Hoops Tonight - Ben Simmons Returns, Holiday Mailbag

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next couple of days. Tonight, we're gonna be talking about Ben Simmons's return to Philly, just focusing in on that game and on some of the narratives surrounding Ben Simmons, and then keep an eye on the feet. Tomorrow we're gonna be doing a mail back, so all of you guys are sending mail back questions. I really appreciate that we're gonna get to a bunch of them. I think I picked out seven of them that we're gonna be

hitting tomorrow. So keep an eye on the feet. And then also for those of you who are listening to this on YouTube or on the podcast feed, don't forget that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get these post game breakdowns. So this is a good old fashioned ass kicking in a lot of different ways. It felt like Philly was completely in control that entire that can have. They really poverized Brooklyn on the glass

and shot the ball really really well. Now, remember Brooklyn has been really good defensively lately their fourth coming into tonight, they were fourth and defensive rating since the Kyrie suspension. But they are a long and athletic team, but they're not a physically imposing team. They're not strong. And when you look at that Philly roster and even down three, basically they're three best players. Even down those guys, it's like p J. Tucker, big strong wing, like physically imposing wing.

Tobias Hair is big, strong wing. Even you know Montrez Harrold, he plays a lot bigger and stronger than he actually is. Paul Reid, big strong player, and then they've got enough ball handling and shooting with you know, with um, with guys like the Anthony Melton that they picked up, and and for concork Mas can make plays with the basketball in his hands. They've got guys that can play offense.

And so if you bring a weak effort, you can still lose to that team, especially when they're in front of a crowd that's highly motivated and that wants to beat the Brooklynetts because Ben Simmons plays for them, which we'll talk about here in just a second. Tobias Harris

absolutely dominated the second half of this game. You know, it's funny when when I coming into the season, I talked about Philly's top four players and how they were the most talented top four in the league, and everyone, you know, seemed to be kind of react in a in a very unenthusiastic manner to that, because it's like a lot of times guys like Tobias Harris just kind of get forgotten, and he is the forgotten member of

that group. But the reality is that has more to do with his role than it does with his actual skill set. Tobias Harris is a big, strong wing that has a good versatile skill set that allows him to score the basketball. He's just on a team alongside Tobias or excuse me, alongside Tyrese Maxie who's one of the best young guards in the league, James Harden, who's just flat out one of the best guards in the league, and Joel Empide, who's a top six or seven player

in the league. So he's relegated down to a role where he's doing a lot more spotting up, a lot more attacking close outs, a lot more playing on the margins rather than doing things with the basketball in his hands. And that's that's just an important part of the game of basketball. Something that impacted me when I played in college. My first couple of years, I was a score I was playing on teams that were less talented. They put

the basketball in my hands. I average double figures, I shot a lot better, had a bunch of big scoring games. And then I played on a team where I had two All American guards and they stuck me in the corner and it was a completely different type of role. And in that season I had my worst shooting season. After shooting like fift in conference play from three the previous year. I couldn't make a damn shot to save

my life in that much smaller role. And you know, in a lot of cases like that, when you get into a different type of basketball role, you can struggle. And I feel like over the years, Tobias Harris has gone a little bit under appreciated, and it has become that for gott member the team, that has more to do with the role that he's in than it does his actual skill set. And what did he do that

entire second half? He picked on the smaller Brooklyn guards and wings and scored over the top of them because he is a big, skilled wing. And I hope that a game like tonight just kind of reminds people that he's capable of a lot more than what he has shown for the Sixers over the course of the last

couple of years. And really he's a guy who's sacrificing to make this particular team work, and that people should be a little bit more hesitant to offer criticism towards him when he's having a rough night, when he's you know, playing on the margins um Brooklyn. Again, like I said earlier, They've been much better defending and rebounding lately, even since the kyriees haspension, they've been twenty three and rebounding, which originally before that they were like near the very bottom.

