Hoops Tonight - How Kevin Durant & Suns picked apart Cavaliers, Phoenix biggest threat to Nuggets

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varies by jurisdiction, Boyden, Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkang dot com slash b ball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody, hope all If you guys are having an incredible week, we got another jam pack show for you today. The Phoenix Suns continue doing really well against the toughest part of their schedule here

at the end of the season. We're gonna break down their big win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night with some more film. So we got like, I think ten clips that were going through today. I had a blast with the film breakdown yesterday. I was so thrilled with how it turned out. It seemed like you guys liked it too. I'm sorry it took so long for us to get to this point, but I'm really really excited about the future of the show and where we can

take it from there. With that, after that opening segment, we had a mail bag question yesterday from a Spurs fan asking what the Spurs should do moving forward, and so I wanted to do a little bit of a deep dive into the Spurs off season plans and the realities of the time crunch that Victor weman Yama's rise puts them in. And then, last, but not least, we got to report this morning from Adrian Worzanowski that Julius Randall is not going to return the season, is going

to have season ending shoulder surgery. So we're going to talk a little bit about what that means for the New York Nicks. All right, before we get started, you guys know the drill. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating in a review on that front. Don't

forget about my Twitter fe to underscore json lt. So you guys don't miss show announcements as well as the occasional film threads that I do from time to time. In the last mount least, keep dropping mail back questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Suns were going into a really, really difficult part of their schedule here to end the season.

They had a couple of easier games about a week and a half ago, and this last four game stretch to start this end of the season, they went through at Denver, at Oklahoma City, at New Orleans, and then here at home. First game at home after a long road trip, which is tough against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they're three and one so far. Went into Denver and one, had a tough one in Oklahoma City that they lost. Then they won dominant fashion in New Orleans, and then

one in dominant, dominant fashion at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, what's particularly interesting to me about this is all four of these teams are top ten defenses, and so these are great examples of the stuff I've been talking about with Phoenix's offense throughout this season and their ability to get defenses into rotation and play advantage basketball. So I

have some numbers that I want to use to to kind of demonstrate this concept, but to start in kind of like the bigger picture thirty thousand feet way of looking at it. When you look at like kind of like the ball done stop bag culture type of ideology, as it pertains to like tough shot making and high level hooper isms or whatever you want to call it, where guys are hitting multiple dribble combinations into really tough shots.

That's fun and that's a big part of the art of basketball, and it's always been a part of the art of basketball that I've been drawn to. I personally, my archetype as a player was a scorer, and I was obsessed with footwork and dribble combinations and all those different kinds of things. So I'm not trying to pretend like that stuff doesn't matter. It does. But it's only half the battle. The other half of battle is the art of basketball in the form of the art of

finding high quality shots. Right. Ideally, the tough shot making is a ceiling raizer. It's a thing you use to rescue possessions when things don't work. It's the thing you use against top tier defenses when they do an outstanding job is shutting down in your advantage creation situations. It

is a ceiling razor. Ideally, you want your meat and potatoes to be easy shots, wide open catch and shoot threes, easy close out attacks where you get you know, some tougher shot making like pull up jumpers and floaters, but they're uncontested in the mid range because that was the opening you found in driving kick obviously getting all the way to the rim, hitting vertical spacers under the rim

for dunks, when you find as much of that stuff as possible, no matter how good you aren't making tough shots, you will never be as good at making tough shots as you will be at making the easy shots, as long as you know how to generate them. But they can be generated in many different ways, and one of the core core ways has to do with your total offensive skill. And there is a gigantic chasm this year between the Suns and their offensive skill and what they

had last year. Even though they had Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and DeAndre Ayton, they did not have yearly the fire power from top to bottom on the roster that they have this year, and that's made them so much tougher to guard. So again, all four of those defenses, the Pels, Thunder, the Nuggets, and the Cavs were all top ten defenses so far this year. Yet the Suns averaged a blister it one hundred and nineteen points per

one hundred possessions in the four games. Now, again, as I've been talking about a key factor that will kind of demonstrate the difference in the shot quality between what the Suns get now and what they got last year in the postseason, you can see that in assist percentage, in the number of pull up jump shots they take. So last year in the postseason, only fifty seven percent of the Phoenix Suns made field goals or assisted, I mean forty three percent of them or individual shot creation

on an island. Right then in this last four game stretch, seventy point three percent of Phoenix's shots that they've made have been assisted. So again, like they've gone from being a team last year in the postseason that was primarily like a solo on an island shot creation type of thing, whether it was an ISO or shot making in pick and roll to this year much more of a drive in kick finding open looks type of offense. Another stat there you'll see is in the pull up jump shooting.

