And you mentioned point guards.
Another piece I thought was super interesting was your last piece on Jose Alvarado and I was reading it and there's a bunch of different guards in the mix that you interviewed and that we're referenced, And I guess the first question that I have is, do you think that his success, because I think it came out of nowhere, and you know he was acc defensive player.
But still undrafted.
Do you think that this success that he's had, success that guards like bred van Fleet.
Have had, does that pave the way? Is this like a trend?
Do you think that's happening we're undersized players can come in and be really valuable role players.
I hope so, because I love those kinds of players. But I think the trend is not to me about undersized players exactly, because I think it's getting harder and harder for smaller guards to stay in the league. But I think if you are one of those guys that plays taller, if you're one of those guys that can switch a little bit and compete against bigger players it can hold their own, then yeah, it's just like the bar is getting higher. And I think probably one of
the reasons why he went and drafteds. People just looked at him as a small guard, and now that he's in the NBA, it's like, well, he plays if he has no idea that he's a small guard. He plays as if he thinks he's six'. Nine and that's exactly
How Van vliet. Plays that's how you. KNOW i, like that's How Alex gruccio is one of the guys that was quoted in the story THAT i think that's Who alvarado had told, him like you paved the way for, Me LIKE i saw what you did to go from a two way to like being a rotation player in the league and all of. THAT i Think fred Van vliet didn't tell me exactly What alvarado told him when they, spoke but it sounds like a kind of similar. Deal LIKE i Think alvarado saw in those guys a kind
of path for. Himself AND i think there's a. Reason it's like those guys defend like crazy and they have offensive skills as, well And fred Van vleet's An All star at this. Point BUT i think the idea is if you can be an elite defender at the guard, spot then you can survive if your teammates have to cover for you all the, time and if you can't guard multiple positions and all of, that then like you basically have to be a superstar now on the offensive
end to. Survive BUT i do think at least in terms of like defense, first like really really intense competitive, smart like the guys that are in the right places and manage to affect a game on both, Ends like if those guys are coming out of, college if those guys are coming out of, wherever and teams can get a scout on, them they at least have guys that compare them, to, Right like if they say we think he can be sort of like A VanVleet or like
In alvarado or, WHOEVER i think that. Helps it's just LIKE i think you have to sort of be careful when LIKE i DON'T i don't want to start to say like every Guy alvarado size can do, that because if they, could Then alvorado wouldn't stand out that much and and we'd be seeing more guys that size kind of make. It AND i think we're actually seeing as the, Opposite like the bar is getting higher and higher and higher if you're a small, guy.
Yeah which makes him even more of a.
UNICORN i think that's what makes and his Teammate Herb jones so fascinating, too is all the things that he can do, defensively and.
His Scottie, Barnes alvarado And.
Herb jones all guys that lead the way with defense really and that our good passers and and can kind of be unicorns in their own way and haven't been seen as these like offensive you, know fire.
Firepowers you.
Know, YEAH i THINK i love when When Herb jones And alvarado are on the court, Together LIKE i JUST i think of those especially when like when The pelicans Have Larry nance at the five, spot like they're closing the games most of the time With nance of the. Five, now last few, Games jose's played the whole fourth quarter and started with That houston game where he basically dominated.
It but The pelicans are like they have a ton of, Firepower like their team is built to be an elite, offense even though the shooting isn't that, greatly they just destroy teams on the. Inside AND i think what you're looking at from now until the end of the season is like can they find that balance of like all that firepower being that efficient offensive team while also getting enough stops to beat the best teams in THE. Nba AND i Think Willie green's playing around with the lineups
to try to get to that. Point AND i really like the look that they've been going with lately in the fourth quarter Where alvarado has been in the court And nance has been on the. Court it gets trickier to like Slot Herb jones into that lineup when it's like crunch time because you Have ingram AND cj And zion on The but like throughout the, game you can see The pelicans get to some really good defensive lineups even if they're not like a top flight defensive.
Team is it more difficult For Willie, green in your opinion to make decisions now That zion and When zion is healthy.
