The Richmond Weaver Show with Jason Timpf [04-23-2025]

Jason Timpf host of Hoops Tonight joins Rich to take a look at the NBA Playoffs.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Exploring the latest headlines and in depth conversations. It's the
Richmond Weavers Show on one oh four nine Fox Sports
up State presented by Ingles Low Prices, Love the Savings,
Now for riches take on sports. Here's Richmond Weaver.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Ready to roll here on one O four nine Fox
Sports Upstate. As you're listening to the Wednesday edition of
The Richmond Weavers Show presented by Ingles Markets. And we
have got a busy show today, a little bit solo here.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Mister Trey Falco.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Is out, but we have to expect him back later
this week. And we are just one day away from
the NFL Draft kicking off tomorrow night, live from the
iconic lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yes, there's a lot of excitement with the NFL Draft.
Remember Round one starts at eight pm tomorrow night on ESPN, ABC.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
And the NFL Network.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
And I've got some things that I want to talk
about with the NFL Draft and how teams are trying
to reshape their future. Fans are dreaming of that next superstar,
whoever it might be, and obviously general managers are sweating
bullets big time trying to figure out what's going to
happen with their big board and how many times are

(01:24):
they going to talk about players and not give you
any information whatsoever, because we do know it is lying
season with the NFL and the NFL Draft, because nobody
wants to have you understand exactly what's going on behind
those closed doors as they're putting their big boards together.

(01:44):
But also in the next segment, we'll talk NBA playoffs
with Jason temp from Hoops Tonight as we do each Wednesday,
and get some insight from some game two's last night,
and you can always join the conversation. The text line
is always open eight six four or triple seven ninety
five ninety three, and maybe you have some questions that

(02:05):
you might want to have Jason respond to during the segment,
So make sure you jump on via the text line
and ask Jason any NBA questions that you have. Again,
that's eight six four triple seven ninety five ninety three,
all right.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
As we talked about one day away from.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
The NFL Draft, and as I mentioned, it is lying
season galore from the front office and every NFL team
because nobody.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Wants to show their hand.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
But I've been thinking about the NFL Draft and something
a little bit deeper. We've talked about some of the
history of the NFL Draft, how it's evolved over the years,
and now it has become a big entity for the
NFL and a marketing caravan for the NFL as well
as trying to think of the right word for that,

(02:55):
but it's definitely something that has been the showcase for
the dead period for the NFL. When I say did period,
I'm talking when you don't have any games going on
in the spring here, and it's something that fans can
still gravitate towards and I think the NFL has done
a fantastic job over the years. But in thinking about

(03:17):
the NFL Draft, it got me thinking about drafting players
just in general and how hard it is. And I'm
not just talking NFL draft. I'm talking any sport. You
can look at Major League Baseball, you can look at
the NBA, NHL, any of the professional leagues.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
But we talk more about the NFL.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Draft than any other draft out there, and a lot
of reasons why. We talked about that earlier in the week,
But the NFL Draft and other drafts, but especially the
NFL draft, it is so hard because it is an art.
It is not a science, and that's what makes it
so difficult trying to predict how these players are going

(04:03):
to evolve and how your evaluation for that particular player,
how it's going to grade out over the years. Now,
we talked about it green Bay hosting this year, and
we know there's going to be a lot of fan engagement,
fan entertainment opportunities galore, But it really comes down to

(04:24):
this is.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Serious business for these NFL teams.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
This is something that they put a lot of work
in and trying to get this right. And that's the question,
how do you get it right? And why is it
so hard to get it right? Especially in the NFL. Now,
the Titans are on the clock with the number one pick,
and we know that the Titans are using their number

(04:49):
one pick. They've already mentioned that, and all reports are
that they've even reached out to cam Ward and have said,
you're our guy. We're already on the clock, we know it.
We're not even going to think about it. We've put
enough exercise and effort into this to know that you're
our guy at number one. But here's the thing. There's

(05:09):
a lot of other players out there and a lot
of other GMS personnel coaching staffs are doing their evaluations
to understand which players are going to give them the
best opportunity for success and what are the ceilings of
these players. And that's where it gets so tricky, because
the one thing that I do know about the NFL draft,

(05:32):
no matter how many mock drafts are out there, and
I know there's a ton of mock drafts, and I've
never done a mock draft just because I don't know
enough about the intricacies of all of these teams. And
I love looking at all these mock drafts because at
least that is an opportunity for me to understand some
of the tendencies where maybe some of these teams are leaning.

