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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to him, said I here

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Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Monday, everybody. I hope all of

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Speaker 1: you guys had a great weekend. We have basketball back.

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Speaker 1: I am very thankful. I was taking a moment yesterday.

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Speaker 1: I was very thankful to have basketball back in my

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Speaker 1: life on many levels because I had a rough summer.

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Speaker 1: In addition to not having any basketball to watch, I

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Speaker 1: also was not able to play much basketball this summer

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Speaker 1: of thirty four now, so I can't get over the

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Speaker 1: the bumps and bruises as well as I used to.

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Speaker 1: I had kind of like an ankle injury that turned

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Speaker 1: into a foot injury that held me out of the

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Speaker 1: game for almost two months. And I'm back to playing now,

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Speaker 1: I'm back to watching. I was watching a bunch of

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Speaker 1: basketball this morning. We're gonna be hitting on eight different

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Speaker 1: NBA teams today. We're gonna do two big preseason reactions,

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Speaker 1: one this Monday and one next Monday. The rest of

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Speaker 1: our preseason ten is going to be season previews, which

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Speaker 1: will be coming out throughout each of these weeks. But

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Speaker 1: I'm just very thankful to have basketball back. I know

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Speaker 1: all of you basketball nut jobs out there are very

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Speaker 1: excited to have it back as well, and it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be a lot of fun to dive into these games today.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the job before we get started, Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, underscore JCNLT

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Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about

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Speaker 1: our podcast feed wherever each your podcast under Hoops Tonight.

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Speaker 1: It's also super helpful if you leave a rating in

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Speaker 1: a review on that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on

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Speaker 1: our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you guys follow us there. And last, but

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Speaker 1: not least, if you want to get mailbag questions in.

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Speaker 1: We're doing a mail bag next week, which will be

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Speaker 1: our last mail bag before the start of the season.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you drop those questions in our full episodes

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Speaker 1: on YouTube in the comments, and we will get to

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Speaker 1: them when we get to our mailbags throughout the remainder

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

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Speaker 1: the eight teams are hitting today, just so you guys know,

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Speaker 1: the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers,

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Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors, the Phoenix, the New York Knicks,

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Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers, and the Orlando Magic. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: some briefer hits on a couple of those teams, some

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Speaker 1: longer hits on some others. But a lot of basketball

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Speaker 1: to get into today before we get into that first game,

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Speaker 1: the Minnesota Denver game that I want to start with today.

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Speaker 1: Big picture with the NBA preseason, definitely don't want to

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Speaker 1: overreact to anything. Trust me, I've seen the takes flying around.

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Speaker 1: I'm seeing obituaries getting written already over one half of

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Speaker 1: preseason basketball for some of these teams. Everybody, relax. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of different phases in development for these teams.

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Speaker 1: Some of these teams have been together working out all summer.

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Speaker 1: Some teams are younger, more athletic, and in better shape.

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Speaker 1: Some teams are older and are easing their way into things.

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Speaker 1: Some teams are playing a lot of their guys guys.

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Speaker 1: Some teams are playing very few of their guys. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to dig into any sort of big picture

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Speaker 1: stuff in terms of like definitive impressions of teams until

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Speaker 1: we get much further along. But I am in in

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Speaker 1: just how teams look as a small in like zooming

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Speaker 1: in at individual things. How does this individual player look

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Speaker 1: in this specific context. Oh, here's a new player. What

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Speaker 1: are the initial returns? What does the fit look like? Okay,

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Speaker 1: this team has big picture goals of getting to this point.

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Speaker 1: Are they close to that yet or do they have

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Speaker 1: a long way to go, especially with some of the

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Speaker 1: the teams that need to scale up their defense. Teams

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Speaker 1: like Denver in LA, both of their defenses look like

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Speaker 1: trash right now. That doesn't mean they can't get to

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Speaker 1: where they need to get. It just means they're not

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Speaker 1: there yet, right, So, lots of zooming in on specifics.

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Speaker 1: Nothing we talk about today is going to be a

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Speaker 1: sweeping declaration about the big picture potential of these teams.

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Speaker 1: It's preseason, it's way too early to make those kinds

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Speaker 1: of calls, but we can at least learn where these

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Speaker 1: teams are at in their journey to reach their ultimate ceiling,

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Speaker 1: whatever it may be. So let's get started with Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: Denver so Minnesota classic example, like and you're going to

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Speaker 1: see a lot of these like intensity gaps in these games.

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Speaker 1: And it's been kind of funny to see how it

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Speaker 1: even translates from game two games. So, for instance, like

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Speaker 1: Minnesota came out in this game with just an insane

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Speaker 1: level of intensity that Denver seemed completely unwilling to match,

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Speaker 1: and that really manifested when Minnesota was on offense against

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Speaker 1: Denver's defense.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: Similarly, I thought Phoenix came out and physically overwhelmed the

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Speaker 1: Lakers in their first game with the level of intensity

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Speaker 1: right from the jump ball that the Lakers didn't really

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Speaker 1: seem ready for.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: But then the Lakers in their second game against Golden State,

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Speaker 1: sitting out their best three players and all their shot creators,

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Speaker 1: were able to hang tight with a Golden State team

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Speaker 1: because the Lakers had been woken up a little bit

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Speaker 1: by Phoenix and a game that kind of accelerated their

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Speaker 1: adaptation to the physical intensity of the moment. They brought

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Speaker 1: more intensity and allowed them to hang with the more

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Speaker 1: talented Golden State team, who they are still in a

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Speaker 1: different processes. They're easing their way into this in terms

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Speaker 1: of the intensity. The bottom line is you can you

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Speaker 1: can expect in these preseason environments to people to be

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Speaker 1: at for teams to be at different phases in their preparation,

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Speaker 1: and that's gonna manifest in this sort of stuff, a

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Speaker 1: big part of why it doesn't make any sense to

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Speaker 1: have super big picture opinions about this kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: But Minnesota attacking the room like crazy. Rudy Golbaert goes

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Speaker 1: right at Nikola Jokic like three times in the opening

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Speaker 1: minutes for layup, layup, layup. They were aggressively shooting off

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Speaker 1: the catch. Denver's defense was completely on their heels. Aaron Gordon,

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Speaker 1: who had done a lot of talking early in camp

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Speaker 1: about how they were gonna be better on defense this year,

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Speaker 1: he was one of the primary culprits kind of like

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Speaker 1: losing shooters, being slow on his closeouts, conceding catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot looks because that intensity just wasn't there. Jokic must

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Speaker 1: have conceded a half dozen layups just in the first

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Speaker 1: quarter alone, like just letting people go through him or

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Speaker 1: around him, because he just wasn't interested in making that effort.

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Speaker 1: Christian Brown was losing contain over and over again. Denver's

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Speaker 1: defense was just the furthest thing from locked in in

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Speaker 1: this environment, and Minnesota was just made and then pay

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Speaker 1: to it. But to be clear, it was not just effort.

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Speaker 1: Minnesota has a real athleticism advantage in this matchup, and

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Speaker 1: so Denver has to be at the top of their

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Speaker 1: game in order to keep up with them in this setting.

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Speaker 1: I was super impressed by Minnesota's young guys. Rob Dillingham

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Speaker 1: got a couple of really good looks early and he

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Speaker 1: missed them. But then he found his rhythm and really

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Speaker 1: executed the offense well. He had a bunch of jump shots,

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Speaker 1: started getting clean looks and was hitting them. Finished with

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Speaker 1: nine assists. Terrence Shannon was a big standout for me.

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Speaker 1: He was applying a ton of rim pressure in all

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Speaker 1: three phases, so like in transition, attacking closeouts, and in

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Speaker 1: action when he had the ball so like coming off

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Speaker 1: a handofs or screens. He made very impressive kickout passes

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Speaker 1: from the middle of the floor, like whipping it out

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Speaker 1: to open shooters. He had one where he came off

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Speaker 1: of a ball screen at the top towards his left hand,

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Speaker 1: obviously his strong hand, and whipped a left handed pass

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Speaker 1: across the court to shooter in the right corner. He

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Speaker 1: had an impressive little drop off in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the in the middle of the lane to Zakarski right

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Speaker 1: under the basket for a layup. Honestly, Terrence Shannon just

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Speaker 1: looked like a really nice driving kick player that's going

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Speaker 1: to fit this system. We saw him get to play

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Speaker 1: a little bit in the postseason last year, and I

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Speaker 1: think he's gonna have a much bigger role this year.

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Speaker 1: When the Kiel Alexander Walker out Jalen Clark, he came

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Speaker 1: in and was like hounding Jamal Murray all the way

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Speaker 1: out to half court. Excellent ball pressure. He has this

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Speaker 1: like stout like low center of gravity with a bunch

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Speaker 1: of strength. Jamal wanted no parts of him one on one.

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Speaker 1: Was basically just protecting the ball until they could get

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Speaker 1: him into a ball screen, which is smart. You don't

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Speaker 1: want to mess with a guy like that if you

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Speaker 1: don't have to. And Jamal, I thought, actually played pretty well.

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Speaker 1: But I thought Jalen Clark and Tarren Shannon showed plenty

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Speaker 1: in order for us to kind of assume that those

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Speaker 1: two guys will be able to reasonably fill the na

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Speaker 1: Keile Alexander Walker role. The question is can they get

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Speaker 1: to the point where they can play a couple of

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Speaker 1: playoff shifts. And I just think it's a really good

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Speaker 1: chance that at least one of those guys. If not

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Speaker 1: both of them, is going to be in a position

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Speaker 1: where they can play a playoff shift and be able

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Speaker 1: to hold the four down long enough for that really

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Speaker 1: talented starting lineup to get back out on the floor.

