Colin and Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf give their instant reaction to the Celtics 112-88 Game 7 beatdown of the Sixers on the strength of Jayson Tatum’s 51 , the disappointing double no-show by Harden and Embiid, and if Nikola Jokic is better than Embiid. Then, they preview the Celts and Heat and Lakers/Nuggets Conference Finals matchups, and how a potential Lakers/Celtics Finals could play out, and what movies the Warriors need to make to get back in title contention.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Hi, everybody, welcome in. You're either watching this
on YouTube on Sunday night or listening. As we retweeted
on Monday morning, Jason timf and I have I think
our best forty five minute NBA discussion on Jason Tatum
(00:24):
and the Celtics thrashing of the Sixers. We talk about
Lakers and Denver. We talk about the Warriors future. So
we'll get to that in about five minutes. I do
want to start with the news on John Morant, and
for a second time, on his Instagram there's a picture
of him with a gun. If you look, every statistic
will tell you this. Young men make more poor decisions
(00:46):
than any other demographic in the country, far more than
young women, old women, middle aged men, older men, young men,
and so one of the dilemmas has been young men
tend to be more unmeeedable or vulnerable to poor choices,
especially when they choose the wrong friends or the wrong
groups to hang out with. So one of the issues
(01:07):
the NBA is very aware of is the Ja Morant issue.
Whereas an NFL player comes in and he's red shirted,
he's twenty three years old. Often they're married in college
or right when they get out of it into the NFL,
you're dealing with an adult. There is a big gap
between a nineteen year old male and a twenty three
year old male. That four years when you're forty eight
(01:28):
to fifty two doesn't matter, but it matters a lot.
Young men tend to mature more slowly than young women.
So the NBA gets these really really really great, young
talented people at nineteen years old. They can't even drink
in the hotel bar they stay in, and they're thrust
on the spotlight in the star driven sport. Shoe companies, fame, Instagram, girls' money.
(01:50):
And I am not saying in any way John Morant
isn't culpable for his decisions. But I look at this
as a failing of his shoe company. The organization goes
close to him. Where's his support system? This doesn't come
out of left field. In fact, this is his second incident.
Is that we all know the problems with sports. We
(02:13):
know that football has a regulated level of violence, so
they're trying to make it safer. Less hitting in practice,
less hitting above the shoulders. We know baseball they've changed
rules to speed the pace of the game up. We know,
one of the issues in the NBA is that players
are miserable. You don't hear that much from football players
because they come in the league more adult, They have
(02:34):
a broader life, married kids, and they have shorter careers,
so they come into the league with a much more
serious mindset, whereas a guy comes into the league at
nineteen years old and he looks and says, I can
play this for fifteen, eighteen, twenty years, and so there's
less urgency for a basketball player who knows he's going
to have a longer career. So I think the league
and teams and shoe companies have to do a better
(02:57):
job of understanding that. I've never been in love with
Jah Morant as a franchise player. He reminds me a
lot of Derek Rose, where so much of his game
is spectacular. You know, Michael Jordan would give you twenty
four points a night on just medium range jumpers and
then six to eight spectacular points. Patrick Mahomes gives you
twenty two completions every Sunday that are easy stuff, curls,
(03:20):
drag route screens, and then he gives you four to
five jaw dropping plays. I always feel like with Derek
Rose and John Morant, like eighty percent of their plays
are spectacular. It's hard to last. You're crashing to the floor,
You're challenging bigs at the rim. You got to give
me twenty one points a night just waking up in
the morning, rolling out of bed, mid range jumpers, easy laps.
Jaws a wildly spectacular player. But I just don't know
(03:43):
physically he and Dereck Rose. They're thin, they weigh one
ninety or less. They crash to the floor, they challenge
guys at the rim. I don't see them as guys
for ten to twelve years. You can depend on physically,
but the emotional stuff, this is hard go go back.
I mean, when I was nineteen years old, I could
never have handled one hundred million dollars. I wouldn't have
(04:05):
known what to do. The fame, the girls. So I
feel bad for Job Morant. He's not my favorite NBA
player in terms of a franchise guy. But god, this
is the second time with Jaw we've seen it before.
That's why I have been on this for several years.
The idea that college basketball is the enemy of the
NBA is ludicrous. There is nothing wrong with going to college,
(04:30):
being within a system on a college campus, being coached hard,
being responsible, having to be more selfless. When Zion Williamson
said I want to come back to duke, people shamed
him now because of his body type. He may have
been better served going to the pros because everybody was
concerned about his torque and his speed and his body.
(04:50):
But I don't know. I look at the Ja Morant situation.
I am not saying he shouldn't be responsible, but I
also think this has been something I've seen more than once.
And you don't expect nineteen year olds to make great
decisions when you empty everything fame, money, responsibility on them.
(05:11):
It is a lot, a lot. Let's go to Jason
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see O l I N.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
To me, that game was pretty simple. The best player
for the Sixers no showed, and the second best player,
who's been kind of hot and cold anyways, also happened
to be cold. And you're just not going to keep
up with that super talented Celtics team unless you get
good play out of your stars. And to me, that's
pretty much all there is too. What were your thought
What were your thoughts on that game?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean we can put the harden. You know,
we've been we've been pretending that every trust hardened in
the playoffs for a decade and this has always been like,
like we've come to terms. Kirk Cousins probably has four
or five more good years, but we've bailed on him.
We do that football, you're not a big game player.
Andy Dalton got that reputation very early in the NBA
(07:06):
because so much of the league is optics and aesthetics.
If we like your style, we keep believing you'll deliver forms.
It's like Westbrook's not a playoff guy. Harden's not a
playoff guy. And that style of play, which is you
know and a Harden never took great care of himself.
You age a really fast, right, there's a reason Lebron's
(07:27):
still great. Rady at the end was still great. Kobe
last game could be great. Your body treats you like
you treat your body so hardened. You know, he was
a he was a nightclub guy. That's fine with me.
But what happens at the end of years this sport,
which is incredibly taxing, there's just too many games. It's
always been too taxing. That's why old NBA players in
(07:48):
their fifties are all crouched over. It just beats them.
The sport beats the hell out of you. So there
should be about sixty five sixty eight games. And that's
why load management, the analytics are now acknowledging these guys
are playing too many games. It's not an excuse, it's
the truth. So you know, Harden is aged very quickly,
but also on a micro level within seasons, he ages
(08:12):
very quickly. He doesn't have a lot left and that
was in his prime, so you know he can be
And I said this about a month ago. I said,
he's really now kind of a role player. And what
the role players do, like Jordan Poole, great night, bad night,
good night, bad night, great night, bad night, bad night,
that's a role player. You know, a d steph Lebron
may pull back, but you don't get horrendous performances you
(08:35):
do from a role player, and that's what that's what
Harden is. So I think it's time to move on
from James Harden. I love Maxi and beads there for
the long term. Tobias Harris is fine. P J. Tucker
is what he is. But I think, you know, in
a way, I'm relieved we don't have to keep pretending
we know what Harden is in Big Spot. It doesn't work.
(08:57):
And Tatum also had his best game maybe as a pro.
I mean, he that first half was like wow, it
was mj ish, It was like Kobe at his best,
and that let's not have recency bias. Every Celtic fan
today was praying that Tatum showed up, So let's not
pretend like that hasn't been an ongoing discussion, so but
(09:21):
I was happy for him. He's a great player and
his confidence kind of waivers at times. But that move
he made at the end of the first half, when
he moved to his left, it was like, Okay, that's
like if he has has an eight second piece of
video that defines him, it's like, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know, Tatum. I gained so much respect for him
in this series because of how poorly things were going
for him and his sticktuitiveness during it all. For how
poorly he played to start Game six, to suddenly have
those shots fall at the end of the game, and
you could just tell it was like the weight of
the world got lifted off of his shoulders, and I
directly think that led to him playing with as much
(10:02):
confidence as he did today. He's had a nightmare pull
up jump shooting season. He shot twenty nine percent on
pull up threes during the regular season. It's been a
huge problem for him and to see that skill kind
of come to fruition on the stage. I talked about
this after Game six, but basketball can be such a
mentally challenging sport because jump shooting, in particular when you're
(10:23):
practicing it, like, I have no doubt that if Tatum
is doing a shooting drill, he's hitting seventy seventy five
percent of those shots. And then you get in a
game and you're like, man, I'm one fourteen, I've paid
my dues, I've done all the work, and these shots
to start falling, and he just had the four to
two to stick with it, and he kept going. I
thought he exposed Joel Embiid as a one dimensional defender
(10:45):
in this game with his ability to pull him out
and switches and kill him on the perimeter. But by
the way, something to gain appreciation for Anthony Davis, Like
Embiid is considered a much better defender than Jokic, but
he was a liability in this game because of his
inability to defend on the perimeter exactly whereas Anthony Davis.
It's like I'm switching on Steph Freakin Curry with the
(11:06):
game on the line and getting back to back stops.
As far as the Sixers go, I want to try
to focus more on Embiid because I look at Harden
as a supporting star. He helps run your offense, he
helps get guys into their spots. He straight up stole
two games in this series. I would argue you got
more out of Harden than you could have hoped to
get in this type of setting.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh, no question. I mean that game the other night
was his best game in the playoffs in eight years.
That was a complete outlier for almost a decade exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And he had another one earlier in the series without Embiid.
He so like I focus on Embiid, This is actually
a crazy stat. Colin. Joel Embiid averaged five made field
goals in the paint per game in this series. Nikola
Jokic against the Suns averaged eleven made field goals in
the paint. That to me, is the weak point in
Joel Embiid's career. A skill set right now. He loves
(11:57):
to hover around the free throw line and take jump shots.
Even in those post up situations he'd get Joel, he'd
get Al Horford back down five feet from the rim.
Jokic is hitting you with that shoulder and going up
with a hook shot that he's going to make seventy
percent of the time. Embiid fall away and maybe fall
on the ground and try to draw foul like he's
taking a fade away jump shot instead of going up strong.