So again, bad but better than it had been. But tonight they completely let go of the rope with both and they got their ass kicked. And that's how it's gonna go. Um. You know, for Ben Simmons, I really didn't think the reception was that bad. And you know, there was some booze. You know, when he missed a jump pook, there'd be some booze when you know, just in general, there was some negative energy that was directed towards him, But it wasn't that bad. And the reason

why I think it's pretty simple. First of all, this isn't Lebron coming back to Cleveland as the best player in the world. Ben Simmons is a is a bad contract right now. He's played a few good games in a row, but right now he's not a super desirable basketball player. So it's not like the Philly fans horribly miss him, if that makes sense. And then secondly, they got James Harden back in that deal that he could not get James Harden if it wasn't for the Ben

Simmons trade. And you know, James Harden hasn't been the m v P James Harden that we're accustomed that we're accustomed to, but he's definitely been a top twentysomething player in the league over the course of the last couple of seasons, and a hell of a lot better than Ben Simmons has been. And so that saga, the whole Ben Simmons saga, worked out pretty damn well for the Philadelphia seventies sixers. So I don't I don't think that I don't think that they have a lot of reason

to be upset at Ben. And even when we go further and like, like for instance, when we look at the refusal to play, because in terms of you know, like I think a big part of why Cleveland fans were mad at Lebron was the manner in which he went to Miami. Did you look at the decision, there's kind of like a he looks really happy, it looks like he's a kid in a candy store picking from teams.

The optics of it were really bad, and so in a lot of ways, when you saw that and then you saw him put on the Miami Heat jersey and you see him do that weird party where he's saying the not five, not six, not seven. They're you know, just Bosh, Wade and Lebron by themselves, not with the rest of the team, but just those three in an arena doing like a hype event. Like there was a lot of objectively really unlikable stuff that was done there that made it so that when Lebron came back, he

was kind of a pariah. And then of course when he went into the arena, it was like almost painfully awkward to watches. The crowd was treating him horribly and he was just lighting them on fire, like he destroyed them in that game, particularly with his jump shooting and with every passing shot that he made and turned and looked at the Calves bench and almost was like more

and more unlikable. Really, Lebron's redemption didn't happen until he got humiliated in the two thousand and eleven playoffs, and that kind of humbled him in a lot of ways, and then he became his more likable version of himself moving forward. But you know, the Ben Simmons thing had a lot of similar hallmarks, right, like, didn't show up

first to training camp, skipped a bunch of stuff. But then he does show up and he's got like his phone in his pocket on while he's running through defensive drills, and then he's like, you know, he's bringing up mental

health issues and all these different things. There are a lot of reasons for Philly fans to dislike Ben, but the dirty little secret is him doing that was the best possible thing that could have happened to Philly because Ben Simmons had a bad playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks, in a really bad playoff moment where he passed up on the dunk, right, But for the most part, over the previous couple of years, he had been really damn good.

One He was one of the candidates for Defensive Player of the Year, you know, so like Ben Simmons had a lot of value, and so him not actually playing to start the season last year kept like an aura of of mystery surrounding Ben in a good way. It was like you were trading for what you thought was the previous version of Ben. Had he shown up to camp with the back issues that he had been having with the knee issues, that he had been having essentially

in a declined form. Had he been, you know, more of a professional and just showed up to work during his trade request, he would have probably tanked his own value well beyond the point of any hope of bringing a James Harden back in a deal like that. So the reality is whether it was the disrespect, or the mental health issues, or the combination of all those different things.

Him doing that, that stunt that him and Clutch Sports polled hid the fact that he had massively declined as a player, which kept his trade value more of a you know, a question mark rather than a sure thing. That it was definitively a bad contract at that point, and it facilitated that particular deal. So the reality is is for Philly, it's about as good as it could

have gone. And I think that's why there's not that much negative energy towards him, And I think that's I think that's why tonight didn't have that feel of Lebron coming back to Cleveland or anything else along those lines. On a positive note, for Ben, in Ben's declined form, he literally needs a team like Brooklyn to find basket to find value on a basketball court right now, A big part of it is that inverted spacing concept that I talked a lot a lot about. You guys have

