Speaker 1: All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. Happy Sunday everybody. I
Speaker 1: hope all of you guys are having a great weekend
Speaker 1: so far. We are live on and don't forget if
Speaker 1: you're listening on YouTube or on the podcast feed. The
Speaker 1: AMP is the very first place that you guys can
Speaker 1: get these shows. The Golden State Warriors are only capable
Speaker 1: of playing incredibly hectic, comeback fourth quarter type of games,
Speaker 1: and they suffer a really disappointing loss in Denver, but
Speaker 1: I thought it was another indication of some of their
Speaker 1: athleticism limitations. We're gonna dive into that a little bit.
Speaker 1: Then we're gonna have our guy Carson come on. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit some questions around the league, including some Lakers,
Speaker 1: that big matchup between the Sixers and the Bucks. The
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks suffer what could be their crippling loss here,
Speaker 1: putting them in a tough spot at the end of
Speaker 1: the play in tournament. And then I have some thoughts
Speaker 1: on the CBA negotiations in the league potentially heading in
Speaker 1: the wrong direction. So we got a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: to get into today. You guys know the joke before
Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribed to the volumes YouTube channels. You
Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our videos, follow me on
Speaker 1: Twitter at underscore Jason lt And for whatever reason, you
Speaker 1: guys miss one of these shows and you can't get
Speaker 1: back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can
Speaker 1: find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: all right, let's socks some basketball. So you know, there's
Speaker 1: this separation between the winning core of the Warriors and
Speaker 1: what they can do to grind out wins. You know,
Speaker 1: it's funny. When I was a younger basketball player here
Speaker 1: in the city of Tucson, and I'd play in the
Speaker 1: men's leagues and stuff around town, we would frequently lose
Speaker 1: to older teams that didn't have as much talented as us,
Speaker 1: but they just kind of knew how to play right,
Speaker 1: and that sort of basketball IQ fierce competitiveness, sheer force
Speaker 1: of will. Whatever your elite, top end talent is that
Speaker 1: your specific team has, you can ride that a certain extent.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, this is a
Speaker 1: contact sport and there's a great deal of there's a
Speaker 1: great many physical confrontations taking place on the court. I
Speaker 1: remember I'm a Cowboys fan, and I remember in the
Speaker 1: mid twenty tens, when their offensive line was so damn good,
Speaker 1: Like they'd roll up in the Green Bay to play
Speaker 1: the Packers and yeah, they're not as good as Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and Richard Rodgers and everybody that was on that team,
Speaker 1: but they would just dominate the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 1: run the ball wherever they needed to go and eat
Speaker 1: two upclock, dominate time of possession, and they went and
Speaker 1: it didn't matter what kind of skill advantages that the
Speaker 1: Packers had or whatever team the Cowboys were playing had.
Speaker 1: And I've always said that like those physical confrontations at athleticism,
Speaker 1: that whether that's perimeter defense and containing the ball, crashing
Speaker 1: the offensive glass or the defensive glass, running up and
Speaker 1: down the floor, and transition, all of those things are
Speaker 1: the physical battles that take place on a basketball court.
Speaker 1: And if you lose all of those, you have to
Speaker 1: be damn near perfect everywhere else. And you know, Denver
Speaker 1: has a lot of athletes on the roster, Peyton Watson.
Speaker 1: Just again, how many times in the NBA do we
Speaker 1: have to see whether it's you know, a guy like
Speaker 1: a guy like Peyton Watson, what we've seen just Jonathan
Speaker 1: comingo with the Warriors flying around here the second half
Speaker 1: of the season on the Lakers, guys like Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: or guys like when you and Gabriel. We see this type,
Speaker 1: this archetype of player around the league and as if
Speaker 1: you're taller than six seven and you're athletic and you
Speaker 1: just play your ass off, you can impact the game
Speaker 1: of basketball in a lot of different ways just by
Speaker 1: flying around. Peyton Watson was everywhere in the second half
Speaker 1: of this game, making plays just with his length and athleticism.
Speaker 1: Christian Braun, Bruce Brown. That Denver bench is athletic and
Speaker 1: they and here's the thing with that Warrior's roster, even
Speaker 1: though they've added Gary Payton. Now, the reality is is
Speaker 1: without Andrew Wiggins, they're a significantly below average team in
Speaker 1: the NBA from the same point of letticism, and you
Speaker 1: can win and overcome that. You just have to be perfect.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get into this a little bit deeper when
Speaker 1: we talk about the Mavericks later on in the show.
Speaker 1: But like Stephen and Clay couldn't make a three in
Speaker 1: this game. I think they were six for twenty six
Speaker 1: up until the final sequence. I can't remember what they
Speaker 1: actually finished as but they weren't shooting very well. And
Speaker 1: if they're not going to shoot well, they can't overcome
Speaker 1: those physical disadvantages. The same thing with Kyrie and Luca.
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Luca have to be damn near perfect to
Speaker 1: make up for the limitations that they have elsewhere on
Speaker 1: the roster. It's just a lot to ask. And you know, again,
Speaker 1: I think we've seen a lot of this narrative with
Speaker 1: the Nuggets as it pertains to Yokich's MVP case, trying
Speaker 1: to minimize the talent that's on this Denver roster, and
Speaker 1: the reality is, it's a lot of the same issues
Speaker 1: that I've been talking about with the Lakers having to
Speaker 1: do with staggering. They just they play their starters together
Speaker 1: all the time, and then they bring in these line
Speaker 1: shift bench groups, and as a result, those groups really
Speaker 1: struggle because they don't have nearly enough talent because they
Speaker 1: don't stagger their players very well. They do occasionally, but
Speaker 1: not nearly as much as some of the other teams
Speaker 1: in the league, and so you get these absurd point differentials.
