Jason Timpf discusses how LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Team USA can win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He explains why Team USA should start Steph, LeBron Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis. Jason then debates whether Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese should win WNBA Rookie of the Year after the two have had historic rookie seasons for the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky.
3:45 - Introduction
7:30 - Team USA
31:30 - Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese
#Volume #Herd
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. You know the beautiful thing about being a
sports fan, there's only like two days the whole year
without a game. Two with so much happening and so
much action, that makes just about every day game day.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, it's super easy for first timers to
get started. Try betting on something simple like picking a
team to win. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select
your team and place your first bet. It really couldn't
(00:22):
be any easier or any simpler. Baseball, golf, UFC, there's
something for every fan of every sport to bet on DraftKings.
And I know it's early, but football season will be
here before you know it. And the Kansas City Chiefs
are currently the favorite to win the Super Bowl on
DraftKings at plus five fifty. And if you're new to DraftKings,
you got to check this out. New customers, bet five
dollars and get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets instantly.
(00:45):
Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app now and use code
coops that's hops, that's code hoops for new customers to
get one to fifty in bonus bets instantly when you
bet just five dollars only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West
Virginia visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net.
In New York, call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
(01:07):
or text hope and why to four six seven three
sixty nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.
Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on
behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus.
Age varies by jurisdiction. Bonus bets expire one hundred and
sixty eight hours after issuance. Deposit and eligibility restrictions apply.
(01:30):
See terms and responsible gaming resources at DKG dot co.
Slash baseball. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at
the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Oh all, if you guys
(01:51):
are having a great week so far, I got a
jam packshow for you today. We're going to talk some
USA basketball off the top. I have three different segments
that I want to get into surrounding Team USA, how
they stack up compared to some of the other great
Team usas in history, like nineteen ninety two, two thousand
and eight, twenty twelve. I want to talk about their
lineup construction, some of the things that I expect them
to look like, both in building groups of five for
(02:15):
their starters and for their bench groups, different looks they'll
use for different matchups. I want to talk a little
bit about the schematics of how this team should work,
So we're gonna dive into some of the x's and
o's in that segment, and then in the third segment,
I want to talk about the odds of who's gonna
win the gold medal. I want to look at some
of these other teams like France and Serbia and Canada
(02:35):
and if any of these teams have the ability to
actually beat Team USA. Tmusa right now is a substantial favorite,
So we're going to dive into that in the third segment,
and then at the end of the show, I want
to talk a little bit about the WNBA Rookie of
the Year race. There's been a just a crazy stretch
of games from Angel Reese, who just set the record,
(02:55):
stole the record from from Kandas Parker set the record
for most double double consecutively by a rookie in the
history of the WNBA. She's starting to get some Rookie
of the Year buzz, but according to DraftKings, Caitlyn Clark
is still minus five hundred to win the award. Is
on one hell of a stretch herself, averaging over eleven
assists per game in her last five games. So I
want to talk a little bit about the WNBA Rookie
(03:17):
of the Year race, why I think Caitlyn Clark is
still the clear front runner at this point, and I
want to talk a little bit about the different archetypes
of basketball players and how they impact teams, and why
the role that Kitlyn Clark is filling is the toughest
role to replicate anywhere else on the roster, and why
that is a differentiator for her in that race. You
guys are the job before we started to subscribe to
(03:39):
the Hoops to Night YouTube channel, so you don't miss
any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at
underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss announcements, don't forget about
podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on her Hoops
Tonight and they keep dropping mailback questions in those YouTube comments,
and we keep hitting them throughout the rest of the
summer and the last but not least, before we get started,
I want to talk to you guys about game time.
It's baseball season right now, and this is the best
time of year to get out gets to a baseball
(04:00):
park and watch your favorite team play. I grew up
watching baseball. That was what we did when I was
a kid. We'd come home from school, we'd have dinner
or whatever, and then we'd all just sit around the
couch and watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play. And got away
from it a little bit as I became an adult,
just because I dove headlong into basketball, as you guys know.
But last year, when the Diamondbacks made it to the
World Series, it completely reinvigorated my love for baseball I
(04:21):
grew I played it in Little League growing up until
I got into high school. Like I've just always had
a soft spot in my heart for the game. And
there's nothing like getting out to one of these stadiums
and watching our favorite baseball teams play. And this is
where game time comes in. Game time is an incredible
ticket buying experience. You guys will be able to find
last minute deals. You'll know exactly what you're getting yourself into.
(04:42):
You'll see a good picture of your seat before you
show up to the stadium. You're not gonna have to
worry about going to check out and being surprised by fees.
Everything is included in the all in pricing. It's a
simple process. You can check out in as few as
two taps. And they also have some really nice deals
for you guys to check out. They have flash deals
with in app deals that just pop up immediately before
(05:03):
a game. They have zone deals where you pick a
section within an arena and then they'll pick the seats
for you within the section so that you can get
extra savings that way. And it's not even just for
baseball games. You can get out to concerts. I'm going
to see Debting Company in Vegas here literally in three
days that I cannot wait. There's lots of other comedians
and other artists touring around the country. There's plenty of
(05:25):
things for you guys to go out and see. And
I want you to use game Time. Give it a shot.
Let me know what you guys think. Take the guest
work out of buying Major League Baseball tickets with game Time.
Download the game Time app, create an account and use
code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms
apply again created account, Redeem code Hoops. That's Hops for
twenty dollars off. Download game time today, last minute tickets,
(05:47):
lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So,
first of all, with Team USA, the basketball fan in
me is absolutely loving all this training camp content. Just
like watching that reel of on Instagram of all the
guys walking off the bus and it's like, oh shit,
there's Steph, other's KD. Oh there's Lebron. Oh yeah, I
forgot Kawhi Leonards on this team too. Oh yeah, Devin Booker, Oh,
(06:10):
and it's Joel And like it's just one after the other.
It's like, oh, there's Anthony Edwards. He was the best
player on the team last summer. Like it's just there's
so much incredible talent on this team. Part of the
thing that makes it interesting is Steph, KD and Lebron
are the old guys, right, They're like kind of like
what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were on the nineteen
ninety two Dream Team. The difference is is like at
(06:31):
that point in time, Magic was still really good, but
Larry was starting to fall apart physically, Steph, KD, and
Lebron are all still playing at an extremely high level.
I think they're all still top ten players in the league.
Steph struggled a little bit at the tail end of
last season, but I think there were some mitigating factors there,
and I think he's gonna have a big bounce back year.
I will most likely have all three of them in
my top ten after the end of the summer. So
(06:52):
those guys are all still playing well enough, but then
you are adding them to all these in their prime stars,
guys like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Booker Kawhi Leonard, Jason Tatum,
Anthony Edwards and so it is. It's just gonna be
so much fun, and as basketball fans, we couldn't hope
for a better summer appetizer before we head into next season. So,
as I mentioned before, there are three major questions that
(07:13):
I have about this team. Where does it stack up
with other USA teams? Who should start other lineup questions?
And can anybody beat this team? Let's start with where
does this team stack up? Now? In terms of talent,
It's hard for me to put this team ahead of
the ninety two team, the eight or the twenty twelve
team because of the top tier talent. So, for instance,
(07:35):
in nineteen ninety two, Michael Jordan was far and away
the best player in the world played for Team USA.
Every single player on first Team All NBA that year
made Team USA. Four of the five players on second
Team All NBA made Team USA. So nine of the
top ten players in the world at that point in
time we're playing for Team USA. It's hard to match
(07:58):
that in terms of top end talent. In two thousand
and eight, Kobe and Lebron were the two best players
in the world. I thought Kobe was the best player
at that point. I thought Lebron was the second best player.
They both played on that Olympic team. In twenty twelve,
Lebron James and Kevin Durant were the two best players
in the world. Lebron is clearly number one, kd was
number two, but they were both on that team in
(08:18):
this particular stretch of time in basketball history. Right now,
in the year twenty twenty four, there are three players
that are in the top tier of players in the
world in my opinion. Nikole Jokic, Luka Doncic, Giannis, and Tennekombo.