heard me talk about this with Golden State. Every you know, people will say like, oh, Draymond won't take that three. Well, it just doesn't matter because the paint. They're not actively trying to drive the basketball into the paint all that often, so spacing doesn't matter to them. Like if Draymond Green is unguarded on the right wing and Clay Thompson is guarded in the right corner, they'll just kick it to Dre and he'll quick do a dribble handoff for Clay

and he'll get a wide open three. When you have teams that are actively trying to take the top off of the defense with jump shooting, spacing just doesn't matter all that much. So a guy like Ben Simmons, if you put him alongside Anthony Davis and Lebron, that could be a catastrophe. Lebron James and Anthony Davis are two of the top four restricted area finishers in the league right now. They're constantly hunting those opportunities that congestion would

be problematic for them. This is a Brooklyn Nets team that has Kevin Dury, one of the best pull up jump shooters in the leage, Kyrie Irving one of the best pull up jump shooters in the league, Seth Curry one of the best shooters in the league, Patty Mills one of the the best shooters in the league. Joe Harris one of the best shooters in the league. Here's some numbers to kind of demonstrate what I'm talking about. Of Brooklyn's shot attempts this year are jump shots. Of them

are pull up jump shots. So almost a third of Brooklyn's offense is an off the dribble jump shot over the defense, and then another third of them our catch and shoot jump shots. So they're just not hunting those at the rim opportunities nearly enough for that to matter. As a comparison, here's some Lakers numbers. Only of their shot attempts are jump shots. Only six of their shot

attempts are pull up jump shots. So spacing is just gonna matter a lot more to them because they're constantly trying to force their way to the basket, and congestion disrupts those driving lines. On a team like Brooklyn. If Ben Simmons defender is ignoring him in Rome, it just doesn't hurt nearly as much. And honestly, his ability to make plays out of the short roll is significantly more

valuable for them. It's kind of like with Draymond the ability to quickly do something with the basketball that creates an advantage for someone else when you're left wide open is much more valuable for a jump shooting team. And he's doing everything Brooklyn needs that needs him to do. He's finding openings around the rim for drop offs and

quick finishes. He's been having a lot of scoring success in this last three or four games in the dunker spot just by relocating and staying available and quickly making you know, reverse laps and things along those lines. Doesn't have to be dunks, although he had a couple of dunks and lob situations tonight. Um. But he's also really he's still getting the ball in transition and pushing the ball and hunting shooters exactly like Draymond Green does, and

that's always been one of Ben Simmons's best gifts. And then in pick and roll situations with Kevin Durant, he can make quick decisions out of the short roll, and then he's he's not the defensive Player of the Year type of candidate that he was a couple of years. Ag. Oh, but he's still a very good plus defender and has a knack for defensive playmaking. That there was a play

there in the uh. You know, playmaking is is such a vague term in all sports because it doesn't really have like a definition in the sense that like, oh, you just did playmaking, you know what I mean. But because we can sort all these plays down to specific types, pull up jump shot here, you know it's still here, a block here, whatever it is to me, a playmaking is a natural feel for the momentum in basketball game and like improvisational things on either end of the floor

that create a momentum shift in a basketball game. For example, and of the first half, Ben Simmons, I can't remember who's guarding, might have been mat Matisse thyble, but it was out by half court and he rips the ball away. But when he rips the ball away, the balls loose on the ground. Ben Simmons sees Kevin Durant streaking the floor because Kevin Durant started streaking because he thought Ben

Simmons had the basketball, but he didn't. Ben Simmons laid out and just punched the basketball into the front court and it went right into Kevin Durant's hands and he ended up getting a punk. And like, that's playmaking. There's no whoever practices punching the basketball like a diving punch of the basketball. Nobody does. What that is is that's an instinctual, improvisational thing that you do on a basketball

court that ends up in a momentum shift. Of course, the Anthony Melton stole all that momentum by knocking a three down right before the end of the half. But that's the kind of thing that I'm talking about. Ben Simmons is a defensive playmaker for this team that doesn't hurt them on the offensive end because of the things that he can do in the dunker spot and in the short role. Ideal situation for him. So again, happy for Philly, they did find in the Ben Simmons saga.

