basketball is in full swing for

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Speaker 1: college and the pros. Obviously, the NFL and college football

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Speaker 1: are in the heart of their season. And we still

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Speaker 1: lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: it talks a lot about the Bulls this summer. If

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Speaker 1: you guys, remember I kept throwing this stat out there.

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Speaker 1: The core four players, so DeMar derozen zach Lavine, Nikola Vucevich,

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Speaker 1: and Patrick Williams combined to miss just thirteen games last year.

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Speaker 1: Combined between four players, Patrick Williams and Nick Lusovich in particular,

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Speaker 1: played all eighty two, and they were still a below

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Speaker 1: five hundred team that missed the playoffs. And so I

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Speaker 1: thought it was pretty clear that that group. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's one thing when you win fifty games in the

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Speaker 1: regular season and you have a disappointing pl off front. Right,

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Speaker 1: It's another thing when you have you know, you're hovering

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Speaker 1: around five hundred, but you've been decimated by injuries and

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Speaker 1: you never got to build continuity and see what the

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Speaker 1: guys are capable of. And don't get me wrong, like

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Speaker 1: this team was intended to have a steady dose of

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Speaker 1: Alex Cruso and Lonzo Ball in the backcourt taking perimeter

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Speaker 1: defensive assignments and kind of anchoring that end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: And obviously Lonzo Ball has been a complete non factor

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Speaker 1: because of his injuries, and Cruso has been in and

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Speaker 1: out of the lineup. But they've had other guys, right

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Speaker 1: like Ayuo de Sun Moos come in and played a

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Speaker 1: lot of quality perimeter defense. They've had enough around their

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Speaker 1: core four guys to be able to contend or at

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Speaker 1: least to get to see what this group is capable of.

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Speaker 1: And it just clearly seems like there is a ceiling there.

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Speaker 1: I think in general, among the four guys there at

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Speaker 1: the top of that situation, there's not enough just total

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Speaker 1: commitment to the defensive end of the floor you're week

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Speaker 1: at in terms of rim protection, your week at the

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Speaker 1: point of attack defensively, zach Lavine in particular has always

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Speaker 1: struggled and helping recover situation, so like it's just kind

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Speaker 1: of was doomed from its inception, so to speak, and

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Speaker 1: I'm surprised they brought it back, but they did. And

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Speaker 1: obviously this year is off to yet another below five

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Speaker 1: hundred start that's had player players only in meetings and

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Speaker 1: other frustrations, and so it seems like they're heading in

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Speaker 1: this direction. Now. What I find is interesting is they

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Speaker 1: this particular report from Schams mentioned that they're willing to

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Speaker 1: trade zach Lavine in particular. What does that tell you?

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Speaker 1: Zach Lavine is like the one guy in terms of

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Speaker 1: timeline that could still be worth building around. So it's

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Speaker 1: not like they said, you know, we're willing to trade

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Speaker 1: Demarta Rosen and Nicola Vusovich and start over, like they're

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Speaker 1: potentially considering trading zach Lavine, which means that they're kind

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Speaker 1: of leaning more towards a full rebuild. This is what

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Speaker 1: I said that I would do if I was running

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Speaker 1: the Bulls based on a simple question. If you were

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Speaker 1: to look at the Bulls roster, who's the one guy

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Speaker 1: that looks like he either is on track or has

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Speaker 1: the potential to be a bona fide superstar that could

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Speaker 1: win a championship. Who on the roster there's nobody like

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Speaker 1: I really like Zach Lavine is a good player, he's

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Speaker 1: not on the track to be a top tier superstar.

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Speaker 1: Patrick Williams really interesting young player, not on track to

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Speaker 1: be maybe even a star let alone a superstar. Right, So, like,

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Speaker 1: there isn't a guy that you see in that locker

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Speaker 1: room that you're like that guy, Like that's the dude

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Speaker 1: that's gonna take us to the promised Land. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that any of them aren't good basketball players. It

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Speaker 1: just means you're fundamentally flawed from the beginning. And we

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Speaker 1: went over this the other day, But there are lots

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Speaker 1: of small market teams out there that have bona fide superstars.

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City has shake yil just Alexander. Denver has Nikole Jokic, right,

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee has Jannison Tenna Kompo. So, like, you can get

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Speaker 1: that guy in a small market and before you do

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Speaker 1: anything else, that's the number one thing. Like, you can't

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Speaker 1: do anything until you have that guy. And if you

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Speaker 1: don't have that guy, you at least need to have

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Speaker 1: a guy who could be that guy. Right, Like we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers later. They have a

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Speaker 1: guy who could be that guy in Evan Mobley. He's

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Speaker 1: far away, but he could be that guy if he's

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Speaker 1: a way better prospect than anything going on inside the

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Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls locker room. Right. We look at Kate Cunningham

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Speaker 1: with the Pistons, right like, is he going to be

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Speaker 1: that guy? Don't know, but he could be that guy.

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Speaker 1: And so that at least gives you an ability to

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Speaker 1: kind of cope through the down times as you're basically

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Speaker 1: patiently waiting to see what this talented young player can

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Speaker 1: develop into. And the Bulls just don't have that guy, right.

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Speaker 1: And so as a result of that, I leaned towards

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Speaker 1: full rebuild for the Bulls in the sense that there

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Speaker 1: wasn't anything here that was like, hey, we just got

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Speaker 1: to make some small tweaks and give it time and

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Speaker 1: maybe it all work out. I just didn't see anything

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Speaker 1: like that. So in the event that they go full rebuild,

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Speaker 1: there are basically three versions of players you could go

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Speaker 1: after with the Bulls. There's the kind of like perimeter

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Speaker 1: shot creators, right, demart Rozen and zach Lavine. There's your

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Speaker 1: high level role player in Alex Caruso, right, and then

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Speaker 1: there's Vucevich is essentially an offensive minded post up stretch five, right, So,

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Speaker 1: starting with DeRozan and Zach Lavine, I'm looking here at

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Speaker 1: teams that need more offensive firepower but are relatively close

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Speaker 1: to contention. I think that neither of these guys DeRozan

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Speaker 1: obviously just at this phase of his career, and Zack

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Speaker 1: Lavine in terms of long term potential, neither of them

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Speaker 1: is like the kind of foundational star that some bad

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Speaker 1: team's gonna go after to try to start fresh. Like.

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Speaker 1: I don't see that being the case. So I think

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be teams that are close to contention. That

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Speaker 1: view of Levine Deroze in trade is like an all

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Speaker 1: in type of thing. I put down the Philadelphia seventy

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Speaker 1: six ers. I know they're playing really well within the

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Speaker 1: scale of the regular season, but if you're gonna beat

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Speaker 1: Boston or Milwaukee, I think you need a better I

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Speaker 1: think you need a better top tier shot creator. I

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Speaker 1: really like Tyres Maxie you we can talk about him today,

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Speaker 1: but I think that they I think if I know

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Speaker 1: Daryl Morey, he's probably gonna want to to beef up

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Speaker 1: his perimeter shot creation a little bit. Right. My Heat

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Speaker 1: have been in desperate need of another perimeter shot creator. Forever.

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Speaker 1: The New York Knicks are another example of a team that,

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Speaker 1: like too frequently it turns into Jalen Brunson and no

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Speaker 1: one else, and so they could use another guy like that.

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Speaker 1: The Rafters are pretty much devoid of high end offensive

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Speaker 1: skill at this point, so that would be another uh uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, Zach Lavine next to Scottie Barns is a

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Speaker 1: really interesting duo, right. I look at the Minnesota Timberwolves

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Speaker 1: as like an all in type of trade, Like what

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Speaker 1: if they were like, Hey, we have this all time

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Speaker 1: great potential defense, why don't we put why don't we

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Speaker 1: upgrade Mike Conley into you know, someone like Zach Lavine

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Speaker 1: or Demarta Rose in and now we're just that much

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Speaker 1: better offensively, while you know, giving away the one guy

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Speaker 1: in our starting lineup that wasn't a great defensive player.

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Speaker 1: Right Like that, that I think is a is an

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Speaker 1: interesting potential move there. Golden State, they desperately need offensive

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Speaker 1: firepower that too frequently, and we saw this in the

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Speaker 1: Cavs Wolves games over the weekend. But they when they

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Speaker 1: run into the really good defenses with good rim protection

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Speaker 1: and guys that are flying around on the perimeter, Steph

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Speaker 1: is basically the only guy on the team who can

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Speaker 1: get his own shots. So that's another team that could

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Speaker 1: use that firepower. The Los Angeles Lakers. I don't think

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Speaker 1: they are as much in need because of how good

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Speaker 1: Lebron has looked this year. But and I look at

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Speaker 1: that as like, if you could get deroz In as

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Speaker 1: part of a Caruso deal, I would be interested in that.

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Speaker 1: But I have them lower on this list because I

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Speaker 1: don't think they really need it. And last, but not least,

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Speaker 1: I put the Los Angeles Clippers. Actually, I'm just kidding.

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Speaker 1: That was a joke, all right. Alex Cruso was the

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Speaker 1: next guy that I put on this list as someone

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Speaker 1: that teams would be targeting. Now, in this case, we're

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Speaker 1: looking at teams that need backcourt athleticism as well as

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Speaker 1: point of attack defense. Right, these are some obvious ones

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Speaker 1: at the top, right, Lakers and Bucks. These are teams

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Speaker 1: that desperately need upgrades at that two guard spot. The

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Speaker 1: Miami Heat are a team that isn't the most athletic

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Speaker 1: backcourt in the league. The Dallas Mavericks are team that

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Speaker 1: you could see Alex Cruso essentially as a guy that

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Speaker 1: could play a significant minutes on the perimeter alongside Kyrie

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Speaker 1: Irving and Lukadancicic, especially as a team that kind of

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Speaker 1: needs a perimeter defense upgrade. And then with the Sacramento

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Speaker 1: Kings as well, they're another team that you saw last year.

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Speaker 1: They kind of went away from Keegan Murray and Kevin

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Speaker 1: Herder at stretches during their playoffrun because they didn't trust

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Speaker 1: them defensively and they weren't making shots. So Alex Cruso

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Speaker 1: is a guy who could potentially be an option that

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Speaker 1: they put next to Deer and Fox in a playoff

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Speaker 1: series and just kind of up their defensive potential a

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Speaker 1: little bit. So those were some examples, and then Nikola Vusevich,

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Speaker 1: So I'm looking at here, I'm looking at teams that

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Speaker 1: have excellent perimeter defenders, but that they want to space

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Speaker 1: their floor for slashers. So like you, when you have

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Speaker 1: excellent perimeter athleticism, they typically are capable of being good

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Speaker 1: perimeter defenders. And then on the offensive end, they tend

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Speaker 1: to be downhill guys. I want to get to the basket,

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Speaker 1: and so that kind of pairing kind of calls for

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Speaker 1: a stretch big, right, because if I have excellent perimeter defenders.

