Speaker 1: The volume. All right, well, Coon Hoops and I here
Speaker 1: at in the volume of love. You guys are having
Speaker 1: a great weekend. Ar Cadence during the NBA Finals is
Speaker 1: going to be obviously the live shows on the night
Speaker 1: of film session the second day. That third day, we're
Speaker 1: either gonna do an interview or we're gonna do a
Speaker 1: mail bag. So like we've got Sam Vesini coming on
Speaker 1: on Monday next week. That'll actually air on Tuesday, but
Speaker 1: it'll be our kind of like interview based reaction to
Speaker 1: the first two games of the series. For Game one, though,
Speaker 1: we're doing a mailbag. So I've got a mail bag.
Speaker 1: I sent out a tweet earlier today. We had seventy
Speaker 1: something questions. I appreciate all of you guys for participating.
Speaker 1: Obviously we can't get to all of them, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna get to as many as we can. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be bouncing all throughout the NBA Finals around the league
Speaker 1: and some off court stuff in this mail bag. You
Speaker 1: guys are the job before we get started. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: the Hoops and I YouTube channels you don't miss any
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore
Speaker 1: Jason lt. So you guys, don't miss show announcements, don't
Speaker 1: forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast
Speaker 1: on our hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mail back
Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting
Speaker 1: them throughout the rest of the summer. All right, let's
Speaker 1: talk some basketball. Yes, first question, what's the concern level
Speaker 1: if you're Dallas that Boston completely owned the lower third
Speaker 1: court of lower third of the court defensively twenty three
Speaker 1: for forty seven, forty nine percent in the paint, took
Speaker 1: away their libs by nullifying the one to five pick
Speaker 1: and roll only got three corner three point attempts, went
Speaker 1: one for three by staying home and trusting defenders in space.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that was my major concern coming into this series,
Speaker 1: just how different Dallas's pick and roll attack was going
Speaker 1: to look in this series by virtue of an adjustment
Speaker 1: that honestly, I was surprise Minnesota didn't try. Surprise Minnesota
Speaker 1: didn't try putting Jaden McDaniels onto Gafford or Lively and
Speaker 1: just have Gobar guard at Derrek Jones or PJ. Washington
Speaker 1: to try to disrupt the spacing of Dallas in pick
Speaker 1: and roll. Put it simply if you allow Dallas to
Speaker 1: screen with their center, then they have traditional four out
Speaker 1: spacing shooter in the corner shooter in the corner shooter
Speaker 1: on the opposite wing screen. Both guys are rolling hard
Speaker 1: to the back or one's driving, one's rolling to the
Speaker 1: basket right, so the paint is effectively empty with two
Speaker 1: guys kind of attacking the rim. Right. As soon as
Speaker 1: you switch that matchup to where they have to to
Speaker 1: bring the center into the ball screen, they have to
Speaker 1: use a wing instead of their center. Now the spacing
Speaker 1: gets all janked up right because now it's corner corner,
Speaker 1: but instead of this wing being occupied by shooter, it's vacant.
Speaker 1: That guy's setting the screen, and then the center is
Speaker 1: sitting in the dunker spot with Tatum on him, with
Speaker 1: his ass parked right underneath the rim, and so it
Speaker 1: just screws up the spacing of everything. And then PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington or Darre Jones Junior has the predicament of like
Speaker 1: either rolling into all that traffic even though they're not
Speaker 1: great vertical spacers, or popping into that vacancy above the
Speaker 1: break where they're not very good above the break three
Speaker 1: point shooters, And so that problem is not going away.
Speaker 1: We talked about some specific things in our film session yesterday.
Speaker 1: One trying to set more RAM screens, so basically having
Speaker 1: Derek Jones or PJ. Washington instead of screening for Luca,
Speaker 1: just sprint down and screen Tatum as hard as you can,
Speaker 1: and then maybe Tatum will forfeit a switch there, so
Speaker 1: that when Lively er Gafford runs up, you just have
Speaker 1: to have Lively sprint up into the screen, which will
Speaker 1: probably bring poor Zingis with them. If Tatum switches, then
Speaker 1: you have to have whoever screen Tatum quickly relocate back
Speaker 1: out to the wing so that they have the space
Speaker 1: necessary to operate. That's one thing they can do, looking
Speaker 1: to attack less out of ball screens and more out
Speaker 1: of the post or in ISO, but not targeting Horford,
Speaker 1: who switched incredibly well in Game one, but maybe attacking
Speaker 1: the smaller guards instead. That's an angle that they can
Speaker 1: look to go through. Just in general, they've got to
Speaker 1: move with a lot more pace. I thought the ball
Speaker 1: pressure from Jalen Brown got them into a lot of
Speaker 1: late clock situations as well. But here's the thing, those
Speaker 1: are none of those are clean, easy solutions, right, Like
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard to set a pin down on Tatum.
Speaker 1: He might just fight through it and then follow Lively
Speaker 1: or Gafford up into the screen. Right Like, it's not
Speaker 1: going to be easy. There's not an easy solution here.
Speaker 1: Is this kind of a tough matchup because of Tatum's size.
