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Speaker 1: co slash audio. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Thursday everybody. Hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having a great end to your week of

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Speaker 1: coming to you for the first time and what will

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Speaker 1: be my new studio in Denver. I'm very, very excited

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Speaker 1: to be here. I woke up this morning and it

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Speaker 1: was sixty two degrees outside. It was kind of a

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Speaker 1: shock coming from Arizona. But obviously it's going to be

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a work in progress behind me.

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Speaker 1: But it's the summertime so we can live with it

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Speaker 1: for right now. I'm very very excited to be here,

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Speaker 1: and I'm very very excited for today's show. We got

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Speaker 1: some really interesting stuff to get into it. We're going

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Speaker 1: to start with Bleacher Report's Top one hundred list, a

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Speaker 1: couple things that I disagreed with in the top twenty.

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Speaker 1: I want to kind of revisit MJ versus Lebron a

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Speaker 1: little bit. I want to talk about Kobe and how

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Speaker 1: like preposterousts preposterously underrated he has become. And then Steph

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Speaker 1: Curry as well, who I think for a guy who's

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Speaker 1: given Lebron a run for his money, I feel like

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Speaker 1: he's pretty low on that list as well. So we're

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Speaker 1: gonna be hitting that for a little bit. And now

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Speaker 1: at the tail end of the show, we got a

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Speaker 1: little bit of expected NBA news yesterday is the Bradley.

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Speaker 1: The Bradley Beal buy out finally went through and he

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Speaker 1: is signing with the Los Angeles Clippers. So I want

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Speaker 1: to briefly revisit some of the stuff we talked about

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Speaker 1: with Bradley and what went wrong in Phoenix and why

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Speaker 1: I think it'll work well in Los Angeles. But I

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Speaker 1: also want to look a little bit deeper at the

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Speaker 1: Clippers in general. We've been doing deep dives kind of

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Speaker 1: periodically throughout the year on some of these Western Conference teams.

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Speaker 1: So today we'll be talking a little bit about the Clippers.

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

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Speaker 1: to the Hoops and I YouTube channels. You don't miss

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Speaker 1: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: underscore jcnlts. You guys, don't miss you announcements. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: about a podcast few where you get your podcast under

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Speaker 1: Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful for we leave a

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Speaker 1: rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great

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Speaker 1: work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. In

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Speaker 1: the last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions

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Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments so that we can hit him

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Speaker 1: in our weekly mail bags throughout the remainder of the

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Speaker 1: off season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So let's

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Speaker 1: dig into this Bleacher Report top one hundred and I

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Speaker 1: want to focus on the top twenty and I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: read out the names for you and then we'll go

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Speaker 1: from there. So they had Michael Jordan at one, Lebron

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Speaker 1: James at two, Kareem at three, Magic Johnson at four,

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Speaker 1: Bill Russell at five, Shaquille O'Neil at six, Tim Duncan

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Speaker 1: at seven, Larry Bird at eight, Weilt Chamberlain at nine,

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry at ten, Kobe Bryant way Down at eleven,

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Speaker 1: Achim olange One at twelve, Kevin Durant at thirteen, Oscar

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Speaker 1: Robertson at fourteen, Jerry West at fifteen, Kevin Garnett at sixteen,

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Speaker 1: Nicole jokicch at seventeen, Jerk Navisky at eighteen, David Robinson

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Speaker 1: at nineteen, and Doctor j at twenty. So before we

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Speaker 1: go any further, these lists are borderline impossible for several reasons,

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Speaker 1: so I'm very forgiving. I'm not gonna get too upset

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Speaker 1: about this. There's several reasons. First of all, the position groups.

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Speaker 1: How do you rank a guy like Kareem abdul Jabbar

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Speaker 1: against Steph Curry. They might as well have been playing

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Speaker 1: different sports with how wildly different their jobs were on

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Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. I've done lists before where

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Speaker 1: I've removed centers entirely, but even that, I would argue

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Speaker 1: is flawed. Because of guys like Kareem Abdul Jabbar and

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Speaker 1: what he did offensively Nikola Jokic, and how like you,

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Speaker 1: if you were ranking point guards, you could argue Nikola

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Speaker 1: Jokich should be pretty high on a list of small

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Speaker 1: point guards. Right. So, like the it's just a really

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Speaker 1: difficult thing to consider in a list like this. Secondly,

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Speaker 1: how do you separate individual greatness from the success of

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Speaker 1: a team? Right? Nikola Jokic has never played with an

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Speaker 1: All Star, he's never played with an All NBA player,

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Speaker 1: and he's never played with an All defense player. So

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Speaker 1: how do you rank his team accomplishments on equal footing

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Speaker 1: with a guy like Magic Johnson or Larry Bird or

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Speaker 1: Kareem abdulje Bar, guys who played on historically great rosters, right.

