June 11, 2025 • 31 mins
Jason answers mailbag questions from Hoops Tonight listeners on topics such as how the Oklahoma City Thunder will navigate the CBA when they have to pay Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, how OKC will manage the rest of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers, what Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James's best chance to win another title is, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
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Speaker 1 (02:00):
Y.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Wellcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume heavy Tuesday.
Everybody hope all if you guys are having a great
start to your week. Well, just like we did after
game one, we are going to do a mail bag
that covers all your guys's questions about the NBA Finals,
some stuff around the rest of the league as well.
We've got a question about where Lebron's next best chance
to win the title would be. We're going to talk
about some potential trades for the Cleveland Cavaliers, some big
(02:22):
picture basketball stuff. We might even go into some different
sports down at the tail end of the mail bag
where we're gonna hit all of the NBA Finals related
stuff off the top. You guys know the drill before
we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys don't miss
show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever we
get you podcast on Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful
(02:43):
if you leave a rating and review on that front.
Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
and Facebook. Make sure you guys follow us there, and then,
last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in
the chats that we can get to them in our
mail bags at the tail end of our live streams.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So our first question
is kind of a big picture question surrounding the thunder
in their future. Do you pay J dub and Chet
(03:06):
the Supermax if they qualify next year. Now, in terms
of the details surrounding the super Max, it obviously depends
on you know, whether or not Chet mix and all
NBA team next year, things along those lines. But I'm
gonna try to reframe this question around the idea of
let's just say max contracts in theory, if you're building
(03:26):
a roster, as we've seen around the NBA, it can
get a little tough once you have three max contract
players to fill the rest of the roster, and like
even just in the big picture, it's about whether or
not they can continue to surround these guys with enough talent. Now,
I am generally of the belief that it's not so
much whether or not you can build a roster around
(03:48):
three max players, it's are these three players the kinds
of max players that are good enough to justify that
type of resource distribution? And the short answer is yes,
I absolutely think they are. When we talk about team build,
I tend to focus on these different archetypes at each
(04:09):
position group, right, and when I look at everything in
a vacuum, like irrespective of stars, because stars bring kind
of unicorn traits to the table right Like Jokis doesn't
look like any other center around the league. Steph Curry
doesn't look like any other point guard around the league.
Jana Santena Kumpo or Luka Doncic. These guys don't look
like traditional players. Even Shay in and of himself as
(04:31):
like an old school mid range scoring two guard is
very rare around the NBA. But one of the concepts
that I always talk about is like, ideally I want
to have like a skill guard, a guard that is
an excellent passer, shot creator, floor general, all that kind
of stuff. An athlete guard, a guard that can guard
the other team's best guard but also can drive close
outs and bring you know, some more of the power
(04:54):
element to that position group. And then at the forward spots,
I like having like a big, physical forward, and then
I'll having more of a slender, wiry, perimeter oriented forward.
And then you want to big that can defend in
multiple coverages, a big that brings defensive versatility. And so
as I go down the list, if Shay and Jadab
and chet are my core, I think all three of
(05:14):
those don't just fit into those groups but legitimately bring
more to the table, like Shay is very much the
pro typical skill guard in that he is a guy
that can be the offensive engine for a team. We
saw him have one of his best offensive engine types
of games of his career in Game two of the Finals, right,
But Shay also brings legitimate athletic traits to the table.
(05:36):
Shay is a very good defensive player when he's engaged, right,
so like he doesn't bring a lot of the shortcomings
that typically come with skill guards. Jadub think of him
as like a combination of a bunch of different things.
He is a guy that can do some of that
athletic guard stuff in terms of guarding elite guards and
bringing more power to that position. But at the same
(05:56):
time he can be a lot like what we see
from a lot of four men in terms of bringing
like power ball handling to the table. I even think
there's a lot of big picture potential for JDub as
like kind of a bully ball matchup attacker that he's
still just barely scratching the surface of what he's capable
of being. And then Chet he is the prototypical big
man that can defend and low drop defend and high
(06:18):
drop defendant. Switches defend in zone. His defending in switches
was a huge part of Oklahoma City's defensive success in
Game two against the Pacers. But also Chet brings the
ability to be a legitimate perimeter offensive weapon while still
being the same vertical spacing threat that so many of
his peers are at the center position. So, to make
(06:38):
a long story short, I think Shay, J, Dub and
Chet compliment each other extremely well. They're all on the
same age timeline. All three of them have traits that
extend out from what you would expect from their specific
position group. I absolutely think that you can commit long
term money to all three of those guys and still
(07:00):
will build a championship roster around him. Again, when you
have players that play the way that these guys do
and that check all the boxes that these guys check,
it actually just makes for smaller and more achievable roles
down the roster for your teammates, and that just makes
the general manager's job that much easier. Next question. After
(07:21):
Game two, you talked about how SGA did a much
better job of playing the floor game. He invested in
his own teammates, which allowed for people like Chet to
get going. Do you expect Shaye to keep that good
floor game going as they go to Indiana. Love the show. So,
first of all, this has been a subject of some
of the debate after the first two games, right we in.
(07:43):
I noticed some of you guys disagreed after my Game
two instant reaction for the way I characterized Shay's Game one.
Kevin O'Connor came on the show yesterday and similarly said
the same thing. And I want to clarify in the
sense that I shouldn't be saying Shaye played bad in
game one. He didn't play bad in game one. That's
(08:04):
over dramatic. That said, I did think the box score
was not necessarily a very accurate reflection of the way
that he played like. I did think Shae played substantially
better in game two, and he had thirty eight points
in game one. But the big giveaway to me is
(08:25):
we talked about in that show. If you remember, off
the top, I discussed the concept of floor game being
a job that a ball handler does, or that ball
handler has. The responsibility he has that extends beyond assists
and extends beyond points and goes to your the engine
of the offense. You are responsible for the rhythm and
(08:47):
flow of your team's offense as the primary ball handler, right,
and the Thunder scored twenty more points per one hundred
possessions in the half court in game two than they
did in Game one. Does variants play a role in that?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But what do I always say for me, variants is
going to be pretty far down the list behind basketball dynamics.
And even though the box score showed a very productive
offensive night in game one for Shay, I thought, specifically
early in the game, he shot his team out of
rhythm by taking a lot of mediocre, contested pull up
(09:24):
jump shots early in the clock. In game two, I
thought he made the appropriate investments in rhythm and flow
early and it manifested in better ball movement, better rhythm
and flow for his offense, and twenty more points per
one hundred half court possessions. And so again, I just
wanted to clarify that because I did use the word
(09:44):
he played bad in game two, and that's just dumb.
