Build around Stephon Castle, Amen Thompson or Jalen Williams? + Luka vs Brunson debate | NBA Mailbag
December 30, 2025 • 24 mins
Jason answers mailbag questions on topics including who would you rather build around: Stephon Castle, Amen Thompson or Jalen Williams. He also discusses Lakers star Luka Doncic vs. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night. You're
at the volume. Hapvy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of
you guys are having an incredible week so far. It
(00:21):
is mail bag Day. We've had Tuesday mailbags during the holidays.
We'll get back to our usual Fridays starting next week.
Got a lot of interesting questions from around the league.
I'm excited to dig into it. You guys are the
job before we started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channel
so you don't miss any more of our videos. Then
like this video. That helps us a lot. And then lastly,
if you want to get mailback questions in, just drop
them in our full episodes on YouTube. In the comments,
just write mail bag with the colon write your question.
(00:42):
We'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question,
an interesting one here. Would you rather have Stefan Castle
or a Men Thompson? To me, it's Castle at this
point almost no question, but the national media seems to
still pick Thompson. I think Castle's pretty much better every
aspect offensively while still being a slightly worse or while
(01:03):
being a slightly worse defender. Okay, so this one's complicated.
I do think it's close. I lean slightly versus towards
Steph Castle as well, but I do think it's very close.
The thing with the Men Thompson is like he's barely
scratching the surface of his potential as well. So for
both of these guys, it's kind of like you're looking
at like a you know when you see those like
hurricane maps where they're trying to project where it's gonna go,
(01:25):
and it's just like their potential future is just so
far out. It could be such a wide range of
outcomes for either of these guys, Like there's a version
of the story where Steph Castle leaves a bunch of
unfulfilled potential on the table, and the same thing goes
for Men Thompson, and I'd argue both of these guys
have like legit top tier superstar potential if things go
a certain way with their skill development in the coming years.
(01:47):
So again, it's a wide range of outcomes for both guys.
I lean Steph Castle for a couple of reasons. One,
I think Steph Castle is a substantially better passer. I
think that like in terms of just natural feel for
the game when he's making reads in the middle of
the floor. A men Thompson, to be clear, is a
good passer. I think a men Thompson sees the flour well.
I think he makes read and react sequence reads very well.
(02:08):
It's not that a men Thompson is not a good passer.
It's just that Steph Castle, to me, is one of
those guys that sees another layer to that like high
pick and roll, high iso read progression that I think
is going to suit him really well as he becomes
a more dynamic score over the course of his career.
He's also a little bit bigger. To me, Steph Castle
almost kind of reminds me of like an evolutionary version
(02:29):
of Jimmy Butler. There's this like weird size profile that
he sits in where he's in that like he is
six six sixty seven ish, you know, in terms of
his height, he's big and strong, but he's also very fast,
and he's got great footwork and a lot of like
starch stop quickness going on. Right, So what that does
is it puts him in a position where he's way
too big for most guards and he's way too fast.
(02:52):
For most under the basket players and most of these
like bigger wings that he might run into. He's got
like a like a like a on the ground center
of gravity advantage because he plays so well off of
two feet. And that's the part that reminds me so
much of Jimmy Butler. Like Jimmy Butler similarly fell into
that same kind of category, like that undersized power forward
(03:13):
but like oversized guard kind of guy. But that when
he was at his peak athletically was plenty fast and
athletic enough to guard multiple positions and then was just
too difficult to match up with on the offensive end,
Like a big was too slow for him, a guard
was too small for him. He just had this like
he just kind of fit into that perfect little athletic
niche there as the oversized small forward type of dude. Right.
(03:36):
I think Steph Castle has a lot of that same
type of potential. There's a natural wiggle with this game
that allows him to beat people off the dribble. He
plays off of two feet, so he wins the ground
battle all the time. He's always dislodging people from their
spot and going up clean off of two feet. I
think the jump shot looks like something that will become
reliable for him over time. He's been shooting the ball
really well over the course of the last month or so.
(03:57):
And then again there's that other layer of playmaking. I
actually think he has a lot of potential on the
defensive end as well, that he's barely starting to scratch
the surface of. He has that positional versatility. So like
Amend's not an example here, but like Asar Thompson yesterday
was getting cooked by Kawhi because he's just too big, right,
there's a type of player, that bigger forward that Steph's
(04:17):
going to be able to do a better job of
a better job against in certain matchups. I agree that
I think a Men Thompson is a better defender right now,
but I think Steph Castle has good defensive potential. So
like the question for a Men is going to be
will he be able to add some of that higher
polish as a shot creator that he hasn't shown to
this point, right, And like that's where you have the
wide range of outcomes for both players. But for me
(04:38):
right now, if I was starting a team from scratch,
I'd rather have Steph Castle. I think he's going to
be a little bit better, but it's very, very close.
It's not like an indictment of in men Thompson at all.
It's just that's how high I am on Steph Castle
as a player player comp Castle versus Jada. Another interesting
question from the mailbag, Jaydub is a little bit or
(05:00):
complicated because Jadub we were talking about that kind of
like hurricane path right, JDub is much further along in
that pathway, so the range of outcomes is tighter. We
have a better feel for the type of player he's
gonna be because he's already closer to that version of
himself right now. He's just been in the league longer.
The thing with Jadub is we've seen a lot of
this stuff get rounded out. We've seen the type of
defensive player that he's become. We've seen him score forty
(05:23):
points in an NBA Finals game. We've seen him over
the course of the final two rounds of last year's
playoffs just be this devastating basket attacker. So we have
like a good feel for what Jadub is, but we
also have a good feel for what he's not. Like.