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Speaker 1: It makes my rim protection job easier. And if I

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Speaker 1: have slashers, I want to create space for them to

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Speaker 1: get into the basket. And so I put five teams

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Speaker 1: down here to Indiana Pacers. They have a ton of

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Speaker 1: downhill out leticism from Benedict Matherin and Bruce Brown and

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Speaker 1: obviously the tyrees Aliburton kind of running the show. They

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Speaker 1: are an excellent perimeter defense team that is capable of

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Speaker 1: protecting the rim by just containing the ball and then

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Speaker 1: as far as the as far as the offensive end

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Speaker 1: of the floor goes, this is a fast downhill guard team.

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Speaker 1: Vusovich could help space the floor for them a little bit. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Miles Turner is an excellent center. They're already, but you know,

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Speaker 1: in terms of just giving them a good backup center option,

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Speaker 1: he's a guy that I would look at. Although I

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Speaker 1: think Jalen Smith has been pretty good this year too.

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Speaker 1: But I just put the Pacers down as another team

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Speaker 1: that might consider Vusovich as a as a guy that

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Speaker 1: could be essentially like what essentially like a five out option,

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Speaker 1: so giving them the ability to run a lot more

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Speaker 1: you know, d H O stuff and and have just

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Speaker 1: a little bit better offensive player at the five than

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Speaker 1: Miles Turner, who I really like. And again I'm just

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Speaker 1: coming up with examples here. Pacers fan, I think I'm

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Speaker 1: crazy there. The Toronto Raptors are another team I thought

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Speaker 1: that could benefit from a stretch five, especially with how

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Speaker 1: good their perimeter defenders are. The Oklahoma City Thunder, they've

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Speaker 1: been a bit small this year. I thought it'd be

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Speaker 1: interesting to give them a big look. If you put

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Speaker 1: Vucevich next to Chet. You've kind of saw this with

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Speaker 1: the Christian Wood and Anthony Davis, like when you take

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Speaker 1: bad pick and roll defenders and you put them in

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Speaker 1: helpside so where they're more just you know, cracking down

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Speaker 1: as a low man and grabbing defensive rebounds like and

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Speaker 1: then you basically put Chet in all the pick and

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Speaker 1: rolls Like that would be an interesting way to try to,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of make them bigger physically, because they

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Speaker 1: the Thunder, as good as they've been, they've struggled with

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Speaker 1: really big teams this year. The Pelicans floor spacing for Zion,

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Speaker 1: like getting away from a big that can shoot to

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Speaker 1: a big that teams have to guard and basically kind

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Speaker 1: of giving Zion more room. And then I put the

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Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers as another team, and we'll talk about them

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Speaker 1: when we get to the mail bag. But like putting

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Speaker 1: him next to Evan Mobley again, like these are I

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Speaker 1: just gave you, like, like what twenty five potential trades.

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Speaker 1: So I did not all of them make a ton

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Speaker 1: of sense, but I just wanted to kind of give

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Speaker 1: you guys an example of teams that would be interested

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Speaker 1: in these players potentially. All right, moving on to the

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Speaker 1: Power rankings, So I want to change my criteria up

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Speaker 1: a bit this year and get away from the whole,

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Speaker 1: like you know, big picture title contention stuff, and I

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Speaker 1: want to really just use Power Rankings as an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to talk about the teams that are playing the best

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Speaker 1: basketball right now. So this is gonna be very like

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Speaker 1: in a vacuum right now type of analysis surrounding these teams.

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Speaker 1: Three teams that missed the cut, just to give you

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Speaker 1: guys an idea. One of the things that I used

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Speaker 1: as a tiebreaker was your strength of schedule, So I

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Speaker 1: looked at your games that you won against teams that

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Speaker 1: were five hundred or better. It was a big tiebreaker

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Speaker 1: for me. So for instance, the Knicks, the Thunder and

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Speaker 1: the Pacers did not make my top ten power rankings

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Speaker 1: despite having solid records, and the reason why is those

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Speaker 1: three teams have combined to win just three games against

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Speaker 1: teams that are five hundred or better, so they've benefited

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Speaker 1: from from some strength of schedule stuff. Don't worry. In

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Speaker 1: the long run, we're gonna do this power rankings thing

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Speaker 1: probably about twice a month the rest of the way,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to be a Every team's gonna have

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Speaker 1: opportunities to beat good teams and to make their way

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Speaker 1: onto the list, all right. Starting with number ten, the

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Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks. They're five and four to start the year,

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Speaker 1: their sixth in offensive rating, sixteenth in defensive rating, ninth

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Speaker 1: in net rating. They have a couple of signature wins

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Speaker 1: to start the year. They beat a solid Orlando Magic

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Speaker 1: team that was that Trey Young kickout pass and pick

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Speaker 1: and roll along the baseline to de Jonte Murray in

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Speaker 1: the corner. They blew out a solid Pelicans team in

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Speaker 1: New Orleans, and then they beat the Timberwolves at full

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Speaker 1: strength with Jada McDaniels in the lineup, albeit it was

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Speaker 1: his first game back. Crazy second half defensive run. Dejontay

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Speaker 1: Murray went crazy and they beat the Timberwolves. It was

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Speaker 1: a really good win, and then they destroyed the Bucks

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Speaker 1: with Damon Giannis at their place. Now they're two inconsistent

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Speaker 1: at this point. Their highs have been really high and

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Speaker 1: their lows have been really low. They've had these crazy

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Speaker 1: defen defensive runs. That first half against Milwaukee, that second

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Speaker 1: half against Minnesota, that second half against the Pelicans, that

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic. They've had these defensive

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Speaker 1: runs where they look insane. And then the other end

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Speaker 1: of that spectrum is they've been really really bad defensively

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Speaker 1: outside of those moments. But I think it's a good

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Speaker 1: example of what they're capable of. They're just a lot more.

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Speaker 1: They're not faster. This year, Jalen Johnson's development, combined with

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Speaker 1: getting John Collins out the door, has given them more

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Speaker 1: of a kind of like like fast and fast break

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Speaker 1: type of lineup. The spacing has been significant significantly better

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Speaker 1: without John Collins in the lineup, which has opened things

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Speaker 1: up for them offensively. Just in general, their effort in

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Speaker 1: on ball defense on the perimeter has been way better

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Speaker 1: than it was in previous years. It's actually really fun

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Speaker 1: to watch the Hawks when they are locked in because

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Speaker 1: of what they're capable of, and in general, de Jante

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Speaker 1: Murray and Trey Young are getting better at playing off

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Speaker 1: of each other. That was a big problem last year

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Speaker 1: is they kind of struggled with off ball spacing and

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Speaker 1: it wasn't just the forwards. A big part of it

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Speaker 1: was Dejontay Murray in particular. We're struggling to play off

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Speaker 1: of Trey. But you're seeing de Jontay Murray hunt more

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot opportunities, relocating on the three point line,

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Speaker 1: trying to stay involved in the offense when Trey Young

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Speaker 1: is out there, and that's been a huge element to

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Speaker 1: their offensive success to start the year. They're running more

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Speaker 1: ball screens without centers. Remember that was kind of the

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Speaker 1: thing in the past. It was like a steady diet

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Speaker 1: of John Collins and Clint Capella and pick and roll. Well,

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Speaker 1: now they're actually like running a lot of pick and

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Speaker 1: pops with Sadik Bay, with Jalen Johnson right like they're

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Speaker 1: getting these with even DeAndre Hunter. They're getting like like

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Speaker 1: all of those guys have hit multiple pick and pop

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Speaker 1: threes this year. And again, like when you start running

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Speaker 1: those screening actions without bigs, you start to have a

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Speaker 1: lot of success because teams will try to hedge and recover,

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Speaker 1: which will leave openings. In general, like ball screens with

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Speaker 1: perimeter players are not practiced as often defensively because teams

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Speaker 1: want to set their pick and roll scheme up, you know,

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Speaker 1: with the big man. So like, you can get a

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Speaker 1: lot of good stuff if you have guys that are

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Speaker 1: capable of setting good screens and popping to the three

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Speaker 1: point line and making plays. And Atlanta's they just look

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Speaker 1: like a better version of what they were last year,

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Speaker 1: and that to me makes them particularly exciting again. I

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Speaker 1: was pleading with them this summer to run in transition more.

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Speaker 1: They've been one of the highest transition frequency teams in

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Speaker 1: the league this year. Big shout out to Jalen Johnson

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Speaker 1: on that front. The Hawks are fun. I have them

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Speaker 1: at number ten in our power rankings, number nine. The

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors losers are four out of five, but

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Speaker 1: they started the year five and one. They're currently six

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Speaker 1: and five. They're tenth in offense, eleventh in defense, eleventh

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Speaker 1: in net rating. Their signature wins at this point. They

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Speaker 1: beat the thunder in Oklahoma City, they beat the Kings twice.

400
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Speaker 1: They beat the Rockets in Houston Rockets are good, and

401
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Speaker 1: then they blew out the Pelicans in New Orleans. They

402
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Speaker 1: did take a solid ass kicking over the weekend against

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Speaker 1: two very good teams in Cleveland and Minnesota. Classic things

404
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Speaker 1: that we've seen from this Warriors team. When they run

405
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Speaker 1: into teams that have a good combination of perimeter defense

406
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Speaker 1: and rim protection, it tends to ex the lack of scoring.

407
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Speaker 1: Punch after Steph Curry. They're getting nothing out of Andrew Wiggins,

408
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Speaker 1: Klay Thompson and CP three offensively right now. In the

409
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Speaker 1: last two games, those guys had thirty points per game

410
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Speaker 1: combined between the three of them. You need those three

411
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Speaker 1: guys to be closer to fifty points a game. You

412
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Speaker 1: need Wiggins around eighteen, You need Clay in that eighteen range, right,

413
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Speaker 1: Like you need CP three in that ten to twelve

414
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Speaker 1: points per game area, right. So, like they're just not

415
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Speaker 1: getting enough scoring out of that group, and the main

416
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Speaker 1: culprit is Wiggins. The on off numbers are not pretty.