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Speaker 1: Jad McDaniel was super sharp from the perimeter. He hit

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Speaker 1: a couple of nice pull up threes. He was dribbling

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Speaker 1: out at the top of the key against Cam Johnson,

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Speaker 1: and Cam Johnson went under a pick. And what do

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Speaker 1: you do as the ball handler when the guy goes

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Speaker 1: under the pick. You gotta make him pay by hitting

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Speaker 1: the pull up three. He hit the pull up three

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Speaker 1: at the top of the key. Then he hit like

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Speaker 1: a step back off of like a scissor dribble on

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Speaker 1: the left wing where he got good separation and just

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Speaker 1: rose up over the top and just hit like a

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Speaker 1: buttery smooth step back three. And as I'm watching that,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, Jaden was shooting really well and was

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Speaker 1: showing some real upside offensively in last year's postseason run,

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Speaker 1: and this kind of felt like a continuation of that.

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Speaker 1: So obviously, very very exciting. If Jaden McDaniels can continue

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Speaker 1: to improve offensively, the Wolves are just gonna be really good.

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Speaker 1: They're huge, they're athletic, they're deep, they're super talented, they

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Speaker 1: have tons of shooting, they're physical, and they're competitive. They

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Speaker 1: sneak You have a lot of continuity now between their core,

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Speaker 1: like guys like Anthony Edwards and Jada McDaniels and Rudy Gobert,

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Speaker 1: nas Reed mcconnley. These guys have been playing together a

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Speaker 1: long time. You've got a full season in three playoffs

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Speaker 1: series with Dante DiVincenzo and Julius Randall too. Julius obviously

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Speaker 1: didn't play in that game. But they have a sneaky

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Speaker 1: large amount of continuity compared to a lot of the

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Speaker 1: teams around the league. I said this in my season preview,

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Speaker 1: which you guys will here. I believe we've already aired it.

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Speaker 1: I think it aired last week on Friday.

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Speaker 2: But I think.

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Speaker 1: They're pretty clearly the best second tier team in the West.

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Speaker 1: If we all assume that Denver and okcre that top tier,

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Speaker 1: and then I have Cleveland at number three in my

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Speaker 1: contender rankings, which you guys will hear when they come

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Speaker 1: out next week. That's more based on the fact that

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Speaker 1: they're in the Eastern Conference, so they have a pretty

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Speaker 1: easy path to get to the finals compared to what's

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Speaker 1: going on in the West. But among that next tier

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Speaker 1: of contenders in the West, Minnesota for me is the pick.

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Speaker 1: That's the team that I think has the best chance

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Speaker 1: to upset get out of the conference, potentially win the championship,

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Speaker 1: more so than a Lakers, or a Clippers or a

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Speaker 1: Golden State, all of those teams in that tier. I'm

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Speaker 1: just a big believer in that team, and frankly, I'm

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Speaker 1: sick and tired of underestimating them as I have over

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Speaker 1: the course of the last couple of years. I haven't

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Speaker 1: seen anything Edwards yet, and I'm super excited to see

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Speaker 1: what he brings to the table. But just seeing what

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Speaker 1: we've seen from the young guys and the continued offensive

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Speaker 1: development of Jade McDaniels, and just the overall impressive physicality

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Speaker 1: they keep bringing to the table, I'm impressed by them.

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Speaker 1: The weird thing with them is I think they're kind

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Speaker 1: of matchup dependent. Like we all know they can beat Denver.

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Speaker 1: I would pick Denver to beat them in a series,

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Speaker 1: but it's much closer to a coin flip than people

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Speaker 1: would think, And so I do give Minnesota a ton

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Speaker 1: of respect there. The thing with Minnesota that keeps them

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Speaker 1: as a second tier team for me is I just

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Speaker 1: I literally don't think they can beat Oklahoma City. I

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Speaker 1: don't think there's enough that Ant can improve on in

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Speaker 1: just one year to close the gap between him and

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Speaker 1: Shay enough to be able to overcome that simple problem

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Speaker 1: that Ant has consistently dealt with, which is rim protection

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Speaker 1: in combination with athleticism in an elite defense. It seems

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Speaker 1: to have been the Achilles heel for Ant at this

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Speaker 1: point in his career. So it's weird because if they

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Speaker 1: somehow work it out to where they only have to

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Speaker 1: beat Denver, I think they've got like an awesome chance

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Speaker 1: to win the title, like a really good chance. But

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Speaker 1: if they end up in a bracket situation where they

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Speaker 1: have to go through OKC, it kind of feels like

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Speaker 1: a death sentence for them. And so that's gonna be

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Speaker 1: what ultimately keeps them in the second tier for me,

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Speaker 1: at least in the short term, unless they show something

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Speaker 1: substantial this year on the Denver front. Obviously, the defense

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Speaker 1: left a lot to be desired, but it's really tough

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Speaker 1: to evaluate because they straight up weren't meeting the intensity

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Speaker 1: of the moment. I shouldn't even say of the moment,

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Speaker 1: just of the Wolves and what they were bringing from

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Speaker 1: the jump, but lots of encouraging stuff for Nuggets fans.

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Speaker 1: On offense, predictably, Cam Johnson looked like a very natural

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Speaker 1: fit on that end of the floor, flowing in and

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Speaker 1: out of action, making reads.

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Speaker 2: When he got to the middle of the floor on.

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Speaker 1: Kickouts, he got an easy layup off of a back

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Speaker 1: cut on the right side of the flour where Yokic

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Speaker 1: hit him easily for a layup. I just don't see

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Speaker 1: any problems at all with the basketball fit there. He

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Speaker 1: was in great contain on defense either, but he again,

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Speaker 1: that whole team wasn't really bringing the intensity there, so

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Speaker 1: I'm trying not to overthink it at this point. Aaron

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Speaker 1: Gordon's jumper still looks fantastic. He showed some mid range

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Speaker 1: kind of like ISO stuff as well, kind of a

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Speaker 1: rescue possession along the left elbow where he just shot

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Speaker 1: over the top and then pretty nifty little crossover move

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Speaker 1: into a pull up along the right baseline that he hit.

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Speaker 1: And I mean I saw a bunch of that in

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Speaker 1: his summer, like pickup tape, you know, the stuff that's

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Speaker 1: going around on Instagram of dudes just.

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Speaker 2: Playing pickup basketball.

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Speaker 1: We saw a lot of that from Aaron Gordon this summer,

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Speaker 1: so I was wondering how much more we will see

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Speaker 1: of it, and I do think that we'll see more

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Speaker 1: of that this year. I thought Jamal looked like he

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Speaker 1: was in better shape than he typically is in at

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Speaker 1: this point in the season. He's getting good lift on

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Speaker 1: his jumper. He looked strong on his drives. I think

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Speaker 1: he had five assists in one turnover. He was handling

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Speaker 1: the ball well. I thought he looked good. Christian Brown

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Speaker 1: is flying up and down the floor and transitioned from

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Speaker 1: the jump, kind of a classic Nicola Jokic play. On

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Speaker 1: their first defensive stop, kind of a scrum rebound situation,

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Speaker 1: Yokic is getting like dudes are hanging on him. He

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Speaker 1: gets the rebound and Christian Brown leaks out and he

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Speaker 1: just literally has like just barely a step on the

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Speaker 1: who's trailing him, and there's a big gap up the

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Speaker 1: floor in front of him. There's other defenders back, but

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Speaker 1: there was just kind of a gap between Christian and

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Speaker 1: the next layer of the transition defense, and Jokic just

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Speaker 1: kind of flipped it up ahead like this big looping

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Speaker 1: bounce pass that Christian just ran into like a wide

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Speaker 1: receiver and he got all the way to the rim

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Speaker 1: for a foul. And you could see Jokic like after

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Speaker 1: he threw the pass, he just wanted to chill mode.

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Speaker 1: It was like, I'll just stay back here on defense.

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Speaker 1: And it's just always been a sneaky, awesome part of

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Speaker 1: Denver's attack on offenses.

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Speaker 2: They just hunt these.

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Speaker 1: Transition opportunities to make the game easier for them. And again,

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Speaker 1: it's a way to make your athleticism compliment your unathletic players,

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Speaker 1: right Like you get a guy like Jokic who can

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Speaker 1: literally run a devastating transition attack like he's been running

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Speaker 1: for years even though he's not a great athlete, just

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Speaker 1: because he's constantly looking for his athletes in the open floor.

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Speaker 1: Lots of exciting stuff from the bench. Jonas Falenciunis I

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about scheme consistency with him over the

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Speaker 1: course of the summer. It was really fun to watch

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Speaker 1: them just play Nuggets basketball when Jokics was out there

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Speaker 1: right like, or when Jokic went out of the game,

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Speaker 1: like they just threw the ball to Jonas on the

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Speaker 1: block against Joan Barringer over and over and over again,

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Speaker 1: and he abused him on the block three times in

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Speaker 1: a row for like layups and easy hook shots. He

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Speaker 1: was setting great screens out at the three point line,

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Speaker 1: freeing ball handlers up. He was hitting guys on cuts

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Speaker 1: in and out of action. He hit Julian Strawther for

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Speaker 1: an easy one right underneath the basket. I just think

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Speaker 1: the fit there is perfect. Yonas is going to be

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Speaker 1: great with them in that role. Jalen Picket came up,

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Speaker 1: It came in and put in like a tough shot

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Speaker 1: making display. He hit like a step back three at

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Speaker 1: the top of the key, and then he had two

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Speaker 1: rescue possessions where the clocks running out and everyone just

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Speaker 1: was like, here.

