0:01

And now the low

0:03

post. Welcome to the low post

0:05

podcast. It's Friday morning in Los Angeles

0:08

and it's time for a grab bag of

0:10

middling Eastern Conference teams that

0:12

I have not talked too much about. Although

0:15

one team not so middling right

0:17

now. No one better to talk about these sort

0:19

of

0:20

not forgotten, but no one knows what quite

0:22

what to make of them. They're all around 500

0:24

except for this one first team. Nobody better

0:27

from the Dunker spot and all over your interwebs.

0:29

The guy is Duncan. How are you,

0:31

sir? I am doing well on this Friday. How are you doing,

0:33

sir? I am good and we are going to

0:35

start because I am a benevolent host with

0:37

your

0:38

Miami heat hashtag heat culture

0:41

hashtag nastiest hardest playing best

0:43

condition. Handsomest whatever

0:45

is team best sleeping team

0:48

does the has the best diet eats

0:50

their vegetables. The Miami heat have won seven

0:53

games in a row after a one

0:55

in four start. They blitzed the Brooklyn

0:57

Nets who will also be in this podcast last

1:00

night. They are 19th in offense,

1:02

although their offense has been much better in this seven

1:04

game winning streak.

1:05

10th in defense. Caleb

1:08

Martin returned from injury last night. He's

1:10

a huge part of their team.

1:11

I'm hoping slash assuming he will

1:13

assume the starting power forward spot

1:16

when he feels healthy enough. The guy Heywood Highsmith

1:18

has been doing just fine holding

1:20

that position down. Kevin Love

1:22

has been moved to backup center. Bam has

1:25

been outstanding. Jimmy Butler seems

1:27

to have discovered about two weeks ago, 10 days

1:29

ago that the NBA season had started and he should

1:32

begin asserting himself

1:34

as the offensive superstar that he

1:36

is

1:37

the heat man. The heat one

1:39

in four sputtering around Tyler

1:42

Hero gets hurt and they start winning again.

1:44

I don't want to be the one to say it. I don't really

1:46

think there's that much connection there, but Tyler

1:49

Hero just has to be like, man, can I

1:51

just be on the court for some, some W's

1:54

the heat, just heat around eight and four.

1:57

What should we make of this strange team that

1:59

I don't even know what? to make of the last four years of, frankly,

2:01

Nikias? It's a good

2:04

basketball team. Like, it felt like a

2:06

hot take to say heading into the year. Like, this roster

2:09

feels a little bit better. Granted, they did

2:11

not make the big swing that they wanted to. They

2:13

could have had Brad LaVille, I believe. They did not want

2:15

to go down that route because of no trade clause

2:17

and what have you. The Damian Lillard stuff

2:20

has been hashed, rehashed, triple

2:22

hashed. I don't need to get into all of that. Obviously, Damian

2:24

Lillard is not a Miami Heat. But the Addison

2:26

solid depth pieces, you still have

2:28

the core of Jimmy Butler, as you

2:30

said, who's been excellent. Tyler Herro is still

2:33

very good, and he looked better before he got hurt.

2:35

Very good. Yeah. Yeah. You have these role players

2:37

that are now entering like year two or year three

2:40

of the build. We just saw what Kaleb Martin did against Boston

2:42

last year. Stinks that he's just made a

2:44

season debut. But as you mentioned, he's a big part of

2:46

what they do on both ends of the floor. Heywood Highsmith

2:48

getting a more consistent role.

2:50

Can I drop a name very quickly? Because

2:53

I was looking at some Heywood Highsmith stuff. There's seven

2:55

and one in the games that he's played this year. Whoa. He didn't start

2:57

the year. Do you remember the 30

2:59

and 11 run from Miami in 16-17? Do

3:01

you remember when they picked up Okoro White? That

3:04

is 30 and 11. Is that when

3:06

they started 11 and 30 and finished 30 and 11, the

3:09

bizarre, that bizarre season where

3:11

they thought they might have to tank and then didn't?

3:14

Yes.

3:15

Yes. That was the year. They picked up Okoro White

3:17

midway through January. They won the first 12 games

3:19

with him. I think they won like 26 and 9 in the games he

3:22

played in the second half of the year. So that was random. I was like, oh, we

3:24

got the Heywood Highsmith. He's just picking up that vibe

3:26

once again. He's been fine. He's

3:29

been solid defensively. The three-point shooting

3:31

looked like it was super real. That is tailed off. But

3:33

I think it's going to settle in there, some being a fine-ketchup

3:35

shoot guy. And ultimately, what matters for him is that

3:37

he's just taking the shots in rhythm and that

3:39

he's helping keep Miami's offense flowing. But this

3:41

is just a good team that knows who they are. They

3:43

have been subtle tweaks. They've had to adjust without Tyler

3:46

Herro. The resurgence of Duncan Robinson has

3:48

been very fun to watch.

3:51

He's driving all over the place, easily

3:53

the most drives for games he's averaged in his career.

3:55

Deficitly has been fun. He still has the mind bail with

3:57

Bam Adebayo before Thomas

3:59

Bryant was kind of excised on the rotation like he had

4:02

some chemistry with him with that second unit.

4:04

So that's been fun

4:06

and defensively They

4:08

continue to be very good But we don't

4:10

they're not switching as aggressively as they were a lot

4:12

of that is due to the injuries that they've had to Deal with early

4:14

in the year BAM out of bio dropping

4:16

on picking roles at the highest rate that he ever has and

4:19

he's been really darn good at it Watching

4:21

them last night specifically with Martin back

4:24

and and with the ability to play Josh

4:26

Richardson who's been decent off the bench for them

4:29

And two of the Martin Highsmith

4:32

Hi, Mayhock his junior trio with

4:35

BAM that that was a print That's

4:37

a pretty switchy group and I do wonder is they

4:39

get more of these kind of tweener forwards back with

4:41

Caleb if we'll see a little more switching but BAM

4:44

is just We had a

4:46

segment on the show the other day and the question tee up

4:48

for me was does BAM get enough credit

4:51

and my answer Was BAM never gets enough credit all we

4:53

do on this show is talk about why doesn't BAM

4:55

score 28 a game? Where is BAM's offense

4:57

BAM's just like 23 10 and 4 and first

4:59

team all defense level play every game every

5:02

you never BAM Never has an off-night effort

5:04

wise the motors always run in like some nights

5:06

will score 18 sometimes those nights will score 27 Whatever

5:09

the guy just brings it every single night

5:12

and all the plays that like

5:14

they never give up on an opponent fast break

5:17

They never like 20 seconds into

5:19

the shot clock play in defense. There's never like

5:21

a waning of effort or focus

5:24

They just ever it's just irritating

5:26

how heat they are Yeah,

5:28

I think honestly this streak kind of have to start with

5:30

BAM This is the best version of him we've ever

5:32

seen as I mentioned He's dropping more defensively

5:35

and pick and roll and he's been elated that when he

5:37

does switch You're not scoring against him on

5:39

switches Cooper Moore had has been tweeting out stats

5:41

the last few years about how Impenetrable

5:44

BAM is when you try to attack him in space

5:46

But kale bridges tried to do it last night in the second

5:49

half and just like kind of just dribbled all

5:51

like every inch of the Court just he was just searching

5:54

around for like it. What if I go here? Maybe I'll

5:56

think is I go over here and then BAM was just like you're

5:58

not going you're not even getting into the paint

6:00

guy just passed the ball and even

6:03

it was one of those defensive stops this is one of my

6:05

favorite moments in an NBA game you know

6:07

because you go to there's 17,000 people at the

6:09

game whatever like half of them are really kind of

6:11

watching the game and half of those are really

6:13

really watching the game but like two or three

6:15

times the game there'll be a defensive sequence where

6:18

the whole that lasts long enough where the whole

6:20

crowd is like oh this is kind of fun

6:22

and then there's like polite like golf applause

6:25

at the end when the Kel bridges that was last

6:27

night yeah like I don't teams

6:30

have just not learned the hashtag lesson

6:32

I guess what they're about about yet so that's been fun but

6:35

the defense remains elite and offensively this

6:37

is the most aggressive but more importantly this is

6:39

the most decisive that BAM has been because

6:42

I do think the points have definitely

6:44

popped him getting to the free throw line at

6:46

the rate that he is seven a game I

6:48

think right yeah over seven the game

6:51

flirting with eight around this uh around

6:53

the winning streak and that was something that popped very

6:55

early on in BAM out of biosphere when he was Hassan

6:57

white sides backup one of the early stats I look really

7:00

wait a minute his foul draw his shooting foul

7:02

rate is pretty high for a backup big

7:04

this is interesting so it's been fun to watch

7:06

him as he's tried to expand the game really

7:08

developed the mid-range jumper he seems to be

7:10

finding more of that balance between I have space

7:13

I'm gonna take this mid-range jumper in rhythm and I

7:15

have space I'm gonna chew it up with a hard drive and

7:17

ultimately I am either going to be faster

7:19

than you or if you're stashing a wing on me for some

7:22

reason I'm gonna be bigger than you and so I'm gonna

7:24

be able to get to my spots more comfortably and

7:26

watching him toggle that kind of decision-making

7:28

with if you're playing that far off

7:30

and you're not paying attention to these shooters I will just flow right into

7:33

a handoff and now we can just turn this into a two-man

7:35

action if your help isn't peeled in now I'm diving

7:37

to the basket and once again I'm either bigger

7:39

than you or faster than you or both and

7:42

he's getting to the line as well it's been a really

7:44

fun BAM out of bio season and I

7:46

said this on the dunkers but not too long

7:48

ago if we weren't living in the world

7:50

with like Luca and his numbers and Yoko

7:52

in his numbers and what Jason Taylor is doing like there

7:55

would probably be more like fringe MVP

7:57

buzz for BAM or at the very least there should

7:59

be Because he's been that impactful on both

8:02

ends of the ball.

8:03

Wow,

8:04

did not expect a BAM MVP fringe

8:07

in the conversation. In the conversation.

