June 26, 2025 • 45 mins
Jason answers mailbag questions on a variety of NBA free agency, trade, and draft topics including why the Los Angeles Lakers should trade for Andrew Wiggins from the Miami Heat, who the best pro from the draft will be outside of Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, and Ace Bailey, why the Oklahoma City Thunder are the best champion of the 2020s, why it's been so challenging for the Golden State Warriors to build a roster around Steph Curry, whether the Philadelphia 76ers should keep or trade Paul George, and much more.
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(01:47):
You're at the volume heavy Thursday.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Everybody ill.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
All of you guys are having a great week. Well,
we're covering a mail bag today, lots of great questions
from you guys. We're gonna get all over the place
into a bunch of interesting stuff. We have some Lakers
stuff off the top. We're gonna be hitting some draft stuff.
We're going to talk a little bit about a couple
of the picks that we didn't get to hit in
our draft reactions. I've got some big picture NBA stuff
for ranking recent NBA champions We're going to talk about
(02:11):
some Grizzlies and hornets to a couple of teams that
are in a little bit of a holding pattern around
a star player who has struggled to be available. We
have a question regarding who would be the best fitting
five to send to go face the aliens in a
single game. We're going to get into that one, talk
a little bit about rim finishing and different dynamics that
(02:34):
can affect a player's efficiency. There are lots of interesting
stuff to get to in our mail bag today. You
guys are the job. Before we get started, subscribe to
the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jcnlt
so you guys don't miss you announcements. Don't forget about
a podcast feed wherever you get the podcast on our
Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if we leave a
rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great
work on our social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
(02:56):
Make sure you guys follow us there. In the last
but not least, keep dropping mail back questions in those
YouTube comments. Obviously, no more live shows at least until October,
so our mail bags are going to traditionally be at.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The end of the week.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We'll record them and air them on like Fridays and
Saturdays around that time of the week. So throughout the
week on our full episodes, you can drop your mail
bag questions in the comments and we pull from all
of the videos leading in to those end of the
week mail bags. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason,
if you were Rob Polinka and the Lakers executives, who
(03:28):
are your top three options to target and free agency?
What do you consider to be the best assets in
the trade market. So it's so funny. I was texting
with my buddy Pzeis, who runs Laker film room, the
other day. I've just been in completely out of the
Laker frame of mind ever since they got eliminated in
the first round.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Every year I just kind of like unplug that part
of my brain when we get when the Lakers get eliminated,
and then I just focus on the rest of the league.
And I'm just starting to kind of dip my toe
back into those waters and bounce ideas off of people
and and kind of figure out where I'm at in
terms of this Lakers offseason, and the main thing that
I've seen that's really caught my attention is this potential
(04:08):
trade that has been kind of floating around in the ether,
and it involves potentially the Lakers sending Gabe Vincent and
ruy Hachi Mura to the Miami Heat for Andrew Wiggins.
And this trade makes a lot of sense for both
sides on a bunch of different levels. For a Miami
Heat team, you get a guard in Gay Vincent that
(04:28):
has been proven to be a success in their system,
just kind of like a really natural fit in their
five out attack. And then ruy Hachimura fits a need
in the sense that they are thin at power forward specifically,
and obviously ruy Hatcha Mura is a starting caliber a
power forward in this league. He's a guy that can
bring some real value there. And then Andrew Wiggins. In
(04:49):
a team like the Los Angeles Lakers, where they are
devoid of perimeter athleticism, they don't have a great option
a starting caliber player that can guard the other the
team's best player. This is a guy and Andrew Wiggins,
who would immediately address two massive needs for the Lakers
in terms of just overall perimeter athleticism and a guy
(05:11):
in the starting lineup that like every single night is
like he can guard the best dude on the other team,
whether that's you know, we've seen him in the past
do an incredible job on a Luka Doncic in late
playoff rounds. We've seen him guard quicker guards. He has
some switchability. Andrew Wiggins is a very very versatile perimeter defender.
And there's a lot of focus on the center position
(05:31):
for the Lakers this year, and I get that, and like, ultimately,
if you can't find any other better options to upgrade
at the two and the three, and you decide to
go with a more aggressive move for a guy like
a Nick Claxton, there's upside there. Nick Claxton is a
better player than some of the free agent centers that
are available, like a Brook Lopez or a Clint Capella.
(05:51):
But for me, I would rather have Andrew Wiggins and
then a guy like Clint Appella, then not have Andrew Wiggins,
or bring back Gave Vincent and Ruey Hachimura and run
it with a guy like Nick Claxton. I think that
the Lakers have had a roster balance issue for a
little while. Now in terms of like, now they've got
these two on ball skill guards and Austin Reeves and
Luka Doncic, and you've got these two starter like power
(06:15):
forwards that both start in Ruy Hachimura and Lebron James.
And so what ends up happening, Like we always talk about,
there's boxes that get checked, right, and Ruy and Lebron
check a lot of similar boxes defensively, right, and Austin
and Luca check a lot of boxes that are similar defensively.
And while that group has been very good offensively, especially
when Dorian Finney Smith is out there, and they can
(06:35):
really create all that space, they just can't hang physically
with a lot of these teams. And So to me,
a move like that, flipping a bench guard and a
starting power forward into a starting small forward for a
team that does not have a starting small forward, I
view that as a roster balancing move. And among all
(06:55):
position groups, these guys that kind of fit into the
taxpayer mid level exception, you know, in that like five
six million dollars a year, I think that type of
guy relative to a thirty to twenty five million dollar
player at the center position, that gap is smaller than
it is at other position groups, at other position groups.
I think once you get up into the twenty five
(07:17):
thirty million dollar range, you actually really start to run
into some talent. Like Andrew Wiggins when he's healthy and engaged,
is one of the better three and D guys in
the NBA because of his defensive versatility, right, Like Nick
Claxton at twenty five million, is a firmly a league
average starting center.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So like there's a certain amount of value that you
get a relative to the money at the wing position,
relative to the center position. So for me, a deal
like that would make it more tenable to bring in
a flawed center, a guy that has some weaknesses at
the center spot because you have such an increase in
athleticism and a specific need guarding on the ball.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
The only other.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Laker take I have right now, and again, we're gonna
be talking plenty of Lakers over the summer as moves
come through. And I mean we Jackson and I were
just talking like Monday is free agencies as this as
this train just literally never stops running, right, So like
we're gonna be talking about lots of Lakers over time
as I continue to dive into this. But the other
guy that I think is really important for the Lakers
(08:19):
this summer is Dorian Finney Smith. He's got a player
option coming up, I think right around like fifteen million,
and so obviously him and his representation are going to
be thinking, like, hey, if we to pick up this
player option and we just run through this season, there's
a chance that we become veteran minimum candidates if it's
a mediocre season off the bench for the Lakers, right
(08:41):
so like, especially if they do make a move for
a guy like Andrew Wiggins and Dorian loses his starting spot,
right so Like, with that being the case, I think
it's at least like worthwhile for Dorian to consider the
idea of opting out and trying to sign a long
term deal elsewhere, right, or a long term deal with
the Lakers. And I just think it's very important for
(09:02):
the Lakers to make sure that they secure Dorian Phinney Smith.
They don't have a starting caliber three. Dorian Finney Smith
is the closest thing they have to it. But if
you get rid of him, you lose a lot of
depth at that specific position group. And there are versions
of this where you could see lineups where they put
Luca out there with Lebron and Dorian Finney Smith is
(09:24):
out there with and Andrew Wiggins. Right if they were
to make that sort of move, and if it's not
an Andrew Wiggins, then another type of athlete that they
bring at that position. I viewed Dorian Finney Smith as
part of the ultimate construct of the Lakers, and so
I don't want them to let him slip through the
cracks this summer. All Right, A couple of draft related questions,
who will be the best pro out of this draft
(09:45):
class if not Cooper Flag, Dylan Harper, vj Edgecomb or
Ace Bailey. So we're gonna spend a lot more time
talking about Trey Johnson later. But Trey Johnson is a
guy that I have my eye on. He's just your
prototypical scoring wing in the mind an MBA because of
his ability to score out of screening actions, which again,
most NBA offenses now are built out of either three
(10:07):
man pick and roll concepts or five out kind of
like ball in player movement concepts, and one of the
most important elements to that is the ability to come
off of a screen with the ability to score if
you can score coming off of a screen. You can
force the big to show at the level and the
guard to chase over the top. As soon as you
do that, you're inverting your spacing by bringing the big
(10:28):
man out away from the basket to the perimeter, vacating
the paint and starting a four on three in the
in the action behind it. It's one of the most
valuable traits that an offensive player can have. And so
I do think Cooper Flag is going to be the
best pro in the NBA. I think that's a safe bet.
I think Cooper has more resilience than Dylan Harper in
(10:49):
terms of just the different ways that he can impact winning. Like,
there's a version of Dylan Harper. Excuse me, there's a
version of Cooper Flag's career where he is, you know,
underwhelming on offense, but he still is a very very
very very good NBA player for a long time because
he's just a deeply versatile defensive player. Right, Like, there's
(11:09):
a version of Cooper Flag's career where he becomes what
we saw from Jason Tatum this year as like a
high twenties, low thirties point per game guy who can
you know, get up to six seven assists per game
and grab a bunch of rebounds and be a hyper
versatile defender. There's just a lot of different ranges of
outcomes for Cooper, but they're all positive, and so to me,
(11:29):
I think it's most likely that he's the best pro.
But outside of that group, I would lean towards Trey Johnson.
You said before you think this Thunder team was the
second best champion since the twenty tens. Do you still
believe this. I don't think the Heatles, Spurs, Warriors, et
cetera would have gone to seven with the Pacers. If
you still do If you do still believe this or not,
(11:50):
why couple things. The two teams that took the Thunder
to seven were the Denver Nuggets, who were a specific
mismatch in terms of some of their physical size advantages.
