May 17, 2023 • 14 mins
Colin gives his instant reaction to the Nuggets Game 1 Western Conference Finals home win over the Lakers, and the Spurs winning the NBA Lottery and the rights to French 7’3” unicorn super prospect Victor Wembanyama
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Hi, everybody, let's have an instant reaction off
the Nuggets one thirty two, one twenty six win over
the Lakers. If you're the Lakers, I think you have
to feel pretty pretty good. And I'll get to the
(00:24):
Nuggets in a second. But Denver was about as good
as a basketball team can be. In the first half.
Jokic put on a first quarter that was like a
skills competition. They hit everything, They're passing their energy, they
outworked the Lakers, they dominated the boards, and in the end,
after a thirty seven point first quarter with the Lakers
(00:46):
trailed by twelve, and then another second quarter when the
Lakers were outscored by six thirty five to twenty nine,
it felt pretty hopeless. But the playoffs are about tweaking.
This is the knock on Doc Rivers. He didn't tweak,
he did an adjust So Darvin Ham, we've talked about this,
has done a really good job of adjusting. So they
started making some defensive adjustments. Put Ruey on Jokic have
(01:10):
ad as the help defender. That's something that was obvious.
I also thought their effort improved. I also thought Jokic
felt like he tired a little bit later in the game.
But I think overall, what's really interesting from the box
score tonight, if you look at it field goals. Both
team shot fifty four percent three point shooting. Both team
(01:31):
shot basically forty six percent excellent free throws. Lakers were
twenty three to twenty six. Both team shot very well
from the free throw line. The difference in the game
assists were even, steals were even, turnovers were low. Points
in the paint both had fifty. The big advantage was rebounds.
The Lakers were out rebounded badly forty seven to thirty.
(01:56):
And I think one of the things that's pretty remarkable
about what the Warriors have done it was small ball
at speed and pacing and three point shooting. But I
remember a conversation and Denver's really big. Michael Porter's six ' ten,
Gordon's six ' nine, Jokic is huge, even KCP six
five and a half's a tall guard. They're just a big,
(02:17):
long team. And Mark Warkinteam the late Mark Warkan team
used to coach basketball and assistant at UNLV that was
a GM around the league or for the Knicks Blazers.
He used to talk about length all the time, and
I remember one time we had a conversation about the
Bulls teams with Pippin and Jordan, and he was talking
about between you know, Ku Coach and Rodman and Harper
(02:39):
and Jordan and Pippen and Luke Longley's they always had
so much length. They're bigs like Cartwright, weren't dominant, but
they were long. And he said, over the course of
a game, they would get five loose balls, five tip passes.
And he said, if you give those to Michael Jordan
on the other end, he shoots fifty percent, there's your ballgame.
He goes, how many games to the Bulls win by four, six,
(03:02):
seven points. Their length was so significant, and it's amazing.
The Warriors put up this dynasty where you know, once
Kevin Durant left, and pre Kevin Durant, they were never
a tearly long team. So you don't get the freebies underneath,
you don't get the pass deflections, the tip balls, the
tip passes. Denver lived off those in the first half.
(03:24):
They're length and hustle points. The Nuggets just carved up
the Lakers, volleyballing it around, getting second and third chances,
and then again you tighten things up at halftime and
the Lakers played a much better second half. Again, I
think they have to feel pretty good considering Denver was
a nearly flawless team at home altitude advantage for Game one.
(03:47):
I think it's going to be a really interesting series.
You know, they always say styles make fights in title fights.
You can see why Denver was a number one seed.
Highly efficient. They don't shoot a ton of threes. When
they did, they hit him. I think they had one
of the lower number of threes in the NBA this year,
but were very efficient. They don't turn the ball over
(04:09):
a lot, They get a lot of second chance points
because of their length, and Late helps him on both ends.
