NBA Preseason Reaction: Lakers-Suns, Nuggets-Wolves, Knicks-76ers, Warriors first impressions

Jason reacts to the first slate of NBA Preseason games including the Minnesota Timberwolves vs Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks vs Philadelphia 76ers, and breaks down the Golden State Warriors preseason debut.

All lines provided by hardrock.bet

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to him, said I here
at the volume heavy Monday, everybody. I hope all of
you guys had a great weekend. We have basketball back.

(00:21):
I am very thankful. I was taking a moment yesterday.
I was very thankful to have basketball back in my
life on many levels because I had a rough summer.
In addition to not having any basketball to watch, I
also was not able to play much basketball this summer
of thirty four now, so I can't get over the
the bumps and bruises as well as I used to.
I had kind of like an ankle injury that turned

(00:42):
into a foot injury that held me out of the
game for almost two months. And I'm back to playing now,
I'm back to watching. I was watching a bunch of
basketball this morning. We're gonna be hitting on eight different
NBA teams today. We're gonna do two big preseason reactions,
one this Monday and one next Monday. The rest of
our preseason ten is going to be season previews, which

(01:02):
will be coming out throughout each of these weeks. But
I'm just very thankful to have basketball back. I know
all of you basketball nut jobs out there are very
excited to have it back as well, and it's gonna
be a lot of fun to dive into these games today.
You guys know 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, underscore JCNLT

(01:22):
so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about
our podcast feed wherever each your podcast under Hoops Tonight.
It's also super helpful if you leave a rating in
a review on that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on
our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Make sure you guys follow us there. And last, but
not least, if you want to get mailbag questions in.
We're doing a mail bag next week, which will be
our last mail bag before the start of the season.

(01:43):
Make sure you drop those questions in our full episodes
on YouTube in the comments, and we will get to
them when we get to our mailbags throughout the remainder
of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
the eight teams are hitting today, just so you guys know,
the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers,
the Golden State Warriors, the Phoenix, the New York Knicks,
the Philadelphia seventy six ers, and the Orlando Magic. Obviously,

(02:06):
some briefer hits on a couple of those teams, some
longer hits on some others. But a lot of basketball
to get into today before we get into that first game,
the Minnesota Denver game that I want to start with today.
Big picture with the NBA preseason, definitely don't want to
overreact to anything. Trust me, I've seen the takes flying around.
I'm seeing obituaries getting written already over one half of

(02:27):
preseason basketball for some of these teams. Everybody, relax. There's
a lot of different phases in development for these teams.
Some of these teams have been together working out all summer.
Some teams are younger, more athletic, and in better shape.
Some teams are older and are easing their way into things.
Some teams are playing a lot of their guys guys.
Some teams are playing very few of their guys. I

(02:49):
don't want to dig into any sort of big picture
stuff in terms of like definitive impressions of teams until
we get much further along. But I am in in
just how teams look as a small in like zooming
in at individual things. How does this individual player look
in this specific context. Oh, here's a new player. What

(03:11):
are the initial returns? What does the fit look like? Okay,
this team has big picture goals of getting to this point.
Are they close to that yet or do they have
a long way to go, especially with some of the
the teams that need to scale up their defense. Teams
like Denver in LA, both of their defenses look like
trash right now. That doesn't mean they can't get to
where they need to get. It just means they're not

(03:32):
there yet, right, So, lots of zooming in on specifics.
Nothing we talk about today is going to be a
sweeping declaration about the big picture potential of these teams.
It's preseason, it's way too early to make those kinds
of calls, but we can at least learn where these
teams are at in their journey to reach their ultimate ceiling,

(03:53):
whatever it may be. So let's get started with Minnesota,
Denver so Minnesota classic example, like and you're going to
see a lot of these like intensity gaps in these games.
And it's been kind of funny to see how it
even translates from game two games. So, for instance, like
Minnesota came out in this game with just an insane
level of intensity that Denver seemed completely unwilling to match,

(04:13):
and that really manifested when Minnesota was on offense against
Denver's defense.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Similarly, I thought Phoenix came out and physically overwhelmed the
Lakers in their first game with the level of intensity
right from the jump ball that the Lakers didn't really
seem ready for.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
But then the Lakers in their second game against Golden State,
sitting out their best three players and all their shot creators,
were able to hang tight with a Golden State team
because the Lakers had been woken up a little bit
by Phoenix and a game that kind of accelerated their
adaptation to the physical intensity of the moment. They brought
more intensity and allowed them to hang with the more

(04:51):
talented Golden State team, who they are still in a
different processes. They're easing their way into this in terms
of the intensity. The bottom line is you can you
can expect in these preseason environments to people to be
at for teams to be at different phases in their preparation,
and that's gonna manifest in this sort of stuff, a
big part of why it doesn't make any sense to

(05:12):
have super big picture opinions about this kind of stuff.
But Minnesota attacking the room like crazy. Rudy Golbaert goes
right at Nikola Jokic like three times in the opening
minutes for layup, layup, layup. They were aggressively shooting off
the catch. Denver's defense was completely on their heels. Aaron Gordon,
who had done a lot of talking early in camp
about how they were gonna be better on defense this year,

(05:32):
he was one of the primary culprits kind of like
losing shooters, being slow on his closeouts, conceding catch and
shoot looks because that intensity just wasn't there. Jokic must
have conceded a half dozen layups just in the first
quarter alone, like just letting people go through him or
around him, because he just wasn't interested in making that effort.
Christian Brown was losing contain over and over again. Denver's

(05:55):
defense was just the furthest thing from locked in in
this environment, and Minnesota was just made and then pay
to it. But to be clear, it was not just effort.
Minnesota has a real athleticism advantage in this matchup, and
so Denver has to be at the top of their
game in order to keep up with them in this setting.
I was super impressed by Minnesota's young guys. Rob Dillingham
got a couple of really good looks early and he

(06:17):
missed them. But then he found his rhythm and really
executed the offense well. He had a bunch of jump shots,
started getting clean looks and was hitting them. Finished with
nine assists. Terrence Shannon was a big standout for me.
He was applying a ton of rim pressure in all
three phases, so like in transition, attacking closeouts, and in
action when he had the ball so like coming off
a handofs or screens. He made very impressive kickout passes

(06:40):
from the middle of the floor, like whipping it out
to open shooters. He had one where he came off
of a ball screen at the top towards his left hand,
obviously his strong hand, and whipped a left handed pass
across the court to shooter in the right corner. He
had an impressive little drop off in the middle of
the in the middle of the lane to Zakarski right
under the basket for a layup. Honestly, Terrence Shannon just
looked like a really nice driving kick player that's going

(07:02):
to fit this system. We saw him get to play
a little bit in the postseason last year, and I
think he's gonna have a much bigger role this year.
When the Kiel Alexander Walker out Jalen Clark, he came
in and was like hounding Jamal Murray all the way
out to half court. Excellent ball pressure. He has this
like stout like low center of gravity with a bunch
of strength. Jamal wanted no parts of him one on one.

