How Luka Doncic can take NEXT STEP for Lakers + 2025 draft look back & East contenders | NBA Mailbag
December 19, 2025 • 32 mins
Jason answers mailbag questions from fans on a variety of subjects including how Luka Doncic can eliminate his mistakes for the Los Angeles Lakers, how Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks can avoid injury, how Cade Cunningham can continue to unlock Jalen Duren for the Detroit Pistons, how Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and the 2025 NBA draft class stack up, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're at
the volume. Hat me Friday, everybody of ball. If you
guys are having an incredible week so far, we got
(00:22):
a j impact show for you guys today, mail Bag Day.
I've got ten questions. We're gonna be bouncing all around
the league. It's gonna be a ton of fun. You
guys are the joke. Before we get started. To subscribe
to the Hoops and O YouTube channel so we don't
miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter
at underscore JCNLT so you guys don't miss announcement. Don't
forget to scroll down and like this video. It's really
helpful if you hit that like button. Then if you
want to get questions into our mail bag next Friday,
go into our full episodes on YouTube, including this one.
(00:43):
Right mail bag with a colon, write your question. We'll
get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season.
All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, kind of
a follow up of our Lucas Shay conversation from yesterday. Hey, Jason,
I watched the show you did recently with the nerd
Sash Fellas and I was fascinated about your take that
Luca is playing immature basketball right now and how his
shot selection is and how his shot selection improving could
(01:05):
positively affect his efficiency. Maybe the gap between him and
Shay can start to close. Another thing he can do
is limit the amount of times he complains to refs
when he doesn't get a foul call and run back
on defense. Changes like that is what can elevate the
Lakers to winning big games, excuse me, especially in big moments. However,
I worry he'll never address this issue, considering we're in
his seventh season, he got a taste of NBA Finals basketball,
(01:28):
and he still continues the Shenanigans. Ps. I started watching
her content in last postseason and I've been loving every
moment moment. Keep up the great work. Thank you so
much for supporting the show, and thank you for the question.
I think this is a really fascinating one. So like
to me, we talked about this a little bit yesterday
within the concept of trimming the fat, but the immature
basketball concept. What I'm trying to say when I say
that there is like there is a thing that happens
(01:51):
over the years when you're a basketball player, where like
every time you lose, you build up this scar tissue
and you start to become like acutely aware of why
you lost. You know, I lost this game because of
my turnovers. I lost this game because there's a brief
stretch where I lost control of a player defensively because
I wasn't doing my job, or like we lost this
(02:11):
game because of this or that or this or that
or whatever it is. If you become very acutely aware
of it, and what happens is over time you start
to learn like, oh yeah, like you can lose games
if you don't focus on this. You can lose games
if you don't focus on that. And so then you
start to refine these details in your game because you're
seeing the bigger picture. You're not focused on one individual possession,
(02:33):
one individual battle, one individual anything. You keep seeing the
big picture of how a basketball games are won and lost.
Every young basketball player goes through this transition, and as
they get older, they start to figure out like, if
I run a really tight ship on the margins, I
give myself a better chance to win night tonight. And
that's kind of what I look at with Luca, like
(02:54):
there are you know, one or two turnovers every game
that are like a lack of mental focus. There are
two or three step back threes he's taking every game
that are flat out bad shots. If you look at
the five highest volume pull up three point shooters in
the league, they're all shooting thirty five percent or better.
Except for Luca. He's shooting below thirty three percent, and
(03:16):
he's taking more than any of them. He's taking over
eight off the dribble threes per game, so he's taking
the highest volume on that shot in the entire league,
nowhere near the efficiency of the other guys that are
top in volume, and he is getting less than a
point per shot on it. So it's not even like
a large stample, like oh, three point math kind of thing.
Lucas just taking a lot of bad threes, So like
(03:38):
trimming the fat, the two or three really bad step
back threes he takes every game. The turnovers and pick
and roll, the missshots around the lane line. I'm glad
you called it out. The mishots around the lane line
where he's complaining at the ress and not getting back
on defense like there's an issue. He's shooting in the
low forties from the field, in the low thirties from three.
Ever since his first three games of the season where
(03:59):
he was awesome, So all that shot making stuff we
saw early has faded pretty quick, and he's just become
a guy who, like, again, his overall impact cannot be denied.
The Lakers are certainly better when he's out there versus
when he's off. This is a we are nit picking
between him and the second best player in the world
in Shake Kilvies Alexander, right, So like this is a
different kind of conversation than just comparing Luca to Zach Levine.
(04:22):
That's not what we're doing here. Luca is a top
tier superstar. I think he's been the third best player
in the league to start the season. He's incredible, but
he's gotten passed. He got passed by Shay. Then there's
a little bit of a margin starting to build there
where it looks like kind of Jokicic's on a tier
by himself, and it looks like Shay's kind of on
a tier by himself, and then you get to Luca.
There's like kind of a gap starting to form there.
And one of the reasons why is because even though
(04:43):
Luca is a thirty five point per game player, even
though he is a high efficiency player because of how
often he gets to the foul line. He's undercutting that
because since his first three games in the season, he's
averaging four and a half turnovers per game, and he's
missing a lot more shots than a guy like Shae.
Missshots lead to transition opportunities, especially miss jump shots. Turnovers
(05:03):
lead to transition opportunities, especially when you're playing spread pick
and roll like the Lakers, and your bigs are rolling
to the basket, which can affect your floor balance because
you have two guys going downhill and you have guys
in the corners, which means there's only one guy above
the foul line. So, like in general, when it comes
to Luca's play, I think there's just a when I
say when I say a lack of maturity is I
think as the years go by, he will continue to
(05:26):
feel the pain of loss and eventually realize I can't
do this anymore. I need to be more picky about
which shots I take. I need to be better about
even when I think I get fouled, getting back in transition.
I need to take better care of the basketball because
it's hurting my team, even just a little bit, it
undercuts his success and gives his team a harder challenge
(05:49):
when it comes to winning games. To your final point,
you say, like, I worry he'll never address this, considering
we're in his seventh season. I get that, but like,
part of the issue is is like, he made it
to the Comfort finals in twenty two, and he made
it to the NBA Finals in twenty four, so there's
been enough success for him to feel like his processes
are legitimate. Humiliation is the best pathway to get your
(06:10):
ass in the gym to work on stuff. Humiliation is
the best pathway for you to look in the mirror
and be like, what the hell am I doing wrong?
I gotta get better at this stuff. Right, So, like
last year was humiliating, He gets fat, he gets hurt,
he gets traded, he gets outplayed by Anthony Edwards in
the first round, big redemption story. This summer, he's certainly
in better shape. He's still playing a lot better than
(06:30):
he did last year, but he's not quite the player
he was in twenty twenty four. Shay's now passed him.
The Lakers, they keep getting beat in these big, high
profile games. If they go into the postseason and they
lose in the first round again and Shay goes and
hoists the trophy again, that may be the wake up
call that he needs. He needs to lose. Like, that's
(06:50):
my point. He did too much winning early on that
made him feel like his methods were enough. They are
not enough. Shay's passed him. Wemby's coming, you know, like there,
this is Caid's coming. Like Caid's a better defensive player, right,
Like Caid is going to improve in a lot of
these areas, right, So, like Luca has to have a
(07:11):
wake up called. And I think a couple of years
in a row, a first round exit with the Lakers
and then another first round exit with the Lakers could
be what it takes for him to wake up. Or
maybe it happens before then. As someone who roots for
the Lakers, I'm certainly hoping it happens before then. I'm
hoping that this is just a bad couple weeks of
basketball from him and he'll wake up and figure it out.