Speaker 1: It's a tough matchup for Dallas in this sense. So
Speaker 1: I don't see that problem going away entirely. But Dallas
Speaker 1: certainly can do a better job. But Boston dominating the
Speaker 1: lower third of the court defensively is a big part
Speaker 1: of just what their advantages are in this series, and
Speaker 1: it may not go away entirely. Does Lebron not being
Speaker 1: involved in the Lakers coaching decision and them looking to
Speaker 1: go with a development coach in Hurley more so point
Speaker 1: to Lebron being open to leaving LA this offseason or
Speaker 1: retiring soon In your eyes, I don't see that as
Speaker 1: what's happening here. I actually I think Lebron's gonna stay
Speaker 1: and I think we'll play at least two more seasons.
Speaker 1: I think the Dan Hurley piece actually represents the best
Speaker 1: of both world here, because in the post Lebron phase,
Speaker 1: you've got a coach that's excellent with development and scouting
Speaker 1: and development. You've got to coach that will instill a
Speaker 1: culture that will last for years after Lebron James is gone.
Speaker 1: But also I actually think he's a great tactician for
Speaker 1: this particular roster. He with Yukon had a lot of
Speaker 1: success generating space with a team that had multiple non
Speaker 1: shooters on the floor through a lot, specifically through off
Speaker 1: ball action. So think of it like this. When you're
Speaker 1: running ball screens like Dallas does, where you have Luca
Speaker 1: having a center set of pick and you've got shooters
Speaker 1: in the corners and a shooter on the opposite wing,
Speaker 1: let's think more in the Minnesota framework where the floor
Speaker 1: is more spaced. When that's the case, help defense is
Speaker 1: pretty standard, right, Like the guy in the opposite corner
Speaker 1: is going to kind of try to find a sweet
Speaker 1: spot in between the like the block in the corner
Speaker 1: where you can help but also rotate. The guy on
Speaker 1: the opposite wing is going to come pretty close to
Speaker 1: the nail. Same thing on the strong side corner, like
Speaker 1: the drop coverage, Big is gonna run a drop Like.
Speaker 1: The spacing is pretty standard, and you could really load
Speaker 1: up on the ball, right Like that's one of the
Speaker 1: downsides of four out one. In offenses, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of ball in player movement, right, but when you
Speaker 1: run action off the ball, so that let's imagine Let's
Speaker 1: imagine the Lakers, for instance, if you have Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis running a ball screen on the right
Speaker 1: side of the floor, and you have guys just standing
Speaker 1: like wing wing a little bit further on the wing corner,
Speaker 1: those guys all can sink into the lane and they
Speaker 1: can have their kind of attention geared up on the
Speaker 1: ball screen where they can help. One of the things
Speaker 1: that Dan Hurley's great at is keeping help defenders occupied
Speaker 1: with action. So if you have those three guys on
Speaker 1: the weak side running like a double wide pin down
Speaker 1: where the first guy curls around the first screen and
Speaker 1: then the second guy curls around the second screen and
Speaker 1: they're just like doing shit on the opposite side of
Speaker 1: the court, those three help defenders. Now they're mental, the
Speaker 1: their focus is geared towards that action, and so they
Speaker 1: have they have a decision to be They can either
Speaker 1: gear up on the action and then not help on
Speaker 1: the ball screen. Now Lebron and Ad are cooking, or
Speaker 1: they can favor the ball screen and you could leave
Speaker 1: an opening for a shooter on the weak side because
Speaker 1: you're not or a cutter on the weak side because
Speaker 1: you're not paying attention to the action. Dan Hurley is
Speaker 1: big on ball in player movement and making sure that
Speaker 1: especially when you've got a team like the Lakers that's
Speaker 1: gonna have Anthony Davis who can't shoot, and Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: who can't shoot. You look, Jared Vanderbilt, he's healthy next year,
Speaker 1: is probably gonna start at small forward. So like, with
Speaker 1: that type of configuration, like, you're gonna need ball in
Speaker 1: player movement to maintain space to maintain your threats offensively,
Speaker 1: and I think Dan Hurley is a perfect fit for that.
Speaker 1: So like, I like his schematic approach to maximize this
Speaker 1: Laker roster while also being the future of the franchise
Speaker 1: in the sense that he can scout and develop young
Speaker 1: players and also establish a culture that lingers long after
Speaker 1: Lebron has gone. I think it's a perfect fit, and
Speaker 1: I'm very hopeful that they can get a deal done.
Speaker 1: What can Dallas do defensively to mitigate being in so
Speaker 1: many help rotation situations leading to open Boston threes. Based
Speaker 1: on my observations, I think it's worth considering not pressuring
Speaker 1: the ball handlers so far out. This was a really
Speaker 1: good take when I watched the film. It was something
Speaker 1: I noticed, but I didn't actually put in my film
Speaker 1: session last night. But there were several possessions where Dallas
Speaker 1: players were picking up ball pressure close to half court
Speaker 1: and then they get beat and then they're in rotation
Speaker 1: before they even get a chance to set their defense.
Speaker 1: And so that's a good adjustment, like playing a more
Speaker 1: passive defense where you're just working on containing the ball. Right,
Speaker 1: Like in general, with Boston, if you play off of them,
Speaker 1: they have a tendency to settle on some pull up threes. Now,
Speaker 1: you gotta be careful because guys like Tatum and Brown
Speaker 1: are good at seeing a defender on their heels, giving
Speaker 1: space and driving at them at one angle and then
Speaker 1: crossing over or getting into their body and spinning off.
Speaker 1: So they sometimes being on your heels can work to
Speaker 1: your detriment if you're not good at actually absorbing contact
Speaker 1: and staying in front. But in general, there's not really
Speaker 1: a lot in terms of scheme that you can do differently.
