December 27, 2024 • 19 mins
Jason Timpf answers listener questions during an NBA mailbag segment. Jason discusses whether Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets should make a move with the Chicago Bulls for Zach LaVine, if Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are ready for an all-in move like trading for De'Aaron Fox with the Sacramento Kings, and much more!
Timeline:
4:00 - Introduction
6:00 - Should Nuggets trade Michael Porter Jr. for Zach Lavine?
11:00 - Should Spurs trade for De’Aaron Fox?
13:00 - Did the Kings make a mistake trading for Demar Derozan?
16:00 - Why are offensive ratings so much higher now?
17:00 - Celtics struggling with Jayson Tatum off the floor
17:30 - What is a “Spain Pick n Roll”?
21:00 - Timberwolves broken offense
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. It's the most wonderful time of the year
for getting in on all of the hoops, football and
hockey action at Draft Kings Sportsbook. In the season of giving,
we're being gifted college football and basketball, Pro football and
basketball and pro hockey too. Almost twenty four to seven.
So many games every day, so many opportunities to place
your first bet. Try betting on something simple like picking
(00:22):
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Gap and place your bet. Current Super Bowl winners on
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King Sportsbook Gap and use code hoops that's h oops.
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That's code hoops for new customers to get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins.
When you bet just five bucks, Happy Holidays from DraftKings.
The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred
gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope
and why, or text hope and why to four to
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(01:04):
seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play
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twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void
in Ontario. Bet must win to receive award. Bonus bets
expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For
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slash b Ball. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here
(01:38):
at the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody up. All of you
guys are having a great week. It's mail bag day.
I've got about seven questions. It's gonna be shorter mail
bag than usual this week where we're gonna be hitting
a bunch of questions from around the league. You guys
know the drill before we get started. To subscribe to
the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt so
you guys don't miss you announcements. Don't forget about our
podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight.
It's also super helpful you leave rating and a review
(02:00):
on that front. We also have brand new social media
feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing more content
throughout the year. Make sure you follow us there, and
if you want to get questions into these mail bags,
drop them in the YouTube comments. Again, if you put
a little mail bag and then colon, that's kind of
a signifier for me when I'm scrolling through the comments
that that's a mailbag question. Leave the mailbag questions in
those YouTube comments and we'll get to them on Fridays
as we moved throughout the season. And the last but
(02:21):
not least, before we get started, I want to talk
to you guys about Game Time, an incredible ticket buying service.
I've used them multiple times in the past. They have
given me, by far, the best experience that I've had
in that space. A highly highly recommend it to you guys.
It's a great time to get out and see events.
We've got the NFL in full swing, the NBA in
full swing, and college football playoffs going on. We caught
(02:41):
college basketball we've got hockey, we've got concerts, we've got
comedy shows. There's amazing shows for you guys to get
out and see. And Game Time provides an excellent experience.
You have all in pricing, so you know what you're
going to pay by the before you go to check out.
There's no surprise increase there. You can check out in
as few as two taps, so it's not conted. You
have a view of your seat within the apps, you
(03:02):
know exactly what you're buying with your money. They also
have a new feature called game Time Picks. Instead of
clicking on an event and seeing thousands and thousands of tickets,
they'll curate the feed and show you just the best
deals from that specific event, so you can streamline that
Streamline that process, take the guesswork out of buying tickets
with game Time Picks. Download the game Time app, create
an account, use code Hoops for twenty dollars off your
(03:22):
first purchase terms apply again, Create an account, Redeem code Hoops.
That's Hoops for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today.
What time is it? Game Time? All right, let's get
into our mail bag. First question, where do you land
on the Nuggets trading for Zach Levine. I don't think
he's an upgrade over Michael Porter Junior and with more
health concerns. Also, I saw a trade rumor of the
(03:45):
Spurs getting Fox with the Kings let him go. I
think he'd make an impact on the Spurs in a
big way, and like the fit so on the Levine front.
I've been talking about this with the Nuggets for a while.
I think Michael Porter Junior's off balls scoring is so important.
And do I think Zach Lavine is a better offensive
player than Michael Porter Junior. Yeah, I do. I think
(04:07):
he's a much better on ball player that also is
a good off ball threat. But when the Nuggets are
at their best, Michael Porter Junior is part of the
size problem they give people. You end up having to
put big bodies on Jokic and Gordon, and then you
end up wanting to put a pretty big perimeter defender
(04:27):
on Jamal Murray because there are a lot of switches
that take place against the Murrayjokic two man game, just
because Jokic sets monster screens and so that guy has
to be able to peel off and box out and
like battle in a post up mismatches stuff like that.