I am emotionally invested in Luca being a better player
(07:32):
than Shay, right, So, like I want that to happen.
I just think I just think it's gonna take some
more losing and some more you know, humiliations, so to
speak for him to have that wake up call. Next question,
how can the Knicks reduce injury and fatigue? Maybe I'm
just scarred from Tibbs. The last night a couple of
players had me worried. So across the board, the Knicks
actually are down in the amount of minutes that they're
(07:55):
playing per game, and this was something that we knew
the This is something that we knew the Knicks would
do under Mike Brown because it was one of the
biggest criticisms under Tom Thibodeau. So, for instance, this season,
Jalen Brunton thirty five minutes per game, McKale bridge is
thirty five minutes per game, Carltown's thirty three minutes per game,
OHG Nobi thirty one minutes per game. Last year's same
(08:17):
group under Tom Thibodeau, Josh Hart was at thirty eight
minutes per game, mckail bridge is thirty seven minutes per game,
oh Jannobe thirty seven minutes per game, Jalen Brunston over
thirty five, and carl Town's at thirty five. So you
cut your minutes down, that goes a long way towards
helping you survive the regular season. I think also it's
just a simple simply about understanding that, like, look, if
(08:39):
the Pistons get the one seed, whatever, but like figure
out a way to kind of manage the regular season
in terms of how guys are feeling physically. And I
think I think they're gonna end up sitting everybody as
they go on the road to Indiana tonight or I'm
recording this on Wednesday and we're airing this on Friday,
so this game will have already happened. And I think,
you know, don't be surprised at how I talk about
(09:00):
this after the Nceason Tournament championship, but don't be surprised
if the nick drop a few games right after the
n Season tournament, just like Milwaukee did, just like the
Lakers did, because there's a natural kind of emotional letdown
after you are playing these super intense games and then
suddenly it's like a random Thursday night in Indiana, you know,
like it can be a little bit draining, but I
think just managing that, I think they'renna end up sitting
most of their guys in Indiana. We'll see at the
(09:21):
time of you guys listening to this you'll know the
answer to that question. But I think cutting down minutes
and just managing and managing pain and soreness throughout the
season will be key. Hello, Jason, enjoy watching you talk
about the NBA and appreciate your analysis. My question is
about the heat offense and an elite defense can expose
the lack of ball screens that Miami sets in a
seven game playoff series. Sow Orlando take this away during
(09:43):
the quarterfinals that happens. What adjustments do you think Spolsha
will make if this offense gets taken away? So I
thought that Orlando game was such an interesting example of
this dynamic you're talking about because Desmond Being and Tyler
Harrow are two kind of like similar class players, right Like,
there are two guys that are like primarily off screen
type of players. Neither of them are elite one on
one like put the ball on the floor and just
(10:05):
get buckets type of dudes. There are very much guys
that like to thrive in chaos. They play really well
off a closeouts, they play really well in transition. They
both can drive the basketball, but more frequently when they're
coming off of a screen or when they have someone
closing out at them, and they're both at their best
in the half court when they're running pick and roll
or when they're coming off of off ball screens that
build the same kind of like read and react sequences
(10:28):
that you see in pick and roll. Right, So, like
you see two very similar types of players. And in
that game, you know, literally bam Adebayo and kel Aware
are getting put into action by Baane every single time
down the floor in some way, shape or form, whether
it's through an off ball screen or through an on
ball screen. And Bain torches you get super hot hit
and drop covered shots and just kind of becomes the
(10:49):
best offensive player in the game. And Hanks, what do
you have? Like thirty seven in that game in large
part because he was torching them in they're bigs in
actions that are built for Desmond Bain in his skill. Meanwhile,
on the other end of the floor, like we did
see a little bit more two man game from Tyler
Harrow and bam in the second half, but nowhere near
as much as Desmond Baine was getting and Tyler Harrow
(11:11):
had a rough night, and so like, at a certain point,
to me, like I actually really like Miami's offense as
like an early offense concept. What I mean by that
is like, still push the ball at the floor in transition,
Still run like crazy early in the clock, try to
get layups and threes. If you have a clear one
on one matchup to attack, attack that dude off the dribble,
get into the offense through driving kick right without having
(11:33):
to use a screen. But once you get into that
final ten seconds of the shot clock, if Tyler Harrow
is on the floor and you don't have an obvious
one on one matchup, to go to spread the floor
and run, pick and roll. Let Tyler Harrow get into
his bag. Let Tyler Harrow do what he does best. Right. So,
like it's more just about flexibility. I just want to
see his sponsor be a little bit more flexible about
what he allows the offense to do when things aren't working. Jason,
(11:56):
can you do a breakdown of Mitchell Robinson and how
he is able to do what he does on the
offensive glass? So this one's actually really simple. So there's
a dynamic that happens quite a bit when it comes
to offensive rebounding with bigs. It has to do with
what the defensive big is doing protecting the rim. So
on a real basic level, rebounding is just about position
and ceiling. Right. You get position, you lean on the guy,
(12:18):
you hold him down, or you box him out, and
then you beat him to the basketball, right, Like, it's
a pretty simple concept. But how do you go about
the process of consistently getting inside position, but consistently getting
deep position, consistently getting into a point where you're in
a stronger position to get the rebound than the opponent
big is. And a lot of that is just reading
(12:39):
what that big is doing. So every single time the
defensive big takes a step in pick and roll or
in a drive and help situation towards the ball handler,
that is ground that he is seating for offensive rebounding.
This is the toughest part about being a big in
the NBA. You have to make these decisions all the time, Like,
am I gonna help on this contest at the rim?
(13:02):
Or is my on ball defender in a pretty strong
position to make him take a tough layup? And I'm
actually better served to stay back and box out. Now,
Mitchell Robinson will also just straight up win battles, meaning
like there are times where the big does stay back
and Mitch just buries him because he's bigger and stronger.
But Mitch also does a ton of damage exploiting when
Biggs do step over by constantly taking that inside position
(13:25):
when that opportunity presents itself. And you know, for a
guy like him too, like it's just his primary offensive value,
Like he just he just gets you more and more possessions. So, like,
think of it on a real basic level like this,
Let's say that Mitch, because of you know, his lack
of overall refined offensive skill and how he can struggle
with free throws, maybe he hurts your points per possession
(13:46):
by call it five points per one hundred posessions whatever
it is. However you want to account for that, Well,
if he gets you five extra possessions a game, then
it cancels out that problem, right because he's not going
to be on the floor for a hundred possession. So
if you're getting five extra points, then that's a substantial
increase in your offensive out But it's just his major
(14:06):
way to impact the game on that end of the floor. Well,
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia, Hi Jason. Over the
(15:37):
last couple of weeks, teams have seemed to have adjusted
to Jalen Dura's breakout offensive season and are now swarming
him whenever he starts to isoate the foul line. On
the one hand, this is somewhat inevitable given his points
for possession when he was allowed to play one on one.
He's at Jokic level efficiency, and his free throw attempts
have more than doubled since last year. The flip side
is his turnovers have gone up, especially when he doesn't
recognize withe the help is coming from. I understand this
(15:58):
is something he's never experience before, so he does need
to adjust to a team respecting his skill set, But
is there anything schematically that can be done to help
him that can still UH so that he can still
be an offensive co star alongside kid, for example, running
the floor in quick seals like Aaron Gordon does so well.