Speaker 1: You just have to do a better job, guys. Just
Speaker 1: like when it comes to Boston driving kicking from a
Speaker 1: spaced out floor, the job is simple. You have to
Speaker 1: contain the basketball. If you contain the basketball, you prevent
Speaker 1: help defense from being engaged. If you prevent help defense
Speaker 1: from being engaged, you prevent spot up opportunities on the
Speaker 1: weak side, which are going to be more efficient than
Speaker 1: a loaded up ISO. You need to basically take it
Speaker 1: so that the spot up attempts go down and the
Speaker 1: ISO attempts go up. And the more you do that,
Speaker 1: the better chance you give yourself to get stops against
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. This is an interesting one. What is
Speaker 1: a better set of third, fourth, and fifth options the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Celtics with Drew Holliday, Derek White and
Speaker 1: Christopsporzingis or the twenty seventeen Warriors with Klay Thompson, Draymond
Speaker 1: Green and Drake Gudala. Really interesting question, but I think
Speaker 1: it's the twenty seventeen Warriors. Klay Thompson was is these
Speaker 1: was at this point the second best shooter in the league,
Speaker 1: is the second best shooter of all time, and he
Speaker 1: also was an elite perimeter defender. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten
Speaker 1: the recognition he deserves for it over the course of
Speaker 1: his career, but he's an elite perimeter defender. Draymond Green
Speaker 1: is the second best defensive player of this era in
Speaker 1: my opinion, obviously, and then he's a guy that keeps
Speaker 1: their offense flowing with his ability to function as like
Speaker 1: a dribble handoff fulcrum in their five out offense. And
Speaker 1: then Andre Gudala is probably the second best perimeter defender
Speaker 1: of the era behind Kawhi Leonard, Drew Holliday, Derek whit
Speaker 1: and Christopsporzingers are really good players. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: on that level though, and again there's no shame in
Speaker 1: that the twenty seventeen Warriors, in my opinion, are the
Speaker 1: greatest basketball team ever assembled in the history of the NBA.
Speaker 1: Here we go non NBA related, but can you explain
Speaker 1: the Sith Grand Plan again from Star Wars? For some reason,
Speaker 1: I started to get so interested and interested in Star
Speaker 1: Wars lore. You know me, geek Jason Star Wars, I'm like, yes,
Speaker 1: let's do this. First of all, the Acolyte premiere came out.
Speaker 1: The first two episodes. It was awesome, by Buddy Luke
Speaker 1: and I did full reaction to it. That's on my
Speaker 1: other podcast feed. That's the Two Sons podcast. You can
Speaker 1: find that on YouTube just under their Two Suns podcast.
Speaker 1: Have a full reaction to the first two episodes of
Speaker 1: The Acolyte. Will also have a reaction. We'll also have
Speaker 1: a reaction to episode three coming out about us pretty
Speaker 1: late on Tuesday. Is it Tuesdayeah? I think it's Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: So keep an eye on the feeds on Tuesday night
Speaker 1: as well. Have another one, but hop over to that feed,
Speaker 1: subscribe and really appreciate it. Check out some of the
Speaker 1: Star Wars content. Sith graand plants pretty simple. So the
Speaker 1: Sith for thousands of years were many. They were numerous, right,
Speaker 1: and they are. The Sith are very inwardly focused and selfish,
Speaker 1: so they would just betray each other. Like anytime a
Speaker 1: powerful Sith would rise, multiple lesser Siths would team up
Speaker 1: and they would overthrow him. Whereas with the Jedi they
Speaker 1: always worked in concert with each other. They were self less,
Speaker 1: they were all in on the larger goal, and so
Speaker 1: anytime there'd be a major galactic conflict, the Sith would
Speaker 1: try to attack and they would fail. Sometimes they get close,
Speaker 1: but they would fail, and they'd fail the same way
Speaker 1: every time. They'd splinter and they'd fall apart, whereas the
Speaker 1: Jedi would come together. And so darth Bain, a thousand
Speaker 1: years before the Phantom Menace, identified this problem and realized
Speaker 1: that that was a weakness in the Sith order. So
Speaker 1: he actually manipulated and killed all of the Sith and
Speaker 1: so it was just him and his apprentice. He instituted
Speaker 1: what's called the rule of two, where there'd be one
Speaker 1: Sith who would embody the power, and then a second
Speaker 1: Sith who would crave the power and then eventually take
Speaker 1: it from him. From there, he understood they'll never beat
Speaker 1: the Jedi through force of arms, because the Jedi will
Speaker 1: always come together. So they had to find a different
Speaker 1: way to beat the Jedi and overthrow the republic, right,
Speaker 1: and so the person who first referred to it as
Speaker 1: the Grand Plan was Darth Plagis, but it actually initiated
Speaker 1: with Darth Bain, and the idea was you're going to
Speaker 1: you're going to work underneath the surface. You're going to
Speaker 1: work with subterfuge and cunning, and you're going to try
Speaker 1: to sabotage from the shadows the Republic, right, And so
Speaker 1: there was a plan that took shape over the course
Speaker 1: of a thousand years through accumulation of resources and political
Speaker 1: influence and all these different things. And basically Plagus and
Speaker 1: Palpatine executed the final phase of the Grand Plan. But
Speaker 1: essentially from the way, if you've ever read the book
Speaker 1: Darth Plagas, I highly recommend it. But in the book
Speaker 1: Darth Plagas, he actually breaks down how essentially the thought
Speaker 1: process was. He wanted to foster division between the inner
Speaker 1: Core worlds and the outer rim worlds and basically make
Speaker 1: it so that the inner the Core worlds were prospering
Speaker 1: while the outer Core worlds were suffering through through a
Speaker 1: lot of hardship, right. And from there, he wanted to
Speaker 1: basically force the galaxy to turn on itself so that
Speaker 1: it would go to war, and then he used the
Speaker 1: Clones as the vehicle in the war to kill all
Speaker 1: of the Jedi through Order sixty six. Right, Like Plagas
Speaker 1: actually hatched that entire plan, Palpatine just executed it. And
Speaker 1: like it's really like, in my opinion, it's just like
Speaker 1: really good world of building and lore. And I'm obviously
Speaker 1: a huge star wars Nerd. So like, I apologize for
Speaker 1: the people in this who are listening to this episode
Speaker 1: of our Big Star wars Nerds, But that's like a
Speaker 1: little short, quick synopsis of what the sifth Grande plan is.
