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Speaker 1: Slash ft ball All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're
Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Monday, everybody, ol ball of you
Speaker 1: guys had a great weekend. We've got a jam pack
Speaker 1: show for you. Today. It's Memphis Grizzlies Day. We're moving
Speaker 1: into one team at a time in our power ranking
Speaker 1: slash season previews, and today we're hitting the Memphis Grizzlies
Speaker 1: off the top, We're gonna do just like we've done
Speaker 1: for every other team. I'm going to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about their offseason, talk about just some specific storylines
Speaker 1: surrounding the team this year, some thoughts that I have
Speaker 1: about them on both ends of the floor, and then
Speaker 1: I'll give a little bit of a prediction of what
Speaker 1: I expect from them this season. And then after that
Speaker 1: the way this is gonna look a little different than
Speaker 1: what we did last week. Last week we were doing
Speaker 1: three teams per show. What we're gonna do this week
Speaker 1: is we're gonna do one team. Then we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a film session. I have eighteen clips of film we're
Speaker 1: gonna look at from last year in the brief stretches
Speaker 1: when John Moran was available. We're going to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about some of these concepts that we talk
Speaker 1: about in the show, but with a visual element to it.
Speaker 1: And then at the tail end of the show, I
Speaker 1: grabbed about a half dozen mail bag questions from you
Speaker 1: guys from all the videos we did last week, and
Speaker 1: so that's going to be the cadence for the next
Speaker 1: two weeks now before we start adding in some preseason reactions,
Speaker 1: because a week from Friday, we have our first preseason game, right,
Speaker 1: but for the next two weeks, you guys can count
Speaker 1: on Monday, Wednesday, Friday a team, a film session for
Speaker 1: that team, and then a mail bag that's going to
Speaker 1: be our format for our next six shows. You guys
Speaker 1: know the drop before we get started. Subscribed to Hoops
Speaker 1: Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt so you guys
Speaker 1: don't misshow announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, and then keep
Speaker 1: dropping mail bag questions in those YouTube comments so we
Speaker 1: can keep hitting them throughout the remainder of this year.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So we're changing tears, right,
Speaker 1: So the first nine teams that we hit from twenty
Speaker 1: to twelve or teams that are obviously very good, but
Speaker 1: teams that I don't think have a legitimate championship ceiling.
Speaker 1: The next eleven teams that we're covering all I think
Speaker 1: have a championship ceiling. Now the top four teams, which
Speaker 1: we're gonna be getting getting to a few weeks from now,
Speaker 1: those are teams that I think are just traditional bona
Speaker 1: fide top tier championship contenders. These are teams that check
Speaker 1: all the boxes you look for in teams that are
Speaker 1: actively pursuing the championship. They have flaws, but nothing that
Speaker 1: is like super super obvious and glaring. Right, Whereas the
Speaker 1: teams from five to eleven, These next seven teams that
Speaker 1: we're hitting, these are all teams that I think have
Speaker 1: a championship ceiling and legitimately have the talent and firepower necessary,
Speaker 1: but they have some bigger holes, some bigger issues that
Speaker 1: make them a little bit more vulnerable to specific matchups.
Speaker 1: And as soon as you start to need a lot
Speaker 1: of matchup luck on your way through the postseason, then
Speaker 1: you start to need some things to break in your favor.
Speaker 1: Every team gets luck on the way to the championship.
Speaker 1: Boston was pretty clearly the best team in the league
Speaker 1: last year, but they still got luck on their way
Speaker 1: to the championship. Right, That's part of the deal. You
Speaker 1: want luck, but some teams need luck, Like Boston could
Speaker 1: have won that title last year even if they faced
Speaker 1: tougher competition along the way. They just happened to benefit
Speaker 1: from some luck. If you look at these teams, in
Speaker 1: this tier from eleven to five. They need that shit.
Speaker 1: They need a team that kind of has their number
Speaker 1: to catch a tougher matchup in the second round and
Speaker 1: get eliminated, kind of like what happened to Denver last
Speaker 1: year to Dallas's benefit, right, Like, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of these different things that can break one way or another.
Speaker 1: An injury here, a bad match up there that can
Speaker 1: break your way, that could kind of clear a path
Speaker 1: for you to rise to the top. That's how I
Speaker 1: viewed this group. These are all teams that can win,
Speaker 1: they just need a lot of luck along the way. So,
Speaker 1: without any further deo, let's get started. Number eleven. The
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies not too much turnover in their roster. A
Speaker 1: couple of guys off towards the tail end of their rotation.
Speaker 1: Jordan Goodwin, Lamar Stevens and Zira Williams are all gone.
Speaker 1: They added Zach Ede in the draft. They added a
Speaker 1: bunch of late draft and undrafted type of guys where
Speaker 1: it's really difficult to see them playing a huge role
Speaker 1: this year. But obviously the biggest change is the return
Speaker 1: of John Morant. This is John Morant, who's missed roughly
Speaker 1: eighty percent of this team's last one hundred or so
Speaker 1: games for various reasons, including injuries and off court stuff.
Speaker 1: And if he obviously can have a little bit better
Speaker 1: luck on the injury front this year, it should make
Speaker 1: a very, very different Memphis Grizzlies team. Now, a simple
Speaker 1: stat to demonstrate for you guys just how important John
Speaker 1: Morant is to this team. Last season, when John Morant
Speaker 1: was on the floor, the Grizzlies were plus eleven on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. They were minus five hundred and eighty five.
Speaker 1: When he was off the floor, they went six and three.
Speaker 1: In the nine games that Jamran played in, they went
Speaker 1: twenty one and fifty two in the set what's at
Speaker 1: seventy three games that he didn't play in, So just
Speaker 1: fundamentally alters them from a bad basketball team to a
Speaker 1: very good basketball team. Just with that addition of Jaman.
Speaker 1: There's an additional injury bad luck last year obviously, as
Speaker 1: we know, Marcus Smart missed a good chunk of the year.
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of stuff that went wrong for the Grizzlies,
Speaker 1: and they're hoping to have a better run through things
Speaker 1: this year. Now. The upside to Jaw having his tough
Speaker 1: year was a couple things. First of all, the Grizzlies
Speaker 1: got a high draft pick, right, you got to pick
Speaker 1: in the top ten. That nets you Zach Edy, right,
Speaker 1: A player I think will be really effective in some matchups. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have some matchups that he'll struggle against. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk a lot about that today, just like what
Speaker 1: specific looks Zach Edy can play against versus where he's
Speaker 1: gonna struggle. What Memphis needs to do to actually keep
Speaker 1: him on the floor as much as possible. Right. The
Speaker 1: one of the upsides is the remainder of their kind
Speaker 1: of like core line up, right, So, like they're starting
Speaker 1: group that Jaron Jackson, Marcus Smart, Desmond Paine, and John
Speaker 1: Morant a lot of foot speed and they can really
Speaker 1: cover ground in rotation. You guys are going to see
Speaker 1: some examples of that in our film session today. But like,
Speaker 1: they're fast, and I think that that'll unlock a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunity to make good use of the good things
Speaker 1: that Zachi Edy brings to the table. But they also
Speaker 1: found some young talent in their system last year. That's
Speaker 1: the benefit of getting a lot of reps for players
Speaker 1: that you don't know much about You learn a lot
Speaker 1: about him in a season like last year. So Vince
Speaker 1: Williams Junior. A big, athletic guard that can defend a
Speaker 1: couple of different types of positions. He shot forty one
Speaker 1: percent on unguarded catch and shoot threes last year. Also,
Speaker 1: just a really active off ball players, great cutter. He
Speaker 1: can jump quickly off of two feet and dunk in traffic,
Speaker 1: which makes him a useful cutter. A lot of guards
Speaker 1: struggle with that. He's great at screening and slipping into
Speaker 1: the paint where you can finish in traffic. He's just
Speaker 1: a really solid role player wing, and you know, those
Speaker 1: are just hard to find in the league, and anytime
Speaker 1: you can find one of those, that's a legitimate value
Speaker 1: add to your roster. And then Gigi Jackson, who hurt
Speaker 1: his foot and he's probably gonna miss the start of
Speaker 1: the season, but he's a really interesting and versatile forward.
Speaker 1: He had twelve twenty point games last year, four thirty
Speaker 1: point games, and had a career best forty four points
Speaker 1: in a game against Denver towards the end of the
Speaker 1: season in April. He's a guy that I could see
Speaker 1: them using in a bunch of different contexts, but especially
Speaker 1: in situations where Zach Edy can't play. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that I think would be really interesting at the four
Speaker 1: next to Jaron Jackson to try to kind of piece
Speaker 1: that lineup together. So some upside to the fact that
Speaker 1: John Moran missed most of last season, and that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the most interesting lineup conundrum for this team this year.
Speaker 1: What are they gonna do with that four or five
Speaker 1: position right now? I actually really like the three guard
Speaker 1: look for them. I was skeptical about it. Three guards.