Happy for Brooklyn because in this now they got snowed basically on the James Harden trade. That's a whole other story. But as far as Ben Simmons goes, this is pretty much the ideal situation for him at this point. This is our last show for this week. We're gonna take

the rest of the week off. I do plan on still watching a good amount of hoops and and doing the usual stuff that I do in the mornings, watching some films, So keep an eye on my Twitter feed at Underscore Jason lt in the mornings, that's primarily when I'll be getting, you know, just some instant reaction stuff on those particular games. And we will not have a show until next Monday. We're doing a mail bag episode today, so thank you to everyone who contributed to the mail

bag questions. We have six questions there we are that we are going to get to today, covering a bunch of different teams. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on

Twitter I underscore json lts. You guys don't miss any show announcements as well as some breakdowns over the course of the rest of this week and then last but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight. All right, question number one,

this is from zero percent. Do you think there is a decent chance the Lakers keep Westbrook for the entire season? If so, what trade do you think would make sense for them? So is there a chance to keep Westbrook? Yes, First of all, there were a million reasons to get rid of him last summer and then they didn't. So whatever conventional wisdom approach or logical progression we had in mind, we gotta throw that out the window because that's just

not the way this front office works. They had the toughest schedule in the league to start the season, and they said, let's send him out there and see how this goes, and it was a complete disaster. So, like, we can't put ourselves in the brain space of Rob Polinka and Genie bust because they are two of the most incompetent people in the entire league. So we have to kind of distance ourselves from that. Secondly, the narrative surrounding Russell Westbrook as a sixth man is really powerful

right now, and he's been good. He's been Russ has had a good season off the bench, particularly as a pick and roll shot creator. With Anthony Davis. I saw ustat today that matches up with what we've seen on film, which is that Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis are two of the best pick and roll pairings that we have in the league right now by points per possession. And I've been, you know, talking about that a lot earlier in the year, based on the fact that Russ was

actually trying to get downhill on the screen. Whenever you're running pick and roll, you have to engage the screen defender to actually open up the passing reads that are available, and pick and roll Lebron James was too passive, wasn't actually coming over the top of the screens, was picking up his dribble earlier, throwing pocket passes to Anthony Davis before engaging the screen defender. And so the Lebron a d pick and roll has been bad this year, like

flat out bad. I did a whole video breakdown on that particular concept that you can find on my Twitter feed if you scroll back. I think it was last Thursday, if I remember correctly, but I broke down the good Lebron pick and rolls, which is the bad Lebron pick and rolls. Russ pick and rolls have been good because he's been trying to get downhill and he's just generally been doing a good job carving up bench units around the league. And he's been better defensively than he was

last year, although not great. However, I vehemently disagree with the strategy of keeping Russell Westbrook. Here's They still desperately need a couple of more good role players. A couple of guys have rosen from the pile and informed, you know, pretty decent sized roles on this team and have become solid NBA players. Austin Reeves, Lonnie Walker, who I was flat out wrong about this summer, Troy Brown Jr. Those three guys have done a good job becoming functional basketball

players alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis. But that's not enough. They need more than that. And Russ makes forty seven million and he won't be in the closing lineup. He hasn't even been in the closing line up every game since Lebron went out. When Lebron's back, he's almost never gonna be in the closing lineup. You can't tie up a forty seven million dollar salary slot on a guy that you can't use in your final five. That's just

a poor use of real of resources. So his salary, realistically is still the best vehicle with which to bring back multiple good players. Eric Pinkus of Bleacher Report pitched a deal yesterday, a three team deal that would involve the Brooklyn Nets and the Detroit Pistons that would bring back Kyrie, Irving Boy and Bogdanovich, Alec Burk's and New Orleans Noel. Obviously, that would be perfect because you get back up big, you know, since Damien Jones hasn't really