(05:55):
And obviously you can look at from a perspective of
knowing what holes, what voids are there from a team,
but to do a mock draft to really understand all
of the different personnel, all of the different available players
that are out there, and then you add in the
free agency situation to it, it can be overwhelming. But

(06:15):
I do love looking at some of the mock drafts.
But the one thing that I do know, nobody, and
I mean nobody knows for sure if these guys are
going to make it in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
And that's what.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Fascinates me because we still put so much stock into
the draft and how this can be the season of hope,
and how franchises can change just through a draft, and
maybe it's one pick that changes that franchise. But drafting
is like trying to predict the weather, not tomorrow, but

(06:53):
six months from now, or two years from now, three
years from now. And that's what makes it so challenging.
You've got all this data, you've got all the tape,
you've got the combined numbers, you've got the pro Days,
but at the end of the day, it's still a
roll of the dice with these players. And that's why

(07:13):
it's so hard to evaluate players in the NFL because
we just don't know, because you have to think about it.
First off, it's the jump. The transition from college to
the pros is massive. And we've seen so many times
people talk about a dominant team in college they could

(07:34):
go beat the worst team in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Hello, that's not happening. There's no way that that's happening.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I don't care how good that team is in college,
because in college you might dominate physically because you're superior,
or playing in a system that might hide some of
your flaws. But in the NFL it's different. These are
the elite of the elite. Everyone's a freak athlete. The speed,
the schemes, the complexity of the systems, it is a

(08:05):
completely different type of beast. And then evaluating a player's
skill is like translating that into a puzzle. But it's
almost like trying to solve a puzzle when you don't
have all of the pieces.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
And that's what's so difficult.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Now, my wife is fantastic at puzzles, but even this
is a challenge because you don't have all of the information.
Because we don't know what the future might hold, We
don't know how these players are going to respond in
certain situations. And it's easy to take a look at
the quarterbacks. They're the poster child of the draft and

(08:47):
also of the draft busts. Now, everybody I know is
talking about cam Ward, What about Shador Sanders. You've also
got other quarterbacks that are out there, Jackson Dart climbing
up the board. Words, but history tells us be careful
about these quarterbacks. According to ESPN, since two thousand, only

(09:10):
about forty percent of first round quarterbacks have become long
term starters for the team that drafted them.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
That's basically a coin flip.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
And even looking at say this draft just right up
the road Carolina Panthers, and I know John Ellis with
game On knows this draft really well. Twenty eleven, Cam
Newton number one. Now he became a star, no question
about it. But what about Jake Locker, blame Gabert Christian
Ponder all first rounders, we didn't even hear from him. Really.

(09:42):
Twenty and eighteen, Baker Mayfield has had a resurgence. Josh
Allen has definitely panned out, but what about Josh Rosen?
Sam Darnold not so much. And it's not just the
quarterbacks though, wide receivers, running backs, even linemen, nobody safe.
Pro Football Focus ran a study from twenty fifteen to

(10:04):
two thousand and nineteen, and check this out. Only fifty
two percent of first round picks across all positions earned
a second contract with their drafting team. That means nearly
half the guys picked in the top thirty two don't
stick around long term. And if you're a GM, you

(10:24):
have to be going crazy with those type of numbers
because that's not in your favor. It's a coin flip. Again,
that's not a good scenario if you want to hold
onto your job, if you want to have your fans
be appreciative of what you do. But again, it's so
difficult to evaluate these guys what the future might hold.

(10:47):
So here's some of the things that I think does
go into it. Number One, the intangibles. Now, you can measure,
like we talked about, through all of the combines the
pro football days. You've got the forty yard dash, you've
got the vertical jump. But here's the tricky part. How
do you quantify work ethic, coachability, or how about clutch performance.

(11:10):
You can spend hours with the team interviewing these prospects,
but it's hard to know how a twenty one year
old will handle the pressure of an NFL locker room
with veterans or a city like New York tearing somebody
apart on social media. Hey what about JaMarcus Russell two

(11:31):
thousand and seven? He had everything, the size, crazy arm, talent,
sixty six two hundred and sixty pounds, Are you kidding me?
Looked like he was a sure thing. But his work
ethic decision making seemed to be a disaster. He was
out of the league twenty ten. The second tangible, the
second factor scheme fit College systems often can mask a

(11:57):
player's weaknesses.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Look at somebody like Reggie Bush.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
We know he is an electric talent Heisman winner, but
in the NFL he struggled to be that every down
type of back for the Saints because they didn't use
him like Southern Cal did. Or how about the spread
offense where quarterbacks can feast on some of the easy
reads in college, but in the NFL, it's not like that.

