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Everybody ol ball.

Everybody ol ball.

If you guys have had a great week or doing a mail bag today, got about a dozen questions. We're gonna be bouncing all around the league of a bunch of interesting stuffs to get into. It's gonna be a fun one. You guys are the joe before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, underscore json lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, don't forget. It's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on our podcast feed. We also have new social media feeds on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the Hoops Tonight channel. We're releasing reels and things along those lines, so make sure you follow those feeds as well. In the last not at least, keep roping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments.

If you guys have had a great week or doing a mail bag today, got about a dozen questions. We're gonna be bouncing all around the league of a bunch of interesting stuffs to get into. It's gonna be a fun one. You guys are the joe before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, underscore json lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, don't forget. It's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on our podcast feed. We also have new social media feeds on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the Hoops Tonight channel. We're releasing reels and things along those lines, so make sure you follow those feeds as well. In the last not at least, keep roping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments.

We're gonna have.

We're gonna have.

Mail bags on every Friday throughout the season, so keep dropping them and we'll be grabbing them from those comments. I go through the entire week's episode, so you can drop them in any of those and I'll just kind of go back through them and pick out questions for us to hit on Fridays. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, you ready to apologize to Tatum yet? Like yourself, I'm a huge ant fan, but the number five slot belongs to Jason, and you know it. Tatum is averaging more points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, fewer turnovers, higher true shooting percentage. It's significantly higher pr than Anthey Ander and what then Anthony Edwards while remaining the better all around defender. Not to mention, he's the only player in the NBA currently averaging the most points, assists, rebounds, and steals on his team.

Mail bags on every Friday throughout the season, so keep dropping them and we'll be grabbing them from those comments. I go through the entire week's episode, so you can drop them in any of those and I'll just kind of go back through them and pick out questions for us to hit on Fridays. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, you ready to apologize to Tatum yet? Like yourself, I'm a huge ant fan, but the number five slot belongs to Jason, and you know it. Tatum is averaging more points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, fewer turnovers, higher true shooting percentage. It's significantly higher pr than Anthey Ander and what then Anthony Edwards while remaining the better all around defender. Not to mention, he's the only player in the NBA currently averaging the most points, assists, rebounds, and steals on his team.

A couple things.

A couple things.

Apology is a really strong word to use. For I had one guy fifth and one guy seventh on a list where I told you, guys from five to eleven, I view almost no gap. I had one through four as kind of their own thing, and I said five through eleven or all this close to each other. So like, yeah, I think apology is a little dramatic. That said, there's no doubt that Tatum has played like the guy that's the best of that next tier of stars to start this year. I think Joki just rock solid at number one. Luca's off to a bad start this year, but you're not gonna like supplant him over a dozen games when he missed training camp with a calf injury. Like Luca's gonna play a lot better over the large sample. And then Giannis is playing some of the best basketball of his career, and Jacobs Alexander is really starting to pick up steam here in recent weeks. So like, that tier to me is still more or less what it was. But if you're looking at the next tier of teams or next tier of players, the two guys that have really separated, I'll say three guys. The three guys that have Honestly, there are a lot of guys that are playing good basketball right now. Anthony Davis has really separated himself. Jason Tatum has really separated himself. Kevin Durant has really separated himself. Steph Curry hasn't had the overall counting stats that he needs in that department, but he's had some of the most impressive individual performances this season, and he's outplayed multiple guys that are above him in the rankings. He outplayed Tatum head to head, he outplayed Shakis As Alexander had to head, he outplayed Nikole Jokic had to head, right, So, like, those are the guys that.

Apology is a really strong word to use. For I had one guy fifth and one guy seventh on a list where I told you, guys from five to eleven, I view almost no gap. I had one through four as kind of their own thing, and I said five through eleven or all this close to each other. So like, yeah, I think apology is a little dramatic. That said, there's no doubt that Tatum has played like the guy that's the best of that next tier of stars to start this year. I think Joki just rock solid at number one. Luca's off to a bad start this year, but you're not gonna like supplant him over a dozen games when he missed training camp with a calf injury. Like Luca's gonna play a lot better over the large sample. And then Giannis is playing some of the best basketball of his career, and Jacobs Alexander is really starting to pick up steam here in recent weeks. So like, that tier to me is still more or less what it was. But if you're looking at the next tier of teams or next tier of players, the two guys that have really separated, I'll say three guys. The three guys that have Honestly, there are a lot of guys that are playing good basketball right now. Anthony Davis has really separated himself. Jason Tatum has really separated himself. Kevin Durant has really separated himself. Steph Curry hasn't had the overall counting stats that he needs in that department, but he's had some of the most impressive individual performances this season, and he's outplayed multiple guys that are above him in the rankings. He outplayed Tatum head to head, he outplayed Shakis As Alexander had to head, he outplayed Nikole Jokic had to head, right, So, like, those are the guys that.

Are separating from that lower group.

Are separating from that lower group.