Speaker 1: It just puts a lot of challenge on everybody to
Speaker 1: play hard all the time. Because again, when you're not big,
Speaker 1: big is there every night, right, Like your size, You're
Speaker 1: not going to show up to a game in February
Speaker 1: and not be giant, right. But when you are undersized,
Speaker 1: you have to make up for a lack of size
Speaker 1: with activity and foot speed right, and athleticism in length
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing candeb and flowed right. So
Speaker 1: a lot of times like three guard looks I can
Speaker 1: get a little worried about around the league, especially especially
Speaker 1: teams that like have a little bit of like an
Speaker 1: age related issue. Golden State, for instance, A lot of
Speaker 1: three guard lineups, but they were a little older, a
Speaker 1: little slower, and they struggled as a result of that. Right,
Speaker 1: I actually really like this look from Memphis. They got
Speaker 1: guys with good motors who play hard, and they compete
Speaker 1: in the physical areas of the game, specifically Desmon Band
Speaker 1: and Marcus Smart. Although we're going to talk a lot
Speaker 1: about John Moran on defense today, I didn't watch a
Speaker 1: ton of Memphis last year for obvious reasons, and going
Speaker 1: back to watch a bunch of men Memphis over the
Speaker 1: course of my prep for this video, was really really
Speaker 1: impressed by John Moran on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna spend some time talking about that later.
Speaker 1: But those three guys with Marcus Smart, Desmond Maine, John
Speaker 1: Moran all on the floor together, they only played two
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty nine possessions for obvious reasons involving the
Speaker 1: injuries and stuff with jaw. But according to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 1: in those two hundred and sixty nine possessions, they outscored
Speaker 1: opponents by ten point one points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: That's really really good, and they were exceptionally good on defense.
Speaker 1: They had a one h four defensive rating with that group.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, a lot of foot speed. Marcus Martin
Speaker 1: Desmond Bain take the two primary point of attack assignments
Speaker 1: and they just work their asses off. They deny catches
Speaker 1: off the ball, They fight guys off of spots and
Speaker 1: make them catch in places that are a little bit
Speaker 1: unusual for them. They're great at disrupting rhythm. They a
Speaker 1: lot of times Memphis will just try to switch between
Speaker 1: those two, so like Bain and Smart will switch any
Speaker 1: actions with the two best perimeter players. But then they'll
Speaker 1: like hedge and recover with jaw and like the last
Speaker 1: Xavier Tillman to like obviously when he was on the
Speaker 1: team last year, to just kind of chase and navigate
Speaker 1: around things, and just to try to keep Desmond Bane
Speaker 1: and Marcus Smart on their matchups. But they do a
Speaker 1: really nice job. John does a really nice job in
Speaker 1: the hedge and recover. Jared Jackson is good at obviously
Speaker 1: to help and help stuff around the basket, blocking shots,
Speaker 1: but he's also good at getting out in space, both
Speaker 1: on switches but also blitzing. There's a lot of really
Speaker 1: good blitz looks that I saw from Memphis over the
Speaker 1: course of my film session. I've got I think two
Speaker 1: examples of it that you'll see in the film session today.
Speaker 1: But it's not hard to figure out why they defend well.
Speaker 1: They just got guys that are active and quick, and
Speaker 1: Marcus and Desmond are both so strong that they can
Speaker 1: guard up and they can guard some of these scoring
Speaker 1: forwards around the league, and so not hard to see
Speaker 1: why they were an effective defense with that group. But
Speaker 1: we also know that when Memphis has three guards on
Speaker 1: the floor, they want to go big understandably, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you have three guards, you want to have lots
Speaker 1: of size on the front line to try to balance
Speaker 1: that out. So they played a lot of Xavier Tillman
Speaker 1: next to Jaron Jackson last year. But Tilman is a
Speaker 1: unique player, right, Like he's not the most vertical like
Speaker 1: athlete in the world, but he moves pretty well as
Speaker 1: smart defender, can keep up reasonably well in space, can
Speaker 1: guard some forwards, right, So, like he's a very different
Speaker 1: type of player than Zachi Dye Zaki. He's going to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more of a challenge to try
Speaker 1: to like build that type of scheme around. So the
Speaker 1: questions will the questions will be There's two that I
Speaker 1: kind of look at here, how often can they actually
Speaker 1: go with Edie at the five, and what will they
Speaker 1: look like when he's not at the five? So how
Speaker 1: often they can get away with actually playing Edie at
Speaker 1: the five will depend entirely on how effective their scheme
Speaker 1: is with him on the floor. So like, for instance,
Speaker 1: can you keep him out of ball screens certain matchups?
Speaker 1: Kind of like what Boston would do with porzingis if
Speaker 1: you can get away with putting your center on the
Speaker 1: worst forward, not necessarily the center for the other team,
Speaker 1: but the worst forward for the other team, a guy
Speaker 1: that doesn't dribble super well, that teams want to kind
Speaker 1: of tuck away in the opposite side of the floor,
Speaker 1: then you can keep him out of screening actions, right.
Speaker 1: That'll prevent him from having to navigate up and down
Speaker 1: from the to the level and back to the basket
Speaker 1: and to handle super quick guards in space and in
Speaker 1: those sorts of situations. If they tuck him in the corner,
Speaker 1: if they tuck Edie's man in the corner, he can
Speaker 1: be the low man right where he can kind of
Speaker 1: help on ball screens but recover out to the shooter.
Speaker 1: And then if they actually set screens with that forward,
Speaker 1: that forward will have to pop above the brake. That's
Speaker 1: the issue that we learned from the finals with Dallas
Speaker 1: in Boston, right, Like, because of the paint being clogged
Speaker 1: by the center, if they use the forward to set
Speaker 1: the ball screen, he can't roll into the paint because
Speaker 1: there's just too many bodies in there, so he has
Speaker 1: no choice but to pop above the brake. And as
Speaker 1: we saw with Boston, if you concede above the break
Speaker 1: threes to mediocre shooters that have to do it on
Speaker 1: the move slipping out of a screen, they don't really
Speaker 1: make the defense pay very much. So I would imagine
Speaker 1: that meant will try to tuck Zach Edy on a
Speaker 1: weak defensive forward, specifically with teams that don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of ball in player movement and teams that have
Speaker 1: a weaker forward that's an like an iffy above the
Speaker 1: break shooter and a guy that's not going to run action.
Speaker 1: In those cases, you can tuck Edy there because then
Speaker 1: you have Jaron Jackson defend the ball screen and you
Speaker 1: can have Ed just kind of sitting in help. Right,
Speaker 1: If they do have to put Edy on a center, say,
Speaker 1: for instance, the forwards are too skilled offensively, and so
Speaker 1: you need to use Jaron Jackson there. Then that's where
Speaker 1: you can have a couple of different looks. Right, you
Speaker 1: can have a low drop coverage. This is where you're
Speaker 1: asking your guards to chase over the top and you're
Speaker 1: keeping ed back at the basket protecting the rim. Right,
Speaker 1: But that just puts a lot of effort on your guards,
Speaker 1: a lot of responsibility on your guards to chase over
Speaker 1: the top, to stay attached so that they can funnel
Speaker 1: into your big name. But the upside there is is
Speaker 1: you're defending the action two on two. The more you
Speaker 1: defend the action two on two, the less you're asking
Speaker 1: Edie to fly around in rotation. The less you ask
Speaker 1: Edie to fly around in rotation the better, because that's
Speaker 1: where I think he could struggle. When you defend actions
Speaker 1: two on two, there aren't easy wide open kickout passes.
Speaker 1: When there aren't easy wide open kickout passes, they can't
Speaker 1: play drive and kick. If they can't play drive and kick,
Speaker 1: then you're not in rotation. Edie doesn't have to run
Speaker 1: around as much. Now we've seen teams like Milwaukee take
Speaker 1: a slower footed big a guy like Brook Lopez and
Speaker 1: bring him up to the level sometimes against really good
Speaker 1: pull up shooters, right, bring him up to the level,
Speaker 1: and then they have Giannis kind of use his superpower
Speaker 1: his ability to do both, like to be able to
Speaker 1: step over and help on the role man, because again,
Speaker 1: if you bring your center out to the level of
Speaker 1: the screen, that means the screener is probably gonna get
Speaker 1: behind him. If the screener gets behind him, that's where
Speaker 1: your lowman has to come over and help, right. Well,
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson can do that too. I think Jared Jackson
Speaker 1: has the ability to get in there to help in
Speaker 1: lowman situations while also recovering out to the corner Giannis
Speaker 1: did for Milwaukee. So those are the three different looks
Speaker 1: that I could see working for Edie. Again, guarding a
Speaker 1: weaker forward against teams that don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: ball in player movement because they'll tuck him away or
Speaker 1: where Edie can help and recover, or they'll bring him
Speaker 1: into the action but who cares because you'll have to
Speaker 1: pop above the break where he's not going to be
Speaker 1: able to do anything anyway, right, or in ball screen
Speaker 1: coverages low drop or high drop, just depending on what
Speaker 1: the matchup looks like. But I think they're going to
Speaker 1: be able to use him as long as one they're
Speaker 1: not playing super fast teams that kill and transition. Teams
Speaker 1: like Sacramento, teams like teams like Oklahoma City, teams like
Speaker 1: Indiana like those are the kinds of teams that are
Speaker 1: gonna get in a foot race up and down the
Speaker 1: floor and cause Edy some problems. And then teams with
Speaker 1: a lot of ball and player movement that flow side
Speaker 1: to side and ask Edie to guard lots of action
Speaker 1: and to make lots of decisions and to defend a
Speaker 1: lot in space. Those are teams that I think can
Speaker 1: cause Edie some issues. But against most of the teams
Speaker 1: in the league, I think they're going to be able
Speaker 1: to get away with putting him in one of those
Speaker 1: defensive situations that I talked about earlier. But he's going
Speaker 1: to bring so much to the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: And that's the main reason too. You got to look
Speaker 1: at it here, is like even in situations where you're
Speaker 1: losing some on the defensive end of the floor, he's
Speaker 1: going to bring a lot offensively. He's going to set
Speaker 1: really good screens that are going to get John Morant
Speaker 1: going downhill He's going to catch and finish everything around
Speaker 1: the rim. At Purdue, Zachied shot forty five percent on hooks,
Speaker 1: sixty four percent on layups, seventy six percent at the rim. Overall,
Speaker 1: that's really good. He's going to get a bunch of
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds on plays where John Morant challenges the rim
Speaker 1: protector and misses layups. He's a good free throw shooter.
