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Speaker 1: to hoops tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday everybody. I hope all of you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a great week so far. We are continuing right

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Speaker 1: along with our power rankings today with number six, the

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets, a very interesting, very talented team that has

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Speaker 1: enormous variants heading into this season, probably among the largest

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Speaker 1: gaps between worst case scenario and best case scenario in

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Speaker 1: the league. Right now, before we get started, you guys

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Speaker 1: know the drill. Subscribe to the volumes Youtube Channel so

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Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me

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Speaker 1: on twitter at underscore Jason Lt s. You guys don't

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Speaker 1: miss any show announcements. And, last but not least, for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason you can't finish one of these shows you

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Speaker 1: can't get over to youtube, you can always find them

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Speaker 1: in podcast form, wherever you get your podcasts. Under hoops tonight.

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Speaker 1: And on that note, let's talk some basketball. So last

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Speaker 1: year the Brooklyn Nets went forty four and thirty eight.

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Speaker 1: They were swept by Boston in the first round. We

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Speaker 1: are going to get into that. They were tenth in

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Speaker 1: offense in defense, and Kyrie, Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons

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Speaker 1: combined to play eighty one game, so less than one

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Speaker 1: full season from their three best players heading into the

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Speaker 1: playoff run. And then obviously they had all of that

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Speaker 1: James Harden drama to start the season. I want to

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Speaker 1: spend a little bit of time diving into some of

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Speaker 1: the ancillary topics with this particular team because they're so

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Speaker 1: incredibly relevant to their potential success this season. You know,

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Speaker 1: and all of our other videos, or most of them,

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Speaker 1: we've gone like brief synopsis on whatever happened in their

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Speaker 1: playoffs and then we head into what they did the

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Speaker 1: off season. We had into the depth chart and then

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Speaker 1: we head into the excess and OHS right, and we

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Speaker 1: are going to do that with this team. But the

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Speaker 1: ancillary topics that bothered him last year haven't gone away

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Speaker 1: and there's still very much a factor heading into this

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Speaker 1: season and I think it's important that we acknowledge them

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Speaker 1: and understand them and the way they could impact this

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Speaker 1: team in this season. So I wanted to start with

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Speaker 1: Kyrie because, you know, I'm sure from Kyrie's perspective, he

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Speaker 1: feels justified and everything that he did over the course

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years. I mean he by by

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Speaker 1: saying that the vaccine mandate is one of the most

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Speaker 1: horrible travesties in the history of human rights. He has

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Speaker 1: doubled down, doubled down on the fact that he believes

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Speaker 1: he was in the right last year with what he did,

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Speaker 1: and he was available for both playoff runts, and so

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Speaker 1: I imagine that would be his like rose colored glasses,

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Speaker 1: glass half full, advocating for his self, way of expressing

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Speaker 1: what happened, like okay, yeah, yeah, these things happened, but

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Speaker 1: I was always there when you guys needed me in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, unless I landed on Johanna's antenna COOMPO's foot

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Speaker 1: like he did in that second round series two years ago.

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Speaker 1: But the reality is that there was a huge direct

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Speaker 1: impact from his behavior. And for the record, I'm referencing

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Speaker 1: him missing a boatload of games because of the vaccine

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Speaker 1: mandate and then the previous season the two, you know,

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Speaker 1: uh leaves of absence that he took that were unrelated

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Speaker 1: to injury and that he did so without even telling

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Speaker 1: Steve Nash, basically just piecing out on the team for

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, and those things, even if it

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Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily impact their roster at the end of the season,

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Speaker 1: it does impact their seating and that does matter, especially

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Speaker 1: in this particular season. You know, they were banged up

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Speaker 1: a lot of the season. Continuity was an issue. They

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Speaker 1: were hoping to get Ben Simmons back towards the end

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Speaker 1: of that Boston Celtics series, which means presumably he could

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Speaker 1: have been available for a second or third round series.

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Speaker 1: Who knows, but there are a bunch of question marks

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Speaker 1: there around the team that could have been solved by

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Speaker 1: some continuity and buy some additional reps and allowing themselves

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Speaker 1: a buffer to face somebody like the Boston Celtics, even

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Speaker 1: just in the second round, even just buying yourself an

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Speaker 1: extra two weeks could have gone a long way towards

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Speaker 1: that matchup. I think they would have lost anyway, but

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Speaker 1: I think a big part of why they got destroyed

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Speaker 1: in such resounding fashion in that first round series by

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Speaker 1: Boston had to do with the fact that they had

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Speaker 1: to play them in the first round and they didn't

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Speaker 1: have a ton of time to get to the best

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Speaker 1: version of themselves before they got there. That is a

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Speaker 1: direct effect of Kyrie Irving's behavior. That has to be

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Speaker 1: acknowledged and I think that's a big part of why

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn was so ready to be done with him this summer.

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Speaker 1: That's why they did not offer him the long term

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Speaker 1: deal and why they would have been quick to get

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Speaker 1: rid of him had the Kevin Durant thing not gone

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Speaker 1: the way that they hoped it would this summer. Not

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Speaker 1: to be clear, the reason why they're keeping Kyrie now

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Speaker 1: is because they're in a win now mode and there's

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Speaker 1: just no way they could have flipped Kyrie for comparable

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Speaker 1: current talent. They would have had to do something like

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Speaker 1: a Russell Westbrook or salary filler elsewhere around the league,

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Speaker 1: which just wouldn't have helped them the way that Kyrie

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Speaker 1: Irving can help them. So they I would imagine, they

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Speaker 1: view him as a necessary evil at this point, but

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Speaker 1: unless his behavior and commitment to the team significantly improves

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Speaker 1: this year, my guess is they'll be done with him

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Speaker 1: after this season. Now kyrie is in a contract year

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Speaker 1: and because of that I expect him to understand the

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Speaker 1: gravity of the situation. He wanted that five year deal

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Speaker 1: last summer. He probably still wants it next summer. He's

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Speaker 1: young enough and he's got a long enough career ahead

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Speaker 1: of him that that's still achievable for him. But he

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Speaker 1: has to Rehab his image and the best way for

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Speaker 1: him to Rehab his image is to be at work

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Speaker 1: every single day, committed to the team goal, playing hard

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Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor, and I expect him

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Speaker 1: to do so regardless of what you feel about Kyrie

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Speaker 1: and I have my issues with him as a person

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Speaker 1: off the court. Now I'm not talking about who who

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Speaker 1: he is as a friend and as a family member

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Speaker 1: and a member of the community. I'm talking about in

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Speaker 1: his commitment to the team off the court and the

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Speaker 1: way he allows some of his court, you know, beliefs

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Speaker 1: to take away from his commitment to the team. That's

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Speaker 1: where I offer criticism to him. But the reality is

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Speaker 1: is that on the court he is a damn good

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Speaker 1: basketball players. Still, I had him twenty in my player

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Speaker 1: rankings and that was factoring in some of his availability concerns.