But I'd say night tonight, in overall production and like all of the little things that impact winning, the best player that I've seen from that next tier of teams to start this season is Jason Tatum, and so there's no doubt that he has been the guy that has, at least through this small sample to start the year, taken that five spot. He's it's been a bunch of different things. The jump shot, which I mean, I've been on this this entire summer. Like I think a lot of people were just like, oh, he's too buff, now he's not gonna shoot. And like anybody who's played basketball for any significant amount of time knows, like, sometimes you just go into shooting slump sometimes. You Like I think about even in my adult life, I had shooting slumps when I was in college, where like there are stretches where I shot the ball really well, and then I had stretches where I like, I had a season in conference play where I shot damn near fifty percent from three, and then the very next season at the start in non conference play, I had a week where I missed twenty two straight threes in a single week. So like they're like, sometimes you just go into a slump. But even in my adult life, and I work on my jump shot a lot of probably more than I should as someone who doesn't get paid to play basketball. Like I have stretches where it's like, oh, for the like sometimes for two three months I'm just not quite shooting the ball as well, And then I have other stretches for two three months it's like I can't fucking miss to save my life. Like there's different kind of just oscillations that take place for jump shooters. It's kind of part of the way it goes. And I thought Tatum was just in a slump last year, and I thought that he was gonna come out of it in a big way to start the season, and he has. One of the big things I was talking about in yesterday's show was he's been doing a really nice job of hitting contested catch and shoot threes by just kind of hesitating and waiting for the close out to come and for the guy to sit in a stance to try to slide his feet, and then right in that gap when the defender kind of like closes out high and then sits, he's rising and firing, and he's hitting a lot of shots in those situations. But I also think he's made a significant step forward as a passer this year. He's had four straight games with at least six assists. He's averaging your career high in assists. He's getting his assists in all these different ways that you see from some of the best playmakers in the league. And as you pointed out, he is the better all around defender, not just than Anthony Edwards, but he's one of the best all around defenders in the league. So here's the thing going into the season. Yes, I ranked Anthony Edwards at five and Tatum at seven in a tier of players that was seven players big that I viewed all more or less on the same level. So like, am I gonna be like, I'm so sorry Jason. No, of course not. That's stupid, that's foolish, that's dramatic. But yeah, if Jayson Tatum has been the best of that tier of seven guys in my opinion to start the season. One last thing on Anthony Edwards brought up by Anthony Edwards optimism SEMs on the fact that I just think he's an awesome jump shooter and I think that that's real and we're on a massive sample size now of him doing that. And by the way, Anthony Edwards is averaging twenty eight points per game on sixty percent through shooting to start the year. So he's not having a bad season either. They're just guys in that tier that have been playing better than him. And one thing I would give Aunt a little bit of slack on is the roster is a little jankie because the front office threw a massive curveball at them a week before training camp and now they're like the Knicks, trying to like figure out how to be a new team on the fly. So and we have a question about that later on in the mailbag. But for the Nixon Wolves, I think it's foolish to jump to like sweeping declarations about them until we're much, much, much much further into the season. But again shout out to Jayson Tatum again, a lot of it. There's a question about this. I'll actually fast forward and get to this one if I can. Oh, we'll get to when we get there, because I don't want to waste a bunch of time searching through this right now. But like there's a lot of people that like take these like kind of pretty mild stances that I take and turn them into like Jason hates that guy, and that I just don't understand, because like that's just not the case like, just because I have a slightly different opinion than a specific fan base on a player doesn't mean I dislike a player. I think that that sometimes is once again kind of dramatic and unfair. Let's get to the next question. Sorry to see this as a fan since day one, but it hurts me to notice that you can't talk about the Nuggets success without acknowledging Westbrook's impact in their wins. Bad to see that you look biased about this issue. Again, this is another battle that I can't win where it's like, yes, I have, multiple times and multiple different episodes, credited Russell Westbrook for the job he's done with the Nuggets. I talked about the job he did when Joel Murray was out in some of the huge games that he had. I talked about little moments like the individual defense that he played on RJ Barrett on that huge zession at the end of the Rafters game. He had a similar possession on Shae Gills Alexander where he took away his pull up jump shot and funneled him into a drive. Like I have complimented Russ and so I don't know what to say. This is another thing that happens to me pretty commonly, where like people will watch some of the content that I produce, but not all of it, and then make sweeping declarations about all of my content even though they didn't watch all of my content. Like I talk about basketball for the better part of five six hours a week, and so there's a lot of words, a lot of sentences in there, and there's a lot of opportunity for me to hit other teams and other players that you might not hear if you only catch an episode here or there, if that makes sense, which, by the way, I don't blame you guys, there's a ton of really good basketball content out there. I know that there are some of you guys that listen to every episode, and I know there are some of you guys that are like I only listen to my favorite team, and there are some of you guys that you only listen every once in a while depending on what we release. I understand that that's the case, But like, I do a ton of content every week, So if you're one of the people that stops by every once in a while, you're probably missing some of the stuff.

But I'd say night tonight, in overall production and like all of the little things that impact winning, the best player that I've seen from that next tier of teams to start this season is Jason Tatum, and so there's no doubt that he has been the guy that has, at least through this small sample to start the year, taken that five spot. He's it's been a bunch of different things. The jump shot, which I mean, I've been on this this entire summer. Like I think a lot of people were just like, oh, he's too buff, now he's not gonna shoot. And like anybody who's played basketball for any significant amount of time knows, like, sometimes you just go into shooting slump sometimes. You Like I think about even in my adult life, I had shooting slumps when I was in college, where like there are stretches where I shot the ball really well, and then I had stretches where I like, I had a season in conference play where I shot damn near fifty percent from three, and then the very next season at the start in non conference play, I had a week where I missed twenty two straight threes in a single week. So like they're like, sometimes you just go into a slump. But even in my adult life, and I work on my jump shot a lot of probably more than I should as someone who doesn't get paid to play basketball. Like I have stretches where it's like, oh, for the like sometimes for two three months I'm just not quite shooting the ball as well, And then I have other stretches for two three months it's like I can't fucking miss to save my life. Like there's different kind of just oscillations that take place for jump shooters. It's kind of part of the way it goes. And I thought Tatum was just in a slump last year, and I thought that he was gonna come out of it in a big way to start the season, and he has. One of the big things I was talking about in yesterday's show was he's been doing a really nice job of hitting contested catch and shoot threes by just kind of hesitating and waiting for the close out to come and for the guy to sit in a stance to try to slide his feet, and then right in that gap when the defender kind of like closes out high and then sits, he's rising and firing, and he's hitting a lot of shots in those situations. But I also think he's made a significant step forward as a passer this year. He's had four straight games with at least six assists. He's averaging your career high in assists. He's getting his assists in all these different ways that you see from some of the best playmakers in the league. And as you pointed out, he is the better all around defender, not just than Anthony Edwards, but he's one of the best all around defenders in the league. So here's the thing going into the season. Yes, I ranked Anthony Edwards at five and Tatum at seven in a tier of players that was seven players big that I viewed all more or less on the same level. So like, am I gonna be like, I'm so sorry Jason. No, of course not. That's stupid, that's foolish, that's dramatic. But yeah, if Jayson Tatum has been the best of that tier of seven guys in my opinion to start the season. One last thing on Anthony Edwards brought up by Anthony Edwards optimism SEMs on the fact that I just think he's an awesome jump shooter and I think that that's real and we're on a massive sample size now of him doing that. And by the way, Anthony Edwards is averaging twenty eight points per game on sixty percent through shooting to start the year. So he's not having a bad season either. They're just guys in that tier that have been playing better than him. And one thing I would give Aunt a little bit of slack on is the roster is a little jankie because the front office threw a massive curveball at them a week before training camp and now they're like the Knicks, trying to like figure out how to be a new team on the fly. So and we have a question about that later on in the mailbag. But for the Nixon Wolves, I think it's foolish to jump to like sweeping declarations about them until we're much, much, much much further into the season. But again shout out to Jayson Tatum again, a lot of it. There's a question about this. I'll actually fast forward and get to this one if I can. Oh, we'll get to when we get there, because I don't want to waste a bunch of time searching through this right now. But like there's a lot of people that like take these like kind of pretty mild stances that I take and turn them into like Jason hates that guy, and that I just don't understand, because like that's just not the case like, just because I have a slightly different opinion than a specific fan base on a player doesn't mean I dislike a player. I think that that sometimes is once again kind of dramatic and unfair. Let's get to the next question. Sorry to see this as a fan since day one, but it hurts me to notice that you can't talk about the Nuggets success without acknowledging Westbrook's impact in their wins. Bad to see that you look biased about this issue. Again, this is another battle that I can't win where it's like, yes, I have, multiple times and multiple different episodes, credited Russell Westbrook for the job he's done with the Nuggets. I talked about the job he did when Joel Murray was out in some of the huge games that he had. I talked about little moments like the individual defense that he played on RJ Barrett on that huge zession at the end of the Rafters game. He had a similar possession on Shae Gills Alexander where he took away his pull up jump shot and funneled him into a drive. Like I have complimented Russ and so I don't know what to say. This is another thing that happens to me pretty commonly, where like people will watch some of the content that I produce, but not all of it, and then make sweeping declarations about all of my content even though they didn't watch all of my content. Like I talk about basketball for the better part of five six hours a week, and so there's a lot of words, a lot of sentences in there, and there's a lot of opportunity for me to hit other teams and other players that you might not hear if you only catch an episode here or there, if that makes sense, which, by the way, I don't blame you guys, there's a ton of really good basketball content out there. I know that there are some of you guys that listen to every episode, and I know there are some of you guys that are like I only listen to my favorite team, and there are some of you guys that you only listen every once in a while depending on what we release. I understand that that's the case, But like, I do a ton of content every week, So if you're one of the people that stops by every once in a while, you're probably missing some of the stuff.