He didn't play bad, he just compared on the range
of potential outcomes for Shay games, I thought that trended
more towards the low end. And before you tell me, oh, well,
he had thirty eight points. You go look at his
scoring totals. He always gets He's one of the most reliable,
high volume scorers in the league. But there are differing
(10:06):
outcomes for Shae in terms of his floor game, in
terms of just the way he manages the way his
offense is flowing. And I did think that Shaye played
substantially better in Game two. Now do I expect Shaye
to keep that going? Yes, Shae, you know, is a
little bit more old, is a little bit older and
more experienced than people think. I talked about this concept
(10:27):
last night. The thing with young basketball players is they
struggle to identify failures and minimize them, and they struggle
to identify successes and repeat them. Right, But with each
passing series, with each passing moment, for this Oklahoma City team,
they seem to be growing and to be learning from
their mistakes. And I do think that Shaye learned quickly
after Game one that that's not the way that he
(10:47):
needs to attack, and I think he made that adjustment,
and I expect him to attack Game three in a
very similar manner. Now that said, Indiana's really good and
they could go up by twelve fifteen points at some
point during Game three, and it's possible that at that
point Shay reverts back to some hero ball, but that's
(11:10):
just part of his archetype as a scoring guard. I
think overall, I think I can expect or we can
expect his floor game to more closely mimic Game two
moving forward in the series. Next question with jaris Walker out.
Do you think Rick Carlisle? Who do you think Rick
Carlisle turns to as the next opportunity to give them something.
I don't think this is a dig deeper in the
(11:31):
bench type of series. I think this is on the
guys that are playing right now, and a lot of
it with the bench guys is about making better decisions.
You know, Obi Toppin not as good a game in
Game two, some aggressive forces in traffic against rim protection
instead of moving the ball. Ben matherin several examples of
plays where he got into the teeth of the defense
(11:51):
instead of taking easy reads that were available to him.
Guys just have to play better and then as a group,
the pacers kind of in this series have a tug
of war in terms of their offensive execution. When they
take care of the ball and they get the ball
to the floor, quickly, and they run multiple actions on
the same possession. They break Oklahoma City's defense down incrementally,
and they get good looks. When they get stagnant, when
(12:13):
they start turning the ball over, things start to fall
apart for them. And so I don't think this is
like a dig deeper in the roster. We need a
different player to solve our problems. I think it's on
the group to just play better. Next question, do you
think Pascal comes out more aggressive to score tonight? Obviously,
I'm assuming you mean Wednesday night. They need him playing
like he did in the next series, and it feels
(12:34):
like he's just gotten off to slow starts this far.
I do think that we'll see an aggressive Pascal in
game three. I think in general, the Pacers kind of
got away from some of the success they had in
Game one hunting size mismatches with their bigs in the post,
and I thought it just was a lack of intentionality
in terms of the way that they were hunting shots.
(12:54):
I thought that they were a little too quick to
take early clock decent reason. I'm not opposed to those shots.
We all know the Pacers can make those shots, but
I didn't think they did enough of a job establishing
the post early and often in game two, and Pascal
is just the obvious pathway to make that happen. And
so I do think that we will see a more
(13:15):
aggressive Pascal, a more aggressive turner, a lot more damage
being done in the paint in game three. You've talked
about how Okay Okac's offense isn't really the main force
of this team. My question is is the Pacers defense
able to make some significant adjustments to take game to
take one or two games at home. So I'm really
(13:37):
curious to see how Rick Carlisle comes out to guard
in game three. We talked about this concept in depth
with Kevin O'Connor yesterday, so I won't go into too
much detail today. If you guys haven't had a chance
to check that pot out, I highly recommend it. Kevin
was fantastic and we got into a bunch of the
details in the series. But I'm really curious to see
how they come out and guard. I thought that the
(13:57):
at the level coverages for the Pacers didn't want work
very well through the first two games. Again, like they're
not going up to the level to take away the
pull up jump shot. They're not worried about Shae coming
off and rising up from three doesn't make enough of
them for that really to be the issue. They're bringing
the man up to the level to try to stop
Shae from getting ahead of steam. But what ends up
happening is when you come up to the level of
the screen, you pick a side. So in a drop coverage,
(14:19):
imagine this like as Shaye's coming off of a screen.
If you're in a drop coverage, you're sitting lower, and
if he comes off the screen this way, you're ready.
If he rejects the screen and goes off the other way,
you're ready, right, But if you're up at the level,
you're picking a side of the screen that you're coming
up to the level to show. And so if you
come up to the level and then Shae decides to
drive the opposite direction, suddenly, if he beats that man,
(14:42):
there's nobody behind in that two on two right now,
all of a sudden, you're in rotation. You've now put
yourself into a four on three, and it was a
lot of rejecting screens, and all of a sudden, no
one's there to help coming off the screen and splitting
the action. So if you come up to the level
and you show and shake, but he just splits right
in between you two. Same sort of thing. It's a
(15:03):
four on three. You come up to the level and
the screener slips, you pitch it over the top, same
thing four on three. I just thought that the Thunder
were operating in a four on three far too often
in that game, and so I'm really curious to see
if for Carlisle makes the adjustment of either doing some
more soft switching, meaning like have the defender that switches
switch a little bit further back to try to bait
them into some early pull up threes, or in more
(15:26):
of a deeper drop coverage in ball screen so that
when Shay comes off, Like this is the way I
look at it. If Shane's gonna get downhill anyway, Like,
if you're gonna get beat anyway, then you might as
well have a fourth defender in the action rather than
have three defenders in the action trying to rotate out
of that situation. Right, So, like we'll see I think
I think we could see Carlisle come out with the
(15:47):
same coverage to start game three and just banking on
the crowd and the intensity and the urgency kind of
just bringing a better on ball effort from the Pacers,
and maybe that's what he ends up doing. But I
also think that it's the cards that Carlisle's gonna have
to tweak the coverage to deeper drop coverage, softer switching,
something more of a contain the ball approach to try
(16:08):
to keep things in front. Might even see some zone
as well. I'll be curious to see how they guard
now on the other end of the floor, the Pacers
defense in there, or excuse me, with the on that
end of the floor. Just in general for the Pacers,
Oklahoma City has shown a little bit of like a
(16:28):
ricketiness on offense in this postseason, where they can get
knocked off of their foundation, and so in terms of
their ability to take the two games at home, it
does come down to their defense in the sense that
if they get enough stops, if they force enough long
jumpers and long rebounds, and they can play in transition,
they're gonna score enough points, especially at home. But the
(16:48):
defense is the job. If they can slow down Oklahoma
City's offense enough in these two games, that is their
best pathway forward in the series. By knocking Oklahoma City
off of their offensive foundation, getting out in transition, in
getting the easy ones avoiding the loaded up thunder defence.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
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Speaker 2 (17:40):
All right, We've got five more questions today that kind
of center around the rest of the league. First question,
what is Lebron's best shot out of fifth ring? So
this has been something that I've thought quite a bit
about since the disappointing exit for my Lakers in the
first round again the Minnesota Timberwolves. But this idea of like, Okay,
(18:04):
the Lakers have some realities in terms of the future
surrounding Luca and Lebron being a very very expensive old
player that still plays at a level that's deserving of
the money, but comes with some realities in terms of
when he does hail off, he'll present a barrier between,
you know, in terms of roster allocation, between what the
(18:27):
Lakers are going to be and what they are now.