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Speaker 1: And then lastly, there are the differences in the eras

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Speaker 1: the game is so different. There are more teams, there's

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Speaker 1: way more talent. This is crazy. When Bill Russell won

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Speaker 1: his first championship, there were eight teams in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: eight of them. I mean, I mean, come on, how

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Speaker 1: does that even remotely compare to what we have today?

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan in his era, seven teams were added in

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Speaker 1: a mass set of expansion, the talent was diluted. That

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Speaker 1: was a big part of how those Bulls teams racked

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Speaker 1: up massive win totals year after year. That doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: that the Bulls were overrated or that MJ was overrated.

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Speaker 1: It just means all of this shit is super subjective,

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Speaker 1: so I totally understand if anyone disagrees. But on that note,

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Speaker 1: let's get into some of these rankings in blitcher reports list.

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Speaker 1: So I have Lebron and MJ flipped, but that's really

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Speaker 1: about what you value. If you're asking who had the

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Speaker 1: most dominant career, it's obviously MJ. Right. For a decade,

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Speaker 1: nobody could fuck with him. He was far and away

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Speaker 1: the best player in the NBA. He won six championships

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Speaker 1: in eight years. That's the definition of unassailable dominance, right.

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Speaker 1: My case for Lebron exists more in a vacuum. He

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Speaker 1: was the best player in the NBA for about nine

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Speaker 1: years in my opinion, from twenty twelve to twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: But the league was much more talented in his era.

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Speaker 1: Just look at the list. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: are both very high in this particular list, and they

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Speaker 1: played alongside Lebron James, right, so there wasn't as large

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Speaker 1: of a gap in terms of like pure dominance. But

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Speaker 1: I'd argue you will never see that again. Like look

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Speaker 1: at Jokic. Nikole Jokich is discernibly better than his peers

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Speaker 1: right now, but that gap isn't even close to how

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Speaker 1: much better Michael Jordan was than Charles bark Lee or

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Speaker 1: Clyde Drexler or a keem Olajuan. Really good players, but

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Speaker 1: not the same types of players that Nikole Jokic is

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Speaker 1: competing against that Lebron James competed against. I think some

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Speaker 1: of that is just the influx of NBA talent. It's

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Speaker 1: like a plateauing effect, right. It's a big part of

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Speaker 1: why I think Kobe's underrated, which we'll get to in

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Speaker 1: a few minutes. The Lebron case is simple. Out of

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Speaker 1: any player in NBA history, if you were starting a

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Speaker 1: franchise from scratch, and you had that player for the

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Speaker 1: entirety of his career, which player would give you the

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Speaker 1: best chance to win the most championships over the course

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Speaker 1: of that player's career? And the answer is Lebron James.

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Speaker 1: First of all, he's one of the top five offensive

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Speaker 1: engines in the history of the game. I've talked a

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Speaker 1: lot about this concept over the course of the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years, even at lower levels with guys like

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Speaker 1: James Harden or Tyrese Halliburton. Right. I even talked about

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Speaker 1: at a very low level and discount in the form

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Speaker 1: of D'Angelo Russell, a guy who can run action and

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Speaker 1: make the reads that sets up role players with a

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Speaker 1: player sprinting at them or with an opening rather than

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Speaker 1: against the set defender. Lebron is a player that created

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Speaker 1: advantages so consistently that he basically guaranteed you an elite offense,

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Speaker 1: irrespective of surrounding talent. Look at some of the worst

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Speaker 1: rosters that Lebron played with in his prime. The twenty

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Speaker 1: eighteen Calves top five offense, the nine and twenty ten

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Speaker 1: Calves very defensive loaded rosters, both top five offenses. That

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Speaker 1: was with like Kevin Love and Moe Williams as his

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Speaker 1: second best offensive players for ten consecutive seasons from two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine to twenty eighteen. The worst Lebron led

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Speaker 1: offense was the twenty twelve heat that ranked sixth. Every

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Speaker 1: single other offense he led in that stretch was top five,

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Speaker 1: and it translated to the playoffs extremely well because he

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Speaker 1: had the size and the strength to hold up under

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Speaker 1: the physicality, and he was versatile. He could attack from

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Speaker 1: so many different spots on the floor and impact winning

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Speaker 1: on offense in so many different ways. He is one

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Speaker 1: of the greats in terms of generating offense in the

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Speaker 1: NBA and then in the other end of the four.