None of those guys play for Team USA. Joel Embiid
has that type of talent, but as we know, he's
never really been able to put it together for a
full season, including the playoffs, so they don't. This Team
(08:41):
USA doesn't have that like true world altering top tier
talent that some of the other teams in the past did,
but they have so many guys immediately below that tier.
And most importantly, I actually do think this team will
rival the other Team USA teams in dominance because of
the fact that they compliment each other so well. This
(09:04):
to me, mate this team is interesting because they don't
have one of the top three players in the world,
but they have a very very well fitting basketball team,
and I think that that's going to be an interesting
concept for us to dive into a little bit further,
which I'm going to do in the next segments. But yeah,
in terms of talent, just sheer top to bottom talent,
I think you got to put this one in fourth
place behind those other three teams just simply because Nikol
(09:27):
Jokis is best player in the world. Luka, Doncic, and
and Giannis are right there behind him. I don't think
anybody on this roster has a claim to be in
that group. Who should start slash? Who is their best five?
So let's think about it from the perspective of filling responsibilities.
I always talk about like looking at basketball teams as
filling five men having to feel responsibilities on both ends
(09:48):
of the floor. That is how a team either becomes
more than the sum of its parts or less than
the sum of its parts. How well they compliment each other.
Too many redundancies in one area, not enough in another area,
that team will underachieve. Really good balance across the board,
that team has the potential to overachieve. Right, So let's
look at it from the perspective of filling responsibilities. Who
is the best skill guard on the team? Skill guard,
(10:11):
this is the guy that's gonna initiate offense. Usually he's
gonna run the first action, the first trip up the floor.
The guy that is going to be usually your most
skilled player, your best pass or your best shooter, that
sort of thing. Right, it's Steph Curry, no question. He
starts at the point. There's no debate. Steph is your
guy at the one. Right, who's the best athlete guard
(10:31):
on the team. Remember, as I structured teams, I kind
of look at it from like, I want a skill guard,
I want an athlete guard. I want like a perimeter
based forward, I want an interior forward, and then I
want a versatile big man. Right, So if Steph is
our skill guard, who are we looking at at the two?
It's probably Anthony Edwards right in terms of the best
athlete guard, But he has some specific weaknesses that I
(10:53):
think make him a poor fit with the starters. One,
he's not great at navigating screens yet. So like I
look at him, if you were to run some sort
of drop coverage put him on the opposing guard, I
think he would do better at TSA because he'd devote
more resources there because and I do think a lot
of it is just conserving energy for ant, but I
don't love that fit. And then in terms of the
fit alongside other stars, he's still a little bit inconsistent
(11:16):
at making quick and smart reads in five out, so
I don't think he's a great fit with the starters.
Devin Booker I view as another skill guard, so he's
redundant with Steph on the defensive end of the floor.
Stephan Devin Booker would be fine on offense, but I
don't want two guards that I ideally don't want guarding
the other team's best guard. That would be an issue. Right.
(11:36):
Drew Holliday can do that, but he's not good enough
to start over some of these superstar players, right. Tyrese
Alliburton is neither good enough nor a complimentary fit. He's
also redundant with Steph and so that's it for the guards.
So if Anthony Edwards is not a great fit, Tyres
Alliburton's not a great fit, Drew's not good enough, Devin
(11:56):
Booker is not a great fit with the starters, then
we got to look at the forwards. And if we
look at the forwards Lebron, James, Kevin Durant, Kwhi, Leonard,
and Jason Tatum, this is where Jason Tatum becomes a
really natural fit for me. Jason Tatum is the most
mobile on the perimeter player of all of those forwards.
Like those other guys might be like Lebron and Kawhi
might be a little bit more physically imposing, Katie's got
(12:18):
more length, but Tatum has the best combination of like
length and actual foot speed to contend on the perimeter,
but he also has the strength and size to guard
bigger forwards and centers, and so you can ask him
to chase and apply back pressure, you could ask him
to switch in a switching scheme. And for the record,
and this is where I think it's important for us
to get to this. The one weakness on this roster
(12:41):
is perimeter foot speed. If there's a vulnerability in their defense,
it's too quick guards quickness on the perimeter, right. So
I actually view this as more of a switching team.
I think that's primarily what they're going to do with
their main groups. Now to mention Eric Spolster and Steve Kerr,
two coaches that philosophically have a lot of belief in
switching as a defensive scheme, I think it's the best
(13:03):
fit for this roster. I think it's the natural fit
with the coaching staff. That's what I expect them to do.
They really only have one guy on the entire roster
who is a high level point of attack, chase over
screens type of guy, and that's True Holliday, who I
don't expect to play a ton with this group. So
I look at this as a switching scheme. So if
it's a switching scheme. Jason Tatum I think is a
(13:26):
really natural fit at the two because he's quick enough
to guard some quicker players. You won't ask him to
navigate a bunch of screens because he'll be switching, but
he can also switch onto bigger players. So to me,
Jason Tatum is that kind of like shoe in fit
at the two. He's also the most natural offensive fit
alongside the other stars. We talked about Tatum whether or
(13:47):
not he'd be a good fit read and reacting with
five other or with four other stars. Tatum's great at
that stuff. The rub on Tatum is if he's the
one star on the floor, is he aggressive enough and
effective enough to be an off engine. That's legitimate criticism,
But we literally watched him be just this perfect cog
and a system in Boston with lesser stars around him.
(14:09):
But he was surrounded by a bunch of really high
level players. He is a quick decision maker, He is
a ball mover. He doesn't hijack the offense. He didn't
even hijack the offense with the Celtics, let alone in
a team like this with all of these stars. He
had a rough pull up shooting season, but he's an
excellent catch and shoot guy. He shot forty five percent
on catch and shoot jumpers this season, including regular season
(14:31):
in the playoffs one point three to six points per shot.
Even when he shot poorly in the postseason, he still
got to one point per shot on catch and shoot jumpers.
That is his most reliable form of jump shooting. That
is a natural fit. Tatum gets wide open catch and
shoot looks. I feel like they're gonna go in. So
he is a beautiful plug and fit at the two
because in a switching scheme, he can guard up and down.
(14:54):
He has the most perimater quickness, and he's a natural
fit alongside stars on the offensive end of the floor.
Tatum's versatil he is a huge value I think on
this particular team. So now that we have our skill
guard and we have our athlete guard that's being replaced
by an athlete forward and Tatum because of fit, who's
the best perimeter forward on the team. Probably KD. Right
(15:15):
brings a ton of skill, brings length, He's super easy
to plug and play with other stars. He's probably the
best plug and play star ever. Right, But as we know,
KD is probably going to miss at least. I think
he's probably gonna miss that scrimmage against Canada on Wednesday,
which sucks because I'm gonna be there and I would
love to have excuse me to have seen KD with
those guys. But I expect he'll be back for the Olympics.
Apparently this cap strain is something he had before, and
(15:37):
I just don't think he would have showed up if
he didn't plan on playing. So my guess is he'll
be back. But in the short term, I think Kawhi
Leonard is the fit in that spot. You plug Kawhi
Leonard in at the three, But in the long run,
I think Kevin Durant is your three. Who is the
best big forward on the team. It's Lebron and like
that might have been more clunky as a fit early
in his career when he wasn't as good of a
(15:58):
jump shooter, but he's become an excellent catch and shoot guy,
and especially in the last year with the Lakers with
their shift to five out. But they started to do
this last year where Lebron is operating as a screener
a bunch, but this year with the Lakers in their
five out system, Lebron became a devastating screen and roll guy.
He shot sixty one percent on his own shot attempts
(16:20):
field goal percentage on overall one hundred reps this year.
As a role man for the Lakers in their five
out offense. We know how he can operate as a
passer in that role as well. I think Lebron is
going to be a guy that actually slots really well
into that five out system as basically a screener. And
I think with his combination of size and strength on
(16:41):
the defensive glass and defensively in general, I just think
he's the perfect fit there at that four right and
it just is going to add to that physical profile
that frontline. He's still one of the best combinations of
size and strength in the NBA, even at over forty
years of age. Who is the starting center? I guess
Lebron is actually turning forty next year. I think he's
(17:03):
still thirty nine at this point. Who is the starting center?