Speaker 1: But again, I did talk a ton of that shit
Speaker 1: on my two Sons podcast with my buddy Luke's hoop
Speaker 1: over there and check that out. Assuming Boston can finally
Speaker 1: get over the hump, does they go into next season
Speaker 1: as the favorites or does a team out west like
Speaker 1: Minnesota or Denver get the nod because of the matchup.
Speaker 1: So I actually only viewed two teams on the top
Speaker 1: tier going into the postseason, Boston and Denver. Denver was
Speaker 1: the only team that I like. Minnesota was an interesting
Speaker 1: one matchup wise because of their a couple things with
Speaker 1: Minnesota that I really liked. This for a matchup with
Speaker 1: doubt for Boston, really good defense that I thought could
Speaker 1: cost some issues for Boston. And also Boston can struggle
Speaker 1: to protect the rims sometimes. Now with Porzingis and Gobert
Speaker 1: that might have been an issue. And I don't know
Speaker 1: who I would have picked between Minnesota and Boston. I
Speaker 1: would have needed to prep I don't know. But the
Speaker 1: only team I would have actually, like certainly picked over
Speaker 1: Boston was Denver, and they lost to a tough matchup
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference. So the next question is what
Speaker 1: will the top tier look like next season? Because I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily view Dallas on that tier. What will that
Speaker 1: tier look like next season? I think Boston is in
Speaker 1: that tier again. I think Denver's in that tier again,
Speaker 1: maybe Dallas, maybe Minnesota, Oklahoma City. I think as a
Speaker 1: team you look at getting back into that tier, Memphis
Speaker 1: could be really interesting. We'll see when we get into
Speaker 1: the next season. Now, all the teams shape up, but
Speaker 1: to me, Boston is going to be on that top
Speaker 1: tier again until that starting lineup gets broken up. I
Speaker 1: just I don't think they're like head and Show above everybody.
Speaker 1: I think they are beatable. They're just a really bad
Speaker 1: matchup for Dallas, which is something that I've been talking
Speaker 1: about over the course of all of our prep. And
Speaker 1: they might there are teams out West that do match
Speaker 1: up more favorably with Boston, so as is always the case,
Speaker 1: what did I say to Denver fans at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season, You guys, I'm picking you as the
Speaker 1: favorite right, But it's more likely than not that you
Speaker 1: lose because that's just what NBA history tells us. Right.
Speaker 1: And then I got to a point where I was
Speaker 1: more optimistic with Denver. Right. Remember I said I expect
Speaker 1: them to win unless they get an injury to their
Speaker 1: starting five. Well, Jamal Murray got injured and played like shit,
Speaker 1: and that ended up being something that brought their ceiling
Speaker 1: down enough, just enough for them to blow a twenty
Speaker 1: point lead in Game seven against Minnesota. Right. So, like again,
Speaker 1: I tend to think this is pretty even at the
Speaker 1: top among a handful of teams. I don't know who
Speaker 1: that team handful of teams is going to be at
Speaker 1: the start of next season, but Boston will definitely be there.
Speaker 1: Denver will definitely be there. Out of trade DeSante cad
Speaker 1: LaMelo and Simons, who would be the best fit on
Speaker 1: the Spurs. I actually want them to go off to
Speaker 1: Darius Garland. I think he'd be a perfect fit alongside
Speaker 1: Victor wembin Yama in terms of timeline, in terms of
Speaker 1: a pick and roll threat that can both score and
Speaker 1: pass kind of an opportunity. I think you can get
Speaker 1: him at a discount too. I think the Spurs can
Speaker 1: afford to overpay him for a few years. Like, I
Speaker 1: think Darius Garland is the guy that I would go after.