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Speaker 1: In terms of talent, he's right there and that ten

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Speaker 1: to fifteen range. That's how good he is. His basketball

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Speaker 1: skill is unassailable and it's proven to translate to the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: So if he buys in the season, I think he

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Speaker 1: can rehab his image pretty quickly. But there's no mistaking

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Speaker 1: the fact that his behavior did have a negative impact

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Speaker 1: on the net's the last two years. The second thing

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Speaker 1: I wanted to look at was Katie in the series

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Speaker 1: against Boston. Now, Um, I had the dynamic with Katie

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Speaker 1: is super interesting to me because I think that Steph

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Speaker 1: fans and Lebron fans have used him as their punching bag,

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Speaker 1: and the main reason why is pretty obvious. K D

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Speaker 1: is Katie represents a direct threat to the legacies of

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Speaker 1: Stephen Lebron him and what he did to Lebron head

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Speaker 1: to head in the two thousand seventeen and two thousand

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Speaker 1: eighteen finals, basically playing, playing him to his stalemate. That

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Speaker 1: obviously threatens Lebron's legacies, a legacy. And then obviously with

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Speaker 1: Steph and the fact that Steph won two titles with

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Speaker 1: Katie and has one. He has one, obviously a couple

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Speaker 1: without him, but those two. A lot of people attribute

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Speaker 1: a great deal of that success to K d. So

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Speaker 1: it's a direct threat to Steph and it's a direct

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Speaker 1: threat to Lebron and as a result, the vast majority

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Speaker 1: of the discourse surrounding K D is trolling, and you're

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Speaker 1: just not gonna get that here. You're gonna find plenty

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Speaker 1: of Katie trolling everywhere, even on major media networks. You'RE

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Speaker 1: NOT gonna get it. For me, I'm only interested in

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Speaker 1: talking about the basketball now. The reality of what happened

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Speaker 1: in that Boston Celtics series is there were two areas

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Speaker 1: where Katie really struggled his pull up jump shooting, which

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Speaker 1: is literally his best skill. He was on six hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty nine attempts pull up jump shooting last season.

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Speaker 1: That's literally incredible. In the series against Boston he shot

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Speaker 1: just thirty six on pull up jumpers. So his bread

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Speaker 1: and butter offensive go to move failed him. That happens sometimes.

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Speaker 1: It's a reality of pull up jump shooting and in

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Speaker 1: a very small sample size, four games, one week of basketball,

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Speaker 1: that sort of thing can happen and that's what did.

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Speaker 1: The other thing where Katie really dropped the ball was

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Speaker 1: taking care of the basketball. Now I watched hours of

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Speaker 1: footage of Brooklyn this morning, including some footage from that

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Speaker 1: Boston Celtics series. It was a physical blood bath and

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Speaker 1: I have seen Katie handle physical blood baths well many

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Speaker 1: times in his career. He just didn't handle this one. Well,

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Speaker 1: it happens again, small sample size, one week of basketball,

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Speaker 1: yet twenty one turnovers in four games. You could tell

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Speaker 1: he was struggling with that. First of all, I want

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Speaker 1: to give some credit to Boston's defense. They were swarm

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Speaker 1: from the opening tip of that series. I have been

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Speaker 1: on the record saying that Boston was the best half

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Speaker 1: court defense that I have seen in this era of basketball.

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Speaker 1: So give them a bunch of credit there. The reality, though, is,

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Speaker 1: we zoom out a little bit, Brooklyn Fared Better Against

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Speaker 1: Boston's defense than anybody by a lot. The averaged a

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen points per one hundred possessions against Boston's defense.

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Speaker 1: Golden State was the second best team facing Boston last year,

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Speaker 1: with a hundred and ten points per one hundred possessions. Now,

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Speaker 1: obviously Golden State is a much better team. They defend

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Speaker 1: a million times better. That's why they have the trophy.

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Speaker 1: But so much criticism and so much trolling is facing

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Speaker 1: towards Kevin Durant and the job he did on offense,

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Speaker 1: towards against the Boston Celtics and the job that Kyrie

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Speaker 1: did on offense against the Boston Celtics. The reality is

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Speaker 1: is that the ultimate goal is to put the ball

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Speaker 1: in the basket and they did that better than anybody

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Speaker 1: else did against the Boston Celtics. To give you idea,

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Speaker 1: everyone considers the Dallas Mavericks as having eviscerated Phoenix's defense

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Speaker 1: and they only averaged about a hundred and fourteen points

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Speaker 1: per one hunter possessions in that series. So Boston had

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Speaker 1: a harder time stopping Brooklyn Than Phoenix did stopping Dallas

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Speaker 1: in that series. That just gives you an idea of

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Speaker 1: how successful their offense was. The reality of what happened

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Speaker 1: in that series is they were completely overmatched physically everywhere

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Speaker 1: on the floor because they didn't have the athletes and

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Speaker 1: the size and the defensive role players to hang in

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Speaker 1: that type of physical series. That's why they lost. We

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Speaker 1: all knew that going into this series. We just thought, Oh,

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Speaker 1: maybe Katie and Kyrie could overcome that. We knew it

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Speaker 1: was a coin flip. I think I picked up Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: and seven, if I remember correctly, just because I trusted

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Speaker 1: K D in a way that he performed against Milwaukee

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Speaker 1: the previous year in a very similar type of series

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Speaker 1: where he was overmatched in talent because of the injury

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Speaker 1: to James Harden and the injury to Kyrie Irving. He

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Speaker 1: was overmatched in physicality and the defense send of the

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Speaker 1: floor and he had in Milwaukee had better role players,

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Speaker 1: exact same dynamic and we saw Kevin Durant make those

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Speaker 1: pull up jumpers and take better care of the basketball

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Speaker 1: and he had a shot with one inch. If it

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Speaker 1: was one inch further away, that would have won the series.

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Speaker 1: That's why we were looking at that series and with

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Speaker 1: that type of optimism towards Brooklyn. But what happened in

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Speaker 1: this case is Katie's jump shot did fail him and

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Speaker 1: things got ugly, which is going to happen a lot

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Speaker 1: of the time when there is that big of a

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Speaker 1: of a talent disadvantage. Here's the way I'm gonna look

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Speaker 1: at this. A lot of you are going to take

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Speaker 1: that as an opportunity to dig a grade for Kevin Durant,

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Speaker 1: and if you choose to do that, be my guest.

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Speaker 1: I think that's a foolish gamble. I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: overreact to one week of basketball. The reality is that

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Speaker 1: was one of the best seasons, regular seasons, of Katie's career.

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Speaker 1: It was his third best scoring season ever. He shot

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Speaker 1: six as a true shooting percentage, which was his ninth

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Speaker 1: consecutive season doing so, which is literally insane. Over the

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Speaker 1: same span, I think stephitely did it five out of

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Speaker 1: nine times. If you're looking for some context there, week

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Speaker 1: three of the NFL season is here, and the best

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Speaker 1: in and see for yourself. Sticking with the theme, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna Keep Fading The Dallas Cowboys on Monday night. They

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Speaker 1: are one and a half point underdogs against the New

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Speaker 1: York giants. I will be betting on the New York giants.

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Speaker 1: of the NF. fell he also had the best playmaking

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Speaker 1: season of his career and he still is an impact

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Speaker 1: defensive player. So if you guys want to write him off,

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Speaker 1: be my guest. I don't think that that's a good idea.