To be clear, I do think that Embiid is a
better basketball player than Anthony Davis. I think he's a
much better offensive engine, which brings more value to a
basketball team. It's a similar concept to what we're going
to be talking about with Caitlin Clark and Angel Raese
here in a minute. So I do think that Embiid
is a better player than Anthony Davis. But this is
(17:25):
not an NBA team. This is an Olympic team. It's
not about how you can lift up other role players.
It's about how you can compliment other stars we talked earlier.
If you guys remember about how I see this as
a switching team, Embiid cannot defend on the perimeter in
the same stratosphere as Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis is the
(17:45):
combination of elite rim protector, elite defensive rebounder, elite pick
and roll defender, and elite switching perimeter defender that makes
him the ideal fit in a switching scheme next to
other big forwards like KD, like Lebron, Jason Tatum, etc.
So I view Anthony Davis as a really really natural
fit within this switching scheme on the defensive end of
(18:05):
the flour. On the offensive end of the flour, em
beads post up and face up attack would actually be
a rhythm disruptor for the rest of this team. You
don't want to have Steph and Kadie and all of
them just standing on the perimeter while a Embiid starts
unleashing his jab step pump, fake game, trying to draw fouls.
Right Like, It's just it's gonna be kind of clunky, right.
Ad would just function basically as a screener and a
(18:28):
roller as a vertical spacing threat. I think he's a
more natural fit on the offensive end too, again, and
Beads a better player, but fitting alongside this team, Anthony
Davis is the better fit. I do prefer Embiid for
specific matchups, like when they play France. France is gonna
play Victor Wen, Migyama and Rudy Gobert. They're gonna be
a nightmare in the paint. Embid's three point shooting will
(18:50):
probably be valuable in that matchup. Against Serbia, who they
scrimmage next week, and they play in the first Olympic
game in late July. You need someone who can guard
Yokich and Embiid is the best equipped player in the
world for that. So Embiid I think should start certain
games and will play more than Ad in certain games.
But I think Ad is the best fit in the
starting group to make that five play better basketball With
(19:14):
that F five with Steph, Jason Tatum, KD Lebron and Ad,
you have four proven great shooters, a screening fulcrum in
Ad who's one of the best vertical spacers in the world,
a second screener in Lebron if you need him. And
then you have a switching look with four big forwards
who can all guard up and down positions. And Steph
Curry who you can ask to hedge and recover or
(19:36):
just ask him to press up on the jump shot,
knowing you have an absurd amount of length behind him.
You're going six nine six ten six ' nine seven
foot with that, With that front line, that's a lot
of help defense behind Steph to make his job easier.
And then as far as some bench groups like I
love the fit of Devin Booker with Anthony Edwards, that's
your skill guard athlete guard combo. Right, you can go
(19:57):
small with Drew Holliday out there and Kawhi Leonard at
the four with Joel Embiid, you can go bigger with
Kawhi at the three. With bam at Aebaio next to
Joel Embid, you have a bunch of different looks. I
like in those bench groups two with Embiid. Embiid will
actually need to be more aggressive offensively in those groups,
So it's just a better fit for him to be
able to come in the game and be Joel Embiid,
whereas if he came into the game and was Joel
(20:19):
Embiid with the starters, I just think it would be clunky.
As far as schematically, like we talked about, I think
you will see a lot of switching. I wouldn't hedge
and recover with Steph. I would just have him guard
and then basically just tell him to press up on
jump shots and know that he has backside help behind him,
and just ask him to rotate on the offensive end
of the floor. I expect them to run five out.
I haven't seen enough footage from practice to know what
(20:39):
they're running yet, but I would have just assumed they're
running five out, and with that, it's just lots of
ball and player movement. Get the defense and rotation, trust
each other. Katie can attack close out, Steph can attack
close outs, Tatum can attack close outs, Lebron can attack
close outs. Ad is just always going to be there
ready to finish all of these other guys. Can slot
in and fill that role. Devin Booker can come onto
the floor and provide some of what Steph brings to
(21:01):
the table and can do the same. Kawhi can do
the same. That to me, there's gonna be a good
amount of scheme consistency from group to group, and you're
gonna be able to put different types of lineups together
that compliment each other. And that's the beauty of this
roster and that's why I think they're gonna be very dominant.
Who can beat this team? Final question starts from the
standpoint of what are their weaknesses? And I don't think
(21:22):
this team has any offensive weaknesses at all. They have
plenty of ways to get the defense into rotation, they
have plenty of ways to finish plays. They have guys
that can take over the game. They have guys that
can bully inside. They have a lead, pull up shooters,
they can play driving kick like. I think they're fine
on the offensive end of the four. Defensively, the one
issue because they have a big center, they have a
(21:43):
rim protecting center. They have tons of forwards like, they
have tons of length like. The one thing is they
just don't have a ton of foot speed on the
perimeter in general, and again it's worth mentioning they have
more than enough length to make up for it, but
they could be vulnerable to some really quick guards. So
with that, let's take a look at the Vegas op
So these are according to DraftKings, USA is currently favored
(22:03):
at minus three ninety. It's pretty substantial favor. Not nothing insane,
but pretty substantial. Canada is the second favorite at plus
nine hundred. But I don't like the matchup because they
they're two main offensive threats. Shake Gibs Alexander Jamal Murray
are pull up shooters, and the US has a ton
of length to bother pull up shooters like. They're not
(22:23):
overly quick guys. We know Shay can beat people off
the dribble, but he's not lightning quick. There's not a
ton of lightning quickness on that team. It's a pull
up shooting team. Length is the best counter for pull
up shooting. They're also undersized on the front line and
lack rim protection. That feels like a disaster against a
frontline of Lebron James and Anthony Davis, Lebron James and
Joel Embiid and and just even just with the inverted
(22:45):
spacing that Steph Curry provides, right, So I don't really
view that them as a substantial threat. France plus one
thousand as the third favorite. They have Wemby and Rudy Gobert,
Nick Batoum at the three. That's a lot of length.
Their backcourt is most gonna be Frank Mila Keina and
Evan Fournier, right, Like that's they're gonna be a pain
in the ass to score against in the paint, for sure,
(23:08):
But how do you counter a team that has a
lot of length under the basket? Perimeter shooting team USA
just has a ton of it, Like lebron kd Steph
and Jason Tatum are all really comfortable shooting, not just shooting,
but shooting from deep, so like that's not gonna be
They're all comfortable above the break, so like that's not
an issue. I even think USA could go centerless against
them because they're frontline, like go bears a non threat offensively,
(23:31):
and Wemby's kind of thin, so you could even supplement
that with more shooting and just be like we're not
gonna go AD, We're gonna go Lebron at center. You know,
Tatum at the four, KD at the five, at KD
at the three, and we'll go Booker and Steph, and
now we just have tons of shooting on the floor.
Good luck, Steph, Devin Booker, KD lebron and and Jason Tatum.
Just good luck. You know, like no amount of length
(23:53):
at the rim is going to cause that to be
a problem, right and so like, again, France has some
issues that they present, but I I just I think
I think the USA team presents more issues to France. Serbia.
They have Nicola Jokich. Serbia right now is plus thirteen hundred.
They're the fourth favorite to win the win the gold
medal on DraftKings. They have Jokic, but TOSA has Joel Embiid,
(24:15):
who is literally the best human in the world at
guarding Nikola Jokic. So like that's another thing that USA
has a counter for not to mention all the issues
that USA that the TMOSA could present for Serbia on
the perimeter right now, Again, single elimination is always a variable.