8:12

Interesting, yeah, no, he's been, I look, I am

8:14

a BAM true believer. The guy is unbelievable.

8:17

One of the best defensive players in the world period

8:20

and offensively just kind of does what he does.

8:23

And the thing to me that's important and you saw it even

8:25

last night in his first About

8:27

having Martin is just another active

8:30

guy away from the ball, extra

8:32

passes, just kind of bobbing and weaving.

8:35

The heat when the heat stagnate, it's

8:37

because they just don't have enough of that going on

8:39

around BAM and Jimmy. Like last

8:42

night there was a sequence where Duncan and BAM

8:44

ran a pick and roll on the left side of the floor left

8:46

wing. And Duncan, as you said, it's just all of a sudden

8:48

drive and drive. It really started in last year's playoffs

8:51

when his two point rate. Increase

8:53

from like basically nothing to almost

8:55

a third of his shots and that's continued into this season.

8:58

So they run a pick and roll on the left wing and

9:01

Jaime Hakkes Jr is in the left corner near

9:03

them. And he kind of just like sneaks

9:05

like a cat burglar along the baseline

9:07

when this guy's not watching and

9:09

Duncan threads a little bounce pass to him. Caleb

9:12

Martin's in the right corner all the way across the floor.

9:15

Jaime Hakkes drives, draws a defense,

9:17

kicks it to Caleb Martin. He drives from

9:20

right into the middle of the paint. The ball gets all

9:22

the way back to Duncan Robinson who started the whole

9:24

thing for a three and he makes it. And

9:27

just like the sort of sneaky

9:29

activity of Hakkes and Martin together,

9:32

just like making something out

9:34

of nothing by moving around and making

9:36

smart plays, I just like slammed my papers

9:38

down and like the heater back. You're squeezing,

9:41

making lemonade from like no spacing,

9:44

not a lot going on. And like all of a sudden

9:46

wide open three for Duncan Robinson. This is what the

9:48

heat do. I agree with you. I think this

9:50

is a good team. Like

9:52

people thought it was bluster when they didn't get

9:55

Dame and you would get these sort of anonymous

9:57

reports like, oh, the heat are like pretty confident

9:59

in there. team like they're not sitting there crying into

10:02

their you know breakfast coffee

10:04

or whatever and like I think they were definitely disappointed

10:07

they wanted Damien Lillard but they also

10:09

thought that this was a good team like they thought

10:11

that they had a solid team and

10:13

look I don't know where they're going I've given

10:15

up on trying to figure out how the Heat do this every

10:18

April May and into June like I don't really

10:20

understand it I don't think they're in

10:22

terms of top-end talent I don't even think

10:25

they're like in the stratosphere of Boston

10:27

right now I'm not sure you know

10:29

Milwaukee even has to prove that they're in that stratosphere

10:32

but I just know this team they

10:35

get every benefit of the doubt from me like

10:37

I'm just gonna assume there we

10:39

get to the end of the year they're in the top six they probably

10:42

have a home court in the first round somehow and

10:44

they're just a gigantic pain in the ass to

10:46

play against every single night they

10:49

just don't stop they just don't quit and

10:52

honestly selfishly I hope they break

10:54

out the court during the playoffs whether to

10:56

get home court or not just to annoy people because

10:58

that's been the funniest part of this whole ordeal like

11:00

it's very heat in which this is what we do

11:03

having the Bradley quote on the court and people just hated

11:06

it it serves like a za rally and cry for dead

11:08

group like oh y'all hating on us again that's fine we

11:11

never I could I can tell you this

11:13

is exactly what they knew was

11:15

going to happen when they had these jerseys

11:18

and this court because I talked

11:20

to people about it I saw them early and I

11:23

was like oh god they really did it didn't

11:25

say really guys like

11:27

we're gonna do this and then

11:30

it came back to me like the

11:32

heat of all teams in the league are gonna

11:34

be actually excited if everybody

11:37

hates this because they will just serve they're like

11:39

it's us against everybody nobody understands

11:41

us we don't care we're gonna be the heat this

11:44

team you know

11:48

they're what they're doing their thing they don't turn the ball

11:50

over and they force the crap ton of turnover so they're

11:52

winning the possession game the rebound he's not very good

11:54

a Jimmy Butler after a slow start

11:56

looks like Jimmy Butler again I think

12:00

Again, I said this the other day, I think they'll have a

12:02

couple internal conversations at the very least

12:04

about Zach Levine and whether to kick

12:06

the tires there. I don't think they

12:08

would put Tyler Hero in that deal

12:11

because I don't what do you think would you do that? Like

12:13

if it were just like Tyler Hero in one asset

12:15

for Zach Levine, is that worth it to you? Uh...

12:20

I probably lean yes.

12:23

If it's just one asset, I probably lean yes

12:26

just because... And I'm not saying the Bulls accept

12:28

just that, but I'm saying if the

12:30

Heat are even entertaining it, I think their base

12:32

view is gonna be, there's not that much

12:34

difference between the two players really. We

12:37

know one really well because he's been with our team the

12:40

whole time. And he makes $15

12:42

million a year less or whatever it is. So

12:45

I think I would probably lean yes just

12:48

within the lens of trying to maximize

12:50

the Jimmy Butler window. And ultimately, what

12:53

we've seen in the postseason from them when they've

12:55

fallen short is that they don't have another

12:57

guy that can consistently draw to. And

13:00

even beyond that, they don't really have another rim

13:02

pressure guy. Like even during this run right now,

13:04

Miami's 8-4, you mentioned the offense

13:06

and the offense has been better during the win streak,

13:09

they're 27th in memory. Yeah, they

13:11

don't get to the rim. That's for the season. They're just a soup

13:14

even by like, and they're not getting a lot of threes

13:16

yet either. They're a really mid-range heavy

13:18

team more than they want to be. Yeah, so

13:21

like I think even within that, I

13:23

agree with you that I don't think there's a much...

13:25

If we're using like the 2K scale, like Zach

13:28

Levine might be an 85 and Tyler Heroes an 83. Like

13:30

I don't think there's a huge gap between the two. But

13:32

in terms of what they need in the postseason,

13:35

even with this slow starting version of Zach Levine

13:37

this year, there is such a difference in

13:39

ease in getting to the rim and getting to the line between

13:42

Zach Levine and Tyler Hero. And if you are trying

13:44

to maximize the Jimmy Butler window and

13:46

quietly Jimmy hasn't looked... He's gotten

13:48

to the line, but in terms of his drive, he's not

13:50

creating the same level of separation versus in the same.

13:53

I've been trying to parse through how much of that is regular

13:55

season chilling for Jimmy because that's what he does. Versus,

13:58

and I've had a similar thought with Kawhi. Leonard

14:00

as well. The level of ease

14:02

isn't necessarily there. He can turn it up but like what

14:04

does it look like when he does turn it up? That kind of thing.

14:06

But there's just this gap between Levine and Hero

14:09

in terms of rim pressure that might just be

14:11

worth it for Miami. Yeah and I talked about

14:13

this the other day with Kevin Pelton. You know

14:15

it's a tricky fit

14:18

to find the right ecosystem for Zach Levine.

14:20

I said he needs to be the third option

14:23

to minimize the amount of decisions he has to make on

14:25

offense and you need to

14:27

buttress him with great defenders all over

14:29

the floor. The Heat have

14:32

the template for it. I just you

14:34

know it's well it's early. It's early

14:36

it's not even December 15th when these guys the free

14:38

agents get betrayed. The Heat just heating around.

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16:01

My Atlanta Hawks,

16:03

caw!

16:06

6-5, I don't

16:08

think the Hawks have been more than like two games above 500 in

16:11

eight years. They just are always

16:13

right around 500. 6th in offense

16:15

despite a very chilly start from

16:18

IceTrey and 22nd in defense. Been

16:21

in a lot of close games. The

16:24

starting five is kind of a

16:27

net zero for the season, which is disappointing

16:29

considering how good Jaelen Johnson has been as part

16:31

of that starting five and how good Dejante

16:33

Murray has been. They're killing the minutes when

16:36

Dejante Murray plays without Trey, so he's

16:38

been carrying his part.

16:40

I am

16:43

just all over the place

16:46

about this team. I was high on him before

16:48

the season, high being like, you

16:50

know, I've said many times, I made a dumb

16:52

bet with Tim Bontemps that they'd be top five in the East.

16:55

High like four, five, six. Not high

16:57

like, ooh, high, they're going to do something. And

17:00

there are nights when you watch him like, yeah, this

17:02

is what I thought, this is a good coherent

17:04

team. And then there are

17:06

just nights when I come away like, this is just

17:09

an unserious team. It's just not a serious team.

17:13

They just do the same stuff every game. Every game

17:15

is close. It doesn't matter if they play

17:17

like the Denver Nuggets or the Washington

17:19

Generals. Like every game is going to come down to the wire

17:22

and they're going to do a lot of just like loose, loosey-goosey

17:24

stuff. Then

17:26

it's like, they're sixth in offense despite

17:29

the fact that Trey has been not very good and

17:31

not making shots. He's in the 30s

17:33

overall and 28% from three. Like

17:37

if they're a top five offense once

17:39

he gets going and

17:41

their defense can stabilize around 18th, 19th,

17:43

whatever, like I don't really get

17:46

why it's so bad other than that Trey is Trey. Like

17:49

they have interesting personnel, you

17:51

know, but I just feel like we're

17:53

going to do all this. I'm going to do all this thinking about the Hawks. I'm going to

17:55

wake up in the season. They're going to be 43 and 39 or 39 and 43 or something in between.