That I hit.

That I hit.

In the big picture, Russell Westbrook has had really high ceiling moments for the Nuggets this year, and I've talked about it on many occasions. If the playoffs started today, this.

In the big picture, Russell Westbrook has had really high ceiling moments for the Nuggets this year, and I've talked about it on many occasions. If the playoffs started today, this.

Is Warriors fans.

Is Warriors fans.

I had a male bag question at the tail end of Tuesday show and talk about a fucking meltdown from some of these four years fans in the mentions if the playoffs started today, taking Luca over Steph is a wild take. Steph not only outscored, but outplayed Shay and Luca, but can't give him the nod over them. Guys like Luka Doncic had a very impressive playoff run last year. He did something that I haven't seen anybody do last season, and that even Nicole Yoka struggled which with which was he like single handedly eviscerated the Minnesota Timberwolves defense. It just took one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and just basically treated him like a rag dollars. He threw him around and got whatever he wanted. He took his team to the NBA Finals. Luca has not been very good to start this year. He got injured in training camp, miss training camp, and he's trying to get his way back into shape. In the middle of the season. Here's the thing. Yes, if we're fifty games into this thing and Steph's playing like an MVP, then yeah, I'm gonna reevaluate things and I'm probably gonna put Steph in that top tier. And I might put him ahead of a Shay, I might put him ahead of a Luca, But it would be irresponsible of me over a small regular season sample at the start of the year to be like, Yeah, this guy's better than a player who just went on a deep playoff runt last year, or like Shay Gills of Alexander who once again like deservedly got a lot of MVP consideration last year and took his team to within one foul of making it to the conference finals and eliminating Luka Doncicch. So, like, that's the thing. I am a huge believer in Steph. I think what he's shown at the start of the year in terms of his ability to get to that superstar upside, should be super encouraging for Warriors fans. But yeah, like, there are players at the top of the league that have been really dominant consistently over the course of the last couple of years that right now feel like safer bets and I would never change that over a small sample size. I had a lot of guys in the comments like he just outplayed this guy. He just outplayed that guy. That's great. I have seen a ton of stars outplay other stars in regular season games. I've seen Joel Embiid outplay Jokis several times. I've seen guys out play Luca. I've seen guys outplay Shay. I've seen guys outplay Giannis. I've seen guys outplay Steph, Lebron Ad Tatum. I've seen guys outplay everybody right on any given one game in the regular season. It's important because it's a sign to Warriors fans and to the rest of the league, like, hey, Steph still has it, Steph can still do this right. But there's a much larger sample that we're going to see over the course of this season. And before I go claiming that Steph is better than Luca, are better than Shay, I'm gonna need to see more than a dozen games. And honestly, like, even though Steph has had some really big games this year, his counting stats just aren't even in the same stratosphere as those guys at the top of the league. And so let's see more before we supplant guys that have been playing really, really well for a long time at the top of the league. Next question, Steph definitely looked like a top ten player to end to end the season last year. What was you watching bro last twenty five games for Steph last year, twenty two point eight points per game, four point five rebounds per game, five point five assists per game, forty two percent from the field, and thirty eight percent from three. He wasn't good the end last year, not by STEPH standard. Now, yes, there were factors at play. He was worn down, the roster was weak, there was a lot less fast, a lot of Klay Thompson and Chris Paul instead of really fast young players. There are a lot of reasons for that. But to be clear, going into the player rankings that I did this summer, Steph didn't even deserve to be considered top ten. There were several plays. Donovan Mitchell deserved to be ranked over him. Jalen Brunson deserved to be ranked over him. I kept him in the top ten as a sign of respect and because if you guys remember in that video, I said, I think this is a slump, and I think Steph will bounce back. But like there's a lot this This happens a lot uh uh with NBA fans, where like there's a lot of evidence that one thing's gonna happen, and then something different happens, and then everyone wants to be like I fucking told you, and it's like, actually, like this is a change, this is new information, This is new. So like you're like people that made educated guesses based on stuff that was actually happen happening. Everyone else is making hopeful guesses on what they think maybe will happen, Like and yeah, the thing that was hopeful and maybe ended up happening, and that's great and you guys should be very very excited about that. But like, again, like there's a reason why there was some skepticism surrounding the Warriors and what ended up happening, right, what ended up happening was you swapped out Clay and Chris Paul and all of the minutes they play and I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head, it was like fifty something minutes a game. You took fifty something minutes a game and turned it into super fast younger players. And then in addition to that, like you had a new training camp, you hit on a couple of signings this summer. Steph Curry is playing like a superstar again, and now all of a sudden, you look like a contender. It's a combination of a ton of factors, a ton of new information. Did anybody think when Buddy Held got signed that he was going to play as well as he did? No? A lot of you like it was a good fit, an obvious fit. I think everyone thought he'd hit shots. I don't think anybody thought he'd be as good as he's been. This has been a surprise, and so again it's like, appreciate it for what it is. It's exciting. I'm excited too. Steph's my second favorite player in the league behind Lebron James.