And Nikole Jokic, guys, is still the best player in
the world. I know we all want to pretend it's,
you know, a very straightforward one on one basketball game
(12:10):
where the best player always wins, but that's not how
it works either. Are tons of examples in recent NBA
history where the best player in the world ended up
losing in the playoffs. At some point along the way,
that's a very damn good team that dragged the Thunder
to the limit. And then I am done with the
underestimating of the Indiana Pacers at this point, Like if
you think it's fluky that they took the Thunder to seven,
(12:31):
like any of us, any of us who want to
sit there and pretend like that's fluky anymore, we can't.
The success was undeniable. What they did to Cleveland, what
they did to the Knicks, what they did to the Thunder,
pushing them to the brink. I just have too much
respect for them to view that as some sort of
shortcoming for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were not a
perfect team, but they won sixty eight games in the
(12:55):
Western Conference of the NBA, where there were legitimately like
twelve team tams trying to win seven really really good teams.
You play fifty two of your eighty two games in
your schedule against your own conference, I can't deny what
Oklahoma City accomplished this year. So as I look at
the champions since twenty twenty, obviously we have the Lakers,
(13:17):
the Bucks, the Warriors, the Nuggets, the Celtics, and the Thunder.
I've thought a lot about this over the course the
last few weeks, and to me, the top four are
all pretty close, and you can make a case for
any of them being number one. Right, So like Boston,
for instance, they won what sixty four games last year,
dominated through the playoffs, some of the most beautiful offense
(13:38):
that we've ever seen, moving the ball around for wide
open threes. They kind of just kicked asiden were never threatened.
That's you know, it's boring that a team never gets
threatened and there's no adversity, But that's a sign of greatness, right.
Oklahoma City sixty eight games in the Western Conference, probably
the best defense of this era. They beat really good
teams along the way. Denver's really good, Minnesota's really good,
(13:58):
Indiana's really good. That's a rock solid candidate for number one. Now,
Los Angeles Lakers team started the season twenty four and three.
They were on a sixty win pace before the season
got shut down, and then they got into the postseason
and kicked everyone's ass. So, like, I think the Lakers
have a legitimate case. And then the Denver Nuggets same
sort of thing. They weren't as good in the regular season,
(14:19):
and that's probably what's going to put them down on
this list, but best player in the world played. You know,
they literally ripped through in the postseason. Anthony Edwards in
the first round, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker in the second round,
Lebron James and Anthony Davis in the third round, bam
Adebayo and Jimmy Butler in the finals. It's like, I know,
the win totals weren't as super high there. Everyone gets
focused on win totals. Win totals to me are a really,
(14:40):
uh like kind of bizarre way to look at, you know,
what a team's competition was, because especially in the Western Conference,
when there's so many good teams, you're not going to
see a bunch of sixty win teams.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That's not how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Like, if everyone's good, no one's going to rack up
a shit ton of wins, which, by the way, is
exactly why this Oklahoma City season was so impressive. It's
ridiculous that they won sixty eight games with how tough
that Western Conference was, so like, I think all four
of those teams have a legitimate case. After that, I
think there's a pretty substantial drop off. The Golden State
Warriors legitimate champion, but you're not looking at that team
(15:15):
as like a juggernaut roster. It was Steph Curry and
a bunch of role players and a couple of guys
who peaked at the right time in Jordan Poole and
Andrew Wiggins, and you know, catching a younger Celtics team
that wasn't quite ready, and they a younger MAS team
that wasn't quite ready, and they were able to squeak
through a legitimate champion, but not a team that we're
looking at as like one of the all time greats
(15:35):
in NBA history. And similarly, the Milwaukee Bucks a team
that kind of slipped through the cracks in the year
after COVID when all of the good teams in the
NBA were injured. So if I had to rank them,
I would put I think it's a real tight debate
between Boston and OKC one two, and it gets really
really nitty gritty when you start to look at them
playing against each other. I'm only in OKC though, because
(15:58):
I think they had a more impressive regular I thought
they played tougher competition in the postseason. They weren't as
smooth through that competition, But I think it was a
higher degree of difficulty. I think Oklahoma City has a
good claim for that number one spot. I'd go Boston
number two, I'd go Lakers number three, I'd go Denver
number four, I'd go Golden State five, and then I'd
go with the Milwaukee Bucks at six. Next question, why
(16:23):
is it so hard for the Warriors to build a
competitive squad? By competitive, I'm meaning a team that takes it,
that makes it to the Conference SEMIS at the very least,
for three years they've absolutely failed. So I think the
issue here was just kind of like the classic example
of splitting the difference between two timelines, and you know,
all of a sudden, Jonathan Kminga is a very different
type of asset now that he's doing a new deal,
right So, like that's the tricky part with this sort
(16:44):
of situation that the Warriors to put themselves in. Had
they made that sort of trade back in twenty twenty
two and Jonathan Minga had some theoretical upside that people
weren't sure if it existed or not, that's a positive
asset right now, different type of asset, right Like, there's
a lot of there's a lot of lost opportunity cost there, right,
in terms of the time that they waited to pivot
(17:08):
off of some of their young players, like even Jordan Poole,
like really successful in that twenty twenty two playoff run,
but then he has like a pretty brutal twenty twenty
three playoffs. It kind of hurts his value a little
bit on the way out the door, right, And so
they waited, and they knew the exact thing they needed.
It was abundantly clear what they needed ever since Kevin
Durant left, which was a legitimate number two option, because
(17:30):
we had seen that Klay Thompson after his injuries, was
not capable of becoming that guy anymore. And they waited
till now to do it. And you know that comes
with downsides in terms of age and Steph breaking down
with injury. But I do think that they have a legitimate,
you know, competitive squad this year coming into this postseason
or excuse me, this offseason. A couple tweaks here and there,
(17:53):
a full camp to incorporate Jimmy Butler. Jimmy and Steph
both approaching things with a real belief that they have
a chance to win the title, which I don't think
either of them had in the offseason last year. This
is a classic example of an older veteran team that
legitimately has a chance to win the title, but they
have a very thin little pathway that they have to thread,
(18:13):
and that pathway is thin because they waited so long
to make this type of move. But it is what
it is ultimately, that's what took that that's what delayed
this process, That's what delayed the competitiveness. We all knew
Steph needed a second option, they never got him one.
Then now they have, but it came at the first
time in Steph's career where his body like straight up
like failed to take the floor in the NBA playoffs
(18:37):
in a in a big spot.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So it is what it is at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Next, one interesting question teams like the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Hornets,
et cetera, who have their star player but seem to
have a ceiling. What moves can they make to turn
their teams into contenders? Should some of them have a
major overhauler? Are they closer than I think? It's a
mix of internal improvement for me as well as continuing
to manage your young assets. Well, what I mean by
internal improvement is this, specifically, for Ja Morant and LaMelo
(19:04):
Ball figure out a way to be on the floor.
Invest in a more rigorous strength training regimen, diet treatment,
flexibility training. I don't care what it is. Find a
way to be on the floor. If you can't stay
on the floor for most of the season, your team
will never catch a rhythm. And if your team never
catches a rhythm, we'll never get a chance to actually
(19:25):
learn what your team is really good at, what they
suck at, and then have the information we need to
adjust accordingly as a front office. Also skill development. Ja
Morant's jump shooting is flatlined since he came into the NBA.
He's hurting his chances to become the best version of himself.
LaMelo Ball is rim finishing overall decision making a shot selection.
(19:45):
Last year, LaMelo was below fifty percent at the rim,
even including dunks thirty two percent on pull up jumpers.
He shot below forty percent as a shooter. In pick
and roll, you guys can go ahead and shelve any
ideas of the the Hornets or the Grizzlies becoming contenders
until those two guys actually become good enough at basketball
(20:06):
to lead a contender. It's not about roster construction until
those two dudes actually become that type of player. Both
of them have come into the NBA and flashed all
sorts of upside, become immensely popular with the younger generation,
and have flatlined as basketball players. And as long as
that is the case, there's gonna be no progress internally
for those teams. As for supporting talent, Ja Moran and
(20:30):
Jaron Jackson, we have a pretty good idea of because
we've seen them play in enough high leverage moments. We've
seen them play in four playoff series. Right for Jock,
Memphis has consistently surrounded him with poor spot up talent
to create space. That has consistently been an issue. They've
been towards the bottom of the league in spot up
efficiency year in and year out in the Jamrant era.
Some of that is the situation with their bigs, which
(20:51):
we'll get into in a minute, right But what they
need is big, physical wings, guys that can do what
Dylan Brooks did for them, Big physical wings who can shoot.
And I think they took a good step in that
direction yesterday with Cedric Coward. He has a pretty extensive
track record of being a good spot up shooter. He's
a big, physical wing with super long arms in a
(21:14):
world of defensive utility. He's also a bit a bit older,
and he has a game that's actually built to win
in a winning context right away, that's a good step
in that direction. But big physical perimeter defenders that can
shoot the basketball, that have some switchability, that can attack
close outs, those are the kinds of things that they
(21:34):
need to surround Job with. And as far as Jaron
Jackson goes, he's a batterybounder who fouls too much and
doesn't do a particularly good job of holding down the
paint because he goes after every shot at temp hunting block.
So we know that Jaren needs to be anchored by
a supporting bit that can be more disciplined around the rim,
and that of course comes with foot speed and spacing
(21:54):
issues right which we saw immediately come to fruition in
the Thunder series. And so Jaren's generally just kind of
tough to build around because he has some big weaknesses.