So you're usually putting your three biggest players on Jamal Murray, Jokic,
and Aaron Gordon, and so a lot of times Michael
(04:49):
Porter Junior has like a pretty substantial size advantage, and
he could do damage on the offensive glass there, right,
he can shoot over the top of them. He's an
even bigger spacing threat because of his height in that
sort of situation. Right. And then also just when Michael
Porter Junior is locked in, he's a pretty solid off
ball defender in defensive rebounder, which are areas where Zach
(05:10):
Lavine can struggle sometimes. So I look at Michael Porter
Junior and the gap between him and Zack Lavine as
not substantial enough to justify the loss of losing a
guy like Michael Porter Jr. Now, if I was under
the impression that Jamal Murray was just going to be
bad and that he's never going to be the same,
now we change the discussion because Jamal Murray and what
(05:32):
he does is actually more important even than when Michael
Porter Junior does. And if Jamal Murray's not going to
do that, you got to find somebody to do that role.
And a guy like Zach Lavine can help. But up
until the Sun's game where Jamal struggled, Jamal has been
playing pretty good as of late and has been gaining
steam as a score both in volume and an efficiency.
So like, I think the best bet for the Nuggets
at this point is, Yeah, if you can make a
(05:52):
small tweak somewhere to just bring in talent, that makes sense.
Flipping a smaller contract for a better smaller contract, whatever,
That's fine if you want to anchor bench unit or
give yourself another option in case like the Christian Brown
minutes aren't what you want in a playoff setting or
something like that, Sure, by all means make that type
of move. But an aggressive move that involves Michael Porter
Junior has some upside but also has a lot of
(06:14):
downside involving the loss of a very integral part of
what's made the Nuggets the Nuggets in recent years. So
I wouldn't give up Michael Porter Junior, not unless you
were getting like a bona fide superstar back. Even then
they would have to be a gifted off ball scorer.
So like even the like Jimmy Butler idea I don't
love because of just how important Michael Porter Junior is
as an off ball scorer. So again I'd bet on
(06:36):
Jamal getting right and I make smaller moves on the
margins to try and improve the talent the deer and
Fox piece with the like with the Kings, let him go.
It depends on how ugly things get right, Like it's
really difficult to bail on a move, like you kind
of go all in on this group by by bringing
into Marta Rozen. It's like a reinvestment in offense, and
(06:56):
a lot of times it's gonna have to get uglier
before a group is a front office is willing to
admit they were wrong about something and kind of back
out of that idea. But it could continue to get
worse that get blown out by the Pacers. They got
to go play that Lakers team that's beat him three
times already this year again on Saturday. Like if things
continue to spiral and suddenly they find themselves three, four
or five games back of the plane, they might end up,
(07:20):
you know, kind of deciding to blow this thing up.
And like there's another King's Uh, let's just go to
the next king's question here so that we can get
into it. Well, actually, there's second the second part of
the question. I think he'd make an impact on the
Spurs in a big way. I said this the other day.
I love the idea of Deer and Fox going to
the Spurs. Actually, let all three of these questions are related,
so let's just kind of go into them one by one.
(07:41):
Dear Jason, I understand that adding a point guard of
Deer and Fox's caliber could turn the San Antonio Spurs
into a contending team now, but why rush the Spurs
drafted Stefan drafted Stefan Castle, a defensive guard with the
offensive upside of Darius Carlin or Drew Holliday. With Chris
Paul starting, Castle hasn't had the opportunities to freely develop
his offensive side, and once CP three leaves or gets traded,
will be able to do just that. Additionally, the Spurs
(08:02):
have several picks in the upcoming twenty twenty five draft,
which is a lotted as a deep draft. I wouldn't
put it past them to find another diamond in the
rough as they did with Castle. I agree that Victor's
level of play and a good trade. I agree that
with Victor's level of play in a good trade, the
Spurs could compete right away, but I think they should
wait till until the next season. So a couple things.
It's complicated. Victor Eminyama is ahead of schedule, and so
(08:23):
if you can't, other young players develop much more slowly. So,
for instance, like let's say Victor is right now available
or able to be the best player in a championship team,
which I believe he is right now, you don't rip
off the numbers he's been putting up and having the
positive impact on the scoreboard that he's been having unless
you're ready for that. Right a player that gets drafted
(08:44):
in twenty twenty five, when is that guy going to
be ready to con play at a championship level? Probably
a while. We've just seen so many examples of that
over the years, where young players struggle when they get
to that level. The development arc for Wemby is different.
The development arc for Wemby is like this, and the
development arc for other players is more steady and slow.
So you've got to find a way to kind of
bridge that gap. Here's the thing. You're not giving up
(09:05):
all your draft capital in the trade. You're not giving
upway all your young players in the trade. Let's say,
for instance, it's like, you've got all these young players
that you really like, right, You've got Stefan Castle, You've
got Jeremy Sohan, You've got you know, a Devin Vessel.
You don't want to give up all three of them.
