Jason reacts to the Memphis Grizzlies beating the Minnesota Timberwolves and then breaks down his top-10 players in the NBA so far this season, including Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC Thunder), Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers), Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors), Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I here
at the volume. Happy Thursday. Everybody, got a quick show
for you guys today. We are hitting Grizzlies Timberwolves from
(00:23):
last night, as Memphis has won nine of their last
twelve games. And then I thought, in this slow down
stretch here surrounding the nd season tournament, where we don't
have a lot of basketball to talk about, it would
be fun to kind of take a set back and
take a quick look at who I think have been
the ten best players in the NBA so far this season.
Just looking at what they've done this season. Much harder
than you think, because there's like twelve or thirteen guys
(00:45):
that have legitimate, legitimate cases to be in a list
like that. So just talking Grizzlies Timberwolves, a little bit
of big picture of Grizzlies, and then we'll get into
the top ten players in the league. You guys have
the joke before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops
and I YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
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that helps us a lot on YouTube. And then lastly,
if you want to get questions into our mail bag,
(01:05):
We've already done our mail bag for this week, but
if you want to get one in for next week's
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write your question. We'll get to them on Fridays throughout
the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.
So the Grizzlies beat the Timberwolves won sixteen to one,
ten for their ninth win in their last twelve games.
Kind of a fun game. It's back and forth in
(01:25):
the first half. Minnesota made a run to start the
second half. They've been a very good second half team
this season. They went up nine in the early part
of the second half, but then Memphis really tightened the
screws on defense and flip the script and they basically
stiff arm the Wolves from their As a matter of fact,
from the eight to fifty three mark of the third
quarter through to the end of the game, the Timberwolves
scored just thirty six points thirty six points in twenty
(01:48):
one minutes of basketball. And there's two things to keep
in mind there. Yes, Anthony Edwards was out, but the
Wolves have actually been a pretty solid offense without him.
They have a one sixteen offensive rating and almost twelve
hundred possession with Anthony Edwards off the floor. Now, obviously
when Ant is out there, that shoots up to a
one to twenty two offensive rating. Is one of the
most valuable players in the league. He's going to show
(02:09):
up on our list later. But the point is they
are capable of scoring without Ant and then secondly, during
this nine and three stretch for Memphis, Memphis has been
the third best defense in the league. We'll dig into
some of the reasons why later, but the point is
very impressive effort from a Memphis defense to shut down
a decent offense there without Anthony Edwards down the stretch,
(02:33):
but Memphis took control by dominating that specific matchup. Minnesota
did miss some decent looks, especially in the early fourth
quarter a few wide open threes. Dante got a wide
open one, Nasried had a wide open one. Jada McDaniels
had a wide open one. Is like as a team
in the fourth quarter, Minnesota was one for six on
catch and shoot three, so definitely a little bit of
(02:54):
shooting variants there. But Memphis does deserve a lot of credit,
like they're loaded with good perimeter defenders. I thought they
did it awesome job on Minnesota's guards throughout the entire game.
And then Jaron Jackson. He really dominated Julius Randall on
both ends of the floor. But again we're talking defense
right now. On the defensive end in that fourth quarter,
multiple stops on Julius Randall one on one, forcing him
(03:14):
into a miss at the rim on a drive where
he got a great contest and absorbed that physicality. He's
stone wall the baseline drive off the right side and
actually poked the ball away from him. Again, that's their
primary offensive weapon with Anthony Edwards out, and I thought
Jared just did a great job on him and then
the team as a whole kind of swarming him and
taking advantage of the fact that he can sometimes get
a little tunnel visiony. And then Jock Landale, and again
(03:37):
he was the offensive hero in this game, but he
also had some good deflections and rim protection sequences at
the rim. They won that game with their defense, no question,
allowing just forty eight points total in that second half
down the stretch. On offense, Jack Landel was the hero.
He just kept burning Rudy Gobert for helping at the
(03:59):
rim with these catch and shoot threes. Now, some of
that was Rudy Gobert's fault. There was one in particular
where Jalen Wells was driving down the right lane line
and Dante di Vincenzo kind of had him under control.
He was chested up, he was in position. He wasn't
going to have any sort of finished He was going
to have to basically pick up his dribble and throw
a contested kickout pass. But Rudy Gobert did him a favor,
parked right underneath the basket and help, and that allowed
(04:21):
Jalen Wells to just throw an easy little pitch out
to Jock Landale on the right wing and he just
nailed the catch and shoot three. And as a matter
of fact, Landale hit three threes in the final seven
minutes of that game, and each one of them felt
like a shotgun blast to the chest to this Minnesota
team as they were trying to get a win there.
And Jared Jackson I thought he was the best player
on the floor last night. We talked about the job
(04:43):
he did defensively earlier against Julius Randall, but he went
twenty eight and twelve last night, ten for eighteen from
the field, two for three from three, six for six
from the line. A lot of these, like old school
one on one buckets straight up against Julius Randall or
straight up against Nasri. The one on once against Randall
were hilarious because Jaren was really trying to back him down,
(05:05):
and Randal's got a little bit lower center of gravity,
so he's like getting up underneath him. He's clearly taking
it personal, trying to hold his ground, and so the
ISO has turned into something that looked more like sumo
wrestling rather than post basketball. But Jaren just kept getting
to one of his little hooks or one of his
little short jump shots, and he just kept scoring over
the top. He beat him with a nice off the
dribble drive too, getting to his right hand. Jaren's combination
(05:27):
of size and power but also really good touch and
footwork going over both shoulders that just makes him really
difficult to guard. As a matter of fact, he's sixty
percent this season on floaters and hooks. That's not quite
jokicch territory, but it's better than everyone else. A lot
of you know, most of the good bigs in the
league are in the mid fifties, and that department. He's
(05:48):
just super efficient on his short range shot making. It's
been one of his foundational traits as a player for
a long time, and he just was the best player
on the four last night, back to back monster games
from Jaren. He also had thirty one a couple of
nights go against the Clippers. But once again, it's a
lot of defense and it's a lot of gaining margin
with the Grizzlies during this streak. They're third in defensive
(06:09):
rating in their last twelve games. As we mentioned earlier,
they are third in paint points allowed per one hundred possessions.
A lot of two big looks alongside Jaron Jackson Brandon
Clark coming back just in time with some of the
injuries they've dealt with at the center position. They are
plus ten points per game in points in the paint.
They've been doing a ton of damage in transition as
of late too. In the last six games, they're averaging
(06:31):
twenty six transition points per game. That's pretty far above
their season average to this point, and they're only allowing
nineteen transition points per game, so that's seven more points
of margin. Every single night. They're plus one point four
points and second chance points every single game. So plus
ten in the paint, plus seven in transition every night,
(06:52):
plus a point and a half on second chance points.