But that's what I mean by internal improvement, Like, if
Jaren's gonna have to play the four constantly, he's gonna
have to become a damn good perimeter defender. Excuse me,
a damn good perimeter offensive player. And so there's a
(22:15):
lot of internal improvement barriers that stand between Memphis and
where they want to go. As for Charlotte, they were
the seventh worst defense in the NBA last year. They
were built around two slender perimeter shot creators and LaMelo
Ball and Brandon Miller, and obviously another athletic forward in
Miles Bridges, who isn't a good defender, And they went
and drafted two on athletic shooters per round in Conkinent
(22:37):
Bull and Leam McNeely. So they feel super far away
from us having any real idea of what their pathway
forward is to contention. So I like Charlotte, it's just
it's at this point. I guess we'll find out now
that they've surrounded him with more shooting what kind of
offensive upside they have. But they just don't feel anywhere
near like let's even discuss what they need to do
(22:59):
to content, if that makes sense. Welcome to course correction,
brought to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and
teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under
immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to
the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries
with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy
(23:20):
responsible AI. When you're in the NBA, you have your
own hurdles to face. In this segment, we will highlight
the player every week that has risen to the occasion
when his team needed in whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft
empowers you with the expertise to say bring it on. Today,
we're covering my favorite draft pick from yesterday, Trey Johnson
of the Texas Longhorns and now the Washington Wizards of
(23:41):
the NBA. Trey was my favorite player that I watched
when I was prepping for this draft class. To me,
he represents the modern NBA score, an extremely gifted movement
shooter that can shoot both off the dribble and off
of action sprinting off of off ball screens by going
both left and right at full speed with every dribble combination,
(24:02):
every piece of footwork in the book. An awesome work
ethic and attitude, and yet still a lot of room
for improvement. Some real upside there. He made one hundred
and twenty six jump shots this year, high volume in
the college game, with how dedicated the defensive game planning
is and how hard people play on every single possession.
It's extremely difficult to do. To make one hundred and
(24:22):
twenty six jump shots out of almost four thousand players
in college hoops last year, that ranked thirtieth. Really impressive
stuff in terms of high volume shot creation. He shot
fifty two percent as the shooter coming off of off
ball screens. By the way, that's field goals not weighted
for three, so he made more than half of his
shots in off ball action. He shot forty two percent
(24:44):
on guarded catch and shoots routinely was hitting tough, contested
shots on the move coming out of action.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I think he is going to.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Have an awesome situation going into in Washington in the
sense that they kind of have this weird team that
has all these interesting young defensive players, but they also
have these older veteran wings. And I can't think of
better guys for him to work with directly in terms
of slowing the game down and learning how to use
physicality and change of pace and to set his man
(25:12):
up for screens and to actually get more open then CJ.
McCollum and Chris Middleton, those are excellent examples of guys
that weren't, you know, top tier athletes that learned how
to use savvy body movements and physical leverage and timing
and change of pace to get open off of screening action.
So I think they're just awesome guys to put with
(25:36):
Trey for him to learn how to do a better
job of that, because, like, if we look at his
areas of opportunity, there's playmaking, which we'll talk about in
a minute. He obviously needs to improve as a defensive player,
but a big one for me that I noticed on
tape is like he's still pretty raw in terms of
like actually learning how to get himself open, which is
insane considering how many jump shots he made last year
in the college game. I still think he has a
(25:57):
sizable room for improvement there. And we did see in
the Xavier game in particular, Sean Miller basically denied him
the basketball most of the game by locking and trailing
him and denying him whenever he could and kept a
shot attempts down and really influenced him. And so those
are the kinds of things you're gonna run into in
the NBA. Is a really good lock and trail defender
so how do you do a better job of finding
(26:18):
openings within the offense when you're being guarded that way?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Well? Good, like you know, you don't think. CJ.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
McCollum and Chris Middleton can talk to Trey about how
screening is a great way to get himself open. Like, hey,
in these sets, if you set really good screens, your
man has no choice but to help. That will give
you an opening to get more separation coming off of
off ball screen. Little physical details, like little like fundamental
(26:44):
details like walking your man down before running into an
off ball screen. All of these like little tiny details
that will help him get open more frequently. In the
NBA and then the playmaking piece of it, this is
where being more of like a traditional I shouldn't even traditional.
The modern NBA score actually presents really basic reads as
(27:05):
you're coming off of action, right like, oh, he shows
at the level, I'm gonna throw the pocket pass. I
come off and they help at the nail, I'm gonna
throw the swing pass like they help at the level
and they're packing the paint. It's the skip pass to
the opposite corner. Like there's all these like basic reads
that you have in these situations. And I think CJ
and Chris will be able to help a lot with
that as well. I'm super excited to watch Trey this
(27:28):
year in his first NBA campaign. That's it for this
week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to
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Slash challengers to learn more. All right, few more? Should
(27:54):
Philly look to move embeid or give that group one
last run to see what they can do next season?
Given Boston and the Pace are out of the picture
next year, it seems like the perfect year for EMBID
in Philly to make at least an Eastern Conference final
or a final. You kind of have to We talked
about this last year, like you kind of or this
last season with all the investment that's been made in
EMBIID in Paul George, like even just in time with
(28:15):
Tyres Maxy, like you kind of have to give it
one more shot. And I agree, like the wide open
Eastern Conference it's gonna be tougher than it looks Cleveland
is gonna You don't think Cleveland is now strongly considering
standing pat after watching two of their biggest pieces of
three of their biggest pieces of competition in the Eastern
Conference in Milwaukee, Indiana and Boston all get chopped off
at the knees, like Cleveland's gonna be there, Orlando's gonna
(28:38):
be there, Like it's it's not going to be easy
out in the Eastern Conference, but it's less deep, and
that just means more margin for error. And so I
do think you run it back, and you do hope
that Paul George just had the injury season from hell
and that he's able to get back up to being
more of a volume score. And you do hope that
Joel Embiid's knee recovers and that he comes into camp
(28:58):
in good shape, and that they're able to make some
sort of legitimate run next year. You kind of have to.
But at the same time, they have some young pieces
to get excited about, Jared McCain, bj Edgecomb that could
be literally your backcourt of the future, and they're cheap
because they're on rookie deals. So like if you have to.
Let's say it's at the deadline this year or it's
next offseason. If you finally go, that's it. We're done
(29:19):
with the Joel and B Paul George experience. We're blowing
this damn thing up, and you know, we're gonna have
to take back some iffy contracts in the process. They're
not as bad as the MB Paul George contracts, but
they're still iffy contracts. You can bring bad guys in
pay inflated salaries while you're paying young players on rookie contracts,
and so that opening is still there, but I think
you got to try to at least give it a
(29:40):
go to start this season. What are your thoughts on
Atlanta what they're starting lineup now with Christops Porzingis and
a healthy Jalen Johnson given an injury riddled East, how
do you think they'll stack up competitively? Love the content,
one of the best ro basketball coverage. I thanks so
much for the kind words. As mentioned earlier, things are
wide open in the East. That is what kind of
makes this exciting for Atlanta now. One of the things
(30:00):
that you guys that we haven't got to see a
ton of pray Young is an underrated driver of the basketball.
He gets into the paint a lot more than most
of his guard here is this is something that I
was staring down the face of when I was digging
into the numbers regarding in for any Simons like Trey
Young gets into the paint a ton, and this is
really his first chance to play with a true spacing
(30:21):
five now all like the Hawks have had issues with
spacing over the years, playing with traditional rim running bigs
and forwards that don't shoot the ball super super well.
Porzingis can help with that. He's one of the better
above the break shooting bigs in the league, a guy
that you actually have to account for there. I also
like that Atlanta can keep them super athletic between those
(30:42):
two guys like chrisps, Porzingis has legitimate issues getting up
and down the floor in transition, I'm not sure I've
ever seen a player run the floor as Zachary risache
Like legitimately gets up and down the floor as well
as any forward I've ever seen. Jalen Johnson is obviously
a great option there too, so they can keep elite
athletes in the middle at Dyson Daniels as well at
(31:02):
all times to anchor those guys. It's a super fun,
high risk, high reward type of move for the Hawks.
They also drafted Asa Newell, a super athletic, undersized big
out of Georgia yesterday, so they got a big to
replace in case Clincapella leaves in free agency, which is
almost certainly going to If you were going to give it,
(31:22):
at least one go with Trey. This is a fun
way to do it. They'll be interesting. Are they gonna
win the title? Probably not, But in that Eastern Conference,
really any of these teams could talk themselves into a
conference finals appearance, even if it doesn't amount to anything,
and that's an exciting opportunity for Atlanta. Hey, Jason love
to Work, What player of players do you think need
a new team slash environment heading into next season? Really
(31:45):
good question. I picked three guys Devin Booker. At a
certain point, if Phoenix comes out the gates and they're
not good, like, at what point does Devin go I've
been on a bad team the majority of my career
and I want to go play somewhere where I can
be competitive.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
A couple examples.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Troit is an interesting fit for Devin Booker alongside k Cunningham.
I thought a little bit about the Indiana Pacers as
kind of like a talent play. In the short term,
it could help you float while Tyre's Halliburton is injured.
In the long term, that's a team that kind of
struggled in slow down situations when they needed a bucket.
That's something that Devin Booker could help with. San Antonio
for the Spurs is another situation that I thought made
(32:22):
some sense for Devin Booker, as surgical scoring will be
something that they struggle with a bit in their current construct.
Zion Williamson is a guy that obviously could use a change.
It's so difficult to find a destination for him. I'm
not even sure that Zion Williamson is a positive asset
right now. Like I'm not even sure that they could
(32:43):
get compensation for him if they look to move him.
It's really difficult to find a fit as well. And
the two fits that I found that made some sense
are like a Cleveland because it would have to be
alongside a big who could both protect the rim and
also shoot the ball from the perimeter. Cleveland and alongside
Evan Mobley is an interesting option, but that comes with
(33:03):
a bunch of clunkiness in a bunch of ways Miami
alongside Kell all where and that is actually my third
player that I would consider as a guy that could
use a change of scenery is bam At a Bio,
a player that seems to have hit a ceiling in
Miami and a Miami team that doesn't really have what
they need to contend and a guy that I think
could help a lot of teams get to the next
(33:24):
level as like a five out passing folk rom at
the top key and as a defensive anchor. And so
if Zion were to go to Miami, I could see
bam getting moved elsewhere. But those are three guys that
I think could see a change of scenery in the
next couple of years, Devin Bookers, Ion Williamson and bam
At a Bio. All right, next question, can you speak
(33:46):
broadly on the Celtics' immediate and mid term need to
acquire a versatile big man to replace Chris tops Porzingis
who's available, who would fit, et cetera. Lots of teams
are looking for this, and there's a reality to Boston's
payroll situation. If you're going to keep Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum,
Derek White. When Tatum comes back the year after next,
that's one hundred and forty five million dollars on the
books just on those three guys. So you are kind
(34:08):
of looking at the fringe market in a lot of ways.