(12:25):
You have to be able to process at a different level.
You have to be able to process at a different speed.
And that's where sometimes you can't replicate that to understand
how to evaluate some of these players. And then number
three injury risk, and then the development. Injuries can derail
careers and you can't always predict them. And then just

(12:49):
being able to develop players, because now it's the players
are being thrust into the limelight, thrust into these starting positions.
So fast gone are the days of somebody like an
Aaron Rodgers getting to sit and learn before they shine. Now,
maybe Jordan Love, maybe he's the exception. But that's just

(13:11):
there in Green Bay. We don't see it too often
anywhere else. And that's why cam wore going number one.
You think he's going to sit for the Titans, There
ain't no way he's going to be out there playing now.
According to NFL dot Com, from twenty ten to twenty twenty,
only twenty eight percent of draft picks across all rounds

(13:33):
played at least five seasons with the team that drafted them.
That's less than one and three. And how about this,
The bust rate for top ten picks, per a twenty
twenty study by Football Outsiders is about thirty percent. That
means almost a third of the guys you're betting your
franchise on never live up to the hype. All right, Titans,

(13:55):
you might want to be thinking about that when you're
on that podium tomorrow night. And again, all reports are
saying that it's going to be cam Ward. A lot
going on in this NFL draft, and I know it's
going to be electric there in Tidle Town. Lambeau Field
and the Packers. They have several picks, and I think

(14:16):
they've done a good job over the years, But who
will they choose because we do know one thing though.
Every choice is a risk. But that's what makes the
draft so compelling. It's hope mixed with chaos, and every
team thinks they've cracked the code. But I tell you,
the stats don't lie. Most picks don't pan out, not

(14:37):
the way you expect them to. So I know we're
going to be watching tomorrow night. And when you hear
the booze and the cheers, just remember nobody knows how
it's going to happen, not the GMS, not the coaches,
not the players, not even those mock draft experts like
a Mele Kuiper junior and his hair just not going

(14:57):
to happen because it's too hard to predict. All Right,
We're going to continue this Wednesday edition of The Richmond
Weaver Show, presented by Ingles Markets and Switching Gears to
the NBA playoffs the first round. We know it's in
full swing, and I've got Jason Timp from Hoops Tonight
joining me to break it all down.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Are the Nixon trouble? How about LA?

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Are they back in track with Luca and Lebron getting
the victory? And the NBA? Oh, how the NBA has
missed Kawhi Leonard. Jason's got all of that inside and
more Right after this. The Wednesday edition of the Richmond
Weavers Show, presented by Ingles Markets continues right here on
one oh four nine Fox Sports Upstate, and we appreciate

(15:42):
you listening as always being an investor.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
NBA action continues tonight.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
We have more Game two's in the NBA Playoffs, the
Magic and the Celtics tonight at seven pm on TNT
heat and the Calves at seven point thirty on NBA TV,
and the nightcap the Warriors and the Rockets also on
TNT roughly around nine thirty. Again, we'll see how that

(16:09):
plays out as far as game two's and how important
it is for teams to either break even or can
you go up two oho in the series, And if
we're going to break it all down from an NBA perspective, yes,
we you know, we do it each and every Wednesday.
Jason Temp, host of Hoops Tonight, joins us and Jason,

(16:31):
we finally get to talk a lot of NBA Playoffs
and just from the excitement of actually talking games, my friend.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, everything including the regular season, even regular season games
are purely theoretical all you have to do is ask
a Phoenix sunsand from last year after they swept the
world in the regular season. Like, once you get down
into the real mud of NBA playoff basketball, that's when
reality crawls to the.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Surface, no question.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Jason temp is our guest of Hoops to Night. Make
sure you check out all of his great work subscribe
to his YouTube channel. We're going to talk about that
in a little bit, but Jason, first and foremost, I
wanted to talk about Pistons and the Knicks here because
I do think this is a fascinating series and maybe
not as from a fan excitement overall NBA fan now regionally, Yes,

(17:22):
if you're a Knicks or a Detroit fan, maybe it
doesn't have the same pizazz as a Nuggets Nuggets Clippers
type of series does. But we know the Knicks rallied
in Game one with a huge defensive performance there in
the fourth quarter, but the Pistons were able to flip
the script there in Game two, tie in the series
with some physicality again being led by Cad Cunningham, but

(17:46):
also some big time shots from somebody that just is
a journeyman, Dennis Schroeder. Now I wouldn't say that New
York has lost control in this series, but your thoughts
right now, with how Detroit seems to have some I
guess might have New York's number in this series.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Your thoughts, They had their number in the regular season.
As we talked about earlier. It's purely theoretical, but in
the regular season they had success with Caid getting the
Mikale Bridge's primary matchup and just bullying him, but mostly
being able to successfully attack Karl Anthony Towns and Jalen
Brunts in action and just be able to make simple
reads out of it. Like playoff basketball is more complicated

(18:30):
than regular season basketball in the sense that all the
closeouts are harder, everybody's you know, more engaged defensively, but
the same principles still exists in terms of, you know,
if you play with an advantage, like if you have
if you can create openings, guys getting open shots, opportunities
to drive closeouts, you will have success. And Caid has
just done a really nice job of attacking the next