(07:22):
Was basically just protecting the ball until they could get
him into a ball screen, which is smart. You don't
want to mess with a guy like that if you
don't have to. And Jamal, I thought, actually played pretty well.
But I thought Jalen Clark and Tarren Shannon showed plenty
in order for us to kind of assume that those
two guys will be able to reasonably fill the na
Keile Alexander Walker role. The question is can they get
to the point where they can play a couple of

(07:43):
playoff shifts. And I just think it's a really good
chance that at least one of those guys. If not
both of them, is going to be in a position
where they can play a playoff shift and be able
to hold the four down long enough for that really
talented starting lineup to get back out on the floor.
Jad McDaniel was super sharp from the perimeter. He hit
a couple of nice pull up threes. He was dribbling

(08:04):
out at the top of the key against Cam Johnson,
and Cam Johnson went under a pick. And what do
you do as the ball handler when the guy goes
under the pick. You gotta make him pay by hitting
the pull up three. He hit the pull up three
at the top of the key. Then he hit like
a step back off of like a scissor dribble on
the left wing where he got good separation and just
rose up over the top and just hit like a
buttery smooth step back three. And as I'm watching that,
I'm like, Okay, Jaden was shooting really well and was

(08:27):
showing some real upside offensively in last year's postseason run,
and this kind of felt like a continuation of that.
So obviously, very very exciting. If Jaden McDaniels can continue
to improve offensively, the Wolves are just gonna be really good.
They're huge, they're athletic, they're deep, they're super talented, they
have tons of shooting, they're physical, and they're competitive. They

(08:48):
sneak You have a lot of continuity now between their core,
like guys like Anthony Edwards and Jada McDaniels and Rudy Gobert,
nas Reed mcconnley. These guys have been playing together a
long time. You've got a full season in three playoffs
series with Dante DiVincenzo and Julius Randall too. Julius obviously
didn't play in that game. But they have a sneaky
large amount of continuity compared to a lot of the
teams around the league. I said this in my season preview,

(09:10):
which you guys will here. I believe we've already aired it.
I think it aired last week on Friday.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
But I think.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
They're pretty clearly the best second tier team in the West.
If we all assume that Denver and okcre that top tier,
and then I have Cleveland at number three in my
contender rankings, which you guys will hear when they come
out next week. That's more based on the fact that
they're in the Eastern Conference, so they have a pretty
easy path to get to the finals compared to what's
going on in the West. But among that next tier

(09:38):
of contenders in the West, Minnesota for me is the pick.
That's the team that I think has the best chance
to upset get out of the conference, potentially win the championship,
more so than a Lakers, or a Clippers or a
Golden State, all of those teams in that tier. I'm
just a big believer in that team, and frankly, I'm
sick and tired of underestimating them as I have over
the course of the last couple of years. I haven't

(10:00):
seen anything Edwards yet, and I'm super excited to see
what he brings to the table. But just seeing what
we've seen from the young guys and the continued offensive
development of Jade McDaniels, and just the overall impressive physicality
they keep bringing to the table, I'm impressed by them.
The weird thing with them is I think they're kind
of matchup dependent. Like we all know they can beat Denver.
I would pick Denver to beat them in a series,

(10:21):
but it's much closer to a coin flip than people
would think, And so I do give Minnesota a ton
of respect there. The thing with Minnesota that keeps them
as a second tier team for me is I just
I literally don't think they can beat Oklahoma City. I
don't think there's enough that Ant can improve on in
just one year to close the gap between him and
Shay enough to be able to overcome that simple problem

(10:42):
that Ant has consistently dealt with, which is rim protection
in combination with athleticism in an elite defense. It seems
to have been the Achilles heel for Ant at this
point in his career. So it's weird because if they
somehow work it out to where they only have to
beat Denver, I think they've got like an awesome chance
to win the title, like a really good chance. But
if they end up in a bracket situation where they

(11:05):
have to go through OKC, it kind of feels like
a death sentence for them. And so that's gonna be
what ultimately keeps them in the second tier for me,
at least in the short term, unless they show something
substantial this year on the Denver front. Obviously, the defense
left a lot to be desired, but it's really tough
to evaluate because they straight up weren't meeting the intensity
of the moment. I shouldn't even say of the moment,

(11:25):
just of the Wolves and what they were bringing from
the jump, but lots of encouraging stuff for Nuggets fans.
On offense, predictably, Cam Johnson looked like a very natural
fit on that end of the floor, flowing in and
out of action, making reads.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
When he got to the middle of the floor on.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Kickouts, he got an easy layup off of a back
cut on the right side of the flour where Yokic
hit him easily for a layup. I just don't see
any problems at all with the basketball fit there. He
was in great contain on defense either, but he again,
that whole team wasn't really bringing the intensity there, so
I'm trying not to overthink it at this point. Aaron

(12:00):
Gordon's jumper still looks fantastic. He showed some mid range
kind of like ISO stuff as well, kind of a
rescue possession along the left elbow where he just shot
over the top and then pretty nifty little crossover move
into a pull up along the right baseline that he hit.
And I mean I saw a bunch of that in
his summer, like pickup tape, you know, the stuff that's
going around on Instagram of dudes just.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Playing pickup basketball.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
We saw a lot of that from Aaron Gordon this summer,
so I was wondering how much more we will see
of it, and I do think that we'll see more
of that this year. I thought Jamal looked like he
was in better shape than he typically is in at
this point in the season. He's getting good lift on
his jumper. He looked strong on his drives. I think
he had five assists in one turnover. He was handling
the ball well. I thought he looked good. Christian Brown

(12:42):
is flying up and down the floor and transitioned from
the jump, kind of a classic Nicola Jokic play. On
their first defensive stop, kind of a scrum rebound situation,
Yokic is getting like dudes are hanging on him. He
gets the rebound and Christian Brown leaks out and he
just literally has like just barely a step on the
who's trailing him, and there's a big gap up the

(13:02):
floor in front of him. There's other defenders back, but
there was just kind of a gap between Christian and
the next layer of the transition defense, and Jokic just
kind of flipped it up ahead like this big looping
bounce pass that Christian just ran into like a wide
receiver and he got all the way to the rim
for a foul. And you could see Jokic like after
he threw the pass, he just wanted to chill mode.
It was like, I'll just stay back here on defense.

(13:23):
And it's just always been a sneaky, awesome part of
Denver's attack on offenses.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
They just hunt these.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Transition opportunities to make the game easier for them. And again,
it's a way to make your athleticism compliment your unathletic players,
right Like you get a guy like Jokic who can
literally run a devastating transition attack like he's been running
for years even though he's not a great athlete, just
because he's constantly looking for his athletes in the open floor.