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Speaker 2: You do it.

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Speaker 1: And he made two ridiculous tough shots, like a kind

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Speaker 1: of a movement three out of the right corner and

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Speaker 1: then like a one legged fade away on the left

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Speaker 1: wing that he hit some impressive shot making there. Peyton

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Speaker 1: Watson looked super athletic in transition. Had a couple of

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Speaker 1: nifty finishes on drives, a left handed finish coming off

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Speaker 1: of a dribble hand off on the right side of

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Speaker 1: the floor, and then a nice kind of like slow

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Speaker 1: down mature pump fake wait for the defender to come

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Speaker 1: in the to get in the air, and then find

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Speaker 1: that little angle for the push shot. Tim Hardaway Junior

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Speaker 1: missed his shots, but you could see the fit at

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Speaker 1: least with him coming in and action in and out

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Speaker 1: of action with Jokic. I thought the basketball fit made

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense there. The offense is gonna be incredible,

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Speaker 1: there's no way around it. I you know, they were

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Speaker 1: barely trying in that first half in terms of their

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Speaker 1: physical intensity against an excellent defensive group in Minnesota, and

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Speaker 1: they put up sixty three points, like just easy. And

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be a lot better as the season progresses.

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Speaker 1: Jokic is still amazing. He's just so deadly in the

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Speaker 1: short range. He got like two identical little floating bank

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Speaker 1: shots off of inverted ball screens on the right wing

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Speaker 1: where he just went down the floor, rim protector steps

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Speaker 1: up and just boom, nice and soft over the top

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Speaker 1: off the glass. Mid range jumper looks great. He hit

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Speaker 1: like a little short one up against a great contest

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Speaker 1: against Golbert, and then another one along the left elbow.

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Speaker 1: They're just gonna be an awesome offense. They're gonna score

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Speaker 1: a million points this year. I'm gonna say the same

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Speaker 1: thing about them that I'm gonna say about the Lakers

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Speaker 1: when we get later into the show. They need to

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Speaker 1: be an incredibly sharp execution team on defense, and they

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Speaker 1: didn't look like it in their first preseason game. Now

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Speaker 1: I'm less worried about it for this particular group because

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Speaker 1: they've consistently shown the ability to scale up after chilling

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Speaker 1: in the regular season. They're basically right now the best

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Speaker 1: switch flipping defense in the league. Right Like, they can

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Speaker 1: look bad for long stretches and then be good. Even

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Speaker 1: the year they won the title, they were bad on

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Speaker 1: defense to end the year and it just didn't matter

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Speaker 1: because they were able to scale up when they needed to.

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Speaker 1: That said, the margins are a little tighter in this

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Speaker 1: particular league because of Oklahoma City and because of the

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Speaker 1: threats of teams like Minnesota and some of the other

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Speaker 1: teams in the West. Right So, with that being the case,

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Speaker 1: I think it is probably a bit more important for

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Speaker 1: this team to be a little more diligent in terms

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Speaker 1: of their focus and execution on defense in the regular

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Speaker 1: season than in years past. It's just something to keep

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Speaker 1: A lot of good, lot of bad. The good I

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Speaker 1: thought Austin looked amazing. Phoenix came out with super intense

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Speaker 1: ball pressure right away with their big, strong athletes, not

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Speaker 1: a big surprise. With the addition of Dylan Brooks. They

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Speaker 1: also started Ohso Gudaro at center and they did a

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Speaker 1: lot of switching with him, which was interesting because it

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Speaker 1: kind of.

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Speaker 2: Forced the pick and roll attack.

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Speaker 1: It took away those easy role opportunities for a guy

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Speaker 1: like eight, and then it turned into kind of more

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Speaker 1: of like an ISO have to create shots against physical

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Speaker 1: defenders in space type of situation. And we're gonna talk

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Speaker 1: about Phoenix later in the show. But I told you

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Speaker 1: guys they'd be a pain in the ass to play against,

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Speaker 1: and I thought they demonstrated that fully in their first

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Speaker 1: preseason game. I think that's an example of something that

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Speaker 1: will continue throughout the year. Again, preseason is about the

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Speaker 1: journey from where you are to what you're going to be,

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Speaker 1: and all these teams are different spots in that process.

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Speaker 1: The Phoenix is pretty far along in though, we're going

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Speaker 1: to be a pain in the ass on defense process.

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Speaker 1: And I thought they were really really impressive in that game,

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Speaker 1: albeit against a Lakers team that was missing most of

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Speaker 1: their ball handling. But I was really impressed by the

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Speaker 1: way Austin handled that like he just he ended up

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Speaker 1: getting Ryan done for most of that Dylan Brooks was

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Speaker 1: going after Rueyatcha Mura and he was causing him some problems,

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Speaker 1: but Austin just like really strong with the ball. He

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Speaker 1: was able to get separation from the ball pressure by

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Speaker 1: attacking and then retreating to generate space. That way he

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Speaker 1: could then get into his bag to try to beat

434
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,080
Speaker 1: his man off the dribbler to get to one of

435
00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,399
Speaker 1: his jump shots. When Phoenix swarmed him. He was strong

436
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,320
Speaker 1: with the ball and got into their bodies and he

437
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,640
Speaker 1: drew fouls. He ended up getting seven foul shot attempts

438
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:06,960
Speaker 1: in that game. I thought he passed the ball pretty well.

439
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:08,479
Speaker 1: Didn't show in the box score. I think he only

440
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,960
Speaker 1: had two assists, but because guys were struggling to finish,

441
00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:13,119
Speaker 1: he set up several clean catch and shoot looks that

442
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 1: didn't go in. He had a nasty spin movie. He

443
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,520
Speaker 1: was on a ball screen on the left side of

444
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,679
Speaker 1: the floor. His mann was icing it and he just

445
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,679
Speaker 1: spun out of it over his left shoulder with his

446
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,480
Speaker 1: left hand and then just threw a perfect shovel pass

447
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 1: at Deandreyton, who was in the pocket eight and just

448
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,240
Speaker 1: smoked the left handed layup. But I thought it was

449
00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,800
Speaker 1: a really nice piece of playmaking from Austin. He ended

450
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 1: up hitting Jackson Hayes for a nasty poster dunk on

451
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,160
Speaker 1: Devin Booker on a ball screen off the.

452
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 2: Left side of the floor.

453
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,359
Speaker 1: I just thought he looked strong, he looked athletic, and

454
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,359
Speaker 1: he looked ready to kick ass the season, he had

455
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,679
Speaker 1: twenty points on eleven shots in just twenty one minutes.

456
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 2: Austin is just a really good player, and.

457
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: If he continues to get better, he continues to add

458
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: talent to this team and this configuration with Luca, some

459
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 1: of his athletic limitations rise to the surface more. But

460
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,439
Speaker 1: at the same time, like in the era after Lebron,

461
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: a player like him becomes so important.

462
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 2: Next to Luca.

463
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,760
Speaker 1: So like it's just a really tough situation because you

464
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 1: could argue in the short term he's not the best fit,

465
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 1: but in the long term he is a guy that

466
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 1: they have to look at. And I just think Austin's

467
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,159
Speaker 1: a really good player and if it's not with the

468
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,199
Speaker 1: Lakers long term, it'll be for someone else. I'm a

469
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 1: big believer in his skill set and I'm hoping that

470
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,879
Speaker 1: he can help the Lakers a lot in this particular season.

471
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,960
Speaker 1: I thought Jared Vanderbilt looked great. The word coming out

472
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,199
Speaker 1: of camp from JJ was that his athleticism and his

473
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 1: foot speed was like night and day different from last

474
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 1: year when he was coming back from his foot injury.

475
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,359
Speaker 1: And I totally agree after watching him, And if you

476
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 1: guys have ever dealt with something like that. I had

477
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 1: a foot injury in between my first two years of

478
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,359
Speaker 1: college and my whole first semester that second year, I

479
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,919
Speaker 1: just didn't trust my foot and I just wasn't moving

480
00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 1: as well as I typically did.

481
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 2: And then it.

482
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,919
Speaker 1: Finally came around after months went by and I started

483
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: to regain confidence and get my foot speed back. Any

484
00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 1: of you guys have ever dealt with foot injuries know

485
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,159
Speaker 1: what that's like. Vando was back last year, but he

486
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,760
Speaker 1: wasn't back right, He wasn't really so this year having

487
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 1: him be faster and more athletic on the perimeter is

488
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: obviously huge ad for a team that desperately needs that

489
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 1: type of quickness on the perimeter. On one of his

490
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 1: first possessions against Phoenix, he got over the top of

491
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,560
Speaker 1: a screen and in a rear view contest situation, actually

492
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: blocked Devin Booker. And again, this is exciting because he's

493
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,879
Speaker 1: one of only three professional point of attack defenders on

494
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,920
Speaker 1: the roster, and the other two are either really short

495
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,360
Speaker 1: like Gave Vincent or an injury risk like Marcus Smart,

496
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: so like they really really need Vano to be good,

497
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: and honestly, the offensive side is what has me more

498
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: excited with him. He was only one for six from

499
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 1: three over the weekend, but his release does look much better,

500
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 1: and we're hearing out of camp that he's been shooting

501
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:44,639
Speaker 1: the ball better. So I think there's at least some

502
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,159
Speaker 1: potential there for him to become a guy who can

503
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,879
Speaker 1: hit like thirty five percent of his open corner threes

504
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: instead of you know, thirty percent, which could be a

505
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,240
Speaker 1: big difference in his playability. Also, he was doing some

506
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,879
Speaker 1: more stuff off the bounce, especially against Golden State, Like

507
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: he did some damage in the middle of the floor.