(18:51):
defense and creating those sorts of advantages. Dennis Schroeder really
has become an important piece as Caid fatigues over the
course of games, I thought that was interesting thing in
the fourth quarter down the stretch. But that said, we
have seen the pistons inexperience and lack of down the
roster shot creation start to show its warts in the
fourth quarters, just because these games are knockdown, drag out fights,

(19:15):
and they're super physical, and they're super exhausting, and it's
really difficult to sit there and create shots quarter after
quarter after quarter after quarter in that sort of setting.
And so that's where like, as you start start to
get down to it, you already saw in the first
two games that the Knicks are the more like veteran, experienced,
comfortable team down the stretch of these games. I mean,

(19:36):
if it wasn't for Dennis hitting that shot and if
McHale had made his, the Knicks could be up two
to zero in the series, despite trailing for the most part.
And so you've seen the Knicks in their late game
execution take the forefront. That said, I also think over
the course of the series, the shot creation depth for
New York will start to reveal itself. Like right now,

(19:56):
og And and ob and Michal Bridges are both just not
playing very well, and the two of them have to
be better. They just simply have to be. And so
with that being the case, I think over the course
of seven games, you're going to see that depth of
shot creation start to reveal itself for the Knicks, and
their late game execution helped them pull out some of
the closer games. But the Pistons have their ways to

(20:17):
make them uncomfortable and that's clearly been on display. I
picked the Knicks in six before the series, and that's
where I feel like it's gonna end up.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, And my question would be, ultimately, you talked about
some of this just from a Detroit perspective. Can they
keep up this type of intensity to make it a
long series?

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah? I mean, I think that the Knicks have demonstrated
a little bit of a difficulty handling Detroit's defense and
just how athletic they are and their ability to fly around.
I thought Detroit defended extremely well in Game two, and
they had kind of a smart adjustment in putting Tobias
Harris on Karl Anthony Towns and basically asking their guys

(20:56):
to chase over the top of screens as best as
they can and trying to take away easy catch and
shoot opportunities. Interestingly enough, Kat had seven ISOs in game
one and then logs zero ISOs in game two. So
one of my concerns was the Knicks just kind of
over reliant on Brunson, and so I do think that
we'll see more attempts to get everyone else involved in

(21:16):
Game three as well. But that's the thing with Detroit's defense.
You play into their hands by playing heliocentric because they
do have size, they do have athleticism, they do have
the ability to load up. You need to spread them out,
and you need to beat them with your aggregate talent,
which I think will be a change in approach for
the Knicks as they go on the road.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, and just even from a perspective of Karl Anthony Towns,
how vital is it for New York that he needs
to be shouldering some of that secondary scoring for the Knicks.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
Well, he's their biggest massive advantage. Like, if you really
get down to it, like the Knicks and the Pistons
both have defenders for each other's guards, right, Like they
can put og In and Obi on Kate and make
them work hard. The Pistons can put Dennis Schroeder Dennis
Schroders in a really nice job on Jalen Brunston. Sar
Thompson is the guy that they can throw at Jalen Brunston.
The one guy who really has the serious advantage in

(22:08):
this series is Kat because if you put Jalen Duran
on him, he has like very little experience defending in space,
and if you put Tobias Harris on him, He's giving
up a lot of size and strength there. And so
Kat is arguably your biggest mismatch on the floor and
that's definitely a match that they need to explore as
much as they can moving forward.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yes, And I'm just curious, you know, can Caat be
that guy? I don't know if I've seen it consistently
enough from him throughout his NBA career, especially come playoff time.
Jason timp is our guest here on the Wednesday edition
of the Richmond Weavers Show presented by Ingles Markets. Make
sure you check out all of his great work. Host
of Hoops Tonight subscribes his YouTube channel and you can

(22:50):
listen to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, So moving on to the Nuggets and Clippers,
and this is a fascinating series. We talked about this
as we were doing a little bit of the preview
last week. Jason and Nuggets get Game one in overtime,
and of all things, is Russell Westbrook hitting a big
three there and then the Clippers they make some of

(23:13):
the big plays down the stretch, But it was Kawhi Leonard.
How vintage Kuhi was his performance in Game two of
that series unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
You know, he's always been one of the better, like
playoff shot makers that we've had in this era. I
think gets a testament to his base, Like he just
has an incredibly strong lower body that allows him to
as he fights through physicality, get the spots he can
get lift, Like anybody who's played the game at a
high level knows that shot making is mostly about your

(23:46):
lower body. It's mostly about being able to get the lift.
Because once you get the lift and the separation, the
top of the shot is just like any other basketball shot.
It's just rising up, reaching into the cookie jar, trust
in your form and not going to shot down. But
getting to that is the hard part. And like Kawhi
has the ability against the top tier you know, big

(24:08):
four defender and Aaron Gordon to get separation. He can
get separation and his ability to get separation and to
get into his into like his energy transfer from the
ground up to the top of his shot is what
allows him to be so deadly in those situations. And
I mean, he all night long was hitting, but then
he hit two massive ones down the stretch, that little