Speaker 1: I'm sure some of you guys who were listening to
Speaker 1: the NBA TV broadcast tonight they had a graphic that
Speaker 1: they put up on the screen showing what the nuggets
Speaker 1: are when Yokich is on the floor and what the
Speaker 1: nuggets are when Yokich is off the floor, and you'll
Speaker 1: see differentials there. With the best players in the league,
Speaker 1: often that's normal. They're your best player, and obviously, in
Speaker 1: the NBA, the singular best player on your team has
Speaker 1: more impact on winning than just about any other team sport,
Speaker 1: and so obviously removing that kind of guy off the floor,
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a drop off that goes around the
Speaker 1: entire league, regardless of which player we're talking about. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is Denver even though it doesn't have
Speaker 1: the same kind of big names that you see in
Speaker 1: some of these other supporting casts, Like when you go
Speaker 1: to the Bucks, you know Brook Lopez and Drew Holliday
Speaker 1: and Chris Middleton, they're a little bit more renowned around
Speaker 1: the league. Right when you go to Philly, James harden
Speaker 1: Off obviously is considered a superstar, even if he's probably
Speaker 1: on the tail end of that side of things. Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxie was off the charts good again tonight with his
Speaker 1: shot making. He's a guy that you think of as
Speaker 1: like a star guard. So you think of those rosters
Speaker 1: as more talented, and I think they are, probably, but
Speaker 1: not much. And the truth is is that that Denver
Speaker 1: roster has a lot of professional NBA starting level basketball
Speaker 1: players that compliment Nikolayokis extremely well. And they do have
Speaker 1: a good amount of size on the perimeter. What's Golden
Speaker 1: State's biggest weakness perimeter size, right, especially without Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: Without perimeter size, you buy opportunities to shoot over the
Speaker 1: top for people, right. So, like you know, if the
Speaker 1: Warriors have to put Jonathan Cominga to try to handle
Speaker 1: a guy like Jamal Murray on any given possession, then
Speaker 1: guess what Michael Porter Junior is gonna be isoing Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: And Steph competes defensively and he puts in all the effort.
Speaker 1: But the reality is is if Steph can tests a
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior hesitation pull up three, he's not bothering
Speaker 1: that shot. He's just not There's just he's just giving
Speaker 1: up too many inches there, right, So like Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: Just consistently getting to his spots and elevating and knocking
Speaker 1: shots down. Aaron Gordon as a do everything forward Contavious
Speaker 1: Callbo Pope, one of the most professional two guards that
Speaker 1: you have in the league that just does everything well
Speaker 1: that you need in a supporting player on an NBA roster.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of talent, a lot of athleticism.
Speaker 1: This is a good team. And guess what, Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: He's capable of hitting all of the high level shots
Speaker 1: that the other stars around the league hit. This game
Speaker 1: kind of got off the rails there in that early
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Who was it that was hitting the shots?
Speaker 1: It was Jamal Murray flying through I think it was
Speaker 1: an elevator screen at the top of the key and
Speaker 1: knocking down his shot. Or the Nuggets forcing a turnover
Speaker 1: and Jamal Murray dribbling down the floor and pulling up
Speaker 1: from three. I think, you know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: many times we have to see this, whether it's with
Speaker 1: the Lakers and how bad they looked with Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis and a bunch of like terrible role
Speaker 1: players versus good NBA starter level role players, or this
Speaker 1: Yers team who has struggled so much this season compared
Speaker 1: to last season because of just dropping two significant role
Speaker 1: players that they used to count on third if you
Speaker 1: count for Andrew Wiggins getting out of the lineup. We
Speaker 1: just in NBA history, we've way too frequently applied too
Speaker 1: much credit to stars. They absolutely are the determining factor
Speaker 1: for a team. Ceiling. That goes without saying, but you
Speaker 1: do need good basketball players down the roster, and Denver
Speaker 1: has a lot of really good basketball players. And that's
Speaker 1: why as of right now, if the season were to
Speaker 1: end today, I mean, we'll see what. We'll see how
Speaker 1: things go with the Lakers and matchups. And Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: I saw a report yesterday that potentially he's returned to
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. I don't know if that means he's
Speaker 1: nearing a return to the team or not. Apparently he
Speaker 1: had been out of San Francisco before that. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like obviously some things can shake up at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the West, but right in the Suns one again
Speaker 1: tonight in Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant looked amazing, big shock
Speaker 1: that that poor shooting night the other night was an anomaly.
Speaker 1: So there are teams in the bottom that could potentially
Speaker 1: enter this mix. But Denver to me remains the safest
Speaker 1: bet for the time being until we see matchups because
Speaker 1: they just have that top tier superstar. They've got the
Speaker 1: supporting players that fit perfectly with him. They have home
Speaker 1: court advantage and statistically speaking, one of the best home
Speaker 1: court advantages in sports because of elevation. They're just in
Speaker 1: a really good spot. And that's why if the season
Speaker 1: were to if I had to make a pick right now,
Speaker 1: I think the Nuggets are the safest pick, even though
Speaker 1: there are lots of threats in the conference. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to a bunch of other topics around
Speaker 1: the league, but we're gonna wait for my guy, Carson
Speaker 1: Carson to call on Carson. What's up, buddy. It is
Speaker 1: good to see you, my friend. Good to see you too. Man. So,
Speaker 1: as you said, a lot we want to hit on here.