I had a male bag question at the tail end of Tuesday show and talk about a fucking meltdown from some of these four years fans in the mentions if the playoffs started today, taking Luca over Steph is a wild take. Steph not only outscored, but outplayed Shay and Luca, but can't give him the nod over them. Guys like Luka Doncic had a very impressive playoff run last year. He did something that I haven't seen anybody do last season, and that even Nicole Yoka struggled which with which was he like single handedly eviscerated the Minnesota Timberwolves defense. It just took one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and just basically treated him like a rag dollars. He threw him around and got whatever he wanted. He took his team to the NBA Finals. Luca has not been very good to start this year. He got injured in training camp, miss training camp, and he's trying to get his way back into shape. In the middle of the season. Here's the thing. Yes, if we're fifty games into this thing and Steph's playing like an MVP, then yeah, I'm gonna reevaluate things and I'm probably gonna put Steph in that top tier. And I might put him ahead of a Shay, I might put him ahead of a Luca, But it would be irresponsible of me over a small regular season sample at the start of the year to be like, Yeah, this guy's better than a player who just went on a deep playoff runt last year, or like Shay Gills of Alexander who once again like deservedly got a lot of MVP consideration last year and took his team to within one foul of making it to the conference finals and eliminating Luka Doncicch. So, like, that's the thing. I am a huge believer in Steph. I think what he's shown at the start of the year in terms of his ability to get to that superstar upside, should be super encouraging for Warriors fans. But yeah, like, there are players at the top of the league that have been really dominant consistently over the course of the last couple of years that right now feel like safer bets and I would never change that over a small sample size. I had a lot of guys in the comments like he just outplayed this guy. He just outplayed that guy. That's great. I have seen a ton of stars outplay other stars in regular season games. I've seen Joel Embiid outplay Jokis several times. I've seen guys out play Luca. I've seen guys outplay Shay. I've seen guys outplay Giannis. I've seen guys outplay Steph, Lebron Ad Tatum. I've seen guys outplay everybody right on any given one game in the regular season. It's important because it's a sign to Warriors fans and to the rest of the league, like, hey, Steph still has it, Steph can still do this right. But there's a much larger sample that we're going to see over the course of this season. And before I go claiming that Steph is better than Luca, are better than Shay, I'm gonna need to see more than a dozen games. And honestly, like, even though Steph has had some really big games this year, his counting stats just aren't even in the same stratosphere as those guys at the top of the league. And so let's see more before we supplant guys that have been playing really, really well for a long time at the top of the league. Next question, Steph definitely looked like a top ten player to end to end the season last year. What was you watching bro last twenty five games for Steph last year, twenty two point eight points per game, four point five rebounds per game, five point five assists per game, forty two percent from the field, and thirty eight percent from three. He wasn't good the end last year, not by STEPH standard. Now, yes, there were factors at play. He was worn down, the roster was weak, there was a lot less fast, a lot of Klay Thompson and Chris Paul instead of really fast young players. There are a lot of reasons for that. But to be clear, going into the player rankings that I did this summer, Steph didn't even deserve to be considered top ten. There were several plays. Donovan Mitchell deserved to be ranked over him. Jalen Brunson deserved to be ranked over him. I kept him in the top ten as a sign of respect and because if you guys remember in that video, I said, I think this is a slump, and I think Steph will bounce back. But like there's a lot this This happens a lot uh uh with NBA fans, where like there's a lot of evidence that one thing's gonna happen, and then something different happens, and then everyone wants to be like I fucking told you, and it's like, actually, like this is a change, this is new information, This is new. So like you're like people that made educated guesses based on stuff that was actually happen happening. Everyone else is making hopeful guesses on what they think maybe will happen, Like and yeah, the thing that was hopeful and maybe ended up happening, and that's great and you guys should be very very excited about that. But like, again, like there's a reason why there was some skepticism surrounding the Warriors and what ended up happening, right, what ended up happening was you swapped out Clay and Chris Paul and all of the minutes they play and I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head, it was like fifty something minutes a game. You took fifty something minutes a game and turned it into super fast younger players. And then in addition to that, like you had a new training camp, you hit on a couple of signings this summer. Steph Curry is playing like a superstar again, and now all of a sudden, you look like a contender. It's a combination of a ton of factors, a ton of new information. Did anybody think when Buddy Held got signed that he was going to play as well as he did? No? A lot of you like it was a good fit, an obvious fit. I think everyone thought he'd hit shots. I don't think anybody thought he'd be as good as he's been. This has been a surprise, and so again it's like, appreciate it for what it is. It's exciting. I'm excited too. Steph's my second favorite player in the league behind Lebron James.

Like I am excited.

Like I am excited.

I root for this team, Like this is something that I enjoy I said the other day in a mail bag. The team that I enjoy watching the most is the Warriors. They play an incredibly fun brand of basketball.

I root for this team, Like this is something that I enjoy I said the other day in a mail bag. The team that I enjoy watching the most is the Warriors. They play an incredibly fun brand of basketball.

This is great.

This is great.

I'm thrilled, But I'm not going to like apologize for the things that I said over the summer that were based on evidence that were based on the actual basketball that was being played. The Warriors have flipped the script. They've been a surprise, so have the Cleveland Cavaliers. How many of you Warriors fans were saying that the Calves would start the season thirteen to zero and look like the best team in the league. Probably none of you. Right, it's a surprise, But what you should do is acknowledge it. Acknowledge the new information, be excited about it, try to learn about them. We did a whole hour breakdown with Carter Rojiguez from the Chase Down podcast on Wednesday where we went into a bunch of the different things that the Calves are doing different and then we learned and we move on the same thing. On the negative side, like I had the Sixers is like my sixth championship contender. Now it looks like a lot of their veteran minimum guys are pretty limited and they can't keep their three stars on the floor healthy, and so they look like a team that's a hell of a lot worse than I thought to start the year. There are things that are going to be right about there's things are going to be wrong about there's things you're gonna be spot on about. I had a feeling that the Clippers would be really feisty this year. They've been really feisty this year. I had a feeling that the Lakers would be a pretty solid and like more professional looking team than they looked last year. They have to start this year like, there are things that I'm right about. There's things that I'm wrong about. That's kind of part of the journey. But yeah, like Steph wasn't playing at a top ten level to end the year last year. I had a feeling it was a slump. That's something that I was right about to start this season. Down Playing the twenty twenty two championship is hilarious when you support the twenty twenty championship. This is the biggest thing that Warriors fans got pissed off at in the mailbag. All I was trying to say is this is not like twenty twenty two because the teams are better now. So let's first of all, I am not downplaying the twenty twenty two championship. I think it's the crowning achievement of Steph Curry's career. It's one of the most impressive championships that I've seen. I am not undercutting that at all. All I was trying to talk about is the concept of the Warriors needing more firepower on a real basic level. You guys, tell me if you disagree in the comments, tell me, Jason you're wrong, Jason, you're right. Tell me if you agree. Are the Celtics this year better than they were in twenty twenty two?

I'm thrilled, But I'm not going to like apologize for the things that I said over the summer that were based on evidence that were based on the actual basketball that was being played. The Warriors have flipped the script. They've been a surprise, so have the Cleveland Cavaliers. How many of you Warriors fans were saying that the Calves would start the season thirteen to zero and look like the best team in the league. Probably none of you. Right, it's a surprise, But what you should do is acknowledge it. Acknowledge the new information, be excited about it, try to learn about them. We did a whole hour breakdown with Carter Rojiguez from the Chase Down podcast on Wednesday where we went into a bunch of the different things that the Calves are doing different and then we learned and we move on the same thing. On the negative side, like I had the Sixers is like my sixth championship contender. Now it looks like a lot of their veteran minimum guys are pretty limited and they can't keep their three stars on the floor healthy, and so they look like a team that's a hell of a lot worse than I thought to start the year. There are things that are going to be right about there's things are going to be wrong about there's things you're gonna be spot on about. I had a feeling that the Clippers would be really feisty this year. They've been really feisty this year. I had a feeling that the Lakers would be a pretty solid and like more professional looking team than they looked last year. They have to start this year like, there are things that I'm right about. There's things that I'm wrong about. That's kind of part of the journey. But yeah, like Steph wasn't playing at a top ten level to end the year last year. I had a feeling it was a slump. That's something that I was right about to start this season. Down Playing the twenty twenty two championship is hilarious when you support the twenty twenty championship. This is the biggest thing that Warriors fans got pissed off at in the mailbag. All I was trying to say is this is not like twenty twenty two because the teams are better now. So let's first of all, I am not downplaying the twenty twenty two championship. I think it's the crowning achievement of Steph Curry's career. It's one of the most impressive championships that I've seen. I am not undercutting that at all. All I was trying to talk about is the concept of the Warriors needing more firepower on a real basic level. You guys, tell me if you disagree in the comments, tell me, Jason you're wrong, Jason, you're right. Tell me if you agree. Are the Celtics this year better than they were in twenty twenty two?

Yes? They are.

Yes? They are.