Thanks as always for your content. This is a really
interesting point. So, like, first of all, when it comes
to the one on ones, and we talked about this
(16:19):
a lot with UH. We've talked about it with Anthony
Davis before. We've talked about it with Joel Embiid before,
We've talked about it with Jonathan Kamingo, We've talked about
it with a lot of like these like kind of
one on one style post players like face up threats
and UH. To me, it's about creating easy reads by
identifying what kind of player you have. So if you
(16:39):
have a super high level playmaker, like a guy who's
very very good at reading the floor that always seems
to know where everybody is because of his own court awareness,
you like him working in the middle of the floor.
The reason why is because that is the hardest spot
to rotate out of, right, Like if everyone is sinking
down towards the middle, everyone is open, right, Like, there's
(17:00):
lots of opportunities to hit guys when everyone's reacting to
you in the middle of the floor. The downside is
you can't see behind you, right. So like players that
don't have great on court awareness, players that don't always
know where every single help defender is when they're working
in the middle of the floor, they tend to turn
the ball over because they don't see the dude who
comes swooping in from behind and swipes the ball away,
(17:21):
and they don't see the reeds that become available in
that spot. Right. So with guys like that, I like
more simplified reads by clearing aside, making it so they
don't have to worry about what's happening behind them. So
for instance, like imagine a ball screen where Cad ends
up either getting a switch and Jalen Jurn has an
(17:42):
opportunity to attack, or you run a cleared side ball
screen and they don't switch and during kind of like
pops or hangs out around like the short corner on
the right side, just pitch it to him there on
the right side and don't have anybody in the corner,
So I have an unoccupied corner and let him face
up and go to work from there, you space the
floor off of him, so you have Kate whoever it is,
(18:03):
on the right wing, opposite wing, opposite corner, maybe opposite
dunker spot, or wherever it is, you position those other
four guys. Then essentially, when Kate is facing up, or
excuse me, when Jalen's facing up, he didn't have to
worry about what's happening behind him at all. If he's
facing up and the guy helps off of Kate, it's
an easy read. You just pitch out to kid right.
If he rips baseline and the guy steps up out
(18:23):
of the dunker spot, you can drop it off to
the dunker spot or throw it out to the corner right,
or if they rotate down to the corner, you pitch
it out to the opposite wing. It keeps everything in
front of him and it makes the reads a lot
easier to see. And so again, with guys that are
not the highest level playmakers in the world, I like
having them work on the side with everything in front
of them. Whereas guys that are like really really good
(18:45):
natural playmakers that see the floor and have great floor
awareness that I want them working in the middle of
the floor, and it's not super uncommon, Saw. I mean
for what you're talking about with Duran, same thing happened
with Wenby right like he was just going one on
one a ton and then all of a sudden, the
teams started doubling and swarm him more. In his efficiency
and scoring volume is tanks since then, and he's got
to figure out how to make that work in those situations.
(19:08):
Will you, in any capacity keep live streaming some games,
maybe on YouTube? I really enjoyed them on Playback, so yeah,
it's our first time addressing it on the show. But
Playback ended up getting sold and sold more from what
I understand for parts to another streaming company, so it
could be a long time before whatever version of that
ends up materializing again. Now, if something like that pops
(19:29):
up and they reach out about a partnership, I would
say yes and a heartbeat, because I really enjoyed the
Playback streams. But the long and short of it is,
I had a partnership with Playback, and I already have
a million other things on my plate right now, so
I'm not going to just like do it for the
sake of doing it. But if an opportunity like that
presented itself at some point in the future, I would
certainly do it because I did really enjoy that. I
(19:50):
really enjoyed just the play by play aspect. I really
enjoyed just kind of watching games with you guys. It
was some of the most fun I've had doing streams.
But it just, you know, obviously isn't in the cards
at this point. That platform doesn't exist. But we'll see
what happens in the coming years. Hey, Jason, love the show.
If I understand the new All Star format correctly, we
need ten international players as All Stars. There's really only
(20:12):
three international players in the East that are playing in
an All Star level Yiannis Franz and Josh Gitty, not
including Pascal because the Pacers suck. Assuming they all make
the All Star game, that leaves seven spots for West players.
Six of those spots are a lock for me Shay Jamal,
Nicola Jokic, Luca Wemby, and Shane Gun. That leaves one
more spot. Who would you have as the final All Star?
The way I see it, there are two real options,
(20:33):
Denny Avdia and Lori Markenin, and then the chaos option
Dylan Brooks. So this one's complicated because I'll be frank
with you guys, I don't fully understand how the new
All Star system works. The All Star Game has just
become such a shit show that I'm like almost completely
uninterested in it now. Like even when we get to
the All Star Game from a you know, the standpoint
(20:53):
of the schedule, you get that week off, right, our
content even shifts. We don't cover the All Star We
just shift big picture, do contender rankings, and we do
MVP and we do like that kind of stuff, right,
So like I just find the All Star Game because
the players don't care. I don't care. You know. That's
kind of where I'm at with it. More or less
that said, I think you're right. I think it comes
down to Denny or Lorie. I personally would lean more
(21:15):
towards Denny. They're both playing really high level basketball, both
on teams that are, you know, below five hundred. Although
Portland's had more signature wins this year. Denny's more of
an on ball guy. Laurie's more of an off ball scorer,
but he can do a little bit on ball. Like
Laurie in the Dallas game, for instance, was running a
ton of coming off of off ball curls and just
(21:35):
powering through guys and getting all the way to the
basket for layups and floaters, and obviously high level shot making.
Hit a really tough little step back on the right
baseline at the end of that game. But to me,
Denny has been sneaky, one of the best like offensive
engines in the league this year. To put it very simply,
Portland can't score when he's off the floor, and they
scored a pretty high rate when he's out there. And
(21:57):
he's just been your textbook offensive engine, running high pick
and roll, methodically working in the middle of the floor,
scoring at a very efficient rate, playmaking at a high level,
driving close out springs, a slashing element that most of
the big ball handlers in the league don't bring. I
think Denny's been the best player out of that group,
So I would go with Denny if I had to pick.
(22:19):
Can you explain why so many times we see a
player wide open under the basket and instead of laying
it in, they pass out to the perimeter for a
three point shot. Isn't it almost a guaranteed two point
layup a better choice than a possibility of a three pointer?
