February 11, 2025 • 32 mins
Jason Timpf is back with another exciting episode of Hoops Tonight, taking a deep dive into the new-look Golden State Warriors led by recent trade acquisition Jimmy Butler, the former Miami Heat superstar. Jason starts off by explaining how the fresh-faced Dubs are utilizing superstar Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler’s complimentary offensive skills and wonders how this affects their short, but potentially impactful, NBA championship window. Jason salutes the Warriors front office for acquiring a second-fiddle to pair with Steph Curry, who is still playing at a championship level in the Association. After, Jason breaks down why the Milwaukee Bucks, led by former MVP and NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and guard Damian Lillard, are looking competitive after trading for Kyle Kuzma from the Washington Wizards. Timpf dives into what Kuzma provides for the scrappy Milwaukee Bucks and how his commitment to playing winning basketball could be hugely impactful for the Bucks. Finally, Timpf GOES OFF on Joel Embiid’s lackluster effort as the Philadelphia 76ers continue to disappoint as a Larry O’Brien contender.
Timeline:
4:15 - Start
5:30 - Jason’s deep dive into Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry and the new-look Warriors
15:30 - Timpf’s thoughts on what makes Golden State Warriors lineups competitive
18:30 - Are Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks legit title contenders?
31:00 - Jason blasts Joel Embiid and the struggling Philadelphia 76ers
#Volume
Follow Jason Timpf on social:
https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/
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. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season?
You are with all the new ways to get in
on the action at Draft Kings sports Book, an official
sports betting partner of the NBA. From Monster Slams to
dishing the rock to cleaning the glass, get behind your
favorite players and the prop bets you can make on DraftKings,
the home of NBA player props. Ready to place your
first bet, Try betting on something simple like picking how
(00:22):
many points your favorite player will have. Go to the
Draft Kings Sportsbook app and make your pick right now.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have supplanted the Celtics as the
favorite on DraftKings to win the title at plus two thirty.
The Celtics and second at plus two to fifty, and
the Los Angeles Lakers leapt all the way up to
the fifth best title odds right now at plus fifteen hundred.
First time, here's something special just for you new DraftKings customers.
(00:44):
Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets. Instantly take it to the rack with
DraftKings sports Book, Every point counts. Download the Draft Kings
sports Book a gap and use code hoops. That's hops,
that's code hoops for new customers to get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets when you bet five
bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem
called one hundred gambler in New York called eight seven
(01:06):
seven eight Hope and Why, or text hope and Why
to four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help
us available for problem gambling called 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 in eligibility varies by jurisdiction.
Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty
eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,
(01:29):
see dkang, dot co slash b ball. All right, welcome
to Hootsindai. Here at the volume heavy Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Hope all you guys are having a great week. This
is our second new episode of the day for those
of you guys who missed it earlier. Today we did
a deep dive into Luca's debut with the Los Angeles Lakers,
against the Jazz, So scroll back into our feed and
you'll find that one.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
In this video.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Today, we're doing deep dives into three teams. Some early
returns on Jimmy Butler with the Warriors, some early returns
on Kyle Kuzma with the Milwaukee Bucks. I want to
talk a lot about how that will look when Giannis
is in the picture. Then, we haven't talked about the
Philadelphia seventy six ers in a while, and I'm kind
of annoyed and confused as to what they're trying to
accomplish this season, So I want to talk about that
(02:25):
in the tail end of the show.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You guys know the job before we get started. To
subscribe to the.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore jsonlts.
You guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget about
our podcast feed revation your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's
also super helpful if you leave a rating and a
review on that front. Don't forget about our new social
media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content
throughout the year and then, last but not least, keep
dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments that we
(02:48):
keep get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So on
the Warriors front, I'm talking a lot with respect to
Lebron about the concept of right, Like, playing championship level
basketball is really hard and takes a pretty desperate commitment
(03:09):
to work. That's not even necessarily fun. It's fun in
the context of winning, but playing championship basketball includes a
lot of really difficult things to do on the court,
a certain level of exertion that is difficult, And so
if you don't actually think you're gonna get rewarded for
it by actually believing there's an opportunity to accomplish something,
it's going to be difficult even for the best players
(03:31):
in the world to really get invested in that context.
About four games ago, early last week, it became abundantly
clear that the Warriors were going to trade for somebody.
I don't know if it was just the humiliation of
missing out on Kevin Durant or what the deal was,
but it became clear that they were going to get somebody.
In the four games since then, since that Intel came
(03:53):
down Steph is averaging thirty five points, five rebounds, and
five assists per game in the two games since Jiman
Butler actually started playing and making life easier for Steph.
He just logged back to back games with at least
thirty points on at least fifty percent shooting for the
first time since the Dallas and Oklahoma City wins. Way
back in early November, I talked about how the thing
(04:15):
I was most excited about this deal. I do think
that this Warriors team has a small window to maybe
capitalize on an opportunity to win a championship here. But
more than anything, it went from a team that was
most likely not going to play any meaningful basketball, Like
without a trade, that team is probably going to lose
in the play in just like last year. But with
(04:36):
Jimmy Butler in the mix, they're almost certainly going to
get out of that mess and get into a first
round series, which means we're going to get another opportunity
to watch Steph Curry play meaningful basketball. That's what I'm
excited about, Steph said after the game. We've got an
opportunity to do something pretty special considering where we've been
this season, and he's right, there are lineups that they
(04:58):
can put together now that have Steph, that have Jimmy,
that have Draymond, to have Jonathan Kaminga when he comes back,
and it looks like he's probably gonna be coming back
after the All Star Break, where they have enough talent
now to actually present some problems to some of these teams.
And that's like when it comes to the playoffs, so
much of it comes down to, like, what do we
(05:18):
do that the other team sucks at? What do they
do that we suck at? What can they capitalize on
in terms of weaknesses and vice versa, And just bringing
in a weapon like Jimmy Butler just puts them in
a situation where they're gonna be a more precarious type
of matchup to deal with. And like, God, if we
can get if the Warriors end up matching up with
somebody like the two seed, if they end up getting
(05:39):
a Memphis, that's a matchup that they're capable of winning.
And how great would it be if we got to
see another month of high level playoff basketball out of
Steph Curry, even with an opportunity to potentially do more.
Like I said, it's not guaranteed there could be injuries,
there could be things that go wrong, they could miss
the playoffs, right, But by virtue of me making this deal,
(06:00):
I find it far more likely than not that they're
going to make it out of the play in tournament
and get into a legitimate playoff series and give me Steph,
Jimmy and Draymond in a playoff series, and I think
that that's going to be a fascinating couple of weeks.
And if they win, we could get to see another
extended playoff runt from one of the greatest players in
(06:21):
the history of the game. And that's why I'm excited.
It's about belief. Like Steph looks engaged, he doesn't say
that after the game unless he believes that this team
can do something. Jimmy Butler, I think has been an
amazing fit right away. I wasn't worried about it. I
know there were some Warriors fans that were. I just
think Jimmy's too smart of a basketball player that brings
too many complimentary traits to what Steph Curry does. I
(06:44):
want to talk a little bit about middle of the
floor processing. This is something that I've talked a lot
about on this show with respect to like mediocre playmakers
in the sense that when you're in the middle of
the floor, there's just you can only see, you know,
maybe one fourth of what's happening around you. Uh, there's
always like a lot of moving parts that can get
(07:04):
confusing in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It's a spot where a lot of players struggle.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And it's why, like, when it comes to the mediocre playmakers,
you kind of want to clear the side then have
them operate so the whole floors in front of them,
just so that they have an easier time making reads.