So you can see they don't shoot a ton of threes,
but Jamal Murray's really good when he does. You can
see why Denver's a really good team. Plus the altitude
that's always been anytime the Nuggets have been good, they've
been very good at home. So I think we're going
to have a six to seven game series. I think
(04:30):
the quality of basketball on the floor tonight, I mean
the talent KCP, Jokich, Michael Porter, Gordon, Jamal Murray, Ruey
had a really good night. Austin Reeves had a couple
of big threes late. Anthony Davis really woke up in
the second half offensively, Lebron James. It's no coincidence these
(04:54):
teams are here, the Lakers and the Nuggets. Just it's
trees against bigger trees. And that was the difference tonight.
Those seventeen rebounds, second chance points most it felt like
a lot of them were in the first half. The
Nuggets were playing downhill, but the Lakers, and they do
this when you're very good defensively, you can just make
(05:17):
enough stops, you go on a little Ruey gets hot,
Reeves gets hot, Lebron hits a couple, Davis gets in
his groove, and all of a sudden, you're out played.
And you looked up and you were like, oh, they're
down six, they're down four. So Lakers going to hang
around like that. And that's what length and defense and
adjusting does. My takeaway as if Los Angeles would have
(05:40):
stolen that game, that would have taken the wind out
of Denver's sales. They didn't good effort. Denver's earned that
number one seed. We knew they were big coming in,
but you really when you watch the Warriors lack of
size against the Lakers, and then you watch the Lakers
(06:00):
and they look small compared to Denver. It gives you
an idea if you're the Warriors watching this game tonight, saying, okay,
in the offseason, we've got to get bigger. You know
when when that small ball first introduced and those players
were in their prime, Clay and Steph and Draymond, it
was a little faster. They've slowed down a bit now
they don't have the size, and that Denver's the real deal,
(06:23):
really really nice. Went okay, I'm going to take a
quick break. Come back thoughts on Victor Wambanyama going to
the Spurs. How great have the NBA playoffs been so far?
If you live in one of those cities and wanted
to go to the games, there is only one place
(06:44):
to get tickets, The game Time app, the fastest growing
ticketing app in the US for last minute, amazing deals.
They don't stop with the NBA, They do baseball, hockey, concerts,
comedy shows too. Download the game Time app and use
the code Colin cli in get twenty dollars off your
(07:09):
first purchase. Twenty bucks off first purchase. Terms apply again.
Download the game Time app use the code Colin Seeli
in last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. The game Time app,
the fastest growing sports app in the United States, use
(07:32):
the code Colin Celin. All Right, So the Ping Pong
lottery has the San Antonio Spurs winning Victor Wambinyama, the
French prodigy goes. Tony Parker played in France, so there's
a huge Spurs fan base in that area. And Victor
(07:56):
said afterwards that a lot of people were hoping you
went to San Antonio. They were the one of the
teams with the odds on favorite, one of the three
favorites going into the Ping Pong ball Lottery. Listen, if
you're gonna go anywhere, you know my heart was rooting
for the Portland Trailblazers, who have had the worst string
of luck of any professional sports franchise in America. Bill
Walton was a brilliant college and pro basketball player, fell
(08:19):
apart in Portland. Sam Bouie, a remarkable player with the
Kentucky Wildcats, fell apart, greg Odin, Brandon Roy never ends Portland.
It's ironic. Their smallest player, Damian Lillard, has been the
one that's had the great career not the big guys,
so'm I was kind of rooting for the Portland Trailblazers
(08:40):
to get a break. They are saying, is he's a
better prospect than Magic Johnson and Lebron James. Let me
push back a little bit on that. I think what
made Magic so special and he had a short career,
but what has made Lebron special is their body type.