(13:51):
Lots of exciting stuff from the bench. Jonas Falenciunis I
talked a lot about scheme consistency with him over the
course of the summer. It was really fun to watch
them just play Nuggets basketball when Jokics was out there
right like, or when Jokic went out of the game,
like they just threw the ball to Jonas on the
block against Joan Barringer over and over and over again,
and he abused him on the block three times in

(14:12):
a row for like layups and easy hook shots. He
was setting great screens out at the three point line,
freeing ball handlers up. He was hitting guys on cuts
in and out of action. He hit Julian Strawther for
an easy one right underneath the basket. I just think
the fit there is perfect. Yonas is going to be
great with them in that role. Jalen Picket came up,
It came in and put in like a tough shot

(14:33):
making display. He hit like a step back three at
the top of the key, and then he had two
rescue possessions where the clocks running out and everyone just
was like, here.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
You do it.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
And he made two ridiculous tough shots, like a kind
of a movement three out of the right corner and
then like a one legged fade away on the left
wing that he hit some impressive shot making there. Peyton
Watson looked super athletic in transition. Had a couple of
nifty finishes on drives, a left handed finish coming off
of a dribble hand off on the right side of
the floor, and then a nice kind of like slow

(15:02):
down mature pump fake wait for the defender to come
in the to get in the air, and then find
that little angle for the push shot. Tim Hardaway Junior
missed his shots, but you could see the fit at
least with him coming in and action in and out
of action with Jokic. I thought the basketball fit made
a lot of sense there. The offense is gonna be incredible,
there's no way around it. I you know, they were

(15:23):
barely trying in that first half in terms of their
physical intensity against an excellent defensive group in Minnesota, and
they put up sixty three points, like just easy. And
they're gonna be a lot better as the season progresses.
Jokic is still amazing. He's just so deadly in the
short range. He got like two identical little floating bank
shots off of inverted ball screens on the right wing

(15:45):
where he just went down the floor, rim protector steps
up and just boom, nice and soft over the top
off the glass. Mid range jumper looks great. He hit
like a little short one up against a great contest
against Golbert, and then another one along the left elbow.
They're just gonna be an awesome offense. They're gonna score
a million points this year. I'm gonna say the same
thing about them that I'm gonna say about the Lakers
when we get later into the show. They need to

(16:06):
be an incredibly sharp execution team on defense, and they
didn't look like it in their first preseason game. Now
I'm less worried about it for this particular group because
they've consistently shown the ability to scale up after chilling
in the regular season. They're basically right now the best
switch flipping defense in the league. Right Like, they can
look bad for long stretches and then be good. Even

(16:27):
the year they won the title, they were bad on
defense to end the year and it just didn't matter
because they were able to scale up when they needed to.
That said, the margins are a little tighter in this
particular league because of Oklahoma City and because of the
threats of teams like Minnesota and some of the other
teams in the West. Right So, with that being the case,

(16:48):
I think it is probably a bit more important for
this team to be a little more diligent in terms
of their focus and execution on defense in the regular
season than in years past. It's just something to keep
an eye on. Today's show is brought to you by
our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. The NBA season
is right around the corner and we're incredibly excited. Haven't
placed your first bet yet? Now is the perfect time.

(17:10):
Bet five dollars and if it wins, you don't just
get your payout, You've also cash in one hundred and
fifty dollars in bonus bets on top. If you're looking
to bet NBA futures, they're live on hard Rock Bet.
You can bet on the Finals, MVP, Rookie of the Year,
sixth Man, and a lot more. Open up the app
to see everything that's live and lock in today's odds
if you like what you see. And on Wednesdays, if

(17:32):
you're already betting on the hard Rock Sports Book app,
you know what that means. It's the last day to
use your legendary rewards drops. Open up the app today
you can have a bonus bet or who knows what's
in there? More drops every Thursday. The rewards and promos
are NonStop. Download a hard Rock Bet app today and
make your first deposit payable and bonus bets not a

(17:52):
cash offer offered by the Seminal Tribe of Florida in Florida,
offered by Seminal Hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states.
Must be to anyone plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and
conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call one eight

(18:12):
eight eight admit it. In Indiana. If you or someone
you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call
one eight hundred and nine with it. Gambling problem called
one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
or Virginia. All right, Moving on to the Los Angeles Lakers,
A lot of good, lot of bad. The good I

(18:35):
thought Austin looked amazing. Phoenix came out with super intense
ball pressure right away with their big, strong athletes, not
a big surprise. With the addition of Dylan Brooks. They
also started Ohso Gudaro at center and they did a
lot of switching with him, which was interesting because it
kind of.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
Forced the pick and roll attack.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
It took away those easy role opportunities for a guy
like eight, and then it turned into kind of more
of like an ISO have to create shots against physical
defenders in space type of situation. And we're gonna talk
about Phoenix later in the show. But I told you
guys they'd be a pain in the ass to play against,
and I thought they demonstrated that fully in their first
preseason game. I think that's an example of something that
will continue throughout the year. Again, preseason is about the

(19:15):
journey from where you are to what you're going to be,
and all these teams are different spots in that process.
The Phoenix is pretty far along in though, we're going
to be a pain in the ass on defense process.
And I thought they were really really impressive in that game,
albeit against a Lakers team that was missing most of
their ball handling. But I was really impressed by the
way Austin handled that like he just he ended up

(19:38):
getting Ryan done for most of that Dylan Brooks was
going after Rueyatcha Mura and he was causing him some problems,
but Austin just like really strong with the ball. He
was able to get separation from the ball pressure by
attacking and then retreating to generate space. That way he
could then get into his bag to try to beat
his man off the dribbler to get to one of
his jump shots. When Phoenix swarmed him. He was strong

(20:00):
with the ball and got into their bodies and he
drew fouls. He ended up getting seven foul shot attempts
in that game. I thought he passed the ball pretty well.
Didn't show in the box score. I think he only
had two assists, but because guys were struggling to finish,
he set up several clean catch and shoot looks that
didn't go in. He had a nasty spin movie. He
was on a ball screen on the left side of
the floor. His mann was icing it and he just

(20:20):
spun out of it over his left shoulder with his
left hand and then just threw a perfect shovel pass
at Deandreyton, who was in the pocket eight and just
smoked the left handed layup. But I thought it was
a really nice piece of playmaking from Austin. He ended
up hitting Jackson Hayes for a nasty poster dunk on
Devin Booker on a ball screen off the.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Left side of the floor.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I just thought he looked strong, he looked athletic, and
he looked ready to kick ass the season, he had
twenty points on eleven shots in just twenty one minutes.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Austin is just a really good player, and.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
If he continues to get better, he continues to add
talent to this team and this configuration with Luca, some
of his athletic limitations rise to the surface more. But
at the same time, like in the era after Lebron,
a player like him becomes so important.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Next to Luca.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
So like it's just a really tough situation because you
could argue in the short term he's not the best fit,
but in the long term he is a guy that
they have to look at. And I just think Austin's
a really good player and if it's not with the
Lakers long term, it'll be for someone else. I'm a
big believer in his skill set and I'm hoping that
he can help the Lakers a lot in this particular season.