But yeah, Like if you could give up one or
two of them and you have a ton of draft picks,
(09:25):
and you give up three or four of them, but
you still have a bunch of draft capital, then you
provide Victor wemin Yama with instantaneous support a player that
can meet him at his level or at least near
it right away, so they have an opportunity to compete
while still having draft capital that you can use to
try to improve the team on the draft, while still
having young talent. You might have to pick one. You
might have to look at the situation and be like,
(09:46):
do we like Devin Vessel more, we might like Steph
Castle more. Well, we're gonna fight like hell to keep
Steph Castle, so be it. But you got to figure
out what you prioritize internally. And it's not about giving
up the entire farm. There's way too much discussion when
it comes to these trades of like giving up the
entire farm. You can't. It's not possible. Like there's just
there's rules that the Stepien rule stops you from giving
(10:08):
up all of your draft capital. Like there's a lot
of different rules in place to stop that from happening.
It's about cashing in some of that to give yourself
a better opportunity to win in the short term while
still being savvy in the big picture with your player
development and your scouting department. Did the Kings make the
same mistake in acquiring Derozen in the same way the
Suns did when they got bal Seems like both teams
(10:30):
over indexed on offense and skill and are now dealing
with the same roster limitations. At the time of the
Demart de Rosen trade, I said that I liked it
in the context of something to upgrade the front court,
but that I didn't understand what they were planning to
do on that front, right, And that's been the issue, right,
Like there's upside here that I talked about when the
(10:51):
when de Rosen got signed DeRozan taking on offensive workloads
should in theory, free up Deer and Fox to do
more work defensively. That matters if your front court can't
stop anything and That's really the issue, and it is
the same thing we talked about with Bradley Beal, which
is diminishing returns. Demart Derozen can help this offense and
can help dearon Fox, but would you be better off
(11:13):
spending that twenty million dollars salary slot on a really
high level role player that defends and competes and does
all these athletic things in which player contributes more to winning.
That's why I was saying I like DeRozan in the
context if they could also have brought in a forward
that competes in defense and rebounds, because now I'm getting
the upside of DeRozan offensively while still having guys that
(11:37):
can compete and fight in the physical areas of the game.
But if I go just for Derozen and I don't
anchor the front court, now I have the diminishing returns
of DeRozan, meaning I'm getting an upside, but not twenty
something million dollars worth of upside. Right. The one thing
I'll say, though, is DeRozan is on a very cost
controlled deal and he does provide a very important piece
(11:57):
of offensive shot creation that many teams around the league
would He is a very tradable contract, and who knows,
maybe you end up calling up someone like Orlando at
the deadline and be like, we'll give you DeRozan and
just give us a couple of your younger, better athletes
and some draft compensation. Orlando gets to make a better
push for things, and then you can maybe start rebuilding
(12:19):
the right way. That's the advantage Like Deer Fox shit
ton of trade value. Demarto Rosen probably more trade value
than people realize because he's on such an inexpensive contract
and he provides such a specific offensive ability, right, So like,
if it gets uglier, you're actually set up for a
really nice rebuild. You could bring in a shit ton
of young talent and draft assets by flipping DeRozan in
(12:39):
Fox should it come to that point. But again, it's
like we talked about with the Suns. Would the Sons
be better with Bradley Beal or Contavious Caledwell Pope? And
like when like when Devin Booker's out, you love having
Bradley bial because you need another guy who can really
create shots. But when Devin Booker's in, I'd argue you
want a guy who's a professional role player over a
third creator. In those situations, the redundancy just makes it
(13:03):
a little too a little too difficult to reap the
rewards from when you are building things around Darren Fox,
Malik Monk and Demarto Rosen three guys that Darren Fox
is capable of being a good defender, but he's inconsistent
with his effort there, and DeRozan and Fox are just bad.
I have three great offensive players that are kind of
getting in each other's way a little bit and not
doing enough work on the other end of the floor
(13:23):
to make up for it. Why are offensive ratings so
much higher than a few years ago. Why does the
middle of the pack team today have a comparable offensive
rating to the twenty seventeen Warriors. Obviously it's a shift
towards analytics and eliminating bad shots, but is there something
more to it. It's that it's the eliminating of bad
shots in the analytics, so just there's fewer mid range
job shots uncon more quality attempts at the rim, and
(13:45):
more quality attempts at the three point line, which are
just worth more, right, But a big part of it
is just player skill development. Shooting in general around the
league has improved monumentally and as a result, teams are
just really hard to guard. I talk about the back
and forth evolution of offense and defense in the NBA.