Speaker 1: He's got a back to the back, back to the
Speaker 1: basket game, and this is what I like about the
Speaker 1: concept of having him with Jared Jackson. Jared Jackson had
Speaker 1: another monster year as a post player last year. He
Speaker 1: made our high volume list. There are eighteen players in
Speaker 1: the NBA that attempt at least two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: post ups, and Jared Jackson got one point zero seven
Speaker 1: points per possession, which ranked seventh out of those eighteen players.
Speaker 1: So like an upper half high volume post up player
Speaker 1: in the league. Last year, Jared Jackson was shot forty
Speaker 1: nine percent on hook shots. Like, we're gonna show you
Speaker 1: a couple of clips from a game against the Pelicans
Speaker 1: this year where Jaron Jackson basically ice the game in overtime,
Speaker 1: just going to work in the post, and so If
Speaker 1: he's getting the best post defender, Eadie could get some
Speaker 1: really favorable matchups. Edie's gonna get some favorable matchups. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be some situations where he draws a defender in
Speaker 1: a switch and they're gonna be able to throw him
Speaker 1: the ball, and he's gonna be able to play with
Speaker 1: his back to the basket, get to that left shoulder
Speaker 1: hook and pass out of double teams and make a
Speaker 1: lot of really good things happen. I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a positive fit in Memphis. I know there's some
Speaker 1: concerns and there are gonna be some nights where you're like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: this guy just can't play. But I think more often
Speaker 1: than not, he's gonna be a positive impact from Memphis. Now,
Speaker 1: when Edie can't play, where do you go from there? Well,
Speaker 1: Brandon Clark rejoined the team towards the tail end of
Speaker 1: last year. Looked more or less like Brandon Clark. That
Speaker 1: could be an option Gigi Jackson, although he's injured to
Speaker 1: start the year. I like him as a big, athletic
Speaker 1: four that can also knock down three point shots. Santi
Speaker 1: al Dama, though ironically, was their statistically best look last
Speaker 1: year next to those four guys, he played forty three
Speaker 1: possessions alongside Jaron Jackson, Marcus mart John Morant, and Desmond Bain.
Speaker 1: They were plus ten net rating great on both ends
Speaker 1: of the four Again, really small sample, that's like barely
Speaker 1: a not even half of a game, But in those
Speaker 1: minutes they looked pretty good With Santi al damas, Santi
Speaker 1: just brings an offensive skill element, a spacing element to it. Again,
Speaker 1: this was a team that their one big achilles heel
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years has been spacing right like.
Speaker 1: This was a bottom five spot up efficiency team, not
Speaker 1: just last year when everyone was hurt, but the previous
Speaker 1: year as well. Teams packed the paint, teams test John
Speaker 1: Moran's ability to make kickout passes and guys' ability to
Speaker 1: capitalize on that. Santi al Dama, in his growth over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, has given them a really
Speaker 1: good option there. But again, in those situations, you're not
Speaker 1: as big, you're not as athletic, but you have more
Speaker 1: of that offensive skill in those situations. I really like
Speaker 1: what this team looks like offensively with the three guards.
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart, you know, he has a little bit of
Speaker 1: the Dylan Brooks, like, every once in a while, Marcus
Speaker 1: Smart will take a really bad shot or co opt
Speaker 1: a possession he shouldn't take. But Marcus Smart offensively is
Speaker 1: just on another stratosphere as a dribble, shoot, pass decision
Speaker 1: maker than Dylan Brooks was right, and so like, I
Speaker 1: actually love his fit there. He makes really quick decisions.
Speaker 1: He's a gifted playmaker, and he's not afraid to be
Speaker 1: aggressive if that's what the situation calls for. And I
Speaker 1: thought the best indicator of this was the Grizzlies were
Speaker 1: an excellent clutch team last year when John Morant was playing.
Speaker 1: They went three to one. They were really solid on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. They had a one to
Speaker 1: fifteen offensive rating and ninety four defensive rating. They were
Speaker 1: plus twenty one per one hundred possessions in clutch situations
Speaker 1: last year with John Morant on the floor. They really
Speaker 1: One of the things you'll notice is on the large
Speaker 1: sample for this Memphis team, they're a little rudimentary in
Speaker 1: what they do, Like they freelance a lot. The vast
Speaker 1: majority of their possessions. You'll just see either Jaw or
Speaker 1: Desmond or Marcus just run some sort of like two
Speaker 1: man game on one side of the floor, and they'll
Speaker 1: just kind of play basketball out of that. They don't
Speaker 1: run up the floor and run sets very often into
Speaker 1: large sample like joh will just come up and run
Speaker 1: a clear side ball screen, Desmond Bain will drible up
Speaker 1: the floor, do a give and go with Jaron Jackson
Speaker 1: or Xavier Tillman on the wing just to start the possession,
Speaker 1: or Marcus Smart will drible up the floor just start
Speaker 1: backing his man down in the post until a second
Speaker 1: defender comes over, and then they'll just play basketball out
Speaker 1: of that. It's pretty rudimentary, but at the end of games,
Speaker 1: Taylor Jenkins really like kind of strangles control of the
Speaker 1: offense and starts to get them to run sets, and
Speaker 1: they run a lot of horns, a lot of three
Speaker 1: man action. And this is where Marcus Smart being in
Speaker 1: there helps a lot, because what they'll do is they'll
Speaker 1: have Marcus Smart as that third offensive player in the action.
Speaker 1: So instead of just a ball screen with John Moran
Speaker 1: and a big, they'll include Marcus Smart in that action
Speaker 1: because he inevitably ends up getting open and then from
Speaker 1: there he's really good at playing advantage basketball. Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: is a guy that if you leave him wide open,
Speaker 1: he can hit the three, but he's really good at
Speaker 1: driving closeouts and making that next pass. And so they
Speaker 1: would set like the Horn sets up where John Moran
Speaker 1: would come off of like a Tillman screen, and then
Speaker 1: they would have a second screening action with Marcus Smart,
Speaker 1: and then they would kick back to Marcus Smart, who
Speaker 1: would then rip through and they'd have Desmond Baine on
Speaker 1: that side of the floor. So the guy that's getting
Speaker 1: the first read from Marcus Smart is Desmond Bain. Desmond
Speaker 1: Bain is deadly on the catch. He's one of the
Speaker 1: better high difficulty closeout attackers in the league, meaning like
Speaker 1: obviously he can knock down the open three, obviously he
Speaker 1: gat a one dribble pull up, but he also if
Speaker 1: you give him a hard close out, he can hit
Speaker 1: some really advanced pro scoring moves in the mid range
Speaker 1: to get two decent looks, and so that makes them
Speaker 1: really hard to guard in the clutch. There was a
Speaker 1: play a sequence against the Pelicans in a clutch game.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go over it in our film session where
Speaker 1: they just spammed Horn's chest so they would have John
Speaker 1: Moran at the top of the key Marcus Smart at
Speaker 1: the left elbow, Xavier Tillman on the right elbow. John
Speaker 1: would dribble off Marcus Smart, and then Marcus Smart would
Speaker 1: come off Tillman and John Moran would work downhill try
Speaker 1: to see if he could get into the lane, but
Speaker 1: then he'd swing it back to Marcus. Marcus would drip
Speaker 1: through the close out and they'd keep Desmond bain in
Speaker 1: that corner. So he was benefiting from that attention that
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart was bringing. I like they play a really
Speaker 1: really good brand of basketball on both ends of the
Speaker 1: floor when things get tight. I really enjoyed watching them.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be an interesting team that
Speaker 1: has a pretty high ceiling this year. A couple other
Speaker 1: things you'll see. They will run sets off ball for Baines.