(21:22):
I thought Jared Vanderbilt looked great. The word coming out
of camp from JJ was that his athleticism and his
foot speed was like night and day different from last
year when he was coming back from his foot injury.
And I totally agree after watching him, And if you
guys have ever dealt with something like that. I had
a foot injury in between my first two years of
college and my whole first semester that second year, I

(21:43):
just didn't trust my foot and I just wasn't moving
as well as I typically did.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
And then it.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Finally came around after months went by and I started
to regain confidence and get my foot speed back. Any
of you guys have ever dealt with foot injuries know
what that's like. Vando was back last year, but he
wasn't back right, He wasn't really so this year having
him be faster and more athletic on the perimeter is
obviously huge ad for a team that desperately needs that

(22:09):
type of quickness on the perimeter. On one of his
first possessions against Phoenix, he got over the top of
a screen and in a rear view contest situation, actually
blocked Devin Booker. And again, this is exciting because he's
one of only three professional point of attack defenders on
the roster, and the other two are either really short
like Gave Vincent or an injury risk like Marcus Smart,

(22:30):
so like they really really need Vano to be good,
and honestly, the offensive side is what has me more
excited with him. He was only one for six from
three over the weekend, but his release does look much better,
and we're hearing out of camp that he's been shooting
the ball better. So I think there's at least some
potential there for him to become a guy who can
hit like thirty five percent of his open corner threes

(22:50):
instead of you know, thirty percent, which could be a
big difference in his playability. Also, he was doing some
more stuff off the bounce, especially against Golden State, Like
he did some damage in the middle of the floor.
He had like a nice driving finish around Quinton Post.
He had a couple of finishes in traffic where he
put the ball on the floor and made plays. I
talked about this in the season preview, but Vando is
one of the biggest swing factors for this Lakers team.

(23:13):
If he can find a way to be a competent
offensive player, not great, just competent, then the Lakers can
make use of his defensive gifts, which they desperately need.
And I think that's a big swing factor for this
Lakers team. If Vanda can continue to develop offensively, Jake
Lavio look solid. He picked up six fouls in the
two games, but I thought a couple of them were
pretty bogus, including a hilarious Devin Booker grift that was

(23:36):
in the first few minutes of the Suns game that
I watched. It was in like my first film session
of the season, and I'm watching it and I'm like,
oh my god, and here we go again. We're back
into this part of the NBA season where grifting is
getting rewarded. Like he was on Devin Booker's right side,
hands up and back pedaling away from the rim, and
Devin Booker just like jumped sideways into him and shot

(23:56):
some bullshit shot and ended up getting sent to the
foul line.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Like I'm not gonna blame Jake Laaravia for that.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's bad refereeing, right, But he did pick up six
fouls in the two games, got out of position a
couple of times. But I did think he showed a lot,
especially on offense, like he's good at using his size
to protect the ball when he was dribbling Ford into traffic.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
He had some turnover issues. I think he had four
turnovers in the two games, but.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
When he turned his back, he was able to protect
the ball with his size, and that unlocked some of
his more refined skill compared to some wings in the league,
Like he had a couple of nice, little feathery mid
range jump shots out of those situations. His spin move
on Jimmy Butler where he protected the ball and then
just whipped it over his left shoulder into spin and
got all the way to the front of the rim,
and it was such a nasty spin move that Lebron,

(24:38):
who was watching the game, you could tell you could
see him in the background. He kind of got caught
off guard and you could tell Lebron was like, oh shit, okay, Jake,
Like I didn't know you had that in your bag, right.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
So like that, I think is going.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
To be an interesting dynamic compared to a guy like
Dorian Finney Smith who struggled to put the ball on
the floor. Dorian obviously way more polished defensively. That's going
to be the stuff that Jake's gonna have to figure
out in order to match that impact.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Super does look good.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
I think he'll shoot well in open catch and shoot
looks when the team has all their ball handlers. He
just obviously wasn't getting the same quality of looks in
this particular situation. DeAndre Aiden was a mixed bag. In
the Phoenix game. He dealt with a lot of switching
in the starting groups, right, So like, if you're switching,
that's gonna nullify the role man stuff. And I talked
about this a lot over the summer, Like I didn't
like his post ups. He had a right shoulder fade

(25:24):
away against Draymond Green, but then he had like a
couple other hook shots where he easily got pushed off
his base and he's like falling down as he's shooting
the hook shot because he's just I don't see him
as a guy who's going to consistently beat switches. That's
not something that I see in his game. Now, in
the Luca partnership, you've got Luca, who's arguably one of
the best switched beaters in the entire NBA, right, probably

(25:45):
you know, top two or three on that list, right,
So like with Luca, it's gonna be less of an issue.
But in a unit like that where it's a switching
attack and you know you have Austin is the best
offensive player on the floor and it's a huge drop
after that, it's not gonna be the type of game
where Deandrayton's gonna thrive offensively, right, So, like he did

(26:06):
get a couple offensive rebounds, but I didn't think that
was the right matchup to really show what he could
do on offense. He did rebound really well in both games.
He had fifteen rebounds and thirty nine minutes over the weekend.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's very good.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
He's just a super impressive physical presence, right, Like he's
gonna walk into so many rebounds just because he's bigger
and more athletic than most players in the NBA. It's
kind of like the defensive stuff, like Ayton made a
lot of defensive mistakes, which we're gonna talk about in
a minute, but he also blocked four shots in his
thirty nine minutes because he's bigger and more athletic than

(26:39):
most players in the NBA. Right, It's just that his
defensive positioning and his instincts are still super sloppy. Not
hard to figure out why he was playing losing basketball
for years before this, but just a lot of like
random little mistakes. Like there was a play where Browny
gave up a layup to Grayson Allen where Grayson came
off of like a fake handoff from ohso Igadaro at

(27:01):
the top of the key, and Ayton was like hugged
up to OsO instead of like sagging back a little
bit to be able to help on a cutter in
that situation. Like that's a basic little bit of defensive
positioning that he can be better at. He like threw
an unnecessary block attempt at a pump faking player in
the middle of the floor where he gave up an
easy drop off for a layup. I think that was
in the Golden State game. There were some bad transition

(27:23):
defense possessions where like, he's back, but he's not getting
to the rim like he's supposed to, and the ball
is just getting thrown right over the top of him
for a layup. But I want to cut him some
slack there because the whole team, the whole Lakers team
was really sloppy in those details, and I do think
those things are related. Moving to the bad side of
things for the Lakers, I thought the Lakers in generally