Are the Luca Kyrie MAVs that just went to the finals going to be a more difficult opponent than the Luca Jalen Brunson MAVs that you ran into in the Western Conference finals in twenty twenty two. I think that yes they are. They're deeper, they have a much better secondary shot, greater. Luca's better. Now they're better. They're just better like the Denver Nuggets that you beat in the first round. Are they going to be a little bit different this year with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Junior healthy, Yeah, they are. It's going to be different. It's going to be better. Oklahoma City is a much better team, in my opinion, than that Phoenix Suns team that ran away with the top of the Western Conference in twenty twenty two, Like, there's the teams at the top of the league are better. Do you disagree? Because if they are better, then the team that won in twenty twenty two might not be enough anymore. And so that's why I was talking about, Like, that's why I look at them as a team that could use some more top end firepower. I don't want to see the Warriors go down in a second or third round series because Kyrie Irving is spelling Luca with twenty seven to twenty eight points a game efficiently, or because Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are getting buckets off of Shae Gills, of Alexander and Buddy Healed goes cold and Andrew Wiggins goes cold. That I don't want to see them. I want to see Steph flanked by a guy that you can reliably count on to produce twenty twenty five points a game efficiently at the forward spot. That's all I was trying to say. Like a lot of times like this goes back to what I was saying earlier, Like a lot of times like everything gets turned into some massive, sort of big picture thing when I'm just trying to hammer a specific point home. I was trying to hammer home that you guys need more firepower, not that the twenty twenty two championship. Not trying to downplay the twenty twenty two championship.

Are the Luca Kyrie MAVs that just went to the finals going to be a more difficult opponent than the Luca Jalen Brunson MAVs that you ran into in the Western Conference finals in twenty twenty two. I think that yes they are. They're deeper, they have a much better secondary shot, greater. Luca's better. Now they're better. They're just better like the Denver Nuggets that you beat in the first round. Are they going to be a little bit different this year with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Junior healthy, Yeah, they are. It's going to be different. It's going to be better. Oklahoma City is a much better team, in my opinion, than that Phoenix Suns team that ran away with the top of the Western Conference in twenty twenty two, Like, there's the teams at the top of the league are better. Do you disagree? Because if they are better, then the team that won in twenty twenty two might not be enough anymore. And so that's why I was talking about, Like, that's why I look at them as a team that could use some more top end firepower. I don't want to see the Warriors go down in a second or third round series because Kyrie Irving is spelling Luca with twenty seven to twenty eight points a game efficiently, or because Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are getting buckets off of Shae Gills, of Alexander and Buddy Healed goes cold and Andrew Wiggins goes cold. That I don't want to see them. I want to see Steph flanked by a guy that you can reliably count on to produce twenty twenty five points a game efficiently at the forward spot. That's all I was trying to say. Like a lot of times like this goes back to what I was saying earlier, Like a lot of times like everything gets turned into some massive, sort of big picture thing when I'm just trying to hammer a specific point home. I was trying to hammer home that you guys need more firepower, not that the twenty twenty two championship. Not trying to downplay the twenty twenty two championship.

That's silly.

That's silly.

All I'm saying is, well, you guys admit it. Will you admit that the league is better now? Because it is? It just flatly is. You're lying to yourself if you won't admit that the league is better now. So, like, I don't know what to tell you the league is better. I would like to see this Warriors team with more firepower, and I'm not gonna apologize for that. Next question, Hey, Jason, could you explain why AD's defensive RFG percentage is around the middle of the pack for centers. When I watch him, it feels like a presence, just like a go Beart, Chet Wemby, etc. But the numbers just don't reflect it. AD's defensive RFG percentage is at fifty eight percent, where Chets and Wemby's is around forty percent. Love your work a couple different things here. First of all, defensive metrics are incredibly flawed on a bunch of different levels, and that's pretty much widely accepted, even by the stat nerds that like lean on that kind of stuff all the time. And so I always like take those sorts of things with a grain of salt. Secondly, it's about the team. Like go Bear is playing with substantially better perimeter defense talent, chet Holmgren is playing with substantially better perimeter defense talent. Even Wemby, who doesn't have the type of talent that OKAYC in Minnesota has on the perimeter, is playing with better perimeter athletes than the Lakers. If a drive is flattened out before it gets to the rim, it's easier to defend. When you've got guys like Austin and Ruy and d Low giving up like straight line drive after straight line drive with like real momentum towards the rim, it's just harder to stop. And so again with Anthony Davis. A lot of people underrate Anthony Davis defensively because of the team metrics that come out of the Lakers, but it's just not realistic because they play with there there's literally not a guy in the rotation who's like an elite defensive player other than Anthony Davis. There's just not one It's like there's guys who are solid. It's like, oh, Gabe can kind of slide his feet and kind of do his thing. Austin Reeves is solid, he can do his thing. Like there are guys that have specific skills, like Ruey can do some help defense stuff. You can defensive rebound a little bit, like you know, Max can slide his feet. He's just a little thin. You know, Cam Reddish has got long arms and can move his feet. But like, there's just not a guy on the roster who's like even the same level as like a Nikhil Alexander Walker, as a like elite guard defender. The only guy in the Lakers who is is Jared Vanderbilt, and he hasn't played basketball and damn near year, so it's hard to even like, Like Vanderbilt is practically just a theoretical thing for me at this point.

All I'm saying is, well, you guys admit it. Will you admit that the league is better now? Because it is? It just flatly is. You're lying to yourself if you won't admit that the league is better now. So, like, I don't know what to tell you the league is better. I would like to see this Warriors team with more firepower, and I'm not gonna apologize for that. Next question, Hey, Jason, could you explain why AD's defensive RFG percentage is around the middle of the pack for centers. When I watch him, it feels like a presence, just like a go Beart, Chet Wemby, etc. But the numbers just don't reflect it. AD's defensive RFG percentage is at fifty eight percent, where Chets and Wemby's is around forty percent. Love your work a couple different things here. First of all, defensive metrics are incredibly flawed on a bunch of different levels, and that's pretty much widely accepted, even by the stat nerds that like lean on that kind of stuff all the time. And so I always like take those sorts of things with a grain of salt. Secondly, it's about the team. Like go Bear is playing with substantially better perimeter defense talent, chet Holmgren is playing with substantially better perimeter defense talent. Even Wemby, who doesn't have the type of talent that OKAYC in Minnesota has on the perimeter, is playing with better perimeter athletes than the Lakers. If a drive is flattened out before it gets to the rim, it's easier to defend. When you've got guys like Austin and Ruy and d Low giving up like straight line drive after straight line drive with like real momentum towards the rim, it's just harder to stop. And so again with Anthony Davis. A lot of people underrate Anthony Davis defensively because of the team metrics that come out of the Lakers, but it's just not realistic because they play with there there's literally not a guy in the rotation who's like an elite defensive player other than Anthony Davis. There's just not one It's like there's guys who are solid. It's like, oh, Gabe can kind of slide his feet and kind of do his thing. Austin Reeves is solid, he can do his thing. Like there are guys that have specific skills, like Ruey can do some help defense stuff. You can defensive rebound a little bit, like you know, Max can slide his feet. He's just a little thin. You know, Cam Reddish has got long arms and can move his feet. But like, there's just not a guy on the roster who's like even the same level as like a Nikhil Alexander Walker, as a like elite guard defender. The only guy in the Lakers who is is Jared Vanderbilt, and he hasn't played basketball and damn near year, so it's hard to even like, Like Vanderbilt is practically just a theoretical thing for me at this point.

So it is what it is.

So it is what it is.