In a, WAY i think he enhances what they. Do he lets them do a lot. More BUT i think they're still doing a lot of experimenting the Point zion stuff that we saw from you, know the last time he was, healthy When Van gundy was was the, COACH i was like so, exciting but it was obviously going to look different when he came, back because like it's a completely different team now it's a new. COACH. Cj McCollum was not on the team. Before the bench is
like totally different. Now BUT i mean just finding the space within a, game even finding a space within just a possession to be, like all, right we're Empowering zion to be the decision maker, here the playmaker. Here like it. Gets it's a little trickier BECAUSE cj needs his possessions doing, that Brandon ingram needs his possessions doing. That you have other guys Like Jose, Alvarado, DeVante, Graham Dyson daniels all
think of themselves as point. Guards they are not always the guy bringing the ball up at court when they're on the. Floor but just by virtue of the fact that all these guys are on the team and getting, minutes it means there's going to be fewer. Possessions Zion williamson is like bringing the ball up and doing, that and we know he's so bit at. That and it's only in recent games That zion has gotten to do
that stuff a little bit. More AND i still don't think they have found the just natural easy rhythm of like we are just flowing from one action to another where Like zion AND cj are playing in harmony and making each other better and all of this. STUFF i think they're still working through all of, that AND i think where their offensive numbers are despite that is like pretty impressive because they're it's they're kind of still in preseason,
mode like they're still in experimentation. Mode They zion missed some time or miss some. TIME cj was shooting like terribly to start the year for some. Reason BUT i think the ceiling's really. High it's just they have that stuff to, balance and they just have a lot of good players so that the rotation is not obvious and. Simple it's a good problem to, have but it's also
like a legit. Problem and like those decisions once you start talking later in the, season once they've had the time and once they kind of know what's, What like when you're in a playoff series and you're figuring out who you're gonna, start you're gonna close games, with who's gonna play with, Whom like that stuff can like swing
an entire game and like swing an entire. Series so they they do have like a sort of serious thing to do, here which is like basically figuring out like how the chemistry is going to.
Work there's like a lot of one sided players on this, team a lot of good. Players you put them together in a different way and they really compliment each other. Well but you, KNOW i Guess Brendan ingram's probably the best guy who's in terms of like balanced offensively and, defense and that makes things, TRICKY i think in terms of just what that lineup looks. Like another really great defender that you featured With. SHAY i Love shay so. MUCH i think he's one of the most underrated players
in the. League this, year he's FINALLY i feel like getting he's broken through to. Mainstream you, KNOW i feel like he Was he was every like, hoopheads you, know one of their favorite watches last year until he got shut, down you know, whatever injury or tanking or. Both and now it's, like, yeah he's, there you, know forty point, games game. Winners what was the process of you deciding he wanted to feature? Him and like when did that pop into your?
Mind so that one wasn't as like intensive as some of the others we talked. About that was basically like the thunder in, town AND i KNEW i wanted to write about his. Defense he is maybe the most improved player in THE nba right, now even without the defensive, Improvement like he's been so, crazy like the reason why it seems like he is getting all his attention he didn't used, to even though he was so great last.
Year like he's third in the league in, Scoring like he's Like John morant isn't averaging as many points in the paint As shay is this. Year And jaw was, LIKE i think drives per, game you, KNOW i, mean but he, Has LIKE i think this is the third straight year he's led the league in drives per, Game but he is so much better in terms of like the finishing. Numbers he's actually weirdly like he's shooting far fewer, threes but it doesn't matter because his mid rated numbers
are completely. Insane his usage is like near the top
of the. League just what he's doing night tonight is so, difficult but yet he makes it look so easy on the offensive, end where where it looks like it's hard is the other end WHERE i think he, Clearly like if you go and watch the tape from his rookie year or The clippers versus what he was doing most nights with The thunder the last few, Years like it was different and it was, understandable but he always had this defensive potentially just wasn't quite doing, It AND i,
MEAN i just wanted to kind of ask him some questions about, that ask you, know Ask Mark digno about, that ask teammates about, that BECAUSE i, thought, like it's just so impressive that he's doing both at the same. Time you don't you don't usually see the big jump on both, ends and he is just he has been on, it like he's been locked in pretty much every. Game The thunder have not been amazing defensively every, game but they have overall had a really good, defense especially in the half.
Court wet al for Down poku.
Is like so fun to watch right. Now and it's not even it's not even because he's doing all this like, crazy like oh my, god like how did this guy do. That it's just like he's just being, solid WHICH i don't think is like what people were always anticipating out Of, poku is it he'd be like a good complimentary role player because he just looked like such a weird prospect with such a high ceiling and like he still has that.
Ceiling BUT i think it's cool that he has like settled into being like a kind of normal player right. Now that's actually somebody ELSE i want to write.