That's a lot of margin that they're gaining to help
them win night to night in the regular season. Over
the course of the last month, the Grizzlies are sneaky,
one of the most well run teams in the league,
especially when it comes to acquiring like good modern basketball talent,
Like say what you want about their stars Jaws Jaw,
(07:13):
and we don't know how he fits really into any
of this moving forward. He briefly came back for two games,
but then he ended up spraining his ankle again, so
he's out again, and when he is out there, it
just kind of changes the pace that they play with
when they get into the half court. Jared Jackson was
awesome last night, but he's obviously a flawed player. He's
not a good rebounder, and you basically can't play him
at the five, which makes him complicated to build around. Right,
(07:35):
But when it comes to the depth of talent on
this roster, you can tell they have a clear basketball identity,
a clear type of guy that fits their basketball culture.
They like these big guards and athletic wings that have
a good combination of like competitive motor and athleticism, but
also high basketball Like you, they target smart athletes. They're
(07:58):
not looking for guys that are just athletic for athletics sake.
They want guys that can make good reads. They want
guys that know how to do their job in the
defensive scheme, and then that competitive motor, meaning the willingness
to both work within games in terms of their work
ethic on the ball, getting up and pressuring, but also
the work behind the scenes. And they're betting that even
though those are not necessarily the most refined skill guys,
(08:21):
they're betting on their ability to refine that over the
years because they believe in their competitiveness and they believe
in their natural basketball gifts and how those will eventually
materialize into good two way players. And they just have
guys that are hits and guys that I think are
gonna be hits, like Jalen Wells has been a hit,
and over the course of the last month or so,
he's been shooting the hell out of the basketball as well.
(08:43):
Cedric Coward, I think he's going to be a two
way monster over the years. And he's been a big
part of their defense in this run. And he's got
like this, you know, when I look at the offensive
end for a lot of these guys, I'm looking at
like natural fluidity. We've talked about this, like with VJ.
Edgecomb for instance, Like I know that he's going to
be able to get to his spots because he has
a natural fluidity getting separation from defenders and getting two
(09:05):
shots even if he's not making them. And I see
a lot of that with Cedric as well, Like there's
a natural fluidity between ball handling and footwork to where
I think once he improves as a shooter, I actually
think he'll have a lot more to his offensive game
than people think. And then when they go to their bench,
it's like it's it's Vince Williams Junior. He's got a
ton of all around basketball skill. Cam Spencer, he didn't
(09:26):
play last night, but he's been really good for them,
even a guy like Olivia Maxon's prosper Like I know
he hasn't played a ton this season, but when he does,
he looks kind of like a natural fit. And I
just thought he was a smart signing for them, a
two way guy that was a cast off from Dallas,
and you watch him last night and he's guarding, and
he's attacking the rim with athleticism on drives and he's
(09:46):
getting put backs and just looks like he fits into
their culture really well. You could tell they looked at
it and they were like, Hey, this guy looks like
a guy who might be one of our guys. It
looks like he might be a Memphis Grizzly type of
basketball player. Let's bring him in. And you know, we
talk about this all the time, but it's a proven formula.
When you have a half dozen guys who can like
really guard on the perimeter and you can really pressure
(10:09):
the ball for forty eight minutes, that makes for a
super strong defensive foundation night tonight. We were talking about
this with Detroit yesterday. And then especially when you have
guys who can protect the rim, which Memphis definitely does,
it just makes for that classic kind of bracketing effect
of having real size and athleticism at the rim and
dudes who are getting up into the ball on the perimeter.
(10:30):
I just think the Memphis front office deserves a ton
of credit. There are a lot of teams in the
league where it's really hard to tell what their front
office likes. I mean, I root for one of those
teams in the Lakers, you don't know what their basketball
identity is. Each offseason kind of feels like a different approach.
Not hard to tell. With Memphis, they just keep finding
the same types of dudes who fit their culture and
(10:51):
who add to what they're trying to do on both
ends of the floor. Memphis Grizz is playing some really
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Okay, So I was curious,
I got into this a little bit of a debate
between Shaye and Luca. I say a little bit. It
was like forty five minutes, but with the nerd Sech
guys on their pod the other day, so that'd be fun. Again,
this is just we're a third of the way through
(12:36):
the season. There are a lot of guys who could
be considered here, So like, for instance, Alpera and Shangoon
would have been like eleventh for me on this list.
I think he's been every bit as good as some
of the guys ahead of him. It's just the nature
of how many talented players we have in the league
right now, and I just wanted to briefly touch base
on how I think the top ten has looked strictly
looking at how guys have played from the start of
(12:59):
this season to where they're at right now. A combination
of like their availability, how good they've been when they've
been on the floor, how valuable they've been to their
team when they've been on the floor, and how their
team has been performing in the win loss column. That's
kind of what I'm combining here for these top ten guys. Again,
just how I feel right now top ten players in
(13:19):
the league based on how they've played this season. Number
ten Anthony Edwards sneaky having the best statistical season of
his career. Is averaging a career high twenty nine points
per game on fifty percent from the field, forty two
percent from three, and eighty three percent from the line,
sixty four percent true shooting. He's been deadly with his
pull up three. He's been getting to the rim more
and finishing at a higher clip at the rim than
(13:41):
he ever has in his career. I think that's a
sign of just like the level of maturity he's developed
in terms of the pacing on his drives, like slowing down,
not just flying downhill and throwing something off the glass,
but being more methodical about when he hits his gaps,
waiting for the defense to react in a way that
gives him an opportunity to go to the rim. It's
weird because he's been a little bit of a downtick
in his playmaking this year, But overall, he's just been
(14:03):
better because he's just been more methodical on his drives,
and I think that's made him a better player overall.
What's hurting him on this list, he's already missed more
games than he did in the entire previous two seasons combined,
So there's a little bit of an availability issue, and
the Wolves just haven't been very good this season. They're
seventeen to ten, but they're just two and eight versus
teams that are five hundred are better. Obviously, there are
some guys in this list that are also producing statistically,
(14:26):
but that are winning at a higher clip. Take, for instance,
a guy like Jalen Brunson right number nine, Tyrese Maxy
just an insane year over year leap from him thirty
two points and seven assists per game on sixty percent
true shooting with only two point seven turnovers per game,
so really high efficiency from Tyree s MAXI we're gonna
(14:47):
be talking a lot about turnovers, especially when we get
later into the list. I think turnovers, especially in the
modern MBA, when you're dealing with teams that push in
transition all the time, the turnovers are like they're not
always pick sixes, but like teams are getting crazy offensive
ratings off of turnovers around league, sometimes as high as
one thirty one forty. They can be really deadly to
your defense, and so taking care of the basketball is
an important part of being a primary offensive weapon for
(15:10):
your team. He's shooting a preposterous forty nine percent on
catch and shoot threes this season, generating a ton of
offense with his ability to drive the basketball. And it's
kind of a combination of that classic conundrum of like,
if you play off of him, he's got the threat
of the shot. You play up on him, he's got
this absurd speed. It's been a major driver of this
team on offense. Again, I've been like a little disappointed
(15:32):
with Tyres in terms of some of his work on
the margins, Like I think he's been pretty bad off
the ball on defense, losing shooters, losing cutters, losing crashers.