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Speaker 1: I will not be writing him off. I expect him

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Speaker 1: to play like a top tier superstar this season. Looking

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Speaker 1: at the off season for a second so they traded

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Speaker 1: for Royce O'Neil. This was Utah's best perimeter defender, although

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Speaker 1: that's not exactly saying much. He's a bit undersized but

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Speaker 1: he's super scrappy and super physical, borderline dirty at times,

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Speaker 1: but a good defensive player at six FT five Um.

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Speaker 1: He shot thirty eight percent on catch and shoot threes

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Speaker 1: and he fits the archetype of the player that they

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Speaker 1: were missing last year, Guy that can make open shots

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Speaker 1: when the defense sends attention elsewhere and that can actually

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Speaker 1: thrive a little bit in the physicality and bring some

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Speaker 1: of the things defensively that they did not have last year.

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Speaker 1: They also signed T J Warren. Um Tj. TJ Warren

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Speaker 1: is a super interesting player because he's barely played in

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Speaker 1: the last two seasons, but if you look at what

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Speaker 1: he did in the previous season, it was outstanding. In

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Speaker 1: not is counting the bubble, but for the whole season

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Speaker 1: he shot forty on catching shoot jumpers on pull up jumpers,

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Speaker 1: both outstanding numbers and also I didn't watch him a

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Speaker 1: tunder in the regular season, but during that bubble run

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Speaker 1: he was a pretty solid defensive player. I'd like to

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Speaker 1: see more of that over a longer span before I

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Speaker 1: call him a good defensive player, but I know he's

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Speaker 1: capable of it. But health is the biggest question mark.

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Speaker 1: He only played four games in the two years since then,

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Speaker 1: but he is only twenty nine years old and he's

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Speaker 1: taken his sweet time getting over this foot injury, so

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Speaker 1: hopefully he'll be ready to go. They also signed Markis Morris.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about him later. They

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Speaker 1: lost Bruce Brown. He signed a deal to year deal

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Speaker 1: with Denver Um that pays about thirteen million a year

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Speaker 1: or thirteen million total over two years. And then they're

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Speaker 1: getting back Ben Simmons right because he was unable to

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Speaker 1: play last year, and they're getting back Joe Harris. Joe

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Speaker 1: Harris is obviously one of the best shooters that we

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Speaker 1: have in the League and is a great movement shooter.

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Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is one of the best defensive players in

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Speaker 1: the world and he's also super gifted getting to the rim.

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Speaker 1: He made four point one shots in the restricted area

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Speaker 1: per game in two thousand twenty one, which was fifth

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Speaker 1: most among perimeter oriented players. He kind of fits into

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Speaker 1: that Bruce Brown role and what they were using Bruce

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Speaker 1: Band for anyway. So that's why I'm not super critical

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Speaker 1: of them letting Bruce Brown go for such a small number. Um,

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Speaker 1: I just with with what he can do screening and

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Speaker 1: rolling to the rim in the short roll and then

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Speaker 1: some inverted pick and roll stuff in his ability to

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Speaker 1: make reads as he's barreling down hill to the rim excellent,

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Speaker 1: finding three point shooters all over the floor. I think

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be a huge a piece of a great

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Speaker 1: fit in what they do offensively. Ideally, you want him,

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Speaker 1: after the couple of years he's been away from the game,

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Speaker 1: to be making his spot up threes now, at least two,

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Speaker 1: you know, thirty, somewhere around there. But even if he's not,

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Speaker 1: he's still a very impactful basketball player. That is a

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Speaker 1: huge influx of talent on this team, especially on the

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Speaker 1: defensive of the floor, defensive end of the floor, and

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Speaker 1: he fits a very specific need on this roster. So

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Speaker 1: I think he's gonna help a lot. Um, looking at

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Speaker 1: the depth chart at the guard position, Kyrie Irving, Joe Harris,

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Speaker 1: Seth Curry, Addie Mills, Cam Thomas and Chris Ciosa. On

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Speaker 1: the wing, Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Royce O'Neil T J,

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Speaker 1: Warren Kessler Edwards and Mark Keith Morris, and then biggs,

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Speaker 1: really only Nick Clackson. But I'm throwing Ben Simmons in

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Speaker 1: here too because my guests is he'll play a lot

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Speaker 1: of this season at the center position. It's hard to

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Speaker 1: say whether or not he'll start. Their best lineup is

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Speaker 1: certainly him at center or Kevin Duran at center with

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Speaker 1: him at the four, but you never know. This team

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Speaker 1: really struggled with defensive rebounding last year's I wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: surprised at all of Steve Nash wanted to start Claxton.

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Speaker 1: I personally think that would be a mistake, especially with

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Speaker 1: Simmons's inability to shoot. I would start small. I'd go

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Speaker 1: with Katie and Ben, with Joe Harris and Seth Curry

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Speaker 1: and Kyrie Irving. That's the way that I would go.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into some of the XS and Os,

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Speaker 1: I I did want to touch on the Katie Trade

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Speaker 1: Saga for just a second. That was one of the

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Speaker 1: more confusing saga's that I've seen in my time following

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Speaker 1: the NBA. After well, Kevin Durant did, which is not

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Speaker 1: just request to trade but make it very clear that

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Speaker 1: he did not like the coach in the GM, and

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Speaker 1: then Kyrie also, with his antics, threatening to go to

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Speaker 1: the Lakers and then openly pining for the Lakers to

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Speaker 1: the tune of screaming at Laker fans that he'll be

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Speaker 1: a laker soon. With all of those things, I just

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Speaker 1: thought for sure Brooklyn's front office would want a fresh start.

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Speaker 1: They had enough assets to rapidly rebuild around quality players

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Speaker 1: and even to be relatively interesting in the immediate future.

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Speaker 1: I just thought they'd try to bail out from this

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Speaker 1: experiment because it hasn't gone well for them. I think

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Speaker 1: it's important to, you know, differentiate the difference between the

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Speaker 1: KD situation in the Kyrie situation too. Like Katie was

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Speaker 1: never the problem, but then, you know, like it was

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Speaker 1: just injuries with him, it was in his friendship with

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Speaker 1: Kyrie and what that brought that ended up being an issue.

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Speaker 1: I think Brooklyn loved partnering with Kevin Durant, but because

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Speaker 1: of the Kyrie that came with that, and then right

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Speaker 1: there at the end, when he threw the coach in

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Speaker 1: the GM under the bus the way he did in

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Speaker 1: his uh, his demand to the owner, right there, it

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Speaker 1: made it so that even the partnership with K D

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Speaker 1: had some issues, and so I really thought that they'd

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Speaker 1: move on and I was genuinely surprised that Josiah was

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Speaker 1: openly pining and politicking and advocating for them coming back.