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Speaker 1: Lebron was one of the most versatile defenders in the

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Speaker 1: history of the sport, whether he was protecting the rim

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Speaker 1: on the back line like he did in the Spurs

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Speaker 1: series meet and Thiago Splitter at the rim, or in

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Speaker 1: the Warriors series where he blocked nine shots over the

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Speaker 1: final three games of that twenty sixteen finals. He guarded

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Speaker 1: Derek Rose down the stretch of the twenty eleven finals

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Speaker 1: as a twenty eleven Eastern Conference Finals as a perimeter

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Speaker 1: threat Jamal Murray in the twenty twenty Western Conference Finals.

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Speaker 1: He could be deployed as a perimeter defender you needed

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Speaker 1: him to rebound. He had seventeen playoff games to this

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Speaker 1: point with at least fifteen rebounds. He has six playoff

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Speaker 1: games with at least eighteen rebounds. He's function functionally a

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Speaker 1: big as a rebounder when you need him to be,

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Speaker 1: or if you just need him to make a superhuman

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Speaker 1: transition play like he did to save the twenty sixteen Finals.

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Speaker 1: He's always able to fill whatever defensive role the team

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Speaker 1: needs and to tie it all together. Outside of his

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Speaker 1: decade where he was the best player in the world,

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Speaker 1: there's an entire additional decade and change of him being

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Speaker 1: a top ten player. He was just in his twenty

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Speaker 1: second season, sixth the MVP voting in second team All NBA.

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Speaker 1: He's a safe bet to make an All NBA team

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Speaker 1: next year in his twenty third year. That as a

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Speaker 1: franchise that gives you an additional decade more of chances

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Speaker 1: where if you have built the right roster around him,

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Speaker 1: you could win a championship in those years. So, to

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Speaker 1: put it simply, there is no player in the history

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Speaker 1: of the NBA that would give you a better opportunity

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Speaker 1: to win more championships than Lebron James. So yeah, I'd

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Speaker 1: flip them and I'd have Lebron at number one. Kobe

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Speaker 1: having him at number eleven is straight up insulting. This

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Speaker 1: opinion is fueled by the inability of people to look

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Speaker 1: beyond the box score. Kobe was inefficient by modern standards.

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Speaker 1: He posted just four seasons in his career with an

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Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage over fifty percent. He never went

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Speaker 1: over fifty one percent. People see that and they just

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Speaker 1: think he was a shot chucker that didn't have any

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Speaker 1: idea how to play within a team concept. The problem

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Speaker 1: with this point of view is it discounts the fact

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Speaker 1: that every perimeter jump shooter in the league was inefficient.

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Speaker 1: In that era, everyone was There was no space. Every

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Speaker 1: team was playing with two bigs who couldn't shoot. Many

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Speaker 1: of the teams were playing with three or four guys

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Speaker 1: on the floor at all times that were either inconsistent

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Speaker 1: to bad shooters. The paint was a shit show. Teams

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Speaker 1: didn't understand the modern spacing principles that we have today.

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Speaker 1: The dead giveaway there is guess what the most efficient

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Speaker 1: scoring season of Kobe's career was the year right before

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Speaker 1: he tore his achilles in twenty thirteen. Why because it

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Speaker 1: was closer to the modern era, when people had a

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Speaker 1: better understanding of how to score efficiently in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: Was Kobe the best version of himself in twenty thirteen?

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Speaker 1: Of course, not, but it was just the combination of

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Speaker 1: him still having most of his juice before the Achilles

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Speaker 1: tear and the league was starting to figure out how

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Speaker 1: to play. He was playing a lot more spread pick

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Speaker 1: and roll in that year. The other perimeter stars, though,

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Speaker 1: just take a look at him. They're all inefficient relative

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Speaker 1: to today's standards. Alan Iverson never had a single season

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Speaker 1: over forty nine percent effective field goal percentage. Tracy McGrady

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Speaker 1: had just one season it was fifty point five percent.