Speaker 1: Sometimes like they'll bring the ball off the floor and
Speaker 1: bain will just come off of like some sort of
Speaker 1: wide pin down so that he can come catch around
Speaker 1: the elbow and look to shoot. They'll usually run a
Speaker 1: set in a dead ball situation, usually like a five
Speaker 1: out action, something like a Chicago or something like that,
Speaker 1: or just a pin down into a dribble handoff. But
Speaker 1: again during the large portion of the game, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of freelancing, but they get really deliberate about their
Speaker 1: execution in crunch time, which is what good basketball teams do.
Speaker 1: I was really impressed by their defense though, again, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, Marcus Martin Desmond Bain, they just work
Speaker 1: so hard on the ball. Marcus Smart usually takes the
Speaker 1: toughest matchup, but both guys are capable of guarding bigger,
Speaker 1: stronger forwards, so they can switch those sorts of things.
Speaker 1: They they force guys off of their spots. They do
Speaker 1: a really nice job there. But again, I want to
Speaker 1: just shout out John Morant. By far. The most shocking
Speaker 1: thing to me as I was watching the film today
Speaker 1: was like John Morant just competes his ass off on
Speaker 1: the defense of the floor, a defensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: and does his job. Is he a guy that's going
Speaker 1: to guard at the point of attack and chase over
Speaker 1: the top of screens and be a shutdown defensive guard. No.
Speaker 1: Is he a guy that's going to be like a
Speaker 1: anchor to your defense. No? But again, what you need
Speaker 1: from star guards is not all defense level contributions. You
Speaker 1: just need them to not hurt your overall team concept. Right,
Speaker 1: What that usually means is when they relentlessly attack you,
Speaker 1: which they will, and teams still do that. They try
Speaker 1: to attack John Moran at the end of games, but
Speaker 1: all he has to do is prevent the switch while
Speaker 1: also preventing his man from getting an open look that
Speaker 1: is usually a hedge and recover that requires foot speed
Speaker 1: and just commit to those details. John did a really
Speaker 1: nice job last season showing out stopping those that a
Speaker 1: ball handler from turning the corner and then recovering out
Speaker 1: to the shooter. I want to give you guys a
Speaker 1: much more detailed example of that when we get to
Speaker 1: our film session, so I'm gonna wait for right now.
Speaker 1: But he also had some really good on ball possessions
Speaker 1: when he got forced into switches. And if John Moran's
Speaker 1: gonna compete like that defensively, they could be a top
Speaker 1: ten defense this year. And if they're a top ten
Speaker 1: defense this year, sky's a limit for this group. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be really good. I think John Mouran
Speaker 1: has a legit superpower. He's incredibly difficult to deal with
Speaker 1: one on one. His short range scoring is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things to watch in the league right now.
Speaker 1: Like it's not about like getting to these nifty to
Speaker 1: fifteen foot pull up jump shots. It's just he wants
Speaker 1: to get really really quick first, like that first step
Speaker 1: dribble penetration going to his left, and then he wants
Speaker 1: to just plant that foot hard right around like six
Speaker 1: or seven feet from the basket, and then instead of
Speaker 1: trying to go through everybody at the basket, he just
Speaker 1: kind of pops up off the ground and leans back
Speaker 1: a little bit and shoots that little floater over the top,
Speaker 1: and he's just deadly with it. He was thirteen for
Speaker 1: twenty on floaters last year in his small sample size.
Speaker 1: That's sixty five percent. Like that is a really really
Speaker 1: useful go to scoring move. They have all sorts of
Speaker 1: skill in playmaking around him to capitalize on the attention
Speaker 1: he draws. I think de Marcus smart fit makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. I think they're gonna be a top
Speaker 1: ten defense this year. Really, it just comes down to
Speaker 1: how good they're gonna be offensively against the best defenses
Speaker 1: in slow down situations. I think they're gonna win a
Speaker 1: ton of regular season games, though I would be personally
Speaker 1: surprised if they didn't finish above the plan. My main
Speaker 1: concerns are health. Like we talked about earlier, John Moranch
Speaker 1: just missing so much time. He needs to be available.
Speaker 1: This team needs him. And then two, that half court
Speaker 1: defense when they face elite defenses in the playoffs. They've
Speaker 1: been a bottom five spot up team two years in
Speaker 1: a row. Teams are going to pack the paint and
Speaker 1: try to dare John Morant to pick them apart with
Speaker 1: the pass. Obviously they've struggled with that in the past,
Speaker 1: but we haven't seen that with Marcus Smart in the
Speaker 1: picture yet. And I liked what I saw in the
Speaker 1: small sample in the regular season last year. So I
Speaker 1: think this team is really good. I think they have
Speaker 1: a legitimate championship ceiling. They're at the bottom of that
Speaker 1: list for me right now, and most of that is
Speaker 1: I just haven't seen enough of them compared to some
Speaker 1: of the teams that are above them. But this team
Speaker 1: has a dis Guy's a little bit for this team.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what they can achieve this year.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into some of the film, Okay.
Speaker 1: So our first clip is an example of some of
Speaker 1: the offball action they run for Desmond Baines. So, like again,
Speaker 1: as I talked about earlier, for the most part, So
Speaker 1: many of their possessions are just gonna start with John
Speaker 1: Moran bringing the ball up the floor and just Xavier
Speaker 1: Tillman setting a ball screen Marcus Smart clear the side.
Speaker 1: They would like just play advantage basketball off of a
Speaker 1: simple action to start the possession. When they run stuff
Speaker 1: in the half court and the meat potatoes of the game,
Speaker 1: it's usually an off ball action for Desmond Bain. So
Speaker 1: here's an example of that. And as you can see,
Speaker 1: it's very simple. They're running. All they're doing is they're
Speaker 1: running Desmond Bane off of a They're running Desmond Bane
Speaker 1: off of a little screen from Tilman here. So he's
Speaker 1: gonna like loop back around Tilman this way right, But
Speaker 1: if you watch, you can actually see a man you
Speaker 1: will quickly jump it. He jumps way through this gap
Speaker 1: here and as a result, Desmond Bain is able to
Speaker 1: batcut it. And when he backcuts it, John Murray hits
Speaker 1: him with a really nice left handed pass like this
Speaker 1: is left handed pass from Jaw hits him in the
Speaker 1: pocket and even though R. J. Barrett makes his rotation,
Speaker 1: his stance is open, so Desmond Bain's able to get
Speaker 1: into his body and just shield him with his left
Speaker 1: arm there and finish. But that's an example of an
Speaker 1: off ball set that they'll run for Bain, here's an
Speaker 1: example of just your classic flow offense that Memphis will
Speaker 1: run again. So here we go. Look, we're just dribbling
Speaker 1: the ball off the floor. We're not gonna run a set.
Speaker 1: Let's just throw the ball to jaw. We're gonna throw
Speaker 1: the ball a jaw. Now we're gonna clear the side.
Speaker 1: Now we're just gonna run a ball screen. So again,
Speaker 1: like this is the way they play for the most
Speaker 1: part over the course of the regular season. In the
Speaker 1: meat and potatoes of games, they just play two main
Speaker 1: game and then just try to play off of that.
Speaker 1: Here we're going to see a they kind of ice
Speaker 1: the coverage. They're kind of funneling him towards the sideline.
Speaker 1: One of the ways to beat ice is mid range
Speaker 1: pull up shooting. You're gonna see John Morant just hit
Speaker 1: a little step back jump shot here on the baseline. Alrighty,
Speaker 1: this is another example of off ball action for Desmond Bain.
Speaker 1: Let's fast forward here a little bit. We're gonna swing
Speaker 1: the ball to jaw. Now we're gonna run this off
Speaker 1: ball action oh, this is our ball screen again. We
Speaker 1: got repeated, my bad guys. Let's get back to our
Speaker 1: off ball action. There we go. As you can see,
Speaker 1: we have John Ran here, Desmond Bain's starting on the
Speaker 1: left wing. Xavier Tillman is gonna go set a screen.
Speaker 1: As he sets that screen, desmon Man gets that little
Speaker 1: bit of separation, gets to his spot here at that
Speaker 1: right elbow, and he's one of the best mid range
Speaker 1: pull up shooters in the league. Just gets his lift
Speaker 1: and takes off. Here's an example of some of the
Speaker 1: freelance offense that Desmond bain will run. So again, we
Speaker 1: got a typical half court possession here, no advantage, nothing
Speaker 1: in transition. We're not running a set. We're just clearing
Speaker 1: the side. So Marcus Smart's gonna clear the side. Desmen
Speaker 1: Bain's just gonna throw the ball to Tilman and then
Speaker 1: he's gonna cut hard. Again. That's another way to counter
Speaker 1: ball pressure too. Instead of dribbling against the ball pressure,
Speaker 1: just pass it and cut it. Still functions just like
Speaker 1: a ball screen. Watch as he comes off. Now we
Speaker 1: have two on the ball and Tilman's rolling into space.
Speaker 1: There's a little bit of an off ball action here.