But overall, I think he's been doing a carry job
for the Sixers offense, and I think he's taken a
leap into a completely different caliber of player than what
he was in years past. Number eight Steph Curry. The
(15:53):
Warriors have obviously been super disappointing this season, and that
certainly doesn't help Steph's case on a list like this,
But if you watch the Warriors, you know it's not
Steph's fault. Like I'm actually docking him more here for
availability than anything else. He just keeps getting banged up
and missing games, but when he's been healthy and on
the floor, he's been amazing thirty points per game on
sixty six percent tru shooting, literally some of the highest
(16:15):
volume and efficiency scoring of his entire career. And then,
once again, just like last year, according to Cleaning the Glass,
when Steph is on the floor, they have an offensive
rating of one twenty. He is an elite offense in
and of himself, and it craters down to one oh
nine when he's off the floor. If he can stay
healthy and stay off the floor, he's closer to like
(16:36):
the sixth or fifth best player in the league and
just a guy who's playing some unbelievable basketball hidden in
a franchise that has failed to provide him with the
supporting talent he needs to compete in this league. Number
seven Victor Weminem the best defensive player in the league
when he's healthy, game breaking defensive talent that is capable
of feats like what he did to the Thunder in
the n Season Tournament semifinal, a predictable leap on offense.
(17:00):
Year over year, he's over twenty five points per game
in over sixty percent true shooting, for the first time
in his career. He's actually at sixty or excuse me,
he's actually at a twenty six points per game to
start the season. A few issues that have popped up
that have kept him down in this list. He keeps
missing games again, he's only played in thirteen games this season,
and he's had a little bit of a turnover issue,
especially when facing swarming defenses that don't let him work
(17:21):
one on one. That was a big trend that kind
of popped up there after the first couple weeks of
the season. That first couple of weeks, he was allowed
to work one on one a lot, and he was
putting up massive numbers. It's definitely gotten tougher for him
since then. That's clearly the next step, managing physicality, managing
double teams, finding a way for him to get closer
to the rim for easier shots without it resulting in turnovers,
(17:41):
without him getting kind of blown up off of his base.
Number six Jalen Brunson a career high twenty nine points
per game on sixty percent true shooting the season. He's
been getting more spot up opportunities than ever thanks to
the new offensive system that Mike Brown has installed, and
he's functioned really well in that new system. Fewer one
on ones, more drives to start possessions. He's starting the
(18:04):
engine in a lot of ways for them. But then
he's also having opportunities to rest and work off the
ball and attack with an advantage. That really is the
big one to me when it comes to the increase
in scoring volume while maintaining efficiency. Just a lot more
attacking with an advantage rather than having to go one
on one against a set defense, and he's helping to
spearhead one of the best year over year offensive leaps
(18:25):
that we've seen in the league. The Knicks as a
team this season are five points per one hundred possessions
better on offense than they were the year before, and
then within this season they crater by thirteen points per
one hundred possessions on offense. When Jalen Brunson goes to
the bench, he's just become one of the best offensive
engines in the league. And especially in the context of
how they've been winning as of late and the n
(18:47):
season tournament win, you got to have him pretty high
on a list like this. Number five Jannis and Tenna Kombo.
To be clear upfront, I'm not dropping him off of
what I consider to be the top four top tier
superstars in the league. This is more just how guys
have played this season, and he's just missed too much time.
He's missed ten games this season, and that's what's docking
him in this situation. But when he's been healthy, he's
(19:08):
been an absolute monster. He's had the most efficient scoring
season of his career, sixty seven percent true shooting on
twenty nine points per game, forty four percent from three.
I'll be in on small volume. It has been weird.
He's been less efficient on his mid range jumper than
he was last season by pretty wide margin, but slight
up ticking three point volume, and he's been very efficient
on those threes when he's taken. Him just needs to
(19:29):
find a way to stay on the floor. It's the
main thing standing in the way of his standing in
the league right now. Like I had him four coming
into the season, you know, there's a lot of like
buzz about, oh, Jannis is actually every bit as good
as Yo kitcher Giannis is actually every bit as good
as Shan And it's like that may or may not
be true, but he just can't stay on the floor,
and it's continued to be an issue, whether he's missing
(19:50):
postseason games like he had in previous seasons or missing
chunks of the regular season. He's just as he's entered
into his thirties, he's just become a little bit more
injury prone than he was in years past. Number four,
the guy you have to put passionis just because of
how good he's been so far this season. Obviously, if
I'm drafting a team for just this season and everyone's healthy,
I would take Giannis Overcaid. But Kaid for me is
(20:12):
number four at this point in the season, based purely
on what we've seen to this point. Just a quintessential
offensive engine in this league. The Pistons score at a
rate of one hundred and twenty points per one hundred possessions,
so one twenty offensive rating. When he's on the floor,
He's been absolutely dominant in crunch time. He's twenty six
for forty eight from the field in the last five
(20:33):
minutes of games when the when the scorer is within
five points. He's already made four more clutch shots than
he did in the entire year last year. As he's
turned a team that was twenty one and twenty three
in clutch games last year to fourteen and four to
start this season. Really the biggest difference between where they
were this time last year and where they are this season.
Twenty seven points and nine rebounds per nine assists per game,
(20:55):
excuse me on fifty seven percent for shooting, and it
still feels like he's going to eventually get better, better
as a shooter and as a finisher as the years
go by. The three point shot has been ticking up
as of late, he's still just barely scratching the surface
of his potential in this league, and he's already the
best player on a twenty one to five, number one
seed in the Eastern Conference, number three Luka Dancic. This
(21:17):
has been one of my biggest changes from before the season.
I want to be clear this is this goes both ways.
It's not just that Luca's been somewhat disappointing, which we'll
talk about in the second. Shay's also taken a leap.
Shay's five percent year of a year better in true
shooting percentage while also cutting his turnovers to one point
nine turnovers per game. So Shay's just considerably better than
he was last year. Fueled by an improved three point
(21:38):
shot obviously, the dropping turnovers as well, and Luca, I mean,
after shooting incredibly well in his first three games, ever,
since the first three games of the season, lucas just
forty three percent from the field and just thirty two
percent from three, with four point five turnovers per game
and a lot of just like grifting in the middle
(21:59):
of the floor trying to work his way to the
foul line to bolster his scoring rather than focusing on
making shots. And there's been just frankly, a massive chasm
in efficiency between him and Shake Kildess Alexander, and that's
become a big differentiator between them, I even think, more
so than anything on the defensive end of the floor.
I think Luca's actually been pretty solid on the defensive end.