But I wouldn't pay too much attention to defensive metrics surrounding Anthony Davis. I don't think they properly reflect his impact. Thank you for giving Tatum his credit. This was the question I was looking for earlier. Thank you for giving Tatum his credit. In years past. I feel like you've disregarded a lot of what he does because of your own admission he's not one of your favorite players. But I appreciate not only your objectivity, but also how you went into depth about how his play style shifted this season this season, I think I've been the most impressed by him this season, understanding when it's him that really needs to take over every Celtics game. This season, it feels like there are one to two stretches per game where Tatum alone will go down and score eight, twelve consecutive points for the Celtics when he's out there with the bench unit. Usually it happens towards the end of the first quarter or the middle of the third quarter. This is kind of what I was getting at earlier, where it's like I argue Tatum is seven instead of five, and everyone thinks I hate the guy, Like, yeah, you're right, he's not my favorite player, but I don't like dislike him that much either, Like there are basketball players that I watch where like I don't like watching them, Like Luca's like that, Joel Embiid is.

But I wouldn't pay too much attention to defensive metrics surrounding Anthony Davis. I don't think they properly reflect his impact. Thank you for giving Tatum his credit. This was the question I was looking for earlier. Thank you for giving Tatum his credit. In years past. I feel like you've disregarded a lot of what he does because of your own admission he's not one of your favorite players. But I appreciate not only your objectivity, but also how you went into depth about how his play style shifted this season this season, I think I've been the most impressed by him this season, understanding when it's him that really needs to take over every Celtics game. This season, it feels like there are one to two stretches per game where Tatum alone will go down and score eight, twelve consecutive points for the Celtics when he's out there with the bench unit. Usually it happens towards the end of the first quarter or the middle of the third quarter. This is kind of what I was getting at earlier, where it's like I argue Tatum is seven instead of five, and everyone thinks I hate the guy, Like, yeah, you're right, he's not my favorite player, but I don't like dislike him that much either, Like there are basketball players that I watch where like I don't like watching them, Like Luca's like that, Joel Embiid is.

Like that for me.

Like that for me.

Jalen Brunson's getting a little there for me, with some of the grifty stuff. But even then, even when I don't like the guys, I have such a love and respect for the game of basketball that, Like I still watch Luca and it's like, even though he irritates me, sometimes I'm like, God, that's impressive. God, this is impressive. Like I still look at what they do and have appreciation for it. Same go those for Joel Embiid, saying like the footwork and the skill is impressive, Like Joe Embiid is like legitimately like a good three point shooter. Now it's crazy, you know how hard he's had to work to do that. Like I feel like if he's open and gets a good look, I feel like it's going in Like that. There's a lot that I appreciate about those guys too. Now Tatum isn't like my favorite player, but I don't actively dislike him either, but I've always had an appreciation for everything he does well. And a lot of times it turns into the thing where it's like, Okay, I have this guy at five instead of of seven, and I have this guy at seven instead of five, and people interpret that as like you hate this guy or you're thinking he's the seventeenth best player, the twenty fourth best player.

Jalen Brunson's getting a little there for me, with some of the grifty stuff. But even then, even when I don't like the guys, I have such a love and respect for the game of basketball that, Like I still watch Luca and it's like, even though he irritates me, sometimes I'm like, God, that's impressive. God, this is impressive. Like I still look at what they do and have appreciation for it. Same go those for Joel Embiid, saying like the footwork and the skill is impressive, Like Joe Embiid is like legitimately like a good three point shooter. Now it's crazy, you know how hard he's had to work to do that. Like I feel like if he's open and gets a good look, I feel like it's going in Like that. There's a lot that I appreciate about those guys too. Now Tatum isn't like my favorite player, but I don't actively dislike him either, but I've always had an appreciation for everything he does well. And a lot of times it turns into the thing where it's like, Okay, I have this guy at five instead of of seven, and I have this guy at seven instead of five, and people interpret that as like you hate this guy or you're thinking he's the seventeenth best player, the twenty fourth best player.

That's silly. I've always viewed.

That's silly. I've always viewed.

Tatum as like one of the guys that's in that second tier of stars, right below the top of the league. Most Celtics fans actually agree with me. That's the crazy part. Most Celtics fans agree with me. There's a segment of Celtics fans that think he's in the Jannis Luka Jokic tier. And look, here's the thing, with the way he's starting this season, like he's getting certainly closer to that pier. As I said in the beginning of the mailbag, I think he's at the top of that second tier at the start of this season.

Tatum as like one of the guys that's in that second tier of stars, right below the top of the league. Most Celtics fans actually agree with me. That's the crazy part. Most Celtics fans agree with me. There's a segment of Celtics fans that think he's in the Jannis Luka Jokic tier. And look, here's the thing, with the way he's starting this season, like he's getting certainly closer to that pier. As I said in the beginning of the mailbag, I think he's at the top of that second tier at the start of this season.

But like, yeah, I.

But like, yeah, I.

Feel like I've always talked about Tatum being a versatile defender. I think I've always talked about Tatum being a guy who's made strides as a playmaker in recent years. I've just also pointed out things like, yeah, dude, you rely a lot on tough jump shot making, and this year he's making them, which is making him look like a better player. But in years past he's relied on tough jump shot making and not made them, and it's been an issue for him, it's been an issue that's extended to even the Olympic team not wanting him in the rotation. There's I feel like the criticism that I levied was fair, and so that's kind of where that comes from. And I just I want people to understand when I talk about a player's like upsides and downsides, I'm just trying to do my job. And when I ranked players in specific spots, it doesn't mean a lot of times if I'm arguing for a couple spots lower, I'll bring up some negatives, but that doesn't mean I think the guys fifteenth or something along those lines. And honestly, like one of the things that I've seen a lot with Tatum fans too, is they'll be like, why don't you ever criticize so and so for this? Why don't you ever criticize so and so for that? And like, I feel like, if you watch this show, you can tell I do criticize even the top players in the league. I'd argue I criticized the top players in the league. More.

Feel like I've always talked about Tatum being a versatile defender. I think I've always talked about Tatum being a guy who's made strides as a playmaker in recent years. I've just also pointed out things like, yeah, dude, you rely a lot on tough jump shot making, and this year he's making them, which is making him look like a better player. But in years past he's relied on tough jump shot making and not made them, and it's been an issue for him, it's been an issue that's extended to even the Olympic team not wanting him in the rotation. There's I feel like the criticism that I levied was fair, and so that's kind of where that comes from. And I just I want people to understand when I talk about a player's like upsides and downsides, I'm just trying to do my job. And when I ranked players in specific spots, it doesn't mean a lot of times if I'm arguing for a couple spots lower, I'll bring up some negatives, but that doesn't mean I think the guys fifteenth or something along those lines. And honestly, like one of the things that I've seen a lot with Tatum fans too, is they'll be like, why don't you ever criticize so and so for this? Why don't you ever criticize so and so for that? And like, I feel like, if you watch this show, you can tell I do criticize even the top players in the league. I'd argue I criticized the top players in the league. More.

Ask jok fans.

Ask jok fans.