I was watching Lebron and you had that black pullover
on before the game warming up. He looks like a
(09:03):
defensive end in the NFL. So much of Lebron's success
is his body. Not only has he taken care of it,
but it's just built to last. You know, I said
this about Tom Brady. I've stood around Tom Brady one time,
and Tom Brady is six five, two thirty. Tom Brady's
a big man. You know, these small quarterbacks. The two
is the Kyler Murray's day age. Fast. Brady is big
(09:25):
and didn't get hit much. So wan Minyama is a
very seven to three and growing very thin. That body
type historically is not an eighteen year body type. And
to break Lebron James records, you're going to have to
play for eighteen years at least Magic Johnson, body type, big,
(09:46):
huge for a guard. You know, a lot a chem
o laja one. If you look, if you look at
the players who have been great, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, you
know he didn't get hurt much in his career, very
strong player. You think of Kareem as thin, kind of angular,
very strong player, good bass. I don't know. I look
(10:09):
at Victor Wambin Yama and I think, oh, he's absolutely
offensively gifted. Nobody's ever going to block his shot. He's
going to get twenty points a game. He'll get pushed
around for the first couple of years, but he's going
to score a lot of points very quickly. But that frame,
you know, we've seen a lot of really really good
players and putting on weight and he needs to. It's
(10:29):
not always easy. You know. You go from playing internationally
at nineteen years old to the NBA in an eighty
two game schedule. You're dropping. You've got to play on
both ends of the floor in the NBA. Okay, you're
getting they'll come back and score on you. You're dropping six seven,
eight thousand calories a night, getting on a plane, too
tired to eat, falling asleep landing late guys, rookies hit
(10:54):
a wall. I mean, your body's still grown eighteen nineteen
years old. So you know, I said this about chet
Holmgren when he went to OKC. I'd put him on
like a fifty eight game schedule. I wouldn't even let
him for the first two years play eighty two games.
I'd go like fifty eight games first year, stay away
from back most back to backs unless they're home, and
(11:14):
then I'd go maybe sixty eight games a year the
second year. Then you can let him go. But to
go from thirty six games at Gonzaga for chet Holmgren
to eighty two with that body type, there's no way
I'm doing it. There's no way. And he got hurt
very quickly. Nobody's to blame on that, but I you know,
there's going to be so much pressure. He's young. The
(11:35):
NBA schedule is daunting. You have to play both ends.
He'll be tested because he's being called the greatest player ever,
prospect ever. Guys are going to go after him. They're
going to go right after him, be overly physical with him.
I'm excited. The thing I think that really is ideal.
David Robinson Tim Duncan. This is not the first rodeo
for the Spurs. They've had this kind of prodigy, They've
(11:56):
had this great player. This is what they do. Popovich
knows what he's doing. He'll be patient. The San Antonio
press is not unrealistic. It's not New York, Boston, Philadelphia.
The Fangs aren't out. Good ownership, excellent front office, and
they can kind of build the team they want. They
got a lot of salary cap room. They can build
a team they want. They've they've let go, they've abandoned
(12:18):
other players. So there's no egos, no divas. They're going
to build around him on his timeline. So I can't
wait to watch it. I mean, I would rather see
a young quarterback go to Andy Reid or Sean McVay
that a defensive coach, right, I would rather see one
of these young players go to the Spurs and Greg
Popovich than some guy that's going to get run out.
(12:39):
I mean, in the last couple of days, it's Monny
Williams gone, Doc Rivers gone. Is chaos runs the NBA.
San Antonio doesn't have a lot of it, and so
he's going to a very solid no chaos reputable organization
with a history of developing players and winning under Greg Popovich,
a very strong system. Nice place to live. You can
(13:02):
kind of hide in San Antonio, so if you've got
to go anywhere, that's the place. Good for him. So
big night, nice win for the Nuggets, who looked the
part as the number one seed, held on to win.
And Victor wambin Yama, who they're calling woe, said his
source is saying he's the greatest prospect ever. That doesn't
(13:24):
mean he'd be the greatest player ever. Michael Jordan was
the third pick. Like, let's take a deep breath. But
he will score. I mean you can. I've talked to
a couple of scouts there. He'll walk into the league
and score a lot really quickly. Cross your fingers on
his health. I can't wait to watch it. So much fun,
instant reaction. See you tomorrow on FS one Premiere Radio.