(22:19):
I Shay is obviously a better defender than him, and
I think some of the stuff with Luca's defense is
more matchup dependent, specifically teams that can truly space the
floor and drive. That's where he becomes a bigger issue
to me. The turnovers and the lack of efficiency on
actual shots is what's hurting him. Again, Like, when you
think about it, we talked about this a little bit
earlier in the show. But when you look at how
(22:40):
much of the game is geared around the transition attack,
like you have, you know, roughly, you know, one fifth
to one fourth of the possessions in the game that
are played in transition. And you look at how efficient
teams are off of live ball rebounds, and you look
at how efficient teams are off of live ball turnovers,
and like, especially in the Lakers ball screen attack, because
(23:01):
they don't pop, like they don't have bigs that pop,
they have bigs that roll. And so when you're un
pick and roll at the top of the key and
you've got your big man rolling and you've got your
guard driving, you're typically only gonna have one person above
the foul line, which can lead to floor balance issues.
So those turnovers on cross court passes or even when
he's trying to grift, there's a lot of players where
he's trying to grift there at the foul line, and
he'll like pump fake, pump fake, and then lean into
(23:22):
the guy and shoot and he'll miss, and then he
turns and starts complaining into the refs while the team's
running out the other way. In transition, he had a
brutally bad one in that Spurs game at the end
of the first half where they gave up a dunk
to Harrison Barnes because he was complaining at the refs
after a turnover. And it's like it's one of those
things where, just in general, with Luca, there's this obvious
(23:43):
statistical performance. The free throws boost his true shooting percentage
to where he's still relatively efficient compared to what you
think looking at his shooting percentages, but you're just getting
considerably more missed shots and considerably more or turnovers per game,
which are fueling the transition attack for the opponent, which
(24:04):
effectively is like cutting him off at the knees in
terms of the how impactful he is. Again, I'm splitting
hairs here. I'm comparing him to the very best players
in the world. I just think it's become a differentiator
between him and a guy like Shaye. I was talking
with Carson, and I didn't agree with everything Carson was saying.
One of the things Carson said is like he thinks
Shay is like forever going to be better than Luca.
(24:26):
I think Shay is obviously better than Luca now, and
there's probably it's probably more likely than not that Shay
stays better. But basketball is of what have you done
for me lately? Sport? Luca's gonna have his chances to improve.
He could play better starting tomorrow, right like I think,
or tonight I should say, like, there's a there is
a path for Luca to flip this script and to
get back to being a better basketball player than Shay.
(24:47):
But he's lost ground at this point and it's gonna
take a lot. It's gonna take a lot of work
for him to get past him. The big thing is
just cleaning up that efficiency, you know, I think, I
think in general with Luca, it's not just the turnover either.
It's the little grifty stuff around the lane line. It's
the two or three awful step back three's he takes
every game that are as bad as turnovers. To me,
(25:09):
Luca's just got to trim the fat. This is the
phase of the Like he's averaging an efficient thirty five
points per game with what nine assist per game or
whatever it is. It's really easy to look at that
and just be like, oh, he's incredible, and he is,
but there's like a big chunk of that that's being
undercut with some of the mistake making. He just has
to refine that over the course of the next few seasons.
(25:29):
Sha KOs with Alexander to me is the clear number two.
Again we talked about it earlier. Five percent year over
year leap and true shooting percentage, fueled by a massively
improved three point shot that has been deadly for him
in every phase, both off the catch and off the dribble.
That off the dribble three has become a go to
move for him in crunch time. Multiple teams this year
have taken that shotgun blast to the chest to the like, oh,
(25:50):
we're making a run and it's a close game, but
then Shay just hits a tough step back three and
it just erases any momentum that you have. And then
again doing all of this with cutting his turnovers down
to one point nine turnovers per game, I don't think
it'll stay quite that low as the competition has gotten
more difficult. So for instance, against Phoenix and San Antonio
(26:11):
the last two games he had nine turnovers. I think
his turnovers will tick up a little bit, but they
do clearly look like they're going to be trending to
be below where they were last season, and that's really
the case for Shay. Like, if you're looking at Shay
as a basketball player, overall, his playmaking is at a
higher level than it's ever been. You can't tell in
the stats because his minutes are down, but if you
look at a per thirty six level, he's like right
around seven assists per thirty six minutes. So there's a
(26:33):
level of playmaking that he's reached and a level of
scoring and scoring efficiency that he's reached. Like when you're
a guard and you're scoring over thirty points per game
and you're up over sixty five percent for shooting like
he is. I think he's at what sixty seven percent
for shooting When you're in that territory, you're not talking
like unanimous MVP Steph Curry twenty sixteen type of numbers.
Right Like that season, I think Steph was thirty points
(26:55):
per game on sixty seven percent sure shooting, Shay's gonna
rival that this year. That's the time type of efficiency
we're getting from the guard position. It's an entirely different
ballpark than where Luke is at right now. And then
you combine that with the lack of turnovers, which then
helps their transition defense. Shaye, you know, if you want
to tell me purely, if you're a Luca believer and
you argue that Lucas better than Shay, and you want
(27:17):
to tell me, like you know, Luca is a more
high volume scoer who's still very efficient, and he's a
better playmaker, I would agree with you on that. Like is,
he clearly does score at a higher volume and he
does playmake pretty well. But the gap between him and
Shay is actually very small. As a matter of fact,
on a per thirty six minute basis, I think Shay's
(27:38):
actually a little bit ahead of Luca right now. And
then Shaye is just dramatically more efficient and he's still
a very good playmaker, So the gap there is really small.
And where Shaye takes a massive leap over Luca is
Lucas shooting himself in the foot with damn near five
turnovers a game over the course of this recent stretch,
and he's just missing so many more shots in every
(27:59):
missed show is an opportunity for a team to run
out in transition. I think Shay has been a better
player than Luca this year. I don't think he's been
quite to Jokic's level, which we're talking about in the second,
but I think he's the clear second best player in
the league to start the season. Number one. Nikole Jokic
thirty points, twelve rebounds, and eleven assists this year, seventy
two percent true shooting, so career highs in scoring and inefficiency.
(28:23):
There's even a gap of pretty substantial gap between where
Shay is in Jokic, and that just goes to show
you the entire different level that Jokic is at as
an offensive player right now. To me, he's the best
offensive player in the history of the league. He's playing
the very best basketball of his career. The Nuggets are
seventeen points better per one hundred possessions on offense with
him on versus off And then here's the last stat
(28:43):
I'm going to leave you guys with tonight. That is
the clearest indicator of what separates him from the pack.
If you throw the ball to Nikole Jokic in the post,
regardless of what happens, he shoots, he passes. If you
throw the ball to Nikole Jokic in the post, the
Nuggets have scored six of their possessions score percentage, so
not points per possession, not field goal percentage, not anything.
(29:05):
Just strictly, if I if I toss the ball to
Jokic in the post, what is my chance of putting
points on the board? Sixty one percent. He's the most
reliable individual play type in the league. He's the most
reliable offensive player in the league. He's simply the best
offensive player in the league, and when he's been on
the floor, the Nuggets have scored at a completely preposterous rate.
(29:26):
To me, he's the best offensive player of all time,
playing at the peak of his powers. He's been having
a pretty good defensive season as well. I have Nikola
Jokic still as the best player in the world. All right, guys,
this is all I have for today. Is always a
sincerely percent you guys for supporting us, in supporting the show.