(12:17):
That to me is the next step for Embiid. You know,
it's funny we look at this series and we look
at the Sixers moving forward, and to me, it's like
the roster is great. They defended a lot better than
I expected them to. Their supporting star did a lot
tyres MAXI had big moments. Tobias Harris, I thought, did
find your best player was not good enough and he
simply has to be better. And that's that's really the
(12:40):
only off season adjustment Philly needs to make is Joel
Embiid needs to craft his game in a way that
thrives in the physicality of this setting, and he's just
yet to do so.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, and when you know, Embiid also to your point,
and Harden's always been like this. They can really kill
ball movement. And you know jokicch you give him the ball,
he has two or three set moves and he goes
right to him. Embiid is a little more artist. He ponders,
he puts the ball on the floor. And what happens
(13:11):
is when Harden and Embiid are both cold, they don't
move the ball. Everybody else just watches two cold shooters,
whereas if Jokich is off, he's a great passer. He
makes his mind up very quickly in most instances what
to do with the ball. You know, I've said this
before that more choices can often create more confusion. I mean,
(13:33):
Jordan had like three stock moves, right, whereas sometimes you know,
Kobe could be a bit more artist. He didn't have
as many stock moves, and sometimes there were complaints that Kobe.
Basically you were all staring at Kobe, right, You're just
waiting for Kobe to do his thing. And so I
think with Embiid, one of the things that always bothered
(13:53):
me about his game is it can be ponderous and
by the way he puts them all on the floor. Also,
sometimes you know it's high school basketball. If you're a
big guy, don't put the ball on the floor. Little
guys can come and swat it. We saw that twice today.
So I know he's great, but at times I feel
like he's disruptive to the flow. I never feel that
with Anthony Davis. You give Anthony the ball low, he's
(14:16):
gonna shoot it. Now. He may square you up and
turn to the basket, but he will attack yo kitch
attacks and be ponders too much, and maybe if you
put a stop clock, that's a confirmation biased to me
because I've never loved his game, but I there are
times I watched him in this series and I'm like,
get him off the floor, let the young guys move
(14:39):
the ball, especially when they got down. But you know
he's MVP, so I lose the argument.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
There's a rhythm in flow to basketball. Anybody who's played
at any level, even if you haven't played at any
competitive level, you just play in your men's league or
pick up around town, there's a rhythm in flow to basketball.
And like, I was always blown away by how many
people Warriors fans in particular, were like, hey, we got
such great looks in Game six. I can't believe we
were missing them. And I'm like, yeah, but that wasn't
Warriors basketball. Warriors basketball was a motion offense where the
(15:08):
ball's popping around and everyone's involved. And the Lakers made
you go straight up high pick and roll with Steph
Curry and now guys are standing around a lot. And
when they're standing around a lot, then they catch and shoot.
It's a totally different type of shot than when there's
a rhythm and flow to the offense. And there's no
doubt that stagnation, which is what I call anytime a
player just holds on ponders and stares around for a while.
But yeah, that's the thing, like Embiid has to start,
(15:30):
you know. And he said this in his price or
when he got the MVPs, like it's now my goals championships.
That's great. So that means the next step for you
is identify the things that are causing you problems in
the postseason. You're not getting the same whistle that you
normally get. A lot of these tough fallaway fifteen footers
and shots that you take don't follow as high a
percentage as they do in the regular season. You need
to learn to play bullyball. These are you're the biggest
(15:51):
dude on this floor. You should be. You should be
getting ten to twelve short push shots and hook shots
in every single game that you can make seventy percent of.
That's the next step for him is he's got to
build out the playoff bullyball skill set.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
We watched Boston pick the Sixers and the Bucks apart
this year. We really did, so I'm interested to watch
the Miami series. But you know, I went with Milwaukee
and during the season, I think we said this multiple times,
they have to reboot this roster. It's gotten old and
slowly fast where they got old and slow against Miami.
But I think if you look at Boston, if you
(16:27):
look at the history of the NBA, it's baby steps.
So the Celtics get to the finals and lose. You know,
after watching him today, it's like, Okay, is this the
natural progression that they get back to the Conference of
the finals and now they face a Laker or a
Denver team. Lakers don't quite have quite the depth of
(16:47):
athletes in their prime. Denver hasn't been in that spot.
Maybe Denver now loses in the finals then comes back
next year. But when you watch the Celtics today, I
did feel like, Okay, this team with Tatum delivered like
this all right, this is the best team in basketball.
That's what it felt like to me.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
It's all Tatum. Like I mean, I have thought this
has been the most talented roster in the NBA the
last two years, and I thought they got even more
talented this summer adding Malcolm Brogden. Just with all the
players on the roster getting a little bit better incrementally
as they do as they grow. But it's the bottom
line was is they had a star last year that
kind of shrunk under the pressure against Steph Curry, and
(17:24):
so if Jason Tatum plays at or near this level,
they're gonna win the title because they'll have a bona
fide superstar at the helm, a reliable second star, and
all of the talent that you need. It's just that's
the question. Is Let's say that they beat Miami, and
I believe they will. Eric Spolser is going to give
him hell. He's going to ball pressure the hell out
of those wings to make them uncomfortable because they're not
(17:44):
great ball handlers. He's going to try to funnel them
into bam at a bio. He's going to try to
stagnate them with switching. He's going to do all these
different things, and it will be a long, grueling series.
Probably will still go six games, just because that's what
Eric Spolster does. But they don't have the talent I
don't think to beat this Boston Team's say it's the
NBA Finals now and it's Lebron James and Anthony Davis
rolling into Town another monster NBA personality. Is Jason Tatum
(18:09):
going to be able to stand on that court and
feel confident as the guy? And for the record, the
Lakers gave the Celtics two really good fights this year
and straight up got robbed in one of them, so
like that, you've seen them play down to their competition.
Those games were before the trade deadline too, that was
before they made the roster changes. So I again, that's
the thing. It's going to be. Can Tatum maintain that
(18:31):
that moxie that you expect from a bona fide superstar
at that level. And again, either way it's gonna be
Yoku or it's gonna be Lebron, it's going to be
somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm happy that Tatum did what
he did, but this had been what every Celtic fan
woke up this morning and their number one concern was
we're better than them? What Tatum's going to show on
and it was the best version of him. So I'm
really I gotta throw something at you so well, I
(19:00):
have said this. I predicted that the Lakers would beat
Minnesota in the playing game, and they would beat Memphis quickly.
I thought they would lose to Golden State about five
or six. I just didn't think they had the shooting
and the way the series worked out one game rest
before between each game I thought worked against the Lakers.
Well it didn't. So I was driving today and you know,
(19:22):
I'll meet these people in Los Angeles having coffee there,
like do you finally believe in them? And I really
I came to a conclusion today, like why it's not
like I hated the Lakers. I've just said I don't
think they're a championship team, which by the way, they're
not yet. And I said about the Warriors, they're not
a championship team. I had Milwaukee and Phoenix in it,
with Milwaukee winning. But I thought about this. My opinion
(19:46):
of Lebron this year has not been as accurate as
the production of Lebron. So I've been saying on the air,
There's never been a championship team where the best player
AD is great eight offensively every other game and the
second best player really doesn't have great games, he has
great spurts. That's like a win a playoff series team.
(20:11):
But if you go back and look at Lebron from
playing game to Golden State, oh, play in game Memphis
Golden State and you just don't know what is and
you just give me the numbers of Lebron. What I've
been doing is comparing Lebron to Lebron's prime. But if
you took the name off and said here's what this
player gives you, you're like, oh, he's a more efficient
(20:32):
Jamal Murray, And then I could argue different games. Obviously,
then I could argue, oh, they have the best player
left and it'll bona fide All Star. I mean, Lebron
did make what second team All NBA? Right, so third
team I bad so and by the way, would have
made second and he plays, he just didn't play many games.
(20:54):
So and I was sitting in driving today, I was
driving down and I was thinking, why can't I get
this team? What the hell? And I'm like, on wait, timeout,
you keep comparing Lebron to prime Lebron. If you compare
Lebron to all the other players, you're like, yeah, he's
(21:14):
really good, he's an All Star. So I do look
at them and I think I probably think they're gonna
match up really well with Denver. And my guess is
La ends up against Boston in the finals. That's my
guest today.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, I'm picking la over Denver probably in six games,
just because that's the similar cadence that they go with.
Again with the Lebron thing, he really is trying to
conserve as much energy as possible. I don't think it's
a coincidence that the two best moments he's had in
this postseason so far are Game four against Memphis, down
by one, He's playing like shit, yeah, and he's like,
(21:47):
you know what, I just got to I just gotta
go to the rim, and he was able to, and
you know what, he finished over the defensive player of
the year. Then to start overtime, he beat the defensive
player of the year off the dribble and made a
layup on him, and then he beat a second team
defense perimeter defender to the basket, Dylan Brooks for an
and one layup in his twenty twenty game And looking back,
that salvaged that series in a lot of ways, because
(22:08):
they would have gone back to Memphis to too totally
different series if Lebron doesn't salvage that one. And then
in Game six, like that was I don't think people
realize like that was MVP level performance from Lebron in
that Game six, like he was unbelievable defensively, unbelievable on
the glass, controlled the offense out of the post, and
had a high pick and roll picking on Steph Kurry.
(22:28):
It was vintage Lebron. And so to me, what that
told me was like, Okay, he knows he has that
in the bag. What he's gonna do is he's gonna
hold that back and only use it when it's absolutely necessary,
just from the standpoint of the energy level and as
far as the roster goes, and like, I know that
there's not a dependable offensive player on the roster. That's true.
(22:48):
Lebron's coasting a lot, Anthony Davis is up and down offensively,
each of these role players are. It's like one night
they're great, one night they're not. But there's so many
of them that can go off. And Darvin Ham is
so good at recognizing which player is in that groove
and leaning on him with more minutes, just like Lonnie
Walker in that fourth quarter of Game four where it's
(23:09):
like tonight it's Austin Reeves, the next day it's D'Angelo Russell. Oh, today,
Ruey Hachimuras got going. We're gonna feed him. He's got
twenty four. Oh, today's Lebron's game. He's got it going.