So I think You'll see this a lot with guards,
and this is actually kind of like sneaky. One of
the little market inefficiencies in the league is having guards
that can finish out of the dunker spot. And a
(22:42):
lot of it is confidence. Like to your point, you
want to know why a lot of guards will catch
under the basket and on a cut and will just
dribble out or not shoot, throw a kickout or whatever
it might be. It's because they're not used to like
catching and finishing on cuts around the basket among trees,
and so they get a little bit spooked and then
they end up bailing, right. And one of the things
that's really valuable about having a guard that likes to
(23:03):
finish under the basket. Think about like Drew Holliday back
when he was with the Celtics, or think like Cason
Wallace with the Oklahoma City Thunder. For example, there's a
big one in the n Season Tournament final from Tyler
Kollik along the baseline in the second half. Like when
you have a guard working in the dunker spot, think
about how that sets up your defensive shell drill. Right. So,
(23:25):
like in a typical shell drill, So let's say that
you've got your uh, you know, your three in your
four in the two corners, and you've got your one
in your two on the wings, and you've got your
five man in the dunker spot. Let's pretend it's Luka
Dancics isoing on the right wing and it's Deandreton under
the basket. Okay, that means Deandrayton's man, probably a center
(23:49):
is going to be in help. So if Luca beats
his man off the dribble and drives down that right slot,
he's running into a giant human being. Right now, Guys
like Luca there are such good lob passers. They can
beat you with the lob pass there. But like the
point is, like Iso, guys with a big man in
the dunker spot have to contend with the big man
at the rim. Rim. Protection can be an issue to
deal with there, right, So now imagine that the role
(24:10):
is reversed for one reason or another. So let's say
you have a big that can shoot. Okay, So say
you're Oklahoma City and Chet Holmgren is hanging out in
the three point at the three point line, let's say,
opposite wing, and so you end up with like Jalen
Williams opposite wing, or Jalen Williams opposite corner, Shay Gilds
(24:32):
Alexander's working on the right wing, ISO you have Chet
on the left wing, and then you've got let's say,
let's say they're in one of their small ball groups,
so you've got Lou Dort in the right corner, and
then Cason Wallace is in the dunker spot. So Cason
Wallace is working left block in the dunker spot opposite
(24:52):
of where Shay's driving off the right line. Now, so
in this configuration, whoever the biggest player on the floor
is probably guarding Chet, so he's gonna be like a
traditional nail help position, so be hanging out more like
around the elbow, left elbow. And then whoever's guarding casein
probably a guard is going to be the guy who's
in help there right under the basket. And so if
Shaye beats his man off the dribble, he might not
(25:13):
even have to drop it off because he might be
able to just finish at the rim over the smaller
defender there right. So like having a guard who could
finish in the dunker spot provides a form of spacing
that is more valuable even than the layup, which is
you have the ability to present a weaker rim protector
on your drives, which gives your slashers a better chance
to finish at the rim on their initial drive. Hi, Jason,
(25:34):
please explain to a person who doesn't understand basketball in
its weeds what drives driving the basketball means? In other words,
what are the main traits for basketball players to become
great in it. It's been one of the main storylines
this season. Is it athleticism, is a vision? Is it
ball handling? What's the main trait along and short of
it is it's all of that stuff. So there's an
athleticism piece. You gotta have a certain amount of first step.
(25:55):
I'd argue it's a combination on drives of like athleticism
in the form of your first step, but also like
physical imposing size. So for instance, like every time you
make a move, you get a certain amount of a
window to hit right. So like if I break a
dude off, like if I go with the right to
(26:15):
left crossover and he just falls off of the screen
to the right, I'm gonna have like just a giant
lane to drive through right. But that doesn't happen most
of the time. Most drives are small bits of leverage.
I hit like in an in and out between the legs,
dribble and go, and the guy does slide with me,
but maybe because of my quick first step, I got
(26:35):
this much of an angle, right, just a tiny little angle.
If he's bigger and stronger than me, he's going to
physically overwhelm me on that angle and contain the drive,
Whereas if I'm bigger and stronger than him, I might
blow through his shoulder and turn the corner and get
all the way to the basket right. So like, in
terms of actually beating the dude off the dribble, it's
a combination of how quick your first step is and
(26:58):
how good are you at taking advantage of the physical
leverage of how much of an angle you get right.
So classic example of this is a guy like Luca.
Luca is incredibly good at like barely beating a dude
but then being past him because he's so damn big
and strong, he just overpowers him with physical leverage at
that point, Whereas a guy like Tyrese Maxi is doing
(27:18):
it almost entirely with first step quickness and if you
can kind of bump him off of his line, he's
not gonna be a guy that's going to physically dominate
you right now. A lot of the smaller skinn of
your guards will counter that with that flop foul that
you see all the times, where like they know they're
not bigger and stronger, so they'll hit that tiny gap
and then they'll just throw up a fucking shot right
when they run into the guy and they'll get to
the foul line for it. That's how skinny guys try
to counter that. But the other elements you talked about
(27:41):
are important. So, for instance, the ball handling, your ability
to sell one direction but go another direction is a
ball handling trait, and if you can do that, you'll
create bigger windows. So players that are not as good
at like the ball handling side, they're gonna get smaller
windows that they can hit. Whereas like if you've got
nasty dribble combinations or you can really disguise your moves
(28:03):
and counter moves, well, you'll generate bigger windows for you
to hit. Those are opportunities where your athleticism can step
in and take control of the situation. Right the vision piece.
Vision is very important driving lanes, and there's two things
you got to look at with driving lanes, like what
kind of help defense are you facing behind you? Where
(28:26):
is your defender shading you? Like a lot of times
defenders will shade you in a certain direction and have
a plan, and if you drive into that gap, you
could get yourself into some trouble where you're getting trapped
or you're getting dug down on and you can end
up turning the basketball over right. So like floor vision
in general is a very important basketball trade in every
single sense of the word. But when it comes to driving,
knowing when to drive is very much a part of
(28:48):
the battle as well. Last question, after seeing twenty seven
games from the rookie class, especially after that Cooper Flag,
forty bomb and Continent Pole having multiple thirty point games,
is this draft trending towards being the best class since
twenty eighteen? Do you see MVP, All NBA or All
Star potential for more than just for more from more
than just flag couple, Queen and Edgecombe. I know it's early,
(29:11):
but the returns so far have been incredible. Thanks for
all the effort that you and Jackson keep putting into
these videos. So I'm not going to dive into like
comparing the draft classes, because I'd have to take hours
to like really look at each individual draft class and
kind of like rank players and get into it. That's
more of like an offseason kind of thing. But in general,
I've been super impressed by all of these guys for
(29:32):
different reasons. I think Cooper Flag is still the clear
number one in the in the big picture, there's just
like a rangy defensive upside with him that is really
difficult for these other guys on this list to contend with. Like,
I have no idea if Derek Queen will ever be
good enough defensively to be a star in this league.
You know, VJ. Edgecomb is I think going to be
a good point of attack defender in the long run,
(29:52):
but he's not exactly the biggest, most physically imposing guy
in the league. Cooper has that upside. But the other
thing with Cooper is it's really clicked for him in
recent weeks that guys can't keep him from getting to
the basket. He's starting to bring a real power element
to his game that's been super effective. In general, I'm
a big believer in that. Like, what's kind of unique
about this group of players is like Flag obviously brings
a certain amount of power in athleticism, but like conk Nipple,
(30:15):
like it's not just his shooting ability. He's been even
dating back to Duke, a very good player in action
for the exact same concept we were just talking about
with the last segment in drives, where like he's so
big and strong that when he gets a little bit
of an angle on you, he can kind of fend
you off in the sidecar or behind him, which allows
him to kind of methodically work into the lane un
(30:37):
till the defense reacts and he can make the next
read there right, also the read and react element. Three
of those guys in particular, Cooper flag konk Nipple, and
Derek Queen, all three of those dudes are excellent at
making reads. What that means is whatever the defense does
to react to what you're doing. There's a sequence. This
is the next kickout, this is the next drive you make,
(30:58):
This is where the drop off is, you know, whatever
it might be. Those are read and react basketball traits
that are becoming more valuable than ever in the modern
NBA as the modern NBA has become so gifted at
creating advantages and so having guys that can capitalize on
that advantage by either scoring or making the next play
that creates an even bigger advantage. All of that stuff
(31:19):
is so valuable in the modern NBA. And Cooper's great
at that, CON's great at that, Derek's grade at that.
To me, with VJ, I just kind of like view
him as like one of those guards that's so supremely
athletic and that has the footwork and the natural scoring
chops to where I just see him as a guy
that's going to be able to get to his spots
whenever he wants. And what that means is if he
can improve enough as a scoring finisher, as a shot maker,
(31:42):
he could be one of those guys where like kind
of like Anthony Edwards is now where you just kind
of when he rises up for that jumper, you just go,
please miss, you know, like, and that's kind of the
the bind that one of those supremely gifted athletic guards
can put you in. But you're right, I mean, we
have like an incredible class of rookies here and each
one of them has been impressive in different ways and
(32:03):
just a casual reminder that the league's more talented than
it's ever been all right, guys, It's all I have
for today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting us and supporting the show. I hope all of
you guys have an incredible weekend. We will be back
next week. Kind of a funky schedule with Christmas, but
we'll be starting back on Monday with Power rankings. I'll
see you guys then,
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're at
the volume. Hat me Friday, everybody of ball. If you
guys are having an incredible week so far, we got
(00:22):
a j impact show for you guys today, mail Bag Day.