Speaker 1: Let's start with this. Anthony Davis has been on an
Speaker 1: unbelievable stretch as of ladies, at thirty seven or more
Speaker 1: points in four of his last five games. Is he
Speaker 1: now playing well enough to be can sidered in the
Speaker 1: same tier as Yoki Mbad when we're talking about that
Speaker 1: absolute top class of big men around the league. Dude,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to talk about this with you. You're
Speaker 1: the specific person that I think is the perfect person
Speaker 1: to have this discussion with because you're you're a huge
Speaker 1: Yoki fan. I as of late, have ranked MBAD above him,
Speaker 1: and obviously Anthony Davis is on this tear. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to get into it. That was an impressive win for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, by the way. They went down into Houston
Speaker 1: and and just crushed him, and Anthony Davis looked great.
Speaker 1: Lebron James was just playing old man ball, passing the
Speaker 1: basketball around Ruby hot Chamura. Just yeah. I've always said
Speaker 1: position battles are like the best thing to bring out
Speaker 1: the best in a basketball player. And it's like, hey, dude,
Speaker 1: do all the dirty work or sit behind Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: and he stepped in and he's playing really well. It's
Speaker 1: a good win. The Lakers are looking really, really good
Speaker 1: as of right now. They are literally tied in the
Speaker 1: lost column for the five seat. Can you believe that
Speaker 1: after this season? But so here's this is my this
Speaker 1: is my take, Carson. I think that Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: in the same tier with those guys, but does not
Speaker 1: have a case to be considered above them. Again, you
Speaker 1: have to factor in availability with this stuff. Like I
Speaker 1: frequently get in trouble with Laker fans who act like
Speaker 1: I don't value Anthony Davis when simply I look at
Speaker 1: it from the standpoint of what he looks like when
Speaker 1: he's available in an rhythm versus when he's dealing with injuries.
Speaker 1: And the fact of the matter is he's not been
Speaker 1: able to finish a playoff series healthy since he hoisted
Speaker 1: the trophy. That's just a fact, and that's a that's
Speaker 1: an important footnote on Anthony Davis's career. He has the
Speaker 1: ability to clear that reputation right, just like Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: has in recent seasons by playing through pain and being
Speaker 1: more available to his team. But like when I look
Speaker 1: at it, you know, he's not the same offensive player
Speaker 1: as Joel and Nicola Yokes. That's obvious. He's not the
Speaker 1: same level of isolation score or post score that Joel
Speaker 1: Embiad is. He's not the same pass or not in
Speaker 1: the same stratosphere. Neither is Joel Embiid to kill Yokis.
Speaker 1: But I do think he's a significantly better defensive player
Speaker 1: than both of them. I think his ability to protect
Speaker 1: the rim supersedes both by a significant margin, and he
Speaker 1: has the versatility to switch out onto the perimeter. He's
Speaker 1: the ideal small ball big in NBA history. I've often
Speaker 1: said that, you know, Anthony Davis has never had the
Speaker 1: case to say he's the best defensive player in the
Speaker 1: league because of his availability, But I do think his
Speaker 1: defensive ceiling is as high, if not higher, than any
Speaker 1: player in the NBA. And make no mistake, he's not
Speaker 1: a slouch on the offensive end of the floor. We've
Speaker 1: seen it recently. This is a third consecutive game with
Speaker 1: thirty eight plus points. He's gone for thirty five plus
Speaker 1: thirteen times this year. Most of his scoring average stuff,
Speaker 1: which which dude, He's still averaging twenty six points per game.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's got some low average. But he
Speaker 1: does have issues with consistency of aggression. He does have
Speaker 1: issues when it comes to settling for jump shots from
Speaker 1: time to time. But when he is engaged, healthy, trusting
Speaker 1: his foot, and locked in on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: he's every bit as impactful as Yokichen Embiid when they're
Speaker 1: at that same level. So I'm curious to say, do
Speaker 1: you think I'm jumping the gun there? Do you think
Speaker 1: there's a gap, or do you buy a d as
Speaker 1: that level of player I think when we're talking about ceilings, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and there's plenty of evidence for that. I mean, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis twenty twenty in the bubble run was viewed as
Speaker 1: a bona fide top three, top four player in the world,
Speaker 1: had one of the best two way runs that we've
Speaker 1: ever seen. And sure that was a bit unfair because
Speaker 1: he just decided he was going to shoot thirty eight
Speaker 1: percent from deep, which he's never seen from him in
Speaker 1: any other stretch of his basketball career, but never was
Speaker 1: the ceiling. You're right, when he's available, is best defensive
Speaker 1: player on the planet, and we've seen some offensive production
Speaker 1: from him this year that we've never seen before in
Speaker 1: terms of the skill, and I think that that's a
Speaker 1: huge reason this has been such an awesome season for him.
Speaker 1: Like the dominance that he's had in that short range
Speaker 1: shot making outside the restricted area, but his hooks and
Speaker 1: his floaters forty eight percent on those shots is eight
Speaker 1: percent up last year almost he's been significantly better for
Speaker 1: mid range, and he's stopped taking a lot of the
Speaker 1: bad jump shots. I feel east in comparison to some
Speaker 1: of these previous years, Like Ady's been a horrible three
Speaker 1: point shooter for the last three years now, and he's
Speaker 1: taking less of them this year, and I think that's
Speaker 1: just a benefit to his game. He's been aggressive, he's
Speaker 1: been physical, he's been efficient. Like if you look at
Speaker 1: these last two games, I think he has thirteen offensive boards,
Speaker 1: and he's creating second chance opportunities for himself. Bob Zone Missus.
Speaker 1: It's like when ADCs Alpern Shangoon and goes right into
Speaker 1: his chest and either just goes through him and gets
Speaker 1: a layup or puts up that little touch shot. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: When he consistently does that, He's had an awesome rebounding season.
Speaker 1: Great defensive player. The Lakers are a top three defense
Speaker 1: when he plays, they're a bottom five defense when he doesn't.