Right Similarly, he's you know, going to be forty one
next year by the time they make it to the postseason,
and it's just going to be really difficult for uh.
It's going to be really difficult for him to you know,
find an extended runway to try to make something happen.
So if he goes anywhere, it have to be a
(18:48):
win now type of situation. Seen lots of things thrown around,
and when I start to dig into it, it's like, Okay,
let's say let's say he got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I've seen versions of aids thrown around with like Darius
Garland and Jared Allen for instance, for Lebron. So let's
say it's Lebron and Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell and
(19:10):
you know, obviously that deep core of good role players
in Cleveland, Like that's a good team, right, How much
better is that than him? Next to Luka Doncic in
a revenge campaign. Right, Let's say he goes to Golden State.
If they if they were to pull some sort of
magic along those lines, like Lebron, Stephan Draymond, it's a
(19:32):
really good team. I think Lebron would be such an
amazing natural basketball fit in the Golden State system. But
do I think that, you know, old Lebron and old
Steph with Draymond is a better chance to win the
title than Lebron James and Luka Doncic in a revenge campaign.
You start to like poke around to different options. Oh
(19:54):
what if he goes to the Knicks. Okay, So it's
Lebron and Ogn and Obi and McHale Bridges and Jalen Brunson.
It's a really good team, really fun team, open Eastern Conference.
There's a lot of like kind of elements involving the
East that make that somewhat interesting. But is it better
than Lebron with a Luka Doncic on a revenge campaign?
(20:14):
Is what I keep coming back to. I talked about
this a little bit last night. Luca did not have
a good postseason, never really got fully back into rhythm
after his injury. This year looked in pretty poor condition
in that first round series. But I really do think
we're going to get a very very engaged version of
(20:35):
Luca next year, and a very well conditioned version of
Luca next year. And when Luka Doncic is healthy and
in rhythm, he's one of the very best players in
this league last year. If you guys remember in our
like Who's got the Belt video after the season, I
literally said that it was Luca after beating the guy
that beat the guy and being more or less the
(20:57):
most impressive player in the postseason last year. So as
I look at it, I keep coming back to this
idea that like, give me Luka Doncicic in a season
where he's supremely motivated next to you know, this deep
roster of well, not as deep as it needs to be,
(21:18):
and they'll need to make some changes this year, but
they've got some high level players. Ruy Hachimura is a
high level player. Austin Reeves is a high level player.
Dorian Phinney Smith is a good role player. Jared Vanderbilt
is capable of being a good role player, right Like,
they've got you know, they've got guys, and so they've
got to make some changes. They gotta find a center,
they might have to seriously consider moving a guy like
(21:38):
a Austin Reeves or Ruyatamura. That is a redundancy, but
that's a vehicle with which to bring in additional talent.
And I keep coming down to if you give me
a group of athletes that can do that are versatile
enough to do the dribble, shoot, pass, defend stuff that
they'll need to do off of Lebron and Luca. Give
(21:58):
me Luca and Lebron, and I think he got a
better chance than some of these other situations that have
been pitched around the league. So I've thought through a lot,
and I've seen a bunch of stuff get pitched, And
I keep coming back to if Lebron gets a fifth ring,
which obviously is a supreme long shot at this point,
I think it happens alongside Luca. And so with that
being the case, I think that in all likelihood, Lebron
(22:21):
sees that too, and I think Lebron will be a
Laker when it's all said and done. Do you believe
trading a guard from the Calves will unlock mobily? So
this is complicated because obviously Evan Mobley, I think has
developed as an offensive player we saw a lot of
like the inverted ball screen action with guys like Sam Marilyn,
(22:43):
Darius Garland slipping out of action with him this year,
Donovan Mitchell slipping out of action with him this year
becoming a kind of like a worthwhile action for the Calves.
We saw him in general just become a better driving
kick player when he gets downhill. He's developed a three
point shot that is semi reliable. Like Evan Mobley, He's
developed a lot, But I don't think Evan Mobley is
about to go, you know, pull a Palo Bancaro and
(23:05):
become this like super high volume on ballplayer, at least
not anytime soon. I think he's years away from developing
that sort of game. To me, trading a guard for
the Cavs is about resource allocation. If you're going to
have two high volume on ball guards, then you need
to reap the rewards of having two high volume on
(23:27):
ball guards. And every year Darius Garland has been banged
up and lacking a little bit of that quickness, and
even when he's been healthy, he's struggled to be super
effective in the postseason setting. It just hasn't really materialized.