Anything could happen when a team goes hot or cold,
as we know, but I think USA is pretty resilient
(24:37):
to that, and I think they're gonna be really hard
to beat even in a single elimination a setup. I
expect them to win convincingly throughout the tournament, and I
think they're gonna win the gold. I would be really
really surprised if they didn't. This is not a team
that I think presents some of the vulnerabilities that other
team usas that haven't brought all their players have presented,
and most importantly, I think they're gonna be really fun
to watch. I am going to be at the scrimmage
(24:59):
against Canada Wednesday. I will be live tweeting through the
whole thing. I'll send some videos out on my Twitter
feed as well, so make sure you guys follow me
at underscore JSNLT on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well then
you need to check you out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
When you sink your fantasy football league with draft Wizard,
you'll get an instant report that shows you how the
rest of your league drafts. You'll see who overdrafts rookies
in early rounds, who's going to be the person to
take that first QB off the board, and which manager
is going to always reach for that hometown player every
(25:31):
single time. And then you can take those patterns directly
into the draft simulator and make your mock draft feel
like the real thing. When your real draft comes around,
you're gonna be ready and the draft assistant will be
there for you to give you live pick by pick
insights and expert recommendations of who to draft and when
to draft them. You can see all of this and
more at fantasypros dot com slash volume today.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
All right, let's move on to the WNBA. So we
got ourselves a classic Rookie of the Year battle. Both
players are just exchanging dominant games. Angel Reese is just
like good, consistently for seventeen ish points and fourteen ish
rebounds every single night. She's put together the longest streak
of double doubles by a rookie in WNBA history, breaking
(26:26):
the record of Candae Parker right and Kaitlyn Clark's coming
right back at her. She goes for the first triple
double ever by a WNBA rookie in a really fun
game against the New York Liberty took over that game
late too. They were down six with like what three
and a half minutes left, and she had a driving
and one bank shot on the right side of the
floor to bring it to three. Then she had a
(26:47):
transition kick ahead pass for a wide open three that
tied the game. Like Kaitlyn was just unbelievable in that
game is they got a huge win against the New
York Liberty. And so now we have this debate, right
and there's a lot of people saying Angel reachin Rookie
of the Year, a lot of people saying Kaitlyn Clark.
But Vegas, or more specifically DraftKings sees it as very
much Kitlyn Clark's race to lose. She on DraftKings right
(27:09):
now is minus five hundred to win Rookie of the
Year and Angel Reese's plus three hundred. It's a pretty
massive gap. It's not unclosable. But what that means is
if the season ended today, there would be no debate.
Caitlin Clark would be Rookie of the Year. And I agree,
I think Caitlin Clark is clearly the Rookie of the
Year at this point. And this is where we have
(27:29):
to get into the difference between roles. And again there's
gonna be a lot of talk about counting stats, especially
because Angel Reese is putting up some incredibly dominant box
score numbers. Right, like Angel Reese is dominating games as
an athlete, She's a super disruptive defender, just putting up
crazy block steal counts every single game. She's a wrecking
ball on the glass on both ends of the floor.
(27:50):
Even her rim finishing is trending up, which was one
of the biggest rubs on her early on in the year. Right.
Like as mentioned earlier, you can just count on her
to give you, you know, in the mid teens and
points in mid teens and rebounds every single night, right,
And there's a ton of value that comes from them.
But what Kaitlyn Clark is doing is she's functioning as
an offensive engine, which is a very different type of role,
(28:13):
and the box score numbers show it. For the record,
in their last five games, the Indiana Fever are averaging
thirty made field goals per Gamely, Clark is either scoring
or assisting sixteen of those thirty made field goals every
single game, So either her putting the ball in the
basket or passing to the person who put the ball
in the basket more than half their offense in the
last couple of weeks. But that doesn't even come close
(28:35):
to capturing the real impact of Caitlin Clark in this
offense because her main goal, the main thing she's doing,
and the reason why the Indiana offense has turned around
and they've started winning. They've won eight of their last
thirteen games. The reason this has turned around is she
is primarily focusing on getting the defense in rotation. They're
using her a lot in off ball movement as a decoy.
(28:57):
They're doing a lot of really fun stuff to get
help her beat ball pressure, where like teams are picking
her up full court and forcing her into some turnovers.
Now she's like doing a lot of given gho stuff
right around half court, where like she'll make a quick
move against the ball pressure and then throw the ball
up to like, you know, Aliah Boston at half court,
and then she'll quick cut off of it and get
a dribble hand off and get downhill and then she'll
(29:19):
spin and go right back into a ball screen the
other way there. She's putting teams in the blender early on,
and it's generating all of these short role opportunities for
Leah Boston and Melissa Smith and they're benefiting off of it.
Rolling to the rim when teams are tagging them. The
Caitlyn's making the kickout passes in general between hockey assists
(29:40):
and just getting the defense and rotation then capitalizing on
the chaos. The box score has her accounting for more
than half of the offense. In reality, it's like two
thirds to almost seventy five percent of the offense from
Indiana that is being generated off of attention that Caitlyn
Clark is drawing. And this is where I want to
get back to what I was talking about earlier when
we were talking about Joel and beat an Ante Davis.
(30:01):
If you're building a basketball team, the hardest thing to
replicate is who's the generator of your offense. That is
why Joel Embiid is a better basketball player than Anthony Davis.
AD is a better fit with USA Basketball because they
just need these specific role player things. Ad is the
guy that goes out there and puts up you know,
twenty six and seventeen all the time, right. But as
(30:22):
we're looking at Joel Embiid, he's the guy that can
be the fulkrum of a high level offense. Anthony Davis
has not demonstrated that with defense. You can address that
as a team with lineup construction and attention to detail
within your scheme with rebounding, you can address that with
lineup construction. Just put more size and athleticism on the floor,
(30:44):
even with angels finishing around the rim, which is of value.
Look at all of the quality rim attempts that Melissa
Smith and Aliyah Boston are getting because of Caitlin Clark
consistently bringing their defender up to the level of the
screen that can be made up four through what Caitlyn
Clark brings to the table. So again, like all of
(31:05):
the stuff that Andel Reese is doing is incredibly valuable
and incredibly important, but it is incredibly difficult to replicate
what Caitlin Clark is doing for the Indiana Pacers the
Indiana Fever, what she is doing as a rookie in
THEWNBA is putting an entire offense on her shoulders and
consistently generating quality shots and the offen The results have
(31:26):
been amazing. They have the sixth best offensive. This is
a crazy stat. So in their first nine games they
went one in eight. They were the second worst offense
in the league, in large part because they were just
using Caitlin like a normal player. Right around thirteen games ago,
they started actually using Caitlin the way they needed to,
which is using her as an offensive engine, using her
(31:48):
as Steve Nash crossed with Steph Curry, and as a result,
their offense has taken off. Since June first, eight and five,
they've climbed all the way up to the seventh seed
and they have the sixth best off offensive rating in
the league in that span, So they went from the
second worst offense in the league to a top half
offense in the league. By leaning into Caitlyn Clark as
(32:09):
their offensive engine, She's putting teams in the blender. Everyone
is benefiting from it. And again that doesn't have anything
to do with Angel Rees. It's not that she's not
doing enough, so to speak, any other year she'd be
worthy of Rookie of the Year. But this is an
all time great WNBA prospect in Caitlin Clark, who's playing
some special basketball in doing the most important thing that
(32:31):
an NBA team or a basketball team can get out
of an offensive player, which is just consistently generating quality shots.
I think she deserves to win the award. And again
it's not over if Angel Rees, you know, continues to
put up seventeen and fourteen every night and Kaitlyn Clark
tails off hard or gets hurt like yeah, then Angel
Reese will jump in and get that. That's why she's
(32:52):
at plus three hundred, which is a reasonable number. But
Kitlin Clark is the is the favorite for a reason.
She is the more valuable basketball player. It is easier
to build a good basketball team around her skill set
and what she brings to the table. It is the
most valuable type of player in the league. That's why
when I look at the NBA, who are the two
best players right now, Nikole jokicch and Luka Doncic. Why
(33:13):
offensive engines all the things that Jason Tatum and Anthony
Davis and the better athletes bring to the table, they
can be replaced by role players in a way that
what an offensive engine cannot do. And that's why I
have Caitlin Clark as the Rookie of the Year at
this point, all right, guys, this all I have for today.
We are going to be unless there's some big news.
