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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. We are live on AMPS,

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Speaker 1: so if you're watching on YouTube or listening on the

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Speaker 1: podcast feed, don't forget that AMP is the very first

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Speaker 1: place that you guys can get these shows. We are

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Speaker 1: continuing our player rankings today with number fifteen, fourteen, and thirteen.

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

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Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any

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

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Speaker 1: Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

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Speaker 1: And last but not least, for whatever reason, you guys

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Speaker 1: miss one of these videos and you can't get back

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Speaker 1: over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find

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Speaker 1: them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. Number fifteen a player that I've

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Speaker 1: already seen some people complaining about how high I have

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Speaker 1: him on this list, but I'm going to kind of

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Speaker 1: dive into that a little bit later. This is one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite players in the league, a specific archetype

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Speaker 1: of player that I've always been a big fan of,

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Speaker 1: and I believe that this type of player succeeds in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs for some very important reasons that we're going

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Speaker 1: to get into at number fifteen, I have Anthony Edwards

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Speaker 1: the quick recap of the season. He got better in

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Speaker 1: every single way this year. He had career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks,

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Speaker 1: field goal percentage, and three point percentage. Finished the year

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Speaker 1: at twenty five six and four fifty six point four

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Speaker 1: percent true shooting, and he went up a huge level

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Speaker 1: against the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, averaged thirty two points,

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Speaker 1: five rebounds, and five assists on sixty percent true shooting. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you guys remember last year against Memphis, he also

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Speaker 1: played really well for his first playoff series as a

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Speaker 1: twenty year old. He averaged twenty five points per game

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Speaker 1: on sixty percent true shooting against that Memphis team that

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Speaker 1: was one of the best defenses in the league that season.

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Speaker 1: So in eleven career playoff games and is averaging twenty

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Speaker 1: eight points, five rebounds, and four assists on six two

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Speaker 1: percenter shooting and he's twenty one years old. At age

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Speaker 1: twenty one, he has already demonstrated the ability to be

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Speaker 1: productive and efficient in the NBA playoffs. Now, he still

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Speaker 1: has a lot of room to grow, obviously, but again

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Speaker 1: we have to remember in the playoffs a lot of

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Speaker 1: players struggles. Even as we're getting into this ten to

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Speaker 1: twenty five range, there are a lot of players that

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Speaker 1: are inconsistent and up and down in the playoffs. So

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Speaker 1: to me, even at this point in time, he's the

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Speaker 1: fifteenth best player in the NBA. The Timberwolves were five

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Speaker 1: points better per one hundred possessions when Ant was on

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Speaker 1: the floor versus off the floor in the regular season,

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Speaker 1: thirteen points better per one hundred possessions with Ant on

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Speaker 1: the floor in the playoffs versus when he was off

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Speaker 1: the floor. Now, Ant's big foundational skill, the number one

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Speaker 1: thing that he has as a leg up against all

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Speaker 1: his peers, is he's just one of the best athletes

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Speaker 1: in the league at his position, but not strictly as

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Speaker 1: a movement athlete, like a guy like John Morant. He

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Speaker 1: also has that in combination with real size and strength. Now,

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Speaker 1: some of you guys who have been listening for a

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Speaker 1: long time might have heard me kind of come to

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Speaker 1: a conclusion in this particular playoff run that big athletic

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Speaker 1: guards are actually somewhat more valuable than the long, skinny wings.

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Speaker 1: And it's because they're fire hydrants, to steal a term

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Speaker 1: from my friend petsas they literally cannot be moved off

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Speaker 1: of their spot on both ends of the floor, so

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Speaker 1: as they're driving past people, they tend to blow through

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Speaker 1: their shoulder and get around them. As they are defending

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Speaker 1: on the perimeter, they tend to beat guys to spots

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Speaker 1: and hold them in their spot. Especially as physicality is

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Speaker 1: allowed at a higher level. In the postseason, they win

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Speaker 1: a ton of perimeter battles, which is becoming more and

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Speaker 1: more important as the NBA kind of enters into this

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Speaker 1: new modern era. And so Anthony Edwards represents that archetype

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Speaker 1: of athlete, but at the guard position, and that's what

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Speaker 1: makes it as a I should say, he represents that

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Speaker 1: type of athlete as a star, and that's what separates

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Speaker 1: him from a lot of his peers. He has that

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Speaker 1: specific type of athletic build, but he has that skill set,

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Speaker 1: the little bit of skill set and the unwavering confidence

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Speaker 1: and competitiveness that you see in stars, and that puts

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Speaker 1: together one of the best players in the league gets

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Speaker 1: to the rim a ton. He made four point two

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Speaker 1: shots per game in the restricted area this year on

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Speaker 1: sixty four percent shooting That was third in the entire

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Speaker 1: NBA among guards, behind only Shake Gilges, Alexander and John Morant.