But when you have a player who knows what to
do there, when you have a player that doesn't panic,
it's like that famous basketball you know, ism, whatever you
(07:29):
want to call it.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Be quick but don't hurry. Right.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
If you can get a player that can quickly process
without rushing and making mistakes in the middle of the floor,
all sorts of good things can happen to your offense.
An example from late first half last night against the Bucks,
Steph Jimmy two man game. Top of the key. Kuzma
goes out with Steph. There's two guys on Steph. Jimmy
catches in the middle of the floor when he catches
(07:53):
in the middle of the floor. Draymond's man steps up
closer to Jimmy, and now there's a two on one
that's for with Draymond underneath the basket, Buddy Healed on
the wing with Damian Lillard kind of splitting the difference
between the two. Jimmy just calmly turns in pivots and
looks at Buddy Healed. When he turns and pivots and
looks at Buddy Healed, there goes Dame running out to
(08:15):
go to Buddy because he's biting on that headfake or
pass fake whatever. You just just Jimmy acknowledging Buddy's presence
gets Dame to jump out. Then he just pivots again
and looks and there's Draymond boot bounced past easy layup
right under underneath the basket. He just looks so calm
and comfortable operating there. Here's why that's important. Last night,
(08:36):
you actually saw it in some zone. Looks got to
get the ball in the middle of the zone, and
the Warriors consistently got it to Jimmy there. They scored
eight points on four zone possessions in that game, and
the Bucks just stopped stop trying it. You can't can't
run his zone if they're getting two points per possession.
So that's part of it. But the biggest part, the
most meaningful part within the playoff context, is the Steph
(08:56):
Jimmy two man game. When you run the Steph Jimmy
two man game, it's going to create advantages in three
different ways. One is, like that sequence I just told
you about, Jimmy sets a screen, both guys run with Steph.
Now Jimmy's the role man, and it's a four on
three where Draymond is absolutely an offensive threat in the
dunker spot. Jimmy is a threat to score in the
middle of the floor and to play make.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And you've got guys like Moses Moody in the corner
who has just been fantastic since Andrew Wiggins injury it
just or injury, excuse me trade. Since the Andrew Wiggins trade,
it's given Moses Moody opportunity and he's just been capitalizing
on it as a big, rangy wing on the perimeter
that can knock down threes, drive close outs, and play
defense and rebound. And it's just it's he's taken advantage
(09:39):
of his opportunity and he's crushing. But like you get
into those four on threes, if they put two on
the ball with Steph, that's where Jimmy can operate in
the middle of the floor. The second thing that will
happen with the Steph Jimmy two main game is inside
position ceiling on switches. So imagine a guy's guarding Steph
one on one faced up with him and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is the defender.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Jimmy comes up up and screens on the backside and
it triggers a switch. Okay, if they switch, Jimmy can
then seal and create that over the top passing angle.
We talked I believe in Yester on the Sunday Show
about just how dynamic Jimmy is in those inside seals
at creating a passing angle and high pointing the basketball
and catching it. That accomplishes the same goal, the same
(10:22):
four on three. So like if you screen for Steph
and your defender runs out onto Steph, but now you've
got Steph's defender sealed on your top side and you
get a catch over the top, it is an identical
four on three because when you catch, all of a sudden,
your defender's behind you so you can just go right
to the rim, which is going to force somebody to
(10:43):
step up. There's your four on three. Now you have
a three on two on the backside once that guy
steps up to you after you catch on that inside seal.
So you can get four on threes out of getting
two onto Steph and just slipping out of it. You
can get four on threes out of inside seals on switches. Now,
what about when they well execute a switch, so they switch,
(11:05):
but the guy who's guarding Steph just quickly dives around
with some good swim move or something and gets behind Jimmy. Well,
who's the guard that's quick enough to guard Steph? Now
he's gonna guard Jimmy in the post? Wait until Jonathan
Kaminga's back out there, and again it looks like he's
gonna be coming back sometime shortly after the All Star break,
(11:25):
Jonathan Kamenka comes back. Where are the athletes at? Where
are you putting your athletes? Well, if you put your
best forward athlete on Jimmy, that means your second best
forward athlete is now guarding Jonathan Kaminga. Who's gonna just
be a massive athletic mismatch. That you can attack if
you have the best forward athlete on Jonathan Kminga. Now
(11:46):
you got your third best perimeter defender overall guarding Jimmy Butler, Like,
that's gonna put you in a bind in terms of matchups.
That's gonna make that Steph Jimmy two man game even
harder to account for. But again, what unlocks all of
it is anytime they put two on the ball, anytime
they botch a switch or they get sealed top side
(12:09):
on Jimmy, He's going to be able to operate out
of the middle of the floor better than any other
player on this roster could. Draymond could do all the
playmaking out of that position, but he couldn't bring the
scoring out of that position. There are going to be
times where Jimmy catches on the roll and everyone stays
home and he's going to have to attack the rim
and maybe finish in a little bit of traffic or
(12:30):
hit something there in the middle of the floor. He
can do that. He can do that at a really
high rate. But I think the early returns from this
have been beautiful in terms of just demonstrating the simple
fact that Jimmy is not only a very complimentary athlete
to Steph, but he also represents a gaping hole in
the roster that was there before the deal, which is
(12:51):
just having a really high level dribble a guy who
can dribble, shoot, and pass on the floor that just
greases the wheels for everything that you try to do
on offense. Before we get done with the Warriors, I
wanted to just share some lineup data from the early
going here. So the starting group from last night that
was Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green with Buddy Held
(13:12):
and Moses Moody, which again, Moses Moody continues to just
be fantastic with that group. They've played thirteen minutes. They've
struggled to guard so far as a smaller group, but
they have a one to fifty seven offensive rating with
that group. That's really impressive. Then there's this lineup that
they've been using with Jimmy Butler on the floor and
Steph Curry off the floor. This is Jimmy Butler with Draymond,
(13:34):
which I think has been interesting because Raymond has almost
always been partnered with Steph, but now they're partnering him
with Draymond just to kind of operate as like a
guy who can feed the post and help that like
make post entry passes and help that group defensively. Jimmy, Draymond,
Quentin Post, Buddy Heald, and Brandon Pajemski. That group has
played nine minutes in the last two games. They have
a one to seventy five offensive rating and a fifty
(13:58):
nine defensive rating. Again, but that's one hundred and sixteen
net rating. They are plus eighteen points in nine minutes.
They have been blowing out the opponent in nine minutes
of action, just completely dominating. Then there's this group that
they've been going to because Draymond's off the floor with Steph,
so it's a group with Steph, but Jimmy and Draymond
(14:18):
both off. It's Steph Curry with Kevon Looney, Gary Payton,
Moses Moody and Brandon Pazemski. So three really scrappy wings,
a bruising five, and Steph. They're plus three so far
in seven minutes. The defense has struggled, but they've scored
the ball super well because Steph is playing so incredibly well.
And again it's been so abundantly clear to me that
(14:40):
Steph just has a pep in his step. You could
tell his life is easier now. You could tell he
believes now, and he's playing his best basketball since the
beginning of the season. I think it's super exciting. And
one last note on the Warriors. I just wanted to
shout out Quinton Post. He took a three on the
right wing last night that put the Warriors up. I
can't I think it put him up fourteen if I
remember correctly, in the early fourth quarter, but it was
(15:02):
like nineteen on the shot So he took a contested
three on the right wing, like a hand in the face,
not open, just like I'm hot. I know this thing
is going in. I'm taking it. Literally, before the ball
even went through the net, I'm watching the game live,
Quinton shoots it. I immediately looked down at the scoreboard
and I'm like, how much time is on the shot clock?