If there's some big news, I'll obviously be reacting, but
(33:35):
otherwise at this point, plan on Thursday morning, when when
I give you, guys an instant reaction to the Tmusa
scrimmage against Canada. I will see you guys, then, the
volume
The volume. You know the beautiful thing about being a
sports fan, there's only like two days the whole year
without a game. Two with so much happening and so
much action, that makes just about every day game day.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, it's super easy for first timers to
get started. Try betting on something simple like picking a
team to win. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select
your team and place your first bet. It really couldn't
(00:22):
be any easier or any simpler. Baseball, golf, UFC, there's
something for every fan of every sport to bet on DraftKings.
And I know it's early, but football season will be
here before you know it. And the Kansas City Chiefs
are currently the favorite to win the Super Bowl on
DraftKings at plus five fifty. And if you're new to DraftKings,
you got to check this out. New customers, bet five
dollars and get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets instantly.
(00:45):
Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app now and use code
coops that's hops, that's code hoops for new customers to
get one to fifty in bonus bets instantly when you
bet just five dollars only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West
Virginia visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net.
In New York, call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
(01:07):
or text hope and why to four six seven three
sixty nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.
Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on
behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus.
Age varies by jurisdiction. Bonus bets expire one hundred and
sixty eight hours after issuance. Deposit and eligibility restrictions apply.
(01:30):
See terms and responsible gaming resources at DKG dot co.
Slash baseball. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at
the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Oh all, if you guys
(01:51):
are having a great week so far, I got a
jam packshow for you today. We're going to talk some
USA basketball off the top. I have three different segments
that I want to get into surrounding Team USA, how
they stack up compared to some of the other great
Team usas in history, like nineteen ninety two, two thousand
and eight, twenty twelve. I want to talk about their
lineup construction, some of the things that I expect them
to look like, both in building groups of five for
(02:15):
their starters and for their bench groups, different looks they'll
use for different matchups. I want to talk a little
bit about the schematics of how this team should work,
So we're gonna dive into some of the x's and
o's in that segment, and then in the third segment,
I want to talk about the odds of who's gonna
win the gold medal. I want to look at some
of these other teams like France and Serbia and Canada
(02:35):
and if any of these teams have the ability to
actually beat Team USA. Tmusa right now is a substantial favorite,
So we're going to dive into that in the third segment,
and then at the end of the show, I want
to talk a little bit about the WNBA Rookie of
the Year race. There's been a just a crazy stretch
of games from Angel Reese, who just set the record,
(02:55):
stole the record from from Kandas Parker set the record
for most double double consecutively by a rookie in the
history of the WNBA. She's starting to get some Rookie
of the Year buzz, but according to DraftKings, Caitlyn Clark
is still minus five hundred to win the award. Is
on one hell of a stretch herself, averaging over eleven
assists per game in her last five games. So I
want to talk a little bit about the WNBA Rookie
(03:17):
of the Year race, why I think Caitlyn Clark is
still the clear front runner at this point, and I
want to talk a little bit about the different archetypes
of basketball players and how they impact teams, and why
the role that Kitlyn Clark is filling is the toughest
role to replicate anywhere else on the roster, and why
that is a differentiator for her in that race. You
guys are the job before we started to subscribe to
(03:39):
the Hoops to Night YouTube channel, so you don't miss
any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at
underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss announcements, don't forget about
podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on her Hoops
Tonight and they keep dropping mailback questions in those YouTube comments,
and we keep hitting them throughout the rest of the
summer and the last but not least, before we get started,
I want to talk to you guys about game time.
It's baseball season right now, and this is the best
time of year to get out gets to a baseball
(04:00):
park and watch your favorite team play. I grew up
watching baseball. That was what we did when I was
a kid. We'd come home from school, we'd have dinner
or whatever, and then we'd all just sit around the
couch and watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play. And got away
from it a little bit as I became an adult,
just because I dove headlong into basketball, as you guys know.
But last year, when the Diamondbacks made it to the
World Series, it completely reinvigorated my love for baseball I
(04:21):
grew I played it in Little League growing up until
I got into high school. Like I've just always had
a soft spot in my heart for the game. And
there's nothing like getting out to one of these stadiums
and watching our favorite baseball teams play. And this is
where game time comes in. Game time is an incredible
ticket buying experience. You guys will be able to find
last minute deals. You'll know exactly what you're getting yourself into.
(04:42):
You'll see a good picture of your seat before you
show up to the stadium. You're not gonna have to
worry about going to check out and being surprised by fees.
Everything is included in the all in pricing. It's a
simple process. You can check out in as few as
two taps. And they also have some really nice deals
for you guys to check out. They have flash deals
with in app deals that just pop up immediately before
(05:03):
a game. They have zone deals where you pick a
section within an arena and then they'll pick the seats
for you within the section so that you can get
extra savings that way. And it's not even just for
baseball games. You can get out to concerts. I'm going
to see Debting Company in Vegas here literally in three
days that I cannot wait. There's lots of other comedians
and other artists touring around the country. There's plenty of
(05:25):
things for you guys to go out and see. And
I want you to use game Time. Give it a shot.
Let me know what you guys think. Take the guest
work out of buying Major League Baseball tickets with game Time.
Download the game Time app, create an account and use
code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms
apply again created account, Redeem code Hoops. That's Hops for
twenty dollars off. Download game time today, last minute tickets,
(05:47):
lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So,
first of all, with Team USA, the basketball fan in
me is absolutely loving all this training camp content. Just
like watching that reel of on Instagram of all the
guys walking off the bus and it's like, oh shit,
there's Steph, other's KD. Oh there's Lebron. Oh yeah, I
forgot Kawhi Leonards on this team too. Oh yeah, Devin Booker, Oh,
(06:10):
and it's Joel And like it's just one after the other.
It's like, oh, there's Anthony Edwards. He was the best
player on the team last summer. Like it's just there's
so much incredible talent on this team. Part of the
thing that makes it interesting is Steph, KD and Lebron
are the old guys, right, They're like kind of like
what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were on the nineteen
ninety two Dream Team. The difference is is like at
(06:31):
that point in time, Magic was still really good, but
Larry was starting to fall apart physically, Steph, KD, and
Lebron are all still playing at an extremely high level.
I think they're all still top ten players in the league.
Steph struggled a little bit at the tail end of
last season, but I think there were some mitigating factors there,
and I think he's gonna have a big bounce back year.
I will most likely have all three of them in
my top ten after the end of the summer. So
(06:52):
those guys are all still playing well enough, but then
you are adding them to all these in their prime stars,
guys like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Booker Kawhi Leonard, Jason Tatum,
Anthony Edwards and so it is. It's just gonna be
so much fun, and as basketball fans, we couldn't hope
for a better summer appetizer before we head into next season. So,
as I mentioned before, there are three major questions that
(07:13):
I have about this team. Where does it stack up
with other USA teams? Who should start other lineup questions?
And can anybody beat this team? Let's start with where
does this team stack up? Now? In terms of talent,
It's hard for me to put this team ahead of
the ninety two team, the eight or the twenty twelve
team because of the top tier talent. So, for instance,
(07:35):
in nineteen ninety two, Michael Jordan was far and away
the best player in the world played for Team USA.
Every single player on first Team All NBA that year
made Team USA. Four of the five players on second
Team All NBA made Team USA. So nine of the
top ten players in the world at that point in
time we're playing for Team USA. It's hard to match
(07:58):
that in terms of top end talent. In two thousand
and eight, Kobe and Lebron were the two best players
in the world. I thought Kobe was the best player
at that point. I thought Lebron was the second best player.
They both played on that Olympic team. In twenty twelve,
Lebron James and Kevin Durant were the two best players
in the world. Lebron is clearly number one, kd was
number two, but they were both on that team in
(08:18):
this particular stretch of time in basketball history. Right now,
in the year twenty twenty four, there are three players
that are in the top tier of players in the
world in my opinion. Nikole Jokic, Luka Doncic, Giannis, and Tennekombo.
None of those guys play for Team USA. Joel Embiid
has that type of talent, but as we know, he's
never really been able to put it together for a
full season, including the playoffs, so they don't. This Team
(08:41):
USA doesn't have that like true world altering top tier
talent that some of the other teams in the past did,
but they have so many guys immediately below that tier.