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Speaker 1: As I've said before, he reminds me of a guard

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Speaker 1: version of Lebron in the sense that, like he doesn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily have to be the shiftiest guy in the world.

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Speaker 1: When he just hits a gap, even if it's the

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Speaker 1: tiniest gap, he's just blowing through people's shoulders and getting

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Speaker 1: all the way to the rim with the sheer amount

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Speaker 1: of downhill power that he brings to the table, which

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Speaker 1: is why he went up a level against Denver and

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Speaker 1: why he's been such a successful playoff player in my opinion.

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Speaker 1: He went up to four point six restricted area makes

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Speaker 1: per game against Denver on the same efficiency sixty four percent. Now,

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Speaker 1: do you guys remember when we were talking with about

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Speaker 1: Paul Joora yesterday about the concept of defending on your

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Speaker 1: heels versus defending on your toes. Anthony Edwards gets really

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Speaker 1: good looks at pull up jump shots. Because defenders are

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Speaker 1: constantly on their heels. They have to concede shots to

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards to have any chance of keeping him in

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Speaker 1: front off the dribble, and so as a result, he

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Speaker 1: gets to rise up into these relatively uncontested pull up

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Speaker 1: jump shots and he makes them. He made forty six

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Speaker 1: percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers

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Speaker 1: in the regular season, which again not a great number,

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Speaker 1: not great compared to his peers at the top of

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Speaker 1: the league, but for a young player at age twenty one,

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Speaker 1: that's excellent. And then it's translating at a very high

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Speaker 1: level to the postseason. He had a fifty five percent

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Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers in the

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Speaker 1: playoffs against Denver and fifty seven percent effective field goal

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Speaker 1: percentage last year against Memphis. Now, keep that in mind

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Speaker 1: that that is a top tier number. So in the

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Speaker 1: playoffs he's hitting pull up jump shots at the same

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Speaker 1: level as his superstar peers are on the league, and

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Speaker 1: again I think that's a huge part. I think a

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Speaker 1: huge part of that is just him having defenders on

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Speaker 1: their heels with how good he is at beating people

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Speaker 1: off the dribble. Now, again, a lot of people in

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Speaker 1: my comments were inferring that I had Anthony Edwards in

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Speaker 1: my top fifteen and wondering why, and they were concerned

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Speaker 1: that I had him too high, and so there are

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Speaker 1: two quick things that I wanted to say about that. First,

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Speaker 1: like I said in the first video, there's just not

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Speaker 1: that much of a gap between. Basically, my top tier

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Speaker 1: drops off after number eleven, and I have the top

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Speaker 1: tier kind of split into two tiers, but they're all

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Speaker 1: what I would consider superstars. Right after number eleven, there's

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Speaker 1: a drop off and in my opinion, from number twelve

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Speaker 1: to number thirty nine. And if you remember, I had

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Speaker 1: fourteen guys that I had as kind of like honorable

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Speaker 1: mention who didn't quite make the list. Number twelve is

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Speaker 1: definitely better than thirty nine in my opinion, but the

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Speaker 1: gap is pretty small. As a matter of fact, I

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Speaker 1: would say the gap between number eleven and number twelve

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Speaker 1: is probably bigger than the gap between number twelve and

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Speaker 1: number thirty nine. On my list, these guys are all

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Speaker 1: bunched together. So if you disagree with me about a

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Speaker 1: specific spot in the rankings that you have, say, for instance,

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Speaker 1: you're like, how in the hell can you have John

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Speaker 1: Morant over Anthony Edwards. That's ridiculous. John Morant's a better

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Speaker 1: player than Anthony Edwards. Okay, even if You're right, I

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Speaker 1: don't have much of a gap between those two guys,

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Speaker 1: so we don't disagree by that much. It's not like