One of the things I've noticed is like he brings
a ton of downhill power, but there's not a lot
of like real shimmy and shiftiness in his game in
(05:44):
terms of beating people off the dribble when he doesn't
have a head of steam. Right, So, like I've seen
Jadeb go through games where he can't quite turn the
corner and all of a sudden, it's a lot of
like drifting layups that are lower percentage or tougher pull
up jump shots. Right. So, like I've seen that the
ceiling for JDub is probably somewhere below that of a
(06:05):
top tier superstar, right, Like, to me, Jdubb is destined
to be someone that when he's at his absolute peak
and his prime is hunting in that like six to
seven to like fifteen to sixteen range in the NBA. Like,
I don't think Ja Dob's ever going to be a
top five player in the NBA. Right, Steph Castle, You're
not gonna sit here and say he's better than JDub
(06:25):
right now, because he's certainly not. Like I do think
Steph Castle right now is better than a Men Thompson.
That's like an actual leg up that he has on him. Right,
But like with Jadub, it's all about projecting what he
can be. I do think Steph Castle has the potential
to be better than JDub. I think Steph Castle has
the potential to be a top tier superstar in this league.
That's on the table for him. Is he gonna get there?
(06:49):
Who knows. Odds are always small for that kind of thing,
because it's such a rare air that you're reaching when
you get to that level as a basketball player. But
I do think Steph has that potential. So to answer
your question, Jdub's obvious the better player right now, but
Steph Castle has the potential to surpass him one day.
I think he has a higher ceiling overall, for whatever
that's worth at this phase of his career. Jason and
(07:11):
your excitement to bash Luca, you made a comment about
how he hasn't played up to superstar status in recent games.
He went on to site the most recent Sons game. However,
Luca didn't even play in that game. You might have
confused it with a game almost two weeks ago against
the Suns where he did not play well. But consider this,
there's barely two games ago that Luca put up forty
five eleven and fourteen with five steals and only one turnover.
Luca's performance that day was something that Lebron nor Kobe
(07:33):
has never done as a Laker, Yet Luca did it
in less than a year with the organization. When you
put that in perspective and then proceed to comment after
comment about how terrible he is, it speaks volumes about
the sheer lunacy of this fan base. This provides a
perfect segue to your recent comment about how Luca fans
aren't used to how the Laker fan base holds their
best players accountable on a game to game basis, because
(07:54):
Lakers fans expect championships or something to that effect. Well,
my response to that is fairly simple, and I must
say that I'm surprised that the fan base is unaware
of this, but the fact that their opinions do not
mean a damn thing. No decisions regarding Luca will be
made because you are some cleatest clown down the road
is upset that he took too many threes or that
he did something on defense that they weren't happy with.
What could happen with the constant berating of the guy
(08:16):
that is leading the team in virtually every offensive category
is that he hears enough of it and he requests
the trade. Personally, I would love that, But the thing is,
I recognize that my opinion on the matter is worthless.
Perhaps some of these fans will realize that about themselves
as well. So a lot to get into here. First thing,
what I was trying to refer to when I was
mentioning the Sun's game was actually the Clippers game. I
just got confused and one of the things that and
(08:37):
I just made a mistake. It happens I make mistakes
on the show. But one of the things that stood
out to me specifically about the Clippers game and then
the Rockets game, was the Lakers dug these massive holes
with their starting lineup, and you know, all the focus
gets kind of centered around what the starting lineup has
personnel in terms of personnel on defense, so it's like,
(08:59):
can you play Ruie, Luca and Lebron all at the
same time, or like, are they just too slow footed?
Is there not enough defensive personnel in the starting lineup?
And that stuff is absolutely worth digging into. But in
both of those games, the Clippers game, Luca literally came
out and was straight ass on offense for the first
like nine minutes of the game. And because of that,
he spotted the Clippers a double digit lead. I think
(09:21):
they were up like twelve or fourteen points when he
subbed out, right. Same thing with the Rockets game. He
came out and was just turning the ball over every
time down the floor and couldn't make a shot, and
so all of a sudden, they're down ten twelve points.
And what that does is it sets the tone in
a way for the team that makes it already feel
like you're like behind the eight ball, so to speak.
(09:42):
You're already in a position where you're down double digits
and you're fighting for your life in the first quarter.
And again, like I can talk about the rebounding, I
could talk about the defense, but Luca in the Clippers
game and in the Rockets game, was so bad on
offense to start that it literally put his team in
position and to be to have to dig uphill or
(10:02):
to have to fight uphill the rest of the game,
and it just puts it just makes life that much harder. So,
like all I was talking about in those games is like, hey,
if Luca comes out and goes instead of you know,
five turnovers in the first quarter against the Rockets, instead
he has zero turnovers and goes three for four from
the field to three assists. Maybe instead of them being
down twelve, they're down two or they're up to and
(10:23):
maybe everyone fights a little harder on defense and everyone
is a little bit tougher on the glass because they
feel like they have a chance to win the game
instead of feeling like they're dead on arrival. Same thing
goes in the Clippers game. You play better to start
the game. Instead of being down twelve, fourteen points, you're
up to four points. You have a better chance to
compete the rest of the way. Like Luca was the
(10:45):
driving force of those early deficits because how bad he
was on offense. And again, like as far as like
the conversation surrounding holding stars accountable, I'm like that with
the entire league. I'm like that with all the top
tier guys. When your top tier superstar is not operating
at that level and is operating somewhere below that, I'm
(11:07):
gonna look there first, because he is the guy that
makes fifty plus million, because he is the guy that
actually has the skill set in the tools to flip
the script and change the dynamic and help the basketball team.