That's gonna be older guys that struggle to move or
younger guys that have skill limitations or size limitations. The
good news is that you've demonstrated that you can find
those types of guys. Luke Cornette, who's basically going to
be your center for the next couple of years, he
was an undrafted journeyman that you found value in right.
Nimi Kueita was a second round pick. Now he wasn't perfect,
(34:31):
but he had his moments. But you basically have to
cycle through those guys on the margins until you find value.
And when it comes to Biggs, I personally think it's
easiest to work with a guy who has really good
natural motor meaning you play super hard, good athleticism and
intelligence meaning I would be willing to give ground in
terms of size and length and some of like the
(34:54):
like for refined offensive skill like jump shooting and stuff
like that, I'd be willing to give ground on those areas.
If he's a good athlete who runs super hard and
is a smart player like that, to me, I can
make good use of in terms of putting him in
spots in a scheme, right, But like if he's super tall,
but he can't run the floor and he's not very
physically competitive and he's a little bit soft and he
(35:16):
can shoot threes like that, that doesn't really do a
ton for me, especially in the context of Boston Celtics
basketball in the way they like to play. A smart
guy who knows how to relocate in and out of
the dunker spots, screen, to slip out of screens, that
can flow side to side an action, and that runs
the floor hard. It can do his job on defense,
I think is all you need in order to fill
(35:36):
that specific role. What percentage, what field goal percentage at
the rim or layups is considered bad? And is it
an easy thing for a player to fix or is
it something more complicated. I heard Jeremiah Fears was a
poor finisher, but I don't know if that's true. So
Jeremih Fears shot fifty one percent on layups last year,
(35:58):
most of his misses when I went through them this
morning were related to poor decision making, and this falls
in line with one of my biggest kind of basketball
world views. For the most part, layup percentage is about
decision making. Most guys are going to make a layup
when it's open. Now, there is value in the ability
to make contact layups, sort of make layups in traffic.
We've all seen guys like Kyrie Irving do it, Steph
(36:21):
Curry do it. Really high level guards with soft touch
and being able to shift angles and finish in traffic.
There is value there. But ultimately, if you beat your
man off the dribble and you encounter a big at
the basket, there's another advantage there. There's another advantage in
the form of you compromising the defense, and so a
lot of times, like I would argue, one of the
worst shots in basketball is a heavily contested layup. It
(36:43):
can sometimes cause problems for your transition defense, especially when
you're careening down the lane from the top of the key.
There are versions of that that can be successful. Miss
layups where you occupy the rim protector and then your
big comes in and gets an offensive rebound. But there's
a downside if you miss layups they often lead to
transition opportunities going the other way, and so rim decision
(37:04):
making is ultimately where you can improve your field goal
percentage on layups. There were a lot of Jeremiah Fear's
layups that he missed where he didn't beat his defender
and so then he tried to get into his body
and go way out wide and flip something crazy or
like I saw some of them where he was shooting
through two people, like didn't beat his defender and was
trying to shoot through a rim protector, and those are
(37:24):
going to be low percentage layups for anybody. That is
a decision making piece for me. Now, it's worth mentioning
that Fears's volume was super high. His one hundred and
ninety two rim attempts ranked one hundred and thirty eighth
in all of college basketball, again out of almost four
thousand players. So that's going to be an upside in
terms of his ability to get into the paint. He
(37:46):
just has to improve his decision making when he gets there.
The thing that Fears will have to work on in
terms of translating his game to the NBA level will
be I noticed a ton of like straight line speed,
but the the actual first step is not like nuclear
if that makes sense. So, like I am a little
bit curious to see, you know, like you'll see when
(38:08):
if there's a loose ball, or if he can get
an extended ball screen where the ball screen is a
little bit further out, or if you can start his
attack from further out, or in transition when he's going,
he's blazing, but in like straight up like set defender
right in front of him. You know, he's not the
fastest player that I've ever seen off that first step,
And so whether or not his first step works to
NBA talent will be an interesting swing. And then obviously
(38:31):
the jumper for him as well, it's kind of a
little bit of a clunky fit in New Orleans as well.
They can surround him with some shooting, but then obviously
there's a Zion Williamson piece.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
There's a bunch of funky stuff there in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
All right, fun one for you guys now that the
season is over, Maybe a fun what if aliens are
invading the Earth and the only way to save the
planet is to play an exhibition game against him? Five starters,
one sub and everyone is healthy available. Whow I missed
the one subpart, so maybe we can work through that
together to see if you go fit or just straight
up top players. I'm always gonna go with fit, so
(39:03):
let's start there, and I'm gonna have my top five,
and then I forgot about that subpart, so maybe we
can all work through that together. Here in a minute,
I want the best player in the world on my team,
so I'm going with Nikola Jokic. From there, I want
to surround Nikola Jokic with a group of talent that
kind of fits his particular game, right, Like that's what
we're doing when we're talking about fit. So I want
athletic size that is super smart, knows how to move
(39:25):
the ball, and can make open shots. This is one
exhibition game, so I'm not worried about health. Right at
the four, I'm looking at Lebron or Yannis. Both are
excellent backline defenders and defensive rebounders. I think Giannis is
a bit better at both. Lebron is a better shooter
and a smarter off ball mover and off ball screener.
But Jokic kind of unlocks this vertical spacing window because
(39:48):
he doesn't occupy space underneath the rim. So I'm gonna
actually go with Yanis here. I do think that means
we're gonna need a ton of shooting elsewhere on the floor,
But I think Yannis makes Jokic more tenable defensively as
you comes up to the level in ball screens. Giannis
is one of the best low man defenders in the
history of basketball. I think it's a perfect spot for
him to fit in there and be able to cover
both the roleman and that weak side corner piece. But
(40:12):
then Yannis is also a very natural fit as a
vertical spacer working along the baseline off of Nikola Jokic.
Our three man needs to be a lights out shooter
and a weak side scorer. I think Kevin Durant just
makes all the sense in the world here. Tatum, if
he's healthy, is an option, But then I think if
we bring in Tatum, I think we're playing a dangerous
game with jump shooting because he's just so finicky as
(40:33):
a jump shooter. So I think I'd pass on Tatum.
If we went Tatum, Janis Jokic, and Jokic can be
finicky as a jump shooter as well. I don't think
that makes a ton of sense. We don't really have
a ton of other great options in terms of elite
athletes that are great shooters and have great positional size
and athleticism at the three spot, So I think KD
is our best option there. Our two guard would absolutely
(40:54):
need to be an apex perimeter defender that can shoot
the ball, but you also don't want to forego talent
here for no reason, so I wanted to think through
the star guards at least, right I want a freaky
athlete as a good defender at the guard position, but
that also brings star level talent. Ideally, Anthony Edwards would
be this guy if he was further along in his career,
but I just don't think he's put things together enough defensively.
(41:15):
Yet he's too inattentive off the ball, and he doesn't
navigate screens well enough.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yet.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I don't think Shay is up to the task defensively.
I don't think Donovan Mitchell is up to the task defensively.
Jalen Brown's an interesting option. A is a guy who
I think do it defensively, but I don't want another
non shooter here with Giannis on the floor, especially with
Jokic occasionally going cold. I like Jalen to me, is
just a little too far down in terms of consistent
(41:40):
jump shooting. Devin Booker did an admirable job in the Olympics,
but I think at that point, especially with who I'm
about to pick for point guard, I think we wouldn't
be athletic enough if he was there. So I think
our best bet here might be just like the guy
that we all say whenever we need a two guard
to be a role player, and that's Dreue Holliday. He's
still one of the top tier point of attack guys
(42:02):
in the league. He can guard multiple different types of players.
He's got great size for the position. His shooting is inconsistent,
but I think he's a more reliable, just like catch
and shoot guy than Jaylen Brown. And he's a super
smart off ball cutter and screener. He's very good at
finishing around the rim if he ends up in dunker
spot situations. He has a shit ton of big game experience.
(42:23):
He's won multiple championships. He doesn't need the ball in
his hands at all in terms of the flow of
the offense, I think Drew Holliday makes a ton of
sense as that two guard, and then for the point
guard spot. I want the best possible option in the
world for a two man game partner with Nikola Jokic,
and I can't think of anybody better than Stephan Curry
(42:44):
for that spot. The relentless movement, the ability to set
his man up for screens, Jokic's unbelievable screening ability. You
would never be able to switch that action. Anybody who's
big enough to guard Jokic is hopeless to be fast
enough to guard Steph, and anyone who's fasten to guard
Steph is going to be hopeless to be big enough
to guard Nikola Jokich. I think that that would be
(43:05):
the indomitable two man action that you could run in
the half court that just kind of gives us a
level of resilience when the game really slows down, and
then from there as far as the sixth man goes,
this is a really good question. I think I would
I think I would strongly consider Shay Gil just Alexander
for this spot as a guy that is just a
supremely gifted isolation scorer who could come in and provide
(43:28):
a different form of offense in minutes when Steph Curry
comes off the floor. I think Shay would be a
really good option for that sixth man, just as a
get Let's put him in the game and just let
him shoot the ball and attack one on one whenever
he can. So as far as the starting five goes,
I'd have the two best offensive players in the history
of the sport running a perfectly complimentary two man game.
(43:51):
I'd have the best week side score in the history
of the sport. On the week side, an absolute beast
working the baseline, Giannison Tanna Kumpo, one of the best
role players in the history of the league, filling out
all the gaps at that two guard spot spot, including
guarding the other team's best player. Still plenty of defensive
talent on the floor with Drew KD and Giannis, lots
(44:11):
of rangy athleticism to cover ground, especially with Giannis and Kd.
Stefan Jokic aren't great defenders, but they're smart and they
compete and they do their job. And then obviously a
sixth man in Shake Gildas Alexander, who was the best high,
high high volume isolation player in the league last year,
to fill that spot. That's the group that I would
send to fight the Aliens, all right, guys, that's all
(44:33):
I have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you
guys for supporting me and suporting the show. We're taking
the rest of the weekend off. We'll be back on
Monday to cover NBA Free Agency. I will also have
my equipment with me for any sort of trade or
big major NBA news that comes down this weekend. But
maybe we'll get to have this weekend off as we
get a little break after this crazy last couple of months.