Speaker 1: As you could see, John Morant and Santi al Dama
Speaker 1: are sitting like a double wide pin down from Marcus Smart.
Speaker 1: That brings these two guys a little bit late in
Speaker 1: their help rotation, so Tilman can get all the way
Speaker 1: to the basket and finish. This is a little detail
Speaker 1: in basketball that is so underutilized around the league. But
Speaker 1: if you run off ball action, it makes it harder
Speaker 1: for guys to help. Look at what these guys are doing.
Speaker 1: All of these guys Gary, Trent, Emmanuel quickly and I
Speaker 1: think that's Siakam. They're all keyed in on this little
Speaker 1: off sequencing. Joss pointing, Jos's pointing at Santy. He's like,
Speaker 1: let's go set this screen. This is just freelance basketball.
Speaker 1: This isn't even a set. It's literally freelance basketball. He's
Speaker 1: pointing at him to screen down. They run him off.
Speaker 1: As a result, these guys are just slow to get
Speaker 1: into the lane on their tag until Man gets a layup.
Speaker 1: Here's another example of freelance basketball in the form of
Speaker 1: just a Marcus Smart post up. So we're gonna get
Speaker 1: just dribble on the ball off the floor. We're gonna
Speaker 1: pass the ball over here to Marcus Smart, why don't
Speaker 1: we just post up? Okay, like, everybody, get out of
Speaker 1: the way. We don't need to run a set. Just
Speaker 1: get out of the way. We're getting in the lane.
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart identifies that that relocation there from Conchar. Watch
Speaker 1: his contract. After he makes the pass, he cuts through.
Speaker 1: So he cuts through the lane. Now it's tougher for
Speaker 1: Scotty Barnes to keep an eye on man and ball
Speaker 1: and look at Scotty Barnes. Scotty Barnes leaves Conchar to
Speaker 1: double team Marcus Smart. Marcus Smart throws the bounce pass
Speaker 1: that forces R. J. Barrett to rotate and help. Now
Speaker 1: Santy al Dama gets an open look, he travels. They
Speaker 1: end up calling a travel here. But that's a really
Speaker 1: good close out opportunity for Santi al Dama without really
Speaker 1: having to run offense, just by just throwing the ball
Speaker 1: to Marcus Smart and letting him post up. So as
Speaker 1: you can see, like it's a lot of really simple
Speaker 1: and easy basketball and the meat and potatoes of the game,
Speaker 1: like two man game with John Morant, two man game
Speaker 1: with Desmond Bain. Let's post up Marcus Smart. As soon
Speaker 1: as we get some sort of advantage. Let's play out
Speaker 1: of it and go from there with the other additional
Speaker 1: detail of some smart off ball cutting in relocation as
Speaker 1: well as the off ball screening action like we saw
Speaker 1: in the Desmond Bain sequence. Here's an example of them
Speaker 1: running a set on a sideline out of bounds, and
Speaker 1: in this case it's Chicago action which ends up getting
Speaker 1: a good look I believe for Desmond Baine. So this
Speaker 1: is textbook Chicago action. Chicago action is just a pin
Speaker 1: down into a dribble handoff. So all you're gonna do
Speaker 1: is have your center at the top of the key.
Speaker 1: As the as the first screener screens down for Desmond Bain,
Speaker 1: it's gonna flow into a dribble handoff. As a result,
Speaker 1: it pulls, it generates a wide open three for Santi
Speaker 1: Aldama on the weak side wing. You can kind of
Speaker 1: see how it develops here. As as Santi sets that
Speaker 1: first screen, RJ. Barrett has to switch it. Actually it
Speaker 1: doesn't switch. That's my bad. You have Yaka Purdle has
Speaker 1: to show high. The reason why Yaka Purdle is showing
Speaker 1: high here is as Desmond's coming off the dribble handoff.
Speaker 1: Watch this Schroeder's trailing the play. So if Peardle's not here,
Speaker 1: Bain's gonna curl or he's gonna get a decent look
Speaker 1: at a jump shot. But because Purdle has to show
Speaker 1: high now, RJ. Barrett has to stop the roll. If
Speaker 1: r J. Barrett stays out on Santi Aldama, then Tilman's
Speaker 1: going to roll into the paint and Bain can throw
Speaker 1: that pass over the top. But because r J. Barrett
Speaker 1: has to tag Tillman, because Peardle's up at the level,
Speaker 1: Santi al Dama is going to get a wide open
Speaker 1: catch and shoot three. That's a simple three man action
Speaker 1: Chicago action on a sideline out of bounds that generates
Speaker 1: a wide open three. Santiam just brings a really nice
Speaker 1: offensive skill element to the game for this group. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be looking at this entire crunch time sequence between
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be looking at some stuff on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: As I talked about earlier, they were twenty one points
Speaker 1: positive per one hundred possessions in clutch situations with John
Speaker 1: Moran last year, really good on both ends. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about both. So we're starting once again.
Speaker 1: You're going to see every screening action is going to
Speaker 1: include John Morant because they were looking to attag jaw
Speaker 1: quite a bit. We have Marcus Smart on the ball.
Speaker 1: Look at this ball denial from Marcus Smart. Watch how
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart from the catch is just in Brandon Ingram's jersey,
Speaker 1: making him catch further out and making him uncomfortable. This
Speaker 1: is a situation where Brandon would like to come off
Speaker 1: clean on the catch here, but instead he's forced him
Speaker 1: into his catch almost thirty five feet from the basket.
Speaker 1: Right from there. We're gonna get a ball scream with Valanciunis.
Speaker 1: But this is the beauty of Jaron Jackson. He can
Speaker 1: come out and guard in space. One of the things
Speaker 1: that thought was interesting though, and this is something that
Speaker 1: I want to see a lot from Memphis this year,
Speaker 1: especially when they're playing against stars that are in a
Speaker 1: good groove and causing them problems. It's an advantage if
Speaker 1: you can force the ball out of the star's hands.
Speaker 1: This is where your speed in rotation can be really helpful.
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart's gonna double team, so Marcus Smart comes out.
Speaker 1: Now we're just double teaming the ball. Imagine any superstar
Speaker 1: here that we just don't want him to have a catch.
Speaker 1: You double team the basketball. You force him to get
Speaker 1: rid of it. Look at the spacing though, Xavier Tillman
Speaker 1: splitting the difference, John Morant splitting the difference. Desmond Bane
Speaker 1: is keyed in on CJ. McCollums. So as a result,
Speaker 1: there's not an obvious read for brandon Ingram to make.
Speaker 1: He ends up making a red desion. But by the
Speaker 1: time Zion catches, there's a rotation from joh Jock comes
Speaker 1: over and now there's three on the shot clock, and
Speaker 1: so Zion has to go quickly. But this is no
Speaker 1: longer an easy one on zero generated from a double team.
Speaker 1: Zion has to go over big strong Xavier Tillman, who
Speaker 1: forces him into a really tough lea tanded shot over
Speaker 1: the top, and they end up getting a stop, really
Speaker 1: good defensive possession there. I like that. I like their
Speaker 1: two on the ball look because of their ability to rotate.
Speaker 1: I want to see them do more of that this year.
Speaker 1: Here's an example of Jaron Jackson attacking and transition off
Speaker 1: of this, he ends up getting a kind of a
Speaker 1: cross match in transition against Jonas Valenciunas, who had typically
Speaker 1: been guarding Tillman. He ends up getting him in space
Speaker 1: and just going right at him and getting to the
Speaker 1: basket and drawing a foul. Notice when he kind of
Speaker 1: gets downhill, watch Jonas Valanciunis immediately get out of position
Speaker 1: on Jackson's left hand side. So as he makes this
Speaker 1: aggressive move, boom, he takes this little shuffle step over
Speaker 1: to the right, and then all Jaron has to do
Speaker 1: is go to that classic low gather that you see
Speaker 1: those guards do where you just take the ball low
Speaker 1: and through, and he gets right across the arms and
Speaker 1: ends up getting two free throws out of it. Here's
Speaker 1: another clutch defensive possession. John Moran had been hedging and
Speaker 1: recovering on most of these actions, but on this case
Speaker 1: he actually gets caught in a switch and does a
Speaker 1: really nice job on CJ mccomi. So here comes Trey Murphy.