panned out, Thomas Bryant remains to be seen. He's been pretty good, but it's only been a couple of games since he came back. New Orland's Noel gives you a legitimate, you know, backup big to throw in there. Alec Burke's actually killed the Lakers the other night just because he's a big wing that can. He's about six six, but he's a good athlete, just because he's bigger and stronger than most Laker players, and he was just attacking closeouts and getting to the foul line a bunch and causing

problems for them. He's just a good, a solid NBA role player, right that you can throw into the mixed boy and Macdonovitch gives them a wing that allows them to play a d at the five, and then Kyrie Irving is the shot making piece that they miss. They're one of the best. The Lakers are one of the worst pull up jump shooting teams in the league. I think they are far and away the worst pull up jump shooting team in the league. So Kyrie gives you a punch there, but that's kind of like a long shot.

So that I like the idea from Eric Pinkis, but it's hard to imagine that specific deal um working out. As far as trade options go for the Lakers, they have two directions that they can go. They can go big. I think like the Indiana Pacers trade. Miles Turner has been one of the best defensive bigs in the league this year and is routinely throwing out like twenty and ten with m a three and a couple of different a couple of blocks. That's a big part of how

Indiana has been so good. Buddy Healed, you know, I've been watching a ton of film on Buddy Held in the last couple of weeks, kind of prepping for potential Lakers trades, and you know, I like him as a shooter. I like the things that he does off of the ball, especially in spot up situations, attacking closeouts and stuff. He's actually not great handling the ball and pick and roll um, So I don't I I don't love that specific aspect that that actually has been a little bit worse than

I expected. But Miles Turner has been so damn good that that particular trade is an interesting option for the Lakers, and it gives them a big punch. It gives them the ability to play a D at the four for large chunks of the game, which is something they did a lot in twenty to alleviate some of the workload on Anthony Davis, and then he'd play his primary minutes at the five. The other direction they could oh is targeting more wings to try to keep a D at

the five. That's where you're looking for teams like maybe if Utah eventually blows it up, if Detroit continues to go downhill, you can target a guy like Bogdanovitch. But I have a hard time believing Detroit, which is let go of Bogdanovitch too, because I think they like his veteran presence alongside those young guys. Another team I really like targeting athletes on the wing is Charlotte, who has been one of the best teams in the league early in the year in deflections just because of how much

length and athleticism they have on the floor. You can get a guy um like Kelly Hubray Jr. A guy like Gordon Hayward who has been a really good pick and roll ball handler this year, to bring wing size, to keep a d at the five. But those are just two different identities that the Lakers can go. They just need to pick one, and they need to go

in that direction. My guess is that they keep Russ because of all this narrative stuff, and then they'll make some ancillary move like Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley for a wing with maybe one first round pick. But even then I don't even think they'll throw a pick on the table unless Lebron comes back and starts playing really well. Big silver lining Anthony Davis has been fantastic in the last week or sub all right, next question. This is

from n m Z Hoops. The Sacramento Kings, winners of sixth straight, averaging a hundred and thirty one point five points during this stretch. Is it just a hot stretch or is it time to take them serious as a sleeper in the West. First of all, before I rain on the parade a little bit, let's talk about some of the good stuff. They're the best offense in the league right now. They're averaging a hundred and eighteen points six points per one hundred possessions. Kevin Horders herders shooting

the laces off the damn basketball. There are thirty two players in the league right now that are attempting at least seven threes per game, and he's number one in percentage at forty nine and a half. He's also doing a he's added like a little bit more of like a that Clay Thompson like quick relocations, dribble three. So he's taken two and a half pull up threes per game, and he's making of them. And they're not like you know, mixing dudes off the dribble and taking threes. It's close

out stuff. So like pump fake one, dribble over to his left, quick three. That's a staple of the Clay Thompson one pump fake hard dribble towards the left, like when the closeouts not as hard. Car dribble towards the left, like you're going to the rim and then step back. He can make that one or an escape dribble coming off the screen. So imagine he's in the left corner and he's coming off of a couple of wide pin downs and he catches the ball, but the defender is