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Speaker 1: So I was I was really shocked when that resulted

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Speaker 1: in him restending the request in him coming back. But

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Speaker 1: that's where we're at at this point. Training camp is

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Speaker 1: gonna be a little awkward. That goes without saying. Like

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Speaker 1: I said, everyone on the in the team, in the

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Speaker 1: locker room, on the team, knows that Katie and Kyrie

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Speaker 1: don't believe in the coach and the GM. That's going

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Speaker 1: to add a little bit of tension. But the realities

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Speaker 1: is that winning cures all so if they come out

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Speaker 1: the gates and they start beating everybody's ass, which is

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Speaker 1: absolutely a possibility with how talented they are, pretty quickly

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Speaker 1: that's gonna erase any sort of animosity that lingers around

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Speaker 1: this team. It's gonna be important for them to get

399
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Speaker 1: off too hot start, but they're certainly capable of doing so.

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Speaker 1: So I want to move on to the offensive end

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00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: of the ball, and you guys know the drill here

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00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:03,720
Speaker 1: we're gonna go through the offense. We're gonna go through

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Speaker 1: the defense. Uh, not a whole lot of complexity to

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Speaker 1: what Brooklyn does on either. into the floor. It's very

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Speaker 1: brute force. But we'll get into that and then we'll

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about what their best case scenario is,

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Speaker 1: their worst case scenario and who their biggest x factor is.

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Speaker 1: So on the offensive, en to the floor. Man, I

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Speaker 1: poured over again hours of footage on Brooklyn this morning

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Speaker 1: trying to chart some of their offensive sets, and they

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Speaker 1: don't really run a ton in the way of offensive sets,

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Speaker 1: at least not in terms of frequency. They do run stuff, Um,

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Speaker 1: it's just it's typically after missing or typically after made

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Speaker 1: free throws and after time outs, any sort of dead

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Speaker 1: ball situation. The vast majority of live ball possessions result

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Speaker 1: in them bringing the ball up the floor, setting up

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Speaker 1: their spacing and Katie and Kyrie going to work off

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Speaker 1: the bounce. That's the way most live ball possessions will

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00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,119
Speaker 1: will work for Brooklyn. Get kind of similar to Dallas

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Speaker 1: in that regard. That's not a bad thing, it's just it.

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Speaker 1: That's the kind of thing that will hurt you in

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Speaker 1: the regular their season with your offense, but will help

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Speaker 1: you in the postseason when brute force actually translates better

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00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,480
Speaker 1: than schematics and and set some things along those lines.

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Speaker 1: So they run this like occasional like dribble handoff motion

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Speaker 1: thing where they'll just kind of bring the ball up

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Speaker 1: the floor and Katie will do a dribble hand off

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00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 1: to seth curry and then Seth Curry will dribble hand

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Speaker 1: off to Kyrie and Kyrie will come back to Katie,

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Speaker 1: who will then come off of like Nick Claxton to

431
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:24,720
Speaker 1: the top key, or last year was a lot of

432
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond. They'll do that kind of thing. Um they

433
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,600
Speaker 1: do some stuff with Uh. They do some stuff with

434
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: Claxton at the top of the key where they'll have

435
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,480
Speaker 1: Kyrie and k d kind of in like a pistol set,

436
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:36,960
Speaker 1: so it's like four out and then one at the

437
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: high post and they'll both like run off faking like

438
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 1: they're doing a dribble handoff and then Claxton will turn

439
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: and Katie will screen for Seth Curry coming out of

440
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: the corner and then Seth Curry will come off of Claxton. Obviously,

441
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,680
Speaker 1: with all of those interchanges and with Katie's defender being

442
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 1: unwilling to help off of Kadi. Seth Curry gets a

443
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 1: lot of stuff coming off of those actions. They also

444
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,400
Speaker 1: run a ton of horns. That's the most frequent set

445
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,160
Speaker 1: that I would see. Typically they'll have their big. Last

446
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 1: year was drum and this year will be Claxton or

447
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons. They'll have their big and K D at

448
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 1: the elbows and then they'll have like seth curry, drag

449
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,959
Speaker 1: over the top of both of them towards the side

450
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 1: that the big man's guys on and then, like Nick

451
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: Clackson's man will have to show or a lot of

452
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,600
Speaker 1: times just switch out onto that and then they'll flow

453
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 1: from that into Seth Curry K D pick and rolls.

454
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,640
Speaker 1: Now that seth curry is being guarded by a big man,

455
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,320
Speaker 1: he'll pass the ball to Katie. Katie will call for

456
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 1: Seth to comes at a screen and it's just impossible

457
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: to defend. It's difficult to defend guard guard screening actions

458
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 1: or guard guard ball screens, even when they have the

459
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,560
Speaker 1: right types of defenders on them. But if they can

460
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 1: come out of horns and get a switch onto seth curry,

461
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 1: now you've got a big man trying to navigate that.

462
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 1: They get all sorts of good stuff out of that

463
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And then the other thing you'll see

464
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: a lot of is is various screening actions that attempt

465
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: to get Kadi to the elbow. Some of that is

466
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 1: like horns. But then after seth curry comes off of

467
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 1: that drag screen, instead of passing to seth they'll just

468
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,159
Speaker 1: have Ben Simmons in this case or last year, and

469
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,440
Speaker 1: Nick Clackson and Andre Drummond turning cross screen for Katie

470
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 1: to try to catch at the elbow. He's just so

471
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 1: good catching shooting at the elbow. Of like if Katie

472
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 1: gets a clean look catching and shooting at the elbow,

473
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: he's making two thirds of those, you know what I mean.

474
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: And then if he doesn't get enough separation, he's really

475
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: good operating out of the triple threat there because he's

476
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: got such a good jab step jumper one like fade away.

477
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: He can turn his back to the basket, he can

478
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:28,919
Speaker 1: rip through and go to the rim. A lot of

479
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: like just sometimes it's as simple as just having kyrie

480
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,680
Speaker 1: bring the ball up the floor. You Know Seth Curry

481
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 1: and Joe Harris will be in the corners and Katie

482
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: will work his man down to the block and then

483
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: they'll have Ben Simmons come over instead a pin down

484
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,400
Speaker 1: and Katie will come up to catch at the elbow.

485
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: A lot of like just a little basic screening actions

486
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: to get Katie to catch at the elbow. Every once

487
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 1: in a while you'll see like, you know, double double

488
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: screens for a patty mills coming off for a shot

489
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,440
Speaker 1: or Joe Harris coming off for a shot. They do

490
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,440
Speaker 1: have offensive organization that they on particularly, like I said,

491
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 1: at a dead ball situations or out of time outs,

492
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: but for the most part in live ball situations it's

493
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: space things out. You know, last year, be Bruce Brown

494
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 1: or Nick Klaxson or Andre Drummond in the dunker spot.