We are definitely in a phase where offenses are doing
more damage and gaining ground, but the defenses around the
(14:07):
NBA will evolve and meet them there. Like I talked about,
it's going to come through sharpness and rotation and the
ability to chase teams off the three point line and
emphasizing speed in roster construction. Those are the things that
I think are going to send the pendulum back the
other way. But the pendulum is definitely very firmly on
the offensive end at this point. Commenting after the Celtics
lost to Orlando, But it feels like this year's team
(14:27):
has struggled way more with Tatum off the floor than
last year. This has extended with chrisps porzingis back. Are
you seeing anything there that is different? Two things inconsistent
defensive effort, especially in this last stretch. They haven't too
many stretches where they're just not competing defensively. Kind of
to be expected middle of the season for a defending
champ that's already in great position in the standings, and
then too, Jalen Brown just hasn't been very good this
(14:48):
year and until he kind of gets to the point
where he's a little bit better and sharper on both
ends of the floor, I think they're going to struggle
without Jason Tatum, but I don't expect that to be
an issue. I do think Jalen Brown will eventually get
it together. First off, I started watching basketball pretty recently,
and until recently I was just a lucastan and a
lot to do with your show, I'm becoming a basketball fan.
One thing I've heard a lot is Spain pick and roll.
(15:10):
Can you please explain this to a new fan of
the sport? The simple concept? Thanks again for the content.
We had somebody two weeks ago and the mail bags
say like, hey, what if we did like just a
basic segment where I just break down basketball concepts And
I said, I'd be happy too as long as you
guys present them to me. So like you tell me, hey,
I don't understand this, can you explain this? I'd be
happy to do that as part of our mail bags
on Fridays. Spain Pick and Roll is a very very
(15:32):
simple concept. All it is is a ballscreen. So my
big is setting a screen for my ball handler, and
he's rolling to the basket right, and the guard the
ball handler is trying to turn the corner and get
downhill in the ball screen. But I have a shooter
instead of spacing, standing directly under the basket, and that
guy is going to backscreen for the roleman's defender. So
(15:53):
let's just take the Lakers for example, and let's pretend
Lebron James is the ball handler, Anthony Davis is the big,
and Austin Reeves is the screener. Okay, so Austin Reeves
is under the basket, Lebron's turning the corner, Lebron's man
is chasing over the top, Anthony Davis's man is dropping right,
so he's dropping back and he's trying to keep Lebron
and Ad in front of him, right. But as that's happening,
(16:16):
Austin Reeves is screening him in the back, which makes
it so that Lebron and Ad can go past him, right.
So what inevitably ends up happening. This can be defended
a bunch of different ways, but what most teams end
up doing is the guy who's guarding Austin ends up helping,
and he ends up being the guy that helps the
big who just got backscreen. And so what inevitably ends
(16:37):
up happening is Austin can then slip up to the
top of the key and he's wide open for three.
Lebron can swing it back and Austin can get a three.
But the way the Reids work is if they don't
help and you set a good screen, if Austin sets
a good screen, Lebron's just gonna get a dunk. Lebron's
just gonna go right to the rim because the only
guy that can block him is Anthony Davis's man and
(16:58):
he just got screened by Austin Reeves right. Or if
Lebron doesn't like his chances at the rim, Anthony Davis
can roll, and he could just throw it right up
to Anthony Davis, right. But the Spain pick and roll.
All it is is a ball screen with a shooter
running a backscreen into the role man as he's going downhill.
There's a bunch of different variations out of it, Like
I've seen versions of it where the big Man actually
(17:20):
rolls into Austin's man and he's trying to get Austin open.
But it's basically that interchange between the shooter and the
screener turning a two man action into a three man
action in a ball screen, which again anytime you run
a three man action and just increases opportunity for the
defense to make mistakes. Last question, First off, I started, Okay,
I had a Wolves question and I accidentally copy and
(17:41):
pasted the same Spain pick and roll question, But basically
I had someone just complaining about the Timberwolves offense. Talked
about this a little bit yesterday, but to me, it's
a broken roster construct because Jada McDaniels, Julius Randall, and
Rudy Gobert. You're starting three, four five combine to make
two point nine threes per game on thirty three point
nine percent. That was the number before yesterday's win against Dallas.
(18:04):
When you allow the other team to put their biggest,
strongest interior defenders in the paint and not have to
concern themselves with the outside shooting of the three or
the five, you are making life hell for your perimeter
players and everyone goes, what does Anthony Edwards always settle
for jump shots? That's why, and I talked about this yesterday.
But like yes, Anthony Edwards has ground to make as
(18:24):
a playmaker. He needs to get better at kind of
surveying the floor and reading the defense and managing games
as the primary ball handler. But it's not supposed to
be this hard either. This is a really hard way
to play basketball, and inevitably, I would like to see
Minnesota accentuate Anthony Edwards's greatest trait, which is his downhill athleticism,
by creating space for him, by providing more shooting and
(18:47):
offensive skill in the front court. And until they do that,
they're going to continue to have these kinds of ugly
stretches offensively because they're just too easy to guard in
the half court because there's just not enough of perimeter
threat coming from the front court. All right, guys, that's
all I have for today is always I sincerely appreciate
you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. I
hope you have a great weekend and we'll be back
on Monday with power rankings. Howpout to you guys. Then
(19:12):
the volume
The volume. It's the most wonderful time of the year
for getting in on all of the hoops, football and
hockey action at Draft Kings Sportsbook. In the season of giving,
we're being gifted college football and basketball, Pro football and
basketball and pro hockey too. Almost twenty four to seven.