417
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Speaker 1: The Warriors have been outstanding when Wiggins is off the

418
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Speaker 1: floor this year and pretty damn bad when he's on

419
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Speaker 1: the floor. And this is a guy who was their

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Speaker 1: second best player in the title run. In twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 1: and he has not been the same player since he

422
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Speaker 1: came back from his since he came back from his

423
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Speaker 1: personal issue last year, just hasn't been the same. And

424
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Speaker 1: until he gets back to being the same, I'm not

425
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Speaker 1: sure that the Warriors are capable of reaching the championship

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Speaker 1: ceiling that they were at in that season. Do I

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Speaker 1: think he's capable, Yes, it's just weird, weird that it's

428
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,159
Speaker 1: been It's taken him this long to get right. But

429
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:04,840
Speaker 1: there's a lot to be excited about for Warriors fans

430
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: as well. Jonathan Minga looks like he's really starting to

431
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 1: blossom into a good NBA player. It's getting to the

432
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,640
Speaker 1: foul line a ton. Nine free throw attempts per thirty

433
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,439
Speaker 1: six minutes so far this year, twenty nine points on

434
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,280
Speaker 1: twenty four post ups. He's still been one of the

435
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,359
Speaker 1: more productive post up guys in the league, especially in

436
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 1: a role like his. And then team chemistry is in

437
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,160
Speaker 1: a much better place. They're five and two on the road.

438
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,240
Speaker 1: Most of their problems can be fixed by the guys

439
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:26,679
Speaker 1: in the locker room, and that's a good spot to

440
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 1: be the only thing that's concerning for them right now

441
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,399
Speaker 1: is Steph is missing the game tonight against Minnesota and

442
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,200
Speaker 1: the n season tournament based on a potential NIESE brain.

443
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 1: The reporting is that he's not going to be out

444
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,960
Speaker 1: for long. But this is a guy that's been vitally

445
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:41,879
Speaker 1: important to their success early on, has been playing like

446
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,200
Speaker 1: an MVP, so definitely a big concern for the Warriors.

447
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 1: Moved on to Miami Heat six and four, twenty fourth

448
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 1: in offense, ninth in defense. Got a little dark to

449
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,480
Speaker 1: start the year, but now they're riding a five game

450
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,440
Speaker 1: winning streak, which, by the way, is something that they

451
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,200
Speaker 1: never did at all last year. They also have two

452
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 1: wins over the Lakers and the Hawks in that span,

453
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 1: a couple of quality wins. And they found new guys

454
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:05,119
Speaker 1: just like they always do. Right Like they lost Gave Vincent,

455
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:07,359
Speaker 1: they lose Max Strus and who's going to be the

456
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 1: new guys that come in and kind of embody that

457
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: Miami Heat culture, And it's been Josh Richardson has done well,

458
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 1: Like he hasn't shot the ball well, but he has

459
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 1: been a weapon at the point of attack, and he

460
00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:19,919
Speaker 1: made a couple of really big shots at the end

461
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: of the Spurs game that I think are good indicators

462
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 1: of the fact that he's starting to get his rhythm

463
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: a little bit. You could tell he was feeling confident

464
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,359
Speaker 1: and good. He had to catch and shoot three that

465
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:29,879
Speaker 1: was a big shot on the left side, and then

466
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 1: he had to pull up mid range jump shot that

467
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: ended up being a very very important shot in the

468
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,119
Speaker 1: Spurs game that you could tell he was fired up about.

469
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: That's I think that's been a quality inexpensive signing to

470
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 1: kind of replace what gave Vincent gave you last year.

471
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,399
Speaker 1: Haimy hack Has Jr. Hasn't shot the ball well, but

472
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,120
Speaker 1: his shot creation data has been off the charts good.

473
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 1: It's been really good attacking smaller players going towards the rim.

474
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 1: He's won twenty nine pick and rolls, ISOs and post

475
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 1: ups this year, including passes that have to forty points.

476
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,159
Speaker 1: That's one point three to eight points per possession. So

477
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: heimihawk Has Junior looks like he's a home run draft pick.

478
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,159
Speaker 1: Obviously they need to need him to start knocking down threes,

479
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,720
Speaker 1: but we'll see in time. Trust that with the Miami

480
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: Heat development, Drew Smith is giving them his quality minutes

481
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 1: off the bench. It's like every time you turn on

482
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 1: the heat to start the year. You always see like

483
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,120
Speaker 1: two or three guys that you haven't you had much

484
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 1: experience covering that are suddenly playing competent basketball, in large

485
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 1: part because the Miami Heat are just really good at

486
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,480
Speaker 1: finding guys that are willing to put in the work.

487
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,880
Speaker 1: And when you work hard alongside Eric Spolster, he's gonna

488
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,399
Speaker 1: find a way to help you impact winning within his system.

489
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 1: And then I wanted to give a special shout out

490
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 1: to Duncan Robinson. He's been much maligned over the years

491
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 1: for being overpaid on his new contract, but he's added

492
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: a really convincing off the dribble game. He's really good

493
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: at He's really good at weaponizing his pump fake to

494
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 1: get separation, and then he's added that escape dribble. He's

495
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: added that ability to get downhill and make reads. And

496
00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 1: he was incredible down the stretch of that Spurs game,

497
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,399
Speaker 1: not just hitting relocation threes off of pump fakes, but

498
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: also like driving to the bass kid and drawing fouls,

499
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,880
Speaker 1: driving to the basket and making kickout passes. I think

500
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,359
Speaker 1: it might have been him who made the kickout pass

501
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 1: that led to the Josh Richardson three at the end

502
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 1: of the game. Like dun Duncan, Robinson has has addressed

503
00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 1: his weaknesses and turned himself into a damn good basketball

504
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: player and it's gone a long way to help in

505
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,360
Speaker 1: the Heat at the start of this year, and then

506
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 1: classic Jimmy and Bam just being awesome. They're anchoring the

507
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: defense like they always do. Bam has been scoring really

508
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: well in the winning streak twenty four points, twelve rebounds,

509
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 1: and five assists on fifty four percent from the field.

510
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: Do they need more firepower, Yeah, of course they do.

511
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 1: And like we talked about earlier, they are a team

512
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: I expect to potentially get involved in the Zach Lavine

513
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,639
Speaker 1: and Demarta Rosen sweepstakes, but they're not going anywhere in

514
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:47,920
Speaker 1: the meantime. They're just too well coached and they've got

515
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: enough in the building to be a competent regular season team,

516
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,199
Speaker 1: all right. Moving on to number seven, the Milwaukee Bucks

517
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 1: at five and four, seventh in offense, twenty fifth in defense,

518
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: nineteenth and net rating. Their signature wins this year. They

519
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 1: beat the Sixers, the Heat, the Knicks, and the Nets,

520
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 1: so a couple quality wins in there. They had some

521
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: issues with injuries in alignment, right like Chris Middleton's been

522
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,639
Speaker 1: in and out. Dame missed a couple games with a

523
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 1: sore calf that they ended up losing a couple games

524
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: because of. And then they're running a very different pick

525
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 1: and roll coverage than they did in previous years, basically

526
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 1: bringing Brook higher up to the level of the screen

527
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: instead of dropping him back to the basket, which has

528
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: caused problems for them defensively, but they've addressed that. And

529
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: despite all of those issues and the defensive backcourt issues

530
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: and the Dame not playing well to start the year

531
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: really outside of crunch time and the dam Giannis pick

532
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: and roll not really being as dominant as people expected

533
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,400
Speaker 1: it to be, despite all of that, they're still five

534
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: and four, and they are four to zero in games

535
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 1: that went to crunch time, inning within five with less

536
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: than five minutes left, and where Damian Lillard was available

537
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,120
Speaker 1: four and oh, he straight up stole the Pistons game

538
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 1: with late game shot making. He outplayed Brunting down the

539
00:25:58,160 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: stretch in the Knicks game. He made a bunch of

540
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:01,679
Speaker 1: big plays down the stretch in that Sixers game. To

541
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: start the year, Dame is actually tied for the league

542
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 1: lead in clutch points with thirty two this season, so again,

543
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: that trade's gonna pay dividends if they can figure the

544
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: rest out. I do think they need an upgrade at

545
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,440
Speaker 1: the two guard spot though, Like we talked about with

546
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,360
Speaker 1: the Lakers, all right, number six, the Houston Rockets six

547
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: and three, eleventh in offense, fifth in defense, and sixth

548
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: in net rating. They've been the sixth best point differential

549
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 1: team by pace to start the year. That's pretty impressive

550
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,680
Speaker 1: signature wins. They beat the Nuggets, beat the Pelicans, beat

551
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: the Lakers, beat the Kings twice all in their six

552
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 1: game winning streak. Emy Udolka clearly is one of the

553
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 1: best motivators in sports right now. Has done a really

554
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: nice job kind of anchoring that defense around Jabari Smith

555
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,959
Speaker 1: Junior and Dylan Brooks, defending on the perimeter and getting

556
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: buy in down the line from the rest of the guys.

557
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: Fred Van Vliet has always been a good perimeter defender.

558
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: Jalen Green has gotten a lot more involved in the

559
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,160
Speaker 1: offense after I kind of complained about that to start

560
00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: the year. He's shooting the ball extremely well over the

561
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 1: course of this win streak from the three point line.

562
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: And then I'll put in shangoun So far to start

563
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 1: the year twenty points, eight rebounds and six assists in

564
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,000
Speaker 1: the win streak, so in the six game streak, twenty

565
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:15,160
Speaker 1: eight and six on sixty three percent shooting and one

566
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,439
Speaker 1: point two to two points per post up including passes.

567
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,400
Speaker 1: I think it's been really telling how how often em

568
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: Udoka has run the offense through Shang Gun, especially down

569
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:26,879
Speaker 1: the stretch of games, to show you how much he

570
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,160
Speaker 1: trusts him to be one of his primary decision makers.

571
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,439
Speaker 1: This is a tough basketball team. I mean, there's a

572
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: ceiling here obviously, but they're just going to be a

573
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 1: pain in the ass all season long. And again, like

574
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: what a great spot. We're gonna talk about this when

575
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 1: we get to the Cavs in the in the mail bag,

576
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: But like, this, to me, is like a really smart

577
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,159
Speaker 1: way to go about the development process for one of

578
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 1: your young stars. Like give him, make him play good basketball,

579
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 1: Like surround him with competency and the competence I should say,

580
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,920
Speaker 1: and and and veterans and and have him learn how

581
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 1: to play basketball the right way instead of having it

582
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: just be a roiling shit show where he just takes

583
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: a bunch of bad shots. I think it's an interesting approach.