It was nineteen seconds. There were nineteen seconds on the
(15:24):
shot clock, and Quinton Post took a contested three on
the right wing and just swished it. He's nine for
sixteen from three in the last three games. He's basically
snatched that job from Tray Jackson Davis and brings an
interesting dynamic to this team with his ability to legitimately
stretch the floor from the five spot. Really exciting stuff
(15:46):
for the Warriors out of the early games with Jimmy
Butler on the Milwaukee Bucks, and I'm gonna be talking
a lot about a couple of games that they played recently.
I did a full deep dive on their game with
the Philadelphia Seventies the other night. I did like a
forty clip film thread on my Twitter feeds. You can
go to my twitter feed at underscore Jason LT and
(16:06):
see a bunch of video examples of some of the
stuff I'm going to be talking about. We have three
games since Kyle ku'sma trade, No yoh Honis, but I'm
already completely sold on the fit. It's abundant. It's abundantly
clear to me in the early returns that he is
committed to playing winning basketball, which was the biggest question
mark surrounding that trade. He's been in Washington, he's been
(16:30):
playing in a bad team, some unserious basketball. How quickly
will he be able to kind of like snap back
into the player that he was at the end with
the Lakers, which was a really good role player. I
think it's been obvious to me that he's been committed
to playing winning basketball. He's grabbing rebounds at the highest
rate for him since twenty twenty two. He's grabbing eight
(16:50):
rebounds per thirty six minutes. He's really competing on defense.
I thought he was great in the Philly game. He
was winning battles with Embiid, like beating Embiid to contested rebound. Again.
I have videos of a lot of this stuff on
my Twitter feed. You guys can see beating and beat
to contested rebounds. He had a play where I got switched
on to Himbiad and fronted the post and got low
and was like backing them beat down, and when the
(17:10):
pass came, he like battled and went up and got
the pass and forced a turnover. He had this crazy
recovery block on Tyrese Maxey where they're running stack, pick
and roll, which again is where you have a guy
backscreen for the role man as you're running a ball screen.
So Kuzm's man sets a great screen right on brook Lopez,
and brook Lopez just dies on the screen, and so
(17:30):
Tyrese Maxey's screaming downhill for a left handed layup. Kuzma
gets a little caught off guard by it, but just
drop steps and jumps and blocks Tyrese Maxey off the glass,
just like a really rangy and athletic defensive play. And
like it's just so clear to me that he is
a much more dynamic athlete than Chris Middleton is at
(17:53):
this point in their careers. I am particularly excited about
layering that with Jannis and Brook. Again, like everything's got
to be looked at through the context of Yannis, because again,
it hasn't been pretty. They're what one and two in
the three games that Kuzma's played without without Yanis, the
net ratings haven't looked good. Kuzma has had to do
(18:14):
a little bit more offensively where he's been inefficient, there
have been It hasn't exactly been like some sort of
amazing sort of display. But I'm trying to pick out
the specifics that Kyle Kuzma has been bringing and how
they fit within the context of Yannis. Like Brook's been
looking a little rough on defense this year, if you
flank him with two rangey forwards like Yannis and Kyle Kuzma,
(18:38):
you make his life easier. That group is going to
be a dominant defensive, rebounding group. That group is going
to be able to protect the rim at an extremely
high level.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I think the commitment to the work from Kus is
already there. And that's the most exciting part, because that
was the part that was the biggest question mark coming
into this deal. You guys have already seen the full
Kyle Kuzma experience on offense. Is gonna take some bad shots.
He's gotta miss a lot of them. He's at forty
three percent from the field in twenty seven percent from
three so far. It's kind of to be expected. But
(19:08):
he can hit some tough ones too. He had a
contested catch and shoot three late in the clock on
the left wing against Philly where it was like a
twenty seven footer hand right in his face end of
the clock. Like his like kind of audacious scoring ability
will rescue possessions for the Bucks. It will lead to
extra points. But the most important part is even though
he's inefficient. We talked about this right after the trade,
(19:29):
watch the way he's guarded. I trimmed like a half
dozen examples of this in that Twitter feed that I'm
telling you guys about where Kyle Kuzma is just like
showing the ball on the perimeter and dudes are flying
at him and he's getting to the basket. Because of
the way teams react to him, teams respect him as
a high level scorer because they know he is a
(19:50):
threat to be a high level scorer, even though he's
not necessarily very efficient. He's had some decent on ball reps.
He like posted Tyres Maxi on a switch and hit
a short little fade whil He's made some nice ball
screen reads he's run. He's had six ball screens where
he's passed out of it that have led to six points,
some nice kickouts to three point shooters that have gone well.
The biggest thing that's been exciting to me though, with
(20:11):
him on offense is him as a screener. He's done
a really nice job with Dame reading when to slip
out of screens. There's a very thing, there's a very
specific thing you want to do when you're reading when
to slip out of a screen. So, like, what's the
purpose of a screen? The purpose of a screen is
if I hit the guy that's guarding the ball handler
and no one helps he, my ball handler is just
(20:32):
gonna drive to the basket.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That's the upside.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But when you go up to set a screen and
you see your man leave you to show on the
ball handler, there's no purpose for the screen anymore. There's
there's no reason to stay there a split second longer.
Why because the only purpose for the screen is to
get him free of his defender. And if he's just
going to run into your defender, then there's no purpose
(20:55):
to the screen anymore. So when you run up and
you set a screen and you see your man and show,
get the hell out as fast as possible and make
yourself available. Kusma's been doing a brilliant job of getting
out of those screens as soon as he sees his
man leave and quickly making himself available. He's had finishes
in traffic with the left hand. He's had multiple high
(21:18):
quality short roll reads. He had one where he like
did a head fake to the guy on the wing
and then hit the corner and he was wide open.
Another one where the head fake didn't go and the
guy kind of stayed and he still made the right
pass to the wing. He's going to be a very
useful screening threat on this team. Again, I keep thinking
about all of this in the context of Yannis being
out there with those guys.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I just think it's gonna work really well.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I think it was a legitimate talent ad But most importantly,
I think it alters the physical profile of this team
in a real way. You go from Chris Middleton kind
of a creaky older six ' eight guy to a
six ' nine, younger athlete with longer arms who can
like really cover ground. That is a very very useful
(22:02):
player to have.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
In this context.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I always talk about how like, especially when I get
to the postseason, do you have something a problem that
you can present to teams that they cannot solve? And
I actually do think the Bucks have a frontline now
that is physically incredibly difficult to deal with having Kuzmannianis
and Brooke together. You're not getting offensive rebounds and you're
(22:27):
not getting to the rim when all those guys are together,
And that's gonna be a real problem for teams, especially
when they run into teams in the postseason that are
questionable jump shooting teams. Like if Milwaukee were to run
into an Orlando, for instance, in a playoff series, is
Orlando gonna be able to make nearly enough jump shots
to win that kind of series? I don't think so.
(22:48):
That's part of the physical element that you've added to
this team by bringing in Kyle Kuzma a couple other
quick ones. Gary, Trent and Dame have been playing really
well together lately. They've been playing a lot more together
and Gary's really gotten his three point shot going, and
they even scoring the shit out of the ball. In
the last eleven games, the Gary Tren Junior Dame duo
has a one to twenty offensive rating. And then lastly,
(23:10):
I just wanted to shout out Bobby Portis. I was
watching him in that Philly game and Nick Nurse, who
always has kind of an aggressive defensive philosophy and it's
been like that ever since the Toronto days, but he
was basically double teaming Bobby Portis every single time he
caught the ball in the post, and he scored over
double teams twice by just driving away from the double team.