(24:29):
right shoulder fade and then that jump shot that he
hit on Aaron Gordon. But interestingly enough, I thought, like
I thought the story of that game was Denver's mistake making,
which is interesting because I actually think the Clippers are
a more mistake prone team and Denver has the legendary
history in the Jokuch era of just being surgical offensively

(24:51):
at the end of games, and like, they just made
a bunch of mistakes. The Michael Porter junior turnover where
he just cops the ball up that directly leads to
Norman Powell three, Aaron gord In smokes a wide open dunk,
like literally a wide open dunk, yes, and it was unbelievable.
And then obviously the late game sequence where Yokis turned
the ball over because Christian Brown flashed to a location

(25:12):
where Russell Westbrook already was, which is like basketball one
oh one, So like, what was ironic is all of
that happened and the Nuggets still had a shot to
tie the game. Yeah, Like that's the thing is like,
if the Nuggets can keep the game close, I think
they can out execute the Clippers. For the Clippers, I
think it's important for them to build margin. I don't

(25:33):
I wouldn't expect Denver to kind of, you know, quote
unquote like so to speak, p down their legs the
way they did down the stretch, Like the Nuggets decomposed
and made a bunch of uncharacteristic mistakes. I think counting
on that as a mistake. I think the Clippers really
need to work on building margin at the end of
these games.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, no question from that standpoint.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
And from your perspective though, is Jokic's offense is that
enough to carry Denver or is is he going to
have to make some defensive plays also, especially in the
pick and roll.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
He I think has been much better defensively in this
series than I expected him to be, which is a
credit to him, as you know, just making the requisite
shift and effort where his team needed it. I do
think he's starting to show some signs of fatigue. Richmond.
He tore he played every minute of the second half
of that last game, and did have some uncharacteristic turnovers,

(26:25):
specifically the one where he tried to drop off to
Aaron Gordon and Chris Dunn had flashed behind and the
actual correct read was to the corner, which is like
very unusual for Jokic to make that kind of mistake
and let a couple of shots short, miss a free throw.
Like there's definitely a little bit of a fatigue element
with Jokich towards the end of these games, and that's

(26:45):
the drawback is like you want to know why Jokic
was so bad on defense at the end of the year,
It was because he knew that team couldn't guard anyway.
He knew that they were weak in several other areas
of defense, and he was the one guy who could
generate every thing they did offensively, and so he's devoting
all of his energy there and what you're seeing is
the reality, which is it's unrealistic to be a super active,

(27:08):
super effective defender and the best offensive player of all time.
It's just way too much to add.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
It is a lot, and as great as Jokic is,
he's going to have to have some support from other
players and can Russell Westbrook, can he be that guy
down the stretch.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
I think they've actually done a really nice job of
using Russ down the stretch of games by positioning him
in the corners where he's a more efficient three point
shooter than he is above the break. And he's also
done a really nice job of finding the soft spots
right in the middle of the floor as a cutter.
It's more so just that there's obviously variance that comes

(27:47):
with that. So Russ is just prone to mistakes, right, So,
like classic example is that fourth quarter possession where he
dribbles up the sideline and gets bogged on Themganovich and
then just dribbles the ball away and it ends up
in a Dunkford Derreck Jones Junior. It's like, those are
mistakes that you can't afford from Russ. But honestly, like
David Adaman's in a little bit of a tough spot
because he bails on Russ after that, and Michael Porter

(28:10):
comes in and he makes a couple of plays it's
a big three and gets an offensive rebound where he
draws a foul, But he's the guy who cost the
ball up late in the game. That led to the
Norman Powell three. So the truth of the matter is
they've got their four guys like they like Christian Brown,
they like Jamal and they like Jokichi, like Gordon, but
that fifth starter spot is just a huge question mark
for them. And by the way, this is the gamble

(28:32):
they took when they let Bruce Brown go and they
let Kntavious Colwall Pok go. It became we desperately need,
you know, Jalen Pickett, Julian Straw, the Peyton Watson. We
need one of these young guys to be ready, and
NBA history tells us they're never ready. Ye, And so
now you're relying on your veteran piece in uh Russell
Westbrook or a you know, a talented young player in

(28:54):
Michael Porter Junior, but one that's really kind of like
having a puff season in terms of his attention to detail.
And I think that that just puts them in a
tough spot.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
It definitely does.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
As Jason Temp, host of Hoops Tonight, is our guest
breaking down the NBA playoffs, and let's switch to Lakers
Timberwolves because that's another intriguing matchup. Obviously just from the
perspective of Luca and the trade that happened, sending him
to La, combining him with Lebron James there and the Timberwolves.