584
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: And I'm curious to see in five years or so

585
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 1: how this particular approach for the Rockets pays dividends. Number

586
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: five the Dallas Mavericks eight and two, second in offense,

587
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: twenty fourth in defense, fifth in net rating. They've definitely

588
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: benefited from a little bit of an easy schedule to

589
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 1: start the year. Six of their ten games against have

590
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: been against teams that are a blow five hundred, but

591
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,359
Speaker 1: they're six to zero in those games. And again, like you,

592
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 1: taking care of business against lesser teams is a very

593
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 1: very important part of being a great basketball team. And

594
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: eight and two is impressive no matter how you slice it.

595
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: And there have been a couple of quality wins in there.

596
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: They beat the shit out of the Clippers, albeit when

597
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: they're playing some bad basketball. They blew out the Pelicans

598
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 1: in Magic on the road. I thought the win in

599
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,000
Speaker 1: Orlando against the Magic in particular was really impressive when

600
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 1: you factor in the size differential between those two teams,

601
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 1: and they beat the Nets and the Nets are solid.

602
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 1: So there's some quality wins in there. But they've definitely

603
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: benefited a little bit from a light schedule to start

604
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 1: the year. They've held up better physically than they did

605
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: at the end of last season. They've hit on some signings.

606
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior has been an interesting point of attack

607
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: threat who's also had success spotting up by slashing and

608
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: knocking down threes. Grant Williams, that was a home run,

609
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: Derek Lively. As far as a draft pick that can

610
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: immediately impact winning, that's been a home run. Lucas playing

611
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: the best he's ever played, thirty three points, eight rebounds,

612
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 1: nine assists on a career high sixty six percent through shooting,

613
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 1: hitting a step back three at just a preposterous rate.

614
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: Kyrie got off to a rough start, but he's starting

615
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: to find his legs. Last two games thirty one points

616
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 1: per game on fifty four percent shooting, and he's got

617
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: his three going. Finally, he made twelve threes in the

618
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,240
Speaker 1: last two games. In his first six games this season,

619
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: he made only ten combined. So shots starting to come around.

620
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: You're starting to see Kyrie get going. What did I

621
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: say when he was slumping? I said, he looks great physically,

622
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 1: he's finishing at the rim, he's getting to his spots.

623
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,960
Speaker 1: He just needs to start making shots and it'll the

624
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: rest will come. And he started ma shots and now

625
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 1: he looks more or less like Kyrie at his best. Again,

626
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to defend better if they're going to

627
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: continue their winning ways as they get into the tougher

628
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 1: parts of their schedule, and it's about to get hard

629
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,120
Speaker 1: because in their next five games Pelicans, Bucks, Kings, and Lakers.

630
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 1: In the Wizards I think are the fifth one in there,

631
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: but that's four tough opponents in their next five games.

632
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 1: So we're gonna find out a lot about the Mavericks

633
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 1: and their potential this year in this stretch, because as

634
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: good as they've been offensively, they've still been pretty bad

635
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 1: defensively and on the glass to start the year. That's

636
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: three massive front lines there between the Pelicans, the Lakers,

637
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: and the Bucks. So they're going to be put to

638
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 1: the test in the next couple of weeks. Number four

639
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. It's gonna sound crazy to hear them down

640
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: this far, but hear me out. Seven of their eight

641
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: wins are against teams that are five hundred are better

642
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 1: as well. The only reason they are not higher on

643
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 1: this list is their two losses are against two teams

644
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 1: that are above them on this list, the Timberwolves in

645
00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 1: the Sixers, and the other team that's ahead of them

646
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: has the same record as them at eight and two

647
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 1: and is the defending champion, which is like an automatic

648
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 1: tie breaker for me. So you've got the defending champion

649
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 1: whos the same record, and then the other two teams

650
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: beat the Celtics. So that's basically why I have them

651
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: down at number four right now. But make no mistake,

652
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: they've been incredible fourth and offense third and defense number

653
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: one in net rating. Their outscoring opponents by thirteen point

654
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: seven points per one hundred possessions this year. That is

655
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: historic level of dominance. They were the best net rating

656
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 1: in the league last year at plus six point seven,

657
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: and they're at double that right now, more than double

658
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: that right now. The Porzingis and Holiday acquisitions have been

659
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: home runs. Chris Tops has anchored their defense on the rim,

660
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: and he's been a dream fit in their offense. He's

661
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: currently averaging twenty points per game on seventy one percent

662
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: thru shooting. He'd be a fifty to forty ninety guy

663
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: if he could make a few more of his free throws.

664
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday's giving them a ton of DEFENSEI versatility. They've

665
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: been throwing him at centers all year long, which is crazy,

666
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: but it's just a classic like have drew holiday front

667
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: the post and be very physical on the bottom and

668
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: then you basically offer help and rotate out of it,

669
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 1: and it's worked well for them. The bench has been bad,

670
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: but who cares. They can stagger starters into those lineups

671
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: to make it work, and it just really hasn't been

672
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: a problem for them in terms of actually winning games

673
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: to this point, and Tatum is playing like a bona

674
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: fide MVP candidate, So I think the Celtics are in

675
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: a pretty damn good spot here through ten games. Number three,

676
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,800
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers at eight and one, only

677
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: remaining one loss team in the NBA at this point.

678
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 1: Third in offense, seventh in defense, second in net rating

679
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 1: plus eleventh. They're outscoring teams by eleven points per one

680
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. That's also off the charts metric for them.

681
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxi, after a fifty piece that he put on

682
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: the Pacers the other night, is now averaging twenty nine points,

683
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: five rebounds, and seven assists on sixty three percent tru shooting.

684
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 1: That's remarkable, and beat has been his typical dominanself as

685
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 1: scoring an efficiency or down a touch, but his rebounding

686
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: and playmaking have gone up a level. Tobias Harris is

687
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,520
Speaker 1: having an excellent season, arguably his best season as a

688
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: six or twenty points on sixty seven percent true shooting,

689
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,880
Speaker 1: both bests for him in a sixers jersey. The Kelly

690
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 1: Ubre signing has been a home run. And then the

691
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: biggest shout out that I can give to this team

692
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: that I've noticed on tape to start the year is

693
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 1: their perimeter defense. The Anthony Meltin, Kelly Ubray, Tobias Harris,

694
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: Nick Patoom, Jayden Springer has been great in Spurts as

695
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 1: a point at the point of attack. Patrick Beverley has

696
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:18,480
Speaker 1: been a good option for them there off the bench.

697
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: They're combining great perimeter defense with Joel Embiid at the

698
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 1: at the rim, and it's made them a formidable defense.

699
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: This is a really good team, and most importantly, I

700
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: think they're positioned really well to make a trade at

701
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: the deadline that could potentially push them over the top.

702
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: Number two the Denver Nuggets eight and two. They beat

703
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: the Warriors, the Pelicans, the MAVs, the Lakers, and the

704
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: thunder they're fifth in offense and sixth in defense, and

705
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: that's been the story of the season so far for

706
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. The offense is just exactly what it was

707
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year, just as nguardable as it's

708
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: ever been. All five of the starters came into camp

709
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: in shape and ready to go. They picked up right

710
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 1: where they left off. That's all great, but most importantly,

711
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: they also picked up where they left off defensively, and

712
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 1: then some To give you guys an idea, to this point,

713
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 1: they're one h eight defensive rating. It was about one

714
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 1: point fifteen this time last year, so they're they're considerably

715
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: better defensively even than they were last year going into

716
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,759
Speaker 1: the regular season. Kntavious calbo Pope has been one of

717
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 1: the best point of attack defenders I've watched this year.

718
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon is doing an amazing job guarding wings and

719
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: in help situations. Michael Porter Junior is playing his best

720
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,359
Speaker 1: defense of his career and helping recover situations, and then

721
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:28,640
Speaker 1: Jokich and Murray have just been doing their jobs right.

722
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,240
Speaker 1: The bench has a ton of switchy athleticism as well.

723
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,720
Speaker 1: They've struggled a lot, especially after the Jamal Murray injury.

724
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of potential there, and then they

725
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: can kind of slot specific guys like Christian Brown or

726
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,320
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson in with the starters and it even pushes

727
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,600
Speaker 1: their defense to a higher level at that point. And

728
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:47,720
Speaker 1: then since Jamal Murray went down with a hamstring injury,

729
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:50,640
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior has been incredible as a score In

730
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:52,840
Speaker 1: his last five games, He's averaging twenty three points and

731
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 1: eight rebounds on fifty two forty one eighty nine shooting

732
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,279
Speaker 1: splits fifty two percent from the field, forty one percent

733
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: from three to eighty nine percent from the line. Hard

734
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,480
Speaker 1: to do better than that perfect timing filling in for

735
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,720
Speaker 1: the Jamal Murray hamstring injury. The Nuggets are sitting pretty

736
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 1: right now but number one. The only team to beat

737
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: both the Celtics and the Nuggets this year the Minnesota Timberwolves.

738
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 1: At seven and two, they're seventeenth in offense, and again

739
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,719
Speaker 1: they dropped too. They dropped two games early in the year,

740
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: one where Jaden McDaniels didn't play in another word, which

741
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: was Jade McDaniel's first game back from injury. So basically

742
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 1: they've been they've looked borderline unbeatable in the last you know,

743
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 1: six games or so, specifically on the defensive end of

744
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 1: the floor. This is a I talked about this a

745
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 1: lot this summer. Towards the tail end of the year.

746
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:42,799
Speaker 1: Last year, the Minnesota Timberwolves were one of the most

747
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,840
Speaker 1: impressive teams to me, and I saw I kept seeing

748
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 1: this consistent theme at the end of these games. Anthony

749
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 1: Edwards would lock in defensively, and him and Jade McDaniels

750
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,839
Speaker 1: would just shut down the opposing perimeter players and then

751
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,920
Speaker 1: they'd finally get arrest and it'd be Nikail, Alexander Walker

752
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 1: and Kyle Anderson doing damn near just good of a job. Right.

753
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Junior brings another perimeter defender into the equation.

754
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:10,799
Speaker 1: They are getting highly committed perimeter defense down the line

755
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,280
Speaker 1: on the roster, anchored by Rudy Gobert in the paint.

756
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: That combination just makes them you know again, I think

757
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 1: this team has potentially be all time great defensively. They

758
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 1: have ben so to start the year. The gap here's

759
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: the thing. Not only are the number one defense in

760
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 1: the league, they are four points better per one hundred

761
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,840
Speaker 1: possessions than the field. The gap between the Timberwolves and

762
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,840
Speaker 1: the second best defense in the league is the same

763
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: as the gap between the second best team in the

764
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 1: league in the ninth best team in the league. Athony

765
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: Edwards has been one of the five best players in

766
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 1: the world to start the season. In my opinion, I

767
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,919
Speaker 1: think he's a bona fide MVP candidate. He's averaging twenty

768
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 1: eight six and five on fifty nine percent through shooting.