(27:45):
in general looked very sloppy in their defensive details. It
wasn't all bad, like they had some high quality point
of attack reps from guys like Vando. I thought as
a team they defended Devin Booker really well in the
first half before they kind of lost control of him
in the second half. Mary groups rebounded really well, like
they had a seventy seven percent defensive rebound percentage in
the first half of both games, which is really solid,

(28:08):
especially when you've a factor in that Lebron and Luca
were out and those are both excellent defensive rebounders. You
could really feel the presence of Eighton on that side
of things as just a foundational defensive rebounder. That made
life easier for them there. They did force a lot
of turnovers. They forced thirty seven turnovers in the two games,
which is a good number, although I think it was
a factor of a couple of things, Like it was

(28:28):
a factor of teams being generally sloppy with the ball
at this point in the season, and they were overhelping
on a lot of three point shots. And when you
have big lanky forwards like Vanderbilt and Ruey with their
arms up in the paint leaving shooters those kickouts, they
get deflections on him sometimes and there were several examples
of that where they just forced turnovers packing the paint.
But it was mostly bad on defense, like their transition

(28:49):
defense was abysmal. I kept thinking about those Clipper shirts.
I'm not sure if you guys saw those Clipper shirts
that were going around from camp, but it just said,
like fuck, like up and down with the camember. What
it's called where you have the expression that goes with
each letter in the first in the first letter of
each sentence is like matching the word right. So F

(29:10):
was for floor balance, US for urgency, C was for communication,
and K was for know that we lost to Denver
because of transition. I just loved this because I thought
it was a classic example of like using the pain
and scar tissue of loss of losing as a method
to motivate a group to get better at a specific thing.

(29:30):
I thought it was a really fun idea from the
Clippers a coaching staff. But I thought the Lakers were
brutally bad in all those areas. Their floor balance was
really bad. They kept having shooters that were on the
wing kind of link leaked too far down into the
like kind of like almost in the corner while long
rebounds are going out and guys are just out of position,
you only have one guy above the free throw line.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Like that's bad.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Floor balance, really bad urgency sprinting back a lot of jogging,
and especially for a team that's you know, according to
JJ Reddick heavily pphasizing conditioning, they didn't seem very urgent
sprinting back in transition, and then their communication, like guys
just not getting matched up and giving up easy layups
and open threes even when guys are back because you're
just not talking and bringing that level of urgency on

(30:14):
that end of the floor. Like they gave up sixty
seven points in transition in the two games. That's horrid,
and they gave up one point four to three points
per possession in transition, which is even worse.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
So like they have a long way to go there.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Their off ball defense in the half court was brutally
bad as well. I'm super disappointed in Ruy hot Chimura's
first two games. He got burned ball watching and getting
out of his stance like off the ball like a
half dozen times. And it's especially frustrating because if he
could be awesome in those details, he could make himself untradeable,
especially for this particular team that values his play finishing

(30:49):
off of Lucas so much. But and it could get
him a lot of money. On his next deal. But
if he can't figure out how to be more detailed
off the ball defensively and tracking shooters and just more
ten like just overall attention to detail and urgency on
the defense end of the floor, the Lakers basically have
to flip him for a guy who fits the team better,
as like an athletic wing that is gonna be more,

(31:11):
you know, a higher floor on that defensive side of
the floor. But it wasn't just ruly like all over
the floor. I saw guys helping in the lane for
no reason and giving up open looks. I saw Vando
do it in some off ball situations. It feels very
intentional from JJ that they're overhelping and packing the paint
and trying to concede threes. Now, some of that is
like you're going to have to because that's the way

(31:32):
your team is built. You don't have great contain you
don't have great rim protections, so you're gonna have to
throw multiple bodies at everything, which is gonna lead to
open threes. But I did think they overdid it on
some cases, Like there was a low man rep from
RUI where I think Jackson was on the floor. It
was either Jackson or eighting, but they were in a
deeper drop and the roleman wasn't behind, and so there's

(31:52):
just no reason for you to step over. And he
ended up giving up a wide open right corner three
because he was just like just kind of lagging into
the lane for no particular reason at all, just a
lot of mistakes. Right Like, Vando gets hit by a
Draymond Green screen that has Steph Curry coming off clean
and Jackson Hayes' is, you know, ten feet away from

(32:13):
the three point line, just way too far back. It's
just a wide open three for Steph. Like, dude, Jackson,
you've got to be up at the level against Steph Curry,
Like that's basketball one oh one when you're playing the Warriors,
right Like, just kind of a sloppy overall defensive performance
both in transition and in the half court from the Lakers,
And that was just kind of disappointing, just because again,

(32:34):
like like I talk about, preseason is about where you're
at to where you're gonna be, and everybody's at a
different part of that process, a different phase of that process,
and I was just hoping the Lakers would be further along.
The Lakers gave up thirty two catch and shoot looks
per game over the weekend, and that's not a good
sign to give you an idea. Like Denver, Minnesota, Phoenix,

(32:54):
they were all below twenty three catch and shoot attempts.
Just for some perspective like that's just way too many
easy kickouts from overhelping in the lane. The reason why
I'm particularly concerned about these things is that for this team,
they have to be sharp in order to accomplish their goals.
They don't have the defensive personnel to get where they
want to get without being super super sharp as an

(33:17):
execution and scheming team on defense, I'm not worried about
the offense. Your offense is built around the shot creation
of Luka, Doncic, Lebron James, and Austin Reeves. And combined,
out of those three guys in ninety six minutes of basketball,
you got just twenty one minutes total out of those
three guys, and that was Austin Reeves in the first game.
So like, I'm not paying too close attention to that

(33:37):
sort of thing until we get further along, like a
lot less putting the ball on the floor from guys
like Ruy and Jake Laavia and Gabe Vincent guys like that.
Gabe had a nice little hot streak in the first
half against Golden State. But like, I'm not worried about
the offense, but this core of role players has to
be extremely sharp on defense, and they just don't look
sharp yet, and so they just have a long way
to go. And as I've said, in order for them

(33:58):
to contend for the title, I they have to get
into like the top twelve to fifteen or so in defense.
That should be their target. But in order to get there,
they got to be a top shelf execution and scheming team,
and they just look really far from that right now.
So it's gonna be a lot of work from JJ
to prevent these guys from being a bottom ten defense
this year Golden State Warriors, I saw a lot of

(34:19):
good with Golden State beyond the basic intensity stuff. Like
I mentioned off the top of the show, the Lakers
and Like and Like the Blakers without Austin, Luca and
Lebron played Golden State really tough, in large part because
they had just gotten their butts kicked by Phoenix, and
I think it kind of woke them up in terms
of their intensity, and Golden State wasn't quite there yet.
To be clear, I don't worry about Golden State's intensity