18:00

Is there do I have any hope here of

18:02

this being a 47 win team? I

18:06

think the hope would lie in Trey young

18:08

knocking down shots again And

18:10

I'll be nice. Yeah, like I don't think that's

18:12

an unfair bet Like I think

18:14

it's worth noting some of the margin stuff with

18:16

Atlanta's offense Like obviously you have those ball

18:18

handlers with Trey young and the John T. Murray

18:21

Trey is technically doing a little bit more thing

18:23

more stuff off the ball. I was looking at

18:25

second spectrum earlier today Taking

18:28

about two more off-ball screens for 100 positions

18:30

than he was last year So that means so

18:33

from zero to two is that what is the number

18:35

is that where the number has gone? Six

18:38

day will give Trey a little bit of credit But even with

18:40

that like this then that's still not a lot That's

18:43

not close to like where Steph is or anything like that with

18:45

all those old comps But even with that, it feels

18:47

more natural It's

18:50

more awful movement leading into some of the on-ball

18:52

stuff It feels like in years prior and even

18:54

early in the quints night extent last year Which

18:56

trying to install your offense halfway through the year.

18:58

This is an ideal it felt less like

19:01

oh cool We have an ATO. Let's run this tray

19:03

thing and More this

19:05

is some of our natural flow and if it doesn't work now you're

19:07

stationed one pass away So at least that's

19:09

the ultimate test of all this stuff that nerds

19:12

like us want to see in these offenses is Does

19:14

it sustain after the first possession

19:17

after a timeout because first possession after a

19:19

timeout? Anybody can do some sexy

19:21

stuff on offense and then after that it's

19:23

like, alright, let's do our stuff So it does

19:25

feel at least a little bit natural there So you can kind

19:28

of bank on Trey eventually making shots

19:30

I think like 24 25 percent on pull up threes

19:33

even with the depth that he takes some of those

19:35

like he's not gonna shoot That all year so

19:37

the offense should perk up my eyes

19:39

do go to the defense though Because

19:41

they've been more aggressive defensively

19:44

and I will come in Trey a little bit It does feel like the

19:46

effort is generally better for him now agreed.

19:48

Where does that take him? I don't know because

19:50

the size limitations are the size limitations But

19:53

like I I the defense in the aggression

19:55

and I also look at what teams are doing against those

19:57

1-4 picking rolls Even the 1-5

19:59

picking rolls Because I think if

20:02

you're trying to get Trey in action, you're

20:04

likely trying to get like Sadiq Bay or Jalen

20:06

Johnson in action as well. And those guys

20:08

are basically trapping everything. Or Trey's

20:11

doing like the show and recover stuff. If

20:13

a star is trying to mismatch on him. And how they navigate

20:15

that, I feel like has been a big part of

20:17

why their defense is what it is. And even

20:20

with their targeting Clint, as he's like

20:22

typically in a deeper drop, this year they've had him closer

20:24

up to the level. And sometimes he's trapping depending on who they're

20:26

playing. And now those aggressive,

20:28

aggressive games are like, whoa, the Hawks are

20:30

like throwing the kitchen sink at these ball handlers

20:32

and rotating behind it and really counting

20:35

on scramble mode in a way that they haven't

20:37

before. Yeah. And so I think a lot

20:39

of that responsibility on the back end is coming to

20:42

Jalen Johnson. It's coming to Sadiq Bay

20:44

when he's in at the four. Or

20:47

even DeAndre Hunter when they size down, they play him

20:49

at the four sometimes. And like those

20:51

guys have been so hit or miss with

20:54

those back line rotations. Sometimes they're

20:56

in on time. Sometimes they're in too early. It's

20:58

an early spray to the corner. And looking at

21:00

the corner rate, I mean the rate of threes that Atlanta's

21:02

allowed from the corner, like that isn't great.

21:06

I feel like as they get more reps with

21:08

that or if there's a decision in like

21:10

December, OK, let's just dial this down. Let's

21:12

just get Clint back in a drop. Let's

21:15

just go. Let's play it two on two or we'll just make sure our help

21:17

is peeled in behind that. Similar to like when

21:19

Yoko is in a drop in Denver. Let's just get the help

21:21

in. It's a great call. It's a great call that they could

21:23

dial it back mid-season. If they dial

21:25

it back, like maybe that's their pathway to getting

21:27

to like 17-13. Because again, to your point,

21:30

the fact that they're sixth in trade has the usage

21:32

that he has and hasn't shot well at all.

21:36

But that's a positive sign for me. Obviously,

21:38

you don't want to see Trey missing shots. If

21:40

it's this, if it's sixth,

21:42

who's this? Once Trey gets three

21:45

ball going or even if he just gets the floater back to

21:47

where it was last year. That's been the weird

21:49

thing. It's not just the shots

21:52

not falling from three. It's

21:54

gotten better the last four or five games. The

21:56

first like half dozen games, he

21:59

just looked out. Like he had kind of forgotten

22:01

the timing on his floater. Like he'd, he'd,

22:04

he'd last second go floater to

22:06

lob, but not with the clarity that

22:09

he had before he'd shoot it on the way

22:11

down, just like something with the circuitry

22:13

was just off for the first four or five games

22:15

on his, his sort of navigation

22:18

of all that. My other reason for tepid optimism

22:21

is like, if you look at their lineup data, basically

22:24

all their core groups are pretty good. Like their bench

22:26

is pretty good. They bring strong players off

22:28

the bench. Like there's not a, there's not a grouping

22:30

that is just torpedoing their team. Everybody is

22:33

kind of slightly positive. That always is a good,

22:35

a good sign. The other interesting thing, Quinn

22:37

Snyder and his first year, you mentioned team

22:40

is above average in three point rate,

22:43

above average and getting to the rim. And the

22:45

team that was a total old school mid range

22:47

machine is now 20th in mid

22:49

range frequency. Like he is gradually

22:51

remade that offense. And

22:53

like you said, you'll occasionally even see a Dejante

22:55

Trey two man game. Just like, I love

22:57

that. I like when Stephen Clay have busted

23:00

that out in the past. So

23:02

I don't know. We'll see. It just feels some

23:04

games. It just feels unserious, but I

23:07

hope it gets serious. Any other Hawks

23:09

thoughts? Any, any parting Hawks thoughts? Uh,

23:12

parting Hawks thoughts really just continue to

23:14

track what Anieka Kong who does and

23:16

how they ramp up the usage and or minutes for him.

23:19

And you mentioned Jaylen Johnson at the top. I'm just glad that

23:21

dude's getting consistent playing time. It's been fun watching

23:23

him snatch that starting four position.

23:26

It's just been a lot of fun. He's not giving

23:28

it back. Okay. The New York Knicks, the

23:30

fight in tibetos six and five,

23:33

14th in offense. And it's, it's creeping

23:36

up after a cold star where Julius Randall missed every

23:38

single shot fourth

23:40

in defense plus four and a half

23:42

per 100 possessions, that seventh in

23:45

the league. They are first

23:47

in offensive rebounding and first

23:49

in defensive rebounding is they are creeping

23:52

back toward the model where

23:54

they still can't shoot. They are shooting. This

23:56

is not a, this is not a typo. They're

23:58

shooting 54. at the rim.

24:01

At the rim,

24:02

that's last in the league. That's last

24:04

in the league. Second to last

24:07

is 60%. So there is a

24:10

six percentage point drop between

24:12

the second towards team and the Knicks, but

24:15

this is their formula. We can't shoot and we're still

24:17

pretty good at offense. Don't ask us how, but it works.

24:20

The biggest difference so far, and you

24:23

know my general take on

24:25

the Knicks is despite the

24:27

middling record and the

24:29

wildly up-and-down play of Julius

24:31

Randall, I still kind of like what

24:34

I see. They passed the eye test to me. I don't

24:37

feel that they've missed Obie Toppins size

24:39

off the bench. They're playing smaller with Hart at the four

24:42

in those minutes. That's been fine to me as evidenced

24:44

by the rebounding. Being

24:46

fine, I mean Mitchell Robinson gets every goddamn offensive

24:49

rebound. The biggest difference other than

24:51

that is like the starting lineup,

24:53

which has been their weak spot for so long, is

24:56

actually kind of humming. It's plus 46

24:58

in 118 minutes. Good on both ends of the

25:00

floor. Part of the reason for that

25:02

is RJ Barrett, he's been

25:05

out the last few games, has played

25:07

really really well and has made jump shots. If

25:10

that sustains and his making

25:12

jump shots and all the rebounding has made up

25:14

for the fact that Brunson and Randall are both

25:16

shooting 40% on twos. I've

25:20

always been bullish on RJ Barrett. I get

25:22

that he's kind of a jack-of-all-trades master

25:24

of none and like not even that good at some

25:26

historically. I just like

25:28

the jack-of-all-trades step. I think he's pretty good.