769
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 1: Nobody can guard this guy. Basically, you have to pray

770
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:50,319
Speaker 1: that he settles for a pull up jump shot and

771
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,320
Speaker 1: then pray that he misses. He has seven assists again

772
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,880
Speaker 1: against the Warriors on Sunday. That's his fifth time this

773
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,280
Speaker 1: season logging at least seven assists. It took him twenty

774
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 1: nine games to log five seven assist games last season.

775
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:04,439
Speaker 1: To give you an idea of just how much more

776
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: actively he's been looking to punish teams for how much

777
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:09,920
Speaker 1: attention they throw towards him. His playmaking has been a

778
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 1: revelation watching him on film this year. Jade McDaniels is

779
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:15,280
Speaker 1: the best perimeter defender in the world in my opinion,

780
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: and he's adding real scoring punch to his game. He's

781
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: got kind of like a reliable little ten to fifteen

782
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: foot pull up jumper going to his left on the

783
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,279
Speaker 1: left side of the floor, and they're anchored by it

784
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 1: quality perimeter defenders off the bench. You don't get arrest

785
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 1: here it comes to Kayle Alexander Walker, here comes Kyle Anderson,

786
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: here comes Troy Brown Junior. Like. You're gonna have issues

787
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 1: no matter who it is that comes in off the

788
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 1: bench for this team. And they've got depth that can

789
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: help them deal with injuries right Like, you know, Troy

790
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 1: Brown Junior like is barely played, and that was a

791
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 1: dude who was playing significant minutes for the Lakers last year.

792
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:45,719
Speaker 1: And one of the things he does well in the

793
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: NBA is he can defend on the perimeter. Right. Go

794
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 1: Bear has been excellent that he's done a good job

795
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 1: in his help decisions and not overhelping to make sure

796
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,840
Speaker 1: he can stay home on the defensive glass and forced

797
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 1: guys to make shots over length. Shout out to Mike Conley.

798
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,959
Speaker 1: I've assist to just six turnovers this year. Naz Reid

799
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty points off the bench. That's the

800
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,359
Speaker 1: eleventh most in the entire NBA. They're getting a lot

801
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,479
Speaker 1: of contributions. This is not a Fluke. We talked about

802
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 1: their frightening defensive potential all summer. You're seeing it come

803
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,399
Speaker 1: to fruition. I think the Wolves have been the most

804
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: impressive team to start the year. All right, let's move

805
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: on to our mailbag. I've got nine mailback questions, so

806
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,439
Speaker 1: we had a long one today. Hi, Jason, how would

807
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: you go about fixing the Pistons free fall? In the

808
00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:32,200
Speaker 1: short term? Had a tough schedule ari back to backs

809
00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,839
Speaker 1: four games and six nights, plus the shooting depth has

810
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: been decimated by injuries, so that explains part of the slide. However,

811
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,600
Speaker 1: I'm worried Monty's running kid into the ground with high

812
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 1: minutes and usage, plus refusing to play Ivy alongside him

813
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: to alleviate ball handling slash offensive initiation load reflected in

814
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: his fourth quarter shooting percentages. From watching their games, I

815
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 1: believe whatever defensive improvement Monty sees with Killian starting over

816
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: Ivy is in negated by him being a complete scoring

817
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:00,120
Speaker 1: non factor. I'd love to hear your thoughts if if

818
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 1: you think I'm onto something or just scared from or

819
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 1: just a scared fan. Montese Doghousing another top draft pick.

820
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,320
Speaker 1: So a couple things First of all, with Cad Cunningham,

821
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,440
Speaker 1: it's not entirely uncommon for young players in particular to

822
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,319
Speaker 1: kind of fade at the end of games. It is

823
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: when you've basically essentially professional perimeter defenders have now seen

824
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:25,319
Speaker 1: him for three quarters and they just kind of like

825
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: have a little bit better of an idea of how

826
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 1: to kind of make things tougher for him in the

827
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,200
Speaker 1: end of games. Obviously, the physicality goes up a level

828
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: as the refswallowed their whistles. Schematically, coaches will get more

829
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,400
Speaker 1: aggressive to slow him down. That's not unheard of, unheard of,

830
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,439
Speaker 1: That's an important part of a player's development. Cade has

831
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,760
Speaker 1: to develop to the point where he can stay strong

832
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,760
Speaker 1: in fourth quarters. That is totally normal for a young

833
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 1: perimeter ball handler. Right. The thing with going with Killian

834
00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 1: Hayes as a starter, again, a lot of coaches look

835
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: at it this way. You got to have a guy

836
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 1: who's going to take your primary point of attack assignments.

837
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 1: And it's not just one guy. Asar Thompson. You know,

838
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: I said to you guys, like what a week and

839
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 1: a half ago that I think he's potentially the best

840
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: perimeter defender that I've scouted since I started scouting prospects

841
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,400
Speaker 1: what three four years ago, and like, obviously it's a

842
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,960
Speaker 1: short span, but he's the best that I personally have

843
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 1: ever seen in my time doing this. But you play

844
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,400
Speaker 1: against these teams, there's usually two of them, and having

845
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 1: Killian Hayes is just another guy in that lineup because

846
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,480
Speaker 1: you got to think you don't want kid doing that,

847
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:26,719
Speaker 1: and you're running two bigs right now, so like you

848
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 1: need another guy that can guard the opposing secondary ball handler.

849
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:33,040
Speaker 1: And so that's kind of the direction they're going there. Again,

850
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 1: Like I look at it. You mentioned short term. The

851
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 1: short term, you're gonna be bad, Like there's no fix

852
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:42,000
Speaker 1: for that, Like I mean maybe boy and Bogdanovich comes

853
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,000
Speaker 1: back and and and you know what are you gonna do?

854
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:47,120
Speaker 1: Move us sar Thompson to the two at that point?

855
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 1: And now you have Killian Hayes and Killian Hayes and

856
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:51,880
Speaker 1: did and Ivy off the bench? Like I don't know

857
00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 1: how that works or does Boyan come off the bench?

858
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 1: Like I don't know, but that's not solving your problems.

859
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 1: And so like you're gonna be bad. So the question

860
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 1: is are you building towards something that is going to

861
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:04,800
Speaker 1: help you be good in the future. And what I

862
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 1: look at there is like positional compatibility. So for instance,

863
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:10,720
Speaker 1: like let's look at the Thunder and the Thunder obviously

864
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 1: much further along in this process, but when you look

865
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: at them, it's like, oh, Chet Holmgren, he's our rim protector,

866
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 1: he's our five. It's like that's pretty clear cut, right,

867
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 1: shake yil Des Alexander, He's like he's our point guard.

868
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,680
Speaker 1: He's our superstar point guard, right. And then you go,

869
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 1: Josh Gitty's like your secondary guard that compliments Shake because

870
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:30,719
Speaker 1: he plays a different style and he's big, so he

871
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,960
Speaker 1: can play next to him, right, And then you know

872
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 1: you've got Lou Doord is a textbook three and D

873
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,960
Speaker 1: player that's perfect. And then Jalen Williams is like a big, slashing,

874
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 1: scoring forward and so all of them can play together

875
00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:44,400
Speaker 1: and that lineup is just super synergistic and it just

876
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,760
Speaker 1: makes sense. Right. But then I look at the pistons

877
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:48,760
Speaker 1: and it's like the exact opposite, and it's like, Okay,

878
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: Jalen Duran's really really good, Like I like j Jalen Duran,

879
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: but like you're running a second big alongside of him,

880
00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: and you know, I get it. Isaiah Stewart's been hitting

881
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,839
Speaker 1: threes this year, but at the end of the day,

882
00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: that's not a lot of ball handling up there. And

883
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: we've seen this before where it's like I have the

884
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 1: same issue with the Timberwolves, but like when you have

885
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 1: that second big there needs to be ball handling with

886
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: that group, because it's less about can Isaiah Stewart knock

887
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:19,399
Speaker 1: down to catch and shoot three, which he has been

888
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:23,680
Speaker 1: this year, It's more about in against elite defenses when

889
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 1: you're not, you know, because when you when you play

890
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,799
Speaker 1: against an elite defense, you're not just running a pick

891
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,040
Speaker 1: and pop and getting a wide open shot. Like there's

892
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 1: a rotation and like you've got to beat the team

893
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 1: in rotation by making multiple driving kick reads for a

894
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 1: quality shot. And that's where aggregate ball handling in the

895
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:44,360
Speaker 1: lineup takes over. And like that's where it's like, you know,

896
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:47,320
Speaker 1: if Jalen Dura's your five and you've got four guys

897
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 1: that can pass, shoot and dribble on the floor, that's great.

898
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,080
Speaker 1: But if it's a second guy on there that can

899
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,239
Speaker 1: shoot but isn't a great, you know, drive and kick guy,

900
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: then it can start to kind of dip you below

901
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: that minimum amount ball handling, right, And then I go

902
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:04,239
Speaker 1: into the back court and it's like, Killian Hayes is

903
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:06,200
Speaker 1: a very different type of player than Jayden Ivy, but

904
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:08,800
Speaker 1: he's exciting in different ways, right, Like good defensive player,

905
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,399
Speaker 1: one of the best young playmaking guards that you'll see

906
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 1: in the league in terms of taking care of the

907
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 1: basketball and playing that you know, driving kick style, right.

908
00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 1: You know, he flashes a lot of that in transition

909
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:21,680
Speaker 1: as well. But the thing is is like Jade and

910
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:24,120
Speaker 1: Ivy plays the same position, different player. Like he's a

911
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,280
Speaker 1: downhill guy, like a rim pressure guy, and he's capable

912
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 1: of being a good perimeter defender, but he isn't at

913
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:32,280
Speaker 1: this point, right, And I think even though Jaden Ivy

914
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 1: has a long way to go as a shooter, he's

915
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,560
Speaker 1: a better shooter than Killian Hayes. Right. So, like at

916
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 1: the end of the day, if those guys, you start

917
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:40,920
Speaker 1: to look at the roster and you're like, Okay, you

918
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 1: need one of these centers to pan out, probably Jalen Duran, right,

919
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 1: Cade's your point. You need, you know, a point of

920
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:52,320
Speaker 1: attack guard next to him. I like Jade and Ivy

921
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:54,239
Speaker 1: in the big picture more than Killian Hayes. So if

922
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: it were me, I would look to move Killian Hayes

923
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 1: and I would lean more into Jade and Ivy. You

924
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,600
Speaker 1: do a disservice to both of them though, when you

925
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:03,959
Speaker 1: put them in a situation like this where there neither

926
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,320
Speaker 1: of them is getting as much opportunity as they need

927
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: and they're not playing with your best lineups, and all

928
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: it really is doing is just kind of putting you

929
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,399
Speaker 1: in limbo even further. Right, what you need to look

930
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,800
Speaker 1: at in the big picture is where Usar Thompson fits

931
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: in all of this. Let's say he's the three, then

932
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,040
Speaker 1: you need a big picture four with this core, and

933
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 1: you need a big picture two with this core. You've

934
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,400
Speaker 1: got two two's, and you kind of have zero fours.