He made great passes out of the double team. Late
(23:32):
in the game, Nurse had to bail on the double
team and leave him one on one and he just
little jabstep.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Jumper knocked it down.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like Bobby was playing really really well on offense in
that Phildy game.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I just wanted to shout him out.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I do want to talk a little bit about the
Philadelphia seventy six ers though, before we get out of
here to day. On the one hand, there's like some
stuff that I've found really fascinating watching them as of late, Like,
for instance, Tyres Maxi is just hooping his ass off.
Last eighteen games for Tyrese Maxy, thirty two points per game,
seven assists per game, sixty two percent true shooting, just
(24:20):
incredible dribble penetration. There's this thing that happens with Tyrese
Maxi where everybody in the world knows he wants to
drive to the basket, and there's still absolutely nothing you can.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Do about it.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
It's like a legitimate bonafide superpower, which is always the
foundational trade. If you're gonna be a guy who averages
over thirty points per game, or I think Tyre's is
averaging about twenty eight on the season, but he's been
averaging over thirty thirty two points per game for over
a month now. When if you're gonna average that on
over sixty percent true shooting, you better have a legit.
You have to have a legitimate superpower, something that nobody
(24:55):
can hang with. So for like Luka and Jokic. Its size.
Right with Shay, it's ballham and shooting in his quick
first step. Right with Tyree Masey, it's just that downhill speed,
like no one can keep him in front. There is
a play where he came sprinting into a catch off
of a post split right. I think it was I
(25:15):
think it was Embeedd who caught on the post and
they ran just a typical split cut action.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
So like.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Tyres comes off of a wide screen into a catch
off of the guy from the post. Andre Jackson is
another really good athlete in this league. He sprints over
to get there to tyrease because one of the big
things that's happened with Tyree over the last couple of years,
He's become a great movement shooter. He can sprint into
three point shots going both directions. He can plant right
(25:44):
left and shoot, and then he can plant left right
and like pivot in mid air and square up and
knock down the shot. Like he's an elite movement shooter now.
So you've got to stay attached as he's sprinting into
these catches. Andre Jackson sprints into it, gets there. Tyree's
just and rips back to the right, gets past Andre Jackson,
Brook Lopez abandons, Joel Embian goes over to help, and
(26:07):
Max he just gets right into the lane and brings
out this big, sweeping scoop shot in the lane that
goes in and I'm like, you quite literally cannot defend
that any better than he did. And he still got
to the rim. And even though you contested him at
the rim, He's still made a difficult shot over everybody.
It's just a ridiculously talented player. But him getting that
(26:31):
movement shooting piece to help him counter ball pressure, to
make it so that he can operate off the ball
while also having his dominant on ball ability as a
pull up shooter and a is a guy who can
get downhill to the rim. He's just been a rare
bright spot and a sixers team that has looked lost
for large portions of this year. This is where I
(26:51):
want to talk about me not understanding what the hell
they're doing. I don't think Joel Ebid's been very good
when he's played. They've been getting smashed when he's on
the floor as of late. A couple big things that
are standing out to me, like in space, like when
he has to defend in ball screens up at the level,
he just looks lost. He'll jump to the wrong side
(27:13):
of the screen and a guy will just reject the
screen and go the other way. Sometimes he just gets
tired and lazy and doesn't even go up to the level.
He'll just like kind of recklessly pursue the basketball and
just give up dribble penetration going right around him. He'll
like botch rotations where he ends up in the wrong spot.
He's been really, really bad on defense. He's been almost
(27:33):
exclusively popping and pick and roll instead of like working
closer to the basket. And when he's popping and pick
and roll, like teams like the Bucks will just rotate
to him from off ball, and like he won't make
just the simple passing read like, if they rotate to
you off ball, just swing the damn ball to the
next guy he's open. It'll start the defense. In rotation.
He had to play against the Bucks where he picked
(27:54):
him popped caught at the top of the key, there's
a wide open swing pass to the left. Instead he
ripped right into all the tracks and just ran over
a dude and picked up an offensive foul and here's
the thing. I know, Embiid's better than this. Even though
Embiid has always struggled to guard in space and to
garden transition, he's better than this. Even though he can
(28:15):
struggle in space and in transition, he's elite at the
rim and he can be very impactful there. He's better
than this. Even on offense, he's better than this. And
so this is where I'm wondering, like what the hell
is he doing? Because I see a quote where it's
like Joel Embiid believes or report that says Joel Embiid
(28:35):
believes he's gonna need another surgery in this offseason. Just
give him the surgery. What's the point of having him
play on a knee that needs another surgery while he's
playing bad basketball, while the team is getting thrashed while
he's on the floor. And realistically, there's not a version
of this that comes together and leads to a championship
(28:55):
this season. Get embad the surgery. I mean, I heard
Darren or say, like, we still believe that there's a
championship ceiling here. I don't necessarily disagree, but it's not
gonna be with this version of him. Beat get whatever
he needs to get to one hundred percent by October.
Then you go through a whole camp with him and
(29:16):
with Paul and with Tyree's all healthy, another summer to
bring in another piece or two, and then you go
for it. But what are you gonna do, like where
Embiid's knee down worse by having him play on a
knee that needs to be surgically repaired so that you
can crawl into the playoffs in a bad seed and
end up having to play an elite team in every
(29:36):
round and just and just probably end up losing and
doing more damage in the process. I just I just
don't really see what the goal is here, even when
I'm watching Paul George. Like we've been a lot of
people have been giving Paul George shit for not producing
this year, myself included, But like he's also mostly uninvolved
on offense. He's competing on defense, he's playing lanes, he's
(30:01):
doing his job, but like he's mostly uninvolved on offense.
And it's like, why did you pay that kind of
money two hundred million to Paul George if you weren't
gonna like actually make use of his talents. It just
and again, some of it's on Paul to be clear,
he needs to demand the basketball more, he needs to
be more effective. But they also don't seem to be
(30:23):
really trying to get him going either. I just wonder
what the Sixers are trying to accomplish. It all seems
to me like there's a lack of self awareness here
in the sense that this season is lost. You're not
gonna get anything done this year. There's no point in
(30:45):
doing something that's just gonna further risk your chances in
seasons in the future. I will say I did I
do like seeing Quentin Grimes there. Love Quentin Grimes. He
came in and was just attacking Gary Trent, attacking Dame Lillard,
just bringing that kind of like athleticism in a little
bit of score. I think he's gonna be useful player
for them in the long run. Again, I'm not gonna
sit here and pretend like they don't have a chance
(31:06):
in the future. But their chance isn't gonna be this season,
and they just need to read the tea leaves here
and be more honest about their predicament. Shut him, beat down,
get him the surgery he needs, have him. This is
the beauty of this kind of timeline, it's February. If
you shut him bead now and you get him and
beat down now, and you get him the surgery, maybe
(31:26):
he's recovered by July and then he can have a
full summer to getting great cardiophysical shape so that he
comes into the season with really low body fat, really
good cardio conditioning, and then when you start to ramp
him up really heavily into regular season shape, he's just
ready for it.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
But instead, like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Run him through it until early May when they get
eliminated in the first round, and then his knees even worse,
and you get the surgery then and you've lost three
months on your timeline, Like, is that the alternative here?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It's not like I would get it.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I would understand if embiid was going out there and
smashing everybody and your team was kicking ass when he's
on the floor. That's not what's happening here. Just show
some self awareness, shut him down, let him get healthy
for next season, all right, guys, As all I have
for today is always as sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting me and supporting the show. I believe tonight I'm
going on with Colin cow Hurt, so you'll get a
(32:27):
little bit around the league kind of big picture stuff
with that, and then we'll be back tomorrow with some
more game breakdowns, talking about some other debuts for other
players after the trade deadline. I will see you guys.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Then the volume What's So Guys?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
do that, I'd really appreciate it.