(29:24):
They came out Jason and they bullied the Lakers in
Game one. And we've talked about how different the NBA
playoffs can be and maybe there's a little bit of
an adjustment period and how you have to be ready
for NBA playoffs versus the regular season. Is that what
we saw in Game one, because Lakers come back out
in Game two and seem to be a different type

(29:45):
of team with a much more sense of urgency in
this game.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
Yeah, I rewatched the game this morning just to double
check with what was you know, obviously screaming off the
screen last night, which was the uptick in intensity, And
there were a couple of specific game plan things they did,
Like they didn't pinch in off of nas Red as
much as they did in Game one. They didn't pinchi
in off of Nikhil Alexander Walker as much as they
did in game one. Like they primarily just ran the

(30:12):
same defensive scheme that they ran in Game one, they
just executed it better and there was more intensity and
like I mean, it's not really hard to figure out.
It's like, Okay, if you hold a team to forty
fewer points than you did two like three nights prior,
then obviously there's a giant There's no magic adjustment that
can really justify that type of difference. It really was

(30:34):
the gap in intensity. And you know, I had such
a hard time getting a feel for that series after
the first game, just because of how poorly the Lakers played,
and frankly, like Minnesota, that was probably the best I've
ever seen them play when you factor in ants playmaking
yet nine as sist one turnover, Julius Randall having one
of his better playoff games in a long time, the

(30:55):
way the team shot from three, the way they defended
like you won't see like Minnesota has a range of outcomes,
and that was their peak. And so it's just really
hard to get a feel for it. But now after
watching both games and watching them twice, the main thing
that I'm feeling is that most of this really just
comes down to the physicality element. The Wolves offense is

(31:16):
way too dependent on Ants being surgical against the help,
and it's way too dependent on Julius Randall being really
effective as a massive attacker, they don't really have anything
else reliable that they can go to in their offense.
And so as a result, like if the Lakers can
hang onto the rope and they can defend, and they
can compete on the defensive glass, and they execute on

(31:39):
offense without throwing you know, stupid turnovers that get them
in transition, stuff like that, and as long as they
can stay healthy, I think the Lakers will eventually pull
this out in a long, hard fought series. But Minnesota's
pathway is just maintain that physicality as best as they
can and really capitalize in transition as the Lakers like

(31:59):
go of the rope when they get fatigued or when
they get worn down or you know, Rue Hutch America,
it's a shot to the face. You know, I'm sure
he's feeling a little rough this morning. Lebron obviously had
a groin injury a couple of months ago. He's not
even posting up, you can tell, because he's nervous about
pivoting on that groin. Like you can imagine the scenario
where they just literally break the Lakers down, And I
think that's Minnesota's pathway.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Yeah, And I.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Also even wonder what you're talking about with Aunt Edwards
being surgical. I think that's one of the things that
he's been so inconsistent in his career, especially here in
the limelight of the NBA playoffs, and we saw what
you talked about nine as sists. He seemed to make
the right decision rather than try to force some of
these shots getting other guys involved. How you know, will

(32:44):
he be able to do that throughout this series and
even beyond is the question.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah, and you guys can't head over to my YouTube channel.
We actually just thirty seven minutes ago released a film
session that I did this morning.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
And oh, let's go.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
You guys can see some specific examples of what I'm
talking about. But the gist of it is, the same
reads that were there for Ant in Game one were
there in Game two. He just didn't make them under
the intensity of the moment. So, for instance, the Lakers
were still pinching off of good shooters in the strong
side corner and Ant literally didn't make the pass a

(33:17):
single time in the game. So, like, he's got to
be willing to throw that pass to the right corner,
you know, at least a few times a game just
to keep the defense. Honest, he was making the skip
although the Lakers did get some deflections in those situations.
But the main thing is when Ant goes to the
basket for a layup, he's actually getting less than nine

(33:38):
tenths of a point per drive. Okay, So when Ant
is trying to force his way through, what the Lakers
are doing is they're pinching off the strong side corner.
They're funneling him in that direction, and there's a helper
at the basket. So he beats the first guy off
the dribble, then he has to do some kind of
gather move to protect the basketball against the guy pinching.

(33:59):
Then he's got to finish in traffic at the rim
against a third defender. And so even though he got
there a few times, he had some layups last night,
some easy ones, but over the course of this series,
when Ant is trying to force his way through three bodies,
it's actually resulting in an inefficient attack. And so I
think it's important for Ant to understand that, Like when
he's on the ball, his primary function is to get

(34:22):
the defense in rotation by getting into the paint making
that skip pass, or by making that pass to the
strongside corner. Now, there were opportunities for him to be
aggressive as a score off of Julius Randall and his
post ups, as like an off the catch guy, like
catch and shoot, catch and drive it close out that
kind of stuff. And so that's really going to be
the thing is like there is a pathway here for