935
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,400
Speaker 1: You know, maybe if you had Sadik Bathe, maybe he's

936
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 1: lots in there, but clearly he didn't fit into that

937
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:36,440
Speaker 1: image anymore. Right, So, like at a certain point, you

938
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,160
Speaker 1: almost wonder if it's worthwhile for you to, you know,

939
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:43,120
Speaker 1: look to move Killian Hayes for someone that you can

940
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:47,200
Speaker 1: slot between Usar Thompson and Jalen Duran. That's that's more

941
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: of a perimeter oriented type of player, Like that's kind

942
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:51,839
Speaker 1: of the way I look at it, because like it's

943
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: really easy, and we're gonna talk about this same type

944
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 1: of issue when you get to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But

945
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,719
Speaker 1: like it's a lot easier to see the progression of

946
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,120
Speaker 1: a team into the future when they have their core

947
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,440
Speaker 1: five guys that are all kind of on the same timeline,

948
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:05,759
Speaker 1: that all kind of fit their roles perfectly, and they

949
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: all can play together. And that's not the situation the

950
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: Pistons are in. Like, now here's the upside Pistons fans.

951
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:17,480
Speaker 1: Asar Thompson, like I said earlier, is just an unbelievable

952
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 1: defensive prospect. I pulled this stat up the other day

953
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: for you guys. But he's averaging like four offensive rebounds

954
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,520
Speaker 1: and two blocks a game. Imagine that he's turning four

955
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 1: shot attempts by your team into extra shot attempts, and

956
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: he's erasing two shot attempts from the other team. That

957
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:37,000
Speaker 1: basically means every game he's buying you six shot attempts. Now,

958
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:40,399
Speaker 1: just run a basic equation, like, oh, based on your

959
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 1: average half court points per possession on both ends of

960
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:44,799
Speaker 1: the floor, it's going to be roughly a point. It's

961
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 1: called six points. So Asar Thompson just on the glass

962
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: and blocking shots is adding six points to your team

963
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,960
Speaker 1: every game, in addition to just how disruptive he can

964
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,080
Speaker 1: be at the point of attack, how well he passes

965
00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 1: the ball just as a connective piece. He's a very

966
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,359
Speaker 1: very exciting prospect there. So you've got Kate Cunningham who

967
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,640
Speaker 1: has the potential to be a bona fide superstar, and

968
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:08,960
Speaker 1: you've got Usar Thompson who's got all the potential in

969
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 1: the world. Right, So you're in a really good spot

970
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:14,439
Speaker 1: in terms of like you're not like the Bulls where

971
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:16,880
Speaker 1: you just don't have anything really to get excited about,

972
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,319
Speaker 1: but you've got a little bit of a redundancy in

973
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 1: the back court and in the front court, and that

974
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:25,239
Speaker 1: eventually needs to get addressed. Next question, do you think

975
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,120
Speaker 1: the Warrior's strong offensive rebounding isn't so much a team

976
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 1: strength and more result of how much other teams are

977
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 1: selling out to the three point line to stop their shooters.

978
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: Very interesting question, but I think it's both. Like Kevon

979
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:39,319
Speaker 1: Looney is genuinely an excellent offensive rebounder. He's just very

980
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:41,319
Speaker 1: strong and he's good at leaning on people, so like

981
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,799
Speaker 1: he can bury even the best pigs in the league

982
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:45,880
Speaker 1: under the rim and get rebounds. But I thought I

983
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,280
Speaker 1: looked this stat up to kind of prove this shot

984
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:51,200
Speaker 1: this kind of idea though, because like, essentially the idea

985
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 1: that this question is getting at is like, is there

986
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,440
Speaker 1: a schematic thing that takes place with the Warriors that

987
00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,759
Speaker 1: creates more offensive rebounded opportunities. Now, what we're looking at

988
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,840
Speaker 1: there is the defensive big has to show at the

989
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:08,000
Speaker 1: level of the screen, So the screener has an opportunity

990
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:12,160
Speaker 1: to get to the rim right to grab an offensive rebound.

991
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:16,080
Speaker 1: If Steph puts up a shot right, imagine against the Celtics,

992
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:18,759
Speaker 1: Robert Williams in the Finals, like steps up on a

993
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,440
Speaker 1: Steph Curry three in pick and roll, Steph misses it.

994
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:24,880
Speaker 1: Ballooney's barreling downhill to get the offensive rebound. So that's

995
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 1: schematic approach one. And then the second part of it

996
00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 1: is like lots of three point attempts. The Warriors are

997
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,200
Speaker 1: a high three point attempt team. As a result, their

998
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: field goal percentage is lower because threes don't go in

999
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:35,959
Speaker 1: as offense twos. They are are forty five percent field

1000
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,160
Speaker 1: goal percentage team that ranks twenty fifth in the NBA

1001
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: so they miss more shots than every team in the

1002
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,920
Speaker 1: league except for twenty four teams except for four teams

1003
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 1: excuse me, five teams, So essentially more missshots and the

1004
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:50,719
Speaker 1: actual defensive rebounder for the other team being pulled out

1005
00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:52,920
Speaker 1: to the three point line definitely helps a lot. Here's

1006
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:58,160
Speaker 1: an example. Dario Sarich is averaging a career high three

1007
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:01,480
Speaker 1: point four offensive rebounds per th thirty six minutes. His

1008
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,759
Speaker 1: previous career high was two point four. So there you go.

1009
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,760
Speaker 1: I feel like that's pretty strong evidence that your theory

1010
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: that the Warriors and them forcing teams to sell out

1011
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: to the three point line goes a long way towards

1012
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: helping them as a team offensive rebound better. Hi, Jason,

1013
00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:21,319
Speaker 1: I'm curious on what do you think the Calves should

1014
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 1: do moving forward. They're in a weird spot of contending

1015
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,359
Speaker 1: and developing. I think it's clear Donovan is not good

1016
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:27,480
Speaker 1: enough to be the guy on a title team, knowing

1017
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:31,120
Speaker 1: that the Calves, knowing that that, should the Calves take

1018
00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:35,960
Speaker 1: the patient approach you said the Celtics should I'm a

1019
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:38,279
Speaker 1: little confused by this. Hold on should they take this?

1020
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:40,719
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just skip that part. Should the Calves take

1021
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:43,279
Speaker 1: the patient approach and hope Mobilely can be that guy,

1022
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,719
Speaker 1: or should they eventually make an all in trade in

1023
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,359
Speaker 1: trade Garland and assets for the next available superstar who

1024
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:50,879
Speaker 1: can be that guy. A couple things I agree about

1025
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:52,440
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell. I don't think he can be the best

1026
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:54,279
Speaker 1: player on a championship team, but at the same time,

1027
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,319
Speaker 1: it makes the most sense to keep him where he is.

1028
00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:01,440
Speaker 1: I definitely feel like Darius Garland's not guy Like Darius Garland,

1029
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:06,319
Speaker 1: interesting young player. Don't think he's got superstar potential. Can

1030
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:09,400
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley be a superstar? He's got that potential, but

1031
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:12,360
Speaker 1: he feels very far away from that at this point. Offensively,

1032
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,680
Speaker 1: he's a little below where he was last year. That's

1033
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:18,080
Speaker 1: never encouraging, and his offensive shortcomings in the short role

1034
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 1: ended up being a big problem for them in the

1035
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 1: Knick series. If you move him to center, you're immediately

1036
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:29,080
Speaker 1: gonna go from pretty good to probably average fast, just

1037
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 1: because you become pretty small on that front line. Even

1038
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:33,239
Speaker 1: though I think that's where he's going to be in

1039
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:35,360
Speaker 1: the long term, it'd be a short term sacrifice for

1040
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:39,239
Speaker 1: a long term benefit. So, like in that example, you're

1041
00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 1: in a tough spot because like, what you really need

1042
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 1: to do is see what Mobili can become and then

1043
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:48,719
Speaker 1: stay positioned to make potentially a star trade if it

1044
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:51,040
Speaker 1: comes up in the future. And so I wanted to

1045
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:53,720
Speaker 1: kind of like pitch an example of like a soft

1046
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:57,359
Speaker 1: rebuild you could do that would make the Calves better

1047
00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:00,839
Speaker 1: in the short term while also buying you the time

1048
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:03,279
Speaker 1: to see what Mobiley can do by making the team

1049
00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:05,919
Speaker 1: a little bit more compatible with each other. So here's

1050
00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:09,920
Speaker 1: an example. And again these trades might be completely unrealistic,

1051
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:13,520
Speaker 1: but hey, we're just having some fun. Number one, call

1052
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:15,879
Speaker 1: up the nets and see if you can work out

1053
00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:20,440
Speaker 1: a Garland for McHale Bridges swap. Okay, Essentially, that's a

1054
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 1: team that's heavy on six eight dudes that can shoot, right.

1055
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 1: You know, they already have Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney

1056
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,359
Speaker 1: Smith and you know Ben Simmons is hurt again, but

1057
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:31,400
Speaker 1: theoretically he's another forward in that lineup, right, So like

1058
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:34,200
Speaker 1: you bring in a guard essentially for a team that

1059
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:36,960
Speaker 1: right now basically as Spencer Dinwoodie and Cam Thomas hast

1060
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,879
Speaker 1: at guard and Cam Thomas got hurt as well, but

1061
00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: they're a team that could use some more offensive initiation

1062
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,200
Speaker 1: and organization. Darius Garland could help them there. I don't

1063
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: know if you need to throw in a draft pick.