495
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: You have your shooters in the corners, Kyrie on the

496
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 1: opposite wing, and here comes somebody to come set a screen,

497
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,119
Speaker 1: usually one of the big men to come set a

498
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,959
Speaker 1: screen for Katie or for Kyrie. That was usually what

499
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: they got most of their stuff out of last year. Um,

500
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,440
Speaker 1: this concept of brute force offense. It works for Brooklyn

501
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: for a couple of different reasons. One, in order to

502
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: run a brute force offense you have to have outstanding

503
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 1: advantage creators that's why it works. For Dallas, right you've

504
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 1: got Luka Don Chich and obviously Jalen Brunson had a

505
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,440
Speaker 1: great season advantage creating at a pick and roll last year,

506
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,439
Speaker 1: and Spencer Dinwood. He had a great season out of

507
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 1: isolation last year. It's that same kind of concept. If

508
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,360
Speaker 1: you don't have the personnel to run brute force, then

509
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,159
Speaker 1: you have to run a lot of sets, you have

510
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 1: to run a ton of screening actions off the ball

511
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But because they have Katie and

512
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: Kyrie they're uniquely equipped to run this type of offense. And,

513
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 1: like I said, brute force translates to the playoffs because

514
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: scheming and scouting make it so the teams can get

515
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 1: ahead of your sets. Like, guess what, you're not gonna

516
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,119
Speaker 1: run seth curry off of like a couple of interchanges

517
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: in a dribble handoff and just get wide open looks

518
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 1: for an entire playoff series. That's not gonna happen. They're

519
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: gonna find ways to get in front of that or

520
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 1: they'll play personnel where they don't have big men on

521
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,200
Speaker 1: the floor and they'll just switch things. They're gonna find

522
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 1: ways to shut your actions down. But they can't stop

523
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: brute force without a simple decision of even leaving, either

524
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: leaving you on an island to try to make you

525
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,679
Speaker 1: score or sending help. There is no like magic schematic

526
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,640
Speaker 1: fix for Kevin Freaking durant or for Kyrie Irving. It's

527
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: brute force. It translates to the playoffs. It's a proven method.

528
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 1: I believe in it. And again let's look at that

529
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,200
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics Stat. We're talking about a team that lacked

530
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 1: off ball role players that could consistently pass, dribble and shoot.

531
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 1: You know, obviously they'd have seth curry out there doing

532
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 1: really well, but it's a lot of Bruce Round, it's

533
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: a lot of Andre Drummond, some somewhat limited offensive players. Right. So,

534
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,680
Speaker 1: even despite of that, even despite the lack of continuity,

535
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 1: even despite how poorly Kevin durant shot, despite how poorly

536
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: Kyrie shot towards end of the series, despite the turnovers,

537
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,919
Speaker 1: despite everything, despite the lack of offensive sets, despite the

538
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,120
Speaker 1: you know, you know, rudimentary high pick and roll repetitively

539
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,680
Speaker 1: in that kind of stuff, despite all of that, they

540
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: scored more than anybody against Boston. That's the reality of

541
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: brute force. Offense and it's a it's a reality that

542
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 1: we have to acknowledge. Just because it's not as pretty

543
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: as some of the other offenses we see around the

544
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: league doesn't mean it's not as effective. Um. So, looking

545
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 1: at their brute force, brute force offense, I wanted to

546
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,239
Speaker 1: just kind of dive into each player really quickly. So,

547
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, amongst seventeen players who registered at least two

548
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 1: hundred ISOS last year, Katie was fourth inefficiency, at one

549
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: point one points per possession, behind just a Martinoz and

550
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,160
Speaker 1: Carl towns and Luca Don Chech. Among seventy nine players

551
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: registered at least two hundred pick and roll ball handler possessions,

552
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 1: he was third in if eitiency at one point zero

553
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 1: four points per possession. Among thirty nine players who registered

554
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 1: at least eighty dribble handoffs, Katie was seventh in efficiency,

555
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: at one point zero four points per possession. So he's

556
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: still the best in the world at what he does,

557
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: which is create shots for himself off the bounce. That's

558
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 1: always been what he's better than everybody at and that's

559
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,879
Speaker 1: what he's still better than everybody at. That's his best skill.

560
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,679
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. Last year volume was low, obviously because of

561
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 1: the because of the vaccine thing. Kind of had a

562
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,840
Speaker 1: rough season in terms of efficiency based on these specific scenarios.

563
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 1: One point zero one points per possession and ISO, zero

564
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 1: point nine eight and pick and roll, zero point eight

565
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: eight and dribble handoff. But all three of those were way,

566
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: way higher the previous season. In almost Katie esque with

567
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 1: his production in that previous season. So I'd attribute most

568
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,760
Speaker 1: of that to him just being out of rhythm from

569
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: not being around the team enough last year. This season

570
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 1: I would expect him to be back around where Katie

571
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,720
Speaker 1: was with his numbers there. Seth Curry's also really good

572
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: with the advantages they create for him in his offense.

573
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: Zero point nine six points per possession and pick and roll,

574
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: one point zero five off screen, one point zero eight

575
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 1: in drible handoffs. He shot fifty three percent on catching

576
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: shoe jumpers, which is just absolutely outrageously good, like it

577
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 1: fits the eye test of when you're watching Brooklyn and

578
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: every time seth curry gets a good look you just

579
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 1: feel like it's going in. You also shot on pull

580
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: up Jumpers and then T J Warren, like we talked

581
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: about earlier in the show on catching shoe jumpers and

582
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: on pull up jumpers in season, the year of the bubble.

583
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: So they're even adding to this another wing that's extremely

584
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: gifted making jump shots off the balance and off the catch.

585
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: That's just gonna make them even that much more dynamic

586
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: offensively and, most importantly, Ben Simmons factoring in as that

587
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 1: Short roll, screen and Roll Guy, inverted pick and rolls,

588
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: everything under the sun that he can do. We'll kind

589
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: of go one by one through these. So in the

590
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: short role I expect once again that he should be

591
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: their starting center. Even if he's not, he will close

592
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 1: at the center position in the short role. This year

593
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,239
Speaker 1: you're you're seeing Kevin Durant and Kyrie come off these

594
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: screens and hit Andre Drummond with a pocket pass and

595
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: he can make plays out of there when he's got

596
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: his head on straight, but he also makes a ton

597
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:18,280
Speaker 1: of mistakes. First Brown's somewhat limited. Now imagine that's Ben Simmons,

598
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: who's one of the most gifted passers in the League

599
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: when it comes to finding three point shooters when he's

600
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 1: barreling down the lane. So that's great and he's just

601
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 1: a much better athlete than both of those guys and,

602
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: like we said earlier in the season, he was fifth

603
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: among perimeter players in getting to the rim and finishing

604
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: in the restricted area. So I expect him to be

605
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: a much better short role threat than any of the

606
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 1: players they've had in recent years. Inverted pick and rolls.

607
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 1: We talked about this a lot with Nicola yokits when

608
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 1: we did our player rankings. This is something that Denver

609
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,880
Speaker 1: does quite a bit. Essentially, the idea there is when

610
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 1: a big man is a ball handler, or in this case,

611
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is operating as the big man and will

612
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 1: be guarded by a center. You can imagine if Ben

613
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: Simmons is starting at center and you're playing against the

614
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: you know, let's say you're playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves,

615
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: like that's Rudy Gobert, that's gonna have to be navigating

616
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: screening actions. It's not even a good example. Let's talk

617
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 1: about like, you know, the Atlanta Hawks, you know, or

618
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 1: or a team like Boston, where it's like a Robert

619
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 1: Williams or Clint Capella. These those players struggle to navigate screens.

620
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: It's just the reality of that situation. When you put

621
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 1: them in a situation where they have to navigate screens.