Speaker 1: Like this is what Anthany Davis can be. He's a
Speaker 1: wrecking ball. Yes, he's not as good of a pure
Speaker 1: score of the basketball as Joel Embid. He's not nearly
Speaker 1: the offensive player that yokies, but his two way ceiling
Speaker 1: has got to be the highest because he can hang
Speaker 1: forty on you in four out of five games and
Speaker 1: be the best defensive player by far out of these three.
Speaker 1: The difference is just the consistency. And it's not just availability, Jason.
Speaker 1: Those two, as these perennial MVP candidates a status that
Speaker 1: they've both earned, as these consistent carry their team night
Speaker 1: to night guys just have a different level of consistency.
Speaker 1: Yokich may not take fifteen shots every single game, he's
Speaker 1: going to touch the ball one hundred and ten times.
Speaker 1: He's gonna dictate basically every possession, and he's gonna lead
Speaker 1: to a lead offense. Embiid is basically just gonna get
Speaker 1: his thirty and be the most important defensive piece for
Speaker 1: the Sixers every night. And Ad just has never had
Speaker 1: that consistency, the aggression, the mentality, Like even in the
Speaker 1: last few weeks, among these incredible masterpieces, you have that
Speaker 1: eight point game, you have a pair of fifteen point games,
Speaker 1: Like it's just different. And that's why I think those
Speaker 1: two guys have to have the edge. But yes, Ad
Speaker 1: has proven it, and he had these two years of
Speaker 1: like shocking regression. But this Ad right now is as
Speaker 1: good as bubble a d he is. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: added new elements to his game more consistently that are
Speaker 1: more legitimate, in my opinion, than him having a thirty
Speaker 1: eight percent three point shooting run that was just never
Speaker 1: going to be replicated. So no, I don't think that
Speaker 1: you're out of bounds. But it's the consistency that separates
Speaker 1: these three. To me, that the level of footwork he's
Speaker 1: been demonstrating, particularly in the last two games, it's like
Speaker 1: old school Chimolajuan, like pivot, pivot, spin over both over
Speaker 1: both shoulders. He actually looks a touch quicker than he
Speaker 1: has in the last couple of years. I think it's
Speaker 1: just a product of how much the Lakers have needed
Speaker 1: to lean on him as of late and him just
Speaker 1: drop and wait. Look, here's the thing. When you're putting
Speaker 1: together a list, you have to put Yokachen and Beat
Speaker 1: in front. They've earned that right. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: would argue, especially in a playoff setting, if he's healthy
Speaker 1: in a playoff series, there's a case. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: I would necessarily take that pick, but there's a case
Speaker 1: that ad is the guy that you would pick for
Speaker 1: a series. Again, looking back to twenty twenty, he was
Speaker 1: definitively a top four player. I thought when you were
Speaker 1: looking at it, it it was like Lebron, Stephen Kadie were
Speaker 1: all still clearly ahead, but like coming out of that
Speaker 1: twenty twenty playoff. Now Jannis has since lapped him, that's
Speaker 1: a fact. But coming out of that twenty twenty playoff run,
Speaker 1: if you had Jannis over eighty, you were the crazy guy, like,
Speaker 1: because Jannis and his lack of half court polish showed
Speaker 1: up in a big, ugly way in that Miami series
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis was the half court you know, like
Speaker 1: tip of the spear for that Lakers team, and they
Speaker 1: would just dump the ball to him with seven seconds
Speaker 1: on the shot clock and they were scoring healthy over
Speaker 1: a point per possession. Like, he definitely is deserving of
Speaker 1: being in that in that tier at least when we're
Speaker 1: evaluating for a playoff series. Before we move on really quick,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you. I said that Joel Embiad's
Speaker 1: play here the second half of the season has demonstrated
Speaker 1: to me that I think he's a slightly better player
Speaker 1: than Yokich. Are you ready to make that picker? Do
Speaker 1: you disagree with me? No, I'm not quite ready to
Speaker 1: go there because I think that there is still an
Speaker 1: offensive gap that is really underrated, Like the elevation that
Speaker 1: we see from yokis night tonight. It's unbelievable. And I
Speaker 1: agree with everything that you've laid out about the Nuggets
Speaker 1: playing their starters as much as they do together and
Speaker 1: that sort of messing with some of the team impact stats.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is that Yoki still consistently leads
Speaker 1: the best offense in basketball, are a top three offense,
Speaker 1: what has been the best team in the West consistently
Speaker 1: this year by far, and he does that all while
Speaker 1: being a liability defensively. I just think he is a generational,
Speaker 1: easily top ten offensive player of all time, and that
Speaker 1: to me makes up with the defensive gap where I
Speaker 1: just feel it and Beat is a bit overrated. I
Speaker 1: still think he's a plotting guy who can be exposed
Speaker 1: in space. He's a good rim protector, but is holding
Speaker 1: guys like two percent below their average shooting percentage around
Speaker 1: the rim this year, So it's not a dominant like
Speaker 1: Yannis is sixteen, Right, Yanna is this unfathomable help side
Speaker 1: rim protector, and Beat is big. He takes up a
Speaker 1: lot of space. He's good there, but I don't think
Speaker 1: he's great. So no, I'm not quite there with you,
Speaker 1: and I will say if we're gonna have this whole. Hey,
Speaker 1: both these guys need to prove more were in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yoki has has been way better in the playoffs than Embiad,
Speaker 1: and Bead has maybe once played up to expectations in
Speaker 1: a playoff series. Yokich has done everything. He's just been
Speaker 1: exploited a bit more defensively, but offensively he's been every
Speaker 1: bit as brilliant as ever, maybe even more so because
Speaker 1: he's more aggressive. So that's interesting. I actually go the
Speaker 1: opposite direction on the playoffs side. I think they're even.