The volume. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season?
You are with all the new ways to get in
on the action at Draft Kings sports Book, an official
sports betting partner of the NBA. From Monster Slams to
dishing the rock to cleaning the glass, get behind your
favorite players and the prop bets you can make on DraftKings,
the home of NBA player props. Ready to place your
first bet, Try betting on something simple like picking how
(00:22):
many points your favorite player will have. Go to the
Draft Kings Sportsbook app and make your pick right now.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have supplanted the Celtics as the
favorite on DraftKings to win the title at plus two thirty.
The Celtics and second at plus two to fifty, and
the Los Angeles Lakers leapt all the way up to
the fifth best title odds right now at plus fifteen hundred.
First time, here's something special just for you new DraftKings customers.
(00:44):
Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets. Instantly take it to the rack with
DraftKings sports Book, Every point counts. Download the Draft Kings
sports Book a gap and use code hoops. That's hops,
that's code hoops for new customers to get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets when you bet five
bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem
called one hundred gambler in New York called eight seven
(01:06):
seven eight Hope and Why, or text hope and Why
to four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help
us available for problem gambling called 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 in eligibility varies by jurisdiction.
Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty
eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,
(01:29):
see dkang, dot co slash b ball. All right, welcome
to Hootsindai. Here at the volume heavy Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Hope all you guys are having a great week. This
is our second new episode of the day for those
of you guys who missed it earlier. Today we did
a deep dive into Luca's debut with the Los Angeles Lakers,
against the Jazz, So scroll back into our feed and
you'll find that one.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
In this video.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Today, we're doing deep dives into three teams. Some early
returns on Jimmy Butler with the Warriors, some early returns
on Kyle Kuzma with the Milwaukee Bucks. I want to
talk a lot about how that will look when Giannis
is in the picture. Then, we haven't talked about the
Philadelphia seventy six ers in a while, and I'm kind
of annoyed and confused as to what they're trying to
accomplish this season, So I want to talk about that
(02:25):
in the tail end of the show.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You guys know the job before we get started. To
subscribe to the.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more
of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore jsonlts.
You guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget about
our podcast feed revation your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's
also super helpful if you leave a rating and a
review on that front. Don't forget about our new social
media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content
throughout the year and then, last but not least, keep
dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments that we
(02:48):
keep get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So on
the Warriors front, I'm talking a lot with respect to
Lebron about the concept of right, Like, playing championship level
basketball is really hard and takes a pretty desperate commitment
(03:09):
to work. That's not even necessarily fun. It's fun in
the context of winning, but playing championship basketball includes a
lot of really difficult things to do on the court,
a certain level of exertion that is difficult, And so
if you don't actually think you're gonna get rewarded for
it by actually believing there's an opportunity to accomplish something,
it's going to be difficult even for the best players
(03:31):
in the world to really get invested in that context.
About four games ago, early last week, it became abundantly
clear that the Warriors were going to trade for somebody.
I don't know if it was just the humiliation of
missing out on Kevin Durant or what the deal was,
but it became clear that they were going to get somebody.
In the four games since then, since that Intel came
(03:53):
down Steph is averaging thirty five points, five rebounds, and
five assists per game in the two games since Jiman
Butler actually started playing and making life easier for Steph.
He just logged back to back games with at least
thirty points on at least fifty percent shooting for the
first time since the Dallas and Oklahoma City wins. Way
back in early November, I talked about how the thing
(04:15):
I was most excited about this deal. I do think
that this Warriors team has a small window to maybe
capitalize on an opportunity to win a championship here. But
more than anything, it went from a team that was
most likely not going to play any meaningful basketball, Like
without a trade, that team is probably going to lose
in the play in just like last year. But with
(04:36):
Jimmy Butler in the mix, they're almost certainly going to
get out of that mess and get into a first
round series, which means we're going to get another opportunity
to watch Steph Curry play meaningful basketball. That's what I'm
excited about, Steph said after the game. We've got an
opportunity to do something pretty special considering where we've been
this season, and he's right, there are lineups that they
(04:58):
can put together now that have Steph, that have Jimmy,
that have Draymond, to have Jonathan Kaminga when he comes back,
and it looks like he's probably gonna be coming back
after the All Star Break, where they have enough talent
now to actually present some problems to some of these teams.
And that's like when it comes to the playoffs, so
much of it comes down to, like, what do we
(05:18):
do that the other team sucks at? What do they
do that we suck at? What can they capitalize on
in terms of weaknesses and vice versa, And just bringing
in a weapon like Jimmy Butler just puts them in
a situation where they're gonna be a more precarious type
of matchup to deal with. And like, God, if we
can get if the Warriors end up matching up with
somebody like the two seed, if they end up getting
(05:39):
a Memphis, that's a matchup that they're capable of winning.
And how great would it be if we got to
see another month of high level playoff basketball out of
Steph Curry, even with an opportunity to potentially do more.
Like I said, it's not guaranteed there could be injuries,
there could be things that go wrong, they could miss
the playoffs, right, But by virtue of me making this deal,
(06:00):
I find it far more likely than not that they're
going to make it out of the play in tournament
and get into a legitimate playoff series and give me Steph,
Jimmy and Draymond in a playoff series, and I think
that that's going to be a fascinating couple of weeks.
And if they win, we could get to see another
extended playoff runt from one of the greatest players in
(06:21):
the history of the game. And that's why I'm excited.
It's about belief. Like Steph looks engaged, he doesn't say
that after the game unless he believes that this team
can do something. Jimmy Butler, I think has been an
amazing fit right away. I wasn't worried about it. I
know there were some Warriors fans that were. I just
think Jimmy's too smart of a basketball player that brings
too many complimentary traits to what Steph Curry does. I
(06:44):
want to talk a little bit about middle of the
floor processing. This is something that I've talked a lot
about on this show with respect to like mediocre playmakers
in the sense that when you're in the middle of
the floor, there's just you can only see, you know,
maybe one fourth of what's happening around you. Uh, there's
always like a lot of moving parts that can get
(07:04):
confusing in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It's a spot where a lot of players struggle.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And it's why, like, when it comes to the mediocre playmakers,
you kind of want to clear the side then have
them operate so the whole floors in front of them,
just so that they have an easier time making reads.
But when you have a player who knows what to
do there, when you have a player that doesn't panic,
it's like that famous basketball you know, ism, whatever you
(07:29):
want to call it.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Be quick but don't hurry. Right.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
If you can get a player that can quickly process
without rushing and making mistakes in the middle of the floor,
all sorts of good things can happen to your offense.