(44:54):
I will see you guys on Monday.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
What's up guys.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
who 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.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
The volume
The volume.
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dkang dot co slash audio. All right, welcome to you tonight.
(01:47):
You're at the volume heavy Thursday.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Everybody ill.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
All of you guys are having a great week. Well,
we're covering a mail bag today, lots of great questions
from you guys. We're gonna get all over the place
into a bunch of interesting stuff. We have some Lakers
stuff off the top. We're gonna be hitting some draft stuff.
We're going to talk a little bit about a couple
of the picks that we didn't get to hit in
our draft reactions. I've got some big picture NBA stuff
for ranking recent NBA champions We're going to talk about
(02:11):
some Grizzlies and hornets to a couple of teams that
are in a little bit of a holding pattern around
a star player who has struggled to be available. We
have a question regarding who would be the best fitting
five to send to go face the aliens in a
single game. We're going to get into that one, talk
a little bit about rim finishing and different dynamics that
(02:34):
can affect a player's efficiency. There are lots of interesting
stuff to get to in our mail bag today. You
guys are the job. Before we get started, subscribe to
the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jcnlt
so you guys don't miss you announcements. Don't forget about
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Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if we leave a
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work on our social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
(02:56):
Make sure you guys follow us there. In the last
but not least, keep dropping mail back questions in those
YouTube comments. Obviously, no more live shows at least until October,
so our mail bags are going to traditionally be at.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The end of the week.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We'll record them and air them on like Fridays and
Saturdays around that time of the week. So throughout the
week on our full episodes, you can drop your mail
bag questions in the comments and we pull from all
of the videos leading in to those end of the
week mail bags. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason,
if you were Rob Polinka and the Lakers executives, who
(03:28):
are your top three options to target and free agency?
What do you consider to be the best assets in
the trade market. So it's so funny. I was texting
with my buddy Pzeis, who runs Laker film room, the
other day. I've just been in completely out of the
Laker frame of mind ever since they got eliminated in
the first round.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Every year I just kind of like unplug that part
of my brain when we get when the Lakers get eliminated,
and then I just focus on the rest of the league.
And I'm just starting to kind of dip my toe
back into those waters and bounce ideas off of people
and and kind of figure out where I'm at in
terms of this Lakers offseason, and the main thing that
I've seen that's really caught my attention is this potential
(04:08):
trade that has been kind of floating around in the ether,
and it involves potentially the Lakers sending Gabe Vincent and
ruy Hachi Mura to the Miami Heat for Andrew Wiggins.
And this trade makes a lot of sense for both
sides on a bunch of different levels. For a Miami
Heat team, you get a guard in Gay Vincent that
(04:28):
has been proven to be a success in their system,
just kind of like a really natural fit in their
five out attack. And then ruy Hachimura fits a need
in the sense that they are thin at power forward specifically,
and obviously ruy Hatcha Mura is a starting caliber a
power forward in this league. He's a guy that can
bring some real value there. And then Andrew Wiggins. In
(04:49):
a team like the Los Angeles Lakers, where they are
devoid of perimeter athleticism, they don't have a great option
a starting caliber player that can guard the other the
team's best player. This is a guy and Andrew Wiggins,
who would immediately address two massive needs for the Lakers
in terms of just overall perimeter athleticism and a guy
(05:11):
in the starting lineup that like every single night is
like he can guard the best dude on the other team,
whether that's you know, we've seen him in the past
do an incredible job on a Luka Doncic in late
playoff rounds. We've seen him guard quicker guards. He has
some switchability. Andrew Wiggins is a very very versatile perimeter defender.
And there's a lot of focus on the center position
(05:31):
for the Lakers this year, and I get that, and like, ultimately,
if you can't find any other better options to upgrade
at the two and the three, and you decide to
go with a more aggressive move for a guy like
a Nick Claxton, there's upside there. Nick Claxton is a
better player than some of the free agent centers that
are available, like a Brook Lopez or a Clint Capella.
(05:51):
But for me, I would rather have Andrew Wiggins and
then a guy like Clint Appella, then not have Andrew Wiggins,
or bring back Gave Vincent and Ruey Hachimura and run
it with a guy like Nick Claxton. I think that
the Lakers have had a roster balance issue for a
little while. Now in terms of like, now they've got
these two on ball skill guards and Austin Reeves and
Luka Doncic, and you've got these two starter like power
(06:15):
forwards that both start in Ruy Hachimura and Lebron James.
And so what ends up happening, Like we always talk about,
there's boxes that get checked, right, and Ruy and Lebron
check a lot of similar boxes defensively, right, and Austin
and Luca check a lot of boxes that are similar defensively.
And while that group has been very good offensively, especially
when Dorian Finney Smith is out there, and they can
(06:35):
really create all that space, they just can't hang physically
with a lot of these teams. And So to me,
a move like that, flipping a bench guard and a
starting power forward into a starting small forward for a
team that does not have a starting small forward, I
view that as a roster balancing move. And among all
(06:55):
position groups, these guys that kind of fit into the
taxpayer mid level exception, you know, in that like five
six million dollars a year, I think that type of
guy relative to a thirty to twenty five million dollar
player at the center position, that gap is smaller than
it is at other position groups, at other position groups.
I think once you get up into the twenty five
(07:17):
thirty million dollar range, you actually really start to run
into some talent. Like Andrew Wiggins when he's healthy and engaged,
is one of the better three and D guys in
the NBA because of his defensive versatility, right, Like Nick
Claxton at twenty five million, is a firmly a league
average starting center.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So like there's a certain amount of value that you
get a relative to the money at the wing position,
relative to the center position. So for me, a deal
like that would make it more tenable to bring in
a flawed center, a guy that has some weaknesses at
the center spot because you have such an increase in
athleticism and a specific need guarding on the ball.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
The only other.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Laker take I have right now, and again, we're gonna
be talking plenty of Lakers over the summer as moves
come through. And I mean we Jackson and I were
just talking like Monday is free agencies as this as
this train just literally never stops running, right, So like
we're gonna be talking about lots of Lakers over time
as I continue to dive into this. But the other
guy that I think is really important for the Lakers
(08:19):
this summer is Dorian Finney Smith. He's got a player
option coming up, I think right around like fifteen million,
and so obviously him and his representation are going to
be thinking, like, hey, if we to pick up this
player option and we just run through this season, there's
a chance that we become veteran minimum candidates if it's
a mediocre season off the bench for the Lakers, right
(08:41):
so like, especially if they do make a move for
a guy like Andrew Wiggins and Dorian loses his starting spot,
right so Like, with that being the case, I think
it's at least like worthwhile for Dorian to consider the
idea of opting out and trying to sign a long
term deal elsewhere, right, or a long term deal with
the Lakers. And I just think it's very important for
(09:02):
the Lakers to make sure that they secure Dorian Phinney Smith.
They don't have a starting caliber three. Dorian Finney Smith
is the closest thing they have to it. But if
you get rid of him, you lose a lot of
depth at that specific position group. And there are versions
of this where you could see lineups where they put
Luca out there with Lebron and Dorian Finney Smith is
(09:24):
out there with and Andrew Wiggins. Right if they were
to make that sort of move, and if it's not
an Andrew Wiggins, then another type of athlete that they
bring at that position. I viewed Dorian Finney Smith as
part of the ultimate construct of the Lakers, and so
I don't want them to let him slip through the
cracks this summer. All Right, A couple of draft related questions,
who will be the best pro out of this draft
(09:45):
class if not Cooper Flag, Dylan Harper, vj Edgecomb or
Ace Bailey. So we're gonna spend a lot more time
talking about Trey Johnson later. But Trey Johnson is a
guy that I have my eye on. He's just your
prototypical scoring wing in the mind an MBA because of
his ability to score out of screening actions, which again,
most NBA offenses now are built out of either three
(10:07):
man pick and roll concepts or five out kind of
like ball in player movement concepts, and one of the
most important elements to that is the ability to come
off of a screen with the ability to score if
you can score coming off of a screen. You can
force the big to show at the level and the
guard to chase over the top. As soon as you
do that, you're inverting your spacing by bringing the big
(10:28):
man out away from the basket to the perimeter, vacating
the paint and starting a four on three in the
in the action behind it. It's one of the most
valuable traits that an offensive player can have. And so
I do think Cooper Flag is going to be the
best pro in the NBA. I think that's a safe bet.
I think Cooper has more resilience than Dylan Harper in
(10:49):
terms of just the different ways that he can impact winning. Like,
there's a version of Dylan Harper. Excuse me, there's a
version of Cooper Flag's career where he is, you know,
underwhelming on offense, but he still is a very very
very very good NBA player for a long time because
he's just a deeply versatile defensive player. Right, Like, there's
(11:09):
a version of Cooper Flag's career where he becomes what
we saw from Jason Tatum this year as like a
high twenties, low thirties point per game guy who can
you know, get up to six seven assists per game
and grab a bunch of rebounds and be a hyper
versatile defender. There's just a lot of different ranges of
outcomes for Cooper, but they're all positive, and so to me,
(11:29):
I think it's most likely that he's the best pro.
But outside of that group, I would lean towards Trey Johnson.
You said before you think this Thunder team was the
second best champion since the twenty tens. Do you still
believe this. I don't think the Heatles, Spurs, Warriors, et
cetera would have gone to seven with the Pacers. If
you still do If you do still believe this or not,
(11:50):
why couple things. The two teams that took the Thunder
to seven were the Denver Nuggets, who were a specific
mismatch in terms of some of their physical size advantages.
And Nikole Jokic, guys, is still the best player in
the world. I know we all want to pretend it's,
you know, a very straightforward one on one basketball game
(12:10):
where the best player always wins, but that's not how
it works either. Are tons of examples in recent NBA
history where the best player in the world ended up
losing in the playoffs. At some point along the way,
that's a very damn good team that dragged the Thunder
to the limit. And then I am done with the
underestimating of the Indiana Pacers at this point, Like if
you think it's fluky that they took the Thunder to seven,
(12:31):
like any of us, any of us who want to
sit there and pretend like that's fluky anymore, we can't.