I've got ten questions. We're gonna be bouncing all around
the league. It's gonna be a ton of fun. You
guys are the joke. Before we get started. To subscribe
to the Hoops and O YouTube channel so we don't
miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter
at underscore JCNLT so you guys don't miss announcement. Don't
forget to scroll down and like this video. It's really
helpful if you hit that like button. Then if you
want to get questions into our mail bag next Friday,
go into our full episodes on YouTube, including this one.
(00:43):
Right mail bag with a colon, write your question. We'll
get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season.
All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, kind of
a follow up of our Lucas Shay conversation from yesterday. Hey, Jason,
I watched the show you did recently with the nerd
Sash Fellas and I was fascinated about your take that
Luca is playing immature basketball right now and how his
shot selection is and how his shot selection improving could
(01:05):
positively affect his efficiency. Maybe the gap between him and
Shay can start to close. Another thing he can do
is limit the amount of times he complains to refs
when he doesn't get a foul call and run back
on defense. Changes like that is what can elevate the
Lakers to winning big games, excuse me, especially in big moments. However,
I worry he'll never address this issue, considering we're in
his seventh season, he got a taste of NBA Finals basketball,
(01:28):
and he still continues the Shenanigans. Ps. I started watching
her content in last postseason and I've been loving every
moment moment. Keep up the great work. Thank you so
much for supporting the show, and thank you for the question.
I think this is a really fascinating one. So like
to me, we talked about this a little bit yesterday
within the concept of trimming the fat, but the immature
basketball concept. What I'm trying to say when I say
that there is like there is a thing that happens
(01:51):
over the years when you're a basketball player, where like
every time you lose, you build up this scar tissue
and you start to become like acutely aware of why
you lost. You know, I lost this game because of
my turnovers. I lost this game because there's a brief
stretch where I lost control of a player defensively because
I wasn't doing my job, or like we lost this
(02:11):
game because of this or that or this or that
or whatever it is. If you become very acutely aware
of it, and what happens is over time you start
to learn like, oh yeah, like you can lose games
if you don't focus on this. You can lose games
if you don't focus on that. And so then you
start to refine these details in your game because you're
seeing the bigger picture. You're not focused on one individual possession,
(02:33):
one individual battle, one individual anything. You keep seeing the
big picture of how a basketball games are won and lost.
Every young basketball player goes through this transition, and as
they get older, they start to figure out like, if
I run a really tight ship on the margins, I
give myself a better chance to win night tonight. And
that's kind of what I look at with Luca, like
(02:54):
there are you know, one or two turnovers every game
that are like a lack of mental focus. There are
two or three step back threes he's taking every game
that are flat out bad shots. If you look at
the five highest volume pull up three point shooters in
the league, they're all shooting thirty five percent or better.
Except for Luca. He's shooting below thirty three percent, and
(03:16):
he's taking more than any of them. He's taking over
eight off the dribble threes per game, so he's taking
the highest volume on that shot in the entire league,
nowhere near the efficiency of the other guys that are
top in volume, and he is getting less than a
point per shot on it. So it's not even like
a large stample, like oh, three point math kind of thing.
Lucas just taking a lot of bad threes, So like
(03:38):
trimming the fat, the two or three really bad step
back threes he takes every game. The turnovers and pick
and roll, the missshots around the lane line. I'm glad
you called it out. The mishots around the lane line
where he's complaining at the ress and not getting back
on defense like there's an issue. He's shooting in the
low forties from the field, in the low thirties from three.
Ever since his first three games of the season where
(03:59):
he was awesome, So all that shot making stuff we
saw early has faded pretty quick, and he's just become
a guy who, like, again, his overall impact cannot be denied.
The Lakers are certainly better when he's out there versus
when he's off. This is a we are nit picking
between him and the second best player in the world
in Shake Kilvies Alexander, right, So like this is a
different kind of conversation than just comparing Luca to Zach Levine.
(04:22):
That's not what we're doing here. Luca is a top
tier superstar. I think he's been the third best player
in the league to start the season. He's incredible, but
he's gotten passed. He got passed by Shay. Then there's
a little bit of a margin starting to build there
where it looks like kind of Jokicic's on a tier
by himself, and it looks like Shay's kind of on
a tier by himself, and then you get to Luca.
There's like kind of a gap starting to form there.
And one of the reasons why is because even though
(04:43):
Luca is a thirty five point per game player, even
though he is a high efficiency player because of how
often he gets to the foul line. He's undercutting that
because since his first three games in the season, he's
averaging four and a half turnovers per game, and he's
missing a lot more shots than a guy like Shae.
Missshots lead to transition opportunities, especially miss jump shots. Turnovers
(05:03):
lead to transition opportunities, especially when you're playing spread pick
and roll like the Lakers, and your bigs are rolling
to the basket, which can affect your floor balance because
you have two guys going downhill and you have guys
in the corners, which means there's only one guy above
the foul line. So, like in general, when it comes
to Luca's play, I think there's just a when I
say when I say a lack of maturity is I
think as the years go by, he will continue to
(05:26):
feel the pain of loss and eventually realize I can't
do this anymore. I need to be more picky about
which shots I take. I need to be better about
even when I think I get fouled, getting back in transition.
I need to take better care of the basketball because
it's hurting my team, even just a little bit, it
undercuts his success and gives his team a harder challenge
(05:49):
when it comes to winning games. To your final point,
you say, like, I worry he'll never address this, considering
we're in his seventh season. I get that, but like,
part of the issue is is like, he made it
to the Comfort finals in twenty two, and he made
it to the NBA Finals in twenty four, so there's
been enough success for him to feel like his processes
are legitimate. Humiliation is the best pathway to get your
(06:10):
ass in the gym to work on stuff. Humiliation is
the best pathway for you to look in the mirror
and be like, what the hell am I doing wrong?
I gotta get better at this stuff. Right, So, like
last year was humiliating, He gets fat, he gets hurt,
he gets traded, he gets outplayed by Anthony Edwards in
the first round, big redemption story. This summer, he's certainly
in better shape. He's still playing a lot better than
(06:30):
he did last year, but he's not quite the player
he was in twenty twenty four. Shay's now passed him.
The Lakers, they keep getting beat in these big, high
profile games. If they go into the postseason and they
lose in the first round again and Shay goes and
hoists the trophy again, that may be the wake up
call that he needs. He needs to lose. Like, that's
(06:50):
my point. He did too much winning early on that
made him feel like his methods were enough. They are
not enough. Shay's passed him. Wemby's coming, you know, like there,
this is Caid's coming. Like Caid's a better defensive player, right,
Like Caid is going to improve in a lot of
these areas, right, So, like Luca has to have a
(07:11):
wake up called. And I think a couple of years
in a row, a first round exit with the Lakers
and then another first round exit with the Lakers could
be what it takes for him to wake up. Or
maybe it happens before then. As someone who roots for
the Lakers, I'm certainly hoping it happens before then. I'm
hoping that this is just a bad couple weeks of
basketball from him and he'll wake up and figure it out.
I am emotionally invested in Luca being a better player
(07:32):
than Shay, right, So, like I want that to happen.