It doesn't make sense to go to the dude who
makes eight million and be like, why aren't you doing
more until the star is doing his job. Now, when
(11:31):
the star is doing his job and he's scoring the
basketball effectively, and he's not turning the basketball over, and
he's creating good shots consistently, and guys are not doing
their job down the line, that's when it's time to
look at the rest of the roster. And again, no
one's saying don't talk to Rob Polinka about this. No
one's saying, don't look at the Lakers and their limitations
(11:51):
as athletes and as spot up shooters and all those things.
Those things all matter. But I've watched this same group
when twenty basketball games, they've won six games again or
five games against teams that are above the plane in
both brackets. They've won three games against teams that I
consider to be legitimate championship contenders. They are capable of
(12:13):
being better than they are. What happened in those games
in those ones that they won, their stars played like superstars.
That's why I talk about it that way. It's strictly
a matter of like Luca is the guy who's capable
of flipping the script here if he comes out every
night and brings that top tier, superstar level of play.
(12:34):
Things will become easier down the line, and guys will
be more capable of holding up their end of the bargain. Now,
the point you're making about like Luca, like requesting a
trade or not being able to handle the negativity, I'm
not hearing that from Luca. When I'm hearing him in
his postgame pressers, he is taking blame. He is talking
about how he needs to be better, because that's what
(12:55):
competitors do. They look in the mirror, they find out
what they need to do to get better, to improve
their situation, and they go about doing so. And like
we'll see, it's been one game with the Kings. But
I did think Luca was more surgical on offense. I
did like the turnovers came later in the game. He
was better out the gates, he was better on defense
throughout the entire night. Like there's another layer that we're
(13:15):
capable of getting out of these guys to get better basketball.
That's all I were saying. No one's saying that Luca.
I think lucas the third best player in the league
this season, but for the last month or so, he
hasn't been as efficient putting the ball in the basket,
and he's been turning the basketball over too much and
it's been hurting the team. There's levels to this. When
Lucas at his best, he's fifty percent from two, thirty
(13:39):
six percent from three and three turnovers a game. When
he's forty percent from two, or like forty five percent
from two and twenty five percent from three and five
turnovers per game, it doesn't matter if he's putting up
thirty two, thirteen and eleven because all of those misses
and all of those turnovers are hurting the team and
putting them against the eight ball in transition. So it's
(13:59):
just about holding him to the standard that Luca has established. Guys,
just go to the Basketball Reference page. Just go to
Basketball Reference look at Luca's numbers from twenty twenty four
when he was with Dallas, and look at his numbers
this year. Luca's Luca, but he's not as good as
he's capable of being. And when he's at that level,
that's when he's in the conversation for being legitimately the
(14:20):
best player in the world. But he's got to be
able to get back to that level for the Lakers
to be able to achieve their goals. Today's show is
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Next question, Hey, Jason
loved the show. At the time of this question. The
Thunder are currently twenty six and four. This was a
mail bag from before their most recent loss. They've lost
(16:09):
three games in December. They're still my championship favorites. I
know players are still trying to find a rhythm like JDub,
but is it crazy for me to believe that the
Thunder are at their best offensively when Shay is at
the helm and AJ Mitchell is leading the bench units
with JDub and Chet playing off of AJ Mitchell? Am
I crazy for believing that JDub is a couple of
years away from being that secondary lead initiator. I just
think JDub over dribbles and can lose his dribble when
(16:30):
trying to countermove. In my opinion, he also doesn't have
a really great first step that allows him to just
blow by guys, which makes him settle for over the
top mid range shooting, which he could improve. In my opinion,
Jadub is at his best when he's able to get
a head of steam off of spot ups, curls, and transition.
I still believe Jadub is a top thirty player in
this league. I just don't think he's the secondary lead
initiator the Thunder need right now in a perfect world?
What do you think, Jason? A lot of the stuff
(16:52):
you said I agree with. I also agree that Jadub
is more of like a when he has momentum. He
brings a lot of power to this situation, which makes
him a big downhill threat. But in a static situation
against a great defender, he's not like a great first
step quickness slash, like shimmy shake, get a guy off
balance to beat him off the dribble type of dude.
Here's the thing, the dude scored forty points in a
(17:14):
finals game last year. From the Game seven against the
Nuggets through the end of the postseason, he was dramatically
better and very very important to this Thunder offense. He
just is coming back. Anytime you enter a situation as
a basketball player where a bunch of guys have been
playing and you're kind of shoehorning yourself in, it takes
a while to find your rhythm. It takes a while
(17:35):
to find your confidence. It takes a while for the
team to find their rhythm around you. Again, the losses
to me are indicative of some bigger issues that the
Thunder have to contend with for specific matchups, like, Yeah,
they're gonna have to do better on the defensive glass
than they did against Minnesota and San Antonio. Alice Cruz
is gonna need a knockdown open shots. Lou Dort's gonna
need to be able to knock down open shots. Cason
(17:56):
Wallas is gonna be able to need to be able
to knock down open shots. There are some stuff from
the past that has shown up again that needs to
be resolved, but ultimately the construct of the team is
just fine, and Ja dubb is going to need to
be their second best player for them to get to
where they want to go. You got to give him
a long runway under the circumstances. It's just such a
long process trying to integrate yourself in this type of environment. Hey, Jason,
(18:21):
my friend and I are having a Luca versus Brunson debate.