And most importantly, I actually do think this team will
rival the other Team USA teams in dominance because of
the fact that they compliment each other so well. This
(09:04):
to me, mate this team is interesting because they don't
have one of the top three players in the world,
but they have a very very well fitting basketball team,
and I think that that's going to be an interesting
concept for us to dive into a little bit further,
which I'm going to do in the next segments. But yeah,
in terms of talent, just sheer top to bottom talent,
I think you got to put this one in fourth
place behind those other three teams just simply because Nikol
(09:27):
Jokis is best player in the world. Luka, Doncic, and
and Giannis are right there behind him. I don't think
anybody on this roster has a claim to be in
that group. Who should start slash? Who is their best five?
So let's think about it from the perspective of filling responsibilities.
I always talk about like looking at basketball teams as
filling five men having to feel responsibilities on both ends
(09:48):
of the floor. That is how a team either becomes
more than the sum of its parts or less than
the sum of its parts. How well they compliment each other.
Too many redundancies in one area, not enough in another area,
that team will underachieve. Really good balance across the board,
that team has the potential to overachieve. Right, So let's
look at it from the perspective of filling responsibilities. Who
is the best skill guard on the team? Skill guard,
(10:11):
this is the guy that's gonna initiate offense. Usually he's
gonna run the first action, the first trip up the floor.
The guy that is going to be usually your most
skilled player, your best pass or your best shooter, that
sort of thing. Right, it's Steph Curry, no question. He
starts at the point. There's no debate. Steph is your
guy at the one. Right, who's the best athlete guard
(10:31):
on the team. Remember, as I structured teams, I kind
of look at it from like, I want a skill guard,
I want an athlete guard. I want like a perimeter
based forward, I want an interior forward, and then I
want a versatile big man. Right, So if Steph is
our skill guard, who are we looking at at the two?
It's probably Anthony Edwards right in terms of the best
athlete guard, But he has some specific weaknesses that I
(10:53):
think make him a poor fit with the starters. One,
he's not great at navigating screens yet. So like I
look at him, if you were to run some sort
of drop coverage put him on the opposing guard, I
think he would do better at TSA because he'd devote
more resources there because and I do think a lot
of it is just conserving energy for ant, but I
don't love that fit. And then in terms of the
fit alongside other stars, he's still a little bit inconsistent
(11:16):
at making quick and smart reads in five out, so
I don't think he's a great fit with the starters.
Devin Booker I view as another skill guard, so he's
redundant with Steph on the defensive end of the floor.
Stephan Devin Booker would be fine on offense, but I
don't want two guards that I ideally don't want guarding
the other team's best guard. That would be an issue. Right.
(11:36):
Drew Holliday can do that, but he's not good enough
to start over some of these superstar players, right. Tyrese
Alliburton is neither good enough nor a complimentary fit. He's
also redundant with Steph and so that's it for the guards.
So if Anthony Edwards is not a great fit, Tyres
Alliburton's not a great fit, Drew's not good enough, Devin
(11:56):
Booker is not a great fit with the starters, then
we got to look at the forwards. And if we
look at the forwards Lebron, James, Kevin Durant, Kwhi, Leonard,
and Jason Tatum, this is where Jason Tatum becomes a
really natural fit for me. Jason Tatum is the most
mobile on the perimeter player of all of those forwards.
Like those other guys might be like Lebron and Kawhi
might be a little bit more physically imposing, Katie's got
(12:18):
more length, but Tatum has the best combination of like
length and actual foot speed to contend on the perimeter,
but he also has the strength and size to guard
bigger forwards and centers, and so you can ask him
to chase and apply back pressure, you could ask him
to switch in a switching scheme. And for the record,
and this is where I think it's important for us
to get to this. The one weakness on this roster
(12:41):
is perimeter foot speed. If there's a vulnerability in their defense,
it's too quick guards quickness on the perimeter, right. So
I actually view this as more of a switching team.
I think that's primarily what they're going to do with
their main groups. Now to mention Eric Spolster and Steve Kerr,
two coaches that philosophically have a lot of belief in
switching as a defensive scheme, I think it's the best
(13:03):
fit for this roster. I think it's the natural fit
with the coaching staff. That's what I expect them to do.
They really only have one guy on the entire roster
who is a high level point of attack, chase over
screens type of guy, and that's True Holliday, who I
don't expect to play a ton with this group. So
I look at this as a switching scheme. So if
it's a switching scheme. Jason Tatum I think is a
(13:26):
really natural fit at the two because he's quick enough
to guard some quicker players. You won't ask him to
navigate a bunch of screens because he'll be switching, but
he can also switch onto bigger players. So to me,
Jason Tatum is that kind of like shoe in fit
at the two. He's also the most natural offensive fit
alongside the other stars. We talked about Tatum whether or
(13:47):
not he'd be a good fit read and reacting with
five other or with four other stars. Tatum's great at
that stuff. The rub on Tatum is if he's the
one star on the floor, is he aggressive enough and
effective enough to be an off engine. That's legitimate criticism,
But we literally watched him be just this perfect cog
and a system in Boston with lesser stars around him.
(14:09):
But he was surrounded by a bunch of really high
level players. He is a quick decision maker, He is
a ball mover. He doesn't hijack the offense. He didn't
even hijack the offense with the Celtics, let alone in
a team like this with all of these stars. He
had a rough pull up shooting season, but he's an
excellent catch and shoot guy. He shot forty five percent
on catch and shoot jumpers this season, including regular season
(14:31):
in the playoffs one point three to six points per shot.
Even when he shot poorly in the postseason, he still
got to one point per shot on catch and shoot jumpers.
That is his most reliable form of jump shooting. That
is a natural fit. Tatum gets wide open catch and
shoot looks. I feel like they're gonna go in. So
he is a beautiful plug and fit at the two
because in a switching scheme, he can guard up and down.
(14:54):
He has the most perimater quickness, and he's a natural
fit alongside stars on the offensive end of the floor.
Tatum's versatil he is a huge value I think on
this particular team. So now that we have our skill
guard and we have our athlete guard that's being replaced
by an athlete forward and Tatum because of fit, who's
the best perimeter forward on the team. Probably KD. Right
(15:15):
brings a ton of skill, brings length, He's super easy
to plug and play with other stars. He's probably the
best plug and play star ever. Right, But as we know,
KD is probably going to miss at least. I think
he's probably gonna miss that scrimmage against Canada on Wednesday,
which sucks because I'm gonna be there and I would
love to have excuse me to have seen KD with
those guys. But I expect he'll be back for the Olympics.
Apparently this cap strain is something he had before, and
(15:37):
I just don't think he would have showed up if
he didn't plan on playing. So my guess is he'll
be back. But in the short term, I think Kawhi
Leonard is the fit in that spot. You plug Kawhi
Leonard in at the three, But in the long run,
I think Kevin Durant is your three. Who is the
best big forward on the team. It's Lebron and like
that might have been more clunky as a fit early
in his career when he wasn't as good of a
(15:58):
jump shooter, but he's become an excellent catch and shoot guy,
and especially in the last year with the Lakers with
their shift to five out. But they started to do
this last year where Lebron is operating as a screener
a bunch, but this year with the Lakers in their
five out system, Lebron became a devastating screen and roll guy.
He shot sixty one percent on his own shot attempts
(16:20):
field goal percentage on overall one hundred reps this year.
As a role man for the Lakers in their five
out offense. We know how he can operate as a
passer in that role as well. I think Lebron is
going to be a guy that actually slots really well
into that five out system as basically a screener. And
I think with his combination of size and strength on
(16:41):
the defensive glass and defensively in general, I just think
he's the perfect fit there at that four right and
it just is going to add to that physical profile
that frontline. He's still one of the best combinations of
size and strength in the NBA, even at over forty
years of age. Who is the starting center? I guess
Lebron is actually turning forty next year. I think he's
(17:03):
still thirty nine at this point. Who is the starting center?