I just think I just think it's gonna take some
more losing and some more you know, humiliations, so to
speak for him to have that wake up call. Next question,
how can the Knicks reduce injury and fatigue? Maybe I'm
just scarred from Tibbs. The last night a couple of
players had me worried. So across the board, the Knicks
actually are down in the amount of minutes that they're
(07:55):
playing per game, and this was something that we knew
the This is something that we knew the Knicks would
do under Mike Brown because it was one of the
biggest criticisms under Tom Thibodeau. So, for instance, this season,
Jalen Brunton thirty five minutes per game, McKale bridge is
thirty five minutes per game, Carltown's thirty three minutes per game,
OHG Nobi thirty one minutes per game. Last year's same
(08:17):
group under Tom Thibodeau, Josh Hart was at thirty eight
minutes per game, mckail bridge is thirty seven minutes per game,
oh Jannobe thirty seven minutes per game, Jalen Brunston over
thirty five, and carl Town's at thirty five. So you
cut your minutes down, that goes a long way towards
helping you survive the regular season. I think also it's
just a simple simply about understanding that, like, look, if
(08:39):
the Pistons get the one seed, whatever, but like figure
out a way to kind of manage the regular season
in terms of how guys are feeling physically. And I
think I think they're gonna end up sitting everybody as
they go on the road to Indiana tonight or I'm
recording this on Wednesday and we're airing this on Friday,
so this game will have already happened. And I think,
you know, don't be surprised at how I talk about
(09:00):
this after the Nceason Tournament championship, but don't be surprised
if the nick drop a few games right after the
n Season tournament, just like Milwaukee did, just like the
Lakers did, because there's a natural kind of emotional letdown
after you are playing these super intense games and then
suddenly it's like a random Thursday night in Indiana, you know,
like it can be a little bit draining, but I
think just managing that, I think they'renna end up sitting
most of their guys in Indiana. We'll see at the
(09:21):
time of you guys listening to this you'll know the
answer to that question. But I think cutting down minutes
and just managing and managing pain and soreness throughout the
season will be key. Hello, Jason, enjoy watching you talk
about the NBA and appreciate your analysis. My question is
about the heat offense and an elite defense can expose
the lack of ball screens that Miami sets in a
seven game playoff series. Sow Orlando take this away during
(09:43):
the quarterfinals that happens. What adjustments do you think Spolsha
will make if this offense gets taken away? So I
thought that Orlando game was such an interesting example of
this dynamic you're talking about because Desmond Being and Tyler
Harrow are two kind of like similar class players, right Like,
there are two guys that are like primarily off screen
type of players. Neither of them are elite one on
one like put the ball on the floor and just
(10:05):
get buckets type of dudes. There are very much guys
that like to thrive in chaos. They play really well
off a closeouts, they play really well in transition. They
both can drive the basketball, but more frequently when they're
coming off of a screen or when they have someone
closing out at them, and they're both at their best
in the half court when they're running pick and roll
or when they're coming off of off ball screens that
build the same kind of like read and react sequences
(10:28):
that you see in pick and roll. Right, So, like
you see two very similar types of players. And in
that game, you know, literally bam Adebayo and kel Aware
are getting put into action by Baane every single time
down the floor in some way, shape or form, whether
it's through an off ball screen or through an on
ball screen. And Bain torches you get super hot hit
and drop covered shots and just kind of becomes the
(10:49):
best offensive player in the game. And Hanks, what do
you have? Like thirty seven in that game in large
part because he was torching them in they're bigs in
actions that are built for Desmond Bain in his skill. Meanwhile,
on the other end of the floor, like we did
see a little bit more two man game from Tyler
Harrow and bam in the second half, but nowhere near
as much as Desmond Baine was getting and Tyler Harrow
(11:11):
had a rough night, and so like, at a certain point,
to me, like I actually really like Miami's offense as
like an early offense concept. What I mean by that
is like, still push the ball at the floor in transition,
Still run like crazy early in the clock, try to
get layups and threes. If you have a clear one
on one matchup to attack, attack that dude off the dribble,
get into the offense through driving kick right without having
(11:33):
to use a screen. But once you get into that
final ten seconds of the shot clock, if Tyler Harrow
is on the floor and you don't have an obvious
one on one matchup, to go to spread the floor
and run, pick and roll. Let Tyler Harrow get into
his bag. Let Tyler Harrow do what he does best. Right. So,
like it's more just about flexibility. I just want to
see his sponsor be a little bit more flexible about
what he allows the offense to do when things aren't working. Jason,
(11:56):
can you do a breakdown of Mitchell Robinson and how
he is able to do what he does on the
offensive glass? So this one's actually really simple. So there's
a dynamic that happens quite a bit when it comes
to offensive rebounding with bigs. It has to do with
what the defensive big is doing protecting the rim. So
on a real basic level, rebounding is just about position
and ceiling. Right. You get position, you lean on the guy,
(12:18):
you hold him down, or you box him out, and
then you beat him to the basketball, right, Like, it's
a pretty simple concept. But how do you go about
the process of consistently getting inside position, but consistently getting
deep position, consistently getting into a point where you're in
a stronger position to get the rebound than the opponent
big is. And a lot of that is just reading
(12:39):
what that big is doing. So every single time the
defensive big takes a step in pick and roll or
in a drive and help situation towards the ball handler,
that is ground that he is seating for offensive rebounding.
This is the toughest part about being a big in
the NBA. You have to make these decisions all the time, Like,
am I gonna help on this contest at the rim?
(13:02):
Or is my on ball defender in a pretty strong
position to make him take a tough layup? And I'm
actually better served to stay back and box out. Now,
Mitchell Robinson will also just straight up win battles, meaning
like there are times where the big does stay back
and Mitch just buries him because he's bigger and stronger.
But Mitch also does a ton of damage exploiting when
Biggs do step over by constantly taking that inside position
(13:25):
when that opportunity presents itself. And you know, for a
guy like him too, like it's just his primary offensive value,
Like he just he just gets you more and more possessions. So, like,
think of it on a real basic level like this,
Let's say that Mitch, because of you know, his lack
of overall refined offensive skill and how he can struggle
with free throws, maybe he hurts your points per possession
(13:46):
by call it five points per one hundred posessions whatever
it is. However you want to account for that, Well,
if he gets you five extra possessions a game, then
it cancels out that problem, right because he's not going
to be on the floor for a hundred possession. So
if you're getting five extra points, then that's a substantial
increase in your offensive out But it's just his major
(14:06):
way to impact the game on that end of the floor. Well,
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia, Hi Jason. Over the
(15:37):
last couple of weeks, teams have seemed to have adjusted
to Jalen Dura's breakout offensive season and are now swarming
him whenever he starts to isoate the foul line. On
the one hand, this is somewhat inevitable given his points
for possession when he was allowed to play one on one.
He's at Jokic level efficiency, and his free throw attempts
have more than doubled since last year. The flip side
is his turnovers have gone up, especially when he doesn't
recognize withe the help is coming from. I understand this
(15:58):
is something he's never experience before, so he does need
to adjust to a team respecting his skill set, But
is there anything schematically that can be done to help
him that can still UH so that he can still
be an offensive co star alongside kid, for example, running
the floor in quick seals like Aaron Gordon does so well.
Thanks as always for your content. This is a really
interesting point. So, like, first of all, when it comes
to the one on ones, and we talked about this
(16:19):
a lot with UH. We've talked about it with Anthony
Davis before. We've talked about it with Joel Embiid before,
We've talked about it with Jonathan Kamingo, We've talked about
it with a lot of like these like kind of
one on one style post players like face up threats
and UH. To me, it's about creating easy reads by
identifying what kind of player you have. So if you
(16:39):
have a super high level playmaker, like a guy who's
very very good at reading the floor that always seems
to know where everybody is because of his own court awareness,
you like him working in the middle of the floor.