1064
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:49,759
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how those GMS value those teams. But

1065
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,080
Speaker 1: Garland and McHale Bridges, you swap those two guys. That

1066
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:57,680
Speaker 1: essentially puts McHale Bridges at the three and moves Max

1067
00:50:57,680 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 1: Strews to the two, which is probably a better spot

1068
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:03,160
Speaker 1: from there. Okay, then you call it the bulls and

1069
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:05,800
Speaker 1: you offer him Jared Allen for Nikola Vusovich. Once again,

1070
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:09,360
Speaker 1: not sure how the GMS value those respective contracts. Not

1071
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:10,959
Speaker 1: sure if you would need to throw in a pick

1072
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,320
Speaker 1: here or there, but those are two trades that seem

1073
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:18,400
Speaker 1: at least possible. Right, you flip Alan Vvusovich. This is

1074
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,680
Speaker 1: what the lineup looks like. Now you've Donovan Mitchell with

1075
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:25,000
Speaker 1: Max Strus with Mikhale Bridges, Evan Mobley Nicola Vusovich. Now

1076
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:27,960
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley is surrounded by four guys that can shoot,

1077
00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:31,080
Speaker 1: three of which are like knockdown three point shooters. Right,

1078
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:33,040
Speaker 1: They're not going to be as good defensively, but the

1079
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:35,759
Speaker 1: spacing is going to be much better. Again, you kind

1080
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:37,359
Speaker 1: of do a similar type of thing that we were

1081
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: talking about with the Lakers with Christian Wood and Anthony Davis.

1082
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,400
Speaker 1: You basically put Vusovich as the help side defender guarding

1083
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:45,560
Speaker 1: the low man, and you have mobiley defend and pick

1084
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:48,360
Speaker 1: and roll. That kind of like kind of allows you

1085
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,760
Speaker 1: at least a decent chance of defending at a high level.

1086
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:53,759
Speaker 1: And then again, maybe you're not as good in the

1087
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:55,400
Speaker 1: regular season, but I think you're a little better in

1088
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:59,440
Speaker 1: the playoff context. And then you just let Evan Mobley

1089
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:02,440
Speaker 1: develop in a spaced out environment, see what he's capable of,

1090
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: and then in two years you can find out whether

1091
00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:07,239
Speaker 1: or not he's on that track or not. And most importantly,

1092
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 1: those are excuse me, those are two deals that don't

1093
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 1: empty your asset trove, and so you can still kind

1094
00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:17,200
Speaker 1: of hang tight and wait to see if a better

1095
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:21,960
Speaker 1: deal comes up down the line for a start. Next question,

1096
00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:24,280
Speaker 1: as good as the Celtics starting five looks the season,

1097
00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 1: the bench has been going through their ups and downs.

1098
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:29,000
Speaker 1: Do the Seas need to concentrate on the roster and

1099
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:31,080
Speaker 1: look on this roster or look to strengthen it by

1100
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,480
Speaker 1: adding a piece or two via the trade before via

1101
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:35,880
Speaker 1: trade before the deadline. I'm not worried about the perimeter

1102
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:41,880
Speaker 1: depth at all. You know, obviously the bench hasn't produced

1103
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:44,760
Speaker 1: a lot offensively, but at the same time, the starting

1104
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,240
Speaker 1: five is so talented and they can stagger things properly

1105
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,520
Speaker 1: that they always have two or three excellent players on

1106
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:53,200
Speaker 1: the court with their top six. Like, at any given moment,

1107
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:55,600
Speaker 1: you're gonna have six, you know, you're gonna have at

1108
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,880
Speaker 1: least two or three excellent players on the floor. So like,

1109
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:00,080
Speaker 1: I'm not really worried about that. The main thing for

1110
00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:02,200
Speaker 1: me would just be the center position and what would

1111
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:04,640
Speaker 1: happen if Horford or Porzingis went down in their lack

1112
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:06,680
Speaker 1: of depth at that position. So do I think they

1113
00:53:06,719 --> 00:53:09,239
Speaker 1: need to keep an eye on a potential center down

1114
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,759
Speaker 1: the line. Yes, But the roster is not going to

1115
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:13,560
Speaker 1: be an issue for the Celtics team. It's going to

1116
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,479
Speaker 1: be about that guy's and the guys in that group

1117
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:18,960
Speaker 1: and what they can accomplish. Do you think if cam

1118
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,800
Speaker 1: Reddish can keep doing this well, does he help the

1119
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:25,279
Speaker 1: Lakers in the long run playoffs? In the playoffs? So,

1120
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:28,400
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Cam Reddish is playing better, He's defending

1121
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. Well, he's finding a way

1122
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:32,640
Speaker 1: to impact winning for the Lakers. Which is an excellent

1123
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:35,919
Speaker 1: shout out to cam Reddish and his mental fortitude through

1124
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:39,520
Speaker 1: what's been a challenging couple of years and just scraping

1125
00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:43,440
Speaker 1: a scraping and clawing his way into a rotation spot, right, Like,

1126
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 1: that's all very impressive. Here's the reality. If cam Reddish

1127
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:48,839
Speaker 1: is in your playoff rotation, you're probably not very good

1128
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,600
Speaker 1: like that. That's just the reality. Cam Reddish has knocked

1129
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:55,319
Speaker 1: down a bunch of important corner threes the other day,

1130
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:59,480
Speaker 1: like in that Sun's game that goes without saying, but

1131
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:02,759
Speaker 1: over offensively, it's been pretty rough with cam Reddish, and

1132
00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:05,200
Speaker 1: the perimeter defense has been good but not great. What

1133
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:07,120
Speaker 1: you really need for the Lakers is you need an

1134
00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 1: excellent version of cam Reddish. You need a top tier

1135
00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:12,800
Speaker 1: three and D guy. You need to You need somebody

1136
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:16,319
Speaker 1: that can legitimately cause problems consistently at the point of

1137
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:19,359
Speaker 1: attack while also be maintaining a threat offensively. That's why

1138
00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:21,880
Speaker 1: I keep pointing towards that Alex Crusoe option. I just

1139
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:23,400
Speaker 1: think he makes the most sense in the world as

1140
00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 1: a guy that they should try to hunt. What do

1141
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:29,840
Speaker 1: you think of Wemby so far this season? Do you

1142
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:32,560
Speaker 1: think he's a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year. Yes,

1143
00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:34,160
Speaker 1: he's gonna get Rookie of the Year. If you look

1144
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:35,759
Speaker 1: down the line, there's just nobody that's having a more

1145
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:38,799
Speaker 1: impressive season. Chet obviously more of a winning context, but

1146
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:43,360
Speaker 1: Wemby's just, you know, I just even within that context,

1147
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:45,120
Speaker 1: I think he's been a more impressive player this year.

1148
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,799
Speaker 1: A couple things have clearly screamed off the screen as

1149
00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:50,279
Speaker 1: weaknesses early on, being strong with the ball. Whenever he

1150
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 1: goes up it gets a good forward defender. They just

1151
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,319
Speaker 1: are really good at identifying the times that Wenby gets

1152
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:56,800
Speaker 1: loose with the ball and they just swipe down and

1153
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,440
Speaker 1: knock it away. He's not very good at setting screens.

1154
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,319
Speaker 1: That's something that he's definitely gonna have to get better

1155
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:03,120
Speaker 1: at over the years if he wants to create openings,

1156
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,319
Speaker 1: not just for himself but for his guards. But that's

1157
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,879
Speaker 1: all classic young guy stuff. And like his jump shots

1158
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,720
Speaker 1: still shippering consistent, that's a classic young guy thing as well.

1159
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:13,240
Speaker 1: All these things I think are going to get rectified

1160
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:18,160
Speaker 1: over the years. Being a longtime subscriber, I've noticed you

1161
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:20,840
Speaker 1: always put the recent Finals MVP as your best player

1162
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:22,480
Speaker 1: in the world. Moving into next season. Could you ever

1163
00:55:22,560 --> 00:55:24,759
Speaker 1: make a case one year that another player that didn't

1164
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:27,080
Speaker 1: win the championship the previous year could be the best

1165
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 1: player in the world in front of the person who

1166
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:31,640
Speaker 1: won the chip in finals MVP, So obviously weird finals

1167
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:34,920
Speaker 1: MVP selections like Kawhi in twenty fourteen or on Juegoudala

1168
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,840
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen are are examples where you're obviously not

1169
00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 1: going to call them the best player in the world.

1170
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,000
Speaker 1: The other thing, too, is like I'm just going to

1171
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:44,360
Speaker 1: start keeping separate lists now, and in the vacuum list

1172
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 1: and then the actual you know, a trophy, awards ceremony

1173
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:52,960
Speaker 1: whatever bragging rights list, right Like I got in all

1174
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:55,279
Speaker 1: this trouble with Mavericks fans for having Luke at ten,

1175
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:57,080
Speaker 1: and like, do I think Luca is the tenth best

1176
00:55:57,120 --> 00:55:59,359
Speaker 1: player in the world. No, But my list is like

1177
00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:02,400
Speaker 1: it's it's a bragging rights list. Who has the like

1178
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:05,160
Speaker 1: Bill Simmons calls it the championship belt, right, like who

1179
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:07,440
Speaker 1: has the championship belt? And I like that concept. So

1180
00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:09,799
Speaker 1: from the same point of like, to me, winning should matter,

1181
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,120
Speaker 1: and so if I win the trophy and I win

1182
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:15,000
Speaker 1: finals MVP, I should get to be at least respected

1183
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:17,080
Speaker 1: as the best player in the world that year, even

1184
00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:19,560
Speaker 1: if you might not think that, I am right, Like,

1185
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:21,040
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way that I think that that

1186
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:24,080
Speaker 1: should work. So again, like I think the way you

1187
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,160
Speaker 1: address the other end. So I'll give you an example.

1188
00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,160
Speaker 1: Steph one Finals MVP in twenty fifteen. I do not

1189
00:56:30,239 --> 00:56:32,520
Speaker 1: think he was better than Lebron. I think Lebron was

1190
00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:34,319
Speaker 1: clearly a better player than him at that point. And

1191
00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:36,680
Speaker 1: if I went into the next season in a vacuum,

1192
00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:39,080
Speaker 1: Lebron's the best player in the world. But if that

1193
00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:43,360
Speaker 1: same situation happened today, I would be like, yeah, but

1194
00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:46,080
Speaker 1: she kind of got to give Steph the respect within

1195
00:56:46,120 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 1: the scope of the regular season, as like he's got

1196
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:51,200
Speaker 1: the belt, so to speak. Right, even if in a

1197
00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:53,719
Speaker 1: vacuum you would take Lebron over him. That's kind of

1198
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:55,239
Speaker 1: an a that's kind of an example of what I'm

1199
00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:59,799
Speaker 1: talking about. Do you expect Jordan Poole to improve as

1200
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 1: the Sason goes over. I understand he's running his team

1201
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:03,839
Speaker 1: for the first time, but he's averaging sixteen points per

1202
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:05,640
Speaker 1: game on forty percent from the field and thirty percent

1203
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:08,520
Speaker 1: from three. A couple things. First of all, I haven't

1204
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:11,880
Speaker 1: watched a full Washington Wizards game this year, so I

1205
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:15,480
Speaker 1: don't want to like talk, you know, profoundly about that

1206
00:57:15,600 --> 00:57:17,440
Speaker 1: team because I just don't know what I'm talking about.