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Speaker 1: I'm saying Anthony Edwards is incredible and John Rant's a bum,

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Speaker 1: and you guys are disagreeing with that. No, I'm saying

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Speaker 1: that I have Anthony Edwards is slightly better than John Morant,

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Speaker 1: and in this particular list, that puts him at number

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Speaker 1: fifteen for me. And that gets me to my second

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Speaker 1: thing that I want to say. The reason why I

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Speaker 1: have Anthony Edwards as high as I do is it

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Speaker 1: has to do with the way that I see the

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Speaker 1: game of basketball, which is not necessarily the same way

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Speaker 1: that you guys see the game. I don't think that

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Speaker 1: I have the market cornered on basketball analysis. I don't

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Speaker 1: think I know everything. I have my own perspective, and

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Speaker 1: that's why I love talking to you guys and reading

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Speaker 1: comments and picking the brains of every other person who

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Speaker 1: works in the business and talking to other basketball players.

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Speaker 1: I try to just take in as many perspectives as

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Speaker 1: I can, and that's why my perspective shifts and change

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Speaker 1: from year to year as I learn more about the game,

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Speaker 1: not just from the people that I talk to, but

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Speaker 1: also from watching games like just in this season, what

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Speaker 1: I've learned about the value of the shorter, stockier athletic

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Speaker 1: guards like Anthony Edwards. We are all learning throughout this process,

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Speaker 1: but with my current view of the game, I gravitate

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Speaker 1: towards this archetype really well. And there's a specific reason

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Speaker 1: for that. There are a lot of guys in the

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Speaker 1: league that are more skilled than Anthony Edwards by a

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Speaker 1: wide chasm. There are a lot of really skilled guards.

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Speaker 1: Try Young, for instance, way behind Anthony Edwards on this list.

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Speaker 1: Trey Young is not even as skilled as some of

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Speaker 1: his peers. But Trey Jung is much more skilled than

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards. But for whatever reason, Anthony Edwards is just

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Speaker 1: capable of scoring the ball a lot easier and more

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Speaker 1: efficiently in the playoffs. Now he's again at this phase

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Speaker 1: in his career. He is a different type of player too.

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Speaker 1: Trey Jung's more of a passer. Try Young is a

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Speaker 1: better passer, but like they're totally different archetypes of players.

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Speaker 1: But as we zoom in strictly on thebility to score

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Speaker 1: the basketball, for some reason, it's easier than ant than

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Speaker 1: it is for Trey Young. Why is that? It's because

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Speaker 1: in that setting, when the refs allow more physicality, when

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Speaker 1: scouting becomes a bigger part of the equation and the

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Speaker 1: easy stuff gets taken away, the dudes that are bigger

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Speaker 1: and stronger and faster, for whatever reason, are just capable

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Speaker 1: of getting to their spots easier and making shots easier.

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Speaker 1: It's just part of the way the game changes as

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Speaker 1: you get to this phase. Now, again, I don't see

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Speaker 1: much of a gap between Trey Young and Anthony Edwards. Again,

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Speaker 1: these guys are all clustered up. But that's why I

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Speaker 1: gravitate towards that type of player. It's a similar type

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Speaker 1: of concept to Lebron James. There are a lot of

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Speaker 1: players over the last fifteen years that have been considerably

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Speaker 1: more skilled than Lebron James. Guys like Kevin Durant, Guys

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Speaker 1: like Steph Curry. Right, why is it that I would

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Speaker 1: even argue a guy like Paul George as like more

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Speaker 1: tangible skill in terms of like ball handling and shooting

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Speaker 1: than Lebron James. But from twenty twelve to twenty twenty,

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Speaker 1: none of those guys came remotely close to Lebron in

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Speaker 1: consistent productivity and impacting winning in the NBA playoffs, Like

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Speaker 1: not even close. I mean, that's why he's second in

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Speaker 1: the goat debate for me and first for many other people.

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Speaker 1: Why why is that? It's because he's bigger, stronger, faster,

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Speaker 1: and when the game gets super competitive and and physical

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Speaker 1: and the ref swallow the whistles, the dude who's bigger

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Speaker 1: and stronger just has a lot of success. And again,

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Speaker 1: like that, that's just the reality of the NBA playoffs.