The reason why is because that is the hardest spot
to rotate out of, right, Like if everyone is sinking
down towards the middle, everyone is open, right, Like, there's
(17:00):
lots of opportunities to hit guys when everyone's reacting to
you in the middle of the floor. The downside is
you can't see behind you, right. So like players that
don't have great on court awareness, players that don't always
know where every single help defender is when they're working
in the middle of the floor, they tend to turn
the ball over because they don't see the dude who
comes swooping in from behind and swipes the ball away,
(17:21):
and they don't see the reeds that become available in
that spot. Right. So with guys like that, I like
more simplified reads by clearing aside, making it so they
don't have to worry about what's happening behind them. So
for instance, like imagine a ball screen where Cad ends
up either getting a switch and Jalen Jurn has an
(17:42):
opportunity to attack, or you run a cleared side ball
screen and they don't switch and during kind of like
pops or hangs out around like the short corner on
the right side, just pitch it to him there on
the right side and don't have anybody in the corner,
So I have an unoccupied corner and let him face
up and go to work from there, you space the
floor off of him, so you have Kate whoever it is,
(18:03):
on the right wing, opposite wing, opposite corner, maybe opposite
dunker spot, or wherever it is, you position those other
four guys. Then essentially, when Kate is facing up, or
excuse me, when Jalen's facing up, he didn't have to
worry about what's happening behind him at all. If he's
facing up and the guy helps off of Kate, it's
an easy read. You just pitch out to kid right.
If he rips baseline and the guy steps up out
(18:23):
of the dunker spot, you can drop it off to
the dunker spot or throw it out to the corner right,
or if they rotate down to the corner, you pitch
it out to the opposite wing. It keeps everything in
front of him and it makes the reads a lot
easier to see. And so again, with guys that are
not the highest level playmakers in the world, I like
having them work on the side with everything in front
of them. Whereas guys that are like really really good
(18:45):
natural playmakers that see the floor and have great floor
awareness that I want them working in the middle of
the floor, and it's not super uncommon, Saw. I mean
for what you're talking about with Duran, same thing happened
with Wenby right like he was just going one on
one a ton and then all of a sudden, the
teams started doubling and swarm him more. In his efficiency
and scoring volume is tanks since then, and he's got
to figure out how to make that work in those situations.
(19:08):
Will you, in any capacity keep live streaming some games,
maybe on YouTube? I really enjoyed them on Playback, so yeah,
it's our first time addressing it on the show. But
Playback ended up getting sold and sold more from what
I understand for parts to another streaming company, so it
could be a long time before whatever version of that
ends up materializing again. Now, if something like that pops
(19:29):
up and they reach out about a partnership, I would
say yes and a heartbeat, because I really enjoyed the
Playback streams. But the long and short of it is,
I had a partnership with Playback, and I already have
a million other things on my plate right now, so
I'm not going to just like do it for the
sake of doing it. But if an opportunity like that
presented itself at some point in the future, I would
certainly do it because I did really enjoy that. I
(19:50):
really enjoyed just the play by play aspect. I really
enjoyed just kind of watching games with you guys. It
was some of the most fun I've had doing streams.
But it just, you know, obviously isn't in the cards
at this point. That platform doesn't exist. But we'll see
what happens in the coming years. Hey, Jason, love the show.
If I understand the new All Star format correctly, we
need ten international players as All Stars. There's really only
(20:12):
three international players in the East that are playing in
an All Star level Yiannis Franz and Josh Gitty, not
including Pascal because the Pacers suck. Assuming they all make
the All Star game, that leaves seven spots for West players.
Six of those spots are a lock for me Shay Jamal,
Nicola Jokic, Luca Wemby, and Shane Gun. That leaves one
more spot. Who would you have as the final All Star?
The way I see it, there are two real options,
(20:33):
Denny Avdia and Lori Markenin, and then the chaos option
Dylan Brooks. So this one's complicated because I'll be frank
with you guys, I don't fully understand how the new
All Star system works. The All Star Game has just
become such a shit show that I'm like almost completely
uninterested in it now. Like even when we get to
the All Star Game from a you know, the standpoint
(20:53):
of the schedule, you get that week off, right, our
content even shifts. We don't cover the All Star We
just shift big picture, do contender rankings, and we do
MVP and we do like that kind of stuff, right,
So like I just find the All Star Game because
the players don't care. I don't care. You know. That's
kind of where I'm at with it. More or less
that said, I think you're right. I think it comes
down to Denny or Lorie. I personally would lean more
(21:15):
towards Denny. They're both playing really high level basketball, both
on teams that are, you know, below five hundred. Although
Portland's had more signature wins this year. Denny's more of
an on ball guy. Laurie's more of an off ball scorer,
but he can do a little bit on ball. Like
Laurie in the Dallas game, for instance, was running a
ton of coming off of off ball curls and just
(21:35):
powering through guys and getting all the way to the
basket for layups and floaters, and obviously high level shot making.
Hit a really tough little step back on the right
baseline at the end of that game. But to me,
Denny has been sneaky, one of the best like offensive
engines in the league this year. To put it very simply,
Portland can't score when he's off the floor, and they
scored a pretty high rate when he's out there. And
(21:57):
he's just been your textbook offensive engine, running high pick
and roll, methodically working in the middle of the floor,
scoring at a very efficient rate, playmaking at a high level,
driving close out springs, a slashing element that most of
the big ball handlers in the league don't bring. I
think Denny's been the best player out of that group,
So I would go with Denny if I had to pick.
(22:19):
Can you explain why so many times we see a
player wide open under the basket and instead of laying
it in, they pass out to the perimeter for a
three point shot. Isn't it almost a guaranteed two point
layup a better choice than a possibility of a three pointer?
So I think You'll see this a lot with guards,
and this is actually kind of like sneaky. One of
the little market inefficiencies in the league is having guards
that can finish out of the dunker spot. And a
(22:42):
lot of it is confidence. Like to your point, you
want to know why a lot of guards will catch
under the basket and on a cut and will just
dribble out or not shoot, throw a kickout or whatever
it might be. It's because they're not used to like
catching and finishing on cuts around the basket among trees,
and so they get a little bit spooked and then
they end up bailing, right. And one of the things
that's really valuable about having a guard that likes to
(23:03):
finish under the basket. Think about like Drew Holliday back
when he was with the Celtics, or think like Cason
Wallace with the Oklahoma City Thunder. For example, there's a
big one in the n Season Tournament final from Tyler
Kollik along the baseline in the second half. Like when
you have a guard working in the dunker spot, think
about how that sets up your defensive shell drill. Right. So,
(23:25):
like in a typical shell drill, So let's say that
you've got your uh, you know, your three in your
four in the two corners, and you've got your one
in your two on the wings, and you've got your
five man in the dunker spot. Let's pretend it's Luka
Dancics isoing on the right wing and it's Deandreton under
the basket. Okay, that means Deandrayton's man, probably a center
(23:49):
is going to be in help. So if Luca beats
his man off the dribble and drives down that right slot,
he's running into a giant human being. Right now, Guys
like Luca there are such good lob passers. They can
beat you with the lob pass there. But like the
point is, like Iso, guys with a big man in
the dunker spot have to contend with the big man
at the rim. Rim. Protection can be an issue to
deal with there, right, So now imagine that the role
(24:10):
is reversed for one reason or another. So let's say
you have a big that can shoot. Okay, So say
you're Oklahoma City and Chet Holmgren is hanging out in
the three point at the three point line, let's say,
opposite wing, and so you end up with like Jalen
Williams opposite wing, or Jalen Williams opposite corner, Shay Gilds
(24:32):
Alexander's working on the right wing, ISO you have Chet
on the left wing, and then you've got let's say,
let's say they're in one of their small ball groups,
so you've got Lou Dort in the right corner, and
then Cason Wallace is in the dunker spot. So Cason
Wallace is working left block in the dunker spot opposite
(24:52):
of where Shay's driving off the right line. Now, so
in this configuration, whoever the biggest player on the floor
is probably guarding Chet, so he's gonna be like a
traditional nail help position, so be hanging out more like
around the elbow, left elbow. And then whoever's guarding casein
probably a guard is going to be the guy who's
in help there right under the basket. And so if
Shaye beats his man off the dribble, he might not
(25:13):
even have to drop it off because he might be
able to just finish at the rim over the smaller
defender there right. So like having a guard who could
finish in the dunker spot provides a form of spacing
that is more valuable even than the layup, which is
you have the ability to present a weaker rim protector
on your drives, which gives your slashers a better chance
to finish at the rim on their initial drive. Hi, Jason,
(25:34):
please explain to a person who doesn't understand basketball in
its weeds what drives driving the basketball means? In other words,
what are the main traits for basketball players to become
great in it. It's been one of the main storylines
this season. Is it athleticism, is a vision? Is it
ball handling? What's the main trait along and short of
it is it's all of that stuff. So there's an
athleticism piece. You gotta have a certain amount of first step.