25:30

I don't know. I know that they've

25:33

been up and down. I've liked, I

25:35

just overall zooming out once

25:38

Randall normalized from like oh my

25:40

god what's happening to okay he's

25:43

like looks kind of normal and burly and

25:45

he's doing stuff a little bit faster. They

25:48

passed the eye test for me. I think they're gonna be fine. Yeah

25:52

it helps when Julius Randall isn't being

25:54

compared to names in like the 50s with

25:56

slow starts in terms of shots made. games

26:00

whatever the stat was but no like I'm kind of

26:02

with you like I tweeted earlier this

26:04

week like I want to do a genuine deep dive on

26:06

the Knicks and really see what's going on because

26:08

I've been catching them like

26:11

catching like quarter and quarters catching random halves

26:13

finishes the games and stuff like that I've

26:15

liked a lot of the process and like even with

26:17

Julius Randall this is something that my guy Steve has pointed

26:20

out even though he hasn't been making shots to start the

26:22

year like it feels like the passing has been really

26:24

good and New York is still

26:26

trying to figure out different ways to get him touches

26:28

versus let's clear the left side of the floor and let him bully

26:31

someone which he can still do that what is the

26:33

shot thing is to to your point and I forgot

26:36

to note this in my notes the

26:38

last few games without Barrett there

26:40

have been a lot of Randall Robinson

26:44

pick and rolls with Randall as the ball

26:46

handler which has been very very interesting that they've

26:49

redistributed some possessions that I wonder if that

26:51

will continue when Barrett comes back but that's been

26:53

very noticeable it

26:55

when something like that happens it's obviously intentional

26:57

on the part of the coaches to either get him

27:00

going introduce a little more spread

27:02

brick and roll flow that's been a little

27:05

I had that just a little you know I'm

27:07

flagging that it's interesting yeah I think

27:10

uh if I remember the second section second

27:12

spectrum stat correctly I think Julius Randall's running like

27:15

six pick and rolls per 100 positions last year it adds

27:17

up to 11 so far oh you got

27:19

the numbers I like it so like he's nearly

27:22

doubled the volume to your point them having

27:24

RJ out that just shifts more than the on-ball users to

27:26

him and even trying to sort through like Jaylen

27:29

Brunson's weird start and I

27:31

say weird because the three-point shooting's been good he has been

27:33

able to knock down stuff inside the arc it's

27:36

felt like he's been more shot hungry

27:39

inside the arc versus probing a little

27:41

bit so that's been something that I've been trying to track some Nick

27:43

fans have pointed out as well so I was like okay let me

27:45

key in on this too and see how much of that

27:48

holds um also on

27:50

the Brunson front really fun defensive

27:52

season for him and so I kind of

27:54

wonder how much of the slow start on some of

27:56

those pull-up jumpers is just he's using more legs

27:58

navigating screens when he's in showing recovery,

28:01

exerting more energy, getting back to his guy. Like

28:03

he's just been really solid on that end. I think that's

28:05

been a quiet part of why New York defense has been

28:07

good. Aside from Mr. Robinson

28:09

just putting together an all defense campaign. This

28:12

is, I'm glad you mentioned him. The

28:14

level of mobility is

28:17

just new for him. Like even, I

28:19

know Boston beat them the other night and ended up

28:22

kind of running away in that game. Even

28:24

like chasing around Porzingis on the

28:26

perimeter when he had that assignment and getting back

28:28

into the paint, I don't know if he's

28:30

just in better shape, if he's healthier, if he lost a

28:32

little weight, whatever. I mean, I don't think he lost a little weight because

28:35

he's getting every rebound. He's just faster

28:38

and more in tune to, like he

28:40

is, he's everywhere and you

28:43

just set all defense. Like it's hard for center. I think

28:45

we're still using positions for all defense. I've lost track

28:47

of all the changes. We have courts and

28:49

in season tournaments and group B and C and

28:52

now the L, all NBA's positionless. I don't even

28:54

know what the hell all defense is anymore. It's

28:56

tough when there's only two center spots. And

29:00

we've already mentioned like BAM and Go Bears having

29:02

a bounce back year, but he's up there,

29:04

man. He's been fantastic. He

29:06

has been, I feel like as someone again

29:08

that doesn't have a vote, I feel like it's positionless

29:11

now. So that's going to be interesting

29:13

to track. But I think he's just, even

29:15

if he doesn't make a team, he's certainly been at that level.

29:18

Like as you mentioned, the increased mobility, they

29:20

have him up to touch, they drop back. He can just wall off

29:22

so much of the rim. And a quiet

29:25

thing, but a very important thing, when a shot is

29:27

missed, he is inhaling it. You are not

29:29

getting offensive rebounds and extra chances against

29:31

the Knicks when Mitchell Robinson is on the floor. And so

29:33

even on these nights, and that's been a lot of them so

29:36

far this year, where the Knicks can't knock down shots,

29:38

they can trust. Okay, we make sure you poorly.

29:40

We're going to get eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 more shot

29:42

attempts than you just because of what Mitchell Robinson

29:45

is doing in this minute. But he's been, has

29:48

he been their third best player this year? Second

29:51

best player? I don't even know. How would you go?

29:53

I don't even know how to navigate Randall, who is still shooting 36%

29:55

and 28% from three. I

30:00

mean if you if you wanted to tell me right now that

30:03

through 11 games Mitchell Robinson has been the most valuable

30:05

player on the Knicks I wouldn't even I would be like I don't

30:07

know their start has been so weird fine like he said because

30:09

they're winning on rebounds They're

30:12

winning on free throws like they don't foul

30:14

and they're starting to win on turnovers, too And he's

30:16

a he's a big part my favorite thing about

30:18

the Knicks is like this

30:21

Identity a team identity

30:23

is just you know it when you see it kind of

30:25

thing like you know it when a team knows What

30:28

it is is comfortable in its own skin and

30:30

embraces what it is and

30:32

that's the Knicks just know We

30:35

love to beat it out of you. That's our identity

30:37

like we're not pretty It's

30:40

not going to be the most pleasing variety of basketball,

30:42

but at the end of this game You're gonna

30:44

be tired and bruised and

30:46

you're gonna have to box us out every goddamn

30:49

time and Julius Randall is gonna bulldoze into

30:51

You every single possession Josh

30:53

Hart's gonna be flying down the rim and if you

30:55

get in his way on a fast break He's

30:58

going knees up at the rim,

31:00

and he's gonna knock your ass over and lay the ball

31:02

in Dante's even Chenzo is gonna fly

31:04

all over the floor They just they

31:07

like the fact that you feel them

31:09

they like the fact that some teams and I

31:12

think they felt this against Cleveland in the playoffs

31:14

last year by the middle of that series Like

31:17

they don't want any part of this like like

31:19

we're not the most skilled team none of

31:21

this erases like They still need

31:24

a better number one guy than jail and Brunson. They

31:26

still have all the draft picks They still all this stuff

31:28

like all of that is still true They

31:30

just know exactly who they are and they like to

31:32

inflict pain on you and if you don't want any part of

31:35

it You're going to lose And

31:37

that's what I was gonna say That's what enamors me so much

31:39

about this new group I think they

31:41

have this physicality that just bothers

31:43

people and their role players both embody

31:45

that physicality and randomness But also

31:47

they're so good at filling gaps It

31:50

makes me it makes the start hurt a

31:52

little bit more just because Jalen hasn't

31:54

been himself Julie's hasn't been himself, but

31:56

they have a roster full of guys

31:58

that if we have a number one that draws

32:01

to, we know exactly what we need to do. Like

32:04

Josh Hart, really good cutter, really good offensive

32:06

rebounder. He is a very willing screener if you want to

32:08

invert things. So like if the Knicks had a true star wing,

32:10

they can do that. That's what's been fun about the RJ

32:13

Barrett start, the shot making, but also how

32:15

decisive he's been. If

32:17

you have a guy that's drawing double teams, he's somewhat against

32:19

the ball on the right wing, drive to his left and get downhill

32:22

very quickly. And so as the stars

32:24

perk up, I'm really curious to see where their

32:26

ceiling ends up being. Because they

32:28

just have a really solid roster. They

32:30

have a physical team that outside

32:33

of, really outside

32:35

of Miami, like who in the East is more physical than New

32:37

York? Like I don't know if there's a team. And even with Miami,

32:39

that physicality is more so mentality

32:41

than anything because there's still a smaller group comparatively.

32:45

That playoff series last year, look,

32:49

I'm of the age where I have all

32:51

the nostalgia baked in for Heatniks'

32:54

90s rivalry. That was

32:56

just, it was just too much. It was too much

32:58

physicality. Like I was ready for that

33:00

series to be over by the end of it. It

33:02

was just ugly brutality.

33:05

I think the Knicks are going to be a top 16 easy. Where

33:08

they fall will see, not easy, but where they

33:10

fall will see, do

33:12

they win a round again will depend on the matchups

33:14

and the seedings. And obviously big picture is

33:16

what it is, but they're just a good solid team. I

33:19

don't like, people have floated Levine for

33:22

them.

33:24

I, you know, it's just, I said this the other

33:26

day, I want to belabor it. Just like all of these guards

33:28

who come up who are minuses

33:31

on defense. And I think is as hard as Zach Levine

33:33

has worked to be a better on ball defender. We can all

33:35

agree he's a minus on defense. If

33:37

you already have a guard and despite what you said

33:39

about Jalen Brunson's defense and

33:41

he's stout, he's a fire hydrant, he's, you

33:44

know, undersized and whatever. You're

33:46

just kind of handcuffing yourselves a little

33:48

bit if you, if you really outlay

33:51

a lot of assets to build a team with

33:54

minus defenders at the one and the two. It's just not

33:56

a really good viable playoff.

33:58

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35:33

Let's

35:35

move to the team that

35:36

New York humiliated in the first round of

35:38

the playoffs. Maybe the most confusing

35:41

team in the NBA so far only because their main

35:44

four players have barely played together 69 minutes

35:47

total. The Cleveland Cavaliers 5-6, 19th

35:49

in offense, 12th in defense. Mobley,

35:53

Garland, Mitchell, Allen have only played 69 minutes

35:56

together the whole season.

35:59

really know what to make of them. I mean, they're plus 26

36:02

in the Mitchell

36:04

Garland minutes. Mitchell has been

36:06

outstanding if a little, little,

36:10

little shooty, a lot of shooting,

36:12

a lot of Donovan Mitchell dribbling and shooting going on, but

36:14

that's been necessary and given that Garland has

36:16

missed games and everyone has

36:18

missed games. The

36:20

biggest reasons for optimism to me, and look,

36:23

the Mobley Allen thing I'm going to be interested in your take

36:25

on where they are progressing offensively.

36:27

The biggest reason for optimism

36:29

other than their track record last year and that these

36:31

guys are all good.

36:33

I think Lavert and Shrews have

36:35

been

36:36

absolutely nailing everything the Cavs

36:38

need from them on both ends of the floor. Shrews

36:41

driving more, shooting tons of threes,

36:43

defending hard, and Lavert all around

36:46

has been, I know he's only shooting 33% on threes,

36:48

but he's been really good all around averaging 19 a game,

36:51

six man of the year candidate, too early to talk about

36:53

that. Those two guys are

36:55

nailing it. I

36:57

guess I'm just in the mode of I haven't really

36:59

read a lot into their performance so far given

37:02

how few minutes we've seen, but what I really

37:04

am interested for you is A, big picture and B,

37:07

the Mobley Allen minutes offensively,

37:10

which undid them a little bit in the playoffs last

37:13

year. Where are you on that?