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Speaker 1: Vince Carter's numbers, they're a little more tricky because he

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Speaker 1: had a stretch there at the end where he was

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Speaker 1: a role player. But he had just two seasons in

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Speaker 1: his career where he averaged at least twenty points per

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Speaker 1: game and was over fifty percent in effective field goal percentage,

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Speaker 1: and he never went over fifty one percent. Grant Hill

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Speaker 1: just two seasons averaging over twenty percent or twenty points

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Speaker 1: per game and over fifty percent in effective field goal percentage.

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Speaker 1: So for how inefficient everybody thinks Kobe was, he was

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Speaker 1: actually more efficient than his peers who were doing the

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Speaker 1: same job. I do think that Michael Jordan was better

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Speaker 1: than Kobe. He was a better athlete he's better at

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Speaker 1: getting separation. He was more versatile on that end of

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Speaker 1: the four right, but mj also would have been an

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Speaker 1: inefficient shot chucker if we dropped him in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the two thousands. I think his reputation. Kobe's reputation

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Speaker 1: is completely marred by that misunderstanding, so I have him

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Speaker 1: as the third best player of all time, right behind

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Michael Jordan. Last thing for our list

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Speaker 1: that I want to hit today is Steph Curry. I

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Speaker 1: have Steph at five on my list, behind Lebron, Michael Jordan, Kobe,

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Speaker 1: and Magic. Now again, I have a really hard time

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Speaker 1: figuring out where to put centers on this list, so

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Speaker 1: I totally understand why people would disagree with that, But

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Speaker 1: let me make the case. I think Steph Curry is

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Speaker 1: the second best offensive engine in the history of the

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Speaker 1: sport behind Nikola Jokic, and as we've talked about, I

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Speaker 1: think that's the most valuable trade that a basketball player

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Speaker 1: can have. His transcendent shooting combined with his ability to

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Speaker 1: do it both on the ball and off the ball,

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Speaker 1: a thing that like all the insane driple combinations people

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Speaker 1: have been able to generate. A reasonable facsimile of that.

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Speaker 1: I feel like Damian Lillard did a reasonable job of

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Speaker 1: kind of like replicating what Steph did on the ball,

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Speaker 1: especially in the late twenty tens in the early twenty

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Speaker 1: twenties when he was just off the charts good as

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Speaker 1: a pull up shooter, right. But it was the off

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Speaker 1: ball piece of it that made Steph another tier above

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Speaker 1: all of those pull up shooting guards in the league.

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Speaker 1: No one's been able to replicate it, and it manifests

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Speaker 1: in a bunch of different ways. First of all, is

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Speaker 1: the inverted spacing Steph coming off of on and off

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Speaker 1: ball screens from Draymond consistently forced Biggs to show up

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Speaker 1: at the level. If you want to see what it

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Speaker 1: looked like before teams figured this out, just go watch

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Speaker 1: the twenty thirteen series with the Spurs and watch Steph

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Speaker 1: just absolutely torch San Antonio with just high ball screens.

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Speaker 1: Teams had to step up with their bigs or Steph

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Speaker 1: would hit the shot. It was that simple. That removed

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Speaker 1: rim protection from the equation because the rim protector was

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Speaker 1: going so far out to the perimeter. So the Warriors

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Speaker 1: started picking teams apart with these four on three advantages.

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Speaker 1: Things that were so confusing for people to understand that

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Speaker 1: even though Steph won the twenty fifteen Finals by getting

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Speaker 1: blitzed every single time down the floor, everyone gave the

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Speaker 1: Finals MVP to Andre Gudala because it broke their brains.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't understand the advantage creation that he was doing.

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Speaker 1: The second piece of it was just the mistake making

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Speaker 1: that we saw from defenses, the sheer panic that Steph

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Speaker 1: induced and defenders led to constant botching of coverages two

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Speaker 1: guys running with Steph when he comes off of an

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Speaker 1: off ball screen, or like guys pointing at the next

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Speaker 1: guy in the chain for them to switch out, and

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Speaker 1: then that miscommunication leading to mistakes. The third piece of

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Speaker 1: it was math. Steph's efficiency dwarfs almost every NBA scoring

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Speaker 1: season because of his high volume three point shooting. It's

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Speaker 1: not really that complicated. Three is worth more than two,

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Speaker 1: and so he routinely and consistently posted true shooting percentages

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Speaker 1: in the mid sixties. It fundamentally changed the entire landscape

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Speaker 1: of the NBA. All of his peers at the guard

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Speaker 1: position started heavily emphasizing three point shooting, especially off the dribble,

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Speaker 1: although somehow none of them, like we mentioned, were able

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Speaker 1: to replicate the off ball elements of it. Damian Lillard's

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Speaker 1: the guy that I look at there. For the most part,

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Speaker 1: all of the pick and roll coverages in the NBA changed.