The success was undeniable. What they did to Cleveland, what
they did to the Knicks, what they did to the Thunder,
pushing them to the brink. I just have too much
respect for them to view that as some sort of
shortcoming for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were not a
perfect team, but they won sixty eight games in the
(12:55):
Western Conference of the NBA, where there were legitimately like
twelve team tams trying to win seven really really good teams.
You play fifty two of your eighty two games in
your schedule against your own conference, I can't deny what
Oklahoma City accomplished this year. So as I look at
the champions since twenty twenty, obviously we have the Lakers,
(13:17):
the Bucks, the Warriors, the Nuggets, the Celtics, and the Thunder.
I've thought a lot about this over the course the
last few weeks, and to me, the top four are
all pretty close, and you can make a case for
any of them being number one. Right, So like Boston,
for instance, they won what sixty four games last year,
dominated through the playoffs, some of the most beautiful offense
(13:38):
that we've ever seen, moving the ball around for wide
open threes. They kind of just kicked asiden were never threatened.
That's you know, it's boring that a team never gets
threatened and there's no adversity, But that's a sign of greatness, right.
Oklahoma City sixty eight games in the Western Conference, probably
the best defense of this era. They beat really good
teams along the way. Denver's really good, Minnesota's really good,
(13:58):
Indiana's really good. That's a rock solid candidate for number one. Now,
Los Angeles Lakers team started the season twenty four and three.
They were on a sixty win pace before the season
got shut down, and then they got into the postseason
and kicked everyone's ass. So, like, I think the Lakers
have a legitimate case. And then the Denver Nuggets same
sort of thing. They weren't as good in the regular season,
(14:19):
and that's probably what's going to put them down on
this list, but best player in the world played. You know,
they literally ripped through in the postseason. Anthony Edwards in
the first round, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker in the second round,
Lebron James and Anthony Davis in the third round, bam
Adebayo and Jimmy Butler in the finals. It's like, I know,
the win totals weren't as super high there. Everyone gets
focused on win totals. Win totals to me are a really,
(14:40):
uh like kind of bizarre way to look at, you know,
what a team's competition was, because especially in the Western Conference,
when there's so many good teams, you're not going to
see a bunch of sixty win teams.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That's not how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Like, if everyone's good, no one's going to rack up
a shit ton of wins, which, by the way, is
exactly why this Oklahoma City season was so impressive. It's
ridiculous that they won sixty eight games with how tough
that Western Conference was, so like, I think all four
of those teams have a legitimate case. After that, I
think there's a pretty substantial drop off. The Golden State
Warriors legitimate champion, but you're not looking at that team
(15:15):
as like a juggernaut roster. It was Steph Curry and
a bunch of role players and a couple of guys
who peaked at the right time in Jordan Poole and
Andrew Wiggins, and you know, catching a younger Celtics team
that wasn't quite ready, and they a younger MAS team
that wasn't quite ready, and they were able to squeak
through a legitimate champion, but not a team that we're
looking at as like one of the all time greats
(15:35):
in NBA history. And similarly, the Milwaukee Bucks a team
that kind of slipped through the cracks in the year
after COVID when all of the good teams in the
NBA were injured. So if I had to rank them,
I would put I think it's a real tight debate
between Boston and OKC one two, and it gets really
really nitty gritty when you start to look at them
playing against each other. I'm only in OKC though, because
(15:58):
I think they had a more impressive regular I thought
they played tougher competition in the postseason. They weren't as
smooth through that competition, But I think it was a
higher degree of difficulty. I think Oklahoma City has a
good claim for that number one spot. I'd go Boston
number two, I'd go Lakers number three, I'd go Denver
number four, I'd go Golden State five, and then I'd
go with the Milwaukee Bucks at six. Next question, why
(16:23):
is it so hard for the Warriors to build a
competitive squad? By competitive, I'm meaning a team that takes it,
that makes it to the Conference SEMIS at the very least,
for three years they've absolutely failed. So I think the
issue here was just kind of like the classic example
of splitting the difference between two timelines, and you know,
all of a sudden, Jonathan Kminga is a very different
type of asset now that he's doing a new deal,
right So, like that's the tricky part with this sort
(16:44):
of situation that the Warriors to put themselves in. Had
they made that sort of trade back in twenty twenty
two and Jonathan Minga had some theoretical upside that people
weren't sure if it existed or not, that's a positive
asset right now, different type of asset, right Like, there's
a lot of there's a lot of lost opportunity cost there, right,
in terms of the time that they waited to pivot
(17:08):
off of some of their young players, like even Jordan Poole,
like really successful in that twenty twenty two playoff run,
but then he has like a pretty brutal twenty twenty
three playoffs. It kind of hurts his value a little
bit on the way out the door, right, And so
they waited, and they knew the exact thing they needed.
It was abundantly clear what they needed ever since Kevin
Durant left, which was a legitimate number two option, because
(17:30):
we had seen that Klay Thompson after his injuries, was
not capable of becoming that guy anymore. And they waited
till now to do it. And you know that comes
with downsides in terms of age and Steph breaking down
with injury. But I do think that they have a legitimate,
you know, competitive squad this year coming into this postseason
or excuse me, this offseason. A couple tweaks here and there,
(17:53):
a full camp to incorporate Jimmy Butler. Jimmy and Steph
both approaching things with a real belief that they have
a chance to win the title, which I don't think
either of them had in the offseason last year. This
is a classic example of an older veteran team that
legitimately has a chance to win the title, but they
have a very thin little pathway that they have to thread,
(18:13):
and that pathway is thin because they waited so long
to make this type of move. But it is what
it is ultimately, that's what took that that's what delayed
this process, That's what delayed the competitiveness. We all knew
Steph needed a second option, they never got him one.
Then now they have, but it came at the first
time in Steph's career where his body like straight up
like failed to take the floor in the NBA playoffs
(18:37):
in a in a big spot.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So it is what it is at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Next, one interesting question teams like the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Hornets,
et cetera, who have their star player but seem to
have a ceiling. What moves can they make to turn
their teams into contenders? Should some of them have a
major overhauler? Are they closer than I think? It's a
mix of internal improvement for me as well as continuing
to manage your young assets. Well, what I mean by
internal improvement is this, specifically, for Ja Morant and LaMelo
(19:04):
Ball figure out a way to be on the floor.
Invest in a more rigorous strength training regimen, diet treatment,
flexibility training. I don't care what it is. Find a
way to be on the floor. If you can't stay
on the floor for most of the season, your team
will never catch a rhythm. And if your team never
catches a rhythm, we'll never get a chance to actually
(19:25):
learn what your team is really good at, what they
suck at, and then have the information we need to
adjust accordingly as a front office. Also skill development. Ja
Morant's jump shooting is flatlined since he came into the NBA.
He's hurting his chances to become the best version of himself.
LaMelo Ball is rim finishing overall decision making a shot selection.
(19:45):
Last year, LaMelo was below fifty percent at the rim,
even including dunks thirty two percent on pull up jumpers.
He shot below forty percent as a shooter. In pick
and roll, you guys can go ahead and shelve any
ideas of the the Hornets or the Grizzlies becoming contenders
until those two guys actually become good enough at basketball
(20:06):
to lead a contender. It's not about roster construction until
those two dudes actually become that type of player. Both
of them have come into the NBA and flashed all
sorts of upside, become immensely popular with the younger generation,
and have flatlined as basketball players. And as long as
that is the case, there's gonna be no progress internally
for those teams. As for supporting talent, Ja Moran and
(20:30):
Jaron Jackson, we have a pretty good idea of because
we've seen them play in enough high leverage moments. We've
seen them play in four playoff series. Right for Jock,
Memphis has consistently surrounded him with poor spot up talent
to create space. That has consistently been an issue. They've
been towards the bottom of the league in spot up
efficiency year in and year out in the Jamrant era.
Some of that is the situation with their bigs, which
(20:51):
we'll get into in a minute, right But what they
need is big, physical wings, guys that can do what
Dylan Brooks did for them, Big physical wings who can shoot.
And I think they took a good step in that
direction yesterday with Cedric Coward. He has a pretty extensive
track record of being a good spot up shooter. He's
a big, physical wing with super long arms in a
(21:14):
world of defensive utility. He's also a bit a bit older,
and he has a game that's actually built to win
in a winning context right away, that's a good step
in that direction. But big physical perimeter defenders that can
shoot the basketball, that have some switchability, that can attack
close outs, those are the kinds of things that they
(21:34):
need to surround Job with. And as far as Jaron
Jackson goes, he's a batterybounder who fouls too much and
doesn't do a particularly good job of holding down the
paint because he goes after every shot at temp hunting block.
So we know that Jaren needs to be anchored by
a supporting bit that can be more disciplined around the rim,
and that of course comes with foot speed and spacing
(21:54):
issues right which we saw immediately come to fruition in
the Thunder series. And so Jaren's generally just kind of
tough to build around because he has some big weaknesses.
But that's what I mean by internal improvement, Like, if
Jaren's gonna have to play the four constantly, he's gonna
have to become a damn good perimeter defender. Excuse me,
a damn good perimeter offensive player. And so there's a
(22:15):
lot of internal improvement barriers that stand between Memphis and
where they want to go. As for Charlotte, they were
the seventh worst defense in the NBA last year. They
were built around two slender perimeter shot creators and LaMelo
Ball and Brandon Miller, and obviously another athletic forward in
Miles Bridges, who isn't a good defender, And they went
and drafted two on athletic shooters per round in Conkinent
(22:37):
Bull and Leam McNeely. So they feel super far away
from us having any real idea of what their pathway
forward is to contention. So I like Charlotte, it's just
it's at this point. I guess we'll find out now
that they've surrounded him with more shooting what kind of
offensive upside they have. But they just don't feel anywhere
near like let's even discuss what they need to do
(22:59):
to content, if that makes sense. Welcome to course correction,
brought to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and
teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under
immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to
the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries
with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy
(23:20):
responsible AI. When you're in the NBA, you have your
own hurdles to face. In this segment, we will highlight
the player every week that has risen to the occasion
when his team needed in whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft
empowers you with the expertise to say bring it on. Today,
we're covering my favorite draft pick from yesterday, Trey Johnson
of the Texas Longhorns and now the Washington Wizards of
(23:41):
the NBA. Trey was my favorite player that I watched
when I was prepping for this draft class. To me,
he represents the modern NBA score, an extremely gifted movement
shooter that can shoot both off the dribble and off
of action sprinting off of off ball screens by going
both left and right at full speed with every dribble combination,
(24:02):
every piece of footwork in the book. An awesome work
ethic and attitude, and yet still a lot of room
for improvement. Some real upside there. He made one hundred
and twenty six jump shots this year, high volume in
the college game, with how dedicated the defensive game planning
is and how hard people play on every single possession.