And it comes with the downsides of like when he's
injured all of a sudden, you're just down a like
a very expensive contract slot that you're not getting anything
(23:49):
out of, or when he's being attacked on defense because
of his size limitations, Like there's a certain amount of
like when Darius Garland is not at his peak, it
doesn't look like a championship roster. And so if you
believe that Darius is going to like come together and
put it all together and be healthy and be the
(24:09):
best version of himself when it matters, then yeah, it's
we're sticking with it. But like at a certain point,
you've got to read the room and be like, Okay,
this guy's just kind of struggled to hold up physically,
and maybe this doesn't ever come to fruition, right, And
so what trading a guard would do is not so
much to me about unlocking Evan Mobley as like some
sort of super high powered offensive weapon. It would be
(24:33):
about trading Darius Garland for just a much more reliable
fifth guy. Right when you started to dig into it
this year, it was like, oh man, Jared Allen didn't
really materialize into a reliable playoff player this year. Neither
did DeAndre Hunter, neither did Ty Jerome like, and all
of a sudden you zoomed out from that playoff run
and it was like man, Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus
(24:56):
and Evan Mobley were like the only three calves that
you felt really good about throughout that postseason run. And
so bringing in another wing, a guy that is basically
like a really really high level starting version of a
DeAndre Hunter that can slot Max Strus at the two
and give yourself a little bit more, you know, just
(25:18):
reliable ceiling when you get to the postseason would be
something worth exploring. But again it's all about that doesn't
mean you just trade Darius Garland for the sake of
trading Darius Garland. It's just something that I would consider
if the right opportunity came up for a really really
high level player at the small forward position. What would
be your ideal play style for a relatively small ish
(25:39):
point guard to be one of your StarMax players on
a championship team. What play style would you choose as
a building block? Not Curry obviously, because he's one of one.
This is an interesting question, and I think the Pacers
are honestly a really, really smart kind of like like
like model for how to do this. So, first of all,
I don't think the Thunder count because all their guards
are great defenders. But when you've got a smallest point
(26:01):
guard who's not an elite defender, what kind of play
style do you need to play? I think it's all
about being fast. You got to lean into the strength. Right,
what is that smallest point guard going to be great at?
He's going to be great at being fast. How has
Indiana's defense managed to be still serviceable despite having Tyre
Saliburton out there? Well, he throws really aggressive hedges, and
(26:22):
he recovers fast in rotation, and as a team, they're
just great in rotation. They run and sprint around and
they cover ground. I don't think you could have a
small guard and then also be a slow team. I
think you have to be fast, and so Indiana, to me,
is the model of how you would build around a
like Let's say that you're the Heat and you've got
Tyler Harrow, or you're you know, the Hornets and you've
(26:45):
got LaMelo Ball, or you're the Wizards and you've got
Jordan Poole, like just a small but fast like skill
guard who's like the foundational player for your offense. I
think you've got to surround that dude with a lot
of athletics, like a let it like, kind of versatile,
do everything. Guys that can play fast exist in rotation
(27:06):
and just cover ground behind what that player does, and
then it also accentuates what they do offensively, because most
fast guards like to play fast. Two more questions, what
are some of the top traits you look for in
a non big role player. Things like perimeter speed you've
mentioned in the past look to be dead on. So yeah,
I think perimeter speed is a big one, just because
inevitably you've got to do a certain amount of existing
(27:27):
in rotation. In the NBA, I also think in general,
the game has existed more in transition. So as the
game exists more in transition, you got to have guys
that can get up and down the floor, not just
running the floor on offense for buckets, but also getting
back in your transition defense. Right, I think from there
it's the Big four. It's dribble, shoot, pass, and defend. Right,
What that means is you've got a star somewhere on
(27:48):
the roster. It doesn't matter where that is. It doesn't
matter if it's a point guard, two guard, three, four
five right. Wherever that star is, he's going to create advantages.
Once you have that advantage, if you're wide open, you
need a guy who can knock down the three if
he's got to, he's got to be able to attack
the close out. Once he attacks that close out, he's
got to be able to make the reads. Right, So
that's the dribble in pass element. There's the shooting element,
(28:10):
there's the dribble in pass element, the defend. I'm gonna
tie all of these things up into athleticism, right, So
like the athleticism to drive a close out and finish
at the rim, the athleticism to fly up and down
the floor in transition, the athleticism to guard the ball.
All of that SEMs around that defense concept. So like,
if you have a role player that's playing off of
a star, you need him to be able to play
(28:32):
with an advantage, which means knock down shots, drive closeouts,
make reads, and then you need to be able to
have him exist within what you're trying to do defensively.
The only other thing that I would add there is
just overall competitiveness and motor. I think this is one
of the most underrated things in the league right now.
If you're gonna build out a real championship character in
your team, where guys are always in the right spots
(28:54):
and they always do the right thing, and you pay
attention to detail and just be more like the Pacers
for lack of a better way, you gotta have some
competitive dudes that hate losing and that are willing to
do the things that suck to win basketball games. And
so I think the personality trade is a big part
of it as well. Last question, saw your baseball tweet
the other day. Any secret baseball fandom you're willing to share? So,
(29:18):
Like most kids, I grew up watching all sports, and
I've always been a fan of all sports. I grew
up watching a ton of hockey. My dad's from Detroit,
right I grew up playing litle league baseball. I used
to watch every single Arizona Diamondbacks game growing up. I
am a huge football fan. I used to watch the
(29:39):
NFL very closely and consume a lot of NFL content.
I haven't done nearly as much of that obviously since
I started doing this for a living, just because this
takes so much of my time and attention but I
still love the NFL, and every year in September, I
pretend I'm going to follow it more closely, and then
by like week seven or eight, I'm just completely invested
in the NBA. But I I have always loved sports,
(30:02):
all sports. I love watching golf. I still put golf
on a lot on the weekends, and I love to
play golf, and I just, you know, it's the way
that my job is currently structured. I'm very basketball focused.
I can't promise that I'll always be the case, but
maybe it will. Maybe I'll always just do basketball stuff.
But I do have a love for all sports, baseball
in particular. I grew up in a family that was
(30:24):
very baseball oriented. We all played baseball growing up, and
I when the d Backs made their World Series run
a couple of years ago, that was when I kind
of had that love reinvigorated for me, where I was
like watching every single postseason game and getting super super
invested just because that was something that was such a
big part of my life when I was younger. But yeah,
like basketball is the thing that has given me everything
(30:48):
that I have in my life and the thing that
I love the most. But I have always had a
love and appreciation for other sports and it just isn't
something that we get to talk too much about on
the show. But who knows, maybe some point in the
future that'll be something we explore more. All right, guys,
that's all we have for today. As always, a sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We will be back on Wednesday night after the final
(31:09):
buzzer of Game three. Colin Coward should be there this time.
He had a flight get delayed last night. That's where
on Sunday night. That's why we didn't get him for
game two, but we should have him for Game three.