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Speaker 1: That's why we see really weird outcomes. Like D'Angelo Russell

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Speaker 1: is a lot more skilled than Bruce Brown, but Bruce

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Speaker 1: Brown whooped his freaking ass in that Western Conference final series,

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Speaker 1: utterly embarrassed him, you know, Like even Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: one of the most skilled bigs in the league. Nicole

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Speaker 1: Jokic is also very skilled and probably more skilled than

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. But the reason why he whooped Anthony Davis's

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Speaker 1: ass is he's too big and strong for him. He

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Speaker 1: physically bullied Anthony Davis in Game four when he was

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Speaker 1: tied at one thirteen in the left corner. He had

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis on an island and he just ripped through

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Speaker 1: and just suck like shucked him off with his left

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Speaker 1: hand and went up and made it with his right like.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, this is a contact

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Speaker 1: sport and the bigger, stronger, more athletic players just tend

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Speaker 1: to play better. Four of the last five finals MVPs

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Speaker 1: were the strongest guys in the league at their position.

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Speaker 1: Nikole Jokicic last year, two years before that, Gianni Santanakompo

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Speaker 1: year before that, Lebron James year before that, Kawhi Leonard.

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Speaker 1: Once again. Steph is the exception that proves the rule,

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Speaker 1: which is what makes him so ridiculous. But basketball is

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Speaker 1: a contact sport. Overall, strength and athleticism wins most of

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Speaker 1: the time. And that is why I g gravitate towards

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Speaker 1: guys like Anthony Edwards and that's why I'm so high

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Speaker 1: on him. And I don't think it's a coincidence that

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Speaker 1: even at age twenty one, he's been so successful in

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Speaker 1: the NBA Playoff. It's because of that unbelievable, top tier,

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Speaker 1: unstoppable athletic set of tools that he has. Now it

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Speaker 1: has three primary areas for improvement, in my opinion, he

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Speaker 1: needs at a floater. He shot just thirty seven percent

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Speaker 1: on floaters in May, just thirty of them all season.

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Speaker 1: Why is that? It's just something that will help his

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Speaker 1: overall rim efficiency go up. Anthony shot sixty four percent

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Speaker 1: in the restricted area this year. That's very good compared

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Speaker 1: to guards. But with his build in his athleticism, he

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Speaker 1: should be closer to seventy percent, right, And a big

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Speaker 1: part of that, in my opinion, is he's constantly challenging

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Speaker 1: rim protectors. Adding a consistent floater so that he can

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Speaker 1: make a read and say, oh, I've got this rim

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Speaker 1: protector out of position, I'm going hard to the rim.

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Speaker 1: Or oh, he's waiting on me. This is going to

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Speaker 1: be a tough shot. Let me stop short and make

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Speaker 1: a little floater. Adding that to his game I think

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Speaker 1: is going to go a long way towards raising his

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Speaker 1: overall rim efficiency, raising his overall scoring volume, but also

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Speaker 1: reducing the wear and tear on his body. So I'd

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Speaker 1: like to see him out a floater. He needs to

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Speaker 1: improve as a playmaker. Just four point four assists to

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Speaker 1: three point three turnovers in the regular season this year

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Speaker 1: has been a tunnel vision. All of you Timberwolves fans

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Speaker 1: have noticed this for sure. Where you can just you

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Speaker 1: can just kind of tell when he's dribbling on the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: It's like he's gonna drive or he's going to take

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Speaker 1: a pull up jump shout. He's not looking to make

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Speaker 1: a play for his teammates. And the reason why that's

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Speaker 1: an issue is rim pressure opens up better passing opportunities

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Speaker 1: than anything else. That's just the best way to create

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Speaker 1: opportunities for your teammates. The defense just sucks into the paint,

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Speaker 1: all eyes are on you, and there's easy kickouts to

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Speaker 1: shooters and drop offs to dunkers. That's why you see

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Speaker 1: guys like John Murran and Russell Westbrook just rack up

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Speaker 1: so many assists. They just pack the paint too much

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Speaker 1: and all those easy opportunities are there. So there's no

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Speaker 1: reason with Anthony Edwards's ability to drive the basketball that

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Speaker 1: he should be below six assists per game, and I'd

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Speaker 1: like to see him get above that mark in the

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Speaker 1: next couple of years. Lastly, he needs to learn to

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Speaker 1: defend off the ball. Another big part of why I

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Speaker 1: have Anthony Ewards as high as I do is I

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Speaker 1: think he's apps absolutely frightening on the ball. Defensively, he

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Speaker 1: is too quick and too strong and when they allow

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Speaker 1: that physicality in the playoffs, he just puts dudes in jail.