About BUT i literally in my head was, like that'd be a Perfect James.
Herbert i'm, true we're. Trying we're trying, here, Yeah but but whether or NOT i get to write, That, like it has been fun watching him do, that and like What shay is doing just like being disruptive off the, ball giving more effort on the. Ball it's kind of like a little bit of. Everything and then the numbers are not like he's like second in the league in stocks if that were a real. Category it's up there in,
deflections it's second in. Steals like it's the work he's putting in on that end in addition to just the like ridiculous load that he's carrying offensively is really. Impressive and like you just you don't see a lot of guys doing.
That and they brought Over Chip england From San, antonio the shot doctor who's just known for improving players three point shots by like three percent period pretty much everywhere he goes everything he, Does, right what do you Think shay is if he has like a consistent three.
POINT i, mean it's it's funny because it's LIKE i want to, say, like, oh he's, unguardable but LIKE i sort of think he's unguardable now now like, Now so it's like does IT i guess it makes guys close out a little hard on. Him it makes guys like basically never go under. SCREENS i guess that would. Help but it's like he's he's just such a unique like he's just so such a different, Player like what he does is distinct from what like somebody Like jaw even.
Does what he does is is probably a little more similar to What Chris paul, does who he surely learned from when they when they were teammates for a. Year but it's just it is even different from that because it's all about like, angles it's this herky jerky thing to keep defenses off. Guard it's not about like getting a step and then like just full on accelerating blowing by. Guys like he's not he's not not, fast but he's
usually not going super. Fast he's making quick. Moves BUT i don't even think he needs like a lights out pull up jumper or anything like he is a good spot up shooter now and it's just you're seeing him take fewer of those spot up shots because he's usually the one creating the offense this. Year BUT i mean
that that could change depending on who's on the. Team BUT i, think, YEAH i think you've seen him basically make a conscious choice this, Year LIKE i don't need to look for that pull up three BECAUSE i can get wherever the HELL i. WANT i can get a bucket whenever might he needs.
It, yeah, well lost like derozen esque in some ways in terms of angles in mid. Range but a lot of people do Compare shay And jaw to one. Another why do you think that?
IS i think because they they're both such good, finishers they're both really, young they're both. Exciting BUT i do think they're like key differences in terms of their, Style LIKE I shake would never be the kind of athlete that That jaw could. Be and, well they're both like
crack and smart and cerebral players for. Sure she's just like there's just kind of nobody like, HIM i think, honestly, like Besides James, HARDEN i can't think of another like downhill driver as good As shaye and, like LIKE i don't, know like, decades the numbers sort of speak for, themselves like you can't there's not really a defense equipped to deal with him right. NOW i thought it spoke volumes when The celtics were just throwing double teams at him
the other, day because they never do. That BUT i think combination of the fact, that like they that was their best strategy because nobody was shutting him down one on, one and the fact that they're basically like all, right like he is their number, one two and three. Option it's not like somebody, else like we're scared of, them so we're just gonna get the ball out of his.
Hands like that led them down that. Path BUT i think that was like the ultimate sign of respect that like The Boston, celtics who Have Marcus smart And Jalen brown And Jason tatum and all of these guys are just, like, actually we're gonna do. Is we're gonna put two those guys on.
You you talk about just sort of how hard it is for small players to be in this, league because you, know the league's getting it's getting like more. VERSATILE i Interviewed Nick nurse During Summer League we spent about an hour together and he mentioned to me kind of in detail what he wants from a. Player and six seven to six' nine with a positive wingspan that can do all the things that a point guard can do and all the things that a big can do is SOMETHING
that i think you know in. Your article it's you know HOW the nba is. Resizing again leads me now to Think About POWELLO and i watched him At the GARDEN and i saw him and They Had franz wagner running the point and everyone on the.
Floor was like. Six' nine they don't win a, lot of games but do you think that size? Could?
Actually contend that is that a winning lineup NOW?
In, the Nba well, not ORLANDO'S version but i think that idea is like can. WIN games Now i think toronto overachieved.
For that.