To be clear, I do think that Embiid is a
better basketball player than Anthony Davis. I think he's a
much better offensive engine, which brings more value to a
basketball team. It's a similar concept to what we're going
to be talking about with Caitlin Clark and Angel Raese
here in a minute. So I do think that Embiid
is a better player than Anthony Davis. But this is
(17:25):
not an NBA team. This is an Olympic team. It's
not about how you can lift up other role players.
It's about how you can compliment other stars we talked earlier.
If you guys remember about how I see this as
a switching team, Embiid cannot defend on the perimeter in
the same stratosphere as Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis is the
(17:45):
combination of elite rim protector, elite defensive rebounder, elite pick
and roll defender, and elite switching perimeter defender that makes
him the ideal fit in a switching scheme next to
other big forwards like KD, like Lebron, Jason Tatum, etc.
So I view Anthony Davis as a really really natural
fit within this switching scheme on the defensive end of
(18:05):
the flour. On the offensive end of the flour, em
beads post up and face up attack would actually be
a rhythm disruptor for the rest of this team. You
don't want to have Steph and Kadie and all of
them just standing on the perimeter while a Embiid starts
unleashing his jab step pump, fake game, trying to draw fouls.
Right Like, It's just it's gonna be kind of clunky, right.
Ad would just function basically as a screener and a
(18:28):
roller as a vertical spacing threat. I think he's a
more natural fit on the offensive end too, again, and
Beads a better player, but fitting alongside this team, Anthony
Davis is the better fit. I do prefer Embiid for
specific matchups, like when they play France. France is gonna
play Victor Wen, Migyama and Rudy Gobert. They're gonna be
a nightmare in the paint. Embid's three point shooting will
(18:50):
probably be valuable in that matchup. Against Serbia, who they
scrimmage next week, and they play in the first Olympic
game in late July. You need someone who can guard
Yokich and Embiid is the best equipped player in the
world for that. So Embiid I think should start certain
games and will play more than Ad in certain games.
But I think Ad is the best fit in the
starting group to make that five play better basketball With
(19:14):
that F five with Steph, Jason Tatum, KD Lebron and Ad,
you have four proven great shooters, a screening fulcrum in
Ad who's one of the best vertical spacers in the world,
a second screener in Lebron if you need him. And
then you have a switching look with four big forwards
who can all guard up and down positions. And Steph
Curry who you can ask to hedge and recover or
(19:36):
just ask him to press up on the jump shot,
knowing you have an absurd amount of length behind him.
You're going six nine six ten six ' nine seven
foot with that, With that front line, that's a lot
of help defense behind Steph to make his job easier.
And then as far as some bench groups like I
love the fit of Devin Booker with Anthony Edwards, that's
your skill guard athlete guard combo. Right, you can go
(19:57):
small with Drew Holliday out there and Kawhi Leonard at
the four with Joel Embiid, you can go bigger with
Kawhi at the three. With bam at Aebaio next to
Joel Embid, you have a bunch of different looks. I
like in those bench groups two with Embiid. Embiid will
actually need to be more aggressive offensively in those groups,
So it's just a better fit for him to be
able to come in the game and be Joel Embiid,
whereas if he came into the game and was Joel
(20:19):
Embiid with the starters, I just think it would be clunky.
As far as schematically, like we talked about, I think
you will see a lot of switching. I wouldn't hedge
and recover with Steph. I would just have him guard
and then basically just tell him to press up on
jump shots and know that he has backside help behind him,
and just ask him to rotate on the offensive end
of the floor. I expect them to run five out.
I haven't seen enough footage from practice to know what
(20:39):
they're running yet, but I would have just assumed they're
running five out, and with that, it's just lots of
ball and player movement. Get the defense and rotation, trust
each other. Katie can attack close out, Steph can attack
close outs, Tatum can attack close outs, Lebron can attack
close outs. Ad is just always going to be there
ready to finish all of these other guys. Can slot
in and fill that role. Devin Booker can come onto
the floor and provide some of what Steph brings to
(21:01):
the table and can do the same. Kawhi can do
the same. That to me, there's gonna be a good
amount of scheme consistency from group to group, and you're
gonna be able to put different types of lineups together
that compliment each other. And that's the beauty of this
roster and that's why I think they're gonna be very dominant.
Who can beat this team? Final question starts from the
standpoint of what are their weaknesses? And I don't think
(21:22):
this team has any offensive weaknesses at all. They have
plenty of ways to get the defense into rotation, they
have plenty of ways to finish plays. They have guys
that can take over the game. They have guys that
can bully inside. They have a lead, pull up shooters,
they can play driving kick like. I think they're fine
on the offensive end of the four. Defensively, the one
issue because they have a big center, they have a
(21:43):
rim protecting center. They have tons of forwards like, they
have tons of length like. The one thing is they
just don't have a ton of foot speed on the
perimeter in general, and again it's worth mentioning they have
more than enough length to make up for it, but
they could be vulnerable to some really quick guards. So
with that, let's take a look at the Vegas op
So these are according to DraftKings, USA is currently favored
(22:03):
at minus three ninety. It's pretty substantial favor. Not nothing insane,
but pretty substantial. Canada is the second favorite at plus
nine hundred. But I don't like the matchup because they
they're two main offensive threats. Shake Gibs Alexander Jamal Murray
are pull up shooters, and the US has a ton
of length to bother pull up shooters like. They're not
(22:23):
overly quick guys. We know Shay can beat people off
the dribble, but he's not lightning quick. There's not a
ton of lightning quickness on that team. It's a pull
up shooting team. Length is the best counter for pull
up shooting. They're also undersized on the front line and
lack rim protection. That feels like a disaster against a
frontline of Lebron James and Anthony Davis, Lebron James and
Joel Embiid and and just even just with the inverted
(22:45):
spacing that Steph Curry provides, right, So I don't really
view that them as a substantial threat. France plus one
thousand as the third favorite. They have Wemby and Rudy Gobert,
Nick Batoum at the three. That's a lot of length.
Their backcourt is most gonna be Frank Mila Keina and
Evan Fournier, right, Like that's they're gonna be a pain
in the ass to score against in the paint, for sure,
(23:08):
But how do you counter a team that has a
lot of length under the basket? Perimeter shooting team USA
just has a ton of it, Like lebron kd Steph
and Jason Tatum are all really comfortable shooting, not just shooting,
but shooting from deep, so like that's not gonna be
They're all comfortable above the break, so like that's not
an issue. I even think USA could go centerless against
them because they're frontline, like go bears a non threat offensively,
(23:31):
and Wemby's kind of thin, so you could even supplement
that with more shooting and just be like we're not
gonna go AD, We're gonna go Lebron at center. You know,
Tatum at the four, KD at the five, at KD
at the three, and we'll go Booker and Steph, and
now we just have tons of shooting on the floor.
Good luck, Steph, Devin Booker, KD lebron and and Jason Tatum.
Just good luck. You know, like no amount of length
(23:53):
at the rim is going to cause that to be
a problem, right and so like, again, France has some
issues that they present, but I I just I think
I think the USA team presents more issues to France. Serbia.
They have Nicola Jokich. Serbia right now is plus thirteen hundred.
They're the fourth favorite to win the win the gold
medal on DraftKings. They have Jokic, but TOSA has Joel Embiid,
(24:15):
who is literally the best human in the world at
guarding Nikola Jokic. So like that's another thing that USA
has a counter for not to mention all the issues
that USA that the TMOSA could present for Serbia on
the perimeter right now, Again, single elimination is always a variable.