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Speaker 1: Bigs coming up higher, guards, chasing over the top of screens,

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Speaker 1: the lowman position, the idea of a backside forward having

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Speaker 1: to replace rim protection because a big is going up

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Speaker 1: to the level. A big part of that changed during

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Speaker 1: the Steph Curry era. I would say that the largest

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Speaker 1: change in NBA basketball in my lifetime came as a

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Speaker 1: direct result of what Steph accomplished. And to tie it

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Speaker 1: all get together, did all of the things that the

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Speaker 1: all time great players did in terms of a as

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Speaker 1: a competitor, becoming the most supremely conditioned player in the

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Speaker 1: league so that he could outlast his opponents simply by running,

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Speaker 1: going from a negative defender to a legitimate positive defender,

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Speaker 1: by putting on a bunch of muscle, becoming very good

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Speaker 1: in terms of anticipating what defenses are doing and being

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Speaker 1: in the right position. He became a good defender. The

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Speaker 1: greatest compliment you can pay Steph is just ask people

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Speaker 1: to take another look at that list. Every single other

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Speaker 1: name in that top twenty is at least six foot six.

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Speaker 1: He's the only player in NBA history to have remotely

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Speaker 1: close to the impact of the top players in NBA

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Speaker 1: history at that size. Again, I mentioned this off the

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Speaker 1: top of the show. Steph gave Lebron a run for

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Speaker 1: his money, and I think Lebron is the greatest player

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Speaker 1: to ever touch the basketball. So I think ten is

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Speaker 1: way too low. All right, let's take into this Bradly

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Speaker 1: be on News. So I've been using my Bridge wallet

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Speaker 1: now for about two months, and I absolutely love it.

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Speaker 1: I'd been using a leather wallet for a while before that.

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Speaker 1: It was a small one, it didn't hold very many cards,

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Speaker 1: and then when I did try to put extra stuff

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Speaker 1: in there, especially cash, it would like stretch the leather.

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00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,040
Speaker 1: And then when I would take some cash out or

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Speaker 1: get rid of a hotel key that I was holding,

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00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,640
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it would like just be too

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00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,199
Speaker 1: stretched and cards would start slipping out of it and stuff.

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Speaker 1: I have really really enjoyed using this ridge whilet over

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Speaker 1: and out of your pocket super easily. It's got like

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Speaker 1: a nice thick metal housing to it. It's got like

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Speaker 1: a heft to it. It feels really high quality. It goes

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Speaker 1: in and out of your pocket super easily because of

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Speaker 1: the elastic bands that hold it together. It very seamlessly

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Speaker 1: transitions between holding a lot of stuff versus holding not

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Speaker 1: very much stuff. I've had trips where i go on

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00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,040
Speaker 1: vacation and I'm carrying more cards in there, but then

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Speaker 1: i don't need them when I'm at home, and I'll

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Speaker 1: show and tell them that our show sent you. So.

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Speaker 1: Bradley Beals bought out by the Phoenix Suns and he

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Speaker 1: signs with the Los Angeles Clippers for two years and

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Speaker 1: eleven million dollars. I've been critical over the last few

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Speaker 1: few years of Bradley Beal, but most of it had

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Speaker 1: to do with the surrounding circumstances. I think there's a

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Speaker 1: misconception about what went wrong in Phoenix. It's not that

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Speaker 1: Bradley Beal wasn't good enough, said he wasn't good enough

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Speaker 1: at what the Suns needed, not just from him, but

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Speaker 1: from the entire roster. Bradley Beal was a very good

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Speaker 1: offensive player in a Sun's jersey. He was a seventy

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Speaker 1: fifth percentile spot up player. He shot the ball extremely well.

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Speaker 1: He was solid on the ball. He ran about five

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Speaker 1: hundred and two actions, picking rolls, ISOs and post ups

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Speaker 1: including passes, and he generated five hundred and one points,

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Speaker 1: which is a point per possession on high volume. That's good.