Speaker 1: I think Himbad has been a much better playoff defensive
Speaker 1: player than Nicola yokich um. But the big thing with
Speaker 1: Embad is his jump shot falling apart when he reaches
Speaker 1: that stage and that and that's such a pivotal important
Speaker 1: part of his game, and that's going to be when
Speaker 1: I'm keeping an eye on in this playoff run. But
Speaker 1: I don't think it's fair to give a playoff edge
Speaker 1: to either of them because like sometimes within B two,
Speaker 1: like do you remember that Raptors series a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago where it was like he was shooting terribly.
Speaker 1: It was like he shot like thirty three percent from
Speaker 1: the field for the series, but like they just dominated
Speaker 1: the Raptors whenever he was on the floor and got
Speaker 1: their ass kicked every time he was off the floor,
Speaker 1: Like a very interesting pivot. Yeah, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: just think we've consistently seen the efficiency and production drop
Speaker 1: with MBID, Like he's under forty seven percent from the
Speaker 1: field in his playoff career, under thirty percent from three
Speaker 1: twenty four game. That's just not the same Mbiad that
Speaker 1: we've seen the regular season. This absolute monster. So I
Speaker 1: would say Yokis has been the better playoff player, but
Speaker 1: I mean Ad, just to bring it back to him,
Speaker 1: has fought his way back into this conversation. He's earned it.
Speaker 1: He fell a way out of it, and he had
Speaker 1: a stretch earlier this year, which now, I mean he's
Speaker 1: had that second unbelievable run, but the nine game stretch
Speaker 1: where he averaged thirty five, fifteen and three blocks per game,
Speaker 1: literally nobody has ever done that, Akeem, David Robinson, Shack,
Speaker 1: you know, Will probably did it one hundred times, but
Speaker 1: they didn't track blocks, and he did it on seventy
Speaker 1: two percent true shooting. So it's like you can't deny
Speaker 1: what he's capable of. It's just let's see it more
Speaker 1: consistently and hopefully in an actual playoff run this year.
Speaker 1: If the Lakers can get it all together, that would
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun, because I hate to see
Speaker 1: wasted potential. Jason's let's pivot to another game that we
Speaker 1: saw between a couple of Titans out East, including Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid Bucks beat the Sixers. What did you take away
Speaker 1: from that game? You know, it's interesting. I the Jannis
Speaker 1: in the Bucks needed this game more than more than
Speaker 1: I think, uh that Philly did. Obviously, it was an
Speaker 1: opportunity for himbat to put another stamp on the MVP race,
Speaker 1: which he passed on in the Denver game, which I
Speaker 1: actually I want to. We're gonna take it. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take a quick break here. Did you have anything to
Speaker 1: say about him beat skipping that Nuggets game the other night, No,
Speaker 1: not other than I think that, Well, this is a
Speaker 1: conversation we'll have later. I'm growing increasingly anti load management,
Speaker 1: but if it makes sense for anyone, it's Embiid in
Speaker 1: his third game in four nights. I was just surprised
Speaker 1: that he would even allow that. After the interview came
Speaker 1: out that morning, I'm like, that's just a bad look.
Speaker 1: But no, I do not think it beat is ducking Yogis,
Speaker 1: And I think that if you think that, that's ridiculous
Speaker 1: thirteen straight games, Oh you skipped one then played every
Speaker 1: game since I'm not saying he's I'm not saying he's
Speaker 1: ducking him, but it's not a good look. It's not
Speaker 1: a good look to play thirteen straight games, including a
Speaker 1: back to back without James Harden, games that you probably
Speaker 1: were gonna lose anyway, to then skip that particular game.
Speaker 1: When that game we know from the shophold that the
Speaker 1: MVP race was on like the fifty yard line, like
Speaker 1: it was dead heat between Yokichen and Bead, like it's
Speaker 1: it was there for the taking, and again like it
Speaker 1: was to me. It was just like the part that
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure out was just from the standpoint of
Speaker 1: as a competitor, and like like how do you not
Speaker 1: want to try to beat him again? You know? But
Speaker 1: but that said, like maybe I'm gonna give him the
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt and say that it was he
Speaker 1: had some tightness in his calf and he just decided
Speaker 1: to rest. But it was weird to play thirteen consecutive
Speaker 1: games and then to hop back for those last two.
Speaker 1: But so in this particular game, the Bucks came out
Speaker 1: with a much higher defensive energy. They were The big
Speaker 1: schematic thing that stood out to me from this game,
Speaker 1: which stood out from their last matchup was just sticking
Speaker 1: Jannis on PJ. Tucker in the week's high corner. And
Speaker 1: he's already the most devastating help defender in the league.
Speaker 1: Because again, you guys got to think of it this way,
Speaker 1: like James harden coming off of a ball screen, they
Speaker 1: like to trap, right, you'd like to be able to
Speaker 1: show high, not necessarily trap, but bring your ball screen
Speaker 1: defender up high out to hedge so that James Harden
Speaker 1: King gets downhill or to his pull up three and
Speaker 1: you're chasing him over the top of the screen. So
Speaker 1: you're throwing that pocket pass to Joel em Beat at
Speaker 1: the free throw line, and Jannis is just waiting for
Speaker 1: him there every single time in help. And then he's
Speaker 1: such a great athlete that even when there's good shooters
Speaker 1: out there, he can get a good contest. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing. Philly's the best spot up team in the league,
Speaker 1: but PJ. Tucker's not one of those guys, and again
Speaker 1: he tries to impact the game as best as he
Speaker 1: can in that position. But I mean they basically played
Speaker 1: the Bucks to a draw when Tucker was off the
Speaker 1: floor and got their ass kick when Tucker was on
Speaker 1: the floor. And I thought a big part of that
Speaker 1: was Yannis and Help And then a big underrated part
Speaker 1: of that too is especially against teams like Philly that
Speaker 1: are bad transition defenses, I look at like positioning Yannis
Speaker 1: and Help as the perfect transition start. You know, like
Speaker 1: he's Tucker's in the corner, he's standing getting uncontested rebounds
Speaker 1: on all of the miss shots that take place in
Speaker 1: that action, and he's just grabbing and going every single
Speaker 1: time and again when he's when he's and I thought
Speaker 1: he passed the ball pretty well in this particular game.