(25:55):
I'd argue it's a combination on drives of like athleticism
in the form of your first step, but also like
physical imposing size. So for instance, like every time you
make a move, you get a certain amount of a
window to hit right. So like if I break a
dude off, like if I go with the right to
(26:15):
left crossover and he just falls off of the screen
to the right, I'm gonna have like just a giant
lane to drive through right. But that doesn't happen most
of the time. Most drives are small bits of leverage.
I hit like in an in and out between the legs,
dribble and go, and the guy does slide with me,
but maybe because of my quick first step, I got
(26:35):
this much of an angle, right, just a tiny little angle.
If he's bigger and stronger than me, he's going to
physically overwhelm me on that angle and contain the drive,
Whereas if I'm bigger and stronger than him, I might
blow through his shoulder and turn the corner and get
all the way to the basket right. So like, in
terms of actually beating the dude off the dribble, it's
a combination of how quick your first step is and
(26:58):
how good are you at taking advantage of the physical
leverage of how much of an angle you get right.
So classic example of this is a guy like Luca.
Luca is incredibly good at like barely beating a dude
but then being past him because he's so damn big
and strong, he just overpowers him with physical leverage at
that point, Whereas a guy like Tyrese Maxi is doing
(27:18):
it almost entirely with first step quickness and if you
can kind of bump him off of his line, he's
not gonna be a guy that's going to physically dominate
you right now. A lot of the smaller skinn of
your guards will counter that with that flop foul that
you see all the times, where like they know they're
not bigger and stronger, so they'll hit that tiny gap
and then they'll just throw up a fucking shot right
when they run into the guy and they'll get to
the foul line for it. That's how skinny guys try
to counter that. But the other elements you talked about
(27:41):
are important. So, for instance, the ball handling, your ability
to sell one direction but go another direction is a
ball handling trait, and if you can do that, you'll
create bigger windows. So players that are not as good
at like the ball handling side, they're gonna get smaller
windows that they can hit. Whereas like if you've got
nasty dribble combinations or you can really disguise your moves
(28:03):
and counter moves, well, you'll generate bigger windows for you
to hit. Those are opportunities where your athleticism can step
in and take control of the situation. Right the vision piece.
Vision is very important driving lanes, and there's two things
you got to look at with driving lanes, like what
kind of help defense are you facing behind you? Where
(28:26):
is your defender shading you? Like a lot of times
defenders will shade you in a certain direction and have
a plan, and if you drive into that gap, you
could get yourself into some trouble where you're getting trapped
or you're getting dug down on and you can end
up turning the basketball over right. So like floor vision
in general is a very important basketball trade in every
single sense of the word. But when it comes to driving,
knowing when to drive is very much a part of
(28:48):
the battle as well. Last question, after seeing twenty seven
games from the rookie class, especially after that Cooper Flag,
forty bomb and Continent Pole having multiple thirty point games,
is this draft trending towards being the best class since
twenty eighteen? Do you see MVP, All NBA or All
Star potential for more than just for more from more
than just flag couple, Queen and Edgecombe. I know it's early,
(29:11):
but the returns so far have been incredible. Thanks for
all the effort that you and Jackson keep putting into
these videos. So I'm not going to dive into like
comparing the draft classes, because I'd have to take hours
to like really look at each individual draft class and
kind of like rank players and get into it. That's
more of like an offseason kind of thing. But in general,
I've been super impressed by all of these guys for
(29:32):
different reasons. I think Cooper Flag is still the clear
number one in the in the big picture, there's just
like a rangy defensive upside with him that is really
difficult for these other guys on this list to contend with. Like,
I have no idea if Derek Queen will ever be
good enough defensively to be a star in this league.
You know, VJ. Edgecomb is I think going to be
a good point of attack defender in the long run,
(29:52):
but he's not exactly the biggest, most physically imposing guy
in the league. Cooper has that upside. But the other
thing with Cooper is it's really clicked for him in
recent weeks that guys can't keep him from getting to
the basket. He's starting to bring a real power element
to his game that's been super effective. In general, I'm
a big believer in that. Like, what's kind of unique
about this group of players is like Flag obviously brings
a certain amount of power in athleticism, but like conk Nipple,
(30:15):
like it's not just his shooting ability. He's been even
dating back to Duke, a very good player in action
for the exact same concept we were just talking about
with the last segment in drives, where like he's so
big and strong that when he gets a little bit
of an angle on you, he can kind of fend
you off in the sidecar or behind him, which allows
him to kind of methodically work into the lane un
(30:37):
till the defense reacts and he can make the next
read there right, also the read and react element. Three
of those guys in particular, Cooper flag konk Nipple, and
Derek Queen, all three of those dudes are excellent at
making reads. What that means is whatever the defense does
to react to what you're doing. There's a sequence. This
is the next kickout, this is the next drive you make,
(30:58):
This is where the drop off is, you know, whatever
it might be. Those are read and react basketball traits
that are becoming more valuable than ever in the modern
NBA as the modern NBA has become so gifted at
creating advantages and so having guys that can capitalize on
that advantage by either scoring or making the next play
that creates an even bigger advantage. All of that stuff
(31:19):
is so valuable in the modern NBA. And Cooper's great
at that, CON's great at that, Derek's grade at that.
To me, with VJ, I just kind of like view
him as like one of those guards that's so supremely
athletic and that has the footwork and the natural scoring
chops to where I just see him as a guy
that's going to be able to get to his spots
whenever he wants. And what that means is if he
can improve enough as a scoring finisher, as a shot maker,
(31:42):
he could be one of those guys where like kind
of like Anthony Edwards is now where you just kind
of when he rises up for that jumper, you just go,
please miss, you know, like, and that's kind of the
the bind that one of those supremely gifted athletic guards
can put you in. But you're right, I mean, we
have like an incredible class of rookies here and each
one of them has been impressive in different ways and
(32:03):
just a casual reminder that the league's more talented than
it's ever been all right, guys, It's all I have
for today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting us and supporting the show. I hope all of
you guys have an incredible weekend. We will be back
next week. Kind of a funky schedule with Christmas, but
we'll be starting back on Monday with Power rankings. I'll
see you guys then,
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