Speaker 1: He sets the screen this again, this had been a
Speaker 1: hedge and recover. Now Tredy's gonna screen and slip out
Speaker 1: of it, but Desmond Bain ends up staying. They end
Speaker 1: up switching. Now John Morant's on CJ, and watch John
Speaker 1: Moran do a really nice job one on one beating
Speaker 1: CJ to the spot and forcing him to pick up
Speaker 1: his dribble. Really nice defense there from Jah. Now Desmond
Speaker 1: Baan once again all keyed up off the ball stays
Speaker 1: attached to Troy Murphy attached attached, forces him into a
Speaker 1: tough step back three which he airballs, but just an
Speaker 1: unlucky kind of bounce there. Like Jared Jackson is inside position,
Speaker 1: Xavier Tillman is inside position. If that ball gets on
Speaker 1: the rim, they probably get the rebound, but because of
Speaker 1: where Jonas was, he ends up getting the offensive rebound
Speaker 1: and he ends up getting a goaltending call here on
Speaker 1: John Urrant. But another nice defensive effort there from John
Speaker 1: on the backside too. Here's an example of that action
Speaker 1: that I told you guys about them spamming at the
Speaker 1: tail end of these games. This is Horn's chest. So
Speaker 1: let's get up here a little wrinkle too. Instead of
Speaker 1: instead of having the wings start up hime in Horns
Speaker 1: or the I should say, the guys that stay at
Speaker 1: the elbow, instead of having them start up high, they
Speaker 1: had him start down low and then flash high. And
Speaker 1: they do that. They do that to get these guys
Speaker 1: in trail position instead of on the top side. Now,
Speaker 1: so Marcus Smart's gonna set the first screen right, first
Speaker 1: screen now Xavier Tillman sets the second screen on Marcus Smart.
Speaker 1: That's Horn's chest right. So Marcus Smart is actually open earlier.
Speaker 1: But John Morant's exploring to see if he can score
Speaker 1: on Trey Murphy here. But as he comes off, Jonas
Speaker 1: Valancunez is in help. John Moran ends up making the
Speaker 1: kickout pass the Smart. Now look at CJ McCollum. This
Speaker 1: whole sequence, CJ McCollum's getting backscreened, so he's at a position.
Speaker 1: Now he's still looking at jaw. Here comes the past.
Speaker 1: Look at where CJ's head is. This is just really
Speaker 1: hard to play defense like this because of the screening action.
Speaker 1: Now he's at a position, he closes out hard to
Speaker 1: that right hand that left hand side, and Marcus martch
Speaker 1: just beats him with simple rip drew ripped remove. But
Speaker 1: the entire design of the possession is to make it
Speaker 1: so that when Marcus Smart attacks this advantage, it's Desmond
Speaker 1: Baine that's in that corner waiting for the kickout. So again,
Speaker 1: if we watch Marcus Smart on the catch here. Let's
Speaker 1: go back to the beginning really quick. Desmond Bain is
Speaker 1: in this corner deliberately to be the beneficiary of this action.
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart sets it, We get the backscreen from Tillman,
Speaker 1: takes Job a minute to get it there, but he
Speaker 1: does eventually get it there. When he gets it there,
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart just simple rip the remove boom, draws brandon
Speaker 1: Ingram Desmond Bain wide open corner three. Beautiful offense from
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies. And again, that's a totally fundamentally different
Speaker 1: action if that's Dylan Brooks instead of Marcus Smart. Right,
Speaker 1: just the way that's guarded, the way the whole thing
Speaker 1: comes together, and the way that that tic tac toes
Speaker 1: into an open three, it's just going to end in
Speaker 1: a higher quality shot far more often with Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: as that kind of like in between folkrum than it
Speaker 1: would be with Dylan Brooks. Here's another really good defensive possession.
Speaker 1: Here's another example of a hedge and recover from jaw.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna get Trey Murphy setting the screen and
Speaker 1: slipping out. So John Moran is just gonna just briefly
Speaker 1: show his face. Boom, Why does he do that, so
Speaker 1: that if Trey Murphy does screen, or if Brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: does try to turn the corner, he runs into Jaw instead, right,
Speaker 1: But then watch Job immediately bail out of it, and
Speaker 1: now he's back into his help and recover situation. So
Speaker 1: if Brandon had thrown that pass to Trey Murphy, Jaw's
Speaker 1: in position to rotate and recover Marcus Smart's physical defense
Speaker 1: on the ball. As soon as Brandon tries to turn back,
Speaker 1: Joh kind of stunts at him, forces him to go
Speaker 1: back to that right hand side. Now he gives up
Speaker 1: the basketball and I was complaining at the refs. That's
Speaker 1: how you know you're playing good defense when the dude
Speaker 1: starts complaining at the refs. CJ. McCollum goes for a
Speaker 1: hard rip through move on Desmond Bay, but he's just
Speaker 1: all over it, swallows it up and blocks the shot.
Speaker 1: I saw so many really impressive defensive possessions from this
Speaker 1: group when I was watching film today. I'm really really
Speaker 1: excited about what this team can be on the defensive
Speaker 1: end this year. We're just gonna get a simple ball
Speaker 1: screen here. I love the way they disguise this though, right,
Speaker 1: So it's kind of set up. If you look where
Speaker 1: Yonas Valanciunas is, it's kind of set up as if
Speaker 1: the ball screen's coming towards the middle. But Tilman's gonna
Speaker 1: kind of reverse this on him by sprinting around and
Speaker 1: actually screening on CJ. McCollums right hand side. This forces
Speaker 1: Yonas to close out hard to the level of the
Speaker 1: screen over there. Right. Watch how hard Yonas has to
Speaker 1: come up. So because he has to come up that hard,
Speaker 1: it's really hard for him to change direction back going
Speaker 1: the other way. So John Morant's actually able to split
Speaker 1: it because of how far out Yonas Valentunas comes. Now
Speaker 1: it's dead to rights, gets into the lane, draws the foul.
Speaker 1: That's Jaw's superpower right there for you. Now here's another
Speaker 1: example of a blitz that works out really well because
Speaker 1: of the rotation in the overall foot speed of this lineup.
Speaker 1: So here comes we're setting a double ball screen here again,
Speaker 1: three man actions are a little bit more complicated. We
Speaker 1: have Bane on the ball, we have Smart on Ingram,
Speaker 1: we have Jaron Jackson on Yonas Valanciunas. Jared Jackson comes
Speaker 1: out Smart chases. Now we're blitzing right, we're in this blitz.
Speaker 1: But look at how we're splitting the difference here. Tilman
Speaker 1: is splitting the difference between Zion and Yonas. Josh splitting
Speaker 1: the difference between Trey Murphy and Yonas Valanciunas. Now we're
Speaker 1: in rotation. We end up making this pass to Zion.
Speaker 1: Zion's on a three point shooting threat. Josh stunts. Look
Speaker 1: at that little stunt step there, and then he recovers
Speaker 1: back out and now he's playing the passing lane. So
Speaker 1: Yonas can't make the kickout pass, and now Yonas has
Speaker 1: to go on Tilman. The whole thing's dead. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna watch that in full speed again. But watch how
Speaker 1: quickly they rotate out in a blitz where you put
Speaker 1: two on the ball suddenly turns into a non advantage
Speaker 1: for the offense. Let's watch it here. So first of all,
Speaker 1: notice that instead of asking Desmond to chase through the
Speaker 1: first screen, Marcus Smart switches any action that involves Baine
Speaker 1: and Smart. They've been switching, and I think that's really smart.
Speaker 1: He comes out. Now we're blitzing, we're splitting the difference.
Speaker 1: Notice two, Desmond Bain is denying the catch as I
Speaker 1: talked about in our original segment. Smart and Bain both
Speaker 1: do such a good job of bal denial and forcing
Speaker 1: guys off of their spots. Quickly rotate out of it,
Speaker 1: Boom rotate. Jaron Jackson's back, Jared Jackson gets back to Zion.
Speaker 1: So now Zion's not open. Nobody's open as a result,
Speaker 1: Now we have brandon Ingram doing a ripped remove on
Speaker 1: Desmond Bain. Watch Marcus Smart digs down, boom steals. We're
Speaker 1: going the other way. Marcus Smart actually gets an and
Speaker 1: one on that sequence. Here's another example of Horn's chest.
Speaker 1: This time it was well defended, though, so again it's reversed,
Speaker 1: so Marcus Smart's on the opposite elbow this time. John
Speaker 1: Moran comes off, Marcus Smart comes off of Tillman, and
Speaker 1: it's really well defended. Right, Herb Jones is kind of
Speaker 1: sinking down into the lane. Jonas Valanciunas is off the floor,
Speaker 1: and now the Pelicans have gone small, so they're just
Speaker 1: a little bit quicker in rotation. Nothing's open, really well defended. Okay,
Speaker 1: now what this is where John Moran has his superpower
Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier, his ability to make that
Speaker 1: hard left hand drive and then just to elevate off
Speaker 1: the bounce. Watch him just make a really aggressive dribble
Speaker 1: move and then just once he gets into his chest.
Speaker 1: He's not trying to go through you. He's just trying
Speaker 1: to lean back into that floater. And he's shooting at
Speaker 1: at sixty five percent last year, which is obviously off
Speaker 1: the charts. Coulde will he shoot sixty five percent of
Speaker 1: this year? Probably not, but I bet you he gets
Speaker 1: over fifty percent, and that is going to make him
Speaker 1: a pretty damn efficient score. This was a possession where
Speaker 1: New Orleans got a bucket, but this was another really
Speaker 1: well defended possession. Notice here we're going to get another
Speaker 1: switch from Marcus Martin Desmond Baine. So watch we have
Speaker 1: a double wide pin down here. Smart and Bain are
Speaker 1: going to communicate a switch as he goes through. Look
Speaker 1: at Marcus Martin says, I got him. He's coming through.