But be back on Friday with the mailbag. I'll see
you guys back
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I here
at the volume. Happy Thursday. Everybody, got a quick show
for you guys today. We are hitting Grizzlies Timberwolves from
(00:23):
last night, as Memphis has won nine of their last
twelve games. And then I thought, in this slow down
stretch here surrounding the nd season tournament, where we don't
have a lot of basketball to talk about, it would
be fun to kind of take a set back and
take a quick look at who I think have been
the ten best players in the NBA so far this season.
Just looking at what they've done this season. Much harder
than you think, because there's like twelve or thirteen guys
(00:45):
that have legitimate, legitimate cases to be in a list
like that. So just talking Grizzlies Timberwolves, a little bit
of big picture of Grizzlies, and then we'll get into
the top ten players in the league. You guys have
the joke before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops
and I YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
of our videos. Scroll down and hit that light button
that helps us a lot on YouTube. And then lastly,
if you want to get questions into our mail bag,
(01:05):
We've already done our mail bag for this week, but
if you want to get one in for next week's
mail bag, dropping him in our full episodes here on
YouTube in the comments right mail bag with the colon
write your question. We'll get to them on Fridays throughout
the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.
So the Grizzlies beat the Timberwolves won sixteen to one,
ten for their ninth win in their last twelve games.
Kind of a fun game. It's back and forth in
(01:25):
the first half. Minnesota made a run to start the
second half. They've been a very good second half team
this season. They went up nine in the early part
of the second half, but then Memphis really tightened the
screws on defense and flip the script and they basically
stiff arm the Wolves from their As a matter of fact,
from the eight to fifty three mark of the third
quarter through to the end of the game, the Timberwolves
scored just thirty six points thirty six points in twenty
(01:48):
one minutes of basketball. And there's two things to keep
in mind there. Yes, Anthony Edwards was out, but the
Wolves have actually been a pretty solid offense without him.
They have a one sixteen offensive rating and almost twelve
hundred possession with Anthony Edwards off the floor. Now, obviously
when Ant is out there, that shoots up to a
one to twenty two offensive rating. Is one of the
most valuable players in the league. He's going to show
(02:09):
up on our list later. But the point is they
are capable of scoring without Ant and then secondly, during
this nine and three stretch for Memphis, Memphis has been
the third best defense in the league. We'll dig into
some of the reasons why later, but the point is
very impressive effort from a Memphis defense to shut down
a decent offense there without Anthony Edwards down the stretch,
(02:33):
but Memphis took control by dominating that specific matchup. Minnesota
did miss some decent looks, especially in the early fourth
quarter a few wide open threes. Dante got a wide
open one, Nasried had a wide open one. Jada McDaniels
had a wide open one. Is like as a team
in the fourth quarter, Minnesota was one for six on
catch and shoot three, so definitely a little bit of
(02:54):
shooting variants there. But Memphis does deserve a lot of credit,
like they're loaded with good perimeter defenders. I thought they
did it awesome job on Minnesota's guards throughout the entire game.
And then Jaron Jackson. He really dominated Julius Randall on
both ends of the floor. But again we're talking defense
right now. On the defensive end in that fourth quarter,
multiple stops on Julius Randall one on one, forcing him
(03:14):
into a miss at the rim on a drive where
he got a great contest and absorbed that physicality. He's
stone wall the baseline drive off the right side and
actually poked the ball away from him. Again, that's their
primary offensive weapon with Anthony Edwards out, and I thought
Jared just did a great job on him and then
the team as a whole kind of swarming him and
taking advantage of the fact that he can sometimes get
a little tunnel visiony. And then Jock Landale, and again
(03:37):
he was the offensive hero in this game, but he
also had some good deflections and rim protection sequences at
the rim. They won that game with their defense, no question,
allowing just forty eight points total in that second half
down the stretch. On offense, Jack Landel was the hero.
He just kept burning Rudy Gobert for helping at the
(03:59):
rim with these catch and shoot threes. Now, some of
that was Rudy Gobert's fault. There was one in particular
where Jalen Wells was driving down the right lane line
and Dante di Vincenzo kind of had him under control.
He was chested up, he was in position. He wasn't
going to have any sort of finished He was going
to have to basically pick up his dribble and throw
a contested kickout pass. But Rudy Gobert did him a favor,
parked right underneath the basket and help, and that allowed
(04:21):
Jalen Wells to just throw an easy little pitch out
to Jock Landale on the right wing and he just
nailed the catch and shoot three. And as a matter
of fact, Landale hit three threes in the final seven
minutes of that game, and each one of them felt
like a shotgun blast to the chest to this Minnesota
team as they were trying to get a win there.
And Jared Jackson I thought he was the best player
on the floor last night. We talked about the job
(04:43):
he did defensively earlier against Julius Randall, but he went
twenty eight and twelve last night, ten for eighteen from
the field, two for three from three, six for six
from the line. A lot of these, like old school
one on one buckets straight up against Julius Randall or
straight up against Nasri. The one on once against Randall
were hilarious because Jaren was really trying to back him down,
(05:05):
and Randal's got a little bit lower center of gravity,
so he's like getting up underneath him. He's clearly taking
it personal, trying to hold his ground, and so the
ISO has turned into something that looked more like sumo
wrestling rather than post basketball. But Jaren just kept getting
to one of his little hooks or one of his
little short jump shots, and he just kept scoring over
the top. He beat him with a nice off the
dribble drive too, getting to his right hand. Jaren's combination
(05:27):
of size and power but also really good touch and
footwork going over both shoulders that just makes him really
difficult to guard. As a matter of fact, he's sixty
percent this season on floaters and hooks. That's not quite
jokicch territory, but it's better than everyone else. A lot
of you know, most of the good bigs in the
league are in the mid fifties, and that department. He's
(05:48):
just super efficient on his short range shot making. It's
been one of his foundational traits as a player for
a long time, and he just was the best player
on the four last night, back to back monster games
from Jaren. He also had thirty one a couple of
nights go against the Clippers. But once again, it's a
lot of defense and it's a lot of gaining margin
with the Grizzlies during this streak. They're third in defensive
(06:09):
rating in their last twelve games. As we mentioned earlier,
they are third in paint points allowed per one hundred possessions.
A lot of two big looks alongside Jaron Jackson Brandon
Clark coming back just in time with some of the
injuries they've dealt with at the center position. They are
plus ten points per game in points in the paint.
They've been doing a ton of damage in transition as
of late too. In the last six games, they're averaging
(06:31):
twenty six transition points per game. That's pretty far above
their season average to this point, and they're only allowing
nineteen transition points per game, so that's seven more points
of margin. Every single night. They're plus one point four
points and second chance points every single game. So plus
ten in the paint, plus seven in transition every night,
(06:52):
plus a point and a half on second chance points.