It's extremely difficult to do. To make one hundred and
(24:22):
twenty six jump shots out of almost four thousand players
in college hoops last year, that ranked thirtieth. Really impressive
stuff in terms of high volume shot creation. He shot
fifty two percent as the shooter coming off of off
ball screens. By the way, that's field goals not weighted
for three, so he made more than half of his
shots in off ball action. He shot forty two percent
(24:44):
on guarded catch and shoots routinely was hitting tough, contested
shots on the move coming out of action.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I think he is going to.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Have an awesome situation going into in Washington in the
sense that they kind of have this weird team that
has all these interesting young defensive players, but they also
have these older veteran wings. And I can't think of
better guys for him to work with directly in terms
of slowing the game down and learning how to use
physicality and change of pace and to set his man
(25:12):
up for screens and to actually get more open then CJ.
McCollum and Chris Middleton, those are excellent examples of guys
that weren't, you know, top tier athletes that learned how
to use savvy body movements and physical leverage and timing
and change of pace to get open off of screening action.
So I think they're just awesome guys to put with
(25:36):
Trey for him to learn how to do a better
job of that, because, like, if we look at his
areas of opportunity, there's playmaking, which we'll talk about in
a minute. He obviously needs to improve as a defensive player,
but a big one for me that I noticed on
tape is like he's still pretty raw in terms of
like actually learning how to get himself open, which is
insane considering how many jump shots he made last year
in the college game. I still think he has a
(25:57):
sizable room for improvement there. And we did see in
the Xavier game in particular, Sean Miller basically denied him
the basketball most of the game by locking and trailing
him and denying him whenever he could and kept a
shot attempts down and really influenced him. And so those
are the kinds of things you're gonna run into in
the NBA. Is a really good lock and trail defender
so how do you do a better job of finding
(26:18):
openings within the offense when you're being guarded that way?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Well? Good, like you know, you don't think. CJ.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
McCollum and Chris Middleton can talk to Trey about how
screening is a great way to get himself open. Like, hey,
in these sets, if you set really good screens, your
man has no choice but to help. That will give
you an opening to get more separation coming off of
off ball screen. Little physical details, like little like fundamental
(26:44):
details like walking your man down before running into an
off ball screen. All of these like little tiny details
that will help him get open more frequently. In the
NBA and then the playmaking piece of it, this is
where being more of like a traditional I shouldn't even traditional.
The modern NBA score actually presents really basic reads as
(27:05):
you're coming off of action, right like, oh, he shows
at the level, I'm gonna throw the pocket pass. I
come off and they help at the nail, I'm gonna
throw the swing pass like they help at the level
and they're packing the paint. It's the skip pass to
the opposite corner. Like there's all these like basic reads
that you have in these situations. And I think CJ
and Chris will be able to help a lot with
that as well. I'm super excited to watch Trey this
(27:28):
year in his first NBA campaign. That's it for this
week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to
take bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas
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Slash challengers to learn more. All right, few more? Should
(27:54):
Philly look to move embeid or give that group one
last run to see what they can do next season?
Given Boston and the Pace are out of the picture
next year, it seems like the perfect year for EMBID
in Philly to make at least an Eastern Conference final
or a final. You kind of have to We talked
about this last year, like you kind of or this
last season with all the investment that's been made in
EMBIID in Paul George, like even just in time with
(28:15):
Tyres Maxy, like you kind of have to give it
one more shot. And I agree, like the wide open
Eastern Conference it's gonna be tougher than it looks Cleveland
is gonna You don't think Cleveland is now strongly considering
standing pat after watching two of their biggest pieces of
three of their biggest pieces of competition in the Eastern
Conference in Milwaukee, Indiana and Boston all get chopped off
at the knees, like Cleveland's gonna be there, Orlando's gonna
(28:38):
be there, Like it's it's not going to be easy
out in the Eastern Conference, but it's less deep, and
that just means more margin for error. And so I
do think you run it back, and you do hope
that Paul George just had the injury season from hell
and that he's able to get back up to being
more of a volume score. And you do hope that
Joel Embiid's knee recovers and that he comes into camp
(28:58):
in good shape, and that they're able to make some
sort of legitimate run next year. You kind of have to.
But at the same time, they have some young pieces
to get excited about, Jared McCain, bj Edgecomb that could
be literally your backcourt of the future, and they're cheap
because they're on rookie deals. So like if you have to.
Let's say it's at the deadline this year or it's
next offseason. If you finally go, that's it. We're done
(29:19):
with the Joel and B Paul George experience. We're blowing
this damn thing up, and you know, we're gonna have
to take back some iffy contracts in the process. They're
not as bad as the MB Paul George contracts, but
they're still iffy contracts. You can bring bad guys in
pay inflated salaries while you're paying young players on rookie contracts,
and so that opening is still there, but I think
you got to try to at least give it a
(29:40):
go to start this season. What are your thoughts on
Atlanta what they're starting lineup now with Christops Porzingis and
a healthy Jalen Johnson given an injury riddled East, how
do you think they'll stack up competitively? Love the content,
one of the best ro basketball coverage. I thanks so
much for the kind words. As mentioned earlier, things are
wide open in the East. That is what kind of
makes this exciting for Atlanta now. One of the things
(30:00):
that you guys that we haven't got to see a
ton of pray Young is an underrated driver of the basketball.
He gets into the paint a lot more than most
of his guard here is this is something that I
was staring down the face of when I was digging
into the numbers regarding in for any Simons like Trey
Young gets into the paint a ton, and this is
really his first chance to play with a true spacing
(30:21):
five now all like the Hawks have had issues with
spacing over the years, playing with traditional rim running bigs
and forwards that don't shoot the ball super super well.
Porzingis can help with that. He's one of the better
above the break shooting bigs in the league, a guy
that you actually have to account for there. I also
like that Atlanta can keep them super athletic between those
(30:42):
two guys like chrisps, Porzingis has legitimate issues getting up
and down the floor in transition, I'm not sure I've
ever seen a player run the floor as Zachary risache
Like legitimately gets up and down the floor as well
as any forward I've ever seen. Jalen Johnson is obviously
a great option there too, so they can keep elite
athletes in the middle at Dyson Daniels as well at
(31:02):
all times to anchor those guys. It's a super fun,
high risk, high reward type of move for the Hawks.
They also drafted Asa Newell, a super athletic, undersized big
out of Georgia yesterday, so they got a big to
replace in case Clincapella leaves in free agency, which is
almost certainly going to If you were going to give it,
(31:22):
at least one go with Trey. This is a fun
way to do it. They'll be interesting. Are they gonna
win the title? Probably not, But in that Eastern Conference,
really any of these teams could talk themselves into a
conference finals appearance, even if it doesn't amount to anything,
and that's an exciting opportunity for Atlanta. Hey, Jason love
to Work, What player of players do you think need
a new team slash environment heading into next season? Really
(31:45):
good question. I picked three guys Devin Booker. At a
certain point, if Phoenix comes out the gates and they're
not good, like, at what point does Devin go I've
been on a bad team the majority of my career
and I want to go play somewhere where I can
be competitive.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
A couple examples.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Troit is an interesting fit for Devin Booker alongside k Cunningham.
I thought a little bit about the Indiana Pacers as
kind of like a talent play. In the short term,
it could help you float while Tyre's Halliburton is injured.
In the long term, that's a team that kind of
struggled in slow down situations when they needed a bucket.
That's something that Devin Booker could help with. San Antonio
for the Spurs is another situation that I thought made
(32:22):
some sense for Devin Booker, as surgical scoring will be
something that they struggle with a bit in their current construct.
Zion Williamson is a guy that obviously could use a change.
It's so difficult to find a destination for him. I'm
not even sure that Zion Williamson is a positive asset
right now. Like I'm not even sure that they could
(32:43):
get compensation for him if they look to move him.
It's really difficult to find a fit as well. And
the two fits that I found that made some sense
are like a Cleveland because it would have to be
alongside a big who could both protect the rim and
also shoot the ball from the perimeter. Cleveland and alongside
Evan Mobley is an interesting option, but that comes with
(33:03):
a bunch of clunkiness in a bunch of ways Miami
alongside Kell all where and that is actually my third
player that I would consider as a guy that could
use a change of scenery is bam At a Bio,
a player that seems to have hit a ceiling in
Miami and a Miami team that doesn't really have what
they need to contend and a guy that I think
could help a lot of teams get to the next
(33:24):
level as like a five out passing folk rom at
the top key and as a defensive anchor. And so
if Zion were to go to Miami, I could see
bam getting moved elsewhere. But those are three guys that
I think could see a change of scenery in the
next couple of years, Devin Bookers, Ion Williamson and bam
At a Bio. All right, next question, can you speak
(33:46):
broadly on the Celtics' immediate and mid term need to
acquire a versatile big man to replace Chris tops Porzingis
who's available, who would fit, et cetera. Lots of teams
are looking for this, and there's a reality to Boston's
payroll situation. If you're going to keep Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum,
Derek White. When Tatum comes back the year after next,
that's one hundred and forty five million dollars on the
books just on those three guys. So you are kind
(34:08):
of looking at the fringe market in a lot of ways.
That's gonna be older guys that struggle to move or
younger guys that have skill limitations or size limitations. The
good news is that you've demonstrated that you can find
those types of guys. Luke Cornette, who's basically going to
be your center for the next couple of years, he
was an undrafted journeyman that you found value in right.