508
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: He had like a nice driving finish around Quinton Post.

509
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: He had a couple of finishes in traffic where he

510
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: put the ball on the floor and made plays. I

511
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 1: talked about this in the season preview, but Vando is

512
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 1: one of the biggest swing factors for this Lakers team.

513
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,119
Speaker 1: If he can find a way to be a competent

514
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 1: offensive player, not great, just competent, then the Lakers can

515
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 1: make use of his defensive gifts, which they desperately need.

516
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 1: And I think that's a big swing factor for this

517
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: Lakers team. If Vanda can continue to develop offensively, Jake

518
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: Lavio look solid. He picked up six fouls in the

519
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 1: two games, but I thought a couple of them were

520
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: pretty bogus, including a hilarious Devin Booker grift that was

521
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: in the first few minutes of the Suns game that

522
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 1: I watched. It was in like my first film session

523
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 1: of the season, and I'm watching it and I'm like,

524
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,360
Speaker 1: oh my god, and here we go again. We're back

525
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,159
Speaker 1: into this part of the NBA season where grifting is

526
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,360
Speaker 1: getting rewarded. Like he was on Devin Booker's right side,

527
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: hands up and back pedaling away from the rim, and

528
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,680
Speaker 1: Devin Booker just like jumped sideways into him and shot

529
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: some bullshit shot and ended up getting sent to the

530
00:23:58,680 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 1: foul line.

531
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 2: Like I'm not gonna blame Jake Laaravia for that.

532
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 1: That's bad refereeing, right, But he did pick up six

533
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 1: fouls in the two games, got out of position a

534
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: couple of times. But I did think he showed a lot,

535
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 1: especially on offense, like he's good at using his size

536
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,159
Speaker 1: to protect the ball when he was dribbling Ford into traffic.

537
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:15,920
Speaker 2: He had some turnover issues. I think he had four

538
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 2: turnovers in the two games, but.

539
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,399
Speaker 1: When he turned his back, he was able to protect

540
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: the ball with his size, and that unlocked some of

541
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 1: his more refined skill compared to some wings in the league,

542
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: Like he had a couple of nice, little feathery mid

543
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: range jump shots out of those situations. His spin move

544
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,239
Speaker 1: on Jimmy Butler where he protected the ball and then

545
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,919
Speaker 1: just whipped it over his left shoulder into spin and

546
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: got all the way to the front of the rim,

547
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: and it was such a nasty spin move that Lebron,

548
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,400
Speaker 1: who was watching the game, you could tell you could

549
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: see him in the background. He kind of got caught

550
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 1: off guard and you could tell Lebron was like, oh shit, okay, Jake,

551
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:45,880
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know you had that in your bag, right.

552
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,160
Speaker 2: So like that, I think is going.

553
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: To be an interesting dynamic compared to a guy like

554
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,720
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith who struggled to put the ball on

555
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,280
Speaker 1: the floor. Dorian obviously way more polished defensively. That's going

556
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:57,879
Speaker 1: to be the stuff that Jake's gonna have to figure

557
00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: out in order to match that impact.

558
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 2: Super does look good.

559
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 1: I think he'll shoot well in open catch and shoot

560
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,679
Speaker 1: looks when the team has all their ball handlers. He

561
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,919
Speaker 1: just obviously wasn't getting the same quality of looks in

562
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: this particular situation. DeAndre Aiden was a mixed bag. In

563
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 1: the Phoenix game. He dealt with a lot of switching

564
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,320
Speaker 1: in the starting groups, right, So like, if you're switching,

565
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 1: that's gonna nullify the role man stuff. And I talked

566
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,080
Speaker 1: about this a lot over the summer, Like I didn't

567
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 1: like his post ups. He had a right shoulder fade

568
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 1: away against Draymond Green, but then he had like a

569
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: couple other hook shots where he easily got pushed off

570
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,320
Speaker 1: his base and he's like falling down as he's shooting

571
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: the hook shot because he's just I don't see him

572
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: as a guy who's going to consistently beat switches. That's

573
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 1: not something that I see in his game. Now, in

574
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,679
Speaker 1: the Luca partnership, you've got Luca, who's arguably one of

575
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,520
Speaker 1: the best switched beaters in the entire NBA, right, probably

576
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 1: you know, top two or three on that list, right,

577
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,479
Speaker 1: So like with Luca, it's gonna be less of an issue.

578
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,960
Speaker 1: But in a unit like that where it's a switching

579
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: attack and you know you have Austin is the best

580
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: offensive player on the floor and it's a huge drop

581
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: after that, it's not gonna be the type of game

582
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,120
Speaker 1: where Deandrayton's gonna thrive offensively, right, So, like he did

583
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,479
Speaker 1: get a couple offensive rebounds, but I didn't think that

584
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: was the right matchup to really show what he could

585
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 1: do on offense. He did rebound really well in both games.

586
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 1: He had fifteen rebounds and thirty nine minutes over the weekend.

587
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:18,920
Speaker 2: That's very good.

588
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: He's just a super impressive physical presence, right, Like he's

589
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: gonna walk into so many rebounds just because he's bigger

590
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,480
Speaker 1: and more athletic than most players in the NBA. It's

591
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:31,920
Speaker 1: kind of like the defensive stuff, like Ayton made a

592
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,720
Speaker 1: lot of defensive mistakes, which we're gonna talk about in

593
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 1: a minute, but he also blocked four shots in his

594
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,159
Speaker 1: thirty nine minutes because he's bigger and more athletic than

595
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,439
Speaker 1: most players in the NBA. Right, It's just that his

596
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: defensive positioning and his instincts are still super sloppy. Not

597
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: hard to figure out why he was playing losing basketball

598
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: for years before this, but just a lot of like

599
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: random little mistakes. Like there was a play where Browny

600
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 1: gave up a layup to Grayson Allen where Grayson came

601
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,679
Speaker 1: off of like a fake handoff from ohso Igadaro at

602
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,959
Speaker 1: the top of the key, and Ayton was like hugged

603
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: up to OsO instead of like sagging back a little

604
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: bit to be able to help on a cutter in

605
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,640
Speaker 1: that situation. Like that's a basic little bit of defensive

606
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 1: positioning that he can be better at. He like threw

607
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 1: an unnecessary block attempt at a pump faking player in

608
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor where he gave up an

609
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: easy drop off for a layup. I think that was

610
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: in the Golden State game. There were some bad transition

611
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 1: defense possessions where like, he's back, but he's not getting

612
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: to the rim like he's supposed to, and the ball

613
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: is just getting thrown right over the top of him

614
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: for a layup. But I want to cut him some

615
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: slack there because the whole team, the whole Lakers team

616
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,160
Speaker 1: was really sloppy in those details, and I do think

617
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: those things are related. Moving to the bad side of

618
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 1: things for the Lakers, I thought the Lakers in generally

619
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: in general looked very sloppy in their defensive details. It

620
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: wasn't all bad, like they had some high quality point

621
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 1: of attack reps from guys like Vando. I thought as

622
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: a team they defended Devin Booker really well in the

623
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,399
Speaker 1: first half before they kind of lost control of him

624
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 1: in the second half. Mary groups rebounded really well, like

625
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 1: they had a seventy seven percent defensive rebound percentage in

626
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: the first half of both games, which is really solid,

627
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,119
Speaker 1: especially when you've a factor in that Lebron and Luca

628
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: were out and those are both excellent defensive rebounders. You

629
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 1: could really feel the presence of Eighton on that side

630
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: of things as just a foundational defensive rebounder. That made

631
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,199
Speaker 1: life easier for them there. They did force a lot

632
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 1: of turnovers. They forced thirty seven turnovers in the two games,

633
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 1: which is a good number, although I think it was

634
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 1: a factor of a couple of things, Like it was

635
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: a factor of teams being generally sloppy with the ball

636
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,560
Speaker 1: at this point in the season, and they were overhelping

637
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 1: on a lot of three point shots. And when you

638
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: have big lanky forwards like Vanderbilt and Ruey with their

639
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 1: arms up in the paint leaving shooters those kickouts, they

640
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: get deflections on him sometimes and there were several examples

641
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: of that where they just forced turnovers packing the paint.

642
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: But it was mostly bad on defense, like their transition

643
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 1: defense was abysmal. I kept thinking about those Clipper shirts.

644
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you guys saw those Clipper shirts

645
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: that were going around from camp, but it just said,

646
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: like fuck, like up and down with the camember. What

647
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: it's called where you have the expression that goes with

648
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: each letter in the first in the first letter of

649
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: each sentence is like matching the word right. So F

650
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: was for floor balance, US for urgency, C was for communication,

651
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: and K was for know that we lost to Denver

652
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 1: because of transition. I just loved this because I thought

653
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: it was a classic example of like using the pain

654
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: and scar tissue of loss of losing as a method

655
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 1: to motivate a group to get better at a specific thing.

656
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really fun idea from the

657
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: Clippers a coaching staff. But I thought the Lakers were

658
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: brutally bad in all those areas. Their floor balance was

659
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 1: really bad. They kept having shooters that were on the

660
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 1: wing kind of link leaked too far down into the

661
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 1: like kind of like almost in the corner while long

662
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 1: rebounds are going out and guys are just out of position,

663
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 1: you only have one guy above the free throw line.

664
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 2: Like that's bad.