That's a lot of margin that they're gaining to help
them win night to night in the regular season. Over
the course of the last month, the Grizzlies are sneaky,
one of the most well run teams in the league,
especially when it comes to acquiring like good modern basketball talent,
Like say what you want about their stars Jaws Jaw,
(07:13):
and we don't know how he fits really into any
of this moving forward. He briefly came back for two games,
but then he ended up spraining his ankle again, so
he's out again, and when he is out there, it
just kind of changes the pace that they play with
when they get into the half court. Jared Jackson was
awesome last night, but he's obviously a flawed player. He's
not a good rebounder, and you basically can't play him
at the five, which makes him complicated to build around. Right,
(07:35):
But when it comes to the depth of talent on
this roster, you can tell they have a clear basketball identity,
a clear type of guy that fits their basketball culture.
They like these big guards and athletic wings that have
a good combination of like competitive motor and athleticism, but
also high basketball Like you, they target smart athletes. They're
(07:58):
not looking for guys that are just athletic for athletics sake.
They want guys that can make good reads. They want
guys that know how to do their job in the
defensive scheme, and then that competitive motor, meaning the willingness
to both work within games in terms of their work
ethic on the ball, getting up and pressuring, but also
the work behind the scenes. And they're betting that even
though those are not necessarily the most refined skill guys,
(08:21):
they're betting on their ability to refine that over the
years because they believe in their competitiveness and they believe
in their natural basketball gifts and how those will eventually
materialize into good two way players. And they just have
guys that are hits and guys that I think are
gonna be hits, like Jalen Wells has been a hit,
and over the course of the last month or so,
he's been shooting the hell out of the basketball as well.
(08:43):
Cedric Coward, I think he's going to be a two
way monster over the years. And he's been a big
part of their defense in this run. And he's got
like this, you know, when I look at the offensive
end for a lot of these guys, I'm looking at
like natural fluidity. We've talked about this, like with VJ.
Edgecomb for instance, Like I know that he's going to
be able to get to his spots because he has
a natural fluidity getting separation from defenders and getting two
(09:05):
shots even if he's not making them. And I see
a lot of that with Cedric as well, Like there's
a natural fluidity between ball handling and footwork to where
I think once he improves as a shooter, I actually
think he'll have a lot more to his offensive game
than people think. And then when they go to their bench,
it's like it's it's Vince Williams Junior. He's got a
ton of all around basketball skill. Cam Spencer, he didn't
(09:26):
play last night, but he's been really good for them,
even a guy like Olivia Maxon's prosper Like I know
he hasn't played a ton this season, but when he does,
he looks kind of like a natural fit. And I
just thought he was a smart signing for them, a
two way guy that was a cast off from Dallas,
and you watch him last night and he's guarding, and
he's attacking the rim with athleticism on drives and he's
(09:46):
getting put backs and just looks like he fits into
their culture really well. You could tell they looked at
it and they were like, Hey, this guy looks like
a guy who might be one of our guys. It
looks like he might be a Memphis Grizzly type of
basketball player. Let's bring him in. And you know, we
talk about this all the time, but it's a proven formula.
When you have a half dozen guys who can like
really guard on the perimeter and you can really pressure
(10:09):
the ball for forty eight minutes, that makes for a
super strong defensive foundation night tonight. We were talking about
this with Detroit yesterday. And then especially when you have
guys who can protect the rim, which Memphis definitely does,
it just makes for that classic kind of bracketing effect
of having real size and athleticism at the rim and
dudes who are getting up into the ball on the perimeter.
(10:30):
I just think the Memphis front office deserves a ton
of credit. There are a lot of teams in the
league where it's really hard to tell what their front
office likes. I mean, I root for one of those
teams in the Lakers, you don't know what their basketball
identity is. Each offseason kind of feels like a different approach.
Not hard to tell. With Memphis, they just keep finding
the same types of dudes who fit their culture and
(10:51):
who add to what they're trying to do on both
ends of the floor. Memphis Grizz is playing some really
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Okay, So I was curious,
I got into this a little bit of a debate
between Shaye and Luca. I say a little bit. It
was like forty five minutes, but with the nerd Sech
guys on their pod the other day, so that'd be fun. Again,
this is just we're a third of the way through
(12:36):
the season. There are a lot of guys who could
be considered here, So like, for instance, Alpera and Shangoon
would have been like eleventh for me on this list.
I think he's been every bit as good as some
of the guys ahead of him. It's just the nature
of how many talented players we have in the league
right now, and I just wanted to briefly touch base
on how I think the top ten has looked strictly
looking at how guys have played from the start of
(12:59):
this season to where they're at right now. A combination
of like their availability, how good they've been when they've
been on the floor, how valuable they've been to their
team when they've been on the floor, and how their
team has been performing in the win loss column. That's
kind of what I'm combining here for these top ten guys. Again,
just how I feel right now top ten players in
(13:19):
the league based on how they've played this season. Number
ten Anthony Edwards sneaky having the best statistical season of
his career. Is averaging a career high twenty nine points
per game on fifty percent from the field, forty two
percent from three, and eighty three percent from the line,
sixty four percent true shooting. He's been deadly with his
pull up three. He's been getting to the rim more
and finishing at a higher clip at the rim than
(13:41):
he ever has in his career. I think that's a
sign of just like the level of maturity he's developed
in terms of the pacing on his drives, like slowing down,
not just flying downhill and throwing something off the glass,
but being more methodical about when he hits his gaps,
waiting for the defense to react in a way that
gives him an opportunity to go to the rim. It's
weird because he's been a little bit of a downtick
in his playmaking this year, But overall, he's just been
(14:03):
better because he's just been more methodical on his drives,
and I think that's made him a better player overall.
What's hurting him on this list, he's already missed more
games than he did in the entire previous two seasons combined,
So there's a little bit of an availability issue, and
the Wolves just haven't been very good this season. They're
seventeen to ten, but they're just two and eight versus
teams that are five hundred are better. Obviously, there are
some guys in this list that are also producing statistically,
(14:26):
but that are winning at a higher clip. Take, for instance,
a guy like Jalen Brunson right number nine, Tyrese Maxy
just an insane year over year leap from him thirty
two points and seven assists per game on sixty percent
true shooting with only two point seven turnovers per game,
so really high efficiency from Tyree s MAXI we're gonna
(14:47):
be talking a lot about turnovers, especially when we get
later into the list. I think turnovers, especially in the
modern MBA, when you're dealing with teams that push in
transition all the time, the turnovers are like they're not
always pick sixes, but like teams are getting crazy offensive
ratings off of turnovers around league, sometimes as high as
one thirty one forty. They can be really deadly to
your defense, and so taking care of the basketball is
an important part of being a primary offensive weapon for
(15:10):
your team. He's shooting a preposterous forty nine percent on
catch and shoot threes this season, generating a ton of
offense with his ability to drive the basketball. And it's
kind of a combination of that classic conundrum of like,
if you play off of him, he's got the threat
of the shot. You play up on him, he's got
this absurd speed. It's been a major driver of this
team on offense. Again, I've been like a little disappointed
(15:32):
with Tyres in terms of some of his work on
the margins, Like I think he's been pretty bad off
the ball on defense, losing shooters, losing cutters, losing crashers.