37:16

I think I'm mostly with you with the big picture.

37:19

I don't take too much away from Cleveland's

37:21

start and even to the Donovan Mitchell

37:23

shooty portion, I've also felt that, but

37:26

it feels like they're very much in a recalibration

37:28

period with Garland back in. It's like, okay, let's figure

37:31

out who's kicking off these

37:33

sets, who's playing second side,

37:36

who's leading what unit and kind of flowing from there

37:38

because my skill set wise, I don't really have issue with

37:40

them. Both of them are comfortable with the ball in their hands, both uncomfortable

37:42

off the ball. They've been used in action, especially

37:45

since they won together. And so I'm

37:47

not super concerned about what that's going to look

37:49

like. I think it's just figuring out, all right, Donovan, you don't have to carry

37:51

as much. Let's figure out how to slowly

37:54

kind of dial this back so it

37:56

can be a better balance.

37:57

The front court is more interesting, which

38:00

to a similar point, there hasn't been a ton

38:02

of Jared Allen, especially the start of the year. So,

38:04

Evan Mowley had to play more five. And so, we

38:07

got an early look at what do some of these like Mobley

38:09

plus Niang at the four lineups look like? What

38:12

do the Mobley plus three guards and

38:14

someone else look like? And the results

38:16

were

38:17

okay.

38:19

And I don't know if okay is where Cleveland wants to

38:21

be, but it's also early in the year. Big

38:23

picture though, like somebody has

38:25

to become more comfortable in the intermediate area. And

38:28

I think that's kind of those two big,

38:30

yeah, of the two bigs. Because

38:32

I think it's a weird mix where like I feel

38:34

like Jared Allen is more decisive, but he doesn't have

38:37

the same passing chops or touch that Evan Mobley

38:39

does. And Evan Mobley has

38:41

that, but to start the year,

38:45

there were so many possessions where it felt like he

38:47

catches it on the short roll and then there's a pause. And

38:50

I'm just like, I don't want to see the pause from him. If

38:52

you get to, if Donovan Mitchell draws two to the ball

38:54

and gets it to you, take a dribble and fling it. If

38:57

that pass gets deflected or something, I can diagnose.

39:00

All right, that probably wasn't the best decision, but you're making the

39:02

decision fast. You're making the read, you're trusting

39:04

yourself. Or if you get down the short roll, you go

39:06

right into that push out that you got more comfortable with last year,

39:09

or takes a dribble and goes up into someone at the rim.

39:11

All right,

39:13

you made a quick decision. You diagnosed what was on

39:15

the floor. You did what you felt was best. And we can kind of go from

39:17

there. Seeing the pauses from Evan

39:19

Mobley, it's not necessarily a red flag

39:21

because he's so young. But it was

39:23

just like, I thought that after what

39:26

we saw post all-star break from him and

39:28

what that postseason series against the Knicks was,

39:30

that he would come out to a hotter start. And

39:32

like maybe some of that for me personally

39:35

was just seeing that compared to like the start that

39:37

Scotty Barnes got off to. Woo, we're going

39:39

to talk about him soon. Yeah. And just got

39:41

to say like, okay, it'll be cool if you were also

39:43

on this linear trajectory. But as we both know, like

39:46

growth isn't always linear. I think if

39:48

this is solved in March, we're not going to care

39:50

that it didn't look great in October and November. So I'm

39:52

still very much in wait and see mode. But like one of those

39:54

two has to pop from like 14th. Agreed.

39:57

It hasn't looked really any different to me.

40:00

this year overall. It's still a little bit clunky.

40:02

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I mean,

40:04

part of being a great player is you got to make it work

40:07

in tight spaces and make tough shots here and there

40:09

and make the right pass. And the spacing is never going

40:11

to be great with those two on the floor. And

40:14

in recent games, when now that they've had both

40:16

of them back, they're playing together

40:18

a little bit less than you then

40:21

they had in the past, like the first sub is coming

40:23

early. And there are sometimes entire halves

40:25

where they don't get back together until like the last few

40:27

minutes or the half.

40:30

Yeah, but mobily at the five thing,

40:33

everybody wants that to be the roadmap,

40:35

right? Like that's that's the sort of like, oh,

40:38

well, they've got to get to a place kind of what we

40:40

went through with Memphis, like we've got to get to a place where

40:42

Jarren Jackson Jr. is the five, you have four shooters

40:44

around him. And it turns out that's

40:46

like a little more complicated in reality

40:49

than it sounds when you're, you know, moving the chess

40:51

pieces around on paper, not

40:53

the chess is played on paper. That's a mixed metaphor. Anyway,

40:57

like every mobily at the five is you got to

40:59

have that tool in the toolbox. Absolutely. They're

41:02

a little undersized around him on

41:04

the wing for those lineups to really,

41:06

really work. I, they're

41:09

just going to have to make the two of them work together

41:11

at a more functional level because they're going

41:13

to need to play that minimum like 15

41:15

minutes a game, 18 minutes a game together

41:18

against the best teams in the playoffs. But

41:22

yeah, I'm not, I mean, it's just been, they

41:24

just haven't had the whole, the whole team

41:26

together. A couple of stats of monitoring, you know,

41:29

JB Bickerstaff talked a lot about we want to play faster

41:31

and we want to pass more.

41:33

They're, they are passing 30 times more

41:35

a game, which, you know, could mean nothing, could

41:37

mean something. And their pace is up.

41:40

They were last in pace last year, they're 19th

41:43

now. So it's up a little bit. I do

41:45

like,

41:46

and I've always liked

41:48

one way to solve this mobily

41:50

Allen thing is every

41:53

possession doesn't have to be a pick and roll where

41:55

we got two of them on the floor. You can let

41:57

them facilitate from the elbows

41:59

and have gone. to Mitchell run around and screening

42:01

actions and cutting actions and that works.

42:04

Like particularly Mobley is a good enough passer

42:06

to make that work. I would lean like 5%

42:09

more on my offense in that direction,

42:11

lift both the bigs, invert the

42:13

floor and let them initiate a little

42:15

bit more. But you know, again, I think this is still

42:17

a rock solid team and

42:20

I'm excited to see the real team. That's all. Yeah,

42:23

I'm right there with you. Like I just, I

42:25

just want them to get more time together. And

42:28

I would like to see whatever Mobley in particular, just

42:30

get more comfortable making decisions in the middle of the floor.

42:32

Because I think he has the processing speed for it. Like

42:34

I ultimately, if I end up being proven wrong,

42:36

I just take the L. But like ultimately, I think he's just going to get there. Like

42:39

I think he is that good. He projected to be that good. I've

42:41

been looking at it. It hasn't been, it just hasn't

42:43

been the quickest start for him. Well, and part of that is

42:45

like the more time that the bigs

42:48

get to play with the two all-star

42:50

guards around them and Mac shooting around them,

42:52

not Max, maximum shooting and also Max

42:54

True shooting. The more talent around them, the

42:57

more space there is, the more the floor is bent, the easier

42:59

those reads are for

43:02

them to make. So I'm hopeful. Let's transition

43:04

to probably the weirdest

43:06

team and weirdest franchise

43:08

in the league right now. The Toronto

43:10

Raptors, new coach, five

43:13

and six, 27th in offense, eighth

43:15

in defense.

43:21

I don't know. Half the team is free

43:24

agents. Like all the important players

43:26

other than Scotty Barnes and Yaka Purdle are free agents.

43:28

Gary Trent Jr. can be one. OGN and OB can be one. Pascal

43:31

Siakam can be one. Pascal Siakam

43:34

is adjusting to life

43:36

as a second option in a Scotty Barnes

43:38

world. That process is choppy

43:41

to say the least. They

43:45

played a very idiosyncratic

43:48

style on both ends of the floor under Nick

43:50

Nurse. And now they are evolving

43:53

away from that. Into a

43:55

more kind of traditional-ish NBA

43:58

style. They

44:00

are bottom ten in turnovers after

44:02

priding themselves on taking care of the ball above

44:05

all costs. And they

44:07

still can't make any jump shots. The

44:09

biggest reason they're 27th in offense is

44:12

they are 28th in three-point shooting

44:14

and 29th in mid-range shooting. They

44:18

are, however, in the Caius, plus 13

44:21

per 100 possessions with Barnes,

44:24

Siakam, and Anunobi on the floor.

44:27

It's only 147 minutes and Anunobi has

44:29

missed a few recent games. That's

44:31

something. What the hell is this

44:33

team? I don't understand. I still don't understand

44:36

this team. What the team is

44:38

is confusing. It's something

44:40

I've been in a headlock with all year long.

44:43

Or even dating back to some of the preseason stuff is, okay,

44:45

Darko is in. They're going to try

44:47

to shift this offense. They're going to try

44:49

to inject more movement, more passing.

44:52

They're going to spread the ball around a little bit more. They're going

44:54

to run different stuff. I want to see what it looks like. And

44:56

I have genuinely enjoyed a lot of the things

44:58

that Toronto is running. But then you remember very

45:00

quickly, oh, right, teams can probably

45:03

duck under or switch like 95% of the

45:05

stuff that they're trying to run. And so you

45:07

mentioned the offense being 28. Not only are

45:09

they the worst half-court offense in the NBA

45:11

right now, just looking to clean the glass, they

45:14

are nearly 12 points below league average in

45:16

half-court. The worst in Portland in half-court

45:18

offense? Yes. By

45:20

a full point. So like, it's, it's

45:23

really bad. Now granted, those numbers

45:25

have tanked a little bit more with OG

45:28

out, which it's

45:31

things that OG keeps getting hurt first and foremost.

45:34

Two, I kind of wonder like what does this does this

45:36

create? Because the Raptors just do not

45:38

function without him on either end. Like one of

45:40

the fun parts for me with the Scottie Barnes season has

45:42

been what he's been able to do defensively. And a lot

45:45

of that has come because he hasn't had to be at the point of attack. He

45:47

hasn't been hounding guard 60 feet from the basket. He's

45:49

been on more wings and forwards and sometimes centers.