They've got such a depth of players that can convert
things offensively, and as I look at the Denver matchup,
to me, it's one hundred percent about Anthony Davis versus
Nikola Jokic and his ability to bother him defensively. Because
(23:30):
think of it like this, If I go down the roster,
is Lebron better than Jamal Murray? Hell yeah, even this
version of him Austin reeves, Yes, every bit is good,
if not better than a guy like Michael Porter Junior
or Contavious Calbo, Pope, D'Angelo Russell, like they actually down
the roster are better. Just Jokic could theoretically be the
best player in the series. And so everything to me
(23:51):
comes down to Anthony Davis and his ability to bother
Nikola Jokic. If he does that, I think the Lakers
have enough and this this is a key Cup basketball
that is going to dominate this particular series. Every team
the Lakers have played so far has been able to
switch the Lebron James Anthony Davis pick and roll because
Dylan Brooks and Jaron Jackson can both guard the other,
(24:14):
so they'll just switch it. You have Andrew Wiggins and
Draymond Green, they can just switch it. They're not gonna
switch Nikola Jokic onto Lebron. So basically you're gonna have
Lebron dominating this series in high pick and roll against
Nikola Jokic. And that's where Lebron can use his brain
more because he's gonna automatically get dribble penetration coming over
the top of those screens since they're not switching it.
(24:35):
So it's gonna be all about Lebron on the offensive
end in this series and all about Anthony Davis. Can
he stay out of foul trouble and can he contain
Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah, this is the longest stretch for Anthony Davis playing. Well. Now,
there was the Bubble year when he had that sabbatical,
but this is really the longest sustained stretch. God, even
pre Lakers. There was a couple of years before he
came to the Lakers where he had injuries. So you
cross your fingers a little, but I will say that
(25:07):
I remember when the rumor started that Anthony Davis was
going to be a Laker, and there was for about
an hour a rumor he was going to be a Clipper.
It was very brief, Rich Paul, the guys. I don't
think Rich Paul wanted to make it look so obvious
that he was going to join Lebron. So there was
like this, oh, the Clippers are in it. And I
(25:30):
remember a source inside the Clippers saying they just didn't
think he would consistently play through pain and big guys
have unique bodies and you gotta play hurt, and that
was always the knock on him. I don't think he's
one hundred percent now. I think he's playing hurt. And
I think I'll throw this at you. When Lebron set
(25:54):
the scoring record this year and there was that video
where Anthony Davis like didn't get off the bench, and
I think there was a little bit of feelings hurt
and it was a little territorial like it's this my
team or this. But I do think Lebron in his
camp after the record was set, I think they made
a real effort to say, hey man, that was just
(26:14):
a record like this, this is your team. And I
think Lebron and his guys deserve credit for really empowering
Anthony Davis, because let's be honest, all we talked about
for about three weeks was Lebron breaking Kareem Abdulijibbar's record,
and that you know, after a while that would wear
on the two best. Yeah, yeah, And so I think
(26:34):
I think Lebron and his camp were very sensitive when
there were there were some reports that I know because
people reached out to me like they didn't like that narrative.
And they've massaged it and they've really empowered a D.
And you're seeing now college ad first three years in
New Orleans, a D bubble, a D. And I don't
(26:56):
think there's any question he's the best defensive player left.
And I thought not Steph Curry, but Ad essentially controlled
that whole series. Everything the Warriors did both ms was
based on where's Ad. He totally controlled the series. Even
on nights when he wasn't great offensively, he still controlled it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you hit this hard all week, and I'm so
glad you did, because it's recognition that Anthony Davis deserves.
Every adjustment in the series was built around the Warriors
trying to get Anthony Davis away from the paint and
the Lakers trying to get Anthony Davis back into the paint.
There's no question to me that he was the best
player in the series. I mean, the reality is is
they held to Steph to his least efficient scoring postseason
(27:33):
series since the Rockets in twenty nineteen. That's Anthony Davis.
This is another crazy stat for you, Lebron, And this
is this stat for you calling. This is the biggest
reason why I believe in this Lakers team and their
ability to win a championship. They throw hellacious defensive punches.
Now they can coast a lot, and they usually wait
to use it until they need it. I think it's
(27:55):
a big part of why their series have followed identical cadences,
because they just have thesecipic games like Game three, where
it's like, we're gonna just throw the kitchen sink defensively,
Game one, Game six, that kind of thing in clutch situation,
So when the scorer is within five points with less
than five minutes left, the Lakers are holding teams in
this postseason run to seventy four point four points per
(28:15):
one hundred possessions, and they are undefeated five to zero
games this postseason with clutch situations. None of the remaining
teams have a defensive rating below one hundred in clutch
situations in this postseason run. So the Lakers defensive punch,
in large part because of Anthony Davis, is just so
much more powerful than any of these other teams and
what they can throw, and so if they get enough
(28:37):
offensively out of this group, they're just the better two
way team than any of these guys in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, it's I find myself. And this is not a
shot at Jokic because I thought he'd deserved the MVP,
But I do want to see a Laker Celtic final.
I went skiing on a Saturday with a friend. It
was a great ski day and we came home that
night and the Celtics play the Lakers. That was on ABC.
It was a Saturday night, you know network game. It
(29:04):
was a great game in Boston. Great game. And I
remember sitting with a friend and I'm like, I can't
figure this team out. They'd beaten Milwaukee at Milwaukee like
a month earlier. I'm like, God, this team's mess. And
I'm like, then they play Milwaukee in Boston, I'm like,
I think they're better. So I've struggled to get a
beat on them all year. But I will say this
(29:25):
because I was thinking of driving in the car today.
Let's step ahead. If they faced Boston, So the best
player would be Anthony Davis or Tatum. The second best
player would be Jalen Brown or Lebron. And then you'd
get to and you could criticize the Lakers for like,
D'Angelo Russell is inconsistent, but he's a better offensive player
than their third best player, Marcus Smart. And then you
(29:48):
could say, well, Austin Reeves is undrafted, but I'd argue
he's a more reliable player than their fourth best offensive player,
Malcolm Brogdon. Well you could say, well, your Jared Vanderbilt
gives you nothing offensively. Ei it as Robert Williams, and
then you get into the ruie, and then you start
looking around at those peripheral players, Derek White and ruining it.
It's going to be a series where those role players,
(30:12):
it's you know, role players play well. Jason at home,
My guess is we're noted at six. We go to
a game seven and then does Lebron go Superman as
he put the cape on? But I went back and
forth in the Car today Boston Lakers, and I'm like,
that's pretty even. And the difference is, I think Darvin
Ham's had a better year coaching. I think he has
(30:33):
a better feel for his team than Missoula does. At
this point. It is at this point, and again, let's
not let's not go confirmation bias. Three games ago, we
didn't know what the hell was going on a Tatum
Orange coach. So right like today, we think it's all solved.
But I think Boston Lakers, I've just come to terms
(30:54):
with Lebron still has the ability to put the cape on.
Even only his last year he could put the cape on.
So maybe, and I'm warning myself be very careful. We
did this with far we do it with Kobe Wit.
These guys don't give it to you every night or
every moment, but the ones, especially that took care of themselves,
(31:16):
they can still bring it. Lebron's performance in Game six
against Golden State, he was the best player on the
fourteen shots for thirty points. It was incredible, and he's
so smart, just.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Bullying everybody to the rim, beating people off the dribble.
It was. It was unbelievable. And that's the unique thing
about this Laker team is they have what might be
the best player in the world in Anthony Davis, and
then another guy who, in any one game sample can
be the best player on the floor. Like he was
the best player on the floor in a game that
had Anthony Davis and Steph Curry in it, and he's
a million years old, Like it's remarkable to me. The
(31:49):
Boston series an interesting matchup because Robert Williams I don't
think would be as valuable in that series, because I
think the Celtics would try to space out Anthony Davis
with their five out groups without Horford on the perimeter. However,
but one of Boston's biggest weaknesses in my opinion, is
they are very very much analytically focused. They want layups
(32:09):
and threes and layups and threes that I think plays
directly into Darvin Ham's coaching style, which is we want
to chase you off the line and funnel you to
Anthony Davis. And so especially if Al Horford had Al
Horford had extended stretches of this series where he lost
control of his shot, like there was I think in
game oh, you think in game six he was like
zero for seven from three at one point like that.
(32:30):
I think Darvin ham has some punches that he can
throw against Boston to try to play them into their
worst tendencies. But we have not seen a team yet
that can truly and effectively pull Anthony Davis away from
the basket. Boston has the tools necessary to do so.
So it's another styles make fights kind of thing. And
while Tatum and Brown are jacking up threes and driving
(32:51):
into the basket, you're gonna have Anthony Davis and Lebron
trying to punish them in the post, and they're gonna
have Seisman's matches all over the floor. The guard play
is going to be super interesting. That would definitely be
very entertaining series. But I'll tell you the Lakers are
gonna have their hands full with the Nuggets. I have
a lot of respect for that team.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Well, they know what they are, their star knows what
he is. There's absolute clarity on what they do and
don't do. My concern is, I don't trust Michael Porter
in a big game. I just don't. So I don't.
I don't. I don't even I know Jamal Murray's good.
(33:28):
I trust you Kis in a big game, Jamal Murray
I mostly trust, but Anthony Davis, if it went to
a game six or seven, a D and Lebron are
showing it. You know, there's you know, it's interesting about
the Lakers. I view them as sort of an older,
low ceiling team. But a D actually, for his age,
(33:49):
is still in his prime. Austin Reeves going into it,
de Loo absolutely in it. Vanderbilt athletically in it, Ruey
in it. You know, you look at them and you
just immediately this is my bias. Oh, Lebron's old, they're old,
but they actually both Denver the Lakers, a majority of
their players, whether we love them or not, there is
(34:12):
a lot of guys in their prime. Athletically. Lebron obviously isn't.
But if you look at Anthony Davis in this stretch,
you can't tell me he's out of his prime. He's
in his prime. I mean, there's never been a player
this good in the playoffs that was maybe except Lebron.
That Anthony's problems offensively a lot of times are I
(34:34):
thought some of it was Golden State putting different people
on him. It wasn't all that Anthony was bad. I mean,
they did throw every look in the world conceivably at him,
and very few players Jason are great. Tatum's a great example.