But overall, I think he's been doing a carry job
for the Sixers offense, and I think he's taken a
leap into a completely different caliber of player than what
he was in years past. Number eight Steph Curry. The
(15:53):
Warriors have obviously been super disappointing this season, and that
certainly doesn't help Steph's case on a list like this,
But if you watch the Warriors, you know it's not
Steph's fault. Like I'm actually docking him more here for
availability than anything else. He just keeps getting banged up
and missing games, but when he's been healthy and on
the floor, he's been amazing thirty points per game on
sixty six percent tru shooting, literally some of the highest
(16:15):
volume and efficiency scoring of his entire career. And then,
once again, just like last year, according to Cleaning the Glass,
when Steph is on the floor, they have an offensive
rating of one twenty. He is an elite offense in
and of himself, and it craters down to one oh
nine when he's off the floor. If he can stay
healthy and stay off the floor, he's closer to like
(16:36):
the sixth or fifth best player in the league and
just a guy who's playing some unbelievable basketball hidden in
a franchise that has failed to provide him with the
supporting talent he needs to compete in this league. Number
seven Victor Weminem the best defensive player in the league
when he's healthy, game breaking defensive talent that is capable
of feats like what he did to the Thunder in
the n Season Tournament semifinal, a predictable leap on offense.
(17:00):
Year over year, he's over twenty five points per game
in over sixty percent true shooting, for the first time
in his career. He's actually at sixty or excuse me,
he's actually at a twenty six points per game to
start the season. A few issues that have popped up
that have kept him down in this list. He keeps
missing games again, he's only played in thirteen games this season,
and he's had a little bit of a turnover issue,
especially when facing swarming defenses that don't let him work
(17:21):
one on one. That was a big trend that kind
of popped up there after the first couple weeks of
the season. That first couple of weeks, he was allowed
to work one on one a lot, and he was
putting up massive numbers. It's definitely gotten tougher for him
since then. That's clearly the next step, managing physicality, managing
double teams, finding a way for him to get closer
to the rim for easier shots without it resulting in turnovers,
(17:41):
without him getting kind of blown up off of his base.
Number six Jalen Brunson a career high twenty nine points
per game on sixty percent true shooting the season. He's
been getting more spot up opportunities than ever thanks to
the new offensive system that Mike Brown has installed, and
he's functioned really well in that new system. Fewer one
on ones, more drives to start possessions. He's starting the
(18:04):
engine in a lot of ways for them. But then
he's also having opportunities to rest and work off the
ball and attack with an advantage. That really is the
big one to me when it comes to the increase
in scoring volume while maintaining efficiency. Just a lot more
attacking with an advantage rather than having to go one
on one against a set defense, and he's helping to
spearhead one of the best year over year offensive leaps
(18:25):
that we've seen in the league. The Knicks as a
team this season are five points per one hundred possessions
better on offense than they were the year before, and
then within this season they crater by thirteen points per
one hundred possessions on offense. When Jalen Brunson goes to
the bench, he's just become one of the best offensive
engines in the league. And especially in the context of
how they've been winning as of late and the n
(18:47):
season tournament win, you got to have him pretty high
on a list like this. Number five Jannis and Tenna Kombo.
To be clear upfront, I'm not dropping him off of
what I consider to be the top four top tier
superstars in the league. This is more just how guys
have played this season, and he's just missed too much time.
He's missed ten games this season, and that's what's docking
him in this situation. But when he's been healthy, he's
(19:08):
been an absolute monster. He's had the most efficient scoring
season of his career, sixty seven percent true shooting on
twenty nine points per game, forty four percent from three.
I'll be in on small volume. It has been weird.
He's been less efficient on his mid range jumper than
he was last season by pretty wide margin, but slight
up ticking three point volume, and he's been very efficient
on those threes when he's taken. Him just needs to
(19:29):
find a way to stay on the floor. It's the
main thing standing in the way of his standing in
the league right now. Like I had him four coming
into the season, you know, there's a lot of like
buzz about, oh, Jannis is actually every bit as good
as Yo kitcher Giannis is actually every bit as good
as Shan And it's like that may or may not
be true, but he just can't stay on the floor,
and it's continued to be an issue, whether he's missing
(19:50):
postseason games like he had in previous seasons or missing
chunks of the regular season. He's just as he's entered
into his thirties, he's just become a little bit more
injury prone than he was in years past. Number four,
the guy you have to put passionis just because of
how good he's been so far this season. Obviously, if
I'm drafting a team for just this season and everyone's healthy,
I would take Giannis Overcaid. But Kaid for me is
(20:12):
number four at this point in the season, based purely
on what we've seen to this point. Just a quintessential
offensive engine in this league. The Pistons score at a
rate of one hundred and twenty points per one hundred possessions,
so one twenty offensive rating. When he's on the floor,
He's been absolutely dominant in crunch time. He's twenty six
for forty eight from the field in the last five
(20:33):
minutes of games when the when the scorer is within
five points. He's already made four more clutch shots than
he did in the entire year last year. As he's
turned a team that was twenty one and twenty three
in clutch games last year to fourteen and four to
start this season. Really the biggest difference between where they
were this time last year and where they are this season.
Twenty seven points and nine rebounds per nine assists per game,
(20:55):
excuse me on fifty seven percent for shooting, and it
still feels like he's going to eventually get better, better
as a shooter and as a finisher as the years
go by. The three point shot has been ticking up
as of late, he's still just barely scratching the surface
of his potential in this league, and he's already the
best player on a twenty one to five, number one
seed in the Eastern Conference, number three Luka Dancic. This
(21:17):
has been one of my biggest changes from before the season.
I want to be clear this is this goes both ways.
It's not just that Luca's been somewhat disappointing, which we'll
talk about in the second. Shay's also taken a leap.
Shay's five percent year of a year better in true
shooting percentage while also cutting his turnovers to one point
nine turnovers per game. So Shay's just considerably better than
he was last year. Fueled by an improved three point
(21:38):
shot obviously, the dropping turnovers as well, and Luca, I mean,
after shooting incredibly well in his first three games, ever,
since the first three games of the season, lucas just
forty three percent from the field and just thirty two
percent from three, with four point five turnovers per game
and a lot of just like grifting in the middle
(21:59):
of the floor trying to work his way to the
foul line to bolster his scoring rather than focusing on
making shots. And there's been just frankly, a massive chasm
in efficiency between him and Shake Kildess Alexander, and that's
become a big differentiator between them, I even think, more
so than anything on the defensive end of the floor.
I think Luca's actually been pretty solid on the defensive end.
(22:19):
I Shay is obviously a better defender than him, and
I think some of the stuff with Luca's defense is
more matchup dependent, specifically teams that can truly space the
floor and drive. That's where he becomes a bigger issue
to me. The turnovers and the lack of efficiency on
actual shots is what's hurting him. Again, Like, when you
think about it, we talked about this a little bit
earlier in the show. But when you look at how
(22:40):
much of the game is geared around the transition attack,
like you have, you know, roughly, you know, one fifth
to one fourth of the possessions in the game that
are played in transition. And you look at how efficient
teams are off of live ball rebounds, and you look
at how efficient teams are off of live ball turnovers,
and like, especially in the Lakers ball screen attack, because
(23:01):
they don't pop, like they don't have bigs that pop,
they have bigs that roll. And so when you're un
pick and roll at the top of the key and
you've got your big man rolling and you've got your
guard driving, you're typically only gonna have one person above
the foul line, which can lead to floor balance issues.