622
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: It's just difficult for them because they're big, they're lumbering,

623
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: they're they have high centers of gravity. They're easy targets

624
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 1: for screeners. It just when you put yourself in a

625
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,720
Speaker 1: situation where, Imagine Kevin Durant is setting a ball screen

626
00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 1: for Ben Simmons and he's being guarded by someone the

627
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: likes of Clint Capella. As he comes off of that screen,

628
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 1: Katie's man is going to have to hedge or switch

629
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 1: because if he doesn't, Ben Simmons is going to go

630
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: right down the lane and dunk on your entire team.

631
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: So chances are they're gonna heade or switch it, which

632
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: is going to give Kevin Durant an advantage as he

633
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 1: pops to the three point line. To either have an

634
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: opportun you need to attack a Clint Capella on a

635
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 1: switch or there's gonna be a delay in the interchange.

636
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: As as you know, Capella is fighting over the screen

637
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: and as Ben Simmons Man is hedging, in which case

638
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is gonna get catch and shoot threes all

639
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 1: night long. That's kind of how inverted pick and roll

640
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 1: works and I think with Ben Simmons on the roster,

641
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 1: they can run a bunch of stuff like that. Again,

642
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: it's not inverted in the sense that Ben Simmons is

643
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 1: a big but he will function as an inverted pick

644
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 1: and roll because he'll have to be guarded by biggs

645
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,960
Speaker 1: with the way their lineup goes together. Um, the other

646
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: thing to do there is Ben Simmons in general is

647
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: going to draw defensive players that specialize in help rather

648
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: than isolation, even when they're playing him alongside Claxton, which

649
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,160
Speaker 1: I think is a bad idea for spacing. But even

650
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: in those situations, like who are you gonna put on

651
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,719
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons when you're getting your matchups put together, like

652
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 1: you're gonna put better, you know, perimeter defenders, on kd

653
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 1: on Kyrie, on Seth Curry, on a T J Warren,

654
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: if he's out there right, or on Patty Mills. So

655
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is gonna draw slower footed players that they

656
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: that defenses can trust to rotate to the rim and help,

657
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,640
Speaker 1: because they don't worry about Ben Simmons as a shooter.

658
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 1: So now you can imagine putting that guy in on

659
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: ball situations and the way that that would cause teams

660
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 1: to struggle. Matchups are gonna be a nightmare with the

661
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets, make no mistake. Another spot I expect Ben

662
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: Simmons to help a lot is in transition. Brooklyn was

663
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: efficient in transition last year, but really low volume. Ben's

664
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: gonna add a new dynamic there because of the way

665
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: that he can grab the rebound and run up the floor,

666
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: allowing Kevin Durant and Kyrie to run the wings, allowing

667
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: Joe Harris and seth curry to run the wings and

668
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 1: get shots out of there. Um, he'll be in the

669
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,960
Speaker 1: dunker spot a lot, but Brooklyn's used to having a

670
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 1: body down there and Katie and Kyrie are immune to

671
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 1: spacing concerns relative to their peers around the league because

672
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 1: they are specialists shooting over the top of the defense.

673
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: To make that to put that simply, you can imagine

674
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: if you're a Lebron James or you're a, you know,

675
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrooker or any other player that specializes in going

676
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: downhill to the rim, Janice, for instance. Excuse me. In

677
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,560
Speaker 1: those situations teams are just gonna collapse the paint and

678
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: they're gonna Ignore Your Ben Simmons is and your Nick

679
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 1: Claxton's and just try to put bodies between you and

680
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: the rim. But if that's Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, like,

681
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 1: they're so comfortable just shooting over the top of the defense,

682
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 1: so they don't necessarily care who's waiting underneath the rim.

683
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 1: So Ben Simmons in the Dunker spot hurt Philly in

684
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: a way that it won't hurt Brooklyn, and so that's

685
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 1: that's another fit piece there that makes sense. And then,

686
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,280
Speaker 1: last not least, on the Ben Simmons Front, Rim pressure,

687
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier. This guy was getting to

688
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 1: the Rim almost seven times a game back that that

689
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: is going to be the type of thing that I

690
00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 1: shouldn't even say getting to the rim, attempting shots at

691
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 1: the Rim seven times a game. So because of that,

692
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,799
Speaker 1: we talked about rim pressure and all the benefits there.

693
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,360
Speaker 1: It just collapses the defense and opens up offensive rebounding opportunities.

694
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: Rim pressure has all sorts of positive impacts that follow it.

695
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: So kind of zooming out a little bit from Brooklyn

696
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor, what do I expect?

697
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,359
Speaker 1: If they're a hell see, they'll be a top five

698
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: offense and they'll be contending for number one again. Even

699
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,440
Speaker 1: with just one combined games of Kyrie and Katie last

700
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 1: year they were a top ten offense. So you can

701
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: imagine with the if, if it's a healthy season and

702
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:16,800
Speaker 1: with the addition of T J Warren, with the return

703
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 1: of Joe Harris, with the Ben Simmons fit as an

704
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,719
Speaker 1: improved short role player, it's just gonna make them significantly

705
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:24,200
Speaker 1: better on the offensive end of the floor. I still

706
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,400
Speaker 1: think Denver ends up getting the number one offense that

707
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:28,880
Speaker 1: I see Brooklyn in the running there and then again

708
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 1: it's about playoff translatability. Like even if they finished as

709
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 1: the fourth or fifth best offense, because they're not, as

710
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,279
Speaker 1: you know, set heavy during the regular season, they will

711
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,719
Speaker 1: translate to the playoffs as the number one offense. I

712
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,759
Speaker 1: believe if healthy this season, Brooklyn will be the best

713
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: playoff offense no matter what. So if they're good enough

714
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,759
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, they have a

715
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:54,359
Speaker 1: chance to get the trophy. It's that simple um like

716
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,239
Speaker 1: and with Denver's you know, I I view them as

717
00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: the best regular season offense. A lot of their stuff

718
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: can be planned for in a playoff series in a

719
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: way that makes things more difficult. Not that they won't

720
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,720
Speaker 1: be a good playoff offense, but less so than Brooklyn.

721
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 1: The one last thing I wanted to touch on really

722
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: quickly as far as a UH offense organization. Thing for

723
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is they rely really heavily on pull up jump shooting.

724
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 1: They led the league in pull up jump shots attempted

725
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: per game last year. They were second inefficiency, which is

726
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 1: to be expected with how good they are. That's affective

727
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,120
Speaker 1: fieldgal percentage waited for threes. But the reality is is

728
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:34,240
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting is inconsistent even on your best day.

729
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant be the first guy to tell you that.

730
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving would be the first guy to tell you that.

731
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 1: Like sometimes, no matter how hard you work at it, sometimes,

732
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 1: no matter how skilled you are, sometimes you just go

733
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:44,840
Speaker 1: out and you shoot three for nine on pull up

734
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 1: jump shots because sometimes you just start leaving them an

735
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 1: in short on the rim or whatever it is. There's

736
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 1: just an inconsistency there, lack of dependability and in any

737
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,840
Speaker 1: sort of small sample size, missed pull up jump shots

738
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 1: can cost you a playoff series. We saw this with

739
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,799
Speaker 1: Boston and Brooklyn last year. We saw this with the

740
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,319
Speaker 1: clippers in the bubble in it's a legitimate risk that

741
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 1: comes with any team that relies on pull up jump shooting.