Speaker 1: What's the reason you had for that poll between Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum and Ad? So I put a poll, I said
Speaker 1: who's a better basketball player? Jason Tatum or Ad? And
Speaker 1: it went crazy viral and like there were thousands and
Speaker 1: thousands of votes and it was really close. I think
Speaker 1: Tatum finished at like fifty two to forty eight as
Speaker 1: the better player. And all it was is like, whenever
Speaker 1: I have an opportunity to present a poll that I
Speaker 1: think will be close to fifty to fifty, I'll send
Speaker 1: it out just because I think that's fun. But like,
Speaker 1: the reasoning is pretty simple. I think Jason Tatum and
Speaker 1: Ad are very close to each other. I think they're
Speaker 1: on a similar tier as players. Now, they're very different, right,
Speaker 1: Like Tatum's a better offensive player, AD is a better
Speaker 1: defensive player. Tatum is a little more consistent, AD is
Speaker 1: a little more volatile. But AD's ceiling is higher, tatum
Speaker 1: ceiling is lower. Right, So like there's all these like
Speaker 1: differences between them, but I view them as more or
Speaker 1: less on the same tier in the sense that they're
Speaker 1: clearly not as good as the guys at the top
Speaker 1: of the league, but I think both of them could
Speaker 1: be the best player on a championship team if they're
Speaker 1: surrounded with enough talent, and so that was kind of
Speaker 1: my thought process behind putting them on the same level.
Speaker 1: But to be clear, like it, I don't think either
Speaker 1: of them are at the top of the league. I
Speaker 1: just kind of I just wanted to kind of give
Speaker 1: an opportunity to compare the two of them early in
Speaker 1: the season and to start the playoffs. You had the
Speaker 1: opinion that Denver could be the next dynasty in the NBA,
Speaker 1: the possible Celtics title and the team staying together for
Speaker 1: at least next year. How do you feel about the
Speaker 1: Celtics dynasty or Boston Denver in the coming years? Great show.
Speaker 1: I absolutely think if the Celtics win this year, they
Speaker 1: could put a dynasty is a loaded word because, like
Speaker 1: how many teams have really been dynasties in NBA history,
Speaker 1: Like we're talking about the Warriors, the Spurs, you know,
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the early two thousands, the Bulls, Like
Speaker 1: there's just not a lot of examples of them, right,
Speaker 1: I do think a lot of people writing off Denver,
Speaker 1: and I think that's stupid. I think Denver is going
Speaker 1: to be right back in the mix at the top
Speaker 1: of the league next season. I think Boston will be
Speaker 1: right in the mix at the top of the league
Speaker 1: next season. So like it's very possible that over this
Speaker 1: four or five year span we get two Denver titles,
Speaker 1: two Boston titles, Like that's all on the table. I
Speaker 1: just don't think with how talented the league is, I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody's going to be running like three to
Speaker 1: four in a row. Are we going to see teams
Speaker 1: lean more towards five out offense in the future, I
Speaker 1: think so. I think you're seeing some of the limitations
Speaker 1: of four out with Dallas in this series, just in
Speaker 1: the sense that the one simple personnel adjustment has like
Speaker 1: rendered their offense is severely limited. So like I think
Speaker 1: ball in player movement is a great counter to any
Speaker 1: defensive approach, and in general, like it just opens the
Speaker 1: door for better matchups. Like if you want to prevent
Speaker 1: Tatum ending up in one place or Porzingis ending up
Speaker 1: in another, A great way to do that is just
Speaker 1: lots of reversing the floor, of reversing the the side
Speaker 1: of the floor that the balls on multiple actions in
Speaker 1: the same possession. That sort of thing is a great
Speaker 1: way to counter that, and so I do think more
Speaker 1: and more teams will will see the value of that
Speaker 1: in the long run. Not really a question, but the Celtics,
Speaker 1: going from playing the Pacers crazy up tempo, fast paced offense,
Speaker 1: especially the games Halliburton played, to this slow, non off
Speaker 1: ball movement offense has to feel so much easier. Easier
Speaker 1: is the wrong word. I think it's just different. Like
Speaker 1: this puts a lot more pressure on your individual defenders
Speaker 1: to hold up against the best player in the world
Speaker 1: potentially in Luka Doncics and one of the best ISO
Speaker 1: players in Kyrie Irving. And so even though it's different,
Speaker 1: it's still very hard. It's just different assuming they get him.
Speaker 1: How do you see Dan Hurley's offensive defensive schemes translating
Speaker 1: to LA and how will his playbook helped generate easier
Speaker 1: looks for Brown and ad great show as always keep
Speaker 1: it up. I went over the offensive part earlier. It's
Speaker 1: just like off ball action to occupy help defenders, using
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis more as screeners than spot up players.
Speaker 1: Different things like that to manufacture spacing without shooting on
Speaker 1: the floor. But I'm not gonna go anymore into that
Speaker 1: because you saw that earlier in the show. I have
Speaker 1: not looked into Dan Hurley's defensive approach yet. If he
Speaker 1: gets hired, I will and we will cover it in
Speaker 1: the film session. If the MAVs lose this series, would
Speaker 1: Lucas still have the bragging rights title with no MVPs
Speaker 1: in championships or can he play well enough in a
Speaker 1: loss and still have the title going into the summer.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, I think Luca to this, but he
Speaker 1: played like shit in Game one. Don't let the box
Speaker 1: score fool gi. He played like shit. He was so
Speaker 1: bad on the defensive end, and he wasn't good enough
Speaker 1: offensively when it mattered. But I think he's been the
Speaker 1: most impressive player in this postseason run so far. So like,
Speaker 1: we'll see how that all dust settles at the end
Speaker 1: of the series. I do think Luca will play better,
Speaker 1: but like, if Luca plays poorly for the entire series, like,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be something we're gonna have to look at.