We'll be breaking down everything after that game. We will
see you guys then. So guys, as always, I appreciate
you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. They would
actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
(31:29):
take a second and leave a rating and a review.
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
The volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
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Speaker 1 (02:00):
Y.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Wellcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume heavy Tuesday.
Everybody hope all if you guys are having a great
start to your week. Well, just like we did after
game one, we are going to do a mail bag
that covers all your guys's questions about the NBA Finals,
some stuff around the rest of the league as well.
We've got a question about where Lebron's next best chance
to win the title would be. We're going to talk
about some potential trades for the Cleveland Cavaliers, some big
(02:22):
picture basketball stuff. We might even go into some different
sports down at the tail end of the mail bag
where we're gonna hit all of the NBA Finals related
stuff off the top. You guys know the drill before
we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys don't miss
show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever we
get you podcast on Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful
(02:43):
if you leave a rating and review on that front.
Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
and Facebook. Make sure you guys follow us there, and then,
last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in
the chats that we can get to them in our
mail bags at the tail end of our live streams.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So our first question
is kind of a big picture question surrounding the thunder
in their future. Do you pay J dub and Chet
(03:06):
the Supermax if they qualify next year. Now, in terms
of the details surrounding the super Max, it obviously depends
on you know, whether or not Chet mix and all
NBA team next year, things along those lines. But I'm
gonna try to reframe this question around the idea of
let's just say max contracts in theory, if you're building
(03:26):
a roster, as we've seen around the NBA, it can
get a little tough once you have three max contract
players to fill the rest of the roster, and like
even just in the big picture, it's about whether or
not they can continue to surround these guys with enough talent. Now,
I am generally of the belief that it's not so
much whether or not you can build a roster around
(03:48):
three max players, it's are these three players the kinds
of max players that are good enough to justify that
type of resource distribution? And the short answer is yes,
I absolutely think they are. When we talk about team build,
I tend to focus on these different archetypes at each
(04:09):
position group, right, and when I look at everything in
a vacuum, like irrespective of stars, because stars bring kind
of unicorn traits to the table right Like Jokis doesn't
look like any other center around the league. Steph Curry
doesn't look like any other point guard around the league.
Jana Santena Kumpo or Luka Doncic. These guys don't look
like traditional players. Even Shay in and of himself as
(04:31):
like an old school mid range scoring two guard is
very rare around the NBA. But one of the concepts
that I always talk about is like, ideally I want
to have like a skill guard, a guard that is
an excellent passer, shot creator, floor general, all that kind
of stuff. An athlete guard, a guard that can guard
the other team's best guard but also can drive close
outs and bring you know, some more of the power
(04:54):
element to that position group. And then at the forward spots,
I like having like a big, physical forward, and then
I'll having more of a slender, wiry, perimeter oriented forward.
And then you want to big that can defend in
multiple coverages, a big that brings defensive versatility. And so
as I go down the list, if Shay and Jadab
and chet are my core, I think all three of
(05:14):
those don't just fit into those groups but legitimately bring
more to the table, like Shay is very much the
pro typical skill guard in that he is a guy
that can be the offensive engine for a team. We
saw him have one of his best offensive engine types
of games of his career in Game two of the Finals, right,
But Shay also brings legitimate athletic traits to the table.
(05:36):
Shay is a very good defensive player when he's engaged, right,
so like he doesn't bring a lot of the shortcomings
that typically come with skill guards. Jadub think of him
as like a combination of a bunch of different things.
He is a guy that can do some of that
athletic guard stuff in terms of guarding elite guards and
bringing more power to that position. But at the same
(05:56):
time he can be a lot like what we see
from a lot of four men in terms of bringing
like power ball handling to the table. I even think
there's a lot of big picture potential for JDub as
like kind of a bully ball matchup attacker that he's
still just barely scratching the surface of what he's capable
of being. And then Chet he is the prototypical big
man that can defend and low drop defend and high
(06:18):
drop defendant. Switches defend in zone. His defending in switches
was a huge part of Oklahoma City's defensive success in
Game two against the Pacers. But also Chet brings the
ability to be a legitimate perimeter offensive weapon while still
being the same vertical spacing threat that so many of
his peers are at the center position. So, to make
(06:38):
a long story short, I think Shay, J, Dub and
Chet compliment each other extremely well. They're all on the
same age timeline. All three of them have traits that
extend out from what you would expect from their specific
position group. I absolutely think that you can commit long
term money to all three of those guys and still
(07:00):
will build a championship roster around him. Again, when you
have players that play the way that these guys do
and that check all the boxes that these guys check,
it actually just makes for smaller and more achievable roles
down the roster for your teammates, and that just makes
the general manager's job that much easier. Next question. After
(07:21):
Game two, you talked about how SGA did a much
better job of playing the floor game. He invested in
his own teammates, which allowed for people like Chet to
get going. Do you expect Shaye to keep that good
floor game going as they go to Indiana. Love the show. So,
first of all, this has been a subject of some
of the debate after the first two games, right we in.
(07:43):
I noticed some of you guys disagreed after my Game
two instant reaction for the way I characterized Shay's Game one.
Kevin O'Connor came on the show yesterday and similarly said
the same thing. And I want to clarify in the
sense that I shouldn't be saying Shaye played bad in
game one. He didn't play bad in game one. That's
(08:04):
over dramatic. That said, I did think the box score
was not necessarily a very accurate reflection of the way
that he played like. I did think Shae played substantially
better in game two, and he had thirty eight points
in game one. But the big giveaway to me is
(08:25):
we talked about in that show. If you remember, off
the top, I discussed the concept of floor game being
a job that a ball handler does, or that ball
handler has. The responsibility he has that extends beyond assists
and extends beyond points and goes to your the engine
of the offense. You are responsible for the rhythm and
(08:47):
flow of your team's offense as the primary ball handler, right,
and the Thunder scored twenty more points per one hundred
possessions in the half court in game two than they
did in Game one. Does variants play a role in that?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But what do I always say for me, variants is
going to be pretty far down the list behind basketball dynamics.
And even though the box score showed a very productive
offensive night in game one for Shay, I thought, specifically
early in the game, he shot his team out of
rhythm by taking a lot of mediocre, contested pull up
(09:24):
jump shots early in the clock. In game two, I
thought he made the appropriate investments in rhythm and flow
early and it manifested in better ball movement, better rhythm
and flow for his offense, and twenty more points per
one hundred half court possessions. And so again, I just
wanted to clarify that because I did use the word
(09:44):
he played bad in game two, and that's just dumb.