There's a lot of Jokic fans that get upset with me because last year I said he couldn't shoot, and he had a shitty defensive season. Like, that's the guy that I think is the best player in the league, and I was openly criticizing his shooting in his defense throughout the entire second half of the season and in the playoffs. Luka Doncic, I've been I told him. I said that the defensive performance he had in the finals was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen in the finals. Giannis, I talk all the time about how in the half court he can really struggle to be as decisive and efficient as his teammates at as his peers at the top of the league. I've talked about how he hasn't as good of a defensive season as he did last year. Shak gilges Alexander, I've criticized him for not being as much of a willing passer or surgical half court passer as he needs to be.

There's a lot of Jokic fans that get upset with me because last year I said he couldn't shoot, and he had a shitty defensive season. Like, that's the guy that I think is the best player in the league, and I was openly criticizing his shooting in his defense throughout the entire second half of the season and in the playoffs. Luka Doncic, I've been I told him. I said that the defensive performance he had in the finals was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen in the finals. Giannis, I talk all the time about how in the half court he can really struggle to be as decisive and efficient as his teammates at as his peers at the top of the league. I've talked about how he hasn't as good of a defensive season as he did last year. Shak gilges Alexander, I've criticized him for not being as much of a willing passer or surgical half court passer as he needs to be.

Like, I am.

Like, I am.

Critical of all the players at the top of the league, not just Jason Tatum. If you think I'm only being critical of Jason Tatum, then you're only listening to my Celtics content and you're only reacting to the stuff I'm saying about Jason Tatum, So again, I wanted to clarify that because I think it's become something that has slipped through the cracks a little bit. Could you explain what you define as athleticism. One of your main gripes with the Lakers has been a lack of athleticism in the backcourt. And of course I can understand that players liked Lo and Reeves aren't particularly muscular or bouncy, but I feel like I'm missing the point of why that matters so much to the success of the team, not even being specific to the Lakers, what qualities do you point to when referring to athleticism or lack thereof in the big picture? Love the show Man, Thanks for keeping me entertained at work when I can't watch the games. Thank you for the kind words and for supporting the show. When it comes to athleticism, it's combination of factors, So I think size strength. There's like speed right like like foot speed and coordination. There's actual speed, like straight line speed when you get going full speed start stop ability, there's conditioning is a major one that I think. It's a gloss over a lot, like more physical tools like how long are your arms where's your center of gravity? Is it higher where you can get bumped off your line? Is it lower where you better at holding your ground? All of those factors get baked into athleticism, but like I mean, it all kind of comes together in a big way. Like there are guys like that, like, for instance, the Lakers front court players Lebron and Ad get burned in transition all the time. Nikola Jokich is not as like fast or quick as Ad or Lebron, but he plays more consistently hard like. Jokich's conditioning is so top tier that the dude just sprints up and down the floor all the time, and so he doesn't get taken advantage of in transition as much as some of his more athletic peers At the center position. Steph is a guy that doesn't necessary have the athletic tools of some of the guys at the top of the league, but his conditioning is better than everybody, and he just runs and circles the entire damn game and he catches you slipping every single time you relax. That's a factor of athleticism, right. Draymond Green's long arms. He's an undersized big sure, but he can meet guys up top at the rim, like he did with Daniel Gafford, or close out to the three point line like he did on I think it was Naugie Marshall in the game on Tuesday. He can get there and he can get great contests and sometimes even black shots because he's got super long arms. All of that stuff combines into athleticism, and there's just way too many guys on the Lakers where it's like it's like Ruy or excuse me, let's say Dlo. It's like Delo is like slow footed, not particularly fast, not particularly big, not particularly strong, and not particularly well conditioned. He's a bad athlete, gets burned all over the floor all game long. Ruey big, strong, long, that's good, right, but slow footed loses side with his conditioning. And I also even think there's like a mental athletics as an aspect, which is like.

Critical of all the players at the top of the league, not just Jason Tatum. If you think I'm only being critical of Jason Tatum, then you're only listening to my Celtics content and you're only reacting to the stuff I'm saying about Jason Tatum, So again, I wanted to clarify that because I think it's become something that has slipped through the cracks a little bit. Could you explain what you define as athleticism. One of your main gripes with the Lakers has been a lack of athleticism in the backcourt. And of course I can understand that players liked Lo and Reeves aren't particularly muscular or bouncy, but I feel like I'm missing the point of why that matters so much to the success of the team, not even being specific to the Lakers, what qualities do you point to when referring to athleticism or lack thereof in the big picture? Love the show Man, Thanks for keeping me entertained at work when I can't watch the games. Thank you for the kind words and for supporting the show. When it comes to athleticism, it's combination of factors, So I think size strength. There's like speed right like like foot speed and coordination. There's actual speed, like straight line speed when you get going full speed start stop ability, there's conditioning is a major one that I think. It's a gloss over a lot, like more physical tools like how long are your arms where's your center of gravity? Is it higher where you can get bumped off your line? Is it lower where you better at holding your ground? All of those factors get baked into athleticism, but like I mean, it all kind of comes together in a big way. Like there are guys like that, like, for instance, the Lakers front court players Lebron and Ad get burned in transition all the time. Nikola Jokich is not as like fast or quick as Ad or Lebron, but he plays more consistently hard like. Jokich's conditioning is so top tier that the dude just sprints up and down the floor all the time, and so he doesn't get taken advantage of in transition as much as some of his more athletic peers At the center position. Steph is a guy that doesn't necessary have the athletic tools of some of the guys at the top of the league, but his conditioning is better than everybody, and he just runs and circles the entire damn game and he catches you slipping every single time you relax. That's a factor of athleticism, right. Draymond Green's long arms. He's an undersized big sure, but he can meet guys up top at the rim, like he did with Daniel Gafford, or close out to the three point line like he did on I think it was Naugie Marshall in the game on Tuesday. He can get there and he can get great contests and sometimes even black shots because he's got super long arms. All of that stuff combines into athleticism, and there's just way too many guys on the Lakers where it's like it's like Ruy or excuse me, let's say Dlo. It's like Delo is like slow footed, not particularly fast, not particularly big, not particularly strong, and not particularly well conditioned. He's a bad athlete, gets burned all over the floor all game long. Ruey big, strong, long, that's good, right, but slow footed loses side with his conditioning. And I also even think there's like a mental athletics as an aspect, which is like.

How well are you at? How good are you at?

How well are you at? How good are you at?