An example from late first half last night against the Bucks,
Steph Jimmy two man game. Top of the key. Kuzma
goes out with Steph. There's two guys on Steph. Jimmy
catches in the middle of the floor when he catches
(07:53):
in the middle of the floor. Draymond's man steps up
closer to Jimmy, and now there's a two on one
that's for with Draymond underneath the basket, Buddy Healed on
the wing with Damian Lillard kind of splitting the difference
between the two. Jimmy just calmly turns in pivots and
looks at Buddy Healed. When he turns and pivots and
looks at Buddy Healed, there goes Dame running out to
(08:15):
go to Buddy because he's biting on that headfake or
pass fake whatever. You just just Jimmy acknowledging Buddy's presence
gets Dame to jump out. Then he just pivots again
and looks and there's Draymond boot bounced past easy layup
right under underneath the basket. He just looks so calm
and comfortable operating there. Here's why that's important. Last night,
(08:36):
you actually saw it in some zone. Looks got to
get the ball in the middle of the zone, and
the Warriors consistently got it to Jimmy there. They scored
eight points on four zone possessions in that game, and
the Bucks just stopped stop trying it. You can't can't
run his zone if they're getting two points per possession.
So that's part of it. But the biggest part, the
most meaningful part within the playoff context, is the Steph
(08:56):
Jimmy two man game. When you run the Steph Jimmy
two man game, it's going to create advantages in three
different ways. One is, like that sequence I just told
you about, Jimmy sets a screen, both guys run with Steph.
Now Jimmy's the role man, and it's a four on
three where Draymond is absolutely an offensive threat in the
dunker spot. Jimmy is a threat to score in the
middle of the floor and to play make.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Out of it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And you've got guys like Moses Moody in the corner
who has just been fantastic since Andrew Wiggins injury it
just or injury, excuse me trade. Since the Andrew Wiggins trade,
it's given Moses Moody opportunity and he's just been capitalizing
on it as a big, rangy wing on the perimeter
that can knock down threes, drive close outs, and play
defense and rebound. And it's just it's he's taken advantage
(09:39):
of his opportunity and he's crushing. But like you get
into those four on threes, if they put two on
the ball with Steph, that's where Jimmy can operate in
the middle of the floor. The second thing that will
happen with the Steph Jimmy two main game is inside
position ceiling on switches. So imagine a guy's guarding Steph
one on one faced up with him and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is the defender.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Jimmy comes up up and screens on the backside and
it triggers a switch. Okay, if they switch, Jimmy can
then seal and create that over the top passing angle.
We talked I believe in Yester on the Sunday Show
about just how dynamic Jimmy is in those inside seals
at creating a passing angle and high pointing the basketball
and catching it. That accomplishes the same goal, the same
(10:22):
four on three. So like if you screen for Steph
and your defender runs out onto Steph, but now you've
got Steph's defender sealed on your top side and you
get a catch over the top, it is an identical
four on three because when you catch, all of a sudden,
your defender's behind you so you can just go right
to the rim, which is going to force somebody to
(10:43):
step up. There's your four on three. Now you have
a three on two on the backside once that guy
steps up to you after you catch on that inside seal.
So you can get four on threes out of getting
two onto Steph and just slipping out of it. You
can get four on threes out of inside seals on switches. Now,
what about when they well execute a switch, so they switch,
(11:05):
but the guy who's guarding Steph just quickly dives around
with some good swim move or something and gets behind Jimmy. Well,
who's the guard that's quick enough to guard Steph? Now
he's gonna guard Jimmy in the post? Wait until Jonathan
Kaminga's back out there, and again it looks like he's
gonna be coming back sometime shortly after the All Star break,
(11:25):
Jonathan Kamenka comes back. Where are the athletes at? Where
are you putting your athletes? Well, if you put your
best forward athlete on Jimmy, that means your second best
forward athlete is now guarding Jonathan Kaminga. Who's gonna just
be a massive athletic mismatch. That you can attack if
you have the best forward athlete on Jonathan Kminga. Now
(11:46):
you got your third best perimeter defender overall guarding Jimmy Butler, Like,
that's gonna put you in a bind in terms of matchups.
That's gonna make that Steph Jimmy two man game even
harder to account for. But again, what unlocks all of
it is anytime they put two on the ball, anytime
they botch a switch or they get sealed top side
(12:09):
on Jimmy, He's going to be able to operate out
of the middle of the floor better than any other
player on this roster could. Draymond could do all the
playmaking out of that position, but he couldn't bring the
scoring out of that position. There are going to be
times where Jimmy catches on the roll and everyone stays
home and he's going to have to attack the rim
and maybe finish in a little bit of traffic or
(12:30):
hit something there in the middle of the floor. He
can do that. He can do that at a really
high rate. But I think the early returns from this
have been beautiful in terms of just demonstrating the simple
fact that Jimmy is not only a very complimentary athlete
to Steph, but he also represents a gaping hole in
the roster that was there before the deal, which is
(12:51):
just having a really high level dribble a guy who
can dribble, shoot, and pass on the floor that just
greases the wheels for everything that you try to do
on offense. Before we get done with the Warriors, I
wanted to just share some lineup data from the early
going here. So the starting group from last night that
was Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green with Buddy Held
(13:12):
and Moses Moody, which again, Moses Moody continues to just
be fantastic with that group. They've played thirteen minutes. They've
struggled to guard so far as a smaller group, but
they have a one to fifty seven offensive rating with
that group. That's really impressive. Then there's this lineup that
they've been using with Jimmy Butler on the floor and
Steph Curry off the floor. This is Jimmy Butler with Draymond,
(13:34):
which I think has been interesting because Raymond has almost
always been partnered with Steph, but now they're partnering him
with Draymond just to kind of operate as like a
guy who can feed the post and help that like
make post entry passes and help that group defensively. Jimmy, Draymond,
Quentin Post, Buddy Heald, and Brandon Pajemski. That group has
played nine minutes in the last two games. They have
a one to seventy five offensive rating and a fifty
(13:58):
nine defensive rating. Again, but that's one hundred and sixteen
net rating. They are plus eighteen points in nine minutes.
They have been blowing out the opponent in nine minutes
of action, just completely dominating. Then there's this group that
they've been going to because Draymond's off the floor with Steph,
so it's a group with Steph, but Jimmy and Draymond
(14:18):
both off. It's Steph Curry with Kevon Looney, Gary Payton,
Moses Moody and Brandon Pazemski. So three really scrappy wings,
a bruising five, and Steph. They're plus three so far
in seven minutes. The defense has struggled, but they've scored
the ball super well because Steph is playing so incredibly well.
And again it's been so abundantly clear to me that
(14:40):
Steph just has a pep in his step. You could
tell his life is easier now. You could tell he
believes now, and he's playing his best basketball since the
beginning of the season. I think it's super exciting. And
one last note on the Warriors. I just wanted to
shout out Quinton Post. He took a three on the
right wing last night that put the Warriors up. I
can't I think it put him up fourteen if I
remember correctly, in the early fourth quarter, but it was
(15:02):
like nineteen on the shot So he took a contested
three on the right wing, like a hand in the face,
not open, just like I'm hot. I know this thing
is going in. I'm taking it. Literally, before the ball
even went through the net, I'm watching the game live,
Quinton shoots it. I immediately looked down at the scoreboard
and I'm like, how much time is on the shot clock?
It was nineteen seconds. There were nineteen seconds on the
(15:24):
shot clock, and Quinton Post took a contested three on
the right wing and just swished it. He's nine for
sixteen from three in the last three games. He's basically
snatched that job from Tray Jackson Davis and brings an
interesting dynamic to this team with his ability to legitimately
stretch the floor from the five spot. Really exciting stuff
(15:46):
for the Warriors out of the early games with Jimmy
Butler on the Milwaukee Bucks, and I'm gonna be talking
a lot about a couple of games that they played recently.