He didn't play bad, he just compared on the range
of potential outcomes for Shay games, I thought that trended
more towards the low end. And before you tell me, oh, well,
he had thirty eight points. You go look at his
scoring totals. He always gets He's one of the most reliable,
high volume scorers in the league. But there are differing
(10:06):
outcomes for Shae in terms of his floor game, in
terms of just the way he manages the way his
offense is flowing. And I did think that Shaye played
substantially better in Game two. Now do I expect Shaye
to keep that going? Yes, Shae, you know, is a
little bit more old, is a little bit older and
more experienced than people think. I talked about this concept
(10:27):
last night. The thing with young basketball players is they
struggle to identify failures and minimize them, and they struggle
to identify successes and repeat them. Right, But with each
passing series, with each passing moment, for this Oklahoma City team,
they seem to be growing and to be learning from
their mistakes. And I do think that Shaye learned quickly
after Game one that that's not the way that he
(10:47):
needs to attack, and I think he made that adjustment,
and I expect him to attack Game three in a
very similar manner. Now that said, Indiana's really good and
they could go up by twelve fifteen points at some
point during Game three, and it's possible that at that
point Shay reverts back to some hero ball, but that's
(11:10):
just part of his archetype as a scoring guard. I
think overall, I think I can expect or we can
expect his floor game to more closely mimic Game two
moving forward in the series. Next question with jaris Walker out.
Do you think Rick Carlisle? Who do you think Rick
Carlisle turns to as the next opportunity to give them something.
I don't think this is a dig deeper in the
(11:31):
bench type of series. I think this is on the
guys that are playing right now, and a lot of
it with the bench guys is about making better decisions.
You know, Obi Toppin not as good a game in
Game two, some aggressive forces in traffic against rim protection
instead of moving the ball. Ben matherin several examples of
plays where he got into the teeth of the defense
(11:51):
instead of taking easy reads that were available to him.
Guys just have to play better and then as a group,
the pacers kind of in this series have a tug
of war in terms of their offensive execution. When they
take care of the ball and they get the ball
to the floor, quickly, and they run multiple actions on
the same possession. They break Oklahoma City's defense down incrementally,
and they get good looks. When they get stagnant, when
(12:13):
they start turning the ball over, things start to fall
apart for them. And so I don't think this is
like a dig deeper in the roster. We need a
different player to solve our problems. I think it's on
the group to just play better. Next question, do you
think Pascal comes out more aggressive to score tonight? Obviously,
I'm assuming you mean Wednesday night. They need him playing
like he did in the next series, and it feels
(12:34):
like he's just gotten off to slow starts this far.
I do think that we'll see an aggressive Pascal in
game three. I think in general, the Pacers kind of
got away from some of the success they had in
Game one hunting size mismatches with their bigs in the post,
and I thought it just was a lack of intentionality
in terms of the way that they were hunting shots.
(12:54):
I thought that they were a little too quick to
take early clock decent reason. I'm not opposed to those shots.
We all know the Pacers can make those shots, but
I didn't think they did enough of a job establishing
the post early and often in game two, and Pascal
is just the obvious pathway to make that happen. And
so I do think that we will see a more
(13:15):
aggressive Pascal, a more aggressive turner, a lot more damage
being done in the paint in game three. You've talked
about how Okay Okac's offense isn't really the main force
of this team. My question is is the Pacers defense
able to make some significant adjustments to take game to
take one or two games at home. So I'm really
(13:37):
curious to see how Rick Carlisle comes out to guard
in game three. We talked about this concept in depth
with Kevin O'Connor yesterday, so I won't go into too
much detail today. If you guys haven't had a chance
to check that pot out, I highly recommend it. Kevin
was fantastic and we got into a bunch of the
details in the series. But I'm really curious to see
how they come out and guard. I thought that the
(13:57):
at the level coverages for the Pacers didn't want work
very well through the first two games. Again, like they're
not going up to the level to take away the
pull up jump shot. They're not worried about Shae coming
off and rising up from three doesn't make enough of
them for that really to be the issue. They're bringing
the man up to the level to try to stop
Shae from getting ahead of steam. But what ends up
happening is when you come up to the level of
the screen, you pick a side. So in a drop coverage,
(14:19):
imagine this like as Shaye's coming off of a screen.
If you're in a drop coverage, you're sitting lower, and
if he comes off the screen this way, you're ready.
If he rejects the screen and goes off the other way,
you're ready, right, But if you're up at the level,
you're picking a side of the screen that you're coming
up to the level to show. And so if you
come up to the level and then Shae decides to
drive the opposite direction, suddenly, if he beats that man,
(14:42):
there's nobody behind in that two on two right now,
all of a sudden, you're in rotation. You've now put
yourself into a four on three, and it was a
lot of rejecting screens, and all of a sudden, no
one's there to help coming off the screen and splitting
the action. So if you come up to the level
and you show and shake, but he just splits right
in between you two. Same sort of thing. It's a
(15:03):
four on three. You come up to the level and
the screener slips, you pitch it over the top, same
thing four on three. I just thought that the Thunder
were operating in a four on three far too often
in that game, and so I'm really curious to see
if for Carlisle makes the adjustment of either doing some
more soft switching, meaning like have the defender that switches
switch a little bit further back to try to bait
them into some early pull up threes, or in more
(15:26):
of a deeper drop coverage in ball screen so that
when Shay comes off, Like this is the way I
look at it. If Shane's gonna get downhill anyway, Like,
if you're gonna get beat anyway, then you might as
well have a fourth defender in the action rather than
have three defenders in the action trying to rotate out
of that situation. Right, So, like we'll see I think
I think we could see Carlisle come out with the
(15:47):
same coverage to start game three and just banking on
the crowd and the intensity and the urgency kind of
just bringing a better on ball effort from the Pacers,
and maybe that's what he ends up doing. But I
also think that it's the cards that Carlisle's gonna have
to tweak the coverage to deeper drop coverage, softer switching,
something more of a contain the ball approach to try
(16:08):
to keep things in front. Might even see some zone
as well. I'll be curious to see how they guard
now on the other end of the floor, the Pacers
defense in there, or excuse me, with the on that
end of the floor. Just in general for the Pacers,
Oklahoma City has shown a little bit of like a
(16:28):
ricketiness on offense in this postseason, where they can get
knocked off of their foundation, and so in terms of
their ability to take the two games at home, it
does come down to their defense in the sense that
if they get enough stops, if they force enough long
jumpers and long rebounds, and they can play in transition,
they're gonna score enough points, especially at home. But the
(16:48):
defense is the job. If they can slow down Oklahoma
City's offense enough in these two games, that is their
best pathway forward in the series. By knocking Oklahoma City
off of their offensive foundation, getting out in transition, in
getting the easy ones avoiding the loaded up thunder defence.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
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(17:29):
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Speaker 2 (17:40):
All right, We've got five more questions today that kind
of center around the rest of the league. First question,
what is Lebron's best shot out of fifth ring? So
this has been something that I've thought quite a bit
about since the disappointing exit for my Lakers in the
first round again the Minnesota Timberwolves. But this idea of like, Okay,
(18:04):
the Lakers have some realities in terms of the future
surrounding Luca and Lebron being a very very expensive old
player that still plays at a level that's deserving of
the money, but comes with some realities in terms of
when he does hail off, he'll present a barrier between,
you know, in terms of roster allocation, between what the
(18:27):
Lakers are going to be and what they are now.