Speaker 1: I think he only had like four assists, but he
Speaker 1: was making the right reads and making Philly pay every
Speaker 1: time they sent extra defenders, and that was just getting
Speaker 1: him better opportunities to get downhill. It just again, it's
Speaker 1: it's urgency and physicality and all the effort stuff that
Speaker 1: went Milwaukee's way as a huge swing factor. But that's
Speaker 1: the biggest matchup piece that stood out to me because
Speaker 1: if you have to take PJ. Tucker off the floor,
Speaker 1: that's the guy you want to guard Yannis with on
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor, right, So it's just
Speaker 1: a it's a it's a pretty tough give and take.
Speaker 1: And then one other thing was just the Grayson Allen injury.
Speaker 1: Tweaked his ankle on like kind of a funky step
Speaker 1: on the baseline, and that specific position has been a
Speaker 1: little bit of an issue for the Bucks because Pat
Speaker 1: Conaton hasn't played especially well and when they size up
Speaker 1: and go with guys like Ingles and Jay Crowder, they
Speaker 1: really struggle to contain on the perimeter, which we saw
Speaker 1: in the Celtics game. So like, it's just that that's
Speaker 1: a really unfortunate little ankle twist here. It's so close
Speaker 1: to the playoffs, but hopefully they'll have a good enough
Speaker 1: first round matchup that it won't bother them too much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with everything you laid out. This also just
Speaker 1: felt like a game where it was kind of like, hey,
Speaker 1: Milwaukee's just better. I mean, when you get this level
Speaker 1: of impact from Drew and Middleton and Bobby Porters had
Speaker 1: a great game. Jannis got whatever he wanted. He missed
Speaker 1: four shots. Two of them were just dumb jump shots
Speaker 1: that why do you still do this? You know? The
Speaker 1: top of the key three had a weird pull up jumper.
Speaker 1: And the one thing I do think that was interesting
Speaker 1: on top of everything you said, is and Bead is
Speaker 1: not always a guy who needs to get all the
Speaker 1: way to the rim to be super effective, right because
Speaker 1: he's such a lethal pull up jump shooter. If it's
Speaker 1: off the short role getting that free throw line, he
Speaker 1: can kill you from everywhere. He can also kill you
Speaker 1: just getting the line. But we do know how dominant
Speaker 1: Milwaukee's interior defenses. It did feel like Embiid was settling
Speaker 1: a bit in this game at times. One of seven
Speaker 1: from deep only I believe attempted. He only made two
Speaker 1: shots inside of five feet in that restricted area all game,
Speaker 1: and he took twenty five of them, so I thought
Speaker 1: that they did a good job on him. But I
Speaker 1: do agree it just felt like there was more urgency.
Speaker 1: There was more intensity for Milwaukee in a regular season
Speaker 1: game like this, that can really be a majority of
Speaker 1: the difference. Let's talk about the Dallas Mavericks, Jason, because
Speaker 1: they aust again tonight in the Hawks in overtime. They're
Speaker 1: now a game back of Oklahoma City for that ten seed,
Speaker 1: but they're effectively two games back because they do not
Speaker 1: have the tiebreaker. This is with three games remaining for
Speaker 1: each of these teams. Are they dead? Man? It's close Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City gave Phoenix a little bit of a run
Speaker 1: today and had they won that game, it would have
Speaker 1: been over over, like actually legitimately over. But you know,
Speaker 1: that was a really funny game. I don't I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if you caught it, Carson, but our producer Ryan
Speaker 1: was joking with us earlier. He's like, he's like, why
Speaker 1: did Quinn Snyder wait so long to jump back into
Speaker 1: coaching just to take on that Atlanta Hawks job with
Speaker 1: Trey Young the coach killer. They're just kind of like,
Speaker 1: it's funny because watching that game, like, I as a
Speaker 1: basketball fan, I love watching Kyrie Irvings so much, but
Speaker 1: everything else about watching those two teams play is just
Speaker 1: like it makes me want to climb eyes out. You know,
Speaker 1: there was a really weird sequence at the end of
Speaker 1: this one. Quinn Snyder tried to give it away. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you saw it, but when they when
Speaker 1: they got that offensive rebound off the missed Christian Wood
Speaker 1: free throw. They ran a lot play for JaVale McGee.
Speaker 1: There's only four tenths of a second left, and they
Speaker 1: had click cappella like way out to prepare to like
Speaker 1: show or to hedge on any sort of like catching
Speaker 1: shoot opportunity. And like, the funny thing is to get
Speaker 1: a shot off in four tenths of a second, it
Speaker 1: has to be utterly perfect, right, And it just was
Speaker 1: so obvious that the biggest threat to them was Lab
Speaker 1: and they just gave up that Lab pass to JaVale McGee.