So many games every day, so many opportunities to place
your first bet. Try betting on something simple like picking
(00:22):
a team to win. Go to the Draft Kings sportsbook
Gap and place your bet. Current Super Bowl winners on
DraftKings right now the Detroit Lions at plus two to
sixty and the Kansas City Chiefs at plus four to
twenty five. And here's a gift for all new customers.
Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets if your bet wins. Download the Draft
King Sportsbook Gap and use code hoops that's h oops.
(00:44):
That's code hoops for new customers to get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins.
When you bet just five bucks, Happy Holidays from DraftKings.
The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred
gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope
and why, or text hope and why to four to
six seven three six. In Connecticut, help us available for
problem gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven
(01:04):
seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play
responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas
twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void
in Ontario. Bet must win to receive award. Bonus bets
expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For
additional terms and responsible gaming resources to DKG dot co
slash b Ball. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here
(01:38):
at the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody up. All of you
guys are having a great week. It's mail bag day.
I've got about seven questions. It's gonna be shorter mail
bag than usual this week where we're gonna be hitting
a bunch of questions from around the league. You guys
know the drill before we get started. To subscribe to
the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt so
you guys don't miss you announcements. Don't forget about our
podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight.
It's also super helpful you leave rating and a review
(02:00):
on that front. We also have brand new social media
feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing more content
throughout the year. Make sure you follow us there, and
if you want to get questions into these mail bags,
drop them in the YouTube comments. Again, if you put
a little mail bag and then colon, that's kind of
a signifier for me when I'm scrolling through the comments
that that's a mailbag question. Leave the mailbag questions in
those YouTube comments and we'll get to them on Fridays
as we moved throughout the season. And the last but
(02:21):
not least, before we get started, I want to talk
to you guys about Game Time, an incredible ticket buying service.
I've used them multiple times in the past. They have
given me, by far, the best experience that I've had
in that space. A highly highly recommend it to you guys.
It's a great time to get out and see events.
We've got the NFL in full swing, the NBA in
full swing, and college football playoffs going on. We caught
(02:41):
college basketball we've got hockey, we've got concerts, we've got
comedy shows. There's amazing shows for you guys to get
out and see. And Game Time provides an excellent experience.
You have all in pricing, so you know what you're
going to pay by the before you go to check out.
There's no surprise increase there. You can check out in
as few as two taps, so it's not conted. You
have a view of your seat within the apps, you
(03:02):
know exactly what you're buying with your money. They also
have a new feature called game Time Picks. Instead of
clicking on an event and seeing thousands and thousands of tickets,
they'll curate the feed and show you just the best
deals from that specific event, so you can streamline that
Streamline that process, take the guesswork out of buying tickets
with game Time Picks. Download the game Time app, create
an account, use code Hoops for twenty dollars off your
(03:22):
first purchase terms apply again, Create an account, Redeem code Hoops.
That's Hoops for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today.
What time is it? Game Time? All right, let's get
into our mail bag. First question, where do you land
on the Nuggets trading for Zach Levine. I don't think
he's an upgrade over Michael Porter Junior and with more
health concerns. Also, I saw a trade rumor of the
(03:45):
Spurs getting Fox with the Kings let him go. I
think he'd make an impact on the Spurs in a
big way, and like the fit so on the Levine front.
I've been talking about this with the Nuggets for a while.
I think Michael Porter Junior's off balls scoring is so important.
And do I think Zach Lavine is a better offensive
player than Michael Porter Junior. Yeah, I do. I think
(04:07):
he's a much better on ball player that also is
a good off ball threat. But when the Nuggets are
at their best, Michael Porter Junior is part of the
size problem they give people. You end up having to
put big bodies on Jokic and Gordon, and then you
end up wanting to put a pretty big perimeter defender
(04:27):
on Jamal Murray because there are a lot of switches
that take place against the Murrayjokic two man game, just
because Jokic sets monster screens and so that guy has
to be able to peel off and box out and
like battle in a post up mismatches stuff like that.