They took thirty five pull up jump shots per game last year in the postseason. During this four game stretch, they're taking just twenty seven pull up jump shots per game. That's a sizable difference. That's eight possessions a game that instead of taking pull up jump shots, they're getting much

higher quality shots elsewhere on the floor. That's again the difference between playing on an island isolation slash, pick and roll shot making basketball versus playing advantage basketball, meaning you're taking not on an island defenders that you're facing, but rather guys closing out at you. You're playing with an advantage versus not playing with an advantage. Basic example of

this is King of the Court. If you ever played King of the Court with your buddies and you line up and it's one on one and the dudes you know up in your personal space and you're having to use a jab step to clear and to create space for you to go play one on one versus if you've ever played close out King of the Court, which is in my opinion, the most useful form of King of the Court for young players, and it's what we work on a lot when I work with my high

school guys. The point they're being I want them to practice playing the one on one that they're going to play in real basketball games, which is for the most part, at the high school level, you're not gifted enough in terms of your best players to just play one on one all night. You need to generate advantages and then have guys be able to capitalize on those advantages by playing one on one with the defender closing out at them right. And that's a big reason why I believe

in that, and it's just so much easier. It's crazy when I watch those kids play King of the Court and when they play with an advantage versus without an advantage, the gigantic difference and how frequently they score that no matter how good you are at the tough stuff, advantage, basketball will always be easier. The second thing that I wanted to highlight really quick before we get into the film was Phoenix's pick and roll defense has been really

good during this stretch. They were outstanding last night in the last two games against Cleveland and New Orleans, and I want to say, like sixty eight possessions. They're allowing just zero point eighty four points per possession in pick and roll including passes, which is an outstanding number. And it really comes down to communication and effort on the back line of their defense. And so in our film session today, we're going to be looking at a bunch

of examples of these two particular things. Just advantage creation basketball for the Suns on the offensive end of the floor, and then also the defensive effort that the Suns have been having in pick and roll. Now, for those of you guys who are listening on the podcast feed, I'm gonna try to be as descriptive as possible, but if you're having trouble picking up what I'm putting down, make sure you head over to YouTube to check this out.

In our final two segments, the Julius Randall and the and the Victor Wemben Yamas Spurs segment, those are both going to be without film, so the podcast feed will be fine for those. All right, let's head over to our film session. So this is the first possession of the game for Phoenix against Cleveland. We are we're going to get what's called hammer action. This is actually named after Darvin Ham. So what we have here is we have Kevin Durant on the right side of the floor.

Devin Booker's pointing for Kevin Durant to go the other way because they're getting ready to set up this action. We have Roy O'Neil and use of Nurkicier are gonna set basically a double flare screen for Devin Booker to run to the corner while Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are essentially running a decoy action here on the right side of the floor. So again, any a hammer action is basically a double a flare screen for the shooter in the weak side corner with a decoy action on

the strong side. So this is the strong side where the ball is. They're gonna run a decoy action here on the weak side, we're gonna get our double flare. So as we get going the way they're gonna do this, Kevin Durant's going down like he's gonna set a ball screen for Bradley Bial. He's throwing the ball to him, running like he's gonna set a screen. Bradley Beal is basically going to reject that. In Rich through to the baseline.

So he rips through to the baseline. Royce O'Neil sets the first pick, use of Nurkic sets the second pick, and as you can see, Devin Booker's breaking open here in that week side corners. That's our hammer action. But we get a really nice defensive play here from Donovan Mitchell chasing over the top and he's going to actually take away this shot as an opportunity for Devin Booker. Okay, he goes up, we get a pump fake. Now he has another open three. But we get another layer of

defensive effort here from Max Struce. He sells out off of Bradley Beal to close out and he forces Devin Booker to pass off to Bradley Beal wide open here under the basket. Bradley Bial catches Jared Allen steps up and now we have Kevin Durant wide open on the wing Darius Garland. If we go back a little bit here,

Darius Garland is guarding roy O'Neil up top right. But once Bradley Beal makes this kickout pass to Kevin Durant, Darius Garland has to rotate to Kevin Durant on the wing, and now we get Royce O'Neil wide open at the top of the key for three, and again an important element there that's normally Grayson Allen too. This was mostly a full strength matchup between the two teams. All five Cavs starters were playing, but we didn't have Grayceon Allen

in this game. Grayson Allen is literally one of the

very best spot up players in the league this year. I haven't checked the numbers in the last week or so, but he's been basically the best spot up guy in the league this year. Just absolutely deadly on catch and shoot threes. And so that's the predicament and the theme here that we're going to get into is we get

further into these clips. It's running an action to get an advantage, star players operating with an advantage, and then role players that are actually deadly spot up players that can make you pay when you help on those stars. And so we ran an action that got an advantage for Devin Booker that he ended up bringing two defenders in a close out from Donovan Mitchell and a close out for Max Strus, which got Bradley be able to catch under the rim, which forced a rotation to Kevin