665
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: Floor balance, really bad urgency sprinting back a lot of jogging,

666
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 1: and especially for a team that's you know, according to

667
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick heavily pphasizing conditioning, they didn't seem very urgent

668
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 1: sprinting back in transition, and then their communication, like guys

669
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: just not getting matched up and giving up easy layups

670
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: and open threes even when guys are back because you're

671
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: just not talking and bringing that level of urgency on

672
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 1: that end of the floor. Like they gave up sixty

673
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: seven points in transition in the two games. That's horrid,

674
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: and they gave up one point four to three points

675
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: per possession in transition, which is even worse.

676
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 2: So like they have a long way to go there.

677
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: Their off ball defense in the half court was brutally

678
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 1: bad as well. I'm super disappointed in Ruy hot Chimura's

679
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,959
Speaker 1: first two games. He got burned ball watching and getting

680
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,920
Speaker 1: out of his stance like off the ball like a

681
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 1: half dozen times. And it's especially frustrating because if he

682
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: could be awesome in those details, he could make himself untradeable,

683
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:49,880
Speaker 1: especially for this particular team that values his play finishing

684
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,479
Speaker 1: off of Lucas so much. But and it could get

685
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: him a lot of money. On his next deal. But

686
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 1: if he can't figure out how to be more detailed

687
00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: off the ball defensively and tracking shooters and just more

688
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: ten like just overall attention to detail and urgency on

689
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 1: the defense end of the floor, the Lakers basically have

690
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 1: to flip him for a guy who fits the team better,

691
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: as like an athletic wing that is gonna be more,

692
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 1: you know, a higher floor on that defensive side of

693
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: the floor. But it wasn't just ruly like all over

694
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 1: the floor. I saw guys helping in the lane for

695
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 1: no reason and giving up open looks. I saw Vando

696
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: do it in some off ball situations. It feels very

697
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: intentional from JJ that they're overhelping and packing the paint

698
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 1: and trying to concede threes. Now, some of that is

699
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 1: like you're going to have to because that's the way

700
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 1: your team is built. You don't have great contain you

701
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 1: don't have great rim protections, so you're gonna have to

702
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: throw multiple bodies at everything, which is gonna lead to

703
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 1: open threes. But I did think they overdid it on

704
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: some cases, Like there was a low man rep from

705
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 1: RUI where I think Jackson was on the floor. It

706
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: was either Jackson or eighting, but they were in a

707
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: deeper drop and the roleman wasn't behind, and so there's

708
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: just no reason for you to step over. And he

709
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: ended up giving up a wide open right corner three

710
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 1: because he was just like just kind of lagging into

711
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 1: the lane for no particular reason at all, just a

712
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 1: lot of mistakes. Right Like, Vando gets hit by a

713
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 1: Draymond Green screen that has Steph Curry coming off clean

714
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 1: and Jackson Hayes' is, you know, ten feet away from

715
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 1: the three point line, just way too far back. It's

716
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 1: just a wide open three for Steph. Like, dude, Jackson,

717
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 1: you've got to be up at the level against Steph Curry,

718
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,720
Speaker 1: Like that's basketball one oh one when you're playing the Warriors,

719
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 1: right Like, just kind of a sloppy overall defensive performance

720
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: both in transition and in the half court from the Lakers,

721
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 1: And that was just kind of disappointing, just because again,

722
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,080
Speaker 1: like like I talk about, preseason is about where you're

723
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: at to where you're gonna be, and everybody's at a

724
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 1: different part of that process, a different phase of that process,

725
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: and I was just hoping the Lakers would be further along.

726
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 1: The Lakers gave up thirty two catch and shoot looks

727
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 1: per game over the weekend, and that's not a good

728
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: sign to give you an idea. Like Denver, Minnesota, Phoenix,

729
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: they were all below twenty three catch and shoot attempts.

730
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: Just for some perspective like that's just way too many

731
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: easy kickouts from overhelping in the lane. The reason why

732
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 1: I'm particularly concerned about these things is that for this team,

733
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 1: they have to be sharp in order to accomplish their goals.

734
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 1: They don't have the defensive personnel to get where they

735
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 1: want to get without being super super sharp as an

736
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: execution and scheming team on defense, I'm not worried about

737
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 1: the offense. Your offense is built around the shot creation

738
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 1: of Luka, Doncic, Lebron James, and Austin Reeves. And combined,

739
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: out of those three guys in ninety six minutes of basketball,

740
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: you got just twenty one minutes total out of those

741
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: three guys, and that was Austin Reeves in the first game.

742
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 1: So like, I'm not paying too close attention to that

743
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 1: sort of thing until we get further along, like a

744
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 1: lot less putting the ball on the floor from guys

745
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 1: like Ruy and Jake Laavia and Gabe Vincent guys like that.

746
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: Gabe had a nice little hot streak in the first

747
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: half against Golden State. But like, I'm not worried about

748
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,880
Speaker 1: the offense, but this core of role players has to

749
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 1: be extremely sharp on defense, and they just don't look

750
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: sharp yet, and so they just have a long way

751
00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:58,959
Speaker 1: to go. And as I've said, in order for them

752
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 1: to contend for the title, I they have to get

753
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: into like the top twelve to fifteen or so in defense.

754
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: That should be their target. But in order to get there,

755
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,719
Speaker 1: they got to be a top shelf execution and scheming team,

756
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:11,440
Speaker 1: and they just look really far from that right now.

757
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:12,839
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be a lot of work from JJ

758
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: to prevent these guys from being a bottom ten defense

759
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: this year Golden State Warriors, I saw a lot of

760
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 1: good with Golden State beyond the basic intensity stuff. Like

761
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 1: I mentioned off the top of the show, the Lakers

762
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,800
Speaker 1: and Like and Like the Blakers without Austin, Luca and

763
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,399
Speaker 1: Lebron played Golden State really tough, in large part because

764
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 1: they had just gotten their butts kicked by Phoenix, and

765
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 1: I think it kind of woke them up in terms

766
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: of their intensity, and Golden State wasn't quite there yet.

767
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: To be clear, I don't worry about Golden State's intensity

768
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,279
Speaker 1: at all. Like you're led by Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler

769
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 1: and Draymond Green. They're just about guaranteed to compete as

770
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,359
Speaker 1: hard as any team in the NBA once they get

771
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: rolling here, So like, I'm not worried about it. But

772
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 1: beyond that little lack of intensity, a lot of really

773
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,959
Speaker 1: exciting stuff for Warriors fans like you have to start

774
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 1: with Moses Moody. I talked about in our season preview

775
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 1: about how I felt like Moses would be working all

776
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,319
Speaker 1: summer on his jump shot after he tailed off so

777
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:07,880
Speaker 1: significantly at the end of last year. And he looked

778
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 1: amazing coming out the gates, guns blazing five to seven

779
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: from three, just ripping the cord all over the floor.

780
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 1: His form looks great, It's compact and smooth and quick.

781
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 1: His footwork looks great. He had a three coming off

782
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 1: the top of the key in the start of the

783
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 1: second half where he was sprinting off the left side,

784
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: perfect footwork, boom left right, great lift, gets tons of

785
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,880
Speaker 1: elevation on the jump shot, really crisp release and just sticks.

786
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: It just rips the cord and I'm like, good God,

787
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 1: Like Moses's jump shot looks amazing. He was hitting open ones,

788
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: he was hitting contested ones. He had a dunk, ripping

789
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 1: a close out on the right corner where eight eight

790
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: and through one of the worst clothes outs I've ever seen.

791
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: He closed out, opened up with his back to the

792
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 1: baseline with like leading with his left foot. It just

793
00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 1: was really bad fundamental to close out from eighton, just

794
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: ripped to the baseline, end up getting a dunk out

795
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 1: of it. He hit like a really nice little pump

796
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 1: fake like find the angle for the finish type of

797
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,640
Speaker 1: shot in transition. Really impressive first game for Moses Moody.

798
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: And again like if he goes up as a level

799
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: as like a three and D wing, that's a huge

800
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: boost for Golden State. Just really really exciting stuff from Moses.

801
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,399
Speaker 1: Horford didn't do anything super amazing on the box score,

802
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 1: although he did have four stocks, he had a steal

803
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:28,760
Speaker 1: in three blocks, but he had three points, four rebounds,

804
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 1: three assists.

805
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 2: But they won his minutes.

806
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 1: I can't remember the exact plus minus, but they won

807
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 1: his minutes by a lot, and you could really see

808
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,839
Speaker 1: the natural fit on offense, not just the two man

809
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 1: stuff with Steph. Obviously he hit Steph on like a

810
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 1: little back cut, but you can tell when he catches

811
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 1: the ball at the top of the key or at

812
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 1: any spot on the floor and he turns and faces

813
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: he's looking and he's able to read the guards coming

814
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 1: in and out of action as they slip into openings,

815
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 1: and he's able to hit guys there. And not just Steph,

816
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 1: but he hit Pat Spencer on a little back cut

817
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 1: along the left baseline when he's behind it. I think

818
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: he was behind Gabe Vincent. He just kind of stuck

819
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,200
Speaker 1: along the baseline. Horford hit him there for a layup.