Speaker 1: But again, at the end of the postseason run, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do two separate lists and one of them will
Speaker 1: be who had the best season, right like who gets
Speaker 1: the bragging rights for this season? And right now, I
Speaker 1: do think Lucas still maintains a spot at number one. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: in the video with con and you said you were
Speaker 1: in real estate, How and why did you make the
Speaker 1: switch in a similar situation, And I'm questioning should I
Speaker 1: pursue a passion in basketball and media love the vis
Speaker 1: and analysis. So I got into real estate simply because
Speaker 1: that was to me the most flexible career for me
Speaker 1: to be able to pursue something in basketball media. Now,
Speaker 1: real estate's tricky. There's a bunch of different jobs in
Speaker 1: real estate. There are salary jobs, there are transaction coordination
Speaker 1: like administration jobs, and then there's like the investment side,
Speaker 1: where I worked for a while, and then there's residential
Speaker 1: real estate like like just being an agent, which I
Speaker 1: did that as well. And when you on the salary side,
Speaker 1: the excuse me, the investment side. I was on salary,
Speaker 1: so it was a little easier to manage in terms
Speaker 1: of like the month to month budgeting, But like when
Speaker 1: I was in the residential side, like it's super volatile,
Speaker 1: Like I had months where I made a lot of money,
Speaker 1: and I had months where I'd made zero money, right,
Speaker 1: And like one of the big things I learned when
Speaker 1: I did that for a living, it's one hundred percent commission.
Speaker 1: So it's like you got to be really, really self
Speaker 1: motivated and you have to put in the work. It's
Speaker 1: all about lead generations. Like for me, I was just
Speaker 1: holding a ton of open houses to meet new clients
Speaker 1: and that was what floated my business. But again, like
Speaker 1: that's a great job. That's super flexible. The residential real
Speaker 1: estate side, if you want to pursue a passion, but
Speaker 1: you won't make money unless you put in the work.
Speaker 1: So it's a delicate balance. It's not like you just
Speaker 1: get your real estate license and money starts coming in.
Speaker 1: You have to sell houses and so it's a difficult job.
Speaker 1: But if you can figure out how to do it,
Speaker 1: then that is a very flexible job to allow you
Speaker 1: to pursue jobs to pursue, to pursue something like sports
Speaker 1: media on the side. As far as the sports media side,
Speaker 1: just start making content, get a camera, get a mic,
Speaker 1: put it out on a podcast, feed, put it on YouTube,
Speaker 1: put it on social media, and just see where it
Speaker 1: goes and Lastly, I would just say be yourself, don't
Speaker 1: try to pretend to be someone else. Just authentically talk
Speaker 1: about whatever it is. Your topic is the way you
Speaker 1: want to talk about it and see where it goes
Speaker 1: from there. People just have people can see through it
Speaker 1: when you're not being authentic. What was Boston doing better
Speaker 1: than the Wolves in the last round in terms of
Speaker 1: drible pandetration? Why was ants drive not nearly as effective
Speaker 1: as Jaylen Brown and Tatum's yesterday? Why is it because
Speaker 1: of KP spacing or lack of effort from Luke and Kyrie.
Speaker 1: It's simply because the spacing that Boston provides in general.
Speaker 1: It's not just Porzingis, it's Boston always has five shooters
Speaker 1: on the floor. They did not play a single non
Speaker 1: shooter while the game was in question yesterday. The guys
Speaker 1: off the bench Porzingis, Pritchard and Houser all great shooters,
Speaker 1: and so Minnesota with Colbert and Jada McDaniels and Kyle
Speaker 1: Anderson and Nikaile Alexander Walker. It's just that the MAVs
Speaker 1: could pack the paint, and most importantly, Gafford and Lively
Speaker 1: were just parked under the rim. The entire time, and
Speaker 1: so even though Ant's a better driver than anybody in
Speaker 1: a Boston Celtics jersey, it just doesn't matter because the
Speaker 1: spacing isn't there. Who's your second favorite player of all
Speaker 1: time after Lebron Steph Curry? And the main reason why
Speaker 1: is because I actually watched him. I've always been a
Speaker 1: big Kobe and MJ fan, but I didn't start watching
Speaker 1: basketball until the mid two thousands and or to the
Speaker 1: late two thousands, and at that point CO was kind
Speaker 1: of already starting to fade. Obviously, I'm a huge Kobe fan,
Speaker 1: huge Michael Jordan fan, but like in terms of like
Speaker 1: the majority of my basketball fan hood, Steph Curry was
Speaker 1: the guy that I enjoyed watching the most other than Lebron,
Speaker 1: super unique, savage competitor, really good leader, genuinely just an
Speaker 1: awesome television watch. Just Steph to me was my second
Speaker 1: favorite player to watch. If the Rockets had beaten the
Speaker 1: Warriors in the twenty eighteen Western Conference Finals, who do
Speaker 1: you think would have won the finals? Between them and
Speaker 1: the Calves with Chris Paul coming off a hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: I've had this take before, but like, I think Lebron
Speaker 1: was so much better than James Harden at that point
Speaker 1: as a playoff player. I know Harden won the MVP,
Speaker 1: but like Harden just did a bunch of damage in
Speaker 1: the regular season. I think if Chris Paul was injured
Speaker 1: that the Caves would have won. But if Chris Paul
Speaker 1: had somehow been able to come back and play in
Speaker 1: that series, then I think Houston would have won. Why
Speaker 1: do you think Jalen Brown is so underrated? To me?