(34:41):
at all. Like you're led by Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler
and Draymond Green. They're just about guaranteed to compete as
hard as any team in the NBA once they get
rolling here, So like, I'm not worried about it. But
beyond that little lack of intensity, a lot of really
exciting stuff for Warriors fans like you have to start
with Moses Moody. I talked about in our season preview
about how I felt like Moses would be working all

(35:02):
summer on his jump shot after he tailed off so
significantly at the end of last year. And he looked
amazing coming out the gates, guns blazing five to seven
from three, just ripping the cord all over the floor.
His form looks great, It's compact and smooth and quick.
His footwork looks great. He had a three coming off
the top of the key in the start of the

(35:23):
second half where he was sprinting off the left side,
perfect footwork, boom left right, great lift, gets tons of
elevation on the jump shot, really crisp release and just sticks.
It just rips the cord and I'm like, good God,
Like Moses's jump shot looks amazing. He was hitting open ones,
he was hitting contested ones. He had a dunk, ripping

(35:46):
a close out on the right corner where eight eight
and through one of the worst clothes outs I've ever seen.
He closed out, opened up with his back to the
baseline with like leading with his left foot. It just
was really bad fundamental to close out from eighton, just
ripped to the baseline, end up getting a dunk out
of it. He hit like a really nice little pump
fake like find the angle for the finish type of

(36:08):
shot in transition. Really impressive first game for Moses Moody.
And again like if he goes up as a level
as like a three and D wing, that's a huge
boost for Golden State. Just really really exciting stuff from Moses.
Horford didn't do anything super amazing on the box score,
although he did have four stocks, he had a steal
in three blocks, but he had three points, four rebounds,

(36:28):
three assists.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
But they won his minutes.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
I can't remember the exact plus minus, but they won
his minutes by a lot, and you could really see
the natural fit on offense, not just the two man
stuff with Steph. Obviously he hit Steph on like a
little back cut, but you can tell when he catches
the ball at the top of the key or at
any spot on the floor and he turns and faces
he's looking and he's able to read the guards coming
in and out of action as they slip into openings,

(36:53):
and he's able to hit guys there. And not just Steph,
but he hit Pat Spencer on a little back cut
along the left baseline when he's behind it. I think
he was behind Gabe Vincent. He just kind of stuck
along the baseline. Horford hit him there for a layup.
He did hit one of his threes. But I think
you're going to see a really natural fit on offense overall,
as he's popping out of ball screens and then in
split cuts and anything where he's turning and facing out,

(37:17):
you know, twenty twenty five feet from the basket, he's
going to be able to read the guards slipping in
and out of action, which is such a fundamental part
of playing the center position. In Golden State's offense, Steph
looked amazing. He managed to shake free from Vanderbilt a
few times, just with some really good screening and then
setting him up for action. Well, was really giving it
to Bronnie James on both ends of the floor, not

(37:38):
just catching him sleeping for open threes, but also on
the other end of the floor, just kind of pressuring
Bronnie and forcing him into some sloppy turnovers. He just
looks strong, He looks in shape, His shot looks as
good as ever. No sign at all of the hamstring
strain that ended his season last year. Everyone else is
right where they need to be, you know, pods miss

(37:58):
some shots early, but then he was able to find
his point stroke with a corner three on the right wing,
and then he hit like a little iso three over
deandret and at the top of the key. That was
a good sign. Deandreyten disruptive as ever on defense, was
breaking up a bunch of plays with his hands around
the basket. Jimmy Butler in his ability to grift his
way to the foul line and make easy kickout reads
when he's working in the middle of the floor. Lots

(38:20):
of lots of exciting stuff for the Warriors on that
offensive side of the ball. And then again the intensity
will come in time. Again, everybody's at a different phase
in their development as a team at this point in time,
I wanted to quick throw some thoughts on the Phoenix
Suns together. I talked a lot before the season about

(38:41):
how I thought this team was going to be a
royal pain in the ass, and it comes from just
some basic basketball beliefs that I have, which is, if
you've got like a couple of dudes that you can
throw on the opposing stars that are big, strong, athletic, physical,
and can guard the ball, and then you have athleticism
at the rim behind them can devastating on defense against anybody.

(39:03):
Devastating is the wrong word, but you're gonna at least
make life difficult for anybody on that end of the floor.
And the ball gets tossed up and immediately the tap
goes to ruy Hacha Mura and Dylan Brooks is in
his jersey like just in his jerseys, swiping aut the basketball,
going like crazy. Ryan Dunn's picking up Austin Reeves there.
They just bring a level of physical intensity there that

(39:25):
is gonna annoy some people on a night in, night
out basis. And I really liked the idea of you know,
we talked a lot about those guys in the context
of Mala Watch as like a rim protecting center, and
we didn't get to see too much of that. As
a matter of fact, I don't think they played together
at all in the first game. But like you, you're
gonna see more of that down the line. But I

(39:47):
liked Osoigdaro is more of a switching look. Another big forward.
They can switch that action. He can pressure the ball. Now,
all of a sudden, you have three guys, and I
know they all play in the front court, but you
put your your two forwards and done In Brooks on
the opposing ball handlers. Then you can put you know,
Grayson Allen and Devin Booker on guys that are lesser
offensive players that maybe you can have them hedge and

(40:09):
recover out of. I think you just switch three four five.
So any ball screen that involves the center, you just
switch with OsO Dylan and Ryan are both strong enough
to guard bigger players. That's just gonna be a really
difficult look to deal with that like switching three four five,
And again we're gonna see more of the the rim
protection element in the context of those two guys as well.

(40:29):
But it's just gonna be a really fun team to
watch on a night and night out basis. I think
Suns fans are gonna enjoy rooting for them more than
they will some of the teams in years past that
have more talent but that just didn't have that like
physical intensity identity that just makes it. That sort of
thing is just so much more fun to watch in
the regular season because you turn on the TV and

(40:50):
you see guys competing, you kind of are willing to
deal with more of the mistakes. Whereas you see a
team that's got a ton of talent that's struggling in
the competitive areas of the game, it can be very
frustrating to watch. And so I think Suns fans are
really gonna like that team. On offense, leaning into Devin
Booker will be fun. I thought he did you know,
He's in years past handled that offensive engine role really well.