a little too close to him. He'll just take one extra dribble to get a little bit further away before he rises up. He's actually doing a really nice job creating additional looks for himself doing that. Dear and Fox has been a borderline all started to start the year. His jump shot looks a lot better than last year. He's been very good in pick and roll. We talked about this last week. A hundred points on a hundred and eighty seven pick and rolls including passes, which is

in the seventy four percentile in the league. Uh Demonus Sabonis is doing all the usual Sabonis Sabonus stuff, bullying his way to the rim. He's always been a great passer when he passes out of the post. This year, the Kings are scoring one point to seven points per possession, which is very good. Keegan Murray is a great fit. Maliaque Monk and Davean Mitchell have both been really good,

lots of good for the Kings. But there seven and defense, they're just one in three against teams that are five hundred or better. In fact, they rank dead last and strength of schedule right now. They've just been able to outscore teams because they're playing almost exclusively bad teams. The realities is eventually their schedule will toughen up and they'll have to play more balanced brand of two way basketball

or they're gonna start losing games. That's just the reality, and we're gonna learn a lot more about this team in the next couple of weeks. This is their upcoming schedule. They're finishing a game against Memphis right now, although Memphis is super shorthanded, there down their three best players. Then they play Atlanta and Bosta, Atlanta and Boston on the road. Then they play Phoenix, then they play that red hot Pacers team, Then they play the Clippers, then they play

the Bulls who just beat the Celtics. Then they play the Bucks, and then they play the Calves. So if you're a King's fan and you're hating on me because I'm pointing out the strength of schedule stuff. You're gonna have a chance to rub it in my face if they ripped through that next stretch of schedule by going, you know, if I win in four or five of those games, which we will see, like I said, we will know if the Kings are for real in about two weeks. All right. Next question, this is from ricks

moving forward. Who do you think needs to step up more for the Warriors? Jordan Poole or Andrew Wiggins. It's Jordan Pool, no question. It's having a bad season. He scored twenty six on Monday Night, but a lot of bad decision making a really kind of like a ballhog type of game, just hunting his shot as the Warriors were just getting the crap beat out of him. He's

been super inconsistent offensively and flat out bad defensively. In the bench desperately needs him to be better to help bolster that unit, while on the other on the other end, Andrew Wiggins has just been flat out good as he always is. So definitely Jordan Pool is the player who needs to step up more for the Warriors. All right, This one is from Joshua. What could the MAVs add to their offensive scheme given their current person to make it less Luca centric? Not a whole lot. You know,

Christian Wood is having a good offensive season. That was the offensive piece they brought in this summer, but it's mostly been when he's been created for. He's doing good in spot up situations and on the role, but he's having a slightly below average season in both is so and post up situations. And now he's playing less and less because he's so bad defensively. His defensive instincts are

really bad. He's always up out of his stance, so he can't rotate quickly, even though he's actually a pretty good athlete with really long arms, just bad instincts over helps or hugs up to his defender, his his matchup. A lot of bad stuff offensive defensively that's leading him to to slip out of the rotation. And then Tim Hardaway Jr. Is just having a disaster shooting season. I think they were counting on him to be better than

he's been. The truth is is that the Mavericks have a lot of specialists and not a lot of well rounded offensive basketball players, which is fine, that's the design of the system. There's a lot of guys that can make spot up the reason, a lot of guys that can defend, but you need your three solid creators, and ever since they lost Jalen Brunson, they just don't have that. And when you look at the numbers, Spencer didn't what He's been good. Luca don Chich has been good both

in pick and roll in isolation. Both of those guys, including passing. They just need that third creator which they don't have. And the reality is that they don't have a ton of options on the trade market. Um I would keep an eye on a Russ buy out here, So in the event of a Russell Westbrook trade, there's

a pretty good chance that he gets bought out. And this like the there Eric Pinkinson his Bleacher Report article yesterday, UH has said that in the event of a Russell Westbrook buy out, most of the league thinks he's going to the Miami Heat and that's also a good fit for him, and we're actually gonna talk about that here in a little bit, But I think Dallas is the