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Speaker 1: And how many times did you watch during the regular

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Speaker 1: season this year him and Jaden McDaniels just completely shut

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Speaker 1: down the other two teams best perimeter players as Minnesota

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Speaker 1: grinded out a win on the defensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge part of why I'm so high on end.

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Speaker 1: I think he has better defensive potential than most of

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Speaker 1: the young players in the league, and that's crazy from

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Speaker 1: a six to six guard. But right now, he's a

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Speaker 1: pretty bad off ball defender. He consistently overhelps, leaves shooters

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Speaker 1: wide open, missus, box outs, all that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: That's all just like focus and reps and instincts that

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Speaker 1: he has to build over time. But it does undercut

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Speaker 1: his defensive value a bit. So if it can fix

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Speaker 1: that off ball defense element out of floater become a

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Speaker 1: better playmaker, that's where he enters into that superstar, top

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Speaker 1: ten player of the league conversation. But to be clear,

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Speaker 1: I expect him to be there within the next two

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Speaker 1: or three years. That's how good I think this kid is.

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Speaker 1: I already think he's really good right now and quite frankly,

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Speaker 1: I think the Wolves are going to be a playoff

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Speaker 1: team next year if they stay mostly healthy. Number fourteen

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Speaker 1: Damian Lillard quick recap of the season. Thirty two points,

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Speaker 1: five rebounds, seven assists, career high in points per game,

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Speaker 1: career high, sixty five percent true shooting, still one of

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Speaker 1: the most deadly shot makers in the league. Fifty six

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Speaker 1: percent effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers,

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Speaker 1: fifty four percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers,

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Speaker 1: forty five percent on floaters, three point five restricted area

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Speaker 1: makes per game on sixty three percent shooting, which is

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Speaker 1: like insanely good for a guard as small as Damian

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Speaker 1: Lillard is. He did add another level to his foul

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Speaker 1: grifting game this season. He had a career high eight

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Speaker 1: point eight made free throws per game, which is two

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Speaker 1: more than any season in his career. You've shot ninety

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Speaker 1: one percent there. And do you guys remember that list

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Speaker 1: of fifteen players that I had as like the high

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Speaker 1: volume pick and roll ball handlers that all ran at

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Speaker 1: least one thousand. Well, in that list of one thousand

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Speaker 1: high volume pick and roll players, out of those fifteen guys,

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Speaker 1: Dame finished second with only Luka Doncic ahead the Blazers

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Speaker 1: scored one point one to four points for Damian Lillard

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Speaker 1: pick and roll. Remember the two hundred and fifty ISO list,

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Speaker 1: that's my high volume ISO list. Twenty five players in

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Speaker 1: the league ran at least two hundred and fifty ISOs.

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Speaker 1: Dame finished third on that list, scoring one point one

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Speaker 1: to three points per possession. Also an outstanding playmaker with

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Speaker 1: a two point one seven assist to turnover ratio, he

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Speaker 1: is still one of the very best offensive engines in

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Speaker 1: the league. As a matter of fact, among the stars

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Speaker 1: in the league, only Nikole Jokic, Diaron Fox, and Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker logged higher offensive ratings than Damian Lillard did with

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Speaker 1: the Blazers. And that even though the Blazers do have

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Speaker 1: a decent amount of offensive talent, the Denver, Sacramento and

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Speaker 1: Phoenix teams had more offensive talent. But as we know,

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Speaker 1: Portland was a very flawed roster. It did not have

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Speaker 1: the interior defense that they needed to cover for the

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Speaker 1: defensive shortcomings of their back court, which for the record,

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Speaker 1: Dame plays a big part in. And so the Blazers

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Speaker 1: were pretty farrassingly bad this year. They finished the season

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Speaker 1: thirty three and forty nine. Missed the play in tournament entirely,

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Speaker 1: which is unacceptable, But to be clear, Dame did his

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Speaker 1: best to fight off those problems. They were much closer

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Speaker 1: to five hundred when he played. They were twenty seven

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Speaker 1: and thirty one. This is a crazy stat I put

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Speaker 1: on Twitter earlier today. They were plus one zh five

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Speaker 1: this season with Dame on the floor. That was a

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Speaker 1: better point differential than the Oklahoma City Thunder, for instance.