(41:11):
I like some of the stuff they were doing with
the Gadaro on the ball, like they let him go
one on one a little bit. They ran an inverted
ball screen where they had Grayson Allen come screen for
him and he got right downhill and drew a foul.
That's kind of an interesting thing for them to explore,
mainly just because if he's gonna play the five, he's
gonna be guarded by centered centers, and those centers are
not gonna be good at navigating screens, and then they're
not gonna be good at, you know, just handling that

(41:33):
sort of downhill pressure from OsO. So I think that's
an interesting thing to continue to explore for them. Again,
I just think they're gonna annoying. They're gonna they're not
gonna win more than maybe forty games as their absolute ceiling,
but they're gonna beat you if you don't bring their best,
Like if you don't play your best on any given
night against Phoenix, they're gonna beat you. Like. They're gonna
be a they're mean, they're they're physical, they're gonna be

(41:55):
a pain in the ass to play, and they attack
the Lakers from jump ball and never let up in
that entire game, in the preseason game, for God's sake.
So like again, I think I think Stuns fans are
really gonna enjoy watching that team, all right, Nick Sixers,
I only caught the second game here, so just a
heads up. I've watched some highlights of VJ edgecomb in
his first game, But I watched the entirety of the

(42:15):
second game, and the biggest thing that shoot out to
me by far was the crazy intentional effort that the
Knicks were making to get out in transition. And it
wasn't just like leakouts or easy little two on ones
for layups. They were hunting kick aheads. They were hunting
early offense, like semi transition, we're like, excuse me, We're like,
guys are back, but like the defense isn't set and

(42:36):
you're looking to attack early rather than pulling the ball
out and setting something up. They were torching Philly with
like kick aheads to Og and Obi in the corner
for three. Oj Og was awesome in that's in that
second game. I think that was the only game he
played in, but he was awesome in that first half.
Just came out guns blazing, was hitting his jump shot
with ease. Mitchell Robinson was running the floor super well
and was getting dunks and layups off off a drop

(42:59):
off of drop excuse me. Jalen Brunson was getting a
bunch of like kick ahead opportunities where he's always been sneaky,
really good at finishing in transition. With layups as he
gets into the defender's body and just kind of waits
for the right opportunity to break free. The early offensive
stuff with McHale, where like he would get the ball
and the defense wouldn't quite be set yet and he
would just get right downhill off of a ball screen

(43:20):
and make something happen.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
The Knicks first.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Half groups with the starters, Okay, so again I'm looking
at just the first half of both games. They scored
thirty nine points in transition in those two games combined,
So essentially forty transition points per game is the pace
that their starting group, their main rotation guys played with.

(43:43):
Just for some perspective, there were two teams in the
entire NBA last year that averaged over thirty transition points
per game in their first half. Units were averaging forty
transition points per game through those first two games. So, like,
I just thought that that was a really smart approach. Again,
I talked about this a lot last year, but I
thought the Knicks were at their best when they were

(44:03):
getting stops and they were running defense to transition because
they have speed and they have guys that can play
in the open floor, and like, it really showed in
the numbers guys last year and their fifty one wins,
they averaged eighteen fast break points per game. In their
thirty one losses, they averaged just twelve fast break points
per game, So fifty percent more output in transition just

(44:27):
in fast breaks when they were winning versus when they
were losing. That's a strong correlation there, and it's something
that I love that they're exploring. It's also just a
great way to take advantage of their aggregate offensive skill.
Like we talked about it, like this is a group
a roster.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
That should be sharing the ball more.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
And they did run stuff in the half court that
I liked in the game that I watched, Like they
ran Brunson on off ball action coming into catch and
shoot looks, they used Brunson as a screener. They ran
a play that I really liked where they had Og
come off the left wing and Brunson kind of like
set a screen for him and Og curled it and
as a resus, Og easily got downhill and was able
to drop it off to Mitchell Robinson as Mitch's man

(45:04):
stepped up and he got a foul out of it.
I like that action because guys who are guarding Brunson
are not going to want to help or hedge, and
so guys will get advantages coming off of those screens.
And we talked a lot about that in the season preview,
specifically the idea of brunts and screening for a guy
like og And Andobie, because it's gonna get him deep
post position, it's gonna get him downhill coming off of

(45:25):
screens like that. It's going to force switches with favorable
matchups for both guys. It's definitely something that I like.
But you can tell that the Knicks still have a
long way to go in the half court in terms
of getting the ball in player movement that they want.
But the transition pushes they naturally breed that sort of thing.
Guys are already running, so you're not gonna get stagnant, right.

(45:45):
The defense is loose, so the gaps that you're hitting
are bigger, easier, driving kick reads manifest for guys to hit.
You're gonna get a lot of layups and open threes
instead of ISOs and pick and rolls out of those
transition pushes. And that's a big part of why I
love that they're emphasizing that so much. Remember, the entire
purpose of running action or running a set is to

(46:07):
get an advantage, So the guys can just play read
and react basketball out of it and pushing in transition
is the easiest way to get those advantages. So I
love the emphasis from Mike Brown and Camp. The starting
lineup definitely looks better with Mitchen there. I like the
roles it's cutting for Cat and Brunson on defense, they
didn't look good in those roles of their first couple games,

(46:28):
like they just have to be better than they've been.
Kat was delayed or slow on his closeouts out of
low man situations to the corner several times, lost shooters
several times. Brunson has been slow getting back to his
man in and out of help and recover situations. That
big VJ edgecomb dunk was like a classic example of
Brunson just being slow to react to his man relocating

(46:48):
and giving up a dunk in that example. But they're
they're big in that lineup, and I think they have
a higher floor on defense in general in the long
run with that configuration.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
So I do like going that direction and with the
new guys.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
That's kind of a mixed bag for me, I'm not
worried about Gershan Yabuseli's offense at all. Like, he's talented,
he's gonna come around. Teams are gonna hunt him on
defense the way that Philly did, but with better players.
But that's kind of more or less what Gershon is, right,
Like he's a backup hybrid big that brings a lot
of offensive firepower but is gonna give a lot of

(47:21):
it back on the defensive end of the floor. That's
just kind of what that type of player is. He's
essentially like a lesser version of Bobby Portish, right, And
I'm always okay with that sort of guy as long
as you don't need him in your best five lineups,
because you can make decisions game to game, like, Okay,
he doesn't have it tonight, I'm gonna go a different direction,
or oh shit, he's gonna win us a game scoring
twenty five points off the bench. Like that's the type

(47:43):
of flexibility you have when you have those high powered
offensive forward center hybrids coming off of your bench. I
don't love the Jordan Clarkson stuff. He's kind of just
coming in and gunning and they're like, he scored it,
like reasonably efficiently, but I didn't love the process. He
drew a foul and a really bad iso jumper. I

(48:03):
can't remember who he was going against on that particular possession,
but he got a mismatch and he just kind of
threw up a bad shot and got bailed out. He
made a floater that he got a good bounce off
the rim on a play that I didn't think was
a good decision by him. Like Clarkson is just not
my favorite player, and I don't love his fit there.
But at the same time, I really like Malcolm Brogden
and he's a classic kind of high floor option if

(48:24):
if you think of it, like Clarkson is the high
ceiling low floor option, Brogden is like the lower ceiling
but higher floor option. And I actually think Brogden will
if it turns into a rotation battle where it's one
or the other, I think it'll end up being Brogden
who stays in the lineup as long as he can
stay healthy. Garrison Matthews looks like a great fit and
just their super fasttle of play. He can just hit