820
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 1: He did hit one of his threes. But I think

821
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 1: you're going to see a really natural fit on offense overall,

822
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 1: as he's popping out of ball screens and then in

823
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,200
Speaker 1: split cuts and anything where he's turning and facing out,

824
00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: you know, twenty twenty five feet from the basket, he's

825
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 1: going to be able to read the guards slipping in

826
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,279
Speaker 1: and out of action, which is such a fundamental part

827
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,280
Speaker 1: of playing the center position. In Golden State's offense, Steph

828
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,400
Speaker 1: looked amazing. He managed to shake free from Vanderbilt a

829
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,560
Speaker 1: few times, just with some really good screening and then

830
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: setting him up for action. Well, was really giving it

831
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: to Bronnie James on both ends of the floor, not

832
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 1: just catching him sleeping for open threes, but also on

833
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor, just kind of pressuring

834
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 1: Bronnie and forcing him into some sloppy turnovers. He just

835
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 1: looks strong, He looks in shape, His shot looks as

836
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,800
Speaker 1: good as ever. No sign at all of the hamstring

837
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 1: strain that ended his season last year. Everyone else is

838
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: right where they need to be, you know, pods miss

839
00:37:58,280 --> 00:37:59,759
Speaker 1: some shots early, but then he was able to find

840
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,879
Speaker 1: his point stroke with a corner three on the right wing,

841
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: and then he hit like a little iso three over

842
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 1: deandret and at the top of the key. That was

843
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 1: a good sign. Deandreyten disruptive as ever on defense, was

844
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,680
Speaker 1: breaking up a bunch of plays with his hands around

845
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 1: the basket. Jimmy Butler in his ability to grift his

846
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:17,879
Speaker 1: way to the foul line and make easy kickout reads

847
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: when he's working in the middle of the floor. Lots

848
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: of lots of exciting stuff for the Warriors on that

849
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. And then again the intensity

850
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: will come in time. Again, everybody's at a different phase

851
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 1: in their development as a team at this point in time,

852
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: I wanted to quick throw some thoughts on the Phoenix

853
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 1: Suns together. I talked a lot before the season about

854
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,279
Speaker 1: how I thought this team was going to be a

855
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 1: royal pain in the ass, and it comes from just

856
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,960
Speaker 1: some basic basketball beliefs that I have, which is, if

857
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:50,879
Speaker 1: you've got like a couple of dudes that you can

858
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,360
Speaker 1: throw on the opposing stars that are big, strong, athletic, physical,

859
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 1: and can guard the ball, and then you have athleticism

860
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:02,759
Speaker 1: at the rim behind them can devastating on defense against anybody.

861
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:04,879
Speaker 1: Devastating is the wrong word, but you're gonna at least

862
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: make life difficult for anybody on that end of the floor.

863
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 1: And the ball gets tossed up and immediately the tap

864
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 1: goes to ruy Hacha Mura and Dylan Brooks is in

865
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 1: his jersey like just in his jerseys, swiping aut the basketball,

866
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,760
Speaker 1: going like crazy. Ryan Dunn's picking up Austin Reeves there.

867
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 1: They just bring a level of physical intensity there that

868
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 1: is gonna annoy some people on a night in, night

869
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,799
Speaker 1: out basis. And I really liked the idea of you know,

870
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 1: we talked a lot about those guys in the context

871
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: of Mala Watch as like a rim protecting center, and

872
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: we didn't get to see too much of that. As

873
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:41,399
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I don't think they played together

874
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: at all in the first game. But like you, you're

875
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 1: gonna see more of that down the line. But I

876
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,840
Speaker 1: liked Osoigdaro is more of a switching look. Another big forward.

877
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 1: They can switch that action. He can pressure the ball. Now,

878
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,400
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you have three guys, and I

879
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: know they all play in the front court, but you

880
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,880
Speaker 1: put your your two forwards and done In Brooks on

881
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: the opposing ball handlers. Then you can put you know,

882
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen and Devin Booker on guys that are lesser

883
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: offensive players that maybe you can have them hedge and

884
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: recover out of. I think you just switch three four five.

885
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 1: So any ball screen that involves the center, you just

886
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,359
Speaker 1: switch with OsO Dylan and Ryan are both strong enough

887
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,239
Speaker 1: to guard bigger players. That's just gonna be a really

888
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: difficult look to deal with that like switching three four five,

889
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: And again we're gonna see more of the the rim

890
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: protection element in the context of those two guys as well.

891
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: But it's just gonna be a really fun team to

892
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 1: watch on a night and night out basis. I think

893
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,799
Speaker 1: Suns fans are gonna enjoy rooting for them more than

894
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:40,759
Speaker 1: they will some of the teams in years past that

895
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 1: have more talent but that just didn't have that like

896
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:47,120
Speaker 1: physical intensity identity that just makes it. That sort of

897
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:48,440
Speaker 1: thing is just so much more fun to watch in

898
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 1: the regular season because you turn on the TV and

899
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 1: you see guys competing, you kind of are willing to

900
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 1: deal with more of the mistakes. Whereas you see a

901
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,319
Speaker 1: team that's got a ton of talent that's struggling in

902
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,359
Speaker 1: the competitive areas of the game, it can be very

903
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,719
Speaker 1: frustrating to watch. And so I think Suns fans are

904
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 1: really gonna like that team. On offense, leaning into Devin

905
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,600
Speaker 1: Booker will be fun. I thought he did you know,

906
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 1: He's in years past handled that offensive engine role really well.

907
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,319
Speaker 1: I like some of the stuff they were doing with

908
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 1: the Gadaro on the ball, like they let him go

909
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 1: one on one a little bit. They ran an inverted

910
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: ball screen where they had Grayson Allen come screen for

911
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 1: him and he got right downhill and drew a foul.

912
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: That's kind of an interesting thing for them to explore,

913
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 1: mainly just because if he's gonna play the five, he's

914
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 1: gonna be guarded by centered centers, and those centers are

915
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:31,680
Speaker 1: not gonna be good at navigating screens, and then they're

916
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: not gonna be good at, you know, just handling that

917
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,680
Speaker 1: sort of downhill pressure from OsO. So I think that's

918
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 1: an interesting thing to continue to explore for them. Again,

919
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: I just think they're gonna annoying. They're gonna they're not

920
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,360
Speaker 1: gonna win more than maybe forty games as their absolute ceiling,

921
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: but they're gonna beat you if you don't bring their best,

922
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 1: Like if you don't play your best on any given

923
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:51,759
Speaker 1: night against Phoenix, they're gonna beat you. Like. They're gonna

924
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 1: be a they're mean, they're they're physical, they're gonna be

925
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:56,600
Speaker 1: a pain in the ass to play, and they attack

926
00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:59,360
Speaker 1: the Lakers from jump ball and never let up in

927
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 1: that entire game, in the preseason game, for God's sake.

928
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 1: So like again, I think I think Stuns fans are

929
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 1: really gonna enjoy watching that team, all right, Nick Sixers,

930
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:09,960
Speaker 1: I only caught the second game here, so just a

931
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 1: heads up. I've watched some highlights of VJ edgecomb in

932
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 1: his first game, But I watched the entirety of the

933
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: second game, and the biggest thing that shoot out to

934
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:21,120
Speaker 1: me by far was the crazy intentional effort that the

935
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,279
Speaker 1: Knicks were making to get out in transition. And it

936
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,239
Speaker 1: wasn't just like leakouts or easy little two on ones

937
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: for layups. They were hunting kick aheads. They were hunting

938
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,319
Speaker 1: early offense, like semi transition, we're like, excuse me, We're like,

939
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: guys are back, but like the defense isn't set and

940
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,200
Speaker 1: you're looking to attack early rather than pulling the ball

941
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: out and setting something up. They were torching Philly with

942
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 1: like kick aheads to Og and Obi in the corner

943
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,400
Speaker 1: for three. Oj Og was awesome in that's in that

944
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:48,799
Speaker 1: second game. I think that was the only game he

945
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,879
Speaker 1: played in, but he was awesome in that first half.

946
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,839
Speaker 1: Just came out guns blazing, was hitting his jump shot

947
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,960
Speaker 1: with ease. Mitchell Robinson was running the floor super well

948
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,720
Speaker 1: and was getting dunks and layups off off a drop

949
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: off of drop excuse me. Jalen Brunson was getting a

950
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,880
Speaker 1: bunch of like kick ahead opportunities where he's always been sneaky,

951
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 1: really good at finishing in transition. With layups as he

952
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,880
Speaker 1: gets into the defender's body and just kind of waits

953
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: for the right opportunity to break free. The early offensive

954
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:16,279
Speaker 1: stuff with McHale, where like he would get the ball

955
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 1: and the defense wouldn't quite be set yet and he

956
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:20,760
Speaker 1: would just get right downhill off of a ball screen

957
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:21,800
Speaker 1: and make something happen.

958
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 2: The Knicks first.

959
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:27,799
Speaker 1: Half groups with the starters, Okay, so again I'm looking

960
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 1: at just the first half of both games. They scored

961
00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,760
Speaker 1: thirty nine points in transition in those two games combined,

962
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:39,400
Speaker 1: So essentially forty transition points per game is the pace

963
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,799
Speaker 1: that their starting group, their main rotation guys played with.

964
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: Just for some perspective, there were two teams in the

965
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: entire NBA last year that averaged over thirty transition points

966
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:54,440
Speaker 1: per game in their first half. Units were averaging forty

967
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,400
Speaker 1: transition points per game through those first two games. So, like,

968
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:00,200
Speaker 1: I just thought that that was a really smart approach. Again,

969
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:01,759
Speaker 1: I talked about this a lot last year, but I

970
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 1: thought the Knicks were at their best when they were

971
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 1: getting stops and they were running defense to transition because

972
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 1: they have speed and they have guys that can play

973
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,040
Speaker 1: in the open floor, and like, it really showed in

974
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: the numbers guys last year and their fifty one wins,

975
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,960
Speaker 1: they averaged eighteen fast break points per game. In their

976
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 1: thirty one losses, they averaged just twelve fast break points

977
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 1: per game, So fifty percent more output in transition just

978
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 1: in fast breaks when they were winning versus when they

979
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 1: were losing. That's a strong correlation there, and it's something

980
00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:36,239
Speaker 1: that I love that they're exploring. It's also just a

981
00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 1: great way to take advantage of their aggregate offensive skill.