Speaker 1: I did think it was I'm gonna here's the thing,
Speaker 1: it's over Like the MAVs, they don't have. It's the
Speaker 1: same issue we were talking about with the with the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors, where like they just it's do they
Speaker 1: need perfection from Luca and Kyrie to overcome their physical disadvantages.
Speaker 1: But as I've said many times when we've talked about
Speaker 1: this team, I'm I don't really judge them this year.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is there's no there's no doubt that
Speaker 1: it's a catastrophe to entirely miss the playoffs, right, that's
Speaker 1: a catastrophe under any circumstance. But they were just gonna
Speaker 1: get their ass kicked in a first round series against anybody,
Speaker 1: even if they happen to get out of the playing tournament.
Speaker 1: That was just the reality of their predicament. I did
Speaker 1: like what they went with down the stretch of that game, though,
Speaker 1: with Christian Wood and JaVale McGee on the floor, just
Speaker 1: going huge just gives them a better fighting chance in
Speaker 1: the physicality areas of the game. By the way, McGee
Speaker 1: was a plus thirteen and christian Wood was a plus ten,
Speaker 1: and again, it probably won't be those two guys, but
Speaker 1: that's such a great example of that concept that I
Speaker 1: was talking about the last time we talked about the Mavericks.
Speaker 1: When you have surgical offensive players like Kyrie Irving and
Speaker 1: Luca don Chich, you can sacrifice offensive skill in your
Speaker 1: role players as long as they can compete with the
Speaker 1: physicality areas of the game. So that's the blueprint right there.
Speaker 1: Go huge and athletic around Luca and Kyrie and let
Speaker 1: them make everything offensively. Obviously, it puts a lot on
Speaker 1: them as shotmakers, but again, this is a catastrophe. It's awful,
Speaker 1: but they were just gonna get their ass kicked and
Speaker 1: really it's about next season. But you've seen the blueprint
Speaker 1: and now they need to go. Yeah, there's just a
Speaker 1: lot that needs to be improved upon, and that's where
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to see some creativity this offseason. Like
Speaker 1: they have some mid sized contracts here that they could
Speaker 1: potentially move, like Tim Hardaway Junior, who does not merit
Speaker 1: what he's getting at this point. If you could attach
Speaker 1: something to the Burton's contract, like maybe you can get
Speaker 1: somebody to take that on and you try to flip
Speaker 1: it into a really good two way wing because they
Speaker 1: need that. Unequivocally. They need to upgrade in the front
Speaker 1: court all around, especially defensively. And I love Christian Wood.
Speaker 1: I always have because I was watching him in Detroit
Speaker 1: dropping twenty and ten in these meetingless April games and
Speaker 1: I was like, this guy's skilled. These you can handle.
Speaker 1: And I've always loved him for that. But the bottom
Speaker 1: line is that he can't play at the five for
Speaker 1: this team. When you have two liabilities at the point
Speaker 1: of attack and you don't have a great defensive wing,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter all the fun things he can do offensively,
Speaker 1: your offense is gonna be really good. No matter what,
Speaker 1: because you have Kyrie and Luca and he's gonna hurt
Speaker 1: you defensively where you just can't afford to take any
Speaker 1: more damage. So that's what it's going to be all about.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. This is a bad look. It's
Speaker 1: embarrassing when you are coming off a conference finals run
Speaker 1: and you were like a top two team in the
Speaker 1: second half of last regular season and they were actually
Speaker 1: defending well and they'd all this going right, and then
Speaker 1: they let Brunson walk and we know that they could
Speaker 1: have had him for four years forty eight million if
Speaker 1: they had had the foresight, and now he's a bone star. Like,
Speaker 1: there's a lot that's gone wrong in Dallas and bringing
Speaker 1: Kyrie into this mix is a dangerous thing to add
Speaker 1: to the potion of disaster, but it's also potentially the
Speaker 1: thing that could save them. It just requires a lot
Speaker 1: going right, and there's a lot up in the air
Speaker 1: here and I just don't feel great about where Dallas
Speaker 1: is at. And it's just a concerning dynamic overall, I
Speaker 1: would say. And in terms of if they can do
Speaker 1: it this year, sure, I mean, you know they have
Speaker 1: the potential to explode offensively in any couple of matchups.
Speaker 1: They could beat Sacramento in Chicago and San Antonio. But
Speaker 1: it's like you said, it doesn't matter because they're one
Speaker 1: of the worst defenses in the league. They have been
Speaker 1: all year, and they're not gonna beat the Nuggets right
Speaker 1: in the first round series. They're just too far behind
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, it's inevitable. Yeah, let's take things big
Speaker 1: picture here for a second, because we just had a
Speaker 1: new CBA that was agreed upon yesterday and a few
Speaker 1: key takeaways from that Jason comment on whatever you want.