So you're usually putting your three biggest players on Jamal Murray, Jokic,
and Aaron Gordon, and so a lot of times Michael
(04:49):
Porter Junior has like a pretty substantial size advantage, and
he could do damage on the offensive glass there, right,
he can shoot over the top of them. He's an
even bigger spacing threat because of his height in that
sort of situation. Right. And then also just when Michael
Porter Junior is locked in, he's a pretty solid off
ball defender in defensive rebounder, which are areas where Zach
(05:10):
Lavine can struggle sometimes. So I look at Michael Porter
Junior and the gap between him and Zack Lavine as
not substantial enough to justify the loss of losing a
guy like Michael Porter Jr. Now, if I was under
the impression that Jamal Murray was just going to be
bad and that he's never going to be the same,
now we change the discussion because Jamal Murray and what
(05:32):
he does is actually more important even than when Michael
Porter Junior does. And if Jamal Murray's not going to
do that, you got to find somebody to do that role.
And a guy like Zach Lavine can help. But up
until the Sun's game where Jamal struggled, Jamal has been
playing pretty good as of late and has been gaining
steam as a score both in volume and an efficiency.
So like, I think the best bet for the Nuggets
at this point is, Yeah, if you can make a
(05:52):
small tweak somewhere to just bring in talent, that makes sense.
Flipping a smaller contract for a better smaller contract, whatever,
That's fine if you want to anchor bench unit or
give yourself another option in case like the Christian Brown
minutes aren't what you want in a playoff setting or
something like that, Sure, by all means make that type
of move. But an aggressive move that involves Michael Porter
Junior has some upside but also has a lot of
(06:14):
downside involving the loss of a very integral part of
what's made the Nuggets the Nuggets in recent years. So
I wouldn't give up Michael Porter Junior, not unless you
were getting like a bona fide superstar back. Even then
they would have to be a gifted off ball scorer.
So like even the like Jimmy Butler idea I don't
love because of just how important Michael Porter Junior is
as an off ball scorer. So again I'd bet on
(06:36):
Jamal getting right and I make smaller moves on the
margins to try and improve the talent the deer and
Fox piece with the like with the Kings, let him go.
It depends on how ugly things get right, Like it's
really difficult to bail on a move, like you kind
of go all in on this group by by bringing
into Marta Rozen. It's like a reinvestment in offense, and
(06:56):
a lot of times it's gonna have to get uglier
before a group is a front office is willing to
admit they were wrong about something and kind of back
out of that idea. But it could continue to get
worse that get blown out by the Pacers. They got
to go play that Lakers team that's beat him three
times already this year again on Saturday. Like if things
continue to spiral and suddenly they find themselves three, four
or five games back of the plane, they might end up,
(07:20):
you know, kind of deciding to blow this thing up.
And like there's another King's Uh, let's just go to
the next king's question here so that we can get
into it. Well, actually, there's second the second part of
the question. I think he'd make an impact on the
Spurs in a big way. I said this the other day.
I love the idea of Deer and Fox going to
the Spurs. Actually, let all three of these questions are related,
so let's just kind of go into them one by one.
(07:41):
Dear Jason, I understand that adding a point guard of
Deer and Fox's caliber could turn the San Antonio Spurs
into a contending team now, but why rush the Spurs
drafted Stefan drafted Stefan Castle, a defensive guard with the
offensive upside of Darius Carlin or Drew Holliday. With Chris
Paul starting, Castle hasn't had the opportunities to freely develop
his offensive side, and once CP three leaves or gets traded,
will be able to do just that. Additionally, the Spurs
(08:02):
have several picks in the upcoming twenty twenty five draft,
which is a lotted as a deep draft. I wouldn't
put it past them to find another diamond in the
rough as they did with Castle. I agree that Victor's
level of play and a good trade. I agree that
with Victor's level of play in a good trade, the
Spurs could compete right away, but I think they should
wait till until the next season. So a couple things.
It's complicated. Victor Eminyama is ahead of schedule, and so
(08:23):
if you can't, other young players develop much more slowly. So,
for instance, like let's say Victor is right now available
or able to be the best player in a championship team,
which I believe he is right now, you don't rip
off the numbers he's been putting up and having the
positive impact on the scoreboard that he's been having unless
you're ready for that. Right a player that gets drafted
(08:44):
in twenty twenty five, when is that guy going to
be ready to con play at a championship level? Probably
a while. We've just seen so many examples of that
over the years, where young players struggle when they get
to that level. The development arc for Wemby is different.
The development arc for Wemby is like this, and the
development arc for other players is more steady and slow.
So you've got to find a way to kind of
bridge that gap. Here's the thing. You're not giving up
(09:05):
all your draft capital in the trade. You're not giving
upway all your young players in the trade. Let's say,
for instance, it's like, you've got all these young players
that you really like, right, You've got Stefan Castle, You've
got Jeremy Sohan, You've got you know, a Devin Vessel.
You don't want to give up all three of them.