He was crap for three quarters the other night in
that game. Like how many players in the history of
the league are great every single game offensively the whole series. Yeah,
(35:01):
I remember. I mean Kobe had a game seven that
Metal World Peace won that he was terrible. Remember the
one in LA It was terrible. By the way, it
is Lebron because I watched the I watched the Utah
Jazz Michael Jordan Bowl final. Michael, I swear to god,
I had like a ten for a thirty three. Utah
gave him problems. I watched him have games against the
(35:22):
Sonics where Michael was just close out games. Wasn't good,
Like Lebron has screwed it all up. We just think, oh,
twelve years, no bad games. I remember when Dan Gilbert
at Once they were mad when he left Cleveland. They
pointed to a game against like the Celtics and said
he quit and it was like twenty eight thirteen to nine.
I'm like, when that's your quit game. I mean, I
(35:43):
think it's one of those things where Lebron just, I mean,
Lebron changed how Lebron's putting pressure on Tatum. We now
think that all these great players are always great in
big games, and it's like, no, Michael wasn't. Barkley wasn't.
KD wasn't Steph isn't. We've come to that conclusion. I
(36:04):
think you're right. Lebron's the only one in my lifetime,
you know, no one not Magic Johnson got called tragic
Johnson right after a series against Pot. Kareem was pretty
damn good. You couldn't stop his shot. Kareem had very
few bad games in this product.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yeah, it's to me, it's the unique thing that sets
Lebron apart. He's not reliant on shot variants. So if
his jumper's not falling, he's still going to finish eight
or nine times in the paint, and he's going to
create nine or ten assists kicking out to three point shooters,
play elite defense and be able to dominate the flow
of the game, and that's what sets him apart. Colin,
I wanted to ask you, I have a theory for
(36:44):
what direction the Warriors should go, But before I hit that,
I wanted to see where your head's at. If you
were GM of the warriors of like what do you?
And we do have this report from Sham's that're probably
going to keep Clay, probably going to keep Andrew and Draymond.
It looks like the young guys name Lea, Kminga, and
Pool will be the guys they look to sharp shop.
(37:05):
So in your opinion, what kind of player would you
be targeting with those players in a trade?
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Okay? So I read the Anthony Slater piece at the
Athletic this morning, and so I agree that I would
keep Okay, so the story laid it out as you do.
They're going to keep Clay. I would try to get
him at a reduced rate. I would not pay him.
I would just go to him and say do you
want to be part of this or not? But I
wouldn't have a problem with Draymond. I still think Draymond's
an elite defender. He's an offensive catalyst, a screen setter,
(37:34):
IQ on the floor. He's always been hot and cold offensively.
I would keep Steph. I would really try to keep Wiggins.
I think there's some role players, you know. I would
keep Kaminga. I like Moody, although he's limited. I like Moody,
Gary Payton, I like and I would try to get
Clay in a much reduced role. So the two players
(37:56):
I have questions about her Jordan Poole, who drives me crazy,
but Steph Mitch misses stretches and when he does, you
can't become reliant on Clay. So Pool is way more
valuable than I want to acknowledge because he drives me crazy.
I think his issue Jason is because he backs up
(38:17):
Steph that when he comes on the floor he feels
he has to be spectacular. In the last two games
in this series, I think we talked about this. He
took some mid range shots. When you play behind Steph
and the crowd's all worked up and he goes off
the floor, it's like mid range jumpers. What this is?
So I think I think I think Steph is an
(38:39):
ally but can get in Jordan Poole's head. I think
it's hard to play behind Steph. It really is hard.
Whereas everybody knew physically, nobody was Lebron. Nobody thought I'm
gonna do Lebron. Steph small slight, you can shoot two threes,
and I think Pool sometimes thinks I'm going to do
and it's like, no, dude, just do your thing. So
(39:01):
I think Pools more valuable than I want to say
is here's my concern. I think i'd move Looney. Here's
why because I think one of the things the Lakers
figured out very quickly, and they knew this going in,
is he's just no offensive threat. So you have to
have Draymond on the floor defensively, So you have to
take Looney off the floor. And we know it's a
(39:22):
wing league now right, it's a shooter's league. But because
he's become such a profound rebounder, he's got value on
the market. I think the next step for them is
becoming less reliant on their backcourt scoring. They've got to
have seventeen eighteen points. I don't think Karl Anthony Towns fits,
he's too squirrely. But I do think if you went
(39:45):
to Minnesota and said, hey, it doesn't work there, you
guys could use Jordan Poole. Because Ant can sometimes be
a reluctant perimeter shooter. He doesn't play defense. Ant can.
That's an interesting fit. Mike Conley's a grown up pools limature.
Ant is a physical specimen who can sometimes lose confidence
(40:05):
in his shot. Pool never does in a weird way
he kind of works with Minnesota. He really, in my opinion,
you could disagree, but it's like he is what they
aren't and what he isn't they are. And Karl Anthony Towns,
although he's squarely can give you a twenty two point
threat every night. And again I'm not saying he's the
(40:26):
right one. I don't think you need twenty eight there,
but you gotta be a threat. You've got to have.
You've got to make Anthony Davis if you meet or Yokic,
you have to make them stay up at night. And
think I got to bring it on both ends. It's
like Anthony Davis can take plays off. That's my take
is that I would try to move you. Maybe have
to move d'ante di Vincenzo. You got to move Gary Payton,
(40:48):
you got to move two draft picks. You got to
move Looney. I would try to get some scoring. That's
what I would try to do. From the Am I
wrong on that maybe?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And if I am telling me, the big one you
hit on that I very much agree with is you
can't just rely on backcourt scoring anymore. As a matter
of fact, you actually specifically said smaller role for Klay Thompson.
I think it's time to have that meeting with Clay
where you sit down with him and you're like, hey,
we're in a different phase now, Like it's time for
you to evolve into a little bit more of a
(41:15):
supporting role. And it's kind of ironic because he had
a pretty damn good regular season in terms of half
court shot creation. But I saw people tweeting before Game six, like, oh,
game six, Clay, and I'm like, there were a lot
of things I didn't know about Game six. I was
one hundred percent certain that Clay wasn't going to play well.
He wasn't getting great looks. His legs were clearly cooked,
(41:37):
like I thought. I said this in my Game six preview,
and I think it was a missed opportunity. I think
they should have been leaning way more and Andrew Wiggins
to look to score throughout that series. He was getting
much better matchups against these Laker guards. He was cooking them.
In Game five at home, he scored on d Angelo Russell.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, he was better than I thought. In the Sacramento series,
considering his hiatus, he was worse against the Lakers. He
didn't show up for three four games yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
And that's the thing is, like I thought they leaned
way too heavily on clay when there were better options
out there. I would look at it like this, Like
the Jordan Pool problem is that the vast majority of
young guards don't know how to play winning basketball. That's
just the vast majority of them don't actually learn how
to contribute in a winning context until they're in their
late twenties, right, And so Jordan's just and you've talked
(42:25):
about this a lot on your show. Jordan deserves to
go somewhere where he can be the starting point guard
and in a lower pressure situation, learn how to play
the game. And more importantly, he's your best vehicle with
which to bring back that diversity of shot creations. So
if you're lying way too heavily on backcourt shot creation,
you need some sort of rim pressuring forward that you
(42:47):
can consistently dump the ball down into the post or
attack mismatches with basically a better version of Andrew Wiggins.
I don't know if that's a guy like ogn Andobi
that you try to get from somewhere like Toronto or
Carl Towns is an interesting example. The one thing that
freaks me out with Carl towns Is. He has a
tendency to be like, oh, I'm just going to float
around the perimeter today, and that that kind of can
(43:08):
be a bit of an issue, especially for the addressed here,
you know. And then with the Looney thing and this
last thing I'll say about it, like he it's time
for the Warriors to have what they wanted James Wiseman
to be, but that he was never going to be
that young, which is a true vertical threat underneath the
basket for contested rebound situations, brim protection and in lob
(43:31):
threat situations and pick and roll. It's time for them
to have a six or eleven dude who can jump
on the roster.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's time, by the way, let me throw out the knicks.
They could sure use Andrew Wiggins. O.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, that's a great example. What about Julius Randall is
a rim, pressuring forward for the Warriors?
Speaker 1 (43:48):
You know, could you get Mitchell Do you like Mitchell Robbinson?
Although he's not much of an offensive.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I like I like Mitchell Robinson a lot. He's actually
a perfect example of a backup center that I'd love
to have behind Raymond Green.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Okay, yeah, I mean Julius Randall plays his ass off.
He's a real defender, excellent effort guy. And on the Warriors,
he would be the third to four scoring option. That's
perfect for Julius Randall. Honestly, you know, it's so funny
about this league. It's so much about fit. I mean,
(44:20):
Lebron handpicked Ad. And one of the reasons why is
I've always felt this with Lebron. It's kind of a
sneaky Lebron thing. He doesn't want to be by the
basket because if he's by the basket, defensively, he can't
get the ball on the outlet and fly down the floor.
He has to go ninety six. Lebron's way better at
the free throw line and off to the races. So
he's always loved a big that will do a little
(44:44):
bit of the dirty work down low, just length. He
didn't have to be because Lebron could block a lot more.
He could be a much more. Yeah, but Lebron wants
the ball tipped. Lebron gets the free throw line and
then six nine, two fifty. At the other night, he
came down on the break and he looked left and
went right. I got He's a freight train like everybody's
just he's parts the seas. But I do think that's
(45:07):
to me. I don't know if Randall's the piece, But
like I look at the Knicks and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
His IQ concerns me, his basketball cube, him being a
little bit of a ball stopper. That might drive Steve
Kerr insane.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yeah, but I I mean, the Knicks need a real score.
I wouldn't want to give Wiggins up. I think you know,
and you watch this league as closely as anybody. I know,
I don't need twenty six and nine in the post.