Anything could happen when a team goes hot or cold,
as we know, but I think USA is pretty resilient
(24:37):
to that, and I think they're gonna be really hard
to beat even in a single elimination a setup. I
expect them to win convincingly throughout the tournament, and I
think they're gonna win the gold. I would be really
really surprised if they didn't. This is not a team
that I think presents some of the vulnerabilities that other
team usas that haven't brought all their players have presented,
and most importantly, I think they're gonna be really fun
to watch. I am going to be at the scrimmage
(24:59):
against Canada Wednesday. I will be live tweeting through the
whole thing. I'll send some videos out on my Twitter
feed as well, so make sure you guys follow me
at underscore JSNLT on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well then
you need to check you out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
When you sink your fantasy football league with draft Wizard,
you'll get an instant report that shows you how the
rest of your league drafts. You'll see who overdrafts rookies
in early rounds, who's going to be the person to
take that first QB off the board, and which manager
is going to always reach for that hometown player every
(25:31):
single time. And then you can take those patterns directly
into the draft simulator and make your mock draft feel
like the real thing. When your real draft comes around,
you're gonna be ready and the draft assistant will be
there for you to give you live pick by pick
insights and expert recommendations of who to draft and when
to draft them. You can see all of this and
more at fantasypros dot com slash volume today.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
All right, let's move on to the WNBA. So we
got ourselves a classic Rookie of the Year battle. Both
players are just exchanging dominant games. Angel Reese is just
like good, consistently for seventeen ish points and fourteen ish
rebounds every single night. She's put together the longest streak
of double doubles by a rookie in WNBA history, breaking
(26:26):
the record of Candae Parker right and Kaitlyn Clark's coming
right back at her. She goes for the first triple
double ever by a WNBA rookie in a really fun
game against the New York Liberty took over that game
late too. They were down six with like what three
and a half minutes left, and she had a driving
and one bank shot on the right side of the
floor to bring it to three. Then she had a
(26:47):
transition kick ahead pass for a wide open three that
tied the game. Like Kaitlyn was just unbelievable in that
game is they got a huge win against the New
York Liberty. And so now we have this debate, right
and there's a lot of people saying Angel reachin Rookie
of the Year, a lot of people saying Kaitlyn Clark.
But Vegas, or more specifically DraftKings sees it as very
much Kitlyn Clark's race to lose. She on DraftKings right
(27:09):
now is minus five hundred to win Rookie of the
Year and Angel Reese's plus three hundred. It's a pretty
massive gap. It's not unclosable. But what that means is
if the season ended today, there would be no debate.
Caitlin Clark would be Rookie of the Year. And I agree,
I think Caitlin Clark is clearly the Rookie of the
Year at this point. And this is where we have
(27:29):
to get into the difference between roles. And again there's
gonna be a lot of talk about counting stats, especially
because Angel Reese is putting up some incredibly dominant box
score numbers. Right, like Angel Reese is dominating games as
an athlete, She's a super disruptive defender, just putting up
crazy block steal counts every single game. She's a wrecking
ball on the glass on both ends of the floor.
(27:50):
Even her rim finishing is trending up, which was one
of the biggest rubs on her early on in the year. Right.
Like as mentioned earlier, you can just count on her
to give you, you know, in the mid teens and
points in mid teens and rebounds every single night, right,
And there's a ton of value that comes from them.
But what Kaitlyn Clark is doing is she's functioning as
an offensive engine, which is a very different type of role,
(28:13):
and the box score numbers show it. For the record,
in their last five games, the Indiana Fever are averaging
thirty made field goals per Gamely, Clark is either scoring
or assisting sixteen of those thirty made field goals every
single game, So either her putting the ball in the
basket or passing to the person who put the ball
in the basket more than half their offense in the
last couple of weeks. But that doesn't even come close
(28:35):
to capturing the real impact of Caitlin Clark in this
offense because her main goal, the main thing she's doing,
and the reason why the Indiana offense has turned around
and they've started winning. They've won eight of their last
thirteen games. The reason this has turned around is she
is primarily focusing on getting the defense in rotation. They're
using her a lot in off ball movement as a decoy.
(28:57):
They're doing a lot of really fun stuff to get
help her beat ball pressure, where like teams are picking
her up full court and forcing her into some turnovers.
Now she's like doing a lot of given gho stuff
right around half court, where like she'll make a quick
move against the ball pressure and then throw the ball
up to like, you know, Aliah Boston at half court,
and then she'll quick cut off of it and get
a dribble hand off and get downhill and then she'll
(29:19):
spin and go right back into a ball screen the
other way there. She's putting teams in the blender early on,
and it's generating all of these short role opportunities for
Leah Boston and Melissa Smith and they're benefiting off of it.
Rolling to the rim when teams are tagging them. The
Caitlyn's making the kickout passes in general between hockey assists
(29:40):
and just getting the defense and rotation then capitalizing on
the chaos. The box score has her accounting for more
than half of the offense. In reality, it's like two
thirds to almost seventy five percent of the offense from
Indiana that is being generated off of attention that Caitlyn
Clark is drawing. And this is where I want to
get back to what I was talking about earlier when
we were talking about Joel and beat an Ante Davis.
(30:01):
If you're building a basketball team, the hardest thing to
replicate is who's the generator of your offense. That is
why Joel Embiid is a better basketball player than Anthony Davis.
AD is a better fit with USA Basketball because they
just need these specific role player things. Ad is the
guy that goes out there and puts up you know,
twenty six and seventeen all the time, right. But as
(30:22):
we're looking at Joel Embiid, he's the guy that can
be the fulkrum of a high level offense. Anthony Davis
has not demonstrated that with defense. You can address that
as a team with lineup construction and attention to detail
within your scheme with rebounding, you can address that with
lineup construction. Just put more size and athleticism on the floor,
(30:44):
even with angels finishing around the rim, which is of value.
Look at all of the quality rim attempts that Melissa
Smith and Aliyah Boston are getting because of Caitlin Clark
consistently bringing their defender up to the level of the
screen that can be made up four through what Caitlyn
Clark brings to the table. So again, like all of
(31:05):
the stuff that Andel Reese is doing is incredibly valuable
and incredibly important, but it is incredibly difficult to replicate
what Caitlin Clark is doing for the Indiana Pacers the
Indiana Fever, what she is doing as a rookie in
THEWNBA is putting an entire offense on her shoulders and
consistently generating quality shots and the offen The results have
(31:26):
been amazing. They have the sixth best offensive. This is
a crazy stat. So in their first nine games they
went one in eight. They were the second worst offense
in the league, in large part because they were just
using Caitlin like a normal player. Right around thirteen games ago,
they started actually using Caitlin the way they needed to,
which is using her as an offensive engine, using her
(31:48):
as Steve Nash crossed with Steph Curry, and as a result,
their offense has taken off. Since June first, eight and five,
they've climbed all the way up to the seventh seed
and they have the sixth best off offensive rating in
the league in that span, So they went from the
second worst offense in the league to a top half
offense in the league. By leaning into Caitlyn Clark as
(32:09):
their offensive engine, She's putting teams in the blender. Everyone
is benefiting from it. And again that doesn't have anything
to do with Angel Rees. It's not that she's not
doing enough, so to speak, any other year she'd be
worthy of Rookie of the Year. But this is an
all time great WNBA prospect in Caitlin Clark, who's playing
some special basketball in doing the most important thing that
(32:31):
an NBA team or a basketball team can get out
of an offensive player, which is just consistently generating quality shots.
I think she deserves to win the award. And again
it's not over if Angel Rees, you know, continues to
put up seventeen and fourteen every night and Kaitlyn Clark
tails off hard or gets hurt like yeah, then Angel
Reese will jump in and get that. That's why she's
(32:52):
at plus three hundred, which is a reasonable number. But
Kitlin Clark is the is the favorite for a reason.
She is the more valuable basketball player. It is easier
to build a good basketball team around her skill set
and what she brings to the table. It is the
most valuable type of player in the league. That's why
when I look at the NBA, who are the two
best players right now, Nikole jokicch and Luka Doncic. Why
(33:13):
offensive engines all the things that Jason Tatum and Anthony
Davis and the better athletes bring to the table, they
can be replaced by role players in a way that
what an offensive engine cannot do. And that's why I
have Caitlin Clark as the Rookie of the Year at
this point, all right, guys, this all I have for today.
We are going to be unless there's some big news.
If there's some big news, I'll obviously be reacting, but
(33:35):
otherwise at this point, plan on Thursday morning, when when
I give you, guys an instant reaction to the Tmusa
scrimmage against Canada. I will see you guys, then, the
volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.