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Speaker 1: He was sloppy in the dirty work, and that just

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Speaker 1: was accentuated by the weaknesses and the roster. He wasn't

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Speaker 1: very good on the ball defensively, and he was flat

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Speaker 1: out bad off the ball defensively, and on that particular

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Speaker 1: team when they needed guys that could protect the ram

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Speaker 1: reb bound guard both on and off the ball, it

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Speaker 1: just kind of showed to a greater extent. This is

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Speaker 1: the redundancy thing, right. Scoring guards are ceiling raizers, but

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Speaker 1: they are not foundations. And when you basically have three

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Speaker 1: of those dudes, their skill sets start to overlap and

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Speaker 1: all of that strong foundation that you need to be

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Speaker 1: a good basketball team is just non existent. The Clippers

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Speaker 1: have a really strong basketball foundation. They have one of

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Speaker 1: the best centers in the league, a guy that establishes

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Speaker 1: a high defensive floor and a rebounding for in Ifasa

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Speaker 1: Zubats right, and they've now anchored that with one a

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Speaker 1: guy in brook Lopez, who I think will be one

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Speaker 1: of the best backup centers in basketball this year. They

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Speaker 1: add another power forward option in John collins Brook and

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Speaker 1: John give them some additional matchup resilience for teams like Denver,

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Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a little bit, and Oklahoma City,

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Speaker 1: i'd argue as well. We'll talk more about that in

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Speaker 1: a minute. I want to dig into that, just like

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Speaker 1: John's off of rebounding, the kind of like too big

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Speaker 1: look and how you're specifically supposed to guard a guy

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Speaker 1: like Nikola Jokic. We'll dig into that later on. They

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Speaker 1: have a deep core of perimeter defenders. This is the

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Speaker 1: beauty of the Paul George pivot, right. It looks genius

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Speaker 1: in retrospect, as Paul George just had to have his

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Speaker 1: knee surgically repaired again from a shooting workout, which is

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Speaker 1: like crazy. It looks, you know, again, like they just

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Speaker 1: what the timing of getting out of the Paul George

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Speaker 1: business and the way they pivoted like it was a

429
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,399
Speaker 1: proof of concept for me. If you guys remember last summer,

430
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,919
Speaker 1: I applauded the move because of my belief like my

431
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: basketball beliefs, my beliefs in perimeter defense and overall team speed.

432
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 1: If you guys remember I said before the season then

433
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,399
Speaker 1: I thought the Clippers would be above the plane and

434
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,199
Speaker 1: that they'd be a very good regular season team, and

435
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,359
Speaker 1: they were. It was proof of concept the concept being

436
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,200
Speaker 1: star power can come with redundancy, and that a good

437
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 1: role player who feels a team need can actually be

438
00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,680
Speaker 1: more valuable than a star who doesn't feel a team need.

439
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 1: The Clippers can guard the opposing team's best player for

440
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,720
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes with an elite perimeter defender in Chris

441
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: Don and Derek Jones. Junior quality perimeter defense with quality

442
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,719
Speaker 1: rim protection and quality defensive rebounding just represents a very

443
00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: strong foundation to build a basketball team on. In the

444
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,359
Speaker 1: modern NBA, the Clippers actually had a bit of a

445
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:32,280
Speaker 1: deficit in ball handling. James Harden is an excellent advantage creator.

446
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:33,919
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the more valuable kind of

447
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,640
Speaker 1: like offensive floor guys in the league. But Kawhi Leonard

448
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:39,440
Speaker 1: missed more than half the season last year. He missed

449
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 1: like forty five games, and the ball handling falls off

450
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:47,159
Speaker 1: a cliff after that. So Bradley's offensive upside will be

451
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 1: substantially more valuable to the Clippers than it was to

452
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 1: the Suns, and his weaknesses will be less apparent because

453
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 1: they have such a strong foundation he can fill that

454
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: third ball handler role like he did in Phoenix, which

455
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 1: again I thought he was fine in that role. That

456
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,920
Speaker 1: wasn't the issue. But the team's stronger foundation will make

457
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,919
Speaker 1: that offensive value more apparent, and when Kawhi is out

458
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: of the lineup, he can easily scale up that secondary

459
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,400
Speaker 1: shot creator role. He absolutely can be the number two

460
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: behind James Harden in a regular season context to fill

461
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: that role and allow Kawhi Leonard to ease his way

462
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: through the season. I'm not the biggest Bradley bial fan.