Right Similarly, he's you know, going to be forty one
next year by the time they make it to the postseason,
and it's just going to be really difficult for uh.
It's going to be really difficult for him to you know,
find an extended runway to try to make something happen.
So if he goes anywhere, it have to be a
(18:48):
win now type of situation. Seen lots of things thrown around,
and when I start to dig into it, it's like, Okay,
let's say let's say he got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I've seen versions of aids thrown around with like Darius
Garland and Jared Allen for instance, for Lebron. So let's
say it's Lebron and Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell and
(19:10):
you know, obviously that deep core of good role players
in Cleveland, Like that's a good team, right, How much
better is that than him? Next to Luka Doncic in
a revenge campaign. Right, Let's say he goes to Golden State.
If they if they were to pull some sort of
magic along those lines, like Lebron, Stephan Draymond, it's a
(19:32):
really good team. I think Lebron would be such an
amazing natural basketball fit in the Golden State system. But
do I think that, you know, old Lebron and old
Steph with Draymond is a better chance to win the
title than Lebron James and Luka Doncic in a revenge campaign.
You start to like poke around to different options. Oh
(19:54):
what if he goes to the Knicks. Okay, So it's
Lebron and Ogn and Obi and McHale Bridges and Jalen Brunson.
It's a really good team, really fun team, open Eastern Conference.
There's a lot of like kind of elements involving the
East that make that somewhat interesting. But is it better
than Lebron with a Luka Doncic on a revenge campaign?
(20:14):
Is what I keep coming back to. I talked about
this a little bit last night. Luca did not have
a good postseason, never really got fully back into rhythm
after his injury. This year looked in pretty poor condition
in that first round series. But I really do think
we're going to get a very very engaged version of
(20:35):
Luca next year, and a very well conditioned version of
Luca next year. And when Luka Doncic is healthy and
in rhythm, he's one of the very best players in
this league last year. If you guys remember in our
like Who's got the Belt video after the season, I
literally said that it was Luca after beating the guy
that beat the guy and being more or less the
(20:57):
most impressive player in the postseason last year. So as
I look at it, I keep coming back to this
idea that like, give me Luka Doncicic in a season
where he's supremely motivated next to you know, this deep
roster of well, not as deep as it needs to be,
(21:18):
and they'll need to make some changes this year, but
they've got some high level players. Ruy Hachimura is a
high level player. Austin Reeves is a high level player.
Dorian Phinney Smith is a good role player. Jared Vanderbilt
is capable of being a good role player, right Like,
they've got you know, they've got guys, and so they've
got to make some changes. They gotta find a center,
they might have to seriously consider moving a guy like
(21:38):
a Austin Reeves or Ruyatamura. That is a redundancy, but
that's a vehicle with which to bring in additional talent.
And I keep coming down to if you give me
a group of athletes that can do that are versatile
enough to do the dribble, shoot, pass, defend stuff that
they'll need to do off of Lebron and Luca. Give
(21:58):
me Luca and Lebron, and I think he got a
better chance than some of these other situations that have
been pitched around the league. So I've thought through a lot,
and I've seen a bunch of stuff get pitched, And
I keep coming back to if Lebron gets a fifth ring,
which obviously is a supreme long shot at this point,
I think it happens alongside Luca. And so with that
being the case, I think that in all likelihood, Lebron
(22:21):
sees that too, and I think Lebron will be a
Laker when it's all said and done. Do you believe
trading a guard from the Calves will unlock mobily? So
this is complicated because obviously Evan Mobley, I think has
developed as an offensive player we saw a lot of
like the inverted ball screen action with guys like Sam Marilyn,
(22:43):
Darius Garland slipping out of action with him this year,
Donovan Mitchell slipping out of action with him this year
becoming a kind of like a worthwhile action for the Calves.
We saw him in general just become a better driving
kick player when he gets downhill. He's developed a three
point shot that is semi reliable. Like Evan Mobley, He's
developed a lot, But I don't think Evan Mobley is
about to go, you know, pull a Palo Bancaro and
(23:05):
become this like super high volume on ballplayer, at least
not anytime soon. I think he's years away from developing
that sort of game. To me, trading a guard for
the Cavs is about resource allocation. If you're going to
have two high volume on ball guards, then you need
to reap the rewards of having two high volume on
(23:27):
ball guards. And every year Darius Garland has been banged
up and lacking a little bit of that quickness, and
even when he's been healthy, he's struggled to be super
effective in the postseason setting. It just hasn't really materialized.