perfect fit for him. And the main reason why is there spacing concepts like Russell Westbrook is a Russell Westbrook racks up assists because of his ability to pressure the rim, but he's actually not a great passer. He's more of like a He makes simple reads relentlessly and he's just so good at getting to the rim that all those easy reads to the corners and to the dunker spot are just always open because of the pressure that he puts on the rim and the way the defense collapses

around him. So I think his passing would be ideal in a system like Dallas that has those concepts nailed down, and it's always like Reggie Bullocker, Dorian Phinney Smith or maxi Leeve a great shooter in those corners, and if it's someone in the dunker spot, it's a Christian Wood, it's a Dwight Palette, JaVale McGee, a guy that can

easily finish down there. So it's a simplified offensive system where you put the ball in Russ's hands and it's like, hey, dude, for the next fourteen possessions, I need you to create a shot. Well, that's ideal for him. He can just play Russ ball. He's got easy passing reads there for him.

I think that's perfect fit. So one of the easy ways for Dallas to bolster their playmaking is hope for Russell Westbrook trade and hope that he gets bought out and then pitch him like, hey, don't go to Miami, you know, come to us and and we're just gonna you play russ ball. Um. All right, next question this is from Miles. Do you think too many people brush off Paul George is just another player? Yes, thank you, Miles,

so glad that you said this. Um. He deserved his earlier reputation when he was struggling in the postseason, both with the Thunder, you know, struggling with the likes of Joe Ingles and then even with the Clippers. Um, really struggling in the bubble in particular, he at one point lost five playoff series in a row, and he deserved a lot of the criticism that went his way there. But he's not the same player now that he was then. He's much better getting to the room and he's a

much better passer. Overall, he's an outstanding perimeter defender that can score it all three levels, and that can play make out of the pick and roll and out of the post. So he's on a that automatically puts you in the conversation as to whether or not you're a superstar. I think he's in that tier right below superstar and that like ten to fifteen range with the likes of like Brandon Ingram and Jalon Brown and guys like that,

but definitely better than those two guys. I think he's like at the top of the tier that's right below the superstars. His passing is probably his most underrated skill right now. He's passed out of the pick and roll a hundred and nine times this year. That has led to a twenty one points, which is in the eighty one percentile in the league. He also passes really well out of the post. He's a legit dominant two A

wing whose last playoff front was dominant. Don't forget that when Kawai went down, he took the Sons to He beat the Jazz and then took the Sons to six and came within two wins of an NBA Finals. He's capable aout playing any player in the league on any given night. He's not just a guy, like Miles said, so I appreciated that from Mr Miles. This last question is from Mike, what do you believe the Heat need

to turn around the season. So they've dropped four games in a row, three in a row without Jimmy Butler. They were already thin in the front court as soon as they lost p J. Tucker to the Sixers. That's something that we were on before the season, and you know it's manifested in in particular in stretches like this where they've had guys out of the lineup, because it's

mainly a depth issue their core lineups. Before we go any further into this, the silver lining with this bad Heat start to the season is that when Bam at a bio, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry are on the floor together, they have a one nineteen offensive rating and a one ten defensive rating, which is plus nine per one possessions. And that's in a large sample size five

six possessions. So it's primarily a depth issue. Um. But the reality is is because of that thin front court, they just can't afford to have Jimmy or Bam miss games. Like Nikola Jovich, I was watching a bunch of film on him earlier today, He's fine, He's got a he's got good form on his jump shot, but he's not a very good athlete right now, and he's you know, it's been a mixed bag defensively, and even though the forum looks good on the jump shot, the jump shots

not going in, so there's a lot of stuff there. Um, you know, he hasn't been good enough to bolster that front court in the way they need. They're one in four in games that Jimmy Butler has missed, an oh in two and games that Bam has missed, and they're down to twenty three in offense. You know, lack of offensive creation was an issue last year that I constantly talked about, but they made up for it with execution.

They're one of the smartest teams in the league. Jimmy Butler just going otherworldly good in the playoffs, and then they were a very good defensive team. They were fourth in defense last year. But they're so damn thin in the front court that they can't get stops anymore. According to Cleaning the Glass this year there in half court defense, and then on the offensive creation side of things, especially now that Jimmy Butler's out, like Bam has been fine.