(34:43):
the Wolves to kind of like surgically work their way
through the series. I just don't. I just don't think
that's how they're gonna win because I don't trust them
to do that. If the Wolves win, I think it's
more likely just wearing the laker.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, I would agree one thousand percent, because I don't
know how much Aunt Edwards is surgical throughout his career.
You can show glimpses of that, but can you do
it on a consistent basis.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
We're well, like last night in the presser. In the presser,
he's like, yeah, they're zoning up on me, and it's
like he's like, it's they go into a zone and
it's confusing, and it's like, if you watch it, it's
really not that confusing. All they're doing is they're loading
up the strong side and giving him two very basic
reads that he's not making him making and so it's
not as complicated as it looks. And I do think

(35:25):
the coaching staff will be hammering that home with him
over the next couple of days for certain.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
That's why it's not always just about your athletic ability.
You do have to be able to process things out
there and make the right decision.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
As we're wrapping up with Jason Temp, host of Hoops Tonight,
make sure you subscribe to his YouTube channel. And you
just mentioned it, Jason, because you do a great job
breaking down the film's reacting to live games, answering fan
mail bags with all types of crazy detail. I absolutely
love it, and you just hit over one hundred thousand

(35:56):
subscribers on Hoops Tonight.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
Are you able even? Are you able?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
I can't even get it out because I'm so proud
and happy for you, But are you able to truly
grasp what you've been able to do over the past
three years or so?

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Honestly, I can't even believe it. Richmond. It's it's you know,
I started doing this as a passion project, and I
obviously had goals of working in the media. But what's
crazy is is, like my wife and I we used
to sit outside and we would talk about, you know,
what my goals were in this space, and I remember

(36:36):
talking about like five year goals, ten year goals, and
here we are, you know, three years after I started
with the volume, and this has already become such a
large community and has already blessed my family so much,
and I just like, honestly, I just can't believe it, Richmond,
I just I'm just incredibly thankful. Honestly. The biggest thing

(36:58):
has been the proof of content. And what I mean
by that is like when I started with the volume. Thankfully,
the volume let me have one creative freedom, so I
was able to do exactly what I wanted to do
with the show. There's basic stuff like hey, like, if
you're going to talk about the hornets, let's tuck it
towards the end of the show, and we'll market the

(37:18):
show around like bigger names, bigger thing like the basic media,
one on one type of stuff. But they never told
me what to say, they never told me how to
say it. And so what I did is I just
leaned into talking about the game, specifically about the way
I see it. I didn't try to be anybody else.
I just tried to be myself, and thankfully it ended
up being a type of of of a brand of

(37:41):
analysis that has resonated and that people take two and
and honestly, Richmond is the last thing I'll say about it,
like I the best compliment I get and I get
this one all the time, and it's and it's the
one that makes me feel most rewarded is when people
say that they learn about the game from me, exactly
because there were there were guys who did the same
thing for me when I was coming up, Guys like Pzais,

(38:04):
guys like Zach Lowe, and they are so important and
I take that responsibility very seriously. I know that, like
beyond any sort of career dreams or visions that I have,
that I have the ability to at least help grow
the game of basketball by teaching people to love it
the way that I do. And that really is the

(38:25):
responsibility that I take very seriously.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
I absolutely love it.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
And that's why I've been telling people that if you
want to get smarter about the NBA, go over to
your YouTube channel Hoops Tonight and subscribe, because I promise
you you will do that, and then you can hear
the authenticity in your voice each and every episode, so
we greatly appreciate you also spending your time allowing our
listeners here to get smarter about the NBA.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
We do it each week. Jason.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
We can't thank you enough and excited to talk next
week as we got more NBA playoff games.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
To talk about.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Yeah, it's been a blast and this is only gonna
keep getting better every week as we get to hire
and hire leverage series is better and better teams and
I'm very, very excited about it and I'm looking forward
to next Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Yes, sir, go watch some more films, sir, we'll talk
to you next week.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
That's good, Richmond.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
That is Jason Temp, host of Hoops Tonight. Again.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Make sure you subscribe to his YouTube channel. And I
love the story just starting out from nothing and getting
to where he is now. And you will understand if
you go watch some of his content, because he does
a great job and he knows what he's talking about
and I'm honored to have him part of the show
here as we will continue this Wednesday edition of The

(39:38):
Richmond Weaver Show presented by Ingles Markets. Right after this,
mark your calendars for the week of June second through
the eighth. The BMW Charity Pro Am presented by td
CINX is coming back to the Upstate. And this isn't
your average golf tournament. You already know that it is
part of the Corn Faery Tour, but what makes it

(39:59):
even more sashel is that you've got a mix of
the pro golfers teamed up with celebrities and local amateurs
all playing together to raise money for some incredible local charities.
And trust me, you never know who you might see
out there. Sports world people, TV people, movie people, all
types of celebrities out there and some great golf. And