But yeah, Like if you could give up one or
two of them and you have a ton of draft picks,
(09:25):
and you give up three or four of them, but
you still have a bunch of draft capital, then you
provide Victor wemin Yama with instantaneous support a player that
can meet him at his level or at least near
it right away, so they have an opportunity to compete
while still having draft capital that you can use to
try to improve the team on the draft, while still
having young talent. You might have to pick one. You
might have to look at the situation and be like,
(09:46):
do we like Devin Vessel more, we might like Steph
Castle more. Well, we're gonna fight like hell to keep
Steph Castle, so be it. But you got to figure
out what you prioritize internally. And it's not about giving
up the entire farm. There's way too much discussion when
it comes to these trades of like giving up the
entire farm. You can't. It's not possible. Like there's just
there's rules that the Stepien rule stops you from giving
(10:08):
up all of your draft capital. Like there's a lot
of different rules in place to stop that from happening.
It's about cashing in some of that to give yourself
a better opportunity to win in the short term while
still being savvy in the big picture with your player
development and your scouting department. Did the Kings make the
same mistake in acquiring Derozen in the same way the
Suns did when they got bal Seems like both teams
(10:30):
over indexed on offense and skill and are now dealing
with the same roster limitations. At the time of the
Demart de Rosen trade, I said that I liked it
in the context of something to upgrade the front court,
but that I didn't understand what they were planning to
do on that front, right, And that's been the issue, right,
Like there's upside here that I talked about when the
(10:51):
when de Rosen got signed DeRozan taking on offensive workloads
should in theory, free up Deer and Fox to do
more work defensively. That matters if your front court can't
stop anything and That's really the issue, and it is
the same thing we talked about with Bradley Beal, which
is diminishing returns. Demart Derozen can help this offense and
can help dearon Fox, but would you be better off
(11:13):
spending that twenty million dollars salary slot on a really
high level role player that defends and competes and does
all these athletic things in which player contributes more to winning.
That's why I was saying I like DeRozan in the
context if they could also have brought in a forward
that competes in defense and rebounds, because now I'm getting
the upside of DeRozan offensively while still having guys that
(11:37):
can compete and fight in the physical areas of the game.
But if I go just for Derozen and I don't
anchor the front court, now I have the diminishing returns
of DeRozan, meaning I'm getting an upside, but not twenty
something million dollars worth of upside. Right. The one thing
I'll say, though, is DeRozan is on a very cost
controlled deal and he does provide a very important piece
(11:57):
of offensive shot creation that many teams around the league
would He is a very tradable contract, and who knows,
maybe you end up calling up someone like Orlando at
the deadline and be like, we'll give you DeRozan and
just give us a couple of your younger, better athletes
and some draft compensation. Orlando gets to make a better
push for things, and then you can maybe start rebuilding
(12:19):
the right way. That's the advantage Like Deer Fox shit
ton of trade value. Demarto Rosen probably more trade value
than people realize because he's on such an inexpensive contract
and he provides such a specific offensive ability, right, So like,
if it gets uglier, you're actually set up for a
really nice rebuild. You could bring in a shit ton
of young talent and draft assets by flipping DeRozan in
(12:39):
Fox should it come to that point. But again, it's
like we talked about with the Suns. Would the Sons
be better with Bradley Beal or Contavious Caledwell Pope? And
like when like when Devin Booker's out, you love having
Bradley bial because you need another guy who can really
create shots. But when Devin Booker's in, I'd argue you
want a guy who's a professional role player over a
third creator. In those situations, the redundancy just makes it
(13:03):
a little too a little too difficult to reap the
rewards from when you are building things around Darren Fox,
Malik Monk and Demarto Rosen three guys that Darren Fox
is capable of being a good defender, but he's inconsistent
with his effort there, and DeRozan and Fox are just bad.
I have three great offensive players that are kind of
getting in each other's way a little bit and not
doing enough work on the other end of the floor
(13:23):
to make up for it. Why are offensive ratings so
much higher than a few years ago. Why does the
middle of the pack team today have a comparable offensive
rating to the twenty seventeen Warriors. Obviously it's a shift
towards analytics and eliminating bad shots, but is there something
more to it. It's that it's the eliminating of bad
shots in the analytics, so just there's fewer mid range
job shots uncon more quality attempts at the rim, and
(13:45):
more quality attempts at the three point line, which are
just worth more, right, But a big part of it
is just player skill development. Shooting in general around the
league has improved monumentally and as a result, teams are
just really hard to guard. I talk about the back
and forth evolution of offense and defense in the NBA.