I think it's silly to not pick Luca, not to
dimension Brunson clearly a top six to ten player right now,
but he's a Knicks fan and is arguing Brunson. His
argument centers around primarily Brunson's three level scoring being better
right now and Luca's higher volume pumping his stats a
little bit more than Brunson's. My argument is that outside
of the huge playmaking and rebounding advantage that the Knicks
(18:42):
and Lakers shouldn't shouldn't have, basically the same records, but
then the Knicks have a drastically better roster. I get
Luca's been struggling some and Brunson's been cooking, but saying
Brunson is over Luca is just shortsighted and fandom in
my opinion, I'm curious what your take is. Thanks, huge
fan of the show. Happy holidays. So it's tricky because
I actually do think that Jalen Brunson's been better than
(19:02):
Luca for the last month. There's conversations to have regarding
like what's a player's standing in the league versus who's
playing better basketball right now? No one's gonna put Brunton
over Luca based on what's happened through October November December, right, Like,
that's a conversation for next summer. When we get to
next summer, we'll have another fifty games of regular season
(19:24):
basketball for both of these guys, and we'll have a
full playoff run. We'll see what Jalen Brunson does when
he gets into the postseason. We'll see what Luka Doncic
does when he gets into the postseason. Then we'll sit
down in July and August and we'll be like, which
guy was better. Right, that's the kind of conversation that's
going to actually carry some weight and actually change some
minds for some of these fans around the league. Right.
(19:44):
But strictly speaking, there is a simple dynamic that's taking
place with Brunson and with Luca in the last month
that has made it so that Brunson's been better in
the last month, which again is not a big picture
conversation about the players, it's just a conversation about how
they've been playing in the last month. Really simple. Luca's
turnovers have gone up and his efficiency has gone down.
(20:07):
As a shot maker, Brunson is operating in the mid
sixties in true shooting percentage and his turnovers are way down.
So that's in that like Shake Gildes Alexander territory of
high volume, high efficiency offense without many mistakes that can
hurt your team going the other way that dynamic over time,
(20:27):
if Brunson's efficiency ticks down and his turnovers go up,
Luca's turnovers go down and his efficiency goes up, That'll
be the kind of thing that Luca can do to
reassert control over that debate over the course of the season.
But yeah, I think over the last month. The lack
of turnovers from Brunson and the higher true shooting percentage
has made him a better basketball player just for the
(20:47):
last month. That doesn't mean he's a better player than Luca.
Luke will have more to say on that matter. A
couple more quick ones. What do you think is more
important to Houston? To Houston Reed Shepherd's ability to knock
down pull ups consistently or his ability to improve defensively
and at least be an average defender. To me, it's
more the defensive end of the floor. The pull ups
and the stuff out of ball screens is really nice
(21:08):
for their bench units. But I really like his shooting
on the floor with the final five. It's just he
can't be out there. And I'm not talking about off
the dribble shooting, although he has hit some big off
the dribble shots in crunch time. It's his ability to
just be a dead eye like fifty plus percent knockdown,
catch and shoot guy, which makes it that much harder
to put additional bodies on offensive rebounders, or two bodies
(21:30):
on KD and ball screens, or two bodies on Shangun
in post ups, because now you're leaving this guy that's
just a dead eye three point shooter out there who
can do all that damage. In order for him to
actually be on the floor in those situations, he has
to be better defensively. He's been just picked on relentlessly.
That was what happened at the end of that Kings game,
if you guys remember so. To me, it's all about
reach Shepherd's ability to add in a little bit of muscle,
(21:52):
a little bit more physicality on defense, and being more
reliable defensive player. All right, last question, Hi, Jason. Being
back in air for the holidays, what do you miss
the most and what do you like the most about Colorado?
So obviously being back in Arizona, that was my first
time going back for a long time because when I
when I went back a couple times over the summer,
it was literally just to get more stuff to move,
(22:15):
and it was I was flying out of Tucson on
some vacations that took place around that time. But this
was like just five straight uninterrupted days getting to be
back in Tucson and a couple things like the mountains
are beautiful there. I always end up taking them for
granted when I live there, and whenever I come back
to visit. Just that they have three peaks in the
area that are right around them that are like, you know,
(22:35):
around nine thousand feet tall, and the surrounding terrain. Because
it's relatively low elevation, they're very prominent, they stick out
a lot. And so when I was driving around, I
was just like, man, tu Soon's a beautiful place. And
you know, every day was like seventy five degrees and sunny,
and so this time of year it's like the best
weather out there. But to me, easily, it's the friends
and family, you know, Like I don't have a ton
(22:56):
of like you know, when it comes to like what
my routine is, Like I play basketball obviously, and I
have my hobbies, like I like to ski, and I
like to play guitar and things like that. But easily,
my favorite thing to do is just hang out with
friends and family. And so just getting to be back
and uh and to get to see everybody in person,
and to get to spend a lot of time with
my We stayed with my family while we were there,
I got to see my friends and it was just
(23:17):
great to kind of get back and just see all
the people that we love Colorado. I've been really frustrated
with the lack of snow that's been killer. I'm hoping
that that changes at some point next month or so.
But overall, I love it here. The basketball scene is incredible.
It's engaged me competitively as a basketball player in a
way that I haven't felt literally since college. The people
(23:39):
here are incredible. There's just a lot of really really
nice people that I've met in you know, everywhere that
I've gone, and you could just tell that there's like
a culture of kindness here that I've really liked. And
then the weather, you know, honestly, like it gets cold
and there's snow, and there's been a lot more wind
than I was expecting. But overall, I just think it's
beautiful out here. And every single day when I'm driving
around and I'm looking at the mountains and I'm looking
at all the color you know, they say colorful Colorado.
(24:01):
That's what you see on the state signs when you're
coming in, and it couldn't be more true. I've definitely,
really really enjoyed living out here. I do miss Arizona
for my friends and family, but that's the beautiful thing
as we can visit them and we have the technology
to be able to talk to them FaceTime, phone calls,
all that kind of stuff. So like, honestly, it's been
it's been really good for Carly and I and I
think we're gonna we're gonna be here for at least
a couple of years, and we'll see how it goes
(24:22):
in the long run. All Right, guys, it's all I
have for today. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting us and supporting the show again. We'll be back
tomorrow morning with a breakdown of the Tuesday night slate.