I need sixteen. I just need something. Like It's just
(45:39):
the other day Looney hit a miderrate. He hit like
a thirteen footer and I literally was like, holy hell,
I've never even I mean it was just like I
was with like four guys who were like, have you
ever seen him do that before? Like he's not even
a threat. And I think if you want to get
through Jokich and Anthony Davis and it's like you got
to be a threat. He can't have all your scoring
(46:00):
back court. The volume, make sure to check out The
(46:20):
Draymond Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume
because one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique
perspective understands behind the rope also chops up with guests
like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download
The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only
on the Volume podcast Network
The volume. Hi, everybody, welcome in. You're either watching this
on YouTube on Sunday night or listening. As we retweeted
on Monday morning, Jason timf and I have I think
our best forty five minute NBA discussion on Jason Tatum
(00:24):
and the Celtics thrashing of the Sixers. We talk about
Lakers and Denver. We talk about the Warriors future. So
we'll get to that in about five minutes. I do
want to start with the news on John Morant, and
for a second time, on his Instagram there's a picture
of him with a gun. If you look, every statistic
will tell you this. Young men make more poor decisions
(00:46):
than any other demographic in the country, far more than
young women, old women, middle aged men, older men, young men,
and so one of the dilemmas has been young men
tend to be more unmeeedable or vulnerable to poor choices,
especially when they choose the wrong friends or the wrong
groups to hang out with. So one of the issues
(01:07):
the NBA is very aware of is the Ja Morant issue.
Whereas an NFL player comes in and he's red shirted,
he's twenty three years old. Often they're married in college
or right when they get out of it into the NFL,
you're dealing with an adult. There is a big gap
between a nineteen year old male and a twenty three
year old male. That four years when you're forty eight
(01:28):
to fifty two doesn't matter, but it matters a lot.
Young men tend to mature more slowly than young women.
So the NBA gets these really really really great, young
talented people at nineteen years old. They can't even drink
in the hotel bar they stay in, and they're thrust
on the spotlight in the star driven sport. Shoe companies, fame, Instagram, girls' money.
(01:50):
And I am not saying in any way John Morant
isn't culpable for his decisions. But I look at this
as a failing of his shoe company. The organization goes
close to him. Where's his support system? This doesn't come
out of left field. In fact, this is his second incident.
Is that we all know the problems with sports. We
(02:13):
know that football has a regulated level of violence, so
they're trying to make it safer. Less hitting in practice,
less hitting above the shoulders. We know baseball they've changed
rules to speed the pace of the game up. We know,
one of the issues in the NBA is that players
are miserable. You don't hear that much from football players
because they come in the league more adult, They have
(02:34):
a broader life, married kids, and they have shorter careers,
so they come into the league with a much more
serious mindset, whereas a guy comes into the league at
nineteen years old and he looks and says, I can
play this for fifteen, eighteen, twenty years, and so there's
less urgency for a basketball player who knows he's going
to have a longer career. So I think the league
and teams and shoe companies have to do a better
(02:57):
job of understanding that. I've never been in love with
Jah Morant as a franchise player. He reminds me a
lot of Derek Rose, where so much of his game
is spectacular. You know, Michael Jordan would give you twenty
four points a night on just medium range jumpers and
then six to eight spectacular points. Patrick Mahomes gives you
twenty two completions every Sunday that are easy stuff, curls,
(03:20):
drag route screens, and then he gives you four to
five jaw dropping plays. I always feel like with Derek
Rose and John Morant, like eighty percent of their plays
are spectacular. It's hard to last. You're crashing to the floor,
You're challenging bigs at the rim. You got to give
me twenty one points a night just waking up in
the morning, rolling out of bed, mid range jumpers, easy laps.
Jaws a wildly spectacular player. But I just don't know
(03:43):
physically he and Dereck Rose. They're thin, they weigh one
ninety or less. They crash to the floor, they challenge
guys at the rim. I don't see them as guys
for ten to twelve years. You can depend on physically,
but the emotional stuff, this is hard go go back.
I mean, when I was nineteen years old, I could
never have handled one hundred million dollars. I wouldn't have
(04:05):
known what to do. The fame, the girls. So I
feel bad for Job Morant. He's not my favorite NBA
player in terms of a franchise guy. But god, this
is the second time with Jaw we've seen it before.
That's why I have been on this for several years.
The idea that college basketball is the enemy of the
NBA is ludicrous. There is nothing wrong with going to college,
(04:30):
being within a system on a college campus, being coached hard,
being responsible, having to be more selfless. When Zion Williamson
said I want to come back to duke, people shamed
him now because of his body type. He may have
been better served going to the pros because everybody was
concerned about his torque and his speed and his body.
(04:50):
But I don't know. I look at the Ja Morant situation.
I am not saying he shouldn't be responsible, but I
also think this has been something I've seen more than once.
And you don't expect nineteen year olds to make great
decisions when you empty everything fame, money, responsibility on them.
(05:11):
It is a lot, a lot. Let's go to Jason
Timp at the Volume hoops tonight. How great have the
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(06:18):
see O l I N.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
To me, that game was pretty simple. The best player
for the Sixers no showed, and the second best player,
who's been kind of hot and cold anyways, also happened
to be cold. And you're just not going to keep
up with that super talented Celtics team unless you get
good play out of your stars. And to me, that's
pretty much all there is too. What were your thought
What were your thoughts on that game?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean we can put the harden. You know,
we've been we've been pretending that every trust hardened in
the playoffs for a decade and this has always been like,
like we've come to terms. Kirk Cousins probably has four
or five more good years, but we've bailed on him.
We do that football, you're not a big game player.
Andy Dalton got that reputation very early in the NBA
(07:06):
because so much of the league is optics and aesthetics.
If we like your style, we keep believing you'll deliver forms.
It's like Westbrook's not a playoff guy. Harden's not a
playoff guy. And that style of play, which is you
know and a Harden never took great care of himself.
You age a really fast, right, there's a reason Lebron's
(07:27):
still great. Rady at the end was still great. Kobe
last game could be great. Your body treats you like
you treat your body so hardened. You know, he was
a he was a nightclub guy. That's fine with me.
But what happens at the end of years this sport,
which is incredibly taxing, there's just too many games. It's
always been too taxing. That's why old NBA players in
(07:48):
their fifties are all crouched over. It just beats them.
The sport beats the hell out of you. So there
should be about sixty five sixty eight games. And that's
why load management, the analytics are now acknowledging these guys
are playing too many games. It's not an excuse, it's
the truth. So you know, Harden is aged very quickly,
but also on a micro level within seasons, he ages
(08:12):
very quickly. He doesn't have a lot left and that
was in his prime, so you know he can be
And I said this about a month ago. I said,
he's really now kind of a role player. And what
the role players do, like Jordan Poole, great night, bad night,
good night, bad night, great night, bad night, bad night,
that's a role player. You know, a d steph Lebron
may pull back, but you don't get horrendous performances you
(08:35):
do from a role player, and that's what that's what
Harden is. So I think it's time to move on
from James Harden. I love Maxi and beads there for
the long term. Tobias Harris is fine. P J. Tucker
is what he is. But I think, you know, in
a way, I'm relieved we don't have to keep pretending
we know what Harden is in Big Spot. It doesn't work.
(08:57):
And Tatum also had his best game maybe as a pro.
I mean, he that first half was like wow, it
was mj ish, It was like Kobe at his best,
and that let's not have recency bias. Every Celtic fan
today was praying that Tatum showed up, So let's not
pretend like that hasn't been an ongoing discussion, so but
(09:21):
I was happy for him. He's a great player and
his confidence kind of waivers at times. But that move
he made at the end of the first half, when
he moved to his left, it was like, Okay, that's
like if he has has an eight second piece of
video that defines him, it's like, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know, Tatum. I gained so much respect for him
in this series because of how poorly things were going
for him and his sticktuitiveness during it all. For how
poorly he played to start Game six, to suddenly have
those shots fall at the end of the game, and
you could just tell it was like the weight of
the world got lifted off of his shoulders, and I
directly think that led to him playing with as much
(10:02):
confidence as he did today. He's had a nightmare pull
up jump shooting season. He shot twenty nine percent on
pull up threes during the regular season. It's been a
huge problem for him and to see that skill kind
of come to fruition on the stage. I talked about
this after Game six, but basketball can be such a
mentally challenging sport because jump shooting, in particular when you're
(10:23):
practicing it, like, I have no doubt that if Tatum
is doing a shooting drill, he's hitting seventy seventy five
percent of those shots. And then you get in a
game and you're like, man, I'm one fourteen, I've paid
my dues, I've done all the work, and these shots
to start falling, and he just had the four to
two to stick with it, and he kept going. I
thought he exposed Joel Embiid as a one dimensional defender
(10:45):
in this game with his ability to pull him out
and switches and kill him on the perimeter. But by
the way, something to gain appreciation for Anthony Davis, Like
Embiid is considered a much better defender than Jokic, but
he was a liability in this game because of his
inability to defend on the perimeter exactly whereas Anthony Davis.
It's like I'm switching on Steph Freakin Curry with the
(11:06):
game on the line and getting back to back stops.
As far as the Sixers go, I want to try
to focus more on Embiid because I look at Harden
as a supporting star. He helps run your offense, he
helps get guys into their spots. He straight up stole
two games in this series. I would argue you got
more out of Harden than you could have hoped to
get in this type of setting.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh, no question. I mean that game the other night
was his best game in the playoffs in eight years.
That was a complete outlier for almost a decade exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And he had another one earlier in the series without Embiid.
He so like I focus on Embiid, This is actually
a crazy stat. Colin. Joel Embiid averaged five made field
goals in the paint per game in this series. Nikola
Jokic against the Suns averaged eleven made field goals in
the paint. That to me, is the weak point in
Joel Embiid's career. A skill set right now. He loves
(11:57):
to hover around the free throw line and take jump shots.
Even in those post up situations he'd get Joel, he'd
get Al Horford back down five feet from the rim.
Jokic is hitting you with that shoulder and going up
with a hook shot that he's going to make seventy
percent of the time. Embiid fall away and maybe fall
on the ground and try to draw foul like he's
taking a fade away jump shot instead of going up strong.