(48:45):
movement jump shots on the run and he just brings
that gunning shooter element him and Landra Shanmott in a
way that I think adds value to their transition attack.
I thought overall it was a sharp performance from the
Knicks in their second game, and the transition stuff is
really exciting for the Sixers. VJ edge comes a fun prospect.
The big dunk that he had was a classic example

(49:05):
of just taking baked in driving lanes. This is a
concept I talk a lot about right, Like when you're
standing on the wing and the defender is so far
in the lane that he has to close out on
one of your shoulders, all you have to do on
the catch is just rip the opposite direction and that
guy has no chance of beating you to that spot,
and if he does, you're gonna see it come in
a mile away. And then you just have to throw

(49:26):
a jab step and the dude's gonna go flying off
the screen and then you can go the opposite direction.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Right.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
But like on this particular play, it was a really
kind of interesting example because so VJ just makes a
simple read right, Brunson closes out at his left shoulder.
VJ rips to the right boom right handed hammer right.
But on that play I don't think it was intentional
but the reason why there was no rim protector is
they were running stack in that situation, like Tyrese was
getting ready to run a ball screen with Kelly Ubra

(49:51):
setting the back screen in stack, and then I think
what happened was is Tyrese Maxey just was like, oh shit,
Brunson's not on VJ because he kind of was just
like getting back to his man. So tyres Maxie made
the right decision, like, hey, we run action to get
an advantage. Vj's unguarded. I'm just gonna throw the ball
to VJ. So he throws ato VJ, and VJ rips
the close out and gets past Brunson. But it was

(50:12):
still timed in a way that ubre was setting the
backscreen on the rim protector, so there was just nobody
there that could hang with VJ at the rim. And
he just threw down that nasty right handed hammer right now.
The jumpers broke a hell. He had some really ugly misses,
like several feet off target. He has a long way

(50:33):
to go as a decision maker. He's forcing the issue
a little bit, but the athleticism is undeniable. He's getting
to his spots at will. He was applying a ton
of rim pressure. If he can refine his skills at all,
he's going to be a really high level player in
this league and an exciting option for the Sixers to
cling to if things go south on the injury front
for them this year. All right, before we get out

(50:56):
of here today, I do have some quick thoughts on
Desmond Baines's debut with the Orlando Magic. Bain looks great,
to be clear. He brings a dynamic to the team
that they haven't had in this era. That like real
shot creating guard that can shoot off the catch off
the dribble and slash and pass when he gets.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Into the lane.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
But I hated the way Orlando used him in their
first game. He's kind of just playing basketball, like the
occasional ball screen with Wendell Carter Junior. Him shooting coming
off of a wide screen as the first play of
the game and came off of a screening action to
the top of the key, got a great look and
just missed it, you know, driving and kicking in a
driving kick situation or driving a kicking in transition. But

(51:34):
they didn't use him with Palo the way that I
thought that they should. I talked a lot about the
two man game with Paalo this summer as like a
way to get favorable switches for Paalo, to get easy
rotation situations with Bain slipping out of ghost screens or
inverted screens. I talked about Baine on the ball with Pallo,
opening up roleman opportunities for Paalo. I talked about all

(51:54):
this stuff, and then it was the middle of the
second quarter before they actually ran two man game, and
even then it was kind of just like a late
shot clock freelancing thing. It was this really frustrating possession
where Palo's at the top of the key and he
calls for Tias Jones to come set the screen and
I'm like looking at the screen and I'm I'm like,
Baine's being guarded by Norman Powell, a guy that Pallo

(52:16):
should be looking to attack, and Tias is being guarded
by Hamijkez, another big, strong forward that's not as much
of a favorable matchup for Palo and that they're probably
just gonna switch.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
And so up.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Comes Tias and I'm like screaming at the screen. I'm like,
why isn't he trying to run the action with Bain instead?
And so they just switch it, and so the play
goes nowhere, and now Palo's dribbling at the top of
the key and he's like, ah shit, I got high
may on me. Now what am I gonna do? And
the clock's running out, and so he finally goes like okay,
Baine comes at the screen, and so Bain comes over

(52:49):
late shot clock. Guess what happens, Like they don't switch
it because Norman Powell, who's a weaker defender, wants no
parts of Palo Bancaro, so he doesn't help, he doesn't
have he doesn't do anything, and him, when he's trying
to navigate around the action, gives up the angle to Pallo.
Palell gets right downhill and gets a right handed layup,
and I'm just like, it's that easy, guys, Like it's
that easy, you know, And you almost get this feeling

(53:12):
like like Bain and Pallo were playing more of like
a your turn, my turn kind of deal, and you know,
and it works when Palo's got the ball in Palo
and Baine's spotting up Like there's a play where Palo
is isoing in the middle of the floor and Bain's
man dug way down into the lane and Pallo threw
him an easy kickout and Bane missed the three, but
it was a great look and that's a shot that
he's gonna make and it'll make things easier for Pallo.

(53:34):
And don't get me wrong, there's like a high floor
to this fit just simply because of the natural basketball
fit between the two of those guys. But it's like, no, dude,
it's not your turn, my turn, it's both of your turns.
Like this team is gonna be at their best when
the two of you force different defenders because the type
of defender that guard's Baane is gonna be different than
the type of defender that guards Polow. The two of

(53:55):
you guys need to force different defenders to make decisions
in space. That's where you're gonna get driving layups for Palo,
easy slipouts for Bain, great switches for easy post ups.
That's where you're gonna get that kind of stuff by
using each other in concert rather than kind of like
just taking turns picking apart the defense. And so I

(54:15):
really hope to see more from there, Like I've hated
this Orlando offense for years, and I'm kind of concerned
now after seeing that that they may not get the
full benefit of Baine, like they're gonna get a certain
benefit no matter what, but the key to unlocking this
full potential of this partnership is using Bain in concert
with Palo and Franz. And I'm just worried that with

(54:38):
Jamal Mosley they may not get there. And that's the
thing that's concerning I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but I'm
worried that Jamal may not be the right coach to
help this team get to where they need to get
to because they need to be more sophisticated on offense.
They need to be more intentional with their process on
the offensive end of the floor, and they just haven't
been for years now, and it's just something that I'm

(54:58):
concerned about. This is all I have for our first
preseason reaction.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Again.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
We're gonna do one more these next Monday, and then
after that we're into the NBA regular season. We'll have
season previews still coming out. I've got three more divisions
that we're hitting this week, with fifteen more teams coming
out the following week. I'm gonna have my contender rankings.
We're also gonna have a mail bag as well as A.

(55:22):
I think it's just a I have the mail bag,
I have contender rankings, and then we have another preseason
reaction next week, and then after that we get full
bore into our regular season coverage. We're gonna do live
reaction shows for the first three nights of the regular season,
so we're gonna be right back in the mix again.
I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting
the show, and I will see you next tonight.