I'll see you guys, bet
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night. You're
at the volume. Hapvy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of
you guys are having an incredible week so far. It
(00:21):
is mail bag Day. We've had Tuesday mailbags during the holidays.
We'll get back to our usual Fridays starting next week.
Got a lot of interesting questions from around the league.
I'm excited to dig into it. You guys are the
job before we started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channel
so you don't miss any more of our videos. Then
like this video. That helps us a lot. And then lastly,
if you want to get mailback questions in, just drop
them in our full episodes on YouTube. In the comments,
just write mail bag with the colon write your question.
(00:42):
We'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question,
an interesting one here. Would you rather have Stefan Castle
or a Men Thompson? To me, it's Castle at this
point almost no question, but the national media seems to
still pick Thompson. I think Castle's pretty much better every
aspect offensively while still being a slightly worse or while
(01:03):
being a slightly worse defender. Okay, so this one's complicated.
I do think it's close. I lean slightly versus towards
Steph Castle as well, but I do think it's very close.
The thing with the Men Thompson is like he's barely
scratching the surface of his potential as well. So for
both of these guys, it's kind of like you're looking
at like a you know when you see those like
hurricane maps where they're trying to project where it's gonna go,
(01:25):
and it's just like their potential future is just so
far out. It could be such a wide range of
outcomes for either of these guys, Like there's a version
of the story where Steph Castle leaves a bunch of
unfulfilled potential on the table, and the same thing goes
for Men Thompson, and I'd argue both of these guys
have like legit top tier superstar potential if things go
a certain way with their skill development in the coming years.
(01:47):
So again, it's a wide range of outcomes for both guys.
I lean Steph Castle for a couple of reasons. One,
I think Steph Castle is a substantially better passer. I
think that like in terms of just natural feel for
the game when he's making reads in the middle of
the floor. A men Thompson, to be clear, is a
good passer. I think a men Thompson sees the flour well.
I think he makes read and react sequence reads very well.
(02:08):
It's not that a men Thompson is not a good passer.
It's just that Steph Castle, to me, is one of
those guys that sees another layer to that like high
pick and roll, high iso read progression that I think
is going to suit him really well as he becomes
a more dynamic score over the course of his career.
He's also a little bit bigger. To me, Steph Castle
almost kind of reminds me of like an evolutionary version
(02:29):
of Jimmy Butler. There's this like weird size profile that
he sits in where he's in that like he is
six six sixty seven ish, you know, in terms of
his height, he's big and strong, but he's also very fast,
and he's got great footwork and a lot of like
starch stop quickness going on. Right, So what that does
is it puts him in a position where he's way
too big for most guards and he's way too fast.
(02:52):
For most under the basket players and most of these
like bigger wings that he might run into. He's got
like a like a like a on the ground center
of gravity advantage because he plays so well off of
two feet. And that's the part that reminds me so
much of Jimmy Butler. Like Jimmy Butler similarly fell into
that same kind of category, like that undersized power forward
(03:13):
but like oversized guard kind of guy. But that when
he was at his peak athletically was plenty fast and
athletic enough to guard multiple positions and then was just
too difficult to match up with on the offensive end,
Like a big was too slow for him, a guard
was too small for him. He just had this like
he just kind of fit into that perfect little athletic
niche there as the oversized small forward type of dude. Right.
(03:36):
I think Steph Castle has a lot of that same
type of potential. There's a natural wiggle with this game
that allows him to beat people off the dribble. He
plays off of two feet, so he wins the ground
battle all the time. He's always dislodging people from their
spot and going up clean off of two feet. I
think the jump shot looks like something that will become
reliable for him over time. He's been shooting the ball
really well over the course of the last month or so.
(03:57):
And then again there's that other layer of playmaking. I
actually think he has a lot of potential on the
defensive end as well, that he's barely starting to scratch
the surface of. He has that positional versatility. So like
Amend's not an example here, but like Asar Thompson yesterday
was getting cooked by Kawhi because he's just too big, right,
there's a type of player, that bigger forward that Steph's
(04:17):
going to be able to do a better job of
a better job against in certain matchups. I agree that
I think a Men Thompson is a better defender right now,
but I think Steph Castle has good defensive potential. So
like the question for a Men is going to be
will he be able to add some of that higher
polish as a shot creator that he hasn't shown to
this point, right, And like that's where you have the
wide range of outcomes for both players. But for me
(04:38):
right now, if I was starting a team from scratch,
I'd rather have Steph Castle. I think he's going to
be a little bit better, but it's very, very close.
It's not like an indictment of in men Thompson at all.
It's just that's how high I am on Steph Castle
as a player player comp Castle versus Jada. Another interesting
question from the mailbag, Jaydub is a little bit or
(05:00):
complicated because Jadub we were talking about that kind of
like hurricane path right, JDub is much further along in
that pathway, so the range of outcomes is tighter. We
have a better feel for the type of player he's
gonna be because he's already closer to that version of
himself right now. He's just been in the league longer.
The thing with Jadub is we've seen a lot of
this stuff get rounded out. We've seen the type of
defensive player that he's become. We've seen him score forty
(05:23):
points in an NBA Finals game. We've seen him over
the course of the final two rounds of last year's
playoffs just be this devastating basket attacker. So we have
like a good feel for what Jadub is, but we
also have a good feel for what he's not. Like.