(14:02):
The volume, make sure to check out The 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
(14:24):
Show wherever you get your podcasts, only on the Volume
Podcast Network
The volume. Hi, everybody, let's have an instant reaction off
the Nuggets one thirty two, one twenty six win over
the Lakers. If you're the Lakers, I think you have
to feel pretty pretty good. And I'll get to the
(00:24):
Nuggets in a second. But Denver was about as good
as a basketball team can be. In the first half.
Jokic put on a first quarter that was like a
skills competition. They hit everything, They're passing their energy, they
outworked the Lakers, they dominated the boards, and in the end,
after a thirty seven point first quarter with the Lakers
(00:46):
trailed by twelve, and then another second quarter when the
Lakers were outscored by six thirty five to twenty nine,
it felt pretty hopeless. But the playoffs are about tweaking.
This is the knock on Doc Rivers. He didn't tweak,
he did an adjust So Darvin Ham, we've talked about this,
has done a really good job of adjusting. So they
started making some defensive adjustments. Put Ruey on Jokic have
(01:10):
ad as the help defender. That's something that was obvious.
I also thought their effort improved. I also thought Jokic
felt like he tired a little bit later in the game.
But I think overall, what's really interesting from the box
score tonight, if you look at it field goals. Both
team shot fifty four percent three point shooting. Both team
(01:31):
shot basically forty six percent excellent free throws. Lakers were
twenty three to twenty six. Both team shot very well
from the free throw line. The difference in the game
assists were even, steals were even, turnovers were low. Points
in the paint both had fifty. The big advantage was rebounds.
The Lakers were out rebounded badly forty seven to thirty.
(01:56):
And I think one of the things that's pretty remarkable
about what the Warriors have done it was small ball
at speed and pacing and three point shooting. But I
remember a conversation and Denver's really big. Michael Porter's six ' ten,
Gordon's six ' nine, Jokic is huge, even KCP six
five and a half's a tall guard. They're just a big,
(02:17):
long team. And Mark Warkinteam the late Mark Warkan team
used to coach basketball and assistant at UNLV that was
a GM around the league or for the Knicks Blazers.
He used to talk about length all the time, and
I remember one time we had a conversation about the
Bulls teams with Pippin and Jordan, and he was talking
about between you know, Ku Coach and Rodman and Harper
(02:39):
and Jordan and Pippen and Luke Longley's they always had
so much length. They're bigs like Cartwright, weren't dominant, but
they were long. And he said, over the course of
a game, they would get five loose balls, five tip passes.
And he said, if you give those to Michael Jordan
on the other end, he shoots fifty percent, there's your ballgame.
He goes, how many games to the Bulls win by four, six,
(03:02):
seven points. Their length was so significant, and it's amazing.
The Warriors put up this dynasty where you know, once
Kevin Durant left, and pre Kevin Durant, they were never
a tearly long team. So you don't get the freebies underneath,
you don't get the pass deflections, the tip balls, the
tip passes. Denver lived off those in the first half.
(03:24):
They're length and hustle points. The Nuggets just carved up
the Lakers, volleyballing it around, getting second and third chances,
and then again you tighten things up at halftime and
the Lakers played a much better second half. Again, I
think they have to feel pretty good considering Denver was
a nearly flawless team at home altitude advantage for Game one.
(03:47):
I think it's going to be a really interesting series.
You know, they always say styles make fights in title fights.
You can see why Denver was a number one seed.
Highly efficient. They don't shoot a ton of threes. When
they did, they hit him. I think they had one
of the lower number of threes in the NBA this year,
but were very efficient. They don't turn the ball over
(04:09):
a lot, They get a lot of second chance points
because of their length, and Late helps him on both ends.