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Speaker 1: So they were actually a decent team when he was

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Speaker 1: on the floor, but they were minus four hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty four when he was off the floor, which is

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Speaker 1: absolutely insane. That's a big part of why I've been

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Speaker 1: in support of Damien's trade request. I think he's too

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Speaker 1: good to be wasted on a team this bad. Portland's

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Speaker 1: had more than enough opportunity to try to put a

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Speaker 1: contender around him, and they just haven't been able to.

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Speaker 1: So for me, it's kind of a waste of his

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Speaker 1: all time talent, and that's why I want to see

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Speaker 1: him in Miami now. If Dame is so good, if

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Speaker 1: I just laid out second best pick and roll guy

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Speaker 1: in the league, third best ISO guy in the league,

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Speaker 1: you know sixty four percent for reshoot on thirty two

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Speaker 1: points or sixty five per century shooting on thirty two

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Speaker 1: points per game, which is insane. Fourth best offensive rating

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Speaker 1: among stars in the league. If he's that high, why

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Speaker 1: is he down at fourteen? What is the difference here?

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Speaker 1: And yes, part of it is me, you know, punishing

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Speaker 1: so to speak, or factoring in the fact that he

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Speaker 1: missed the playoffs. But in my opinion, it has to

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Speaker 1: do with two key weaknesses. Because in my opinion, and

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Speaker 1: I genuinely believe this, I think Dame is every bit

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Speaker 1: as good as Steph Curry on the basketball in terms

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Speaker 1: of just giving him the ball, spread, floor, pick and

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Speaker 1: roll iso, Dame is just as good in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: But there are two massive areas that Steph is much

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Speaker 1: better than Damon And that's the difference between being the

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Speaker 1: fourteenth best player in the league and being much much

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Speaker 1: higher on the list the the way that I have Steph.

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Speaker 1: Those two things are Steph has committed himself to the

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Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor, which has all allowed him

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Speaker 1: to become an average to slightly above average defensive player,

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Speaker 1: whereas Dame is a significant negative on the defensive end

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Speaker 1: of the four that makes a big difference. Now, one

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Speaker 1: thing I'll say in Dame's defense there is Steph is

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Speaker 1: legitimately bigger. He's taller, as longer arms. That certainly helps.

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Speaker 1: The second piece of it is Steph does a really

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Speaker 1: good amount of his work offensively off the ball, which

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Speaker 1: helps in a bunch of different ways. It creates a

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Speaker 1: bunch of opportunities for his teammates through the gravity right

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Speaker 1: guys like Steph running off of a wide pin down

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Speaker 1: and both defenders running with him, leaving a cutter wide open,

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Speaker 1: or just a general chaosity causes running off the ball.

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Speaker 1: But also it allows him to have real variety in

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Speaker 1: his attack. He's not just sitting from the top of

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Speaker 1: the key attacking at a live pick and roll a

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Speaker 1: high pick and roll in ISO all the time. There

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Speaker 1: is a really good balance between his off ball action

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Speaker 1: and his on ball action. That is, to me a

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Speaker 1: significant part of what makes Steph a better playoff player

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Speaker 1: offensively excuse me, than Dame does. Even if we look

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Speaker 1: past the defense differences. Here's a stat to demonstrate what

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Dam and Staph both played about the

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Speaker 1: same amount of games this year. Steph played fifty six

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Speaker 1: games Dame played fifty eight. Steph ran eight hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty eight pick and rolls in ISOs. This year Dame

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Speaker 1: ran fifteen hundred and ninety nine, almost double. So the

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Speaker 1: live ball, all five eyes staring at you type of

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Speaker 1: plays Dame ran twice as often, and again we no

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Speaker 1: one's gonna complain. All the offensive numbers are there, sixty

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Speaker 1: five percent true shooting, thirty two points per game, All

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Speaker 1: the point per possession numbers are off the charts. But

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Speaker 1: that's not the first time we've seen a helio centric

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Speaker 1: player succeed in the regular season but then experience a

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Speaker 1: tailoff and efficiency when they get to the postseason. Steph

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Speaker 1: Curry is sixty one percent true shooting for his career

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs. That's counting the early years when he

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00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,960
Speaker 1: wasn't as good and the teams weren't as good. Dame

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Speaker 1: is at fifty six percent for his career. That chasm there,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, has a lot to do with the

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Speaker 1: off ball on ball balance, avoiding that redundancy and repetitiveness

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Speaker 1: of just pounding the ball at the top of the

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Speaker 1: key every single possession, which makes you easier to guard.