I did a full deep dive on their game with
the Philadelphia Seventies the other night. I did like a
forty clip film thread on my Twitter feeds. You can
go to my twitter feed at underscore Jason LT and
(16:06):
see a bunch of video examples of some of the
stuff I'm going to be talking about. We have three
games since Kyle ku'sma trade, No yoh Honis, but I'm
already completely sold on the fit. It's abundant. It's abundantly
clear to me in the early returns that he is
committed to playing winning basketball, which was the biggest question
mark surrounding that trade. He's been in Washington, he's been
(16:30):
playing in a bad team, some unserious basketball. How quickly
will he be able to kind of like snap back
into the player that he was at the end with
the Lakers, which was a really good role player. I
think it's been obvious to me that he's been committed
to playing winning basketball. He's grabbing rebounds at the highest
rate for him since twenty twenty two. He's grabbing eight
(16:50):
rebounds per thirty six minutes. He's really competing on defense.
I thought he was great in the Philly game. He
was winning battles with Embiid, like beating Embiid to contested rebound. Again.
I have videos of a lot of this stuff on
my Twitter feed. You guys can see beating and beat
to contested rebounds. He had a play where I got switched
on to Himbiad and fronted the post and got low
and was like backing them beat down, and when the
(17:10):
pass came, he like battled and went up and got
the pass and forced a turnover. He had this crazy
recovery block on Tyrese Maxey where they're running stack, pick
and roll, which again is where you have a guy
backscreen for the role man as you're running a ball screen.
So Kuzm's man sets a great screen right on brook Lopez,
and brook Lopez just dies on the screen, and so
(17:30):
Tyrese Maxey's screaming downhill for a left handed layup. Kuzma
gets a little caught off guard by it, but just
drop steps and jumps and blocks Tyrese Maxey off the glass,
just like a really rangy and athletic defensive play. And
like it's just so clear to me that he is
a much more dynamic athlete than Chris Middleton is at
(17:53):
this point in their careers. I am particularly excited about
layering that with Jannis and Brook. Again, like everything's got
to be looked at through the context of Yannis, because again,
it hasn't been pretty. They're what one and two in
the three games that Kuzma's played without without Yanis, the
net ratings haven't looked good. Kuzma has had to do
(18:14):
a little bit more offensively where he's been inefficient, there
have been It hasn't exactly been like some sort of
amazing sort of display. But I'm trying to pick out
the specifics that Kyle Kuzma has been bringing and how
they fit within the context of Yannis. Like Brook's been
looking a little rough on defense this year, if you
flank him with two rangey forwards like Yannis and Kyle Kuzma,
(18:38):
you make his life easier. That group is going to
be a dominant defensive, rebounding group. That group is going
to be able to protect the rim at an extremely
high level.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I think the commitment to the work from Kus is
already there. And that's the most exciting part, because that
was the part that was the biggest question mark coming
into this deal. You guys have already seen the full
Kyle Kuzma experience on offense. Is gonna take some bad shots.
He's gotta miss a lot of them. He's at forty
three percent from the field in twenty seven percent from
three so far. It's kind of to be expected. But
(19:08):
he can hit some tough ones too. He had a
contested catch and shoot three late in the clock on
the left wing against Philly where it was like a
twenty seven footer hand right in his face end of
the clock. Like his like kind of audacious scoring ability
will rescue possessions for the Bucks. It will lead to
extra points. But the most important part is even though
he's inefficient. We talked about this right after the trade,
(19:29):
watch the way he's guarded. I trimmed like a half
dozen examples of this in that Twitter feed that I'm
telling you guys about where Kyle Kuzma is just like
showing the ball on the perimeter and dudes are flying
at him and he's getting to the basket. Because of
the way teams react to him, teams respect him as
a high level scorer because they know he is a
(19:50):
threat to be a high level scorer, even though he's
not necessarily very efficient. He's had some decent on ball reps.
He like posted Tyres Maxi on a switch and hit
a short little fade whil He's made some nice ball
screen reads he's run. He's had six ball screens where
he's passed out of it that have led to six points,
some nice kickouts to three point shooters that have gone well.
The biggest thing that's been exciting to me though, with
(20:11):
him on offense is him as a screener. He's done
a really nice job with Dame reading when to slip
out of screens. There's a very thing, there's a very
specific thing you want to do when you're reading when
to slip out of a screen. So, like, what's the
purpose of a screen? The purpose of a screen is
if I hit the guy that's guarding the ball handler
and no one helps he, my ball handler is just
(20:32):
gonna drive to the basket.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That's the upside.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But when you go up to set a screen and
you see your man leave you to show on the
ball handler, there's no purpose for the screen anymore. There's
there's no reason to stay there a split second longer.
Why because the only purpose for the screen is to
get him free of his defender. And if he's just
going to run into your defender, then there's no purpose
(20:55):
to the screen anymore. So when you run up and
you set a screen and you see your man and show,
get the hell out as fast as possible and make
yourself available. Kusma's been doing a brilliant job of getting
out of those screens as soon as he sees his
man leave and quickly making himself available. He's had finishes
in traffic with the left hand. He's had multiple high
(21:18):
quality short roll reads. He had one where he like
did a head fake to the guy on the wing
and then hit the corner and he was wide open.
Another one where the head fake didn't go and the
guy kind of stayed and he still made the right
pass to the wing. He's going to be a very
useful screening threat on this team. Again, I keep thinking
about all of this in the context of Yannis being
out there with those guys.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I just think it's gonna work really well.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I think it was a legitimate talent ad But most importantly,
I think it alters the physical profile of this team
in a real way. You go from Chris Middleton kind
of a creaky older six ' eight guy to a
six ' nine, younger athlete with longer arms who can
like really cover ground. That is a very very useful
(22:02):
player to have.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
In this context.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I always talk about how like, especially when I get
to the postseason, do you have something a problem that
you can present to teams that they cannot solve? And
I actually do think the Bucks have a frontline now
that is physically incredibly difficult to deal with having Kuzmannianis
and Brooke together. You're not getting offensive rebounds and you're
(22:27):
not getting to the rim when all those guys are together,
And that's gonna be a real problem for teams, especially
when they run into teams in the postseason that are
questionable jump shooting teams. Like if Milwaukee were to run
into an Orlando, for instance, in a playoff series, is
Orlando gonna be able to make nearly enough jump shots
to win that kind of series? I don't think so.
(22:48):
That's part of the physical element that you've added to
this team by bringing in Kyle Kuzma a couple other
quick ones. Gary, Trent and Dame have been playing really
well together lately. They've been playing a lot more together
and Gary's really gotten his three point shot going, and
they even scoring the shit out of the ball. In
the last eleven games, the Gary Tren Junior Dame duo
has a one to twenty offensive rating. And then lastly,
(23:10):
I just wanted to shout out Bobby Portis. I was
watching him in that Philly game and Nick Nurse, who
always has kind of an aggressive defensive philosophy and it's
been like that ever since the Toronto days, but he
was basically double teaming Bobby Portis every single time he
caught the ball in the post, and he scored over
double teams twice by just driving away from the double team.
He made great passes out of the double team. Late
(23:32):
in the game, Nurse had to bail on the double
team and leave him one on one and he just
little jabstep.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Jumper knocked it down.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like Bobby was playing really really well on offense in
that Phildy game.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I just wanted to shout him out.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I do want to talk a little bit about the
Philadelphia seventy six ers though, before we get out of
here to day. On the one hand, there's like some
stuff that I've found really fascinating watching them as of late, Like,
for instance, Tyres Maxi is just hooping his ass off.