742
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,240
Speaker 1: I could even extend that to jump shooting in general.

743
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: Ask The two thousand sixteen warriors. When steph and clay

744
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 1: went cold for a series and a seventy three one

745
00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 1: team ended up losing Um. It's just something to keep

746
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 1: in mind. It it's more likely than not that it

747
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 1: won't be the thing that beats them, but it's always

748
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:28,560
Speaker 1: a risk when you play offense that with that specific

749
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: style and and uh in structure. So moving on to

750
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. So last year they

751
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 1: were the worst defensive rebounding team in all of basketball.

752
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,120
Speaker 1: They allowed the fifth most fast breakpoints. They were middle

753
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 1: of the pack defending the paint. They were middle of

754
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 1: the pack defending the three point line. Some of that

755
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 1: is like what do I always tell you guys? When

756
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,040
Speaker 1: you're a bad transition defense and when you don't rebound well,

757
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 1: these are all and you don't take away the paint

758
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 1: or the three point line, like if you don't prioritize

759
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,720
Speaker 1: one of the two for analytics purposes. That always points

760
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: me towards the coach and we'll talk a little bit

761
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 1: more about Steve Nash here in a minute. But like

762
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:03,839
Speaker 1: just reading those numbers, you start to see a little

763
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: bit of where Kevin Durant's coming from. If if this

764
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 1: is a team that does not depend on offensive structure

765
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,160
Speaker 1: because their brute force and they're not well coached on

766
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,959
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, what is Steve Nash

767
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 1: doing now? The flip side of that is it's way

768
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 1: too early in Steve Nash's coaching career to make sweeping

769
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,479
Speaker 1: statements about the type of coach he is. I would

770
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,919
Speaker 1: prefer to reserve that type of opinion for a few

771
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,240
Speaker 1: more years. But there's no question that in the areas

772
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 1: that are typically attributed to coaching that this Brooklyn Nets

773
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: team is not doing particularly well. And one thing I'll

774
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 1: say in Steve Nash's defense, they are completely overmatched physically

775
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: last year. That will be different this year, so maybe

776
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: it'll be a better gauge of what he's capable of.

777
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 1: Lots of new defensive players. Like I said, Ben Simmons

778
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive players in the league. He's

779
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,360
Speaker 1: an awesome weapon to throw at a star in a

780
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,239
Speaker 1: playoff series. I can't tell you how many times I've

781
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,879
Speaker 1: seen on tape. Ben Simmons like legitimately flummix the best

782
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,240
Speaker 1: players in the league. I've seen him give Lebron issues,

783
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 1: I've seen him give is landard issues, I've seen him

784
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:04,720
Speaker 1: give I saw him once like completely shut down Damian

785
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,319
Speaker 1: Lillard in a game to the point where dame was

786
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 1: struggling to get shots off. Like that's the level of

787
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,919
Speaker 1: perimeter defender that Ben Simmons is. He wasn't healthy last

788
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 1: year so I didn't bring him up. But UH, when

789
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,360
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the best perimeter defenders in basketball and

790
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Jayson tatum and I'm talking about Andrew Wiggins, like,

791
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,400
Speaker 1: when healthy, Ben Simmons might be better than all of

792
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,400
Speaker 1: those guys. That's the level of defensive talent that he is.

793
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 1: Um Royce O'Neil, scrappy, physical, decent perimeter to contained guy.

794
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 1: That's an improvement at the position compared to what they

795
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 1: had last year. T J Warren Um, like I said earlier,

796
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:41,960
Speaker 1: he has had good stretches of defense. I wouldn't say

797
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,280
Speaker 1: he's been consistent enough to call him a good defensive player,

798
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: but he certainly is capable of being an above average

799
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:48,920
Speaker 1: defensive player. Mark Kith Morris I covered him with the

800
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,960
Speaker 1: Lakers in two thousand twenty. Really good post defender, uh

801
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,799
Speaker 1: and a good health defender. Plays Hard, knows what to

802
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,320
Speaker 1: do on the offensive end of the floor to his

803
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 1: decent spot up player, but he does struggle to could

804
00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,720
Speaker 1: to contain on the perimeter against really quick guards and wings.

805
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,960
Speaker 1: So it's it's important that the players around him are

806
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: better at a perimeter contain. Overall, this is a significant

807
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 1: increase in defensive talent, in athleticism and and in care

808
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,919
Speaker 1: and giving a crap about getting stops Um. So from

809
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: that standpoint, like I just think in terms of the

810
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: physical mismatches that they dealt with on the defensive end

811
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: of the floor last year, they're going to be vastly

812
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 1: improved in that regard. In terms of their offensive or

813
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:33,840
Speaker 1: defensive structure, last year it was pretty in line with

814
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: what you saw from the rest of the League in

815
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,399
Speaker 1: terms of what they're schematically trying to do, switching a ton.

816
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:43,239
Speaker 1: One through four drop coverages with Drummond and Claxton. Uh.

817
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: In those drop coverages, their guards and wings died on

818
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,399
Speaker 1: screens a lot. So it did result in switching a lot,

819
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 1: but I actually prefer switching anyway. But everything they did

820
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:54,320
Speaker 1: was just sloppy and you watch them on film and

821
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: the types of mistakes they make are almost hilarious. Sometimes

822
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 1: kind of confusion and communicate s related. I can't tell

823
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,680
Speaker 1: you how many times watching Boston film where you'd see,

824
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:06,920
Speaker 1: you know, one player think it's a switch and the

825
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 1: other not, and next thing you know two players are

826
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: running off a ball screen with Marcus smart of all people,

827
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 1: right or like guys tripping over each other because they're

828
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:16,960
Speaker 1: just like unaware of where they're supposed to be on

829
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 1: the floor. They're just sloppy because they didn't care as much.

830
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 1: Some of that's on Steve Nash, some of that's on

831
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:23,520
Speaker 1: the stars, some of that's on the rest of the

832
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,160
Speaker 1: personnel in general. They'RE gonna have to be way better

833
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: on that front to contend this year. A huge part

834
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm really interested to see what Kevin Durant

835
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,800
Speaker 1: does here, because I have been critical of Kevin Durant

836
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:43,840
Speaker 1: in his career for inconsistent defensive care and the problem

837
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,319
Speaker 1: there is he's so damn gifted physically that even when

838
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: he's barely caring, he's an impact defensive player. He's an

839
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: above average defensive player just by putting his shoes on

840
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:57,040
Speaker 1: and running out there like that's the reality of Kevin Durant.

841
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,720
Speaker 1: When he cares, he's one of the best defensive players

842
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,880
Speaker 1: in the League and we saw that in two thousand

843
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: seventeen with golden state. I'm really interested to see what

844
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:08,440
Speaker 1: we get out of him on that end of the

845
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,760
Speaker 1: floor this year because with the influx of Ben Simmons,

846
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:16,960
Speaker 1: with T J Warren, if Kyrie is they're unhealthy, they

847
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,040
Speaker 1: won't need as much from him offensively as they've needed

848
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,880
Speaker 1: the last two years when he's carried such a massive burden.