463
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: We just need to adjust our expectations. He's not a

464
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars star anymore that the Suns needed to

465
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: be an impact athlete on the floor. On the margins,

466
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:45,119
Speaker 1: He's a Norman Powell replacement, and I certainly think he

467
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,640
Speaker 1: can be a better player than Norman Powell, even though

468
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 1: I think Norman did an admirable job. And at two years,

469
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: eleven million, that's just a solid upgrade. So I thought

470
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: it was a nice little pivot from the from the

471
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 1: Clipper this summer again investing in front court depth and

472
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: upgrading Norman Powell. We don't need to overthink this. They're

473
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 1: a better basketball team, so let's look at the Clippers

474
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 1: at large now for a minute, le zoom out. I'm

475
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,400
Speaker 1: specifically fascinated with how they match up with the top

476
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 1: teams in the Western Conference. I still view them as

477
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: a second tier team. I don't think they've done and

478
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: their star power is just to finicky to be up

479
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 1: in that list with Denver, Oklahoma City in Houston. But

480
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: they have a good case to be the top team

481
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: in that second tier. If you look at that second tier,

482
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 1: it's the Clippers, it's the Timberwolves, it's the Warriors, it's

483
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Right, Like Minnesota lost to k Alexander Walker.

484
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,400
Speaker 1: We have a mail bag that we're going to record

485
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 1: later today, Like I'll talk a little bit more about Minnesota.

486
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,199
Speaker 1: Like that doesn't necessarily mean they got worse, but they

487
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 1: certainly didn't get dramatically better. Right, Golden State has basically

488
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:51,880
Speaker 1: done nothing. We'll see what they end up pulling off.

489
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 1: If they even get Horford, what's going on with this

490
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,640
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cominge stuff, We'll see. The Lakers got a high

491
00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,360
Speaker 1: risk upgrade in DeAndre Ayton, and that could make them

492
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 1: better if Eightton is focused and healthy. But they also

493
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: lost Dorian Phinney Smith for nothing after trading picks for it.

494
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: Like guys, the Lakers were seventeen points per one hundred

495
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 1: possessions better with Dorian Finney Smith on the floor than

496
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 1: when he was off. He was one of their most

497
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: valuable role players. And they were like, nah, they'll save

498
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: cap space for Giannis, right, and now they look like

499
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 1: the least athletic playoff team in the entire NBA. The

500
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: Clippers got way deeper in the front court without sacrificing

501
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: any substantial asset and while actually upgrading their tertiary ball handler.

502
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: And that depth upgrade. The front court depth is specifically

503
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,639
Speaker 1: valuable in a Western conference that has Oklahoma City and

504
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: Denver in it, who I think arguably are the two

505
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 1: best teams in the league. Now with Denver, it's about

506
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 1: matching size. They can make Zubats's job easier by spelling

507
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 1: him with a player in brook Lopez that has the

508
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 1: size and strength to make Nikola Jokic work hard for

509
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 1: his buckets. And again, it's not when you're getting to

510
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 1: these guys like Jokic, it's not about stopping him. It's

511
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 1: about making things as difficult as possible. Like Oklahoma City

512
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,640
Speaker 1: did a number on Jokic, and he still pulverized them

513
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,679
Speaker 1: down the stretch of that series because he's just He's

514
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,120
Speaker 1: Nicola Jokic. There's only so much you can do right.

515
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: Zubots's work against Yokich was a big part of how

516
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: they pushed them to seven last year. Adding John Collins

517
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: to that, adding brook Lopez to that will help them

518
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,640
Speaker 1: do an even better job of that. John Collins gives

519
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: them a legitimate too big look. He shot the ball

520
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: really well last year. And again, like this is the

521
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,639
Speaker 1: key when I say too big look, like, well, Jason

522
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 1: brook Lobez can shoot, why can't you just play him

523
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 1: in Zubats. Your foot speed just tanks way too low

524
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 1: and it becomes impossibly like you'd never be able to

525
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: play Brooken Zoo together because teams will just run you

526
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 1: off the floor and transition. But John Collins is like

527
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,959
Speaker 1: a big who's athletic enough to run the floor, can

528
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 1: shoot the ball well enough, which we're gonna talk about

529
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: in a minute, but is big and strong enough to

530
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: provide some more physical resistance at that power forward spot.