Like staying attentive and focused on the details, because that's such an important thing. I think all of those are parts of the game of basketball. Curious to hear your reaction on Bronnie only playing home games in the G League. I do not see how this could be good for Bronnie. Totally agree. I think most of the compliment, the complaining about the Bronni situation has been like straight up people who just don't like Lebron irrationally and like are taking it out on the Bronnie situation. That's most of it. But this is something that I genuinely don't understand. Like the kid needs reps, he needs to play basketball, and like there's this thing where it's like, oh, they don't want him flying delta because he's too famous. Okay, I understand that. I get that, Like I get I get how Lebron James could be, Like I don't want Bronnie like sitting on a delta playing with a bunch of like you know, like American citizens right where, like just just because it's a little uncomfortable. He's such a public figure and he's become slandered so much and all this kind of stuff, Right, I get that, totally understand, But like figure it out, man, figure out the transportation piece, because like it's not gonna work for anybody if one, Bronni's not getting the reps he needs because he's only playing in half the games. Two Bronni's with the actual big team when the G league's on the road, but he can't actually play because he's not in the rotation. And three, the G League team is trying to actually put together a cohesive roster, and they've got a guy in the starting lineup who's in and out of the lineup based on whether or not they're at home or on the road. Like that's not working for anybody. And like just because of transportation, Like, dude, you're a billionaire, Lebron, get Bronni to the games. I don't know what to tell you. Get Bronnie to the games. Like, there's gotta be a way to do it that doesn't involve this sort of like shuttling back and forth and only having a playing road home games. Like again, like Lebron James is the most polarizing basketball player of my lifetime. Half the world absolutely hates the guy. I will never understand it. I feel like in his older age it's gotten a little better, but there's still a big chunk out there that just hates the guy for whatever reason. And the majority of the criticism of Bronni is completely ridiculous. There's nepotism all over the league. None of you guys gave a shit when it was anything that had nothing to do with Lebron. Now that Lebron's involved, you got your panties all in a bunch. I don't understand what it is. It is what it is, but this specific thing is something that I disagree with. I don't understand. I don't understand how this could be good for Bronnie under any circumstances. Is it high time the Lakers look at Vanderbilt as a trade asset now, given that he's always out, and get a three and DP player by trading him in d Love. So I would be okay with trading Jared Vanderbilt as long as you got someone of equal athletic a capability, that has a starting caliber player. So, for instance, if you have the opportunity, let's say that the Lakers decide to go after Zach Levine, if you gave up Vanderbilt and Zach Lavine trade, that would make no sense to me, because now you're giving up You're giving up one of the few good athletes you have on the roster while getting back an athletic player, but not an athletic player that's functionally athletic. In the areas you need, like defense and rebounding, right, But let's say that you're going to get an actual, real elite perimeter athlete into Like let's say, for instance, you got you called the Clippers up and you were like, let's take Derrek Jones Junior and James Harden in a deal or something like that. If that ended up being the type of deal that the Lakers went after, if it took Jared Vanderbilt to get Derek Jones junior, hell yeah, include him in the deal. Derek Jones Junior is a better basketball player and does all the same stuff. That's who I would want, right, But like, it all just depends on what you're getting back. If you're not getting a supreme athlete back that can start games, I don't want to give up Jared Vanderbilt in a deal. I know you didn't cover this game, but Wemby was six for nine from three last night against the Jazz. It was the most threes he's made in his career. When Wemby was told of this, Wemby was surprised. Wenby is currently averaging seven three point three pointers a game, which is about half his overall field goal attempts. Do you think this style of play from Wemby will be successful in the long run. Well, he followed this up with an eight to three game last night against the Washington Wizards when he dropped fifty. Right, So here's the deal. I talked about this in the show that aired on Thursday. But like, one of the things that's been really fascinating to me is these like younger pretty athletic stars, guys like Anthony Edwards, Supreme athlete, Victor Webbin yamo Is, some of the best athletic gifts in the league, Jason Tatum one of the bigger, stronger forwards in the league, Jalen Green dearon Fox, A couple of like really fast athletic guards that are taking ten plus jump shots a game. And I think it really just comes down to the math. Like, like Wenby takes eight threes or makes eight threes on sixteen tries, it's twenty four points on sixteen shots. What is it like that that's one point five points per attempt. Like, when you're hitting at that rate, the math is just so overwhelmingly your favor He'd have to hit seventy five percent of his shots around the paint to be equally as efficient, so I think it's leaning into the large sample. Here's the thing. I'm one hundred percent okay with it as long as they're continuing to hit shots at a percentage or the math makes sense, But there is one caveat in late game situations when you get into the small sample, getting that extra point per make doesn't matter if you can't make the damn shot. So like all these guys, I want to see them have something close to the rim that they feel like they can make at least fifty percent of the time. If that's a turnaround, fade away, if it's a left shoulder hooked, whatever it is that you go to, you gotta have something close to the rim that you can rely on in small sample size situations when you can't rely on the math to benefit you over the large sample. All right, three more questions in your opinion, Jason. Should the Pacers continue to start Mathriin even when Nemhard comes back from his knee injury. Matherin looks fantastic this season, and if they make a trade, I could see a Nemhard Nie Smith for Jad McDaniels for the perimeter defense they need. Thoughts Absolutely, I think Andrew Nempard when Andrew Nemhard comes back, that Ben Mathern should keep starting. First of all, he's shooting the lights, like shooting the laces off the basketball, both off the dribble and off the catch, but especially off the catch. They had already been closing with him sometimes before then Mhard injury, they close like with him over Nie Smith or something like that. But they've struggled so much with defense and rebounding that I do agree that they need something at the three. So like the ideal kind of configuration to me would be, you know, you have Tyrese Halliburton, you have Ben Matherrin, you have Pascal, you have Miles Turner, and then somebody who's basically just like a bigger, like, longer, better version of aaron Nie Smith at the three. I think would make this team a lot more interesting. Maybe they're the kind of team that should be looking at like a Dorian Finney Smith out of Brooklyn as a potential target for them. Hello Jason, how many more games do we need for the Knicks to find their chemistry? Although some of their depth pieces off the bench are injured and haven't played a single game yet, and when they do. Do you think the defense will click along with their offense? So I would say with both the Knicks and the Wolves, I would wait a lot. Like both of them have been really clunky to start the year. The Wolves just drop back to back games in Portland where they couldn't score and were turning the basketball over a ton, And like the Knicks, that's like impressive game, huge dud. Impressive game, huge dud. Like they're just up and down like crazy right now. These are two teams that completely change their identity a week before training camp and undid a lot of the continuity that they built over the previous seasons. I wouldn't take any sort of hardline stance on the Knicks or the Wolves until we're at least halfway through this season. If we get to the trade deadline and they have these clear flaws, then it's a different kind of conversation to have. But I'm not going to worry about anything until we get to that point. Last question, they have a seven and four record with only Lebron. This was in reference to a Lakers tweet that I sent out this morning. They have seven and four record with only Lebron, Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves giving them anything night tonight. Those three do it all, getting almost nothing night tonight from most of the roster, zero front core depth. Makes some changes and quickly this team will be something. This was in relation to the Lakers getting off to a seven and four start but barely having a positive point differential, And obviously there's a couple of big blowouts in there. They got rolled by the Grizzlies on a night when Anthony Davis didn't play, and then they had that catastrophe when they went to Cleveland and just got the shit beat out of them. But for the most part, they've been a team that I'm actually like, weirdly down on, even though they're off to a decent start in the standings, And the main reason why is they've looked so inconsistent down the roster. But like all these teams are figuring out with the Lakers that if you pressure the ball and you run on them and transition, you can cause them all sorts of problems because of their lack of athletes. And so to me, like Austin, Lebron and ad are a rock solid foundation. They continue to demonstrate that again to start this season. There is a ton of skill down the roster. De Loo is skilled, Ruy is skilled, Dalton connect is skilled. They have skilled players. They have to find a way to balance that out with athleticism down the roster in order to capital ey on it. But I agree if you're looking for a silver lining as a Lakers fan other than the top three guys, there's been no consistent good play down the roster. If you start to get that, either through just guys playing better, or through the trade market, or through guys getting healthy like Jared Vanderbilt, that's where there's some potential upside with this Laker team because their top end is so good. All right, guys, that is all I have for today is always sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. I hope you all have an amazing weekend. We'll be back on Monday with some game reactions and some power rankings.