One of the things I've noticed is like he brings
a ton of downhill power, but there's not a lot
of like real shimmy and shiftiness in his game in
(05:44):
terms of beating people off the dribble when he doesn't
have a head of steam. Right, So, like I've seen
Jadeb go through games where he can't quite turn the
corner and all of a sudden, it's a lot of
like drifting layups that are lower percentage or tougher pull
up jump shots. Right. So, like I've seen that the
ceiling for JDub is probably somewhere below that of a
(06:05):
top tier superstar, right, Like, to me, Jdubb is destined
to be someone that when he's at his absolute peak
and his prime is hunting in that like six to
seven to like fifteen to sixteen range in the NBA. Like,
I don't think Ja Dob's ever going to be a
top five player in the NBA. Right, Steph Castle, You're
not gonna sit here and say he's better than JDub
(06:25):
right now, because he's certainly not. Like I do think
Steph Castle right now is better than a Men Thompson.
That's like an actual leg up that he has on him. Right,
But like with Jadub, it's all about projecting what he
can be. I do think Steph Castle has the potential
to be better than JDub. I think Steph Castle has
the potential to be a top tier superstar in this league.
That's on the table for him. Is he gonna get there?
(06:49):
Who knows. Odds are always small for that kind of thing,
because it's such a rare air that you're reaching when
you get to that level as a basketball player. But
I do think Steph has that potential. So to answer
your question, Jdub's obvious the better player right now, but
Steph Castle has the potential to surpass him one day.
I think he has a higher ceiling overall, for whatever
that's worth at this phase of his career. Jason and
(07:11):
your excitement to bash Luca, you made a comment about
how he hasn't played up to superstar status in recent games.
He went on to site the most recent Sons game. However,
Luca didn't even play in that game. You might have
confused it with a game almost two weeks ago against
the Suns where he did not play well. But consider this,
there's barely two games ago that Luca put up forty
five eleven and fourteen with five steals and only one turnover.
Luca's performance that day was something that Lebron nor Kobe
(07:33):
has never done as a Laker, Yet Luca did it
in less than a year with the organization. When you
put that in perspective and then proceed to comment after
comment about how terrible he is, it speaks volumes about
the sheer lunacy of this fan base. This provides a
perfect segue to your recent comment about how Luca fans
aren't used to how the Laker fan base holds their
best players accountable on a game to game basis, because
(07:54):
Lakers fans expect championships or something to that effect. Well,
my response to that is fairly simple, and I must
say that I'm surprised that the fan base is unaware
of this, but the fact that their opinions do not
mean a damn thing. No decisions regarding Luca will be
made because you are some cleatest clown down the road
is upset that he took too many threes or that
he did something on defense that they weren't happy with.
What could happen with the constant berating of the guy
(08:16):
that is leading the team in virtually every offensive category
is that he hears enough of it and he requests
the trade. Personally, I would love that, But the thing is,
I recognize that my opinion on the matter is worthless.
Perhaps some of these fans will realize that about themselves
as well. So a lot to get into here. First thing,
what I was trying to refer to when I was
mentioning the Sun's game was actually the Clippers game. I
just got confused and one of the things that and
(08:37):
I just made a mistake. It happens I make mistakes
on the show. But one of the things that stood
out to me specifically about the Clippers game and then
the Rockets game, was the Lakers dug these massive holes
with their starting lineup, and you know, all the focus
gets kind of centered around what the starting lineup has
personnel in terms of personnel on defense, so it's like,
(08:59):
can you play Ruie, Luca and Lebron all at the
same time, or like, are they just too slow footed?
Is there not enough defensive personnel in the starting lineup?
And that stuff is absolutely worth digging into. But in
both of those games, the Clippers game, Luca literally came
out and was straight ass on offense for the first
like nine minutes of the game. And because of that,
he spotted the Clippers a double digit lead. I think
(09:21):
they were up like twelve or fourteen points when he
subbed out, right. Same thing with the Rockets game. He
came out and was just turning the ball over every
time down the floor and couldn't make a shot, and
so all of a sudden, they're down ten twelve points.
And what that does is it sets the tone in
a way for the team that makes it already feel
like you're like behind the eight ball, so to speak.
(09:42):
You're already in a position where you're down double digits
and you're fighting for your life in the first quarter.
And again, like I can talk about the rebounding, I
could talk about the defense, but Luca in the Clippers
game and in the Rockets game, was so bad on
offense to start that it literally put his team in
position and to be to have to dig uphill or
(10:02):
to have to fight uphill the rest of the game,
and it just puts it just makes life that much harder. So,
like all I was talking about in those games is like, hey,
if Luca comes out and goes instead of you know,
five turnovers in the first quarter against the Rockets, instead
he has zero turnovers and goes three for four from
the field to three assists. Maybe instead of them being
down twelve, they're down two or they're up to and
(10:23):
maybe everyone fights a little harder on defense and everyone
is a little bit tougher on the glass because they
feel like they have a chance to win the game
instead of feeling like they're dead on arrival. Same thing
goes in the Clippers game. You play better to start
the game. Instead of being down twelve, fourteen points, you're
up to four points. You have a better chance to
compete the rest of the way. Like Luca was the
(10:45):
driving force of those early deficits because how bad he
was on offense. And again, like as far as like
the conversation surrounding holding stars accountable, I'm like that with
the entire league. I'm like that with all the top
tier guys. When your top tier superstar is not operating
at that level and is operating somewhere below that, I'm
(11:07):
gonna look there first, because he is the guy that
makes fifty plus million, because he is the guy that
actually has the skill set in the tools to flip
the script and change the dynamic and help the basketball team.
It doesn't make sense to go to the dude who
makes eight million and be like, why aren't you doing
more until the star is doing his job. Now, when
(11:31):
the star is doing his job and he's scoring the
basketball effectively, and he's not turning the basketball over, and
he's creating good shots consistently, and guys are not doing
their job down the line, that's when it's time to
look at the rest of the roster. And again, no
one's saying don't talk to Rob Polinka about this. No
one's saying, don't look at the Lakers and their limitations
(11:51):
as athletes and as spot up shooters and all those things.