And it comes with the downsides of like when he's
injured all of a sudden, you're just down a like
a very expensive contract slot that you're not getting anything
(23:49):
out of, or when he's being attacked on defense because
of his size limitations, Like there's a certain amount of
like when Darius Garland is not at his peak, it
doesn't look like a championship roster. And so if you
believe that Darius is going to like come together and
put it all together and be healthy and be the
(24:09):
best version of himself when it matters, then yeah, it's
we're sticking with it. But like at a certain point,
you've got to read the room and be like, Okay,
this guy's just kind of struggled to hold up physically,
and maybe this doesn't ever come to fruition, right, And
so what trading a guard would do is not so
much to me about unlocking Evan Mobley as like some
sort of super high powered offensive weapon. It would be
(24:33):
about trading Darius Garland for just a much more reliable
fifth guy. Right when you started to dig into it
this year, it was like, oh man, Jared Allen didn't
really materialize into a reliable playoff player this year. Neither
did DeAndre Hunter, neither did Ty Jerome like, and all
of a sudden you zoomed out from that playoff run
and it was like man, Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus
(24:56):
and Evan Mobley were like the only three calves that
you felt really good about throughout that postseason run. And
so bringing in another wing, a guy that is basically
like a really really high level starting version of a
DeAndre Hunter that can slot Max Strus at the two
and give yourself a little bit more, you know, just
(25:18):
reliable ceiling when you get to the postseason would be
something worth exploring. But again it's all about that doesn't
mean you just trade Darius Garland for the sake of
trading Darius Garland. It's just something that I would consider
if the right opportunity came up for a really really
high level player at the small forward position. What would
be your ideal play style for a relatively small ish
(25:39):
point guard to be one of your StarMax players on
a championship team. What play style would you choose as
a building block? Not Curry obviously, because he's one of one.
This is an interesting question, and I think the Pacers
are honestly a really, really smart kind of like like
like model for how to do this. So, first of all,
I don't think the Thunder count because all their guards
are great defenders. But when you've got a smallest point
(26:01):
guard who's not an elite defender, what kind of play
style do you need to play? I think it's all
about being fast. You got to lean into the strength. Right,
what is that smallest point guard going to be great at?
He's going to be great at being fast. How has
Indiana's defense managed to be still serviceable despite having Tyre
Saliburton out there? Well, he throws really aggressive hedges, and
(26:22):
he recovers fast in rotation, and as a team, they're
just great in rotation. They run and sprint around and
they cover ground. I don't think you could have a
small guard and then also be a slow team. I
think you have to be fast, and so Indiana, to me,
is the model of how you would build around a
like Let's say that you're the Heat and you've got
Tyler Harrow, or you're you know, the Hornets and you've
(26:45):
got LaMelo Ball, or you're the Wizards and you've got
Jordan Poole, like just a small but fast like skill
guard who's like the foundational player for your offense. I
think you've got to surround that dude with a lot
of athletics, like a let it like, kind of versatile,
do everything. Guys that can play fast exist in rotation
(27:06):
and just cover ground behind what that player does, and
then it also accentuates what they do offensively, because most
fast guards like to play fast. Two more questions, what
are some of the top traits you look for in
a non big role player. Things like perimeter speed you've
mentioned in the past look to be dead on. So yeah,
I think perimeter speed is a big one, just because
inevitably you've got to do a certain amount of existing
(27:27):
in rotation. In the NBA, I also think in general,
the game has existed more in transition. So as the
game exists more in transition, you got to have guys
that can get up and down the floor, not just
running the floor on offense for buckets, but also getting
back in your transition defense. Right, I think from there
it's the Big four. It's dribble, shoot, pass, and defend. Right,
What that means is you've got a star somewhere on
(27:48):
the roster. It doesn't matter where that is. It doesn't
matter if it's a point guard, two guard, three, four
five right. Wherever that star is, he's going to create advantages.
Once you have that advantage, if you're wide open, you
need a guy who can knock down the three if
he's got to, he's got to be able to attack
the close out. Once he attacks that close out, he's
got to be able to make the reads. Right, So
that's the dribble in pass element. There's the shooting element,
(28:10):
there's the dribble in pass element, the defend. I'm gonna
tie all of these things up into athleticism, right, So
like the athleticism to drive a close out and finish
at the rim, the athleticism to fly up and down
the floor in transition, the athleticism to guard the ball.
All of that SEMs around that defense concept. So like,
if you have a role player that's playing off of
a star, you need him to be able to play
(28:32):
with an advantage, which means knock down shots, drive closeouts,
make reads, and then you need to be able to
have him exist within what you're trying to do defensively.
The only other thing that I would add there is
just overall competitiveness and motor. I think this is one
of the most underrated things in the league right now.
If you're gonna build out a real championship character in
your team, where guys are always in the right spots
(28:54):
and they always do the right thing, and you pay
attention to detail and just be more like the Pacers
for lack of a better way, you gotta have some
competitive dudes that hate losing and that are willing to
do the things that suck to win basketball games. And
so I think the personality trade is a big part
of it as well. Last question, saw your baseball tweet
the other day. Any secret baseball fandom you're willing to share? So,
(29:18):
Like most kids, I grew up watching all sports, and
I've always been a fan of all sports. I grew
up watching a ton of hockey. My dad's from Detroit,
right I grew up playing litle league baseball. I used
to watch every single Arizona Diamondbacks game growing up. I
am a huge football fan. I used to watch the
(29:39):
NFL very closely and consume a lot of NFL content.
I haven't done nearly as much of that obviously since
I started doing this for a living, just because this
takes so much of my time and attention but I
still love the NFL, and every year in September, I
pretend I'm going to follow it more closely, and then
by like week seven or eight, I'm just completely invested
in the NBA. But I I have always loved sports,
(30:02):
all sports. I love watching golf. I still put golf
on a lot on the weekends, and I love to
play golf, and I just, you know, it's the way
that my job is currently structured. I'm very basketball focused.
I can't promise that I'll always be the case, but
maybe it will. Maybe I'll always just do basketball stuff.
But I do have a love for all sports, baseball
in particular. I grew up in a family that was
(30:24):
very baseball oriented. We all played baseball growing up, and
I when the d Backs made their World Series run
a couple of years ago, that was when I kind
of had that love reinvigorated for me, where I was
like watching every single postseason game and getting super super
invested just because that was something that was such a
big part of my life when I was younger. But yeah,
like basketball is the thing that has given me everything
(30:48):
that I have in my life and the thing that
I love the most. But I have always had a
love and appreciation for other sports and it just isn't
something that we get to talk too much about on
the show. But who knows, maybe some point in the
future that'll be something we explore more. All right, guys,
that's all we have for today. As always, a sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We will be back on Wednesday night after the final
(31:09):
buzzer of Game three. Colin Coward should be there this time.
He had a flight get delayed last night. That's where
on Sunday night. That's why we didn't get him for
game two, but we should have him for Game three.
We'll be breaking down everything after that game. We will
see you guys then. So guys, as always, I appreciate
you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. They would
actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
(31:29):
take a second and leave a rating and a review.
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
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Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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