You know, he's he's created forty points on forty post ups including passes, which is sixty percentile, so slightly above average. Forty one points on thirty eight ISOs, which is in the seventy one percentile. But that's all really low volume. That's you know, every once in a while we throw the ball to Bam and he makes a play. That's

not like, you know, constructing the offense around him. Bam is a Swiss army knife of a defensive forward who is a very good offensive player in the Miami Heat system because of the things that he can do in fake drible handoffs and and how good of a screener he is, and how good he is as a vertical spacer, and his ability to occasionally create offense and is and post ups. But what he's not is the offensive focal point for a great team that that ship has sailed

at this point. Um Kyle Lowry has been a rock of availability. He hasn't missed a game, but he's having his least efficient scoring season since two thousand fifteen. He's shooting just thirty nine from the field. He's having a really bad pick and roll season. He's run two hundred and twelve pick and rolls this year that have led to just one points, which is zero point nine points per possession, which is in the thirty seven percentile in

the league. But again, as we back away the silver lining, when Bam and Jimmy and Kyler on the floor their plus nine per one hundred possessions and a pretty good sample size. So it's really just a depth issue, so that they should be super active in the trade market looking for front court depth. Jay Crowder is obviously available. I wouldn't be surprised if they're a player when when when those Hawks eventually heat up and then teams will

eventually start tanking. There was a male bad question in there that I didn't put on the list, but someone asked, like, do you think there's any chance that the Jazz still end up trying to tank? And they've won so many games at this point that like they're probably gonna even if they did try to tank, they're still gonna finish with wins. And you know the reality is they just have so many good players, Like they could trade Mike Conley, and they could trade you know, uh, Rudy gay and

and Jordan Clarkson. But it's like Colin Sexton still there and he's really good over in marketing is really good. Jared Vanderbilt is a really good player. They just, you know, Malik be easily can shoot the ship out of the basketball. They just they have so many good players that it's kind of not feasible for them to to pull the team apart, you know, in a way that would actually

make them bad. So I don't think the Jazz are gonna be tanking anymore, but they might still make some players available in trade, but there will be some teams out there that eventually start pulling the plug. And when they do, I'd expect the Miami Heat to jump into those conversations. And then, like I said earlier, Eric Pinks from bleacher Report said that the buzz around the league is that if Russell Westbrook gets bought out, he's going to Miami, and I do like that for Russ a lot.

I don't like it as much as that Dallas situation, but it's a similar type of idea. They have lots of shooting with Gay, Vincent, Max Strus, Tyler Harrow, Kyle Lowry. I think they're making Duncan Robinson available for trade as well. I saw a report about that today, but Russ's ability to pressure the rim. You know, the thing with Miami, they don't have good offensive creators, but they do have guys that can attack close out as well, whether that's

shooting or extending the advantage. Right, So the key for them is they just they don't have enough guys that can get the defense into rotation. And say what you want about Russell Westbrook, He's got a lot of flaws, but his ability to get to the basket does put teams into rotation. He will get Max trus you know, gave Vincent, Kyle Lowry, those guys close out opportunities. You know, Tyler Harroll is one of the best close out attackers in the league. You get a bunch of opportunities for

those guys. That could be something that helps juice up their offense. Uh um a little bit. He also plays bigger than his size at six three, so that bolsters them physically and that's something they desperately need. And then Erik Spoelstra is just a really smart coach and uh he would probably find a way to use rus effectively. So bottom line, this version of Miami Heat is not a feasible contender, but they are a mover or two away from re entering that conversation. All right, that is

all I have for today. I'll have for the rest of the week. I hope all of you guys enjoy the holiday. I hope you have some good food. I helpe you spend some time with family, and I will see you guys on Monday. Like I said, keep an eye on the Twitter feeds. I'll be doing the occasional. I'll just you know, tweet out my thoughts on a handful of important games, and um, let's send out some

video footage and stuff like that. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys supporting the show, and I will see you on Monday. The Volume