So you can see they don't shoot a ton of threes,
but Jamal Murray's really good when he does. You can
see why Denver's a really good team. Plus the altitude
that's always been anytime the Nuggets have been good, they've
been very good at home. So I think we're going
to have a six to seven game series. I think
(04:30):
the quality of basketball on the floor tonight, I mean
the talent KCP, Jokich, Michael Porter, Gordon, Jamal Murray, Ruey
had a really good night. Austin Reeves had a couple
of big threes late. Anthony Davis really woke up in
the second half offensively, Lebron James. It's no coincidence these
(04:54):
teams are here, the Lakers and the Nuggets. Just it's
trees against bigger trees. And that was the difference tonight.
Those seventeen rebounds, second chance points most it felt like
a lot of them were in the first half. The
Nuggets were playing downhill, but the Lakers, and they do
this when you're very good defensively, you can just make
(05:17):
enough stops, you go on a little Ruey gets hot,
Reeves gets hot, Lebron hits a couple, Davis gets in
his groove, and all of a sudden, you're out played.
And you looked up and you were like, oh, they're
down six, they're down four. So Lakers going to hang
around like that. And that's what length and defense and
adjusting does. My takeaway as if Los Angeles would have
(05:40):
stolen that game, that would have taken the wind out
of Denver's sales. They didn't good effort. Denver's earned that
number one seed. We knew they were big coming in,
but you really when you watch the Warriors lack of
size against the Lakers, and then you watch the Lakers
(06:00):
and they look small compared to Denver. It gives you
an idea if you're the Warriors watching this game tonight, saying, okay,
in the offseason, we've got to get bigger. You know
when when that small ball first introduced and those players
were in their prime, Clay and Steph and Draymond, it
was a little faster. They've slowed down a bit now
they don't have the size, and that Denver's the real deal,
(06:23):
really really nice. Went okay, I'm going to take a
quick break. Come back thoughts on Victor Wambanyama going to
the Spurs. How great have the NBA playoffs been so far?
If you live in one of those cities and wanted
to go to the games, there is only one place
(06:44):
to get tickets, The game Time app, the fastest growing
ticketing app in the US for last minute, amazing deals.
They don't stop with the NBA, They do baseball, hockey, concerts,
comedy shows too. Download the game Time app and use
the code Colin cli in get twenty dollars off your
(07:09):
first purchase. Twenty bucks off first purchase. Terms apply again.
Download the game Time app use the code Colin Seeli
in last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. The game Time app,
the fastest growing sports app in the United States, use
(07:32):
the code Colin Celin. All Right, So the Ping Pong
lottery has the San Antonio Spurs winning Victor Wambinyama, the
French prodigy goes. Tony Parker played in France, so there's
a huge Spurs fan base in that area. And Victor
(07:56):
said afterwards that a lot of people were hoping you
went to San Antonio. They were the one of the
teams with the odds on favorite, one of the three
favorites going into the Ping Pong ball Lottery. Listen, if
you're gonna go anywhere, you know my heart was rooting
for the Portland Trailblazers, who have had the worst string
of luck of any professional sports franchise in America. Bill
Walton was a brilliant college and pro basketball player, fell
(08:19):
apart in Portland. Sam Bouie, a remarkable player with the
Kentucky Wildcats, fell apart, greg Odin, Brandon Roy never ends Portland.
It's ironic. Their smallest player, Damian Lillard, has been the
one that's had the great career not the big guys,
so'm I was kind of rooting for the Portland Trailblazers
(08:40):
to get a break. They are saying, is he's a
better prospect than Magic Johnson and Lebron James. Let me
push back a little bit on that. I think what
made Magic so special and he had a short career,
but what has made Lebron special is their body type.