Those things all matter. But I've watched this same group
when twenty basketball games, they've won six games again or
five games against teams that are above the plane in
both brackets. They've won three games against teams that I
consider to be legitimate championship contenders. They are capable of
(12:13):
being better than they are. What happened in those games
in those ones that they won, their stars played like superstars.
That's why I talk about it that way. It's strictly
a matter of like Luca is the guy who's capable
of flipping the script here if he comes out every
night and brings that top tier, superstar level of play.
(12:34):
Things will become easier down the line, and guys will
be more capable of holding up their end of the bargain. Now,
the point you're making about like Luca, like requesting a
trade or not being able to handle the negativity, I'm
not hearing that from Luca. When I'm hearing him in
his postgame pressers, he is taking blame. He is talking
about how he needs to be better, because that's what
(12:55):
competitors do. They look in the mirror, they find out
what they need to do to get better, to improve
their situation, and they go about doing so. And like
we'll see, it's been one game with the Kings. But
I did think Luca was more surgical on offense. I
did like the turnovers came later in the game. He
was better out the gates, he was better on defense
throughout the entire night. Like there's another layer that we're
(13:15):
capable of getting out of these guys to get better basketball.
That's all I were saying. No one's saying that Luca.
I think lucas the third best player in the league
this season, but for the last month or so, he
hasn't been as efficient putting the ball in the basket,
and he's been turning the basketball over too much and
it's been hurting the team. There's levels to this. When
Lucas at his best, he's fifty percent from two, thirty
(13:39):
six percent from three and three turnovers a game. When
he's forty percent from two, or like forty five percent
from two and twenty five percent from three and five
turnovers per game, it doesn't matter if he's putting up
thirty two, thirteen and eleven because all of those misses
and all of those turnovers are hurting the team and
putting them against the eight ball in transition. So it's
(13:59):
just about holding him to the standard that Luca has established. Guys,
just go to the Basketball Reference page. Just go to
Basketball Reference look at Luca's numbers from twenty twenty four
when he was with Dallas, and look at his numbers
this year. Luca's Luca, but he's not as good as
he's capable of being. And when he's at that level,
that's when he's in the conversation for being legitimately the
(14:20):
best player in the world. But he's got to be
able to get back to that level for the Lakers
to be able to achieve their goals. Today's show is
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Next question, Hey, Jason
loved the show. At the time of this question. The
Thunder are currently twenty six and four. This was a
mail bag from before their most recent loss. They've lost
(16:09):
three games in December. They're still my championship favorites. I
know players are still trying to find a rhythm like JDub,
but is it crazy for me to believe that the
Thunder are at their best offensively when Shay is at
the helm and AJ Mitchell is leading the bench units
with JDub and Chet playing off of AJ Mitchell? Am
I crazy for believing that JDub is a couple of
years away from being that secondary lead initiator. I just
think JDub over dribbles and can lose his dribble when
(16:30):
trying to countermove. In my opinion, he also doesn't have
a really great first step that allows him to just
blow by guys, which makes him settle for over the
top mid range shooting, which he could improve. In my opinion,
Jadub is at his best when he's able to get
a head of steam off of spot ups, curls, and transition.
I still believe Jadub is a top thirty player in
this league. I just don't think he's the secondary lead
initiator the Thunder need right now in a perfect world?
What do you think, Jason? A lot of the stuff
(16:52):
you said I agree with. I also agree that Jadub
is more of like a when he has momentum. He
brings a lot of power to this situation, which makes
him a big downhill threat. But in a static situation
against a great defender, he's not like a great first
step quickness slash, like shimmy shake, get a guy off
balance to beat him off the dribble type of dude.
Here's the thing, the dude scored forty points in a
(17:14):
finals game last year. From the Game seven against the
Nuggets through the end of the postseason, he was dramatically
better and very very important to this Thunder offense. He
just is coming back. Anytime you enter a situation as
a basketball player where a bunch of guys have been
playing and you're kind of shoehorning yourself in, it takes
a while to find your rhythm. It takes a while
(17:35):
to find your confidence. It takes a while for the
team to find their rhythm around you. Again, the losses
to me are indicative of some bigger issues that the
Thunder have to contend with for specific matchups, like, Yeah,
they're gonna have to do better on the defensive glass
than they did against Minnesota and San Antonio. Alice Cruz
is gonna need a knockdown open shots. Lou Dort's gonna
need to be able to knock down open shots. Cason
(17:56):
Wallas is gonna be able to need to be able
to knock down open shots. There are some stuff from
the past that has shown up again that needs to
be resolved, but ultimately the construct of the team is
just fine, and Ja dubb is going to need to
be their second best player for them to get to
where they want to go. You got to give him
a long runway under the circumstances. It's just such a
long process trying to integrate yourself in this type of environment. Hey, Jason,
(18:21):
my friend and I are having a Luca versus Brunson debate.