982
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:40,960
Speaker 1: Like we talked about it, like this is a group

983
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 1: a roster.

984
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 2: That should be sharing the ball more.

985
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 1: And they did run stuff in the half court that

986
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,120
Speaker 1: I liked in the game that I watched, Like they

987
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 1: ran Brunson on off ball action coming into catch and

988
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,719
Speaker 1: shoot looks, they used Brunson as a screener. They ran

989
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:54,680
Speaker 1: a play that I really liked where they had Og

990
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:56,840
Speaker 1: come off the left wing and Brunson kind of like

991
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 1: set a screen for him and Og curled it and

992
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 1: as a resus, Og easily got downhill and was able

993
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:04,440
Speaker 1: to drop it off to Mitchell Robinson as Mitch's man

994
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 1: stepped up and he got a foul out of it.

995
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,240
Speaker 1: I like that action because guys who are guarding Brunson

996
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,319
Speaker 1: are not going to want to help or hedge, and

997
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,480
Speaker 1: so guys will get advantages coming off of those screens.

998
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:16,840
Speaker 1: And we talked a lot about that in the season preview,

999
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,439
Speaker 1: specifically the idea of brunts and screening for a guy

1000
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,200
Speaker 1: like og And Andobie, because it's gonna get him deep

1001
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: post position, it's gonna get him downhill coming off of

1002
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:28,280
Speaker 1: screens like that. It's going to force switches with favorable

1003
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 1: matchups for both guys. It's definitely something that I like.

1004
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:33,799
Speaker 1: But you can tell that the Knicks still have a

1005
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:35,600
Speaker 1: long way to go in the half court in terms

1006
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:37,959
Speaker 1: of getting the ball in player movement that they want.

1007
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,920
Speaker 1: But the transition pushes they naturally breed that sort of thing.

1008
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: Guys are already running, so you're not gonna get stagnant, right.

1009
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:47,839
Speaker 1: The defense is loose, so the gaps that you're hitting

1010
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,560
Speaker 1: are bigger, easier, driving kick reads manifest for guys to hit.

1011
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 1: You're gonna get a lot of layups and open threes

1012
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 1: instead of ISOs and pick and rolls out of those

1013
00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 1: transition pushes. And that's a big part of why I

1014
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:03,440
Speaker 1: love that they're emphasizing that so much. Remember, the entire

1015
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:07,239
Speaker 1: purpose of running action or running a set is to

1016
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:09,839
Speaker 1: get an advantage, So the guys can just play read

1017
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 1: and react basketball out of it and pushing in transition

1018
00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:16,880
Speaker 1: is the easiest way to get those advantages. So I

1019
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: love the emphasis from Mike Brown and Camp. The starting

1020
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,080
Speaker 1: lineup definitely looks better with Mitchen there. I like the

1021
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,359
Speaker 1: roles it's cutting for Cat and Brunson on defense, they

1022
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: didn't look good in those roles of their first couple games,

1023
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:29,879
Speaker 1: like they just have to be better than they've been.

1024
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 1: Kat was delayed or slow on his closeouts out of

1025
00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:36,960
Speaker 1: low man situations to the corner several times, lost shooters

1026
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: several times. Brunson has been slow getting back to his

1027
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 1: man in and out of help and recover situations. That

1028
00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:45,400
Speaker 1: big VJ edgecomb dunk was like a classic example of

1029
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,319
Speaker 1: Brunson just being slow to react to his man relocating

1030
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 1: and giving up a dunk in that example. But they're

1031
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 1: they're big in that lineup, and I think they have

1032
00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,319
Speaker 1: a higher floor on defense in general in the long

1033
00:46:57,400 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: run with that configuration.

1034
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 2: So I do like going that direction and with the

1035
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 2: new guys.

1036
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,799
Speaker 1: That's kind of a mixed bag for me, I'm not

1037
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: worried about Gershan Yabuseli's offense at all. Like, he's talented,

1038
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,480
Speaker 1: he's gonna come around. Teams are gonna hunt him on

1039
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 1: defense the way that Philly did, but with better players.

1040
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:15,200
Speaker 1: But that's kind of more or less what Gershon is, right,

1041
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 1: Like he's a backup hybrid big that brings a lot

1042
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: of offensive firepower but is gonna give a lot of

1043
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,399
Speaker 1: it back on the defensive end of the floor. That's

1044
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: just kind of what that type of player is. He's

1045
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 1: essentially like a lesser version of Bobby Portish, right, And

1046
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,120
Speaker 1: I'm always okay with that sort of guy as long

1047
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:33,080
Speaker 1: as you don't need him in your best five lineups,

1048
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 1: because you can make decisions game to game, like, Okay,

1049
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 1: he doesn't have it tonight, I'm gonna go a different direction,

1050
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,200
Speaker 1: or oh shit, he's gonna win us a game scoring

1051
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 1: twenty five points off the bench. Like that's the type

1052
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 1: of flexibility you have when you have those high powered

1053
00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:50,200
Speaker 1: offensive forward center hybrids coming off of your bench. I

1054
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:52,880
Speaker 1: don't love the Jordan Clarkson stuff. He's kind of just

1055
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:57,080
Speaker 1: coming in and gunning and they're like, he scored it,

1056
00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,319
Speaker 1: like reasonably efficiently, but I didn't love the process. He

1057
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,759
Speaker 1: drew a foul and a really bad iso jumper. I

1058
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 1: can't remember who he was going against on that particular possession,

1059
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:07,319
Speaker 1: but he got a mismatch and he just kind of

1060
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: threw up a bad shot and got bailed out. He

1061
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:12,600
Speaker 1: made a floater that he got a good bounce off

1062
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:14,000
Speaker 1: the rim on a play that I didn't think was

1063
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 1: a good decision by him. Like Clarkson is just not

1064
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: my favorite player, and I don't love his fit there.

1065
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:21,680
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I really like Malcolm Brogden

1066
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,040
Speaker 1: and he's a classic kind of high floor option if

1067
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:25,879
Speaker 1: if you think of it, like Clarkson is the high

1068
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:29,440
Speaker 1: ceiling low floor option, Brogden is like the lower ceiling

1069
00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:32,920
Speaker 1: but higher floor option. And I actually think Brogden will

1070
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,719
Speaker 1: if it turns into a rotation battle where it's one

1071
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:37,840
Speaker 1: or the other, I think it'll end up being Brogden

1072
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:39,839
Speaker 1: who stays in the lineup as long as he can

1073
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: stay healthy. Garrison Matthews looks like a great fit and

1074
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:45,040
Speaker 1: just their super fasttle of play. He can just hit

1075
00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:47,439
Speaker 1: movement jump shots on the run and he just brings

1076
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:50,400
Speaker 1: that gunning shooter element him and Landra Shanmott in a

1077
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:53,120
Speaker 1: way that I think adds value to their transition attack.

1078
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:55,440
Speaker 1: I thought overall it was a sharp performance from the

1079
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:57,480
Speaker 1: Knicks in their second game, and the transition stuff is

1080
00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:02,239
Speaker 1: really exciting for the Sixers. VJ edge comes a fun prospect.

1081
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 1: The big dunk that he had was a classic example

1082
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 1: of just taking baked in driving lanes. This is a

1083
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:10,040
Speaker 1: concept I talk a lot about right, Like when you're

1084
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,759
Speaker 1: standing on the wing and the defender is so far

1085
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:14,920
Speaker 1: in the lane that he has to close out on

1086
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:17,080
Speaker 1: one of your shoulders, all you have to do on

1087
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:20,359
Speaker 1: the catch is just rip the opposite direction and that

1088
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,560
Speaker 1: guy has no chance of beating you to that spot,

1089
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:24,600
Speaker 1: and if he does, you're gonna see it come in

1090
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:25,960
Speaker 1: a mile away. And then you just have to throw

1091
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:27,759
Speaker 1: a jab step and the dude's gonna go flying off

1092
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: the screen and then you can go the opposite direction.

1093
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:30,000
Speaker 2: Right.

1094
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 1: But like on this particular play, it was a really

1095
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:34,840
Speaker 1: kind of interesting example because so VJ just makes a

1096
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 1: simple read right, Brunson closes out at his left shoulder.

1097
00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:40,719
Speaker 1: VJ rips to the right boom right handed hammer right.

1098
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,440
Speaker 1: But on that play I don't think it was intentional

1099
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:45,400
Speaker 1: but the reason why there was no rim protector is

1100
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:48,360
Speaker 1: they were running stack in that situation, like Tyrese was

1101
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 1: getting ready to run a ball screen with Kelly Ubra

1102
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,239
Speaker 1: setting the back screen in stack, and then I think

1103
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:56,719
Speaker 1: what happened was is Tyrese Maxey just was like, oh shit,

1104
00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:59,719
Speaker 1: Brunson's not on VJ because he kind of was just

1105
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: like getting back to his man. So tyres Maxie made

1106
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,000
Speaker 1: the right decision, like, hey, we run action to get

1107
00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:07,799
Speaker 1: an advantage. Vj's unguarded. I'm just gonna throw the ball

1108
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 1: to VJ. So he throws ato VJ, and VJ rips

1109
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:12,600
Speaker 1: the close out and gets past Brunson. But it was

1110
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 1: still timed in a way that ubre was setting the

1111
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:18,280
Speaker 1: backscreen on the rim protector, so there was just nobody

1112
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:19,960
Speaker 1: there that could hang with VJ at the rim. And

1113
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:24,720
Speaker 1: he just threw down that nasty right handed hammer right now.