(12:17):
That to me is the next step for Embiid. You know,
it's funny we look at this series and we look
at the Sixers moving forward, and to me, it's like
the roster is great. They defended a lot better than
I expected them to. Their supporting star did a lot
tyres MAXI had big moments. Tobias Harris, I thought, did
find your best player was not good enough and he
simply has to be better. And that's that's really the
(12:40):
only off season adjustment Philly needs to make is Joel
Embiid needs to craft his game in a way that
thrives in the physicality of this setting, and he's just
yet to do so.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, and when you know, Embiid also to your point,
and Harden's always been like this. They can really kill
ball movement. And you know jokicch you give him the ball,
he has two or three set moves and he goes
right to him. Embiid is a little more artist. He ponders,
he puts the ball on the floor. And what happens
(13:11):
is when Harden and Embiid are both cold, they don't
move the ball. Everybody else just watches two cold shooters,
whereas if Jokich is off, he's a great passer. He
makes his mind up very quickly in most instances what
to do with the ball. You know, I've said this
before that more choices can often create more confusion. I mean,
(13:33):
Jordan had like three stock moves, right, whereas sometimes you know,
Kobe could be a bit more artist. He didn't have
as many stock moves, and sometimes there were complaints that Kobe.
Basically you were all staring at Kobe, right, You're just
waiting for Kobe to do his thing. And so I
think with Embiid, one of the things that always bothered
(13:53):
me about his game is it can be ponderous and
by the way he puts them all on the floor. Also,
sometimes you know it's high school basketball. If you're a
big guy, don't put the ball on the floor. Little
guys can come and swat it. We saw that twice today.
So I know he's great, but at times I feel
like he's disruptive to the flow. I never feel that
with Anthony Davis. You give Anthony the ball low, he's
(14:16):
gonna shoot it. Now. He may square you up and
turn to the basket, but he will attack yo kitch
attacks and be ponders too much, and maybe if you
put a stop clock, that's a confirmation biased to me
because I've never loved his game, but I there are
times I watched him in this series and I'm like,
get him off the floor, let the young guys move
(14:39):
the ball, especially when they got down. But you know
he's MVP, so I lose the argument.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
There's a rhythm in flow to basketball. Anybody who's played
at any level, even if you haven't played at any
competitive level, you just play in your men's league or
pick up around town, there's a rhythm in flow to basketball.
And like, I was always blown away by how many
people Warriors fans in particular, were like, hey, we got
such great looks in Game six. I can't believe we
were missing them. And I'm like, yeah, but that wasn't
Warriors basketball. Warriors basketball was a motion offense where the
(15:08):
ball's popping around and everyone's involved. And the Lakers made
you go straight up high pick and roll with Steph
Curry and now guys are standing around a lot. And
when they're standing around a lot, then they catch and shoot.
It's a totally different type of shot than when there's
a rhythm and flow to the offense. And there's no
doubt that stagnation, which is what I call anytime a
player just holds on ponders and stares around for a while.
But yeah, that's the thing, like Embiid has to start,
(15:30):
you know. And he said this in his price or
when he got the MVPs, like it's now my goals championships.
That's great. So that means the next step for you
is identify the things that are causing you problems in
the postseason. You're not getting the same whistle that you
normally get. A lot of these tough fallaway fifteen footers
and shots that you take don't follow as high a
percentage as they do in the regular season. You need
to learn to play bullyball. These are you're the biggest
(15:51):
dude on this floor. You should be. You should be
getting ten to twelve short push shots and hook shots
in every single game that you can make seventy percent of.
That's the next step for him is he's got to
build out the playoff bullyball skill set.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
We watched Boston pick the Sixers and the Bucks apart
this year. We really did, so I'm interested to watch
the Miami series. But you know, I went with Milwaukee
and during the season, I think we said this multiple times,
they have to reboot this roster. It's gotten old and
slowly fast where they got old and slow against Miami.
But I think if you look at Boston, if you
(16:27):
look at the history of the NBA, it's baby steps.
So the Celtics get to the finals and lose. You know,
after watching him today, it's like, Okay, is this the
natural progression that they get back to the Conference of
the finals and now they face a Laker or a
Denver team. Lakers don't quite have quite the depth of
(16:47):
athletes in their prime. Denver hasn't been in that spot.
Maybe Denver now loses in the finals then comes back
next year. But when you watch the Celtics today, I
did feel like, Okay, this team with Tatum delivered like
this all right, this is the best team in basketball.
That's what it felt like to me.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
It's all Tatum. Like I mean, I have thought this
has been the most talented roster in the NBA the
last two years, and I thought they got even more
talented this summer adding Malcolm Brogden. Just with all the
players on the roster getting a little bit better incrementally
as they do as they grow. But it's the bottom
line was is they had a star last year that
kind of shrunk under the pressure against Steph Curry, and
(17:24):
so if Jason Tatum plays at or near this level,
they're gonna win the title because they'll have a bona
fide superstar at the helm, a reliable second star, and
all of the talent that you need. It's just that's
the question. Is Let's say that they beat Miami, and
I believe they will. Eric Spolser is going to give
him hell. He's going to ball pressure the hell out
of those wings to make them uncomfortable because they're not
(17:44):
great ball handlers. He's going to try to funnel them
into bam at a bio. He's going to try to
stagnate them with switching. He's going to do all these
different things, and it will be a long, grueling series.
Probably will still go six games, just because that's what
Eric Spolster does. But they don't have the talent I
don't think to beat this Boston Team's say it's the
NBA Finals now and it's Lebron James and Anthony Davis
rolling into Town another monster NBA personality. Is Jason Tatum
(18:09):
going to be able to stand on that court and
feel confident as the guy? And for the record, the
Lakers gave the Celtics two really good fights this year
and straight up got robbed in one of them, so
like that, you've seen them play down to their competition.
Those games were before the trade deadline too, that was
before they made the roster changes. So I again, that's
the thing. It's going to be. Can Tatum maintain that
(18:31):
that moxie that you expect from a bona fide superstar
at that level. And again, either way it's gonna be
Yoku or it's gonna be Lebron, it's going to be
somebody like that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm happy that Tatum did what
he did, but this had been what every Celtic fan
woke up this morning and their number one concern was
we're better than them? What Tatum's going to show on
and it was the best version of him. So I'm
really I gotta throw something at you so well, I
(19:00):
have said this. I predicted that the Lakers would beat
Minnesota in the playing game, and they would beat Memphis quickly.
I thought they would lose to Golden State about five
or six. I just didn't think they had the shooting
and the way the series worked out one game rest
before between each game I thought worked against the Lakers.
Well it didn't. So I was driving today and you know,
(19:22):
I'll meet these people in Los Angeles having coffee there,
like do you finally believe in them? And I really
I came to a conclusion today, like why it's not
like I hated the Lakers. I've just said I don't
think they're a championship team, which by the way, they're
not yet. And I said about the Warriors, they're not
a championship team. I had Milwaukee and Phoenix in it,
with Milwaukee winning. But I thought about this. My opinion
(19:46):
of Lebron this year has not been as accurate as
the production of Lebron. So I've been saying on the air,
There's never been a championship team where the best player
AD is great eight offensively every other game and the
second best player really doesn't have great games, he has
great spurts. That's like a win a playoff series team.
(20:11):
But if you go back and look at Lebron from
playing game to Golden State, oh, play in game Memphis
Golden State and you just don't know what is and
you just give me the numbers of Lebron. What I've
been doing is comparing Lebron to Lebron's prime. But if
you took the name off and said here's what this
player gives you, you're like, oh, he's a more efficient
(20:32):
Jamal Murray, And then I could argue different games. Obviously,
then I could argue, oh, they have the best player
left and it'll bona fide All Star. I mean, Lebron
did make what second team All NBA? Right, so third
team I bad so and by the way, would have
made second and he plays, he just didn't play many games.
(20:54):
So and I was sitting in driving today, I was
driving down and I was thinking, why can't I get
this team? What the hell? And I'm like, on wait, timeout,
you keep comparing Lebron to prime Lebron. If you compare
Lebron to all the other players, you're like, yeah, he's
(21:14):
really good, he's an All Star. So I do look
at them and I think I probably think they're gonna
match up really well with Denver. And my guess is
La ends up against Boston in the finals. That's my
guest today.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, I'm picking la over Denver probably in six games,
just because that's the similar cadence that they go with.
Again with the Lebron thing, he really is trying to
conserve as much energy as possible. I don't think it's
a coincidence that the two best moments he's had in
this postseason so far are Game four against Memphis, down
by one, He's playing like shit, yeah, and he's like,
(21:47):
you know what, I just got to I just gotta
go to the rim, and he was able to, and
you know what, he finished over the defensive player of
the year. Then to start overtime, he beat the defensive
player of the year off the dribble and made a
layup on him, and then he beat a second team
defense perimeter defender to the basket, Dylan Brooks for an
and one layup in his twenty twenty game And looking back,
that salvaged that series in a lot of ways, because
(22:08):
they would have gone back to Memphis to too totally
different series if Lebron doesn't salvage that one. And then
in Game six, like that was I don't think people
realize like that was MVP level performance from Lebron in
that Game six, like he was unbelievable defensively, unbelievable on
the glass, controlled the offense out of the post, and
had a high pick and roll picking on Steph Kurry.
(22:28):
It was vintage Lebron. And so to me, what that
told me was like, Okay, he knows he has that
in the bag. What he's gonna do is he's gonna
hold that back and only use it when it's absolutely necessary,
just from the standpoint of the energy level and as
far as the roster goes, and like, I know that
there's not a dependable offensive player on the roster. That's true.
(22:48):
Lebron's coasting a lot, Anthony Davis is up and down offensively,
each of these role players are. It's like one night
they're great, one night they're not. But there's so many
of them that can go off. And Darvin Ham is
so good at recognizing which player is in that groove
and leaning on him with more minutes, just like Lonnie
Walker in that fourth quarter of Game four where it's
(23:09):
like tonight it's Austin Reeves, the next day it's D'Angelo Russell. Oh, today,
Ruey Hachimuras got going. We're gonna feed him. He's got
twenty four. Oh, today's Lebron's game. He's got it going.