REASON last year i Was, like that GARDEN that's where i did, All THOSE interviews like i was at that game and LIKE that's where I, spoke to pallo AND that's where I spoke To Wendell and Tarren Tross and cold, Anthony all that like that was, Not unusual though like they that's every game this year and part of that Is. Based, ON anthony yeah. I, didn't, anticipate yes Yes so like markel hasn't, Played This, YEAR gary harris i think is
about to make. His season, Debut You know jalen suggs missed a game or Two Earlier on cole anthony's been out for. A little while like this has been their best option because they haven't had a lot. Of OTHER options but i think, in the PAST like even i don't think that, That LONG ago like i think four or, five years ago if a team was dealing with this, kind of thing you would see them call up a like traditional point GUARD From the g. League, or something yeah,
they just know we don't need. To do that why like why people just Give, it to wagner Give, It to paolo like we need to get those guys. Play, Making reps anyway like they're gonna maybe lose some games, because of it but this is what they're trying to develop in, their guys regardless and, it's to me it's very similar To what the. Raptors were doing it's just some of the lineups are even bigger because they happen
to have A Seventy two bowl bowl. On their team who plays like a wing and like basically like believes. He's a wing like if you watch the stuff, that he does like it it. Makes perfect sense and then also there, Are other bigs, like on offense they're all stationed along the three point line and, they're you know it's not that they are, knocked down guys but if their feet are set and if, they're in rhythm like there's no why would Mostly not Allow Mobamba and wendell carter?
To shoot three is? You should? Like that is that is where the. League IS going and, i think defensively the upside of having that much length and that much size is. Like pretty obvious these guys, are very young
so the or not an elite. Defense RIGHT now but i think even when it, wasn't so extreme like, like last year just seeing the the front line Before, they got paolo like When they had Wagner And wen Del carter and mobamba in, the front court like that was a really good defensive unit and that was an interesting like front. Court, to watch offensively it's just you you introduce A talent like paolo who's just insane and like might be the best passer on the team as well
as being a guy that is like. A walking mismatch he can go, in the post, he can isolate like do all. Of this stuff like that's just that is really everybody is looking FOR. IN the nbia i don't think people think of him as like this like, crazy unicorn, Freak like generational like what even is this the way that people Talk about like wemby or even the way people like when They first saw chet a few years
ago would. Have said, it but, like to me like the skill package that he has as an offensive player at that size is kind, Of mind blowing like he is an enormous guy when you stand next to him and he plays exactly.
Like, A guard yeah i don't see people realize that because he's so proportional and you hear the size like you hear six, ten two fifty but seeing six ten to fifty, is, Just different RIGHT like WHEN i, he's i, mean HE'S bigger and i always do it, like all right well he's two.
Inches, bigger than.
Lebron, you know yeah he's like just a Little Shorter, than mitchell robinson like maybe even. The same height like it's just sort of nuts or, What, Was it hartenstein he was just like a little bit shorter than when you actually got in front of him.
Face to face can you sort, of Explain.
That because i've never had that with any player, in the league because they're all sort of out of Proportion.
Except for lebron but it's it's just. Somehow.
IT'S different yeah i think THE way that i put it is there certain rookies that just do not look like. Rookies,
What soever honestly scotty is kind of like. That LAST year like i remember watching him just like not, even in person like JUST watching On Tv and summer league, and, being like oh he's like bullying, guys like cool and then you see him do the same THING to like nba, veterans and, like all right this guy is like kind of built in a different way than most of these guys because like a lot of, times it's normal it
makes sense these. Rookies come in it takes him like two three four years for them to get strong enough to like just survive the rigors of a season and take contact on the inside and. All of That and like powell is just he is not, That at all
like he was just a physically. Dominant IN college and i think a lot of the time when a guy is physically, dominant in college, the question, is all right is he skilled enough to do this at the next level when he doesn't have that, Advantage every night and it, TURNS, out, well a yes because he's, skilled as Hell, and b like the vast majority of the time he still has that advantage because if you're gonna but a guy that is quick enough to guard him and stay with him
a lot, of the time he's going to, be, just stronger bigger. And more powerful and if you're going to try to put a bigger dude on him a lot, Of the time powlo can just like go. RIGHT by him i think you're seeing like a trend of tall kids being more skilled and the young players being bigger
and more. Skilled every, YEAR so like i Don't know what paolo's like advantage over the average kind of four, man or whatever if we're even talking in those positions like five six, YEARS from now i don't know what that. Will look like but, AS of, now i mean there are guys who can like, credibly guard him but there's not it's not. A, long, list yeah.
No, it's not offensively, he's super gifted, like you said just, an incredible, passer his vision. WILLINGNESS to pass i think, it's really interesting