45:52

And now we're seeing some of the, like the weak side

45:54

of the reputation really pop off for him.

45:57

And even the isolations that he's getting in space are now against

45:59

bigger players. just look better. With

46:01

OG out, they have to reconfigure who's getting these

46:03

nachos now. And now Sky has been

46:05

on more guards and like that hasn't been as fun.

46:07

And then offensively, as

46:11

frustrating as, as frustrated as OG

46:13

has allegedly reportedly whatever

46:15

his verbiage you want to use has been about his offensive

46:17

role, the shooting is very important.

46:20

Like he is one of the few guys on the roster

46:22

that gets real minutes that teams

46:24

have to think about helping off of. And

46:27

with him not being there, and

46:30

also like Gary Trent Jr. has been this time as well.

46:32

That's right. You remove those two from the rotation,

46:34

a team that already sees a bunch of switches, a bunch

46:36

of unders, the drivers see a whole bunch of help. Now

46:39

you're removing two of the best three shooters on the whole roster.

46:43

Now it's even more difficult for Scottie to get

46:45

two zones for Pascal Siakam, who

46:47

has perked up as of late. He's perked up

46:49

and honestly, like his usage is 25%

46:52

usage rate. In his best season

46:55

to spend 26, 27, 28. So,

46:57

you know, he after after a

47:00

start where it did look like, whoa, was he

47:02

just standing around and doing nothing like that's Pascal

47:04

Siakam. He has started to normalize

47:07

his offensive role and responsibility.

47:11

And the team has been okay with their

47:13

staggering Siakam and Barnes as

47:15

they should do, is they're both kind of point forwards

47:17

for these guys. They're getting

47:19

destroyed in the Scotty only minutes, despite

47:22

the fact that Scottie's been outstanding. His jump shot looks

47:24

like a completely different animal this year

47:26

in a good way. So the Pascal

47:28

thing is starting to normalize. It's just, and

47:31

Dennis Schruder's been fine. Like he gives him a little

47:33

zip. He's making shots. Like he's been fine.

47:36

I just, we're

47:38

just in year two of like, okay,

47:41

they're around 500. The

47:43

championship is a distant memory. What

47:47

are they doing? Where are they going? Do they even

47:49

have, you don't necessarily ever pick a

47:51

direction, but you don't have to necessarily pick

47:53

a direction all the time immediately. But

47:55

these contracts are now ticking, ticking,

47:58

ticking, ticking the expiration.

47:59

I just, you know, I don't...

48:04

They're one of many teams that could win

48:06

between 38 and 44 games. I

48:08

just don't... I don't know. I'd be

48:10

surprised if it got any different than

48:12

that on the higher or lower end of that

48:14

scale. Yeah, they're gonna have to shift

48:16

something. Again, like a lot of this is just gonna be getting

48:18

health. Like something I tweeted out yesterday, the

48:21

Raptors are plus 46 in OG's 251 minutes, and

48:24

their mind is 72 in the 287 minutes

48:26

that they haven't played without them. Just signify

48:29

again how important he's been defensively. He's

48:31

just... He has been a top predefender in the league this year. Full

48:33

stop. And offensively,

48:35

again, the shooting has been very important. I'm

48:38

still a little antsy on some of the drives just because

48:40

of some of the balance issues that he has, but he is

48:42

someone that can attack closeout. And without

48:44

him, so much of that roster is just discombobulated

48:47

for a roster that already isn't super balanced.

48:50

Discombobulated is the perfect word. Discombobulated.

48:54

Just... They're

48:56

just like guys dribbling around. I

48:58

don't really... I mean, look, but Scottie's

49:01

been out. They're still good. Like,

49:03

discombobulated is not the same as bad.

49:05

They're like a decent team. Yeah, they're solid.

49:08

Like, and even to your point about Dennis Shruder, like, he has

49:10

been good. I've enjoyed him at the point of attack. I've enjoyed

49:12

the drive. I've enjoyed... And

49:14

honestly, watching the Lakers has

49:16

made me appreciate more just how physical of a screener

49:18

Dennis Shruder is. But like, with

49:21

what he does, how much of it changes how

49:23

defensive defend him and at large defend

49:25

the Raptors. He's been more comfortable

49:27

with the shots this year. They're still ducking under

49:29

against him. He's setting these hard

49:31

screens or he's ghosting screens for Scottie. They're

49:34

not shifting on those ghost screens.

49:37

And even if they do switch, like, they're just going to show help off

49:40

of Dennis if he's one pass away. So like, how much of

49:42

that is really changing things? And

49:44

so I would like for them to... I

49:47

would like for them to pick a direction at some point. Like, I think

49:50

based on this recent stretch and kind of what they're trying to

49:52

build around Scottie, it feels like though Pascal

49:54

is a better player, OG should probably be

49:56

a higher priority if you're going to keep one of them.

49:59

Just because of the... and it allows you to shift more

50:01

to usage too, Scotty. And if that's

50:03

gonna be the moves, like what can you get for Pascal

50:05

that fits around what you're doing? And the other thing about

50:08

this, as we're just on the front court,

50:11

I wonder what this really means for

50:13

Jaco Purdle, because he did a lot

50:15

of stabilizing for them when he was traded to Toronto,

50:17

both with the handoff usage, how important

50:20

his screening is, because among the big

50:22

room last year, they just weren't a ton of great screeners

50:24

that understood angles, consistently made contact, stuff

50:26

like that. And defensively,

50:29

like they played him more aggressively than I anticipated

50:31

when he was traded for San Antonio, but what's good

50:33

at the level, and he's a good rim protector. This

50:36

year, offensively, if you're shifting more to Scotty,

50:38

you're shifting Pascal more off ball and teams are

50:41

gonna help off with him. The

50:43

handoff usage is down for Jaco Purdle this

50:45

year, and he's obviously not a spacer, so it's like

50:47

if you're not using him as a hub like that,

50:51

and you've been able to get some good things out of the Pascal

50:53

and Scotty at the five

50:55

or at the five-four lineups, what

50:58

exactly is Jaco's place long-term, because

51:00

then they just gave him the contract and they also traded the

51:03

first form. If

51:05

you're one of the doctoral errors, so I don't think it's like

51:07

a red flag that they don't have this stuff figured out, but

51:10

there does come a time in which they need to figure out

51:12

how exactly do we want to attempt to build this out

51:15

and be actionable about building that thing

51:17

out. Yeah, the Van Vliet Purdle

51:19

pick and roll became a tent pole for them very quickly

51:21

last year, once they got Jaco back.

51:25

I, look, something

51:27

will give eventually because it has to, even

51:30

if that's just more guys leaving for

51:32

nothing in free agency, which I am not as up in

51:34

arms about as a lot of people

51:37

are, but that's just me,

51:39

sometimes that can be an okay thing to do.

51:42

In this case, it doesn't feel like that will be

51:44

an okay thing to do. I did,

51:46

Kevin Hilton and I talked about the Levine fit for

51:49

them. Again, theoretically,

51:51

they fit the template and he does stuff

51:53

that they need, particularly

51:56

he, he takes the ball

51:58

and he often puts it into the basket. get from far

52:00

away, which is a skill that you need to have.

52:04

But I just, the money, this

52:06

is for every team, the money and the concerns

52:08

about his, you know, his knee after the ACL

52:11

stuff, which he's recovered fine from, but you know,

52:13

it's just something the teams ring up. I

52:16

don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't know where we'll

52:19

end up there. But

52:21

Siakam's future is a topic of much discussion

52:24

around the NBA as is Ann and Obie's,

52:26

you know, again, like, they've

52:28

turned down lots of stuff for OG and an OB. And

52:31

teams don't really want OG and an OB because

52:33

like you said, he is a top

52:35

five defender, top 10 defender, wherever

52:38

he is, you said top three this year, perennial

52:40

all defense candidate. And he's a tank

52:42

like he can legit guard every single position

52:45

and shoot 40% plus on catch and shoot threes

52:47

like that is on volume like

52:50

it's not he and he'll get you 15 to 20

52:52

a game. That's a really valuable player.

52:54

I just don't know what the hell we'll

52:56

see. Okay, let's wrap with the Brooklyn Nets.

53:00

Team average six and six, 15th

53:02

in offense 15th in defense, a total

53:04

scoring margin of plus 12 over 12

53:07

games. Cam Thomas is

53:09

injured, we are being robbed of the Cam Thomas

53:11

explosion. But

53:14

Cam Johnson is back. So one cam out

53:16

another cam in Nick Claxton is back.

53:19

They are now starting the lineup

53:21

that they started in the postseason

53:23

last year, their brief postseason appearance,

53:26

Dinwiddie Bridges, Johnson, Finney

53:28

Smith, Claxton. Way

53:30

before the season like August, September,

53:32

I

53:33

kind of assumed

53:35

that would be their starting lineup because I

53:37

did not necessarily think that Cam Thomas was

53:39

going to become Michael Jordan for a month

53:41

of the season. Nor did I think that

53:43

the Ben Simmons, Nick Claxton pairing

53:45

was at all viable offensively or

53:48

that a Ben Simmons Renaissance was

53:50

in the offing. They instead

53:52

tried to start Ben Simmons, and

53:55

they kind of I thought caught a break because Claxton

53:57

got hurt. And so that pairing has only played 16 minutes.

54:00

the entire season. Now Simmons is gone.

54:03

I like that lineup but it's hard to argue with

54:05

Cam Thomas having 27th game like

54:07

he should probably start when he comes back

54:10

and I think the thing I like about him on this team

54:13

is they got a lot of good players,

54:15

a lot of wings, a lot of switchy dudes, they

54:17

can do some stuff. McHale Bridges

54:19

hasn't been quite the same guy this year but a lot

54:21

of that is just three-point shooting will normalize.