They've got such a depth of players that can convert
things offensively, and as I look at the Denver matchup,
to me, it's one hundred percent about Anthony Davis versus
Nikola Jokic and his ability to bother him defensively. Because
(23:30):
think of it like this, If I go down the roster,
is Lebron better than Jamal Murray? Hell yeah, even this
version of him Austin reeves, Yes, every bit is good,
if not better than a guy like Michael Porter Junior
or Contavious Calbo, Pope, D'Angelo Russell, like they actually down
the roster are better. Just Jokic could theoretically be the
best player in the series. And so everything to me
(23:51):
comes down to Anthony Davis and his ability to bother
Nikola Jokic. If he does that, I think the Lakers
have enough and this this is a key Cup basketball
that is going to dominate this particular series. Every team
the Lakers have played so far has been able to
switch the Lebron James Anthony Davis pick and roll because
Dylan Brooks and Jaron Jackson can both guard the other,
(24:14):
so they'll just switch it. You have Andrew Wiggins and
Draymond Green, they can just switch it. They're not gonna
switch Nikola Jokic onto Lebron. So basically you're gonna have
Lebron dominating this series in high pick and roll against
Nikola Jokic. And that's where Lebron can use his brain
more because he's gonna automatically get dribble penetration coming over
the top of those screens since they're not switching it.
(24:35):
So it's gonna be all about Lebron on the offensive
end in this series and all about Anthony Davis. Can
he stay out of foul trouble and can he contain
Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah, this is the longest stretch for Anthony Davis playing. Well. Now,
there was the Bubble year when he had that sabbatical,
but this is really the longest sustained stretch. God, even
pre Lakers. There was a couple of years before he
came to the Lakers where he had injuries. So you
cross your fingers a little, but I will say that
(25:07):
I remember when the rumor started that Anthony Davis was
going to be a Laker, and there was for about
an hour a rumor he was going to be a Clipper.
It was very brief, Rich Paul, the guys. I don't
think Rich Paul wanted to make it look so obvious
that he was going to join Lebron. So there was
like this, oh, the Clippers are in it. And I
(25:30):
remember a source inside the Clippers saying they just didn't
think he would consistently play through pain and big guys
have unique bodies and you gotta play hurt, and that
was always the knock on him. I don't think he's
one hundred percent now. I think he's playing hurt. And
I think I'll throw this at you. When Lebron set
(25:54):
the scoring record this year and there was that video
where Anthony Davis like didn't get off the bench, and
I think there was a little bit of feelings hurt
and it was a little territorial like it's this my
team or this. But I do think Lebron in his
camp after the record was set, I think they made
a real effort to say, hey man, that was just
(26:14):
a record like this, this is your team. And I
think Lebron and his guys deserve credit for really empowering
Anthony Davis, because let's be honest, all we talked about
for about three weeks was Lebron breaking Kareem Abdulijibbar's record,
and that you know, after a while that would wear
on the two best. Yeah, yeah, And so I think
(26:34):
I think Lebron and his camp were very sensitive when
there were there were some reports that I know because
people reached out to me like they didn't like that narrative.
And they've massaged it and they've really empowered a D.
And you're seeing now college ad first three years in
New Orleans, a D bubble, a D. And I don't
(26:56):
think there's any question he's the best defensive player left.
And I thought not Steph Curry, but Ad essentially controlled
that whole series. Everything the Warriors did both ms was
based on where's Ad. He totally controlled the series. Even
on nights when he wasn't great offensively, he still controlled it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you hit this hard all week, and I'm so
glad you did, because it's recognition that Anthony Davis deserves.
Every adjustment in the series was built around the Warriors
trying to get Anthony Davis away from the paint and
the Lakers trying to get Anthony Davis back into the paint.
There's no question to me that he was the best
player in the series. I mean, the reality is is
they held to Steph to his least efficient scoring postseason
(27:33):
series since the Rockets in twenty nineteen. That's Anthony Davis.
This is another crazy stat for you, Lebron, And this
is this stat for you calling. This is the biggest
reason why I believe in this Lakers team and their
ability to win a championship. They throw hellacious defensive punches.
Now they can coast a lot, and they usually wait
to use it until they need it. I think it's
(27:55):
a big part of why their series have followed identical cadences,
because they just have thesecipic games like Game three, where
it's like, we're gonna just throw the kitchen sink defensively,
Game one, Game six, that kind of thing in clutch situation,
So when the scorer is within five points with less
than five minutes left, the Lakers are holding teams in
this postseason run to seventy four point four points per
(28:15):
one hundred possessions, and they are undefeated five to zero
games this postseason with clutch situations. None of the remaining
teams have a defensive rating below one hundred in clutch
situations in this postseason run. So the Lakers defensive punch,
in large part because of Anthony Davis, is just so
much more powerful than any of these other teams and
what they can throw, and so if they get enough
(28:37):
offensively out of this group, they're just the better two
way team than any of these guys in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, it's I find myself. And this is not a
shot at Jokic because I thought he'd deserved the MVP,
But I do want to see a Laker Celtic final.
I went skiing on a Saturday with a friend. It
was a great ski day and we came home that
night and the Celtics play the Lakers. That was on ABC.
It was a Saturday night, you know network game. It
(29:04):
was a great game in Boston. Great game. And I
remember sitting with a friend and I'm like, I can't
figure this team out. They'd beaten Milwaukee at Milwaukee like
a month earlier. I'm like, God, this team's mess. And
I'm like, then they play Milwaukee in Boston, I'm like,
I think they're better. So I've struggled to get a
beat on them all year. But I will say this
(29:25):
because I was thinking of driving in the car today.
Let's step ahead. If they faced Boston, So the best
player would be Anthony Davis or Tatum. The second best
player would be Jalen Brown or Lebron. And then you'd
get to and you could criticize the Lakers for like,
D'Angelo Russell is inconsistent, but he's a better offensive player
than their third best player, Marcus Smart. And then you
(29:48):
could say, well, Austin Reeves is undrafted, but I'd argue
he's a more reliable player than their fourth best offensive player,
Malcolm Brogdon. Well you could say, well, your Jared Vanderbilt
gives you nothing offensively. Ei it as Robert Williams, and
then you get into the ruie, and then you start
looking around at those peripheral players, Derek White and ruining it.
It's going to be a series where those role players,
(30:12):
it's you know, role players play well. Jason at home,
My guess is we're noted at six. We go to
a game seven and then does Lebron go Superman as
he put the cape on? But I went back and
forth in the Car today Boston Lakers, and I'm like,
that's pretty even. And the difference is, I think Darvin
Ham's had a better year coaching. I think he has
(30:33):
a better feel for his team than Missoula does. At
this point. It is at this point, and again, let's
not let's not go confirmation bias. Three games ago, we
didn't know what the hell was going on a Tatum
Orange coach. So right like today, we think it's all solved.
But I think Boston Lakers, I've just come to terms
(30:54):
with Lebron still has the ability to put the cape on.
Even only his last year he could put the cape on.
So maybe, and I'm warning myself be very careful. We
did this with far we do it with Kobe Wit.
These guys don't give it to you every night or
every moment, but the ones, especially that took care of themselves,
(31:16):
they can still bring it. Lebron's performance in Game six
against Golden State, he was the best player on the
fourteen shots for thirty points. It was incredible, and he's
so smart, just.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Bullying everybody to the rim, beating people off the dribble.
It was. It was unbelievable. And that's the unique thing
about this Laker team is they have what might be
the best player in the world in Anthony Davis, and
then another guy who, in any one game sample can
be the best player on the floor. Like he was
the best player on the floor in a game that
had Anthony Davis and Steph Curry in it, and he's
a million years old, Like it's remarkable to me. The
(31:49):
Boston series an interesting matchup because Robert Williams I don't
think would be as valuable in that series, because I
think the Celtics would try to space out Anthony Davis
with their five out groups without Horford on the perimeter. However,
but one of Boston's biggest weaknesses in my opinion, is
they are very very much analytically focused. They want layups
(32:09):
and threes and layups and threes that I think plays
directly into Darvin Ham's coaching style, which is we want
to chase you off the line and funnel you to
Anthony Davis. And so especially if Al Horford had Al
Horford had extended stretches of this series where he lost
control of his shot, like there was I think in
game oh, you think in game six he was like
zero for seven from three at one point like that.
(32:30):
I think Darvin ham has some punches that he can
throw against Boston to try to play them into their
worst tendencies. But we have not seen a team yet
that can truly and effectively pull Anthony Davis away from
the basket. Boston has the tools necessary to do so.
So it's another styles make fights kind of thing. And
while Tatum and Brown are jacking up threes and driving
(32:51):
into the basket, you're gonna have Anthony Davis and Lebron
trying to punish them in the post, and they're gonna
have Seisman's matches all over the floor. The guard play
is going to be super interesting. That would definitely be
very entertaining series. But I'll tell you the Lakers are
gonna have their hands full with the Nuggets. I have
a lot of respect for that team.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Well, they know what they are, their star knows what
he is. There's absolute clarity on what they do and
don't do. My concern is, I don't trust Michael Porter
in a big game. I just don't. So I don't.
I don't. I don't even I know Jamal Murray's good.
(33:28):
I trust you Kis in a big game, Jamal Murray
I mostly trust, but Anthony Davis, if it went to
a game six or seven, a D and Lebron are
showing it. You know, there's you know, it's interesting about
the Lakers. I view them as sort of an older,
low ceiling team. But a D actually, for his age,
(33:49):
is still in his prime. Austin Reeves going into it,
de Loo absolutely in it. Vanderbilt athletically in it, Ruey
in it. You know, you look at them and you
just immediately this is my bias. Oh, Lebron's old, they're old,
but they actually both Denver the Lakers, a majority of
their players, whether we love them or not, there is
(34:12):
a lot of guys in their prime. Athletically. Lebron obviously isn't.
But if you look at Anthony Davis in this stretch,
you can't tell me he's out of his prime. He's
in his prime. I mean, there's never been a player
this good in the playoffs that was maybe except Lebron.
That Anthony's problems offensively a lot of times are I
(34:34):
thought some of it was Golden State putting different people
on him. It wasn't all that Anthony was bad. I mean,
they did throw every look in the world conceivably at him,
and very few players Jason are great. Tatum's a great example.