I think it's silly to not pick Luca, not to
dimension Brunson clearly a top six to ten player right now,
but he's a Knicks fan and is arguing Brunson. His
argument centers around primarily Brunson's three level scoring being better
right now and Luca's higher volume pumping his stats a
little bit more than Brunson's. My argument is that outside
of the huge playmaking and rebounding advantage that the Knicks
(18:42):
and Lakers shouldn't shouldn't have, basically the same records, but
then the Knicks have a drastically better roster. I get
Luca's been struggling some and Brunson's been cooking, but saying
Brunson is over Luca is just shortsighted and fandom in
my opinion, I'm curious what your take is. Thanks, huge
fan of the show. Happy holidays. So it's tricky because
I actually do think that Jalen Brunson's been better than
(19:02):
Luca for the last month. There's conversations to have regarding
like what's a player's standing in the league versus who's
playing better basketball right now? No one's gonna put Brunton
over Luca based on what's happened through October November December, right, Like,
that's a conversation for next summer. When we get to
next summer, we'll have another fifty games of regular season
(19:24):
basketball for both of these guys, and we'll have a
full playoff run. We'll see what Jalen Brunson does when
he gets into the postseason. We'll see what Luka Doncic
does when he gets into the postseason. Then we'll sit
down in July and August and we'll be like, which
guy was better. Right, that's the kind of conversation that's
going to actually carry some weight and actually change some
minds for some of these fans around the league. Right.
(19:44):
But strictly speaking, there is a simple dynamic that's taking
place with Brunson and with Luca in the last month
that has made it so that Brunson's been better in
the last month, which again is not a big picture
conversation about the players, it's just a conversation about how
they've been playing in the last month. Really simple. Luca's
turnovers have gone up and his efficiency has gone down.
(20:07):
As a shot maker, Brunson is operating in the mid
sixties in true shooting percentage and his turnovers are way down.
So that's in that like Shake Gildes Alexander territory of
high volume, high efficiency offense without many mistakes that can
hurt your team going the other way that dynamic over time,
(20:27):
if Brunson's efficiency ticks down and his turnovers go up,
Luca's turnovers go down and his efficiency goes up, That'll
be the kind of thing that Luca can do to
reassert control over that debate over the course of the season.
But yeah, I think over the last month. The lack
of turnovers from Brunson and the higher true shooting percentage
has made him a better basketball player just for the
(20:47):
last month. That doesn't mean he's a better player than Luca.
Luke will have more to say on that matter. A
couple more quick ones. What do you think is more
important to Houston? To Houston Reed Shepherd's ability to knock
down pull ups consistently or his ability to improve defensively
and at least be an average defender. To me, it's
more the defensive end of the floor. The pull ups
and the stuff out of ball screens is really nice
(21:08):
for their bench units. But I really like his shooting
on the floor with the final five. It's just he
can't be out there. And I'm not talking about off
the dribble shooting, although he has hit some big off
the dribble shots in crunch time. It's his ability to
just be a dead eye like fifty plus percent knockdown,
catch and shoot guy, which makes it that much harder
to put additional bodies on offensive rebounders, or two bodies
(21:30):
on KD and ball screens, or two bodies on Shangun
in post ups, because now you're leaving this guy that's
just a dead eye three point shooter out there who
can do all that damage. In order for him to
actually be on the floor in those situations, he has
to be better defensively. He's been just picked on relentlessly.
That was what happened at the end of that Kings game,
if you guys remember so. To me, it's all about
reach Shepherd's ability to add in a little bit of muscle,
(21:52):
a little bit more physicality on defense, and being more
reliable defensive player. All right, last question, Hi, Jason. Being
back in air for the holidays, what do you miss
the most and what do you like the most about Colorado?
So obviously being back in Arizona, that was my first
time going back for a long time because when I
when I went back a couple times over the summer,
it was literally just to get more stuff to move,
(22:15):
and it was I was flying out of Tucson on
some vacations that took place around that time. But this
was like just five straight uninterrupted days getting to be
back in Tucson and a couple things like the mountains
are beautiful there. I always end up taking them for
granted when I live there, and whenever I come back
to visit. Just that they have three peaks in the
area that are right around them that are like, you know,
(22:35):
around nine thousand feet tall, and the surrounding terrain. Because
it's relatively low elevation, they're very prominent, they stick out
a lot. And so when I was driving around, I
was just like, man, tu Soon's a beautiful place. And
you know, every day was like seventy five degrees and sunny,
and so this time of year it's like the best
weather out there. But to me, easily, it's the friends
and family, you know, Like I don't have a ton
(22:56):
of like you know, when it comes to like what
my routine is, Like I play basketball obviously, and I
have my hobbies, like I like to ski, and I
like to play guitar and things like that. But easily,
my favorite thing to do is just hang out with
friends and family. And so just getting to be back
and uh and to get to see everybody in person,
and to get to spend a lot of time with
my We stayed with my family while we were there,
I got to see my friends and it was just
(23:17):
great to kind of get back and just see all
the people that we love Colorado. I've been really frustrated
with the lack of snow that's been killer. I'm hoping
that that changes at some point next month or so.
But overall, I love it here. The basketball scene is incredible.
It's engaged me competitively as a basketball player in a
way that I haven't felt literally since college. The people
(23:39):
here are incredible. There's just a lot of really really
nice people that I've met in you know, everywhere that
I've gone, and you could just tell that there's like
a culture of kindness here that I've really liked. And
then the weather, you know, honestly, like it gets cold
and there's snow, and there's been a lot more wind
than I was expecting. But overall, I just think it's
beautiful out here. And every single day when I'm driving
around and I'm looking at the mountains and I'm looking
at all the color you know, they say colorful Colorado.
(24:01):
That's what you see on the state signs when you're
coming in, and it couldn't be more true. I've definitely,
really really enjoyed living out here. I do miss Arizona
for my friends and family, but that's the beautiful thing
as we can visit them and we have the technology
to be able to talk to them FaceTime, phone calls,
all that kind of stuff. So like, honestly, it's been
it's been really good for Carly and I and I
think we're gonna we're gonna be here for at least
a couple of years, and we'll see how it goes
(24:22):
in the long run. All Right, guys, it's all I
have for today. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting us and supporting the show again. We'll be back
tomorrow morning with a breakdown of the Tuesday night slate.
I'll see you guys, bet
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.