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Speaker 1: Over the course of a seven game series, and that's

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Speaker 1: not even counting all of the easy baskets that Steph

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Speaker 1: generates just by moving without the basketball and creating chaos

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Speaker 1: for the defense. And so again, like I'd believe, Dame

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Speaker 1: is every bit as good as Steph on the ball,

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Speaker 1: but because he doesn't embrace that off ball work that

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Speaker 1: Steph does and the defensive end just working hard to

431
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,879
Speaker 1: not be a problem. That's the difference between being a

432
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,720
Speaker 1: top tier, bona fide championship winning superstar and being what

433
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard is, which is just one of the best

434
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 1: offensive players in the league that has a ton of

435
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,320
Speaker 1: regular season success, but the playoff success isn't there to

436
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,720
Speaker 1: match it. Although I do want to say in Dame's defense,

437
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 1: Steph has definitely had better teams, but I also believe

438
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,120
Speaker 1: Steph is a better player. Those two concepts can both

439
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,760
Speaker 1: be true at the same time. So in summary, Dame

440
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 1: is one of the best offensive engines in the NBA.

441
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,840
Speaker 1: He's a heliocentric pull up shooter that's an above average passer,

442
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 1: top tier pick and roll ball handler, and top tier

443
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,800
Speaker 1: ISO guy in the league. But he's somewhat repetitive in

444
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 1: the way that he attacks and he's a bad defensive player,

445
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,960
Speaker 1: which have limited some of his top end playoff ceiling.

446
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,120
Speaker 1: But I personally am very excited to see Dame play

447
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: in Miami. I think Eric Spolstra is the best guy

448
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 1: to bring out the best of him on the defensive

449
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,000
Speaker 1: end and to weaponize him more as an off ball player,

450
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: especially with how much they like to run action with

451
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 1: Bam having the ball at the top of the key

452
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: or just with Jimmy Butler having the ball. So I

453
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,359
Speaker 1: think that this has a chance to be the year

454
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: where Damian Lillard kind of achieves the peak version of

455
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: himself as a basketball player, and that Heat team would

456
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,440
Speaker 1: be good enough to potentially win the title. And so again,

457
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,119
Speaker 1: we don't know for sure if he's going to Miami,

458
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,399
Speaker 1: but I would love to see him there because I

459
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 1: think we'd get to see the best version of Dame

460
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,720
Speaker 1: as a basketball player. All right. Number thirteen Shay Gildess

461
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,159
Speaker 1: Alexander another one of my favorite players. Spoiler alert, I

462
00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,280
Speaker 1: really like good basketball players. Season Reecat, this is shayspa out.

463
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,200
Speaker 1: You're finished fourth in the league and scoring at thirty

464
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 1: one point four points per game. Finished with thirty one points,

465
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: five rebounds, and six assists per game, sixty three percent

466
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: true shooting. At this point, he doesn't really have an

467
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 1: offensive weakness. He's the best rim pressuring guard in the

468
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: entire NBA. He led all guards with four point seven

469
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:20,360
Speaker 1: restricted area makes per game on sixty four percent shooting.

470
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: He is one of the deadliest short range pull up

471
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,120
Speaker 1: jump shooters in the league. He actually shot forty seven

472
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: percent on pull up jumpers overall. He also shot forty

473
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: four percent on floaters. All of that combined to make

474
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: Shay literally one of the very best paint scorers in

475
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,560
Speaker 1: the NBA. He averaged fifteen point nine points per game

476
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: in the paint. That was third place in the entire

477
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: league regardless of position. The only two guys ahead of

478
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 1: him are Giannis and Zion Williamson. So aside from the

479
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 1: two guys who literally all they do is bulldoze to

480
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: the basket, say Gildes, Alexander's the very best at getting

481
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 1: to and scoring in the paint. He also shot thirty