He was crap for three quarters the other night in
that game. Like how many players in the history of
the league are great every single game offensively the whole series. Yeah,
(35:01):
I remember. I mean Kobe had a game seven that
Metal World Peace won that he was terrible. Remember the
one in LA It was terrible. By the way, it
is Lebron because I watched the I watched the Utah
Jazz Michael Jordan Bowl final. Michael, I swear to god,
I had like a ten for a thirty three. Utah
gave him problems. I watched him have games against the
(35:22):
Sonics where Michael was just close out games. Wasn't good,
Like Lebron has screwed it all up. We just think, oh,
twelve years, no bad games. I remember when Dan Gilbert
at Once they were mad when he left Cleveland. They
pointed to a game against like the Celtics and said
he quit and it was like twenty eight thirteen to nine.
I'm like, when that's your quit game. I mean, I
(35:43):
think it's one of those things where Lebron just, I mean,
Lebron changed how Lebron's putting pressure on Tatum. We now
think that all these great players are always great in
big games, and it's like, no, Michael wasn't. Barkley wasn't.
KD wasn't Steph isn't. We've come to that conclusion. I
(36:04):
think you're right. Lebron's the only one in my lifetime,
you know, no one not Magic Johnson got called tragic
Johnson right after a series against Pot. Kareem was pretty
damn good. You couldn't stop his shot. Kareem had very
few bad games in this product.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yeah, it's to me, it's the unique thing that sets
Lebron apart. He's not reliant on shot variants. So if
his jumper's not falling, he's still going to finish eight
or nine times in the paint, and he's going to
create nine or ten assists kicking out to three point shooters,
play elite defense and be able to dominate the flow
of the game, and that's what sets him apart. Colin,
I wanted to ask you, I have a theory for
(36:44):
what direction the Warriors should go, But before I hit that,
I wanted to see where your head's at. If you
were GM of the warriors of like what do you?
And we do have this report from Sham's that're probably
going to keep Clay, probably going to keep Andrew and Draymond.
It looks like the young guys name Lea, Kminga, and
Pool will be the guys they look to sharp shop.
(37:05):
So in your opinion, what kind of player would you
be targeting with those players in a trade?
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Okay? So I read the Anthony Slater piece at the
Athletic this morning, and so I agree that I would
keep Okay, so the story laid it out as you do.
They're going to keep Clay. I would try to get
him at a reduced rate. I would not pay him.
I would just go to him and say do you
want to be part of this or not? But I
wouldn't have a problem with Draymond. I still think Draymond's
an elite defender. He's an offensive catalyst, a screen setter,
(37:34):
IQ on the floor. He's always been hot and cold offensively.
I would keep Steph. I would really try to keep Wiggins.
I think there's some role players, you know. I would
keep Kaminga. I like Moody, although he's limited. I like Moody,
Gary Payton, I like and I would try to get
Clay in a much reduced role. So the two players
(37:56):
I have questions about her Jordan Poole, who drives me crazy,
but Steph Mitch misses stretches and when he does, you
can't become reliant on Clay. So Pool is way more
valuable than I want to acknowledge because he drives me crazy.
I think his issue Jason is because he backs up
(38:17):
Steph that when he comes on the floor he feels
he has to be spectacular. In the last two games
in this series, I think we talked about this. He
took some mid range shots. When you play behind Steph
and the crowd's all worked up and he goes off
the floor, it's like mid range jumpers. What this is?
So I think I think I think Steph is an
(38:39):
ally but can get in Jordan Poole's head. I think
it's hard to play behind Steph. It really is hard.
Whereas everybody knew physically, nobody was Lebron. Nobody thought I'm
gonna do Lebron. Steph small slight, you can shoot two threes,
and I think Pool sometimes thinks I'm going to do
and it's like, no, dude, just do your thing. So
(39:01):
I think Pools more valuable than I want to say
is here's my concern. I think i'd move Looney. Here's
why because I think one of the things the Lakers
figured out very quickly, and they knew this going in,
is he's just no offensive threat. So you have to
have Draymond on the floor defensively, So you have to
take Looney off the floor. And we know it's a
(39:22):
wing league now right, it's a shooter's league. But because
he's become such a profound rebounder, he's got value on
the market. I think the next step for them is
becoming less reliant on their backcourt scoring. They've got to
have seventeen eighteen points. I don't think Karl Anthony Towns fits,
he's too squirrely. But I do think if you went
(39:45):
to Minnesota and said, hey, it doesn't work there, you
guys could use Jordan Poole. Because Ant can sometimes be
a reluctant perimeter shooter. He doesn't play defense. Ant can.
That's an interesting fit. Mike Conley's a grown up pools limature.
Ant is a physical specimen who can sometimes lose confidence
(40:05):
in his shot. Pool never does in a weird way
he kind of works with Minnesota. He really, in my opinion,
you could disagree, but it's like he is what they
aren't and what he isn't they are. And Karl Anthony Towns,
although he's squarely can give you a twenty two point
threat every night. And again I'm not saying he's the
(40:26):
right one. I don't think you need twenty eight there,
but you gotta be a threat. You've got to have.
You've got to make Anthony Davis if you meet or Yokic,
you have to make them stay up at night. And
think I got to bring it on both ends. It's
like Anthony Davis can take plays off. That's my take
is that I would try to move you. Maybe have
to move d'ante di Vincenzo. You got to move Gary Payton,
(40:48):
you got to move two draft picks. You got to
move Looney. I would try to get some scoring. That's
what I would try to do. From the Am I
wrong on that maybe?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And if I am telling me, the big one you
hit on that I very much agree with is you
can't just rely on backcourt scoring anymore. As a matter
of fact, you actually specifically said smaller role for Klay Thompson.
I think it's time to have that meeting with Clay
where you sit down with him and you're like, hey,
we're in a different phase now, Like it's time for
you to evolve into a little bit more of a
(41:15):
supporting role. And it's kind of ironic because he had
a pretty damn good regular season in terms of half
court shot creation. But I saw people tweeting before Game six, like, oh,
game six, Clay, and I'm like, there were a lot
of things I didn't know about Game six. I was
one hundred percent certain that Clay wasn't going to play well.
He wasn't getting great looks. His legs were clearly cooked,
(41:37):
like I thought. I said this in my Game six preview,
and I think it was a missed opportunity. I think
they should have been leaning way more and Andrew Wiggins
to look to score throughout that series. He was getting
much better matchups against these Laker guards. He was cooking them.
In Game five at home, he scored on d Angelo Russell.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, he was better than I thought. In the Sacramento series,
considering his hiatus, he was worse against the Lakers. He
didn't show up for three four games yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
And that's the thing is, like I thought they leaned
way too heavily on clay when there were better options
out there. I would look at it like this, Like
the Jordan Pool problem is that the vast majority of
young guards don't know how to play winning basketball. That's
just the vast majority of them don't actually learn how
to contribute in a winning context until they're in their
late twenties, right, And so Jordan's just and you've talked
(42:25):
about this a lot on your show. Jordan deserves to
go somewhere where he can be the starting point guard
and in a lower pressure situation, learn how to play
the game. And more importantly, he's your best vehicle with
which to bring back that diversity of shot creations. So
if you're lying way too heavily on backcourt shot creation,
you need some sort of rim pressuring forward that you
(42:47):
can consistently dump the ball down into the post or
attack mismatches with basically a better version of Andrew Wiggins.
I don't know if that's a guy like ogn Andobi
that you try to get from somewhere like Toronto or
Carl Towns is an interesting example. The one thing that
freaks me out with Carl towns Is. He has a
tendency to be like, oh, I'm just going to float
around the perimeter today, and that that kind of can
(43:08):
be a bit of an issue, especially for the addressed here,
you know. And then with the Looney thing and this
last thing I'll say about it, like he it's time
for the Warriors to have what they wanted James Wiseman
to be, but that he was never going to be
that young, which is a true vertical threat underneath the
basket for contested rebound situations, brim protection and in lob
(43:31):
threat situations and pick and roll. It's time for them
to have a six or eleven dude who can jump
on the roster.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's time, by the way, let me throw out the knicks.
They could sure use Andrew Wiggins. O.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, that's a great example. What about Julius Randall is
a rim, pressuring forward for the Warriors?
Speaker 1 (43:48):
You know, could you get Mitchell Do you like Mitchell Robbinson?
Although he's not much of an offensive.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I like I like Mitchell Robinson a lot. He's actually
a perfect example of a backup center that I'd love
to have behind Raymond Green.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Okay, yeah, I mean Julius Randall plays his ass off.
He's a real defender, excellent effort guy. And on the Warriors,
he would be the third to four scoring option. That's
perfect for Julius Randall. Honestly, you know, it's so funny
about this league. It's so much about fit. I mean,
(44:20):
Lebron handpicked Ad. And one of the reasons why is
I've always felt this with Lebron. It's kind of a
sneaky Lebron thing. He doesn't want to be by the
basket because if he's by the basket, defensively, he can't
get the ball on the outlet and fly down the floor.
He has to go ninety six. Lebron's way better at
the free throw line and off to the races. So
he's always loved a big that will do a little
(44:44):
bit of the dirty work down low, just length. He
didn't have to be because Lebron could block a lot more.
He could be a much more. Yeah, but Lebron wants
the ball tipped. Lebron gets the free throw line and
then six nine, two fifty. At the other night, he
came down on the break and he looked left and
went right. I got He's a freight train like everybody's
just he's parts the seas. But I do think that's
(45:07):
to me. I don't know if Randall's the piece, But
like I look at the Knicks and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
His IQ concerns me, his basketball cube, him being a
little bit of a ball stopper. That might drive Steve
Kerr insane.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yeah, but I I mean, the Knicks need a real score.
I wouldn't want to give Wiggins up. I think you know,
and you watch this league as closely as anybody. I know,
I don't need twenty six and nine in the post.
I need sixteen. I just need something. Like It's just
(45:39):
the other day Looney hit a miderrate. He hit like
a thirteen footer and I literally was like, holy hell,
I've never even I mean it was just like I
was with like four guys who were like, have you
ever seen him do that before? Like he's not even
a threat. And I think if you want to get
through Jokich and Anthony Davis and it's like you got
to be a threat. He can't have all your scoring
(46:00):
back court. The volume, make sure to check out The
(46:20):
Draymond Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume
because one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique
perspective understands behind the rope also chops up with guests
like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download
The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only
on the Volume podcast Network
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Colin Cowherd
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