849
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 1: If he could relocate some of his resources, reallocate some

850
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,719
Speaker 1: of his resources towards the defensive end of the four,

851
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 1: they could be a top ten defense. You can imagine

852
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 1: in Universe where Ben Simmons is locked in and Katie

853
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 1: is locked in on the defensive end of the floor

854
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,879
Speaker 1: and their ability to clean up messes on the back

855
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,439
Speaker 1: line that are created by Seth Curry and Kyrie Irving.

856
00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: They're capable of being a good defensive team. They will

857
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 1: have lineups that they'll have access to where they can

858
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: play Kyrie Irving with Joe Harris and Royce O'Neil Ben

859
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:57,080
Speaker 1: Simmons and Kevin Durant and they can be a good

860
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,040
Speaker 1: defensive team. Kyrie Irving, when he's engaged, even though he

861
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,799
Speaker 1: struggles guarding bigger players, can slide his feet on the

862
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,200
Speaker 1: perimeter and compete and contain on the on the defensive end.

863
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,240
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see Kevin Durant Kyrie the tone

864
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: that they set this year in the way that trickles

865
00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: down the roster. If they are a top ten defense

866
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,200
Speaker 1: and the number one offense in the league, they're gonna

867
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,759
Speaker 1: be right there in the mix with everybody. So what's

868
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,560
Speaker 1: the best case scenario? If they get off to a

869
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 1: hot start, that will be vitally important to erasing the

870
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 1: drama from this off season. Like I said before, winning

871
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:32,040
Speaker 1: cures all. Staying healthy is obviously a key. Kevin Durant

872
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: has had issues with health. Kyrie irving his at issues

873
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,120
Speaker 1: with health. Ben Simmons had issues with health, physically and mentally.

874
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 1: That's all stuff that they're gonna have to deal with.

875
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 1: T J Warren and his foot issues, all lots of

876
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 1: health question marks there. Kyrie Irving being bought in. It's

877
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:48,480
Speaker 1: a contract here, so I expect him to do so. Overall,

878
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:51,680
Speaker 1: defensive buy in. Ben Simmons and Royce O'Neil are not

879
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,040
Speaker 1: gonna be able to clean up all of these defensive messes.

880
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 1: They need Kyrie and Katie to dedicate themselves to the

881
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. If they do all of

882
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:02,920
Speaker 1: those things and they stay healthy, they will be a

883
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:06,879
Speaker 1: top tier contender, not just in this you know, if

884
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 1: things go right tier there will be a top tier

885
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: contender if those things go right, and that's what the

886
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:14,320
Speaker 1: whole purpose of this tier is. Like I was saying

887
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 1: yesterday with the Phoenix Suns. They have all this talent,

888
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 1: but the question is whether or not their top end

889
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,399
Speaker 1: talent will hold up their end of the bargain. Right

890
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 1: with Brooklyn it's the opposite type of effect. I can

891
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,239
Speaker 1: count on K D and what he's gonna Bring this

892
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 1: here when he's healthy. I can count on Kyrie. It's

893
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 1: the drama stuff. It's the Ben Simmons thing, it's the

894
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,040
Speaker 1: T J warren healthy thing, it's the Steve Nash thing.

895
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 1: There's all these question marks surrounding Kevin Durant. That makes

896
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 1: this team and, if things go right, contender. But in

897
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,319
Speaker 1: terms of talent and fit they are every bit as

898
00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: good as the top teams in the league and you

899
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:54,440
Speaker 1: would be foolish to underestimate them. I absolutely think I

900
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 1: think they're capable of being uh winning the NBA Championship.

901
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,720
Speaker 1: Make no mistake, if you find yourself in a playoff

902
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: series against a healthy Brooklyn Nets team that cares about

903
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 1: what they're doing on both ends of the floor, you

904
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:09,040
Speaker 1: will have to go down against lineups with Kyrie Irving,

905
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,960
Speaker 1: Joe Harris, or Kyrie Irvings, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Ben

906
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,320
Speaker 1: Simmons and Kevin Durant, and that's gonna Be Really Damn

907
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,319
Speaker 1: hard to beats. Four Times out of seven. It's just

908
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,800
Speaker 1: don't write them off. Don't make that mistake. Worst case scenario,

909
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,880
Speaker 1: obviously they get off to a rough start, which exacerbates

910
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,600
Speaker 1: all of the drama stuff surrounding the team. All of

911
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,719
Speaker 1: those question marks I just referenced go south. This could

912
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,360
Speaker 1: be a situation where they're blown up before the deadline

913
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,600
Speaker 1: and Kyrie and Katie are on different teams by March.

914
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:40,000
Speaker 1: So that's how far things can go south. Like I said,

915
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: a really wide range between outcomes here. For this particular team,

916
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:46,280
Speaker 1: the biggest x factor is Ben Simmons. In my opinion.

917
00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 1: Obviously as major health concerns, both mentally and physically. Obviously

918
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: he's got back issues. His mental health reared. It's a

919
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,800
Speaker 1: rear it's head again in the in the late series

920
00:45:57,840 --> 00:45:59,839
Speaker 1: against Boston last year when he said he wasn't gonna

921
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:05,759
Speaker 1: pull Um. And then obviously he's got offensive shortcomings, particularly

922
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 1: when he loses confidence. When Ben Simmons is confident and

923
00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 1: he's bringing the ball up the floor and spraying the

924
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,480
Speaker 1: shooters and attacking the rim aggressively and just playing free,

925
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,880
Speaker 1: he has the winning impact of a top ten player

926
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 1: because of how good he is on the defensive end

927
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 1: of the floor. But when he loses his confidence he

928
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:30,000
Speaker 1: becomes borderline unplayable because he doesn't want to do anything

929
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: with the basketball. He wants to get rid of it.

930
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,719
Speaker 1: He won't even attempt shots when things get tight at

931
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:37,000
Speaker 1: the end of games. He has a very wide range

932
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,319
Speaker 1: of outcomes and that's why he's the x factor for

933
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 1: this team. There's a version of this story where Brooklyn

934
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 1: wins the NBA Championship and in that Universe Ben Simmons

935
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 1: is a top fifteen player and that's what they're going

936
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:51,680
Speaker 1: to need out of him in order to get that

937
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: Larry O'Brien trophy. It's absolutely within the realm of possibility

938
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:58,239
Speaker 1: that it's gonna be on Ben Simmons to hold up

939
00:46:58,239 --> 00:46:59,719
Speaker 1: his end of the bargain there, but I think he's

940
00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 1: the big as x factor for this team. All right, guys,

941
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. We got one

942
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,759
Speaker 1: more show this week. Tomorrow we'll be back with number five,

943
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:10,960
Speaker 1: the last of our, if things go right, contenders. You

944
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 1: guys could probably take a wild guess at who that is.

945
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I bet you most of

946
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,040
Speaker 1: you could probably figure it out. I sincerely appreciate you guys,

947
00:47:17,120 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: rocking with us and we'll see you tomorrow. The Volume