482
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,639
Speaker 1: six percent on pull up which is really good. Remember

483
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: that's one of the toughest shots in the game. Anything

484
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 1: over thirty five percent is really good. One point ninety

485
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 1: three assists to turnover ratio which is really good, and again,

486
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 1: playing with lesser offensive talent than you see elsewhere around

487
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 1: the league, gets to the foul line a ton ninety

488
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: one percent on eleven attempts per game. If you absolutely

489
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 1: had to pick a weakness to focus on, it would

490
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,640
Speaker 1: be his catch and shoot jump shot. He only shot

491
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 1: twenty eight percent on those, although they were all threes,

492
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 1: so it's forty two percent effective field goal percentage, but

493
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: he barely ever took them. He actually took them less

494
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: than once per game, and mostly a couple of reasons.

495
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 1: One he mostly had the ball in his hands, and two,

496
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: when he caught on the perimeter in a spot up situation,

497
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:38,560
Speaker 1: he tended to drive those closeouts. And guess what, he

498
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 1: was really good at that too. Despite shooting just twenty

499
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 1: eight percent on catch and shoot jumpers, Shay converted spot

500
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 1: up possessions at one point zero three points per possession,

501
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: which is above average. So he just really damn good

502
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,600
Speaker 1: at everything. And the one weakness he has is one

503
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 1: that doesn't really matter in this current situation. And my

504
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 1: guess is he played on a team with more talent

505
00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,879
Speaker 1: and he got more catch and shoot reps, he probably

506
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,679
Speaker 1: shoot better on catch shoot jumpers. All you basketball players know,

507
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 1: if you ever have to do a thing only once

508
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: per game or less, it's really hard to do it

509
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: well because you don't really build a rhythm in that

510
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 1: specific area. She's an old school guard, plays super physical,

511
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 1: works hard for easy shots at the rim, which is

512
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 1: a huge part of what makes him so efficiency efficient.

513
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,880
Speaker 1: He's way bigger than people think. He's six foot six

514
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 1: with a seven foot wingspan six eleven and a half wingspan.

515
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: He's capable of making every conceivable type of short range

516
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: shot from any footwork, from any dribble combination, from any

517
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: shooting pocket. If he needs to extend the release higher,

518
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: hold on to it longer, shoot it lower, shoot it

519
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 1: off to the side, shoot a float or shoot a

520
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,640
Speaker 1: jump shot, shoot a hook shot. He's got them all

521
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: and that is what makes him so difficult to guard,

522
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,120
Speaker 1: especially at the end of games. We saw him hit

523
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: several huge shots to win games this year, including making

524
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,199
Speaker 1: the game winner in the play in tournament against the

525
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 1: New Orleans Hornets. And that's why I actually do because

526
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 1: we've never actually seen him a playoff series as the

527
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 1: number one option, and that's a big part of why

528
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 1: he's down low on this list, like, Shaye made First

529
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,359
Speaker 1: Team All NBA and I have him thirteen and a

530
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,919
Speaker 1: big part of that is you got to see something

531
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: in the postseason, right, I mean, that's that's going to

532
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: be an important step for anybody to dislodge players that

533
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 1: we have above him on this list, But we are

534
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,120
Speaker 1: going to see him in those environments and I expect

535
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: him to succeed. And the main reason why is because

536
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: he's just so versatile and so creative that is incredibly

537
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,880
Speaker 1: unpredictable and difficult to guard in late game situations, which

538
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 1: is why he consistently gets to a spot that he

539
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: knows he can make a shot and he has a

540
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 1: high percentage chance of making it. So I'm very, very

541
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,639
Speaker 1: excited to see Shay gil just Alexander this year for

542
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:45,400
Speaker 1: the Thunder. I think they're going to make the postseason

543
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: this year. I think Shaye is the North American player,

544
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: so counting Canada in the United States, that is most

545
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: capable of challenging Giannis, Luca and Jokic over the course

546
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 1: of the next ten years. I'm excited. He got his

547
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: coming out party lot last year and I'm excited to

548
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 1: see him and what he can accomplish this year. All right, guys,

549
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today, Just two guys. Tomorrow,

550
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: I'm hitting number twelve and number eleven before we head

551
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,680
Speaker 1: into the final two weeks before we go one player

552
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: at a time. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support

553
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 1: and I will see you guys tomorrow. The volume