Speaker 1: He was obviously one of the fifteen best players in
Speaker 1: the league this year, didn't even make All MBA. Also,
Speaker 1: it makes no sense that only one Boston player made it. Actually,
Speaker 1: it makes a lot of sense. They have five thirty
Speaker 1: million dollar players in an open market, and there aren't
Speaker 1: just fifteen thirty million dollar players in the league. There's
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot more than that, right Like,
Speaker 1: I want to say there's I'll have to look, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's forty fifty players that make at least
Speaker 1: twenty five million a year, right Like, there's just a
Speaker 1: lot of players that make a lot of money. I
Speaker 1: think that where I rank him we'll see after the season.
Speaker 1: But I think I don't think it's just like a
Speaker 1: sure thing that he is one of the top fifteen
Speaker 1: players in the league. I think that's debatable. I think
Speaker 1: I don't even want to have a take on it
Speaker 1: because I haven't thought enough about it as far as
Speaker 1: whether or not he's underrated. Like what, let's be real
Speaker 1: about what's happening here. The top fifteen players in the
Speaker 1: league generally have major offensive responsibilities for their team. We
Speaker 1: know what it looks like when Jalen Brown has major
Speaker 1: offensive responsibilities. He's not consistent enough as a guy who
Speaker 1: breaks down the defense to be in that role. He is,
Speaker 1: a part of why he's looked so good with this
Speaker 1: team is it's allowed him to operate with an advantage
Speaker 1: a lot and to focus his energies on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, where he's a top tier athlete.
Speaker 1: So like a lot of this is Boston by virtue
Speaker 1: of Brad Stevens, has surrounded Jalen Brown with so much
Speaker 1: talent that, like, his weaknesses are just not exploitable the
Speaker 1: way that they are in other systems. So I don't
Speaker 1: think it's fair when you look at like, let's say,
Speaker 1: let's take another guy who's in that same range, like
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard. I think I had him at thirteen or
Speaker 1: fourteen coming into the season, Dame's job on Milwaukee is way, way, way,
Speaker 1: way way harder than Jaln Brown's on the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, Like they live and die based on
Speaker 1: what he can do and what Giannis can do, right,
Speaker 1: Whereas with Jalen Brown, it's like Derek White runs the
Speaker 1: action a lot of the game. You know, Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: will co op possessions like Tatum obviously is the number one.
Speaker 1: Like there's just so much talent in Boston that it
Speaker 1: allows Jalen Brown's strengths to rise to the surface and
Speaker 1: his weakness is to sink. Even just last year without
Speaker 1: Poor Zingis and without Drew Holliday, you saw how much
Speaker 1: more Boston needed from Jalen Brown and how much damaging
Speaker 1: it was, how much more damaging it was when he
Speaker 1: couldn't actually fulfill his end of the bargain in that sense.
Speaker 1: So like, I'm not trying to undercut what Jalen Brown's doing,
Speaker 1: but all I'm saying is is like there's context here.
Speaker 1: This team is really good, and it makes the job
Speaker 1: really easily. It's like when Kevin Durant went to Golden State.
Speaker 1: There are so many people around that team were like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, he's the best part in the league. He's
Speaker 1: better than Lebron And it's like he's literally playing in
Speaker 1: a system where the game is so easy for him.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean Kevin Durant's not awesome, it's just context.
Speaker 1: We literally saw him in Oklahoma City look significantly less
Speaker 1: efficient the previous season, right, So, like again, the context
Speaker 1: is important here. Gylen Brown's awesome. He may be Top fifteen,
Speaker 1: We'll see you when I do my list after the season,
Speaker 1: but he's in a system right now that accentuates his
Speaker 1: strengths and minimizes his weaknesses because of how much talent
Speaker 1: is on the roster. And lastly, like again, like, the
Speaker 1: only definitive top fifteen player on the roster was Tatum,
Speaker 1: So that's why he's the only guy who made All NBA.
Speaker 1: It's really that simple. I've seen a lot of people
Speaker 1: trying to dismiss last night Celtics performance by saying how
Speaker 1: we just got hot and how we won't repeat it again.
Speaker 1: But with this Celtics team, I feel like these types
Speaker 1: of Knights are built into their identity and their style
Speaker 1: of play allows them to have multiple so I do
Speaker 1: think they'll do it again at least once. Like I
Speaker 1: said before the series, I think they'll have two blowout
Speaker 1: wins in this series. Also, like the shot quality is replicable,
Speaker 1: Like the problems that Boston presented aren't going away, But
Speaker 1: they also shot really well in that first half. To
Speaker 1: put it simply, they went up twenty nine. Like we
Speaker 1: all think most of us picked Boston to beat Dallas, right,
Speaker 1: but we picked Boston to beat Dallas in a competitive
Speaker 1: ish sea, right, Like we don't think that they're just
Speaker 1: gonna beat the shit out of them every single time
Speaker 1: they play. When Boston shoots like that, they'll beat the
Speaker 1: shit out of them. But let's just take that exact
Speaker 1: same first half, but five of those threes don't go in. Now,
Speaker 1: instead of being up twenty nine, you're up fourteen, you're
Speaker 1: still up fourteen and the NBA Finals in the first half,
Speaker 1: that's still a dominant performance, right, So like, yeah, the
Speaker 1: Celtics shot really well, but they got really good, high
Speaker 1: quality shots and they were so much better that even
Speaker 1: if they hadn't shot as well, they still would have won.