1114
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:30,200
Speaker 1: The jumpers broke a hell. He had some really ugly misses,

1115
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,480
Speaker 1: like several feet off target. He has a long way

1116
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:35,440
Speaker 1: to go as a decision maker. He's forcing the issue

1117
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:39,320
Speaker 1: a little bit, but the athleticism is undeniable. He's getting

1118
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:41,759
Speaker 1: to his spots at will. He was applying a ton

1119
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 1: of rim pressure. If he can refine his skills at all,

1120
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 1: he's going to be a really high level player in

1121
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:50,120
Speaker 1: this league and an exciting option for the Sixers to

1122
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:53,399
Speaker 1: cling to if things go south on the injury front

1123
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,200
Speaker 1: for them this year. All right, before we get out

1124
00:50:56,239 --> 00:50:57,759
Speaker 1: of here today, I do have some quick thoughts on

1125
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,120
Speaker 1: Desmond Baines's debut with the Orlando Magic. Bain looks great,

1126
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:03,399
Speaker 1: to be clear. He brings a dynamic to the team

1127
00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:05,839
Speaker 1: that they haven't had in this era. That like real

1128
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:08,480
Speaker 1: shot creating guard that can shoot off the catch off

1129
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,080
Speaker 1: the dribble and slash and pass when he gets.

1130
00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:11,439
Speaker 2: Into the lane.

1131
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:14,640
Speaker 1: But I hated the way Orlando used him in their

1132
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,520
Speaker 1: first game. He's kind of just playing basketball, like the

1133
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:23,359
Speaker 1: occasional ball screen with Wendell Carter Junior. Him shooting coming

1134
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:25,080
Speaker 1: off of a wide screen as the first play of

1135
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:26,880
Speaker 1: the game and came off of a screening action to

1136
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:28,319
Speaker 1: the top of the key, got a great look and

1137
00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:30,680
Speaker 1: just missed it, you know, driving and kicking in a

1138
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:34,520
Speaker 1: driving kick situation or driving a kicking in transition. But

1139
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:36,239
Speaker 1: they didn't use him with Palo the way that I

1140
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:38,200
Speaker 1: thought that they should. I talked a lot about the

1141
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,840
Speaker 1: two man game with Paalo this summer as like a

1142
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,760
Speaker 1: way to get favorable switches for Paalo, to get easy

1143
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:46,759
Speaker 1: rotation situations with Bain slipping out of ghost screens or

1144
00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 1: inverted screens. I talked about Baine on the ball with Pallo,

1145
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:54,920
Speaker 1: opening up roleman opportunities for Paalo. I talked about all

1146
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:57,040
Speaker 1: this stuff, and then it was the middle of the

1147
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,359
Speaker 1: second quarter before they actually ran two man game, and

1148
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:02,200
Speaker 1: even then it was kind of just like a late

1149
00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 1: shot clock freelancing thing. It was this really frustrating possession

1150
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,319
Speaker 1: where Palo's at the top of the key and he

1151
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:10,600
Speaker 1: calls for Tias Jones to come set the screen and

1152
00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:12,840
Speaker 1: I'm like looking at the screen and I'm I'm like,

1153
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:16,120
Speaker 1: Baine's being guarded by Norman Powell, a guy that Pallo

1154
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:20,760
Speaker 1: should be looking to attack, and Tias is being guarded

1155
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:24,799
Speaker 1: by Hamijkez, another big, strong forward that's not as much

1156
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,240
Speaker 1: of a favorable matchup for Palo and that they're probably

1157
00:52:27,239 --> 00:52:27,960
Speaker 1: just gonna switch.

1158
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:29,600
Speaker 2: And so up.

1159
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:33,040
Speaker 1: Comes Tias and I'm like screaming at the screen. I'm like,

1160
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:35,520
Speaker 1: why isn't he trying to run the action with Bain instead?

1161
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 1: And so they just switch it, and so the play

1162
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 1: goes nowhere, and now Palo's dribbling at the top of

1163
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:42,640
Speaker 1: the key and he's like, ah shit, I got high

1164
00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 1: may on me. Now what am I gonna do? And

1165
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:47,480
Speaker 1: the clock's running out, and so he finally goes like okay,

1166
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:49,600
Speaker 1: Baine comes at the screen, and so Bain comes over

1167
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:52,800
Speaker 1: late shot clock. Guess what happens, Like they don't switch

1168
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:55,920
Speaker 1: it because Norman Powell, who's a weaker defender, wants no

1169
00:52:56,040 --> 00:52:58,120
Speaker 1: parts of Palo Bancaro, so he doesn't help, he doesn't

1170
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 1: have he doesn't do anything, and him, when he's trying

1171
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,680
Speaker 1: to navigate around the action, gives up the angle to Pallo.

1172
00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 1: Palell gets right downhill and gets a right handed layup,

1173
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, it's that easy, guys, Like it's

1174
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:12,440
Speaker 1: that easy, you know, And you almost get this feeling

1175
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:15,960
Speaker 1: like like Bain and Pallo were playing more of like

1176
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,360
Speaker 1: a your turn, my turn kind of deal, and you know,

1177
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,279
Speaker 1: and it works when Palo's got the ball in Palo

1178
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: and Baine's spotting up Like there's a play where Palo

1179
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:26,400
Speaker 1: is isoing in the middle of the floor and Bain's

1180
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,920
Speaker 1: man dug way down into the lane and Pallo threw

1181
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:30,840
Speaker 1: him an easy kickout and Bane missed the three, but

1182
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:32,279
Speaker 1: it was a great look and that's a shot that

1183
00:53:32,320 --> 00:53:34,440
Speaker 1: he's gonna make and it'll make things easier for Pallo.

1184
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:36,720
Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, there's like a high floor

1185
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:40,160
Speaker 1: to this fit just simply because of the natural basketball

1186
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 1: fit between the two of those guys. But it's like, no, dude,

1187
00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,200
Speaker 1: it's not your turn, my turn, it's both of your turns.

1188
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:47,480
Speaker 1: Like this team is gonna be at their best when

1189
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:51,080
Speaker 1: the two of you force different defenders because the type

1190
00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 1: of defender that guard's Baane is gonna be different than

1191
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,239
Speaker 1: the type of defender that guards Polow. The two of

1192
00:53:55,239 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 1: you guys need to force different defenders to make decisions

1193
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:02,760
Speaker 1: in space. That's where you're gonna get driving layups for Palo,

1194
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:07,320
Speaker 1: easy slipouts for Bain, great switches for easy post ups.

1195
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:09,160
Speaker 1: That's where you're gonna get that kind of stuff by

1196
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 1: using each other in concert rather than kind of like

1197
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:15,440
Speaker 1: just taking turns picking apart the defense. And so I

1198
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:18,160
Speaker 1: really hope to see more from there, Like I've hated

1199
00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:22,480
Speaker 1: this Orlando offense for years, and I'm kind of concerned

1200
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:24,440
Speaker 1: now after seeing that that they may not get the

1201
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:26,640
Speaker 1: full benefit of Baine, like they're gonna get a certain

1202
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 1: benefit no matter what, but the key to unlocking this

1203
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:33,800
Speaker 1: full potential of this partnership is using Bain in concert

1204
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:37,920
Speaker 1: with Palo and Franz. And I'm just worried that with

1205
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 1: Jamal Mosley they may not get there. And that's the

1206
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:44,040
Speaker 1: thing that's concerning I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but I'm

1207
00:54:44,080 --> 00:54:46,640
Speaker 1: worried that Jamal may not be the right coach to

1208
00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:48,239
Speaker 1: help this team get to where they need to get

1209
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:50,720
Speaker 1: to because they need to be more sophisticated on offense.

1210
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,279
Speaker 1: They need to be more intentional with their process on

1211
00:54:54,320 --> 00:54:56,919
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor, and they just haven't

1212
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:58,560
Speaker 1: been for years now, and it's just something that I'm

1213
00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:01,399
Speaker 1: concerned about. This is all I have for our first

1214
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:02,240
Speaker 1: preseason reaction.

1215
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 2: Again.

1216
00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:04,879
Speaker 1: We're gonna do one more these next Monday, and then

1217
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:07,640
Speaker 1: after that we're into the NBA regular season. We'll have

1218
00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:10,120
Speaker 1: season previews still coming out. I've got three more divisions

1219
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:13,879
Speaker 1: that we're hitting this week, with fifteen more teams coming

1220
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:16,560
Speaker 1: out the following week. I'm gonna have my contender rankings.

1221
00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:21,560
Speaker 1: We're also gonna have a mail bag as well as A.

1222
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:24,279
Speaker 1: I think it's just a I have the mail bag,

1223
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:26,120
Speaker 1: I have contender rankings, and then we have another preseason

1224
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:28,399
Speaker 1: reaction next week, and then after that we get full

1225
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,640
Speaker 1: bore into our regular season coverage. We're gonna do live

1226
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,760
Speaker 1: reaction shows for the first three nights of the regular season,

1227
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:38,279
Speaker 1: so we're gonna be right back in the mix again.

1228
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:40,640
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting

1229
00:55:40,640 --> 00:55:44,319
Speaker 1: the show, and I will see you next tonight.