Last eighteen games for Tyrese Maxy, thirty two points per game,
seven assists per game, sixty two percent true shooting, just
(24:20):
incredible dribble penetration. There's this thing that happens with Tyrese
Maxi where everybody in the world knows he wants to
drive to the basket, and there's still absolutely nothing you can.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Do about it.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
It's like a legitimate bonafide superpower, which is always the
foundational trade. If you're gonna be a guy who averages
over thirty points per game, or I think Tyre's is
averaging about twenty eight on the season, but he's been
averaging over thirty thirty two points per game for over
a month now. When if you're gonna average that on
over sixty percent true shooting, you better have a legit.
You have to have a legitimate superpower, something that nobody
(24:55):
can hang with. So for like Luka and Jokic. Its size.
Right with Shay, it's ballham and shooting in his quick
first step. Right with Tyree Masey, it's just that downhill speed,
like no one can keep him in front. There is
a play where he came sprinting into a catch off
of a post split right. I think it was I
(25:15):
think it was Embeedd who caught on the post and
they ran just a typical split cut action.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
So like.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Tyres comes off of a wide screen into a catch
off of the guy from the post. Andre Jackson is
another really good athlete in this league. He sprints over
to get there to tyrease because one of the big
things that's happened with Tyree over the last couple of years,
He's become a great movement shooter. He can sprint into
three point shots going both directions. He can plant right
(25:44):
left and shoot, and then he can plant left right
and like pivot in mid air and square up and
knock down the shot. Like he's an elite movement shooter now.
So you've got to stay attached as he's sprinting into
these catches. Andre Jackson sprints into it, gets there. Tyree's
just and rips back to the right, gets past Andre Jackson,
Brook Lopez abandons, Joel Embian goes over to help, and
(26:07):
Max he just gets right into the lane and brings
out this big, sweeping scoop shot in the lane that
goes in and I'm like, you quite literally cannot defend
that any better than he did. And he still got
to the rim. And even though you contested him at
the rim, He's still made a difficult shot over everybody.
It's just a ridiculously talented player. But him getting that
(26:31):
movement shooting piece to help him counter ball pressure, to
make it so that he can operate off the ball
while also having his dominant on ball ability as a
pull up shooter and a is a guy who can
get downhill to the rim. He's just been a rare
bright spot and a sixers team that has looked lost
for large portions of this year. This is where I
(26:51):
want to talk about me not understanding what the hell
they're doing. I don't think Joel Ebid's been very good
when he's played. They've been getting smashed when he's on
the floor as of late. A couple big things that
are standing out to me, like in space, like when
he has to defend in ball screens up at the level,
he just looks lost. He'll jump to the wrong side
(27:13):
of the screen and a guy will just reject the
screen and go the other way. Sometimes he just gets
tired and lazy and doesn't even go up to the level.
He'll just like kind of recklessly pursue the basketball and
just give up dribble penetration going right around him. He'll
like botch rotations where he ends up in the wrong spot.
He's been really, really bad on defense. He's been almost
(27:33):
exclusively popping and pick and roll instead of like working
closer to the basket. And when he's popping and pick
and roll, like teams like the Bucks will just rotate
to him from off ball, and like he won't make
just the simple passing read like, if they rotate to
you off ball, just swing the damn ball to the
next guy he's open. It'll start the defense. In rotation.
He had to play against the Bucks where he picked
(27:54):
him popped caught at the top of the key, there's
a wide open swing pass to the left. Instead he
ripped right into all the tracks and just ran over
a dude and picked up an offensive foul and here's
the thing. I know, Embiid's better than this. Even though
Embiid has always struggled to guard in space and to
garden transition, he's better than this. Even though he can
(28:15):
struggle in space and in transition, he's elite at the
rim and he can be very impactful there. He's better
than this. Even on offense, he's better than this. And
so this is where I'm wondering, like what the hell
is he doing? Because I see a quote where it's
like Joel Embiid believes or report that says Joel Embiid
(28:35):
believes he's gonna need another surgery in this offseason. Just
give him the surgery. What's the point of having him
play on a knee that needs another surgery while he's
playing bad basketball, while the team is getting thrashed while
he's on the floor. And realistically, there's not a version
of this that comes together and leads to a championship
(28:55):
this season. Get embad the surgery. I mean, I heard
Darren or say, like, we still believe that there's a
championship ceiling here. I don't necessarily disagree, but it's not
gonna be with this version of him. Beat get whatever
he needs to get to one hundred percent by October.
Then you go through a whole camp with him and
(29:16):
with Paul and with Tyree's all healthy, another summer to
bring in another piece or two, and then you go
for it. But what are you gonna do, like where
Embiid's knee down worse by having him play on a
knee that needs to be surgically repaired so that you
can crawl into the playoffs in a bad seed and
end up having to play an elite team in every
(29:36):
round and just and just probably end up losing and
doing more damage in the process. I just I just
don't really see what the goal is here, even when
I'm watching Paul George. Like we've been a lot of
people have been giving Paul George shit for not producing
this year, myself included, But like he's also mostly uninvolved
on offense. He's competing on defense, he's playing lanes, he's
(30:01):
doing his job, but like he's mostly uninvolved on offense.
And it's like, why did you pay that kind of
money two hundred million to Paul George if you weren't
gonna like actually make use of his talents. It just
and again, some of it's on Paul to be clear,
he needs to demand the basketball more, he needs to
be more effective. But they also don't seem to be
(30:23):
really trying to get him going either. I just wonder
what the Sixers are trying to accomplish. It all seems
to me like there's a lack of self awareness here
in the sense that this season is lost. You're not
gonna get anything done this year. There's no point in
(30:45):
doing something that's just gonna further risk your chances in
seasons in the future. I will say I did I
do like seeing Quentin Grimes there. Love Quentin Grimes. He
came in and was just attacking Gary Trent, attacking Dame Lillard,
just bringing that kind of like athleticism in a little
bit of score. I think he's gonna be useful player
for them in the long run. Again, I'm not gonna
sit here and pretend like they don't have a chance
(31:06):
in the future. But their chance isn't gonna be this season,
and they just need to read the tea leaves here
and be more honest about their predicament. Shut him, beat down,
get him the surgery he needs, have him. This is
the beauty of this kind of timeline, it's February. If
you shut him bead now and you get him and
beat down now, and you get him the surgery, maybe
(31:26):
he's recovered by July and then he can have a
full summer to getting great cardiophysical shape so that he
comes into the season with really low body fat, really
good cardio conditioning, and then when you start to ramp
him up really heavily into regular season shape, he's just
ready for it.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
But instead, like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Run him through it until early May when they get
eliminated in the first round, and then his knees even worse,
and you get the surgery then and you've lost three
months on your timeline, Like, is that the alternative here?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
It's not like I would get it.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I would understand if embiid was going out there and
smashing everybody and your team was kicking ass when he's
on the floor. That's not what's happening here. Just show
some self awareness, shut him down, let him get healthy
for next season, all right, guys, As all I have
for today is always as sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting me and supporting the show. I believe tonight I'm
going on with Colin cow Hurt, so you'll get a
(32:27):
little bit around the league kind of big picture stuff
with that, and then we'll be back tomorrow with some
more game breakdowns, talking about some other debuts for other
players after the trade deadline. I will see you guys.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Then the volume What's So Guys?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Host
Jason Timpf
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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.