Speaker 1: I got him. You stay out on Ingram. Okay, cool boom,
Speaker 1: We're back out on Ingram. Action is shut down. Nothing's
Speaker 1: open now. Herb Jones is turning to the other side.
Speaker 1: Yoah Morant does a nice job denying the ball that
Speaker 1: forces Trey into a back cut. Nothing's open. Nothing's open,
Speaker 1: nothing's open. Look at this ball denial from Marcus Smart,
Speaker 1: denying the catch, making it so that Herb Jones doesn't
Speaker 1: know what to do. What am I gonna do? What
Speaker 1: am I gonna do? They end up just throwing it
Speaker 1: to brandon Ingram and he bails him out with this
Speaker 1: like ridiculous fade away. Watch this fade away from brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: But that is phenomenal defense once again, shoehorned by Desmond
Speaker 1: Baine and Marcus Smart just being a pain in the
Speaker 1: ass on the ball. Now here's at the end of
Speaker 1: the game where Jaron Jackson started taking over. This time
Speaker 1: John Morant ends up getting blitzed, so Marcus Smart screens
Speaker 1: it's not a blitz, it's just a double team. So
Speaker 1: we get the double team. As a result, Jaron Jackson
Speaker 1: ends up flashing over here and he gets a one
Speaker 1: on one with Zion, drives at him on his left,
Speaker 1: gets cut off, spins back. Zion over plays that left
Speaker 1: hand drive and he spins off and hits the right
Speaker 1: handed shot off the glass. Very very good post upseason
Speaker 1: for Jaron Jackson last year. And then on the next
Speaker 1: possession actually takes Ion out of the game. So they're
Speaker 1: super small. Now, as you can see, they have Dyson Daniels,
Speaker 1: Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, I believe that's Trey Murphy. That's
Speaker 1: Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Dyson Daniels, Brandon Ingram c Jim mccollms,
Speaker 1: all really small. They end up just going to Jaron Jackson.
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson, as one of the best left handed hooks
Speaker 1: in the game, just gets into the lane, hits that
Speaker 1: left handed hook across the lane. A nice thing that
Speaker 1: they can go to at the end of games, right
Speaker 1: like you ball screen, attack them in space and cause
Speaker 1: all these problems that forces them to go small, at
Speaker 1: which point then you can attack them through attack them
Speaker 1: through the post with Jared Jackson. Here's that one last
Speaker 1: defensive possession for you guys to look at. Another great
Speaker 1: hedge and recover from Joh. Watch Zion's gonna come over.
Speaker 1: Call for the screen from Trey Murphy. Watch the hedge
Speaker 1: boom hedge that stops the drive. That's the important part.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't hedge, Zion's whipping down the lane like
Speaker 1: this and causing all sorts of problems. He hedges and
Speaker 1: then he gets back he gets right back to the shooter,
Speaker 1: and now Xavier Tilman and Island was ion into all
Speaker 1: this traffic really strong. Help watch Marcus Smart, Marcus Smart's guardian,
Speaker 1: brandon ingram Boom gets his feet set outside the charge
Speaker 1: circle draws the charge. I was so impressed by Memphis's
Speaker 1: defense in these situations. It was a really really fun
Speaker 1: film session to learn about that team. And let's get
Speaker 1: into our mail bag quick and then we'll get out
Speaker 1: here for the day. Hi, Jason Warriors fan here, You
Speaker 1: and JJ Redick are my go to guys for quality
Speaker 1: hoop content and I appreciate every bit of effort you
Speaker 1: put into the show. That's very, very kind of you
Speaker 1: to say you mentioned three things the Warriors need to
Speaker 1: do to get back into the middle of the pack
Speaker 1: contention this coming season. I agree with all three pods,
Speaker 1: JK and Curry. I'm surprised that you didn't mention Wiggins.
Speaker 1: I believe he's a great swing factor in our front
Speaker 1: court and can affect the game on both ends when
Speaker 1: he's fully locked in and ready to go. What impact
Speaker 1: do you think and improved and motivated Wiggins can bring
Speaker 1: to the team. Thanks in advance, obviously, Andrew Wiggins, the
Speaker 1: version of him that we saw in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: brings a ton to the team. He was one of
Speaker 1: the best perimeter defenders in the league that year. I
Speaker 1: still think he's really good in that area. That hasn't
Speaker 1: been the primary area of his decline, but he brought
Speaker 1: that to the table. But he was a good three
Speaker 1: point shooter that season. Most importantly, he brought like legitimate
Speaker 1: scoring bursts like he was getting like it was not
Speaker 1: uncommon for Andrew Wiggins to end with twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: points in a game just by one hitting those open threes,
Speaker 1: but also driving closeouts. And then he was doing a
Speaker 1: lot of semi transition attacking, like getting into the lane
Speaker 1: and knocking down that little floater in the lane that
Speaker 1: he would make when he would just rip through, take
Speaker 1: the contact and then elevate and knock down a shot.
Speaker 1: Wiggins was really good in that season, and there's no
Speaker 1: doubt that if he was that version of himself again,
Speaker 1: it would mean a lot for this Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem. When someone tells you what they are
Speaker 1: at a large sample, don't fall for the small sample.
Speaker 1: So like, for instance, Andrew Wiggins was really really good
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, but he's been rough since, and
Speaker 1: he was rough before that. He's been in the league
Speaker 1: a long time now, and so I'm kind of the
Speaker 1: opinion that that was the outlier and that this is
Speaker 1: more or less the real Andrew Wiggins. And so with
Speaker 1: that being the case, like obviously we're all rooting for that,
Speaker 1: it just seems somewhat unlikely, and I think it would
Speaker 1: be I think we're setting ourselves up for disappointment if
Speaker 1: we count on Andrew Wiggins being that type of player. Again,
Speaker 1: although I don't always agree, you are one of the
Speaker 1: few that takes thoughtful and thorough approach to analyzing basketball.
Speaker 1: My question, Jimmy Butler has recently been compared by another
Speaker 1: YouTuber to Lebron James in terms of style of play,
Speaker 1: giving out James and Curry played during the Olympics and
Speaker 1: the rumors about Butler getting traded with the Warriors as
Speaker 1: a possible destination. How do you see the fit of
Speaker 1: Butler and Curry and do you believe that would make
Speaker 1: them a title contender this year? Note, of course, this
Speaker 1: question assumes that Butler has a similar skill set slash
Speaker 1: playing style as James and that the James Curry fit
Speaker 1: in the Olympics can be replicated even if the talent
Speaker 1: is a tier below. So I don't actually see too
Speaker 1: much of a similarity between Lebron and Jimmy Butler. I
Speaker 1: would almost look at Jimmy Butler if he were to
Speaker 1: play for the Warriors as like a juiced up version
Speaker 1: of Andre Guodalla, right, Like, Andre Gudala brings a lot
Speaker 1: of the similar type of like when he was in
Speaker 1: his prime, or I shouldn't say in his prime, but
Speaker 1: in his prime at the Warriors in that twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: to twenty seventeen phase. During those years, Andre Gudala brought
Speaker 1: like high level playmaking. It was a great connective piece,
Speaker 1: elite on the ball defense, just like all of these
Speaker 1: little dirty work things which we know Jimmy Butler can
Speaker 1: do and do really well. The big difference is Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler can also run action right like you're gonna dump
Speaker 1: the ball into the post to Jimmy and run split
Speaker 1: action with Steph running off of off ball screens with
Speaker 1: Jimmy in the post as a scoring threat. That's a
Speaker 1: real weapon there, right, Just having Jimmy into man game
Speaker 1: with Steph Curry because Jimmy's gonna be guarded by a
Speaker 1: bigger forward, Steph's gonna be guarded by a quicker guard.
Speaker 1: Jimmy can attack quicker guards in the post, Steph can
Speaker 1: attack bigger forwards in space. Right, There's so much other
Speaker 1: offensive elements that Jimmy brings to the table. But he
Speaker 1: could also function when Steph has the ball as like
Speaker 1: a juiced up version of Andre Gudala and so like,
Speaker 1: I think Jimmy would be a great fit with the Warriors,
Speaker 1: kind of fits their short term goals as well of
Speaker 1: trying to re just rebuild a championship caliber roster around
Speaker 1: Golden State. The thing is is that Miami's probably gonna
Speaker 1: be looking for a good amount of talent and return there,
Speaker 1: and it's just whether or not you can find a
Speaker 1: deal that actually makes sense. But I think Jimmy would
Speaker 1: be a beautiful basketball fit with Golden State. The slow
Speaker 1: Mo praise meaning Kyle Anderson the SloMo praise is justified.