(40:21):
again it's happening the week of June second through the
eighth at the Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg and also
Thornblade Club. Now it's going to be competitive but fun,
and the energy is going to be high. And I
know maybe you do want to do more than just watch. Well,
here's your chance. You know that it takes more than
eight hundred volunteers to pull this thing off, and now

(40:43):
you can be one of them. You'll get a hat,
you'll get a shirt, you'll get meals and while you work,
you get full tournament access even the days that you
aren't working, so make sure you go over to Bmwcharitygolf
dot com to get more information about tick it's volunteer
opportunities and all of.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
The other details.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Again the week of June second through the eighth BNW
Charitygolf dot Com. As we continue this Wednesday edition, another
Richmond Weaver Show presented by Ingles Markets right here on
one O four nine Up one oh four nine, Fox
Sports up State. Let me get that out correctly, and
let's take a look at some of the latest headlines.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
It's only one game play and that's to take care
of benue.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Hitting the latest headlines. It's the daily rundown.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
All right, We're going to go to the world of
track and field, and did you know Kenya's faith Kipia,
Gon female runner is set to try to break the
world record. She has the world record running a mile
in four minutes and seven seconds, but on June twenty six,
she's trying to become the first female to run a

(41:56):
mile under the four minute mark. Obviously that is a
big deal, so we'll see how that plays out. And
I know my stepdaughter, she's big into track and field,
so she might be looking at that. How about this
in the NFL, the Chargers and the Lions are set
to play in the twenty twenty five Pro Football Hall

(42:18):
of Fame opening the NFL season on July the thirty first.
Again the Chargers and the Lions. And Antonio Gates a
Detroit native and now also a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
So yes, he's from Detroit and he played for the Chargers.
So what better way than to have the Chargers and
the Lions ninety nine days until the NFL starts with

(42:42):
the Pro Football Hall of Fame game. And speaking of NFL,
Warren Moon, who wore number one for the Houston Oilers
and then that team would move to Tennessee where his
number is retired, has said that he's thinking about it,
that he might let cam Ward where number one for

(43:03):
the Tennessee Titans. Again, all reports are cam Ward is
going to be the number one pick for the Tennessee
Titans tomorrow night. That is the latest headlines, and we
will wrap up this Wednesday edition of The Richmond Weaver
Show presented by Ingles Markets. Right after this live from
the Ingles Studio in downtown Greenville, right here on North

(43:26):
Main Street.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
This is the Wednesday edition of the Richmond.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Weaver Show, presented by our good friends at Ingles Markets,
and we appreciate you investing your time to listen, however
that might be, and maybe that's through the radio or
maybe even through.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
The iHeartRadio app. We do appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
If you don't have the iHeartRadio app, just make sure
you download that through the App Store or on Google Play,
and then just search one O four nine Fox Sports
so you can find the station and listen whenever and
wherever you want to, and even put it on one of.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Your preset buttons. They're easy pace.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
We do love it, and you'll also love it because
it is free the iHeartRadio App. All right, it is
April the twenty third, Yes, one day away from the
NFL Draft.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
But let's walk back in a little bit of history.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
What happened on this day. Let's go back in history
to the moments you might have forgotten and the ones
you'll never forget. It's OTD on this day.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
All right, We're going to go back to nineteen fifty.
The Minneapolis Lakers would become the first team to win
back to back NBA championships by defeating the Syracuse Nationals
one ten to ninety five in Game six of the
finals there and also about this in nineteen eighty nine
talking about NFL Draft, Oh, that was a good one.

(44:51):
The Dallas Cowboys select UCLA quarterback Troy Eightman as the
number one overall pick and that did change the franchise
there for the Dallas Cowboys. Also, Jimmy Johnson helped resurge
the Dallas Cowboys as the head coach, so there were
manufacturers there.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
And then you throw in EMMITTT.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Smith and also Michael Irvin and other players for the
Cowboys that would go on to wear a gold jacket.
And also nineteen ninety three, shaq Diesel Shaquille O'Neill would
rip down the backboard in the first quarter of a
game there against the New Jersey Nets in the Meadowlands

(45:33):
and just continuing to showcase just how dominant Shaquille O'Neill was,
as they would go on to win that game. In
nineteen ninety nine, Fernando Tatis hits two grand slams in
one inning to lead the Saint Louis Cardinals to a
twelve to five victory over Los Angeles, the first player
in Major League Baseball history to hit two Grand slams

(45:55):
in one inning and set the record with eight RBIs
in one inning.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
Absolutely ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
And in two thousand and five, Alex Smith was the
number one overall pick in the NFL Draft to the
forty nine ers quarterback. And then in twenty twenty, Joe
Burrow was the number one overall pick to the Cincinnati Bengals.
And I do believe that Joe Burrow is outperforming some
of the expectations.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
All Right.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
That is the that is OTD and that is the
Wednesday edition of The Richmond Weaver Show presented by Ingles Markets.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
We'll talk to you tomorrow.