Nimi Kueita was a second round pick. Now he wasn't perfect,
(34:31):
but he had his moments. But you basically have to
cycle through those guys on the margins until you find value.
And when it comes to Biggs, I personally think it's
easiest to work with a guy who has really good
natural motor meaning you play super hard, good athleticism and
intelligence meaning I would be willing to give ground in
terms of size and length and some of like the
(34:54):
like for refined offensive skill like jump shooting and stuff
like that, I'd be willing to give ground on those areas.
If he's a good athlete who runs super hard and
is a smart player like that, to me, I can
make good use of in terms of putting him in
spots in a scheme, right, But like if he's super tall,
but he can't run the floor and he's not very
physically competitive and he's a little bit soft and he
(35:16):
can shoot threes like that, that doesn't really do a
ton for me, especially in the context of Boston Celtics
basketball in the way they like to play. A smart
guy who knows how to relocate in and out of
the dunker spots, screen, to slip out of screens, that
can flow side to side an action, and that runs
the floor hard. It can do his job on defense,
I think is all you need in order to fill
(35:36):
that specific role. What percentage, what field goal percentage at
the rim or layups is considered bad? And is it
an easy thing for a player to fix or is
it something more complicated. I heard Jeremiah Fears was a
poor finisher, but I don't know if that's true. So
Jeremih Fears shot fifty one percent on layups last year,
(35:58):
most of his misses when I went through them this
morning were related to poor decision making, and this falls
in line with one of my biggest kind of basketball
world views. For the most part, layup percentage is about
decision making. Most guys are going to make a layup
when it's open. Now, there is value in the ability
to make contact layups, sort of make layups in traffic.
We've all seen guys like Kyrie Irving do it, Steph
(36:21):
Curry do it. Really high level guards with soft touch
and being able to shift angles and finish in traffic.
There is value there. But ultimately, if you beat your
man off the dribble and you encounter a big at
the basket, there's another advantage there. There's another advantage in
the form of you compromising the defense, and so a
lot of times, like I would argue, one of the
worst shots in basketball is a heavily contested layup. It
(36:43):
can sometimes cause problems for your transition defense, especially when
you're careening down the lane from the top of the key.
There are versions of that that can be successful. Miss
layups where you occupy the rim protector and then your
big comes in and gets an offensive rebound. But there's
a downside if you miss layups they often lead to
transition opportunities going the other way, and so rim decision
(37:04):
making is ultimately where you can improve your field goal
percentage on layups. There were a lot of Jeremiah Fear's
layups that he missed where he didn't beat his defender
and so then he tried to get into his body
and go way out wide and flip something crazy or
like I saw some of them where he was shooting
through two people, like didn't beat his defender and was
trying to shoot through a rim protector, and those are
(37:24):
going to be low percentage layups for anybody. That is
a decision making piece for me. Now, it's worth mentioning
that Fears's volume was super high. His one hundred and
ninety two rim attempts ranked one hundred and thirty eighth
in all of college basketball, again out of almost four
thousand players. So that's going to be an upside in
terms of his ability to get into the paint. He
(37:46):
just has to improve his decision making when he gets there.
The thing that Fears will have to work on in
terms of translating his game to the NBA level will
be I noticed a ton of like straight line speed,
but the the actual first step is not like nuclear
if that makes sense. So, like I am a little
bit curious to see, you know, like you'll see when
(38:08):
if there's a loose ball, or if he can get
an extended ball screen where the ball screen is a
little bit further out, or if you can start his
attack from further out, or in transition when he's going,
he's blazing, but in like straight up like set defender
right in front of him. You know, he's not the
fastest player that I've ever seen off that first step,
And so whether or not his first step works to
NBA talent will be an interesting swing. And then obviously
(38:31):
the jumper for him as well, it's kind of a
little bit of a clunky fit in New Orleans as well.
They can surround him with some shooting, but then obviously
there's a Zion Williamson piece.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
There's a bunch of funky stuff there in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
All right, fun one for you guys now that the
season is over, Maybe a fun what if aliens are
invading the Earth and the only way to save the
planet is to play an exhibition game against him? Five starters,
one sub and everyone is healthy available. Whow I missed
the one subpart, so maybe we can work through that
together to see if you go fit or just straight
up top players. I'm always gonna go with fit, so
(39:03):
let's start there, and I'm gonna have my top five,
and then I forgot about that subpart, so maybe we
can all work through that together. Here in a minute,
I want the best player in the world on my team,
so I'm going with Nikola Jokic. From there, I want
to surround Nikola Jokic with a group of talent that
kind of fits his particular game, right, Like that's what
we're doing when we're talking about fit. So I want
athletic size that is super smart, knows how to move
(39:25):
the ball, and can make open shots. This is one
exhibition game, so I'm not worried about health. Right at
the four, I'm looking at Lebron or Yannis. Both are
excellent backline defenders and defensive rebounders. I think Giannis is
a bit better at both. Lebron is a better shooter
and a smarter off ball mover and off ball screener.
But Jokic kind of unlocks this vertical spacing window because
(39:48):
he doesn't occupy space underneath the rim. So I'm gonna
actually go with Yanis here. I do think that means
we're gonna need a ton of shooting elsewhere on the floor,
But I think Yannis makes Jokic more tenable defensively as
you comes up to the level in ball screens. Giannis
is one of the best low man defenders in the
history of basketball. I think it's a perfect spot for
him to fit in there and be able to cover
both the roleman and that weak side corner piece. But
(40:12):
then Yannis is also a very natural fit as a
vertical spacer working along the baseline off of Nikola Jokic.
Our three man needs to be a lights out shooter
and a weak side scorer. I think Kevin Durant just
makes all the sense in the world here. Tatum, if
he's healthy, is an option, But then I think if
we bring in Tatum, I think we're playing a dangerous
game with jump shooting because he's just so finicky as
(40:33):
a jump shooter. So I think I'd pass on Tatum.
If we went Tatum, Janis Jokic, and Jokic can be
finicky as a jump shooter as well. I don't think
that makes a ton of sense. We don't really have
a ton of other great options in terms of elite
athletes that are great shooters and have great positional size
and athleticism at the three spot, So I think KD
is our best option there. Our two guard would absolutely
(40:54):
need to be an apex perimeter defender that can shoot
the ball, but you also don't want to forego talent
here for no reason, so I wanted to think through
the star guards at least, right I want a freaky
athlete as a good defender at the guard position, but
that also brings star level talent. Ideally, Anthony Edwards would
be this guy if he was further along in his career,
but I just don't think he's put things together enough defensively.
(41:15):
Yet he's too inattentive off the ball, and he doesn't
navigate screens well enough.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yet.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I don't think Shay is up to the task defensively.
I don't think Donovan Mitchell is up to the task defensively.
Jalen Brown's an interesting option. A is a guy who
I think do it defensively, but I don't want another
non shooter here with Giannis on the floor, especially with
Jokic occasionally going cold. I like Jalen to me, is
just a little too far down in terms of consistent
(41:40):
jump shooting. Devin Booker did an admirable job in the Olympics,
but I think at that point, especially with who I'm
about to pick for point guard, I think we wouldn't
be athletic enough if he was there. So I think
our best bet here might be just like the guy
that we all say whenever we need a two guard
to be a role player, and that's Dreue Holliday. He's
still one of the top tier point of attack guys
(42:02):
in the league. He can guard multiple different types of players.
He's got great size for the position. His shooting is inconsistent,
but I think he's a more reliable, just like catch
and shoot guy than Jaylen Brown. And he's a super
smart off ball cutter and screener. He's very good at
finishing around the rim if he ends up in dunker
spot situations. He has a shit ton of big game experience.
(42:23):
He's won multiple championships. He doesn't need the ball in
his hands at all in terms of the flow of
the offense, I think Drew Holliday makes a ton of
sense as that two guard, and then for the point
guard spot. I want the best possible option in the
world for a two man game partner with Nikola Jokic,
and I can't think of anybody better than Stephan Curry
(42:44):
for that spot. The relentless movement, the ability to set
his man up for screens, Jokic's unbelievable screening ability. You
would never be able to switch that action. Anybody who's
big enough to guard Jokic is hopeless to be fast
enough to guard Steph, and anyone who's fasten to guard
Steph is going to be hopeless to be big enough
to guard Nikola Jokich. I think that that would be
(43:05):
the indomitable two man action that you could run in
the half court that just kind of gives us a
level of resilience when the game really slows down, and
then from there as far as the sixth man goes,
this is a really good question. I think I would
I think I would strongly consider Shay Gil just Alexander
for this spot as a guy that is just a
supremely gifted isolation scorer who could come in and provide
(43:28):
a different form of offense in minutes when Steph Curry
comes off the floor. I think Shay would be a
really good option for that sixth man, just as a
get Let's put him in the game and just let
him shoot the ball and attack one on one whenever
he can. So as far as the starting five goes,
I'd have the two best offensive players in the history
of the sport running a perfectly complimentary two man game.
(43:51):
I'd have the best week side score in the history
of the sport. On the week side, an absolute beast
working the baseline, Giannison Tanna Kumpo, one of the best
role players in the history of the league, filling out
all the gaps at that two guard spot spot, including
guarding the other team's best player. Still plenty of defensive
talent on the floor with Drew KD and Giannis, lots
(44:11):
of rangy athleticism to cover ground, especially with Giannis and Kd.
Stefan Jokic aren't great defenders, but they're smart and they
compete and they do their job. And then obviously a
sixth man in Shake Gildas Alexander, who was the best high,
high high volume isolation player in the league last year,
to fill that spot. That's the group that I would
send to fight the Aliens, all right, guys, that's all
(44:33):
I have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you
guys for supporting me and suporting the show. We're taking
the rest of the weekend off. We'll be back on
Monday to cover NBA Free Agency. I will also have
my equipment with me for any sort of trade or
big major NBA news that comes down this weekend. But
maybe we'll get to have this weekend off as we
get a little break after this crazy last couple of months.
(44:54):
I will see you guys on Monday.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
What's up guys.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
who 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.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
The volume
Host
Jason Timpf
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