Speaker 1: So like, like again, over the course of the series,
Speaker 1: they will have performances. I think Boston will win a
Speaker 1: game in this series where they don't shoot well, like,
Speaker 1: I think that's something that'll happen. So like, again, what
Speaker 1: happened last night is replicable in terms of shot quality,
Speaker 1: and when you get that type of shot quality consistently,
Speaker 1: you will have Knights where you shoot it well. When
Speaker 1: they shoot it well, they'll blow them out. That was
Speaker 1: kind of why I had that take that they'll have
Speaker 1: multiple blowout blowouts. What moves, if any, does Denver need
Speaker 1: to make in order to get back to the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three postseason levels of dominance. All I think they
Speaker 1: need to do is retain KCP and make one addition
Speaker 1: to the bench, preferably an athletic guard, like a guy
Speaker 1: that can beat people off the dribble, someone an athletic
Speaker 1: guard with the ball in his hands. Right. If they
Speaker 1: can do that, I think they're gonna be right back
Speaker 1: in the mix. I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: writing off Denver for losing in the second round when
Speaker 1: they were up twenty in Game seven in the second half,
Speaker 1: And if they won that series, I would have picked
Speaker 1: them over Dallas. And if they would have won that series,
Speaker 1: I would have picked them over Boston. So like, it
Speaker 1: really is a game of inches. They caught a bad matchup,
Speaker 1: they got tired, they blew a big lead in the
Speaker 1: second half. But Denver's gonna be right back in the
Speaker 1: mix next year. What counters do you expect the MAVs
Speaker 1: will employ against the Celtics tendency to switch on screens.
Speaker 1: I went over a bunch of counters in the film sessions,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to go in too much more detail,
Speaker 1: but one avoiding attacking Horford and targeting the smaller guards instead.
Speaker 1: We talked about rams screens to try to bring Porzingis
Speaker 1: into the action against a lob threat like Gafford and Lively.
Speaker 1: That would allow to potentially unlock some stuff in their
Speaker 1: pick and roll game, but mostly Luke and Kyrie just
Speaker 1: have to do a better job. Zero point five to
Speaker 1: four points per iso is not going to cut it.
Speaker 1: Last question, what guitars do you have? Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: move the microphone a little bit here so I can
Speaker 1: show you. So I have this one. This is a
Speaker 1: This was my first PRS. This is a CE twenty four,
Speaker 1: semi hollow, really fun guitar, twenty four frets, really easy
Speaker 1: to play, and the main thing with the CE twenty four.
Speaker 1: Is it's a bolt on, so you can see how
Speaker 1: it's got the the neck actually bolted on instead of glued.
Speaker 1: And then it's got steel trim, so it's a steel
Speaker 1: bridge and then steel trim up top, and so it
Speaker 1: kind of has like a resonance to it that's kind
Speaker 1: of unique to a steal. This one right here is
Speaker 1: a Fender Stratocaster, pretty standard. I like love the vintage
Speaker 1: colors on this one, but just a Fender stratocaster we have.
Speaker 1: Let's see here, this is my pride and joy. This
Speaker 1: is the most expensive guitar that I own and one
Speaker 1: of the two that I play most frequently. This is
Speaker 1: a hollow body piezo. So the main thing with it
Speaker 1: is it's completely hollow. So there's two maple pieces, one
Speaker 1: on the back and one on the front, and then
Speaker 1: it's mahogany around the side and a mahogany neck that's
Speaker 1: glued in. And then the main thing is is it's
Speaker 1: got their vintage style humbuckers. These are what they call
Speaker 1: the fifty eight to fifteens, or like a kind of
Speaker 1: like a vintage sounding tone, super warm thing similar to
Speaker 1: like what you'd see in like a less Paul, but
Speaker 1: these these are beautiful sounding. I'm obsessed with these. And
Speaker 1: then this bridge has what's called a piazzo pick up
Speaker 1: in it, which makes it sound like an acoustic guitar,
Speaker 1: which I really like. This one is my second favorite
Speaker 1: to play, and I think is the prettiest guitar that
Speaker 1: I own. I like this one a lot. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: this is my favorite guitar to play. This is the
Speaker 1: Silver Sky. This is John Mayer's signature guitar. It's basically
Speaker 1: like a Fender Stratocaster, but PRS's version. I won't go
Speaker 1: into too much detail geeking out about it, but like
Speaker 1: love the maple neck. I think it's the prettiest maple
Speaker 1: neck that I've seen on a guitar. I love this
Speaker 1: kind of like rust, kind of like it's like kind
Speaker 1: of it. This just kind of reminds me of Arizona,
Speaker 1: which I really like. And then it's just got a
Speaker 1: really classic stratocaster sound that I really like. And then
Speaker 1: it's just so well built. It's got a really rounded radius.
Speaker 1: This one's a seven inch radius, so it's rounded, easy
Speaker 1: to get your fingers around. This is like the if
Speaker 1: you've ever anybody who listens to the show's played a
Speaker 1: silver Sky knows it's like literally one of the best
Speaker 1: guitars to funniest guitars to play. It's also like relatively
Speaker 1: affordable compared to some of the core models that PRS makes,
Speaker 1: Like the purple guitar is more than twice as much
Speaker 1: as that one. So and then I've got a couple
Speaker 1: of cheapi's, a couple of epiphones like entry level ones,
Speaker 1: and then I've got an acoustic guitar over there as well.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: We will be back on Sunday night with a live
Speaker 1: reaction with Colin Coward after Game two. I would see
Speaker 1: you guys that the volume