531
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: He shots the ball really well last year. He was

532
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 1: forty two percent overall on catch and shoot looks. That's

533
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 1: one point two points per shot when you waited for threes,

534
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 1: forty three percent when he was unguarded, one point twenty

535
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: five points per shot. He's knocking down open jump shots.

536
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: He actually was pretty good off the dribble last year.

537
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: John Collins on forty three off the dribble jump shots

538
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: last year made twenty. It's almost fifty percent. And that's

539
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 1: not a one year sample. Guys. He shot thirty eight

540
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: percent on catch and shoot jump shots last year, forty

541
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 1: two percent when he was unguarded. He's been like over

542
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 1: the course of the last couple of years, he's become

543
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: a quality jump shooter in this league. It's a very

544
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 1: very uh like, kind of like subtle trajectory for a

545
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 1: player that's been hiding in Utah for the last couple

546
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: of years. Right, that should have made him because of

547
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 1: his foot speed in combination with his jump shooting, he

548
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 1: should be able to play alongside either Zubots or Lopez. Again,

549
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: why does the two big look matter with Jokic? Do

550
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: you guys remember in the Oklahoma City series how they

551
00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: gave NICOLEA. Jokic, The issues that they gave him, It's

552
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: stemmed from the ability to play his right hand with

553
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: a big, strong player like Hartenstein while also having rim

554
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: protection behind it. Now, because Chet had foot speed and

555
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 1: the ability to hit threes, they could run a two

556
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: big look, but that's actually literally two centers. That's a

557
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: unique thing, so they won't be able to put together

558
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: a look as impressive physically as what Oklahoma City did.

559
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: But if John Collins can take that shoulder to the

560
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: chest and play Yokich's right hand and funnel him into

561
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: a Brook or funnel him into a Zubots, that's a

562
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: look that can potentially work. So like it gives a

563
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: scheme versatility element to the way that the Clippers can

564
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: guard Denver that didn't exist there last year. With Oklahoma City.

565
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 1: It's about punishing their lack of perimeter size and not

566
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,920
Speaker 1: allowing them to go small. They have that too big look, right,

567
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: but they also like to play Chet at center, and

568
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: if they go Chet at center, you have to punish

569
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: them on the front line with that interior size and

570
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding right, John Collins is an excellent offensive rebounder

571
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: and he will be able to punish Oklahoma City when

572
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: they go small. He's a career three offensive rebounds per

573
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes, which is excellent. And he had a

574
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 1: season in Atlanta obviously earlier in his career where he

575
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: averaged four point three offensive rebounds per thirty six. He's

576
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 1: a beast of an offensive rebounder, so that will give

577
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: them the ability when Okay, so he goes small to

578
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: punish that lack of interior size, and then Kawhi Leonard.

579
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 1: He is the type of big, strong, powerful perimeter score

580
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: that can cause problems for an Oklahoma City team that

581
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of size on the perimeter. Now, again,

582
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean I think they're gonna beat Oklahoma City

583
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 1: or beat Denver. They're not in that top tier in

584
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: the West, but I do think they're the best of

585
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 1: that second tier list of teams, at least as currently constructed.

586
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 1: We'll see if more moves get made and they have

587
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 1: some specific advantages over Denver and Oklahoma City that give

588
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 1: them a real chance to upset in those matchups. Again,

589
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 1: like if you're gonna upset somebody, you gotta have an advantage.

590
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: You're not gonna upset somebody just by shooting the ball

591
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: super well. You're not gonna upset somebody by benefiting from

592
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 1: variants or a whistle or something along those lines. You

593
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 1: upset somebody, even if they're a better team, because there's

594
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: one specific advantage or maybe a couple of specific advantages

595
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 1: that you smartly exploit over and over again in the series,

596
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 1: and it adds pressure and changes the mental dynamic of

597
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 1: the series, and suddenly these guys are underachieving and you

598
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: can pull off something like that. But you gotta have

599
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: an advantage in the pivots that they've made this summer.

600
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 1: Give them some of those advantages that they would need

601
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 1: in those particular matchups. All right, guys, That's all I

602
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: have for today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys

603
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be

604
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 1: back tomorrow with the mailbag. I'm really excited. Lots of

605
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: interesting stuff to get into. I will see you guys

606
00:31:43,480 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: then