We are definitely in a phase where offenses are doing
more damage and gaining ground, but the defenses around the
(14:07):
NBA will evolve and meet them there. Like I talked about,
it's going to come through sharpness and rotation and the
ability to chase teams off the three point line and
emphasizing speed in roster construction. Those are the things that
I think are going to send the pendulum back the
other way. But the pendulum is definitely very firmly on
the offensive end at this point. Commenting after the Celtics
lost to Orlando, But it feels like this year's team
(14:27):
has struggled way more with Tatum off the floor than
last year. This has extended with chrisps porzingis back. Are
you seeing anything there that is different? Two things inconsistent
defensive effort, especially in this last stretch. They haven't too
many stretches where they're just not competing defensively. Kind of
to be expected middle of the season for a defending
champ that's already in great position in the standings, and
then too, Jalen Brown just hasn't been very good this
(14:48):
year and until he kind of gets to the point
where he's a little bit better and sharper on both
ends of the floor, I think they're going to struggle
without Jason Tatum, but I don't expect that to be
an issue. I do think Jalen Brown will eventually get
it together. First off, I started watching basketball pretty recently,
and until recently I was just a lucastan and a
lot to do with your show, I'm becoming a basketball fan.
One thing I've heard a lot is Spain pick and roll.
(15:10):
Can you please explain this to a new fan of
the sport? The simple concept? Thanks again for the content.
We had somebody two weeks ago and the mail bags
say like, hey, what if we did like just a
basic segment where I just break down basketball concepts And
I said, I'd be happy too as long as you
guys present them to me. So like you tell me, hey,
I don't understand this, can you explain this? I'd be
happy to do that as part of our mail bags
on Fridays. Spain Pick and Roll is a very very
(15:32):
simple concept. All it is is a ballscreen. So my
big is setting a screen for my ball handler, and
he's rolling to the basket right, and the guard the
ball handler is trying to turn the corner and get
downhill in the ball screen. But I have a shooter
instead of spacing, standing directly under the basket, and that
guy is going to backscreen for the roleman's defender. So
(15:53):
let's just take the Lakers for example, and let's pretend
Lebron James is the ball handler, Anthony Davis is the big,
and Austin Reeves is the screener. Okay, so Austin Reeves
is under the basket, Lebron's turning the corner, Lebron's man
is chasing over the top, Anthony Davis's man is dropping right,
so he's dropping back and he's trying to keep Lebron
and Ad in front of him, right. But as that's happening,
(16:16):
Austin Reeves is screening him in the back, which makes
it so that Lebron and Ad can go past him, right.
So what inevitably ends up happening. This can be defended
a bunch of different ways, but what most teams end
up doing is the guy who's guarding Austin ends up helping,
and he ends up being the guy that helps the
big who just got backscreen. And so what inevitably ends
(16:37):
up happening is Austin can then slip up to the
top of the key and he's wide open for three.
Lebron can swing it back and Austin can get a three.
But the way the Reids work is if they don't
help and you set a good screen, if Austin sets
a good screen, Lebron's just gonna get a dunk. Lebron's
just gonna go right to the rim because the only
guy that can block him is Anthony Davis's man and
(16:58):
he just got screened by Austin Reeves right. Or if
Lebron doesn't like his chances at the rim, Anthony Davis
can roll, and he could just throw it right up
to Anthony Davis, right. But the Spain pick and roll.
All it is is a ball screen with a shooter
running a backscreen into the role man as he's going downhill.
There's a bunch of different variations out of it, Like
I've seen versions of it where the big Man actually
(17:20):
rolls into Austin's man and he's trying to get Austin open.
But it's basically that interchange between the shooter and the
screener turning a two man action into a three man
action in a ball screen, which again anytime you run
a three man action and just increases opportunity for the
defense to make mistakes. Last question, First off, I started, Okay,
I had a Wolves question and I accidentally copy and
(17:41):
pasted the same Spain pick and roll question, But basically
I had someone just complaining about the Timberwolves offense. Talked
about this a little bit yesterday, but to me, it's
a broken roster construct because Jada McDaniels, Julius Randall, and
Rudy Gobert. You're starting three, four five combine to make
two point nine threes per game on thirty three point
nine percent. That was the number before yesterday's win against Dallas.
(18:04):
When you allow the other team to put their biggest,
strongest interior defenders in the paint and not have to
concern themselves with the outside shooting of the three or
the five, you are making life hell for your perimeter
players and everyone goes, what does Anthony Edwards always settle
for jump shots? That's why, and I talked about this yesterday.
But like yes, Anthony Edwards has ground to make as
(18:24):
a playmaker. He needs to get better at kind of
surveying the floor and reading the defense and managing games
as the primary ball handler. But it's not supposed to
be this hard either. This is a really hard way
to play basketball, and inevitably, I would like to see
Minnesota accentuate Anthony Edwards's greatest trait, which is his downhill athleticism,
by creating space for him, by providing more shooting and
(18:47):
offensive skill in the front court. And until they do that,
they're going to continue to have these kinds of ugly
stretches offensively because they're just too easy to guard in
the half court because there's just not enough of perimeter
threat coming from the front court. All right, guys, that's
all I have for today is always I sincerely appreciate
you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. I
hope you have a great weekend and we'll be back
on Monday with power rankings. Howpout to you guys. Then
(19:12):
the volume
Host
Jason Timpf
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