Speaker 1: The has basically moved towards limiting the spending that we
Speaker 1: can see from the teams that are most willing to
Speaker 1: spend high amounts in the league. So they've put a
Speaker 1: second salary cap apron which is seventeen and a half
Speaker 1: million above the luxury tax that if you are above that,
Speaker 1: you can't even use the tax player mid level exception
Speaker 1: to sign players. That was an interesting move. Other things
Speaker 1: that we saw in that CBA now a sixty five
Speaker 1: game minimum for awards eligibility a mid season tournament. What
Speaker 1: stands out to you from all that news that we got,
Speaker 1: You know, it's unfortunate because there are some good things
Speaker 1: in there, right, Like the mandatory minimums for awards. I
Speaker 1: think that will help. It'll never do the same thing
Speaker 1: and shortening the season, but that will help. I'm glad
Speaker 1: they let the players start smoking weed like that. That's
Speaker 1: just the dumbest thing in the world. When weed is
Speaker 1: demonized the way that it is, but they're allowed to
Speaker 1: drink as much as they want. It's just silly. Like. So,
Speaker 1: there's some things that I liked, but the reality was,
Speaker 1: did they shorten the season? No, So that doesn't that
Speaker 1: doesn't send the game in the right direction in my opinion, Like,
Speaker 1: the best way to get players to play games is
Speaker 1: to build in the rest into the schedule by spacing
Speaker 1: the games out more like, yeah, how are you going
Speaker 1: to get a guy who makes forty five million a
Speaker 1: year to play a back to back against the Thunder
Speaker 1: and the Nuggets in February? You're just not going to
Speaker 1: be able to, right. And if you space the games
Speaker 1: out to where there are no back to backs and
Speaker 1: there's multiple times a week where you're getting or every
Speaker 1: single week you have at least one stretch where you
Speaker 1: get two days off consecutively, Like little things like that
Speaker 1: will effectively be your load management. That also increases the
Speaker 1: urgency of each game by shortening the season. Each game
Speaker 1: just like if you shortened season by twenty percent, each
Speaker 1: game becomes twenty percent more important. It's just simple math.
Speaker 1: And so I think that was the direction they needed
Speaker 1: to go. I mean, I'm going to keep an open
Speaker 1: mind about this mid season tournament thing, but like, the
Speaker 1: reality is is, I can't imagine any do you think
Speaker 1: Lebron's gonna care about a mid season tournament? Like, do
Speaker 1: you think that that's an accolade that he's after? Like no,
Speaker 1: So I have a hard time believing it's going to
Speaker 1: be anything more than just exhibition games if they don't
Speaker 1: have any impact on the standings. And so it's like,
Speaker 1: and then the luxury tax penalties thing, it just does
Speaker 1: It's completely illogical to me. It's a it's a lashing
Speaker 1: out reaction to this Kevin Durant Warrior situation where they
Speaker 1: ended up with the assets to get D'Angelo Russell, to
Speaker 1: get Andrew Wiggins, and they don't want to have that
Speaker 1: happen again where you have this massive payroll. But the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation is that was a flukey occurrence
Speaker 1: with a massive cap spike that was not smoothed out
Speaker 1: with Steph Curry on a bargain contract. It was the
Speaker 1: perfect storm of events that led to the Kevin Durant signing.
Speaker 1: Nobody's gonna go sign a superstar this summer in the
Speaker 1: luxury tax, it's just silly to me, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: it punishes good teams who draft well. I would like
Speaker 1: to see them structure it in a way that makes
Speaker 1: it so that if you draft a player and your
Speaker 1: scouting department does their job to get a good play
Speaker 1: or that player should count to the cap differently than
Speaker 1: if you go out and sign a free agent. That's
Speaker 1: the way to add real fairness to this process in
Speaker 1: my opinion. So again, there's some good, but like I
Speaker 1: just think it's going in the wrong direction. The luxury thing,
Speaker 1: to me, makes no more sense at all. I agree
Speaker 1: with you completely, like you're gonna punish really good teams
Speaker 1: who want to spend a lot of money, who want
Speaker 1: to add that last quality role player. It's just completely
Speaker 1: illogical to me. The one point that really stands out
Speaker 1: to me is the sixty five game minimum, just in
Speaker 1: relation to that maybe being some sort of attempt to
Speaker 1: fix load management, because we have seen a disaster in
Speaker 1: the last three years in the NBA. And I pulled
Speaker 1: these numbers a couple days ago because I was interested,
Speaker 1: because I'm just like, we're seeing stars sit so regularly.
Speaker 1: In the last three years, Jason All Stars have missed
Speaker 1: twenty percent of regular season games and ten percent of
Speaker 1: playoff games. So whatever the exact cause of this is, right,
Speaker 1: I don't know the exact split between legit a bit
Speaker 1: injuries versus load management. But we can look back even
Speaker 1: to twenty seventeen, twenty nineteen, pace was similar, style was similar,
Speaker 1: ground covered with similar Right, it should be a similar
Speaker 1: toll on your body. Guys were playing eight percent more
Speaker 1: regular season games, six percent more playoff games. We are
Speaker 1: in a like, completely unprecedented disaster in terms of players availability.
Speaker 1: In the entire point of load management, it's hey, we'll
Speaker 1: sacrifice the meaningless regular season game so our guys are
Speaker 1: ready for their playoff run. We've seen eighteen All Stars
Speaker 1: Jason miss fifty playoff games in the last two years.
Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, not that long ago, zero All Stars
Speaker 1: missed a single game. I went back to nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: eight to ninety because it was the most similar era
Speaker 1: in terms of a three year span. When we're looking
Speaker 1: at pace to right now, guys played ninety six percent
Speaker 1: of regular season games all stars almost ninety nine percent
Speaker 1: of playoff games. So something is very wrong here. I
Speaker 1: think the season has to be shortened. Load management doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to be the fix. But I don't know that
Speaker 1: this sixty five game minimum is really gonna help, because
Speaker 1: I don't know the guys of load managing for twenty games.
Speaker 1: It's more probably like ten to twelve. But it sucks.
Speaker 1: It's taking the product and it's not even working at
Speaker 1: what it's supposed to do. It was like Nerd sashed
Speaker 1: right there. We listen to so much interesting information. I
Speaker 1: agree officiating in load management. If they can fix those
Speaker 1: two pieces, I think the legal skyrocket because they have
Speaker 1: so much talent. All right, guys, that is all we
Speaker 1: have for today. No games tomorrow, so we're taking tomorrow off.
Speaker 1: We will be back either on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: I can't remember off the top of my head. That
Speaker 1: As always, we appreciate your guys as support, and we
Speaker 1: will see you next time