54:24

But I they

54:27

just have like a lot of similar

54:30

guys, like a lot

54:32

of big skinny wings

54:34

who can switch on defense

54:37

but you can switch against them when you're

54:39

on defense and they kind

54:41

of don't have like the bullying you

54:43

know guy who can get to the basket, their 28th

54:45

and free throws. They're just sort of

54:48

is it a likeness, a likeness

54:50

a likeness and a lightness like a physical

54:52

lightness around the roster that

54:55

feels sort of redundant to me. You

54:58

know they have a lot of trade assets too. I

55:01

don't necessarily think that there's been a guy to come along

55:03

the market that is really what they need. It

55:05

just feels like they're kind of in a holding pattern right

55:07

now and that's okay. They're 500, they

55:09

have decent talent, they killed the Durant trade,

55:12

just absolutely killed it, they killed the Kyrie trade.

55:14

Like they're fine.

55:16

I just

55:17

I guess I'm excited for Cam Thomas to come back.

55:19

I'm excited Colaxon's back. Don't

55:22

quite know what to make of them as a

55:24

team. Like they want to run a lot. Jock Vonn talks

55:26

about we want to lead the league in fast rate points. They're

55:28

last enforcing turnovers. It's hard

55:31

to lead the league in fast rate points and you can't force any turnovers.

55:34

I think again part of that is they're just sort of

55:36

like and alike but it's a strange

55:39

team don't you think? Every

55:41

Nets game I watch I'm like I enjoyed

55:43

the game. I don't really

55:45

quite know what to say. Yeah like I think

55:48

it's just been a fine experience. Like this

55:50

is a very switchy group with a lot of like

55:52

six, five, six, eight dudes that can do stuff. So

55:54

that very much appeals to my basketball sensibilities.

55:57

But that also comes with some very obvious drawbacks.

56:00

fun of the Cam Thomas

56:02

season aside from just the casual nature

56:04

in which he gets ridiculous buckets is

56:07

that he was kind of the guy that can also

56:09

get downhill. Like he was almost at seven. That's

56:11

what I mean. Yeah. He was a breath of fresh

56:13

air in that sense. He was mixing

56:15

these ridiculous jumpers, which are going to make all the highlight rims,

56:17

but like he was also getting to the line six times a game and

56:20

he was getting to the rim more than like Michael Bridges was

56:22

and is. And so now without

56:24

that, it's been fun when they've

56:26

kind of downsize and they've really spread it out. And we've

56:29

seen like some Roy source on Dorian at the five, which

56:31

Dorian Finney Smith has been really freaking good. And I

56:33

feel like within the blondness of the net

56:35

season that may go under the radar, he has

56:38

been ridiculously good, more comfort

56:40

off the bounce. Three point shooting has really been there, obviously

56:43

switching all over the place and defending a little bit of everyone.

56:45

Some positions are better than others, but he's had a really

56:47

fun season. And so it's very

56:49

much turned into, it's weird.

56:52

It's like Rockets F without James Harden

56:54

during that era, where we're just going to have a whole bunch of

56:56

wings. We're going to switch a bunch. We are going to try to

56:58

out Matthew, as you mentioned, like the commitment

57:01

to running and getting out and the break hasn't been the same thing.

57:04

Like they're not forcing a bunch of turnovers because they don't, they

57:06

can't really afford to blitz like that. I don't

57:08

think. And that's been the,

57:11

that's part of the disappointment with not having the collection for

57:13

a lot of the year. Like he switchable in his

57:15

own right. But if you were going to dial it up and

57:17

try to force turnovers, he's someone that's really good at blocking

57:19

shots, protecting the room. And maybe that's the way that you get

57:21

out and transition without him. And they had

57:24

been Simmons early and then they didn't have him in the classic comes back.

57:26

It's still just been a lot of switching or

57:28

more drop than anticipated when they class. So

57:31

it's a conservative style. You're not going to force those

57:33

turnovers. And thus, if you aren't

57:35

getting stops, right? That way you're not getting the transition

57:37

opportunities, then you just get into the half court where who's

57:40

creating advantages for you? Like

57:43

it hasn't been McHale consistent. He's still

57:45

very good. And I expect the three points you're going

57:47

to perk up as well. But like if your

57:49

best driver, sans cam Thomas is

57:51

Spencer Denwiddie, and he's not a guy that's going to draw

57:53

to where

57:55

are you at? Like it just becomes a bigger

57:58

emphasis on if we're running this. We got

58:00

to run it at 105 miles per hour and Really

58:03

nail this screen or really nail these ghost screens

58:05

and really sell it and so we can get some kind of advantage

58:08

and then play advantage basketball from there because they have

58:10

a roster full of dudes that can Maintain

58:13

and take advantage of the advantage is created. They just miss

58:15

the guy that creates that advantage on his

58:18

own Yeah, McHale bridges is awesome.

58:20

We all love McHale bridges great player

58:23

great

58:24

Might make an all-star team in the next few years

58:26

every team

58:29

would love to have McHale bridges He's

58:31

just not a number one guy. That's okay Like he's

58:33

averaging three point eight assists or whatever it is

58:36

and and you know he wants to pull

58:38

up for mid-range jumpers That's his comfort zone. That's fine.

58:40

He's not number one guy. Not a lot of people are number one guys.

58:42

He's awesome The

58:45

Dennis Smith Lonnie Walker bench brigade

58:48

has been quite a lot of fun for

58:50

the Brooklyn Lonnie Walker Six man of the year candidate 16

58:53

points a game on hot shooting from everywhere They

58:56

come in and they just kind of they

58:58

just do stuff. They changed the game. They changed the

59:00

feel of the game It's been a blast those two guys

59:03

off the bench I'm having a lot of fun and

59:05

like that's where you really see the pace kind of perk up and

59:07

some of that random This is an app for because Lonnie

59:09

can get into a bunch of pull-ups as well But he's been on

59:11

an absolute heater as a shooter and Dennis

59:13

Miff jr. I As

59:16

one of the like six non Charlotte fans

59:18

that enjoyed watching the horses because that dude was just nasty

59:20

at the point of attack the defense remains fun

59:23

and he just puts his head down and Just

59:25

gets to the rim whenever he wants to The

59:28

decision-making from there can't gotta be

59:30

hit or miss when he does get into the paint sometimes

59:33

he's just launching into like two or three dudes, but

59:36

He just gives them such a level of juice. I've really

59:38

enjoyed the second units And again, they kind of coincides with

59:41

them going smaller sometimes Actually,

59:44

I'll pause right there. How do you feel about the day Ron Sharpe

59:46

minutes so far this year? Uh

59:49

There I not strongly I'm

59:51

interested to see if you have any strong I mean he is

59:53

an offensive rebounding

59:55

machine and kind of a chaos agent.

59:58

I

59:59

Have not felt

59:59

It's one of the things about this team. It's

1:00:02

like the Simmons at center minutes

1:00:04

didn't really work. We don't have any

1:00:06

big men on the floor minutes that you talked about are

1:00:08

kind of net even. Those

1:00:10

aren't working like gangbusters either. I

1:00:13

have not looked at Sharps plus minus,

1:00:15

but I'm interested to hear your take on Deyron Sharp. I

1:00:18

feel like he's been fine. It kind

1:00:20

of ties into the force of turnovers thing. I just don't know how much

1:00:22

scheme versatility he has defensively. He

1:00:24

helps on the glass, but I feel like you're just kind of baked

1:00:26

into, he got to play drop or

1:00:29

else with this guy. And so,

1:00:31

and even with that, he just doesn't have the vertical

1:00:33

pop to really truly affect dudes at

1:00:35

the rim either. And so just quickly

1:00:37

looking at the plus minus, they're winning his minutes.

1:00:40

So that's a positive. But like that feels more about

1:00:42

the guards and wings that he's playing with more so than what he's

1:00:44

doing. One of my questions heading into the year with

1:00:46

Brooklyn was who was going to establish themselves as

1:00:49

that true backup five. Would Ben Simmons

1:00:51

be good at it? And now he's just out, which makes

1:00:53

me incredibly sad. We've seen

1:00:55

Deyron, we've seen a little bit of

1:00:57

trend in Watford like that's been. Oh,

1:00:59

I'm so glad you, just trending Watford

1:01:01

is gonna be one of those guys. Just

1:01:04

one of my guys. He's like comes

1:01:06

in, he's like point Watford all of a sudden

1:01:08

like bringing the ball up, running the offense. I'm

1:01:12

all in on trending Watford. Play him 40 minutes a game. I like

1:01:14

that guy. He does stuff. He just

1:01:16

does stuff. He's got a gorgeous floater. Play

1:01:19

trend in Watford. That's my number one piece of advice

1:01:21

to the guys. I have no idea if it'll work. I just want them to play trend

1:01:23

in Watford. I'm right there with actually now

1:01:25

that I'm thinking about it, do the Nets just lead

1:01:28

the NBA in dudes in like the 11 through 15

1:01:30

spots in the rotation that could just do stuff. It's a great

1:01:32

time. Like you get trending

1:01:34

Watford like Cam Thomas was technically that guy last

1:01:37

year because everyone had ahead of him. We know what kind

1:01:39

of score he can be. But we've had the random

1:01:41

Armani Brooks run. Like I still

1:01:43

believe in like the funkiness of Harry Giles. Thank

1:01:45

goodness he's back healthy. Like they have a lot of dudes

1:01:47

they can plug in on a random Tuesday. Oh, well, he gave him 16 minutes, 8, 5 and 3. This

1:01:53

is fun. Very nerd tangent. So

1:01:55

my apologies. But yeah,

1:01:58

they're just a really. interesting

1:02:00

team and they are without a true number one guy.

1:02:02

They don't they just don't have the guy they can draw to

1:02:05

and without that that makes the offense very reliant

1:02:08

on how many threes they're making and a lot of

1:02:10

those are self creative or contested and

1:02:12

then defensively like they just don't have I guess

1:02:15

with Clackston back I am curious to see if they decide

1:02:18

for a stretch. Let's just ramp this up. Let's see what

1:02:20

blitzes with Nick Clackston on the back end looks like. Let's

1:02:23

put him on a non shooting wing. Let's

1:02:25

put Dorian or let's put Roy so whoever they

1:02:27

have in it three or four. Let's put them on a center.