Speaker 1: But wasn't he just saying that Anthony Edwards had no
Speaker 1: one on his team that could make a play when
Speaker 1: the ball was forced out of his hands and using
Speaker 1: slow O Conley Connley's a good offensive players. That's not
Speaker 1: who I was talking about. Slow Jaden McDaniels, Nikhil Alexander Walker,
Speaker 1: and Rudy Gobert were the main four guys that I
Speaker 1: had issues with. So here's the thing. I understand what
Speaker 1: you're saying. There's just a huge difference between being a
Speaker 1: dribble handoff folkrum for the Warriors with a bunch of
Speaker 1: movement shooters, where it's mostly about like hitting cutters and
Speaker 1: then the ability to attack the rim and make kickout
Speaker 1: passes in inverted spacing. That's very different than what was
Speaker 1: happening to Minnesota. What was happening to Minnesota is they
Speaker 1: were packing the paint and now it's becoming an issue
Speaker 1: because Kyle Anderson can't hit shots over the top of
Speaker 1: the defense. Golden State inverts the spacing because of the
Speaker 1: fact that guys are coming off these dribble handoffs, Guys
Speaker 1: like Buddy Healed, guys like Brandon Pazemski, guys like Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson in the past, they're coming off of those
Speaker 1: dribble handoffs. It inverts the spacing so it's not as
Speaker 1: important for the role players to shoot as it is
Speaker 1: for them to be able to attack the rim and
Speaker 1: quickly make decisions in those situations. Very very different than
Speaker 1: the issue that Minnesota was having. And so again, Kyle
Speaker 1: Anderson is the type of player that I actually like
Speaker 1: in the inverted spacing of Golden State, but I don't
Speaker 1: like in the system that Minnesota had where the paint
Speaker 1: was clogged and it was more about the ability to
Speaker 1: hit shots over the top of the defense. No way,
Speaker 1: Trey Lyles starts and DeMar hasn't been a two for
Speaker 1: a while now, and we're talking about the Kings. He
Speaker 1: almost exclusively played the three or the four for Chicago
Speaker 1: the last few years. My guess is the starting lineup
Speaker 1: looks like this deeron Fox with Kean Ellis, Demarta Roseen
Speaker 1: at the three, Keegan Murray and Demana Sabonis. It's possible
Speaker 1: that that's the direction they go. As you mentioned Demartin
Speaker 1: Rosen has played a lot of three at this phase
Speaker 1: in his career. My issue is, if you have Demartin
Speaker 1: Roseen at the three and Keegan Murray at the four,
Speaker 1: with Sabonis at the five, your overall length and athleticism
Speaker 1: on your front line is like basement in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and so it's one of those things where you you
Speaker 1: sacrifice a lot defensively on the in on the glass
Speaker 1: in those situations. I do love the idea of Keon
Speaker 1: Ellis guarding at the point of attack. He's just such
Speaker 1: a natural fit there and in that in the universe
Speaker 1: where you could put Keon Ellis at the two, to
Speaker 1: Martin Rosen at the three and like a bigger, stronger
Speaker 1: forward at the four, I'd be on board. I'm not
Speaker 1: so I won't be surprised if they try that, and
Speaker 1: that that lineup will be very good in some ways.
Speaker 1: I just worry about the overall size and athleticism. If
Speaker 1: you're running Demarta Rosen and Keegan Murray at the three
Speaker 1: and the four, that that's pretty damn small and unathletic. Hello, Jason,
Speaker 1: always like listening to you when you analyze. As a
Speaker 1: Nick fan, I have a question about Julius Randall, and
Speaker 1: that is the playoffs. I felt like last season, before
Speaker 1: he got hurt, I thought he was going to have
Speaker 1: a good twenty twenty four playoff runt, especially when he
Speaker 1: played alongside og Nanobe, because he was making quicker decisions
Speaker 1: and not holding onto the ball as long he attacks
Speaker 1: mismatches in the post with the strength and speed and
Speaker 1: has become more of a willing passer and committed to
Speaker 1: playing defense. So my question to you is that going
Speaker 1: into next season, especially with the Knicks having a chance
Speaker 1: to compete slash win a title, do you believe that
Speaker 1: Julius Randall has a better chance of performing well in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five playoffs since he has og and
Speaker 1: now the addition of Michail Bridges. Appreciate your time and
Speaker 1: continue to do great work as always. I am actually
Speaker 1: a huge believer that Julius Randall's game is built to
Speaker 1: play well in the playoffs. The problem is he consistently
Speaker 1: is hurt right before he gets there, or, in the
Speaker 1: case of last year, hurt when he's there right. But
Speaker 1: Julius is a rhythm player. In order for him to
Speaker 1: be a useful kind of bullyball Ford, he needs to
Speaker 1: be kind of like really dialed in with that little
Speaker 1: left shoulder fade that he hits when he kind of
Speaker 1: bullies his way in and then just kind of leans
Speaker 1: back and shoots over his left shoulder. Also just handling
Speaker 1: the ball, not losing control of it, making good reads
Speaker 1: those kickout passes that you're talking about, And what ends
Speaker 1: up happening is he comes into the league hurt or
Speaker 1: comes into the playoffs hurt, and he just is kind
Speaker 1: of at a rhythm and he just kind of struggles
Speaker 1: to be as effective and efficient as he usually is,
Speaker 1: and he's missing all those threes, he's missing all those
Speaker 1: short fadeaways. He's not in as good as shape, so
Speaker 1: he's not defending as well and it ends up making
Speaker 1: him look like a bad playoff player. But every single
Speaker 1: time he's coming into that situation hurt. I don't want
Speaker 1: to see Julius Randall get into a playoff run where
Speaker 1: he's played for three straight months going into it and
Speaker 1: so that he's actually operating like peak Julius Randall at
Speaker 1: that point. The thing that I like about Julius Randall
Speaker 1: is like when games get ugly and you got a
Speaker 1: guy who's big and strong and can attack mismatches in
Speaker 1: the post, that is a huge value in the NBA playoffs,
Speaker 1: We've just never seen that really like fully realized for
Speaker 1: them because he's always injured when he gets there. So,
Speaker 1: like again, I believe Julius Randall can be a useful
Speaker 1: player for the Knicks. He's got to be healthy and available,
Speaker 1: and he's got to be willing with this group with
Speaker 1: the shortcomings of their front court, like Mitchell Robinson's going
Speaker 1: to be out till December or January. You backup center
Speaker 1: spot is really weak right now. Tom Thibodeau never really
Speaker 1: used precious to at the five, not very often at least,
Speaker 1: so like it's one of those things where if Julius
Speaker 1: Randall's gonna play a lot in the front court as
Speaker 1: a five, like a small ball five, he's going to
Speaker 1: have to defend and rebound at a really really high level.
Speaker 1: And that's just a lot to ask. And so if
Speaker 1: he commits to doing all those things, this team has
Speaker 1: the talent to accomplish great things this year. It's just
Speaker 1: gonna be about whether or not those guys are willing
Speaker 1: to accept smaller roles. Again, anytime you have lots of
Speaker 1: talent in the room, everyone's got to really really be
Speaker 1: willing to accept roles or you're gonna get diminishing returns.
Speaker 1: All right, last question, how do you have Miami with
Speaker 1: two top twenty five players at eighteen, but Orlando with
Speaker 1: zero top twenty five players above them? Well, because those
Speaker 1: two Top twenty five players includes a guy in Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler who is kind of on the downslope and is
Speaker 1: hurt a lot right and has missed significant chunk chunks
Speaker 1: of the regular season as of late right. Also, Franz
Speaker 1: Wagner and Palo Bonkaro were both in my preliminary list
Speaker 1: for the Top twenty five. They just didn't actually make
Speaker 1: the top twenty five, but I didn't see my a
Speaker 1: gap between them and the guys at the tail end
Speaker 1: of my top twenty five lists. So beyond that, the
Speaker 1: Magic have a lot of talent down the roster. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of really gifted two way role players,
Speaker 1: a lot of size, a lot of athleticism. Jonathan Isaac
Speaker 1: is a weapon whn Dell Carter Junior is a wepon.
Speaker 1: Jalen Sugg is one of the best three and D
Speaker 1: guards in the league. The KCP edition makes them It's
Speaker 1: a high level starter upgrade that makes things a lot
Speaker 1: easier for them. He's also a movement shooter, which is
Speaker 1: something they haven't had in the past, which will accentuate
Speaker 1: a lot of their like inverted ball screens where Franz
Speaker 1: and Polo get a guard to set a screen for them, Like,
Speaker 1: I just think overall, Orlando's a better team. Now. That said, like,
Speaker 1: if Miami's healthy and Jimmy Butler's playing like Jimmy, then yeah,
Speaker 1: that and we're in the playoffs. Yeah, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a different discussion. But heading into this season, looking at
Speaker 1: it from the context of October all the way through June,
Speaker 1: at this point, I think Orlando's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a safer bet. That's all aff Forday. One last thing
Speaker 1: I've been doing with my buddy Luke reactions to every
Speaker 1: episode of the Rings of Power. So if you haven't
Speaker 1: checked that out yet, wherever you get your podcast under
Speaker 1: two Sons Podcasts or on YouTube under two Sons podcast
Speaker 1: you could check out some Rings of Power content. I
Speaker 1: will be back on Wednesday with another one of these videos.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to drop mail bag questions. As always, a
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show and now
Speaker 1: I'll see you next time the volume. What's up guys,
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 1: rating and a review As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.