So those turnovers on cross court passes or even when
he's trying to grift, there's a lot of players where
he's trying to grift there at the foul line, and
he'll like pump fake, pump fake, and then lean into
(23:22):
the guy and shoot and he'll miss, and then he
turns and starts complaining into the refs while the team's
running out the other way. In transition, he had a
brutally bad one in that Spurs game at the end
of the first half where they gave up a dunk
to Harrison Barnes because he was complaining at the refs
after a turnover. And it's like it's one of those
things where, just in general, with Luca, there's this obvious
(23:43):
statistical performance. The free throws boost his true shooting percentage
to where he's still relatively efficient compared to what you
think looking at his shooting percentages, but you're just getting
considerably more missed shots and considerably more or turnovers per game,
which are fueling the transition attack for the opponent, which
(24:04):
effectively is like cutting him off at the knees in
terms of the how impactful he is. Again, I'm splitting
hairs here. I'm comparing him to the very best players
in the world. I just think it's become a differentiator
between him and a guy like Shaye. I was talking
with Carson, and I didn't agree with everything Carson was saying.
One of the things Carson said is like he thinks
Shay is like forever going to be better than Luca.
(24:26):
I think Shay is obviously better than Luca now, and
there's probably it's probably more likely than not that Shay
stays better. But basketball is of what have you done
for me lately? Sport? Luca's gonna have his chances to improve.
He could play better starting tomorrow, right like I think,
or tonight I should say, like, there's a there is
a path for Luca to flip this script and to
get back to being a better basketball player than Shay.
(24:47):
But he's lost ground at this point and it's gonna
take a lot. It's gonna take a lot of work
for him to get past him. The big thing is
just cleaning up that efficiency, you know, I think, I
think in general with Luca, it's not just the turnover either.
It's the little grifty stuff around the lane line. It's
the two or three awful step back three's he takes
every game that are as bad as turnovers. To me,
(25:09):
Luca's just got to trim the fat. This is the
phase of the Like he's averaging an efficient thirty five
points per game with what nine assist per game or
whatever it is. It's really easy to look at that
and just be like, oh, he's incredible, and he is,
but there's like a big chunk of that that's being
undercut with some of the mistake making. He just has
to refine that over the course of the next few seasons.
(25:29):
Sha KOs with Alexander to me is the clear number two.
Again we talked about it earlier. Five percent year over
year leap and true shooting percentage, fueled by a massively
improved three point shot that has been deadly for him
in every phase, both off the catch and off the dribble.
That off the dribble three has become a go to
move for him in crunch time. Multiple teams this year
have taken that shotgun blast to the chest to the like, oh,
(25:50):
we're making a run and it's a close game, but
then Shay just hits a tough step back three and
it just erases any momentum that you have. And then
again doing all of this with cutting his turnovers down
to one point nine turnovers per game, I don't think
it'll stay quite that low as the competition has gotten
more difficult. So for instance, against Phoenix and San Antonio
(26:11):
the last two games he had nine turnovers. I think
his turnovers will tick up a little bit, but they
do clearly look like they're going to be trending to
be below where they were last season, and that's really
the case for Shay. Like, if you're looking at Shay
as a basketball player, overall, his playmaking is at a
higher level than it's ever been. You can't tell in
the stats because his minutes are down, but if you
look at a per thirty six level, he's like right
around seven assists per thirty six minutes. So there's a
(26:33):
level of playmaking that he's reached and a level of
scoring and scoring efficiency that he's reached. Like when you're
a guard and you're scoring over thirty points per game
and you're up over sixty five percent for shooting like
he is. I think he's at what sixty seven percent
for shooting When you're in that territory, you're not talking
like unanimous MVP Steph Curry twenty sixteen type of numbers.
Right Like that season, I think Steph was thirty points
(26:55):
per game on sixty seven percent sure shooting, Shay's gonna
rival that this year. That's the time type of efficiency
we're getting from the guard position. It's an entirely different
ballpark than where Luke is at right now. And then
you combine that with the lack of turnovers, which then
helps their transition defense. Shaye, you know, if you want
to tell me purely, if you're a Luca believer and
you argue that Lucas better than Shay, and you want
(27:17):
to tell me, like you know, Luca is a more
high volume scoer who's still very efficient, and he's a
better playmaker, I would agree with you on that. Like is,
he clearly does score at a higher volume and he
does playmake pretty well. But the gap between him and
Shay is actually very small. As a matter of fact,
on a per thirty six minute basis, I think Shay's
(27:38):
actually a little bit ahead of Luca right now. And
then Shaye is just dramatically more efficient and he's still
a very good playmaker, So the gap there is really small.
And where Shaye takes a massive leap over Luca is
Lucas shooting himself in the foot with damn near five
turnovers a game over the course of this recent stretch,
and he's just missing so many more shots in every
(27:59):
missed show is an opportunity for a team to run
out in transition. I think Shay has been a better
player than Luca this year. I don't think he's been
quite to Jokic's level, which we're talking about in the second,
but I think he's the clear second best player in
the league to start the season. Number one. Nikole Jokic
thirty points, twelve rebounds, and eleven assists this year, seventy
two percent true shooting, so career highs in scoring and inefficiency.
(28:23):
There's even a gap of pretty substantial gap between where
Shay is in Jokic, and that just goes to show
you the entire different level that Jokic is at as
an offensive player right now. To me, he's the best
offensive player in the history of the league. He's playing
the very best basketball of his career. The Nuggets are
seventeen points better per one hundred possessions on offense with
him on versus off And then here's the last stat
(28:43):
I'm going to leave you guys with tonight. That is
the clearest indicator of what separates him from the pack.
If you throw the ball to Nikole Jokic in the post,
regardless of what happens, he shoots, he passes. If you
throw the ball to Nikole Jokic in the post, the
Nuggets have scored six of their possessions score percentage, so
not points per possession, not field goal percentage, not anything.
(29:05):
Just strictly, if I if I toss the ball to
Jokic in the post, what is my chance of putting
points on the board? Sixty one percent. He's the most
reliable individual play type in the league. He's the most
reliable offensive player in the league. He's simply the best
offensive player in the league, and when he's been on
the floor, the Nuggets have scored at a completely preposterous rate.
(29:26):
To me, he's the best offensive player of all time,
playing at the peak of his powers. He's been having
a pretty good defensive season as well. I have Nikola
Jokic still as the best player in the world. All right, guys,
this is all I have for today. Is always a
sincerely percent you guys for supporting us, in supporting the show.
But be back on Friday with the mailbag. I'll see
you guys back
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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