I was watching Lebron and you had that black pullover
on before the game warming up. He looks like a
(09:03):
defensive end in the NFL. So much of Lebron's success
is his body. Not only has he taken care of it,
but it's just built to last. You know, I said
this about Tom Brady. I've stood around Tom Brady one time,
and Tom Brady is six five, two thirty. Tom Brady's
a big man. You know, these small quarterbacks. The two
is the Kyler Murray's day age. Fast. Brady is big
(09:25):
and didn't get hit much. So wan Minyama is a
very seven to three and growing very thin. That body
type historically is not an eighteen year body type. And
to break Lebron James records, you're going to have to
play for eighteen years at least Magic Johnson, body type, big,
(09:46):
huge for a guard. You know, a lot a chem
o laja one. If you look, if you look at
the players who have been great, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, you
know he didn't get hurt much in his career, very
strong player. You think of Kareem as thin, kind of angular,
very strong player, good bass. I don't know. I look
(10:09):
at Victor Wambin Yama and I think, oh, he's absolutely
offensively gifted. Nobody's ever going to block his shot. He's
going to get twenty points a game. He'll get pushed
around for the first couple of years, but he's going
to score a lot of points very quickly. But that frame,
you know, we've seen a lot of really really good
players and putting on weight and he needs to. It's
(10:29):
not always easy. You know. You go from playing internationally
at nineteen years old to the NBA in an eighty
two game schedule. You're dropping. You've got to play on
both ends of the floor in the NBA. Okay, you're
getting they'll come back and score on you. You're dropping six seven,
eight thousand calories a night, getting on a plane, too
tired to eat, falling asleep landing late guys, rookies hit
(10:54):
a wall. I mean, your body's still grown eighteen nineteen
years old. So you know, I said this about chet
Holmgren when he went to OKC. I'd put him on
like a fifty eight game schedule. I wouldn't even let
him for the first two years play eighty two games.
I'd go like fifty eight games first year, stay away
from back most back to backs unless they're home, and
(11:14):
then I'd go maybe sixty eight games a year the
second year. Then you can let him go. But to
go from thirty six games at Gonzaga for chet Holmgren
to eighty two with that body type, there's no way
I'm doing it. There's no way. And he got hurt
very quickly. Nobody's to blame on that, but I you know,
there's going to be so much pressure. He's young. The
(11:35):
NBA schedule is daunting. You have to play both ends.
He'll be tested because he's being called the greatest player ever,
prospect ever. Guys are going to go after him. They're
going to go right after him, be overly physical with him.
I'm excited. The thing I think that really is ideal.
David Robinson Tim Duncan. This is not the first rodeo
for the Spurs. They've had this kind of prodigy, They've
(11:56):
had this great player. This is what they do. Popovich
knows what he's doing. He'll be patient. The San Antonio
press is not unrealistic. It's not New York, Boston, Philadelphia.
The Fangs aren't out. Good ownership, excellent front office, and
they can kind of build the team they want. They
got a lot of salary cap room. They can build
a team they want. They've they've let go, they've abandoned
(12:18):
other players. So there's no egos, no divas. They're going
to build around him on his timeline. So I can't
wait to watch it. I mean, I would rather see
a young quarterback go to Andy Reid or Sean McVay
that a defensive coach, right, I would rather see one
of these young players go to the Spurs and Greg
Popovich than some guy that's going to get run out.
(12:39):
I mean, in the last couple of days, it's Monny
Williams gone, Doc Rivers gone. Is chaos runs the NBA.
San Antonio doesn't have a lot of it, and so
he's going to a very solid no chaos reputable organization
with a history of developing players and winning under Greg Popovich,
a very strong system. Nice place to live. You can
(13:02):
kind of hide in San Antonio, so if you've got
to go anywhere, that's the place. Good for him. So
big night, nice win for the Nuggets, who looked the
part as the number one seed, held on to win.
And Victor wambin Yama, who they're calling woe, said his
source is saying he's the greatest prospect ever. That doesn't
(13:24):
mean he'd be the greatest player ever. Michael Jordan was
the third pick. Like, let's take a deep breath. But
he will score. I mean you can. I've talked to
a couple of scouts there. He'll walk into the league
and score a lot really quickly. Cross your fingers on
his health. I can't wait to watch it. So much fun,
instant reaction. See you tomorrow on FS one Premiere Radio.
(14:02):
The volume, make sure to check out The 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
(14:24):
Show wherever you get your podcasts, only on the Volume
Podcast Network
Host
Colin Cowherd
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