1:02:29

We'll let Nick Clackston roam around. Y'all just

1:02:31

trap see if we can force them turnovers that way and maybe

1:02:34

that's a way to kind of juice things in transition

1:02:36

to make it easier for them because right now like they

1:02:38

just don't have enough in the half part to be like someone

1:02:41

serious. How

1:02:43

did you feel about these six Ben

1:02:45

Simmons games? Six and

1:02:47

a half points. Six point

1:02:49

seven assists. Eleven rebounds a game. I

1:02:53

did see a

1:02:55

headline an article that I read

1:02:58

somewhere last week that

1:03:01

verged on Ben Simmons is back like

1:03:04

Ben Simmons looks more like his old self in

1:03:06

my immediate reaction was he

1:03:09

does like maybe maybe I've

1:03:11

been seeing the wrong games like I didn't

1:03:13

see much that

1:03:15

made me think a Renaissance is

1:03:17

coming and I hate to repeat myself

1:03:20

but really the only stat from Ben Simmons

1:03:22

I care about is free throws and

1:03:24

he's one of four on free

1:03:26

throws this year. He's afraid

1:03:28

to get fouled and until that changes the rest of it is

1:03:30

just noise to me and

1:03:33

I've never seen a player that more

1:03:35

than this version of Ben Simmons this is not

1:03:37

the same Ben Sims that made all NBA we all know that

1:03:40

who's like moving forward and backward

1:03:43

at the same time like when he's bringing the ball up in

1:03:45

transition he's flying forward but

1:03:47

he's just waiting for the moment where

1:03:49

he can stop and give the ball to somebody

1:03:51

else and it's like what it's like it's just

1:03:53

a very I just still don't think

1:03:56

Simmons Clackston is viable I don't think Simmons

1:03:58

is the center is viable defensively I don't

1:04:01

know what he is anymore, but I did not buy

1:04:03

the oh Ben Simmons might be back based

1:04:05

on what those six games showed me Yeah,

1:04:08

I couldn't get as far as back I do feel

1:04:10

like he he looked better You could

1:04:12

tell he felt better and I think that part

1:04:14

more defensively than it did offensively Though

1:04:17

I will say like if we're like really getting granular

1:04:19

with it Like it did feel like the screens were better for him

1:04:21

Like he was making more contact don't hand it off versus

1:04:23

like the far extension. Here you go Let

1:04:25

me try to duck to the short corner something like that Like

1:04:28

in those very specific areas it

1:04:31

just sounds like I'm like coping in real time But like in those very

1:04:33

specific areas it felt better and

1:04:35

you did see more of the surges as a driver But

1:04:37

to your point like it wasn't consistent enough It

1:04:40

wasn't a full-fledged. I am I am

1:04:43

getting to the rim no matter what and if you're there I

1:04:45

am putting my shoulder into your chest like that

1:04:47

hasn't come back and until that comes

1:04:49

back We're not going to see all-star been Simmons. I

1:04:51

like I saw enough that I didn't say this can be a

1:04:53

productive There's no that that's over

1:04:56

all-star been Simmons not gonna happen Yeah,

1:04:59

let's wrap with Chris Haynes a bleacher

1:05:01

report and TNT and and

1:05:04

just everywhere reported this morning

1:05:06

that Russell Westbrook has Requested

1:05:09

or volunteered to come off the bench for

1:05:11

the Los Angeles Clippers in order to you

1:05:14

know ease The development

1:05:16

process with James Harden Kawhi Leonard, Apollo

1:05:18

George the Clippers, of course are oh and whatever five

1:05:21

I think with James Harden. I don't

1:05:23

want to talk too much about the Clippers. I Suggested

1:05:27

this week that perhaps James Harden should come off the

1:05:29

bench Because somebody needs to

1:05:32

come off the bench and I

1:05:34

like the idea. Well, it's someone needs

1:05:36

to come off the bench. So yes Russ

1:05:39

is coming off the bench In

1:05:42

their last game against Denver when they finally looked

1:05:44

like a real basketball team that cared They

1:05:46

kind of settled into Russ and PG

1:05:49

is one pairing Harden and Kawhi

1:05:52

as the other pairing which to Tylie's credit that

1:05:54

that seemed to work and is is not my

1:05:57

first conception of the team My

1:06:00

only concern with Russ coming off the bench is

1:06:04

they lose a little bit of pace, which fine. I've

1:06:06

been... when they made this trade, the first

1:06:08

thing I said was Terrence Manson start over Russ. So this

1:06:10

is the move that I and many others

1:06:12

had pitched before because

1:06:15

you just... the spacing will just be infinitely better. If

1:06:17

they have two of Russ, Tucker

1:06:19

and Zubat on the floor, you can

1:06:22

work around that now and then, but

1:06:24

the spacing is just going to be so compromised

1:06:26

that it's hard, hard work to do. My

1:06:28

only concern is I liked

1:06:32

how they got to Harden, gets

1:06:34

to do the Harden show with

1:06:36

the second unit plus Zubat's and

1:06:39

is that harder to get to starting

1:06:42

Harden? Maybe it's not, but do

1:06:44

you have any reaction to this move? Is this going to

1:06:46

save the Clippers? Save

1:06:48

the Clippers? I don't know if this singular move does

1:06:51

it because as you mentioned, they've already been doing the staggering. It

1:06:53

felt very early on in the Harden experience.

1:06:55

It is, here's our four and

1:06:58

now here's our three and now here's Harden

1:07:00

with everyone else. And now that's become

1:07:02

more of the 2v2 that you talked about. And

1:07:05

so I feel like that was already coming. And I think

1:07:07

ultimately it's just

1:07:09

going to be what kind of pace and what kind of

1:07:11

execution they have in the half court. That's it. I

1:07:13

think they just have to run their stuff harder. That's something

1:07:15

that you get on your podcast or something that Steve and I talked

1:07:17

about with like a full blown Clippers section

1:07:20

on Tuesday. I

1:07:22

think they've run some fun stuff. The execution isn't there yet.

1:07:25

And I think that's just going to come with time. That's

1:07:27

also going to come with James Harden who

1:07:29

is in game 5 of his actual season. After

1:07:32

not playing in the preseason and stuff, as he gets back

1:07:35

into his own shape, as he said himself. Is

1:07:37

he still ramping up? When does the

1:07:39

ramp up...is the

1:07:41

ramp up over?

1:07:43

I

1:07:45

think it's getting close. Are we all just always

1:07:47

ramping up for life? Is every day just

1:07:49

a new ramp up? Every day is a new ramp

1:07:51

up. I'm going to start using that in my

1:07:55

own life. I'm on a red eye tonight

1:07:57

back home. on

1:08:00

that tomorrow honey, I'm ramping up into

1:08:02

five, I'm ramping back up to fatherhood. Yeah,

1:08:04

I'm also gonna be ramping up on Sunday still.

1:08:07

So just give me a couple more days to ramp

1:08:09

up. There you go. So I think that ramp up

1:08:11

period is still being there. Two of the concerns

1:08:13

about Russ to the bench, like I do

1:08:15

keep an eye on, like Russ is gonna be stashed in the corner.

1:08:17

He's quietly shooting like 44% on corner three

1:08:19

this year. Terrence Mann, who also

1:08:22

misalized the early portion of the season, he

1:08:24

hasn't made a corner three yet. And

1:08:27

in general, he hasn't shot well from the corners in

1:08:29

his Clippers career. So like for the

1:08:32

Terrence Mann is a better shooter than Russ thing, like that's probably

1:08:34

true. I don't know how much differently

1:08:36

teams are gonna guard him when he's spaced. And

1:08:39

the difference in rim pressure between Russ and Terrence

1:08:41

Mann on the ball, I think it's just different. And

1:08:44

so I would keep an eye on that, especially in

1:08:46

light of, and I teased this a little bit earlier, Kawhi

1:08:49

just hasn't looked the same as a guy. Like

1:08:52

Josh per 100 possessions are down, the points per

1:08:54

chance, the points per direct, they're all down, the blow by

1:08:56

rate is down. He's just not getting

1:08:58

to his spots with the same level of ease. And

1:09:02

I think in light of how switchable the roster

1:09:04

is just gonna be like one through four, with Zubat,

1:09:06

I don't think you wanna switch a lot of those because he can match on the

1:09:08

glass. But as switchable as that group

1:09:11

is, they need someone that can not only just

1:09:13

jumpstart their offense and get them into their

1:09:15

stuff quicker, but someone who can just

1:09:17

put their head down and get downhill. Like so far this year, it's

1:09:19

felt like it's been Paul George, but even he doesn't

1:09:22

touch the paint and like the at the ND rate

1:09:24

or the OKC rate or even the early Clipper rate.

1:09:27

So I do wonder how much

1:09:29

rim pressure they're gonna generate with that group. Oh,

1:09:31

it's not like Russ is playing zero minutes or you'll still

1:09:33

see him, but that'll be an extra

1:09:36

concern of mine as they transition to this new start

1:09:38

lineup. Like what kind of popper they're playing with, how

1:09:40

often can they touch the paint? Tai

1:09:44

Liu said everything that needs

1:09:46

to be said when he said, we

1:09:48

can't walk around on offense. That's

1:09:50

the whole thing for the Clippers. That's the entire

1:09:53

thing in one sentence. We don't need to say anything

1:09:55

more. Nikai is Duncan of the

1:09:57

Dunker Spot. You'll catch him with JJ Reddick.

1:10:00

and his buddy Steve Jones, his partner Steve Jones, who's

1:10:02

also come on this podcast. Essential

1:10:05

basketball analysis. If you

1:10:07

want to know what's going on in the game, listen

1:10:09

to Nikias and Steve on the Dunker Spot. Thank

1:10:12

you for lending us some of your expertise

1:10:14

and time. I will see you down the road, my friend.

1:10:17

Indeed. Thanks for having me, man. I always had the time. Have

1:10:19

a good one.