1207
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:20,560
Speaker 1: That's it what happens when you go from being a

1208
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:24,600
Speaker 1: sixth man that's playing alongside a superstar and is pretty

1209
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:26,400
Speaker 1: far down on the scouting report, playing a lot of

1210
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:29,400
Speaker 1: your primary scoring minutes against bench groups too. Suddenly you're

1211
00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:31,000
Speaker 1: at the top of the scouting report and you're the

1212
00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:33,560
Speaker 1: guy that, like the other team's putting their best point

1213
00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:35,840
Speaker 1: of attack defender on from the start of the game, Like,

1214
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: it just gets harder to play. And in general, I think,

1215
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:41,280
Speaker 1: like you know, Jordan Pool and Kyle Kuzma and the rest,

1216
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:43,720
Speaker 1: like they're they're all getting roasted right now, and for

1217
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:45,880
Speaker 1: good reason. They've put together a highlight reel of kind

1218
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:48,880
Speaker 1: of embarrassing moments to start the year. There was one

1219
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:51,160
Speaker 1: of them going around this morning on Twitter that was funny.

1220
00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, like like they

1221
00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:55,640
Speaker 1: as a team have to make a decision do they

1222
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:57,800
Speaker 1: want to be serious or not? And I think that'll

1223
00:57:57,800 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 1: go a long way towards both of those players and

1224
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:03,840
Speaker 1: their development in the long run, Like does Jordan Poole

1225
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:05,160
Speaker 1: just want to have his own team and put up

1226
00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:07,400
Speaker 1: shots or does he want to become the best basketball

1227
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:09,560
Speaker 1: player that he can be? Because if that's the case,

1228
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:10,920
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a little bit more

1229
00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:12,800
Speaker 1: serious down the line. But it's early, guys, Like it's

1230
00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:14,520
Speaker 1: only been like ten games, So I want to give

1231
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 1: those guys more time before we just immediately characterize them

1232
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:19,480
Speaker 1: as one thing or the other. All right, last question

1233
00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 1: then we'll get out of here. How did you get

1234
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:22,960
Speaker 1: on with Colin? Did you graduate with a journalism degree

1235
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:25,160
Speaker 1: or have a pod and take off that Colin saw

1236
00:58:25,200 --> 00:58:28,080
Speaker 1: and then he reached out. So I'll give a really

1237
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:30,480
Speaker 1: brief version of this just so you guys know. I

1238
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:35,000
Speaker 1: here's the thing, like there are in the old days,

1239
00:58:35,080 --> 00:58:37,280
Speaker 1: that was what you did. You got a journalism degree

1240
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:40,920
Speaker 1: and you started writing for you got on as like

1241
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:43,880
Speaker 1: an intern at some journalistic entity, and then eventually you

1242
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:47,040
Speaker 1: got an opportunity to write occasionally, and then then you

1243
00:58:47,040 --> 00:58:50,040
Speaker 1: started writing full time and maybe you parlaid that into

1244
00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:53,520
Speaker 1: a podcast or a radio appearance or something like that.

1245
00:58:53,840 --> 00:58:55,360
Speaker 1: And then on the radio front, it was like you'd

1246
00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:57,920
Speaker 1: go into the radio station and you'd work the control board,

1247
00:58:57,920 --> 00:58:59,720
Speaker 1: and then maybe you'd get to fill in for a

1248
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: guy on a Saturday and do three hours, and then

1249
00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:05,240
Speaker 1: maybe the producer like or the big shots like you

1250
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:07,280
Speaker 1: and they put you on you know, the next time

1251
00:59:07,320 --> 00:59:09,280
Speaker 1: there's a vacancy somewhere else, or you go to some

1252
00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:12,000
Speaker 1: other station. But I didn't have the time to do

1253
00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:14,360
Speaker 1: either of those. Like obviously I had bills to pay

1254
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:16,840
Speaker 1: and the responsibilities, and I'm married and my wife and

1255
00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:19,360
Speaker 1: I had a house and at the time and so

1256
00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:22,400
Speaker 1: like we had, I had no choice but to to

1257
00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:27,400
Speaker 1: make it work and to to earn money in the meantime.

1258
00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:31,320
Speaker 1: So basically, for me, I sold real estate to make

1259
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:35,560
Speaker 1: a living and then I on the side, did all

1260
00:59:35,560 --> 00:59:39,280
Speaker 1: of this stuff at home. And essentially, like, I'm very

1261
00:59:39,320 --> 00:59:42,880
Speaker 1: thankful that we live in this day and age because

1262
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 1: other like, if I had the exact same set of

1263
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:47,720
Speaker 1: circumstances ten years ago, I literally would never have been

1264
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:49,080
Speaker 1: able to do what I do for a living, and

1265
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:52,280
Speaker 1: I'd probably still be either working in corporate America or

1266
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:56,960
Speaker 1: or or selling real estate. The advantage here was is

1267
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:00,320
Speaker 1: like the current set of tools that are available made

1268
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:02,640
Speaker 1: it so that I could pursue this as basically a

1269
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 1: hobby and then once the show had success, the volume

1270
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,560
Speaker 1: reached out to me in my direct messages. I didn't

1271
01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:11,440
Speaker 1: do anything, they just reached out to me. Now, we

1272
01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:15,200
Speaker 1: had a lot of success when I was starting, when

1273
01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:16,880
Speaker 1: I was doing State of the Lakers with Raj, but

1274
01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:19,360
Speaker 1: like at the end of the day, like if they

1275
01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:23,560
Speaker 1: just straight up came out and contacted me through through

1276
01:00:23,640 --> 01:00:28,040
Speaker 1: direct messages. Now, the way that this works, this is

1277
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:31,440
Speaker 1: the best advice that I can give. Like, these companies,

1278
01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:37,600
Speaker 1: they have people constantly searching for quality content creators. They're

1279
01:00:37,640 --> 01:00:42,880
Speaker 1: out there looking. The tools you have available right now

1280
01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:46,320
Speaker 1: at home are capable of getting you exposure. YouTube has

1281
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:49,480
Speaker 1: a built in algorithm, TikTok has a built in algorithm.

1282
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:53,480
Speaker 1: Instagram has a built in algorithm. Twitter's algorithm sucks, but

1283
01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:56,040
Speaker 1: it's there. Like if people retweet or like your tweets,

1284
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:59,440
Speaker 1: they'll get you know, shown to other people. So like,

1285
01:01:00,040 --> 01:01:01,840
Speaker 1: there are tools that are available for free. There are

1286
01:01:01,840 --> 01:01:05,480
Speaker 1: podcasts hosting platforms that are free. Spotify for podcasters, completely free.

1287
01:01:05,600 --> 01:01:07,440
Speaker 1: That's where I host the Two Sons podcasts that I

1288
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:10,360
Speaker 1: do with my buddy Luke. So like I'll give you

1289
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:13,160
Speaker 1: the Two Sons podcast as an example, this is a

1290
01:01:13,560 --> 01:01:15,800
Speaker 1: that's a podcast I don't get paid for. I'm building

1291
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:18,680
Speaker 1: it from scratch, from the ground up. It's a different vibe.

1292
01:01:18,680 --> 01:01:20,200
Speaker 1: It's me and my buddy Luke. We talked about things

1293
01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:25,280
Speaker 1: that are not basketball, including Star Wars and other current

1294
01:01:25,320 --> 01:01:29,000
Speaker 1: events and stuff like that. And like we record a

1295
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:32,880
Speaker 1: show and I upload it to a podcast feed for free,

1296
01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:36,680
Speaker 1: I upload it to my YouTube channel for free, I

1297
01:01:36,760 --> 01:01:39,120
Speaker 1: cut clips of it and put it on social media

1298
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:43,640
Speaker 1: for free, and from there it will grow organically if

1299
01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:47,959
Speaker 1: it is quality content. And like those algorithms are meritocracy

1300
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:50,959
Speaker 1: in the sense that like when people watch, it gets

1301
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:54,240
Speaker 1: automatically recommended, So your average watch time, your ability to

1302
01:01:54,240 --> 01:01:59,320
Speaker 1: retain an audience is directly responsible for promoting the content elsewhere, right, So,

1303
01:01:59,480 --> 01:02:02,080
Speaker 1: like you have tools at home. That's what I did,

1304
01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:04,160
Speaker 1: and it allowed me to do that while I was

1305
01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:08,920
Speaker 1: earning a living elsewhere. Then I basically slowly phased out

1306
01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:10,600
Speaker 1: of real estate when I was doing this full time.

1307
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:12,640
Speaker 1: Now I'm at a position where I can afford to

1308
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:14,720
Speaker 1: do this full time, and now I can actually give

1309
01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:16,520
Speaker 1: it my best effort, which is which is where I'm

1310
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:19,280
Speaker 1: at right now. But again, like I think if There's

1311
01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:21,120
Speaker 1: one last piece of advice I'd give on that front.

1312
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:25,439
Speaker 1: The downside of having it be that easy and having

1313
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:30,160
Speaker 1: all these free tools is that you basically are and

1314
01:02:30,520 --> 01:02:34,240
Speaker 1: there's just kind of a sensory overload, so to speak.

1315
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:36,280
Speaker 1: There's just a lot of people that are producing content

1316
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:38,680
Speaker 1: and as a result of that, like it's harder to

1317
01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:42,680
Speaker 1: stand out and so do it. But give it your best.

1318
01:02:42,760 --> 01:02:45,080
Speaker 1: Don't be lazy about it, because if you are, the

1319
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:47,680
Speaker 1: people that aren't will naturally kind of float to the top.

1320
01:02:47,880 --> 01:02:50,520
Speaker 1: So that just hopefully that gives you, guys a little

1321
01:02:50,520 --> 01:02:54,960
Speaker 1: bit of perspective. If you have questions surrounding that sort

1322
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:57,160
Speaker 1: of stuff, don't hesitate to drop it in the YouTube comments.

1323
01:02:57,160 --> 01:02:58,840
Speaker 1: And I'll continue to kind of expound upon that in

1324
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:01,440
Speaker 1: the coming weeks. Guys. That is all I have for today.

1325
01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:04,720
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow breaking down tonight's in season tournament slate.

1326
01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:34,800
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys. Then the volume