Durant in a wide open look for roy O'Neal. That is advantage basketball. All right. Here's our next clip. This is a great example of the value of use of Nurkic as a size advantage when they're running these types of actions. So Devin Booker brings the ball up the floor and basically what we're gonna get is a dribble hand off between use of nurkics right here and Devin Booker with Max Strus on the ball and Jared Allen

on Nurkic. Now, they don't want to switch this. Max Drews wants to run over the top here, but your Nurkic sets an outstanding screen. Just absolutely drills Max struce with the shoulder there and again you can get away with a little bit of contact here. This is technically, by the book, an illegal screen, but basically usef nerkis is just making sure to extend that contact long enough to allow Devin Booker to get separation the longer. Now, one of the things that Devin Booker does here that's

really smart is he's trying to get the switch. So he snakes the pick and roll. What snaking the pick and roll means is your work over to the other side. So he snakes the pick and roll across. Now Jared Allen has to follow him and then ends up turning into a switch. So now Max Strus is switched onto use of Nurkic. So again a really good screen from Nurkic and then a snake of the pick and roll by Devin Booker forces the switch. Now we make the

post entry to use of Nurkic. Now Evan Mobley has no choice because of the size advantage, but to come over and offer a help on that baseline side. That's the guy that's guarding Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant identifies this immediately and just makes a flash cut to the high post. He's now wide open. He's now wide open because Nurkic drew that second defender, and you get a wide open ketch and shoot three for one of the best jump

shooters in the history of the game. So again simple action with a really smart screen, a really solid screen from use of Nurkic, a smart action from Devin Booker to snake to pick and roll. Nurkic is sizing the post, drawing that double team and Kevin Durant operating with an advantage. You're giving one of the best players in the world a wide open ketch and shoe jump shot at the foul line because of your ability to create advantages. That's

not isoball. That is advantage creation Basketball clip number three. All Right, so this is a textbook example of a ghost screen to attack a hedge and recover. So here we're gonna get Kevin Durant up at the top of the key with Jared Allen on him. Royce O'Neil right here is going to set what's called a ghost screen. He's gonna run over like he's gonna set a screen, and then he's gonna quick flare to this opposite wing. Right here, Donovan Mitchell does not want to switch onto

Kevin Durant, and so what do we do. And we've talked about this concept a lot on the show. What do we do in a ghost screen situation when we don't want to switch, We hedge and recover. Right, So, as Roys O'Neil kind of sets the brush screen and runs through, Donovan Mitchell steps up in hedges. But because roy O'Neil slips it, he doesn't actually set the screen. He just sprints out. That's why they call it a ghost screen. They called it a ghostcreen because you're not

actually setting a screen. You're faking like you're setting a screen, and you're sprinting out to the wing. So now Donovan Mitchell has hedged and roy O'Neil's open. Because O'Neil's open, Darius Garland has no choice but to rotate over to Royce O'Neil, And now we're getting a wide open catch and shoot three for Bradley Beal, who's been outstanding this

season in wide open catch and shoot situation. So again, a star level player operating with an advantage because of a basic action set at the top where you don't want to switch one of your smaller defenders onto Kevin freaking Durant. So again, that's using KD not to play bag basketball, but rather to generate an advantage that a star player can take advantage of on the on the backside. Alrighty clip number four. This is a really fun example. If those are you guys who remember the Cavs Suns

game earlier in the season. The Cavs were dealing with some injuries and George's Kniang was in the starting lineup in this particular game, and he drew the Kevin Durant assignment for most of the night. And Kevin Durant is absolutely flammbayede him all over the floor. You know who remembers that use of Nurkic. So we drible up the floor. Niang is check into the game. Nurkic immediately is pointing over and he's like, look, look, look look at me.

Looks he sees Kevin Durana Niang. You could see a Nurkish identifying it, and he's like, just give him the damn ball. Just give him the ball. So Devin Booker is going to make an absurd post entry pass here across the court and a Katie does a nice job of ceiling. Now once again we're gonna play advantage creation basketball. So Kat's looking to post on Niang rip through and we're going to get a hard double team from Evan Mobley on the baseline side. Okay, Now this is where

the Cavs have basically set up. Struce is supposed to be guarding Gordon, but Shruce is now sliding in because Mobley doubled to keep use of Nurkic unavailable. So the open read here is Eric Gordon. Karro Sliavert and Darius Garland are still kind of matched up in there in position to close out. So Katie makes the right read. You can see him see it, but he has to make a whip around pass. This is just an example

of Katie's physical tools. He can whip the ball around there. Now, Darius Garland had to rotate off of Royce O'Neil to get to Eric Gordon. So the obvious next step in the tic tac toe is Royce O'Neil. Right here at the top of the key, we get the kickout pass. Now Max Struce is closing out. But again, now this would typically be Grayson Allen, who's actually one of the better close out attackers in the league. Royce O'Neil's not

as good as him, but he does a good job. Here, Pumpakes gets Strus to take a hard step towards his right shoulder so he can beat him off the dribble. Now as he beats him off the dribble, Lavert is looking at the help situation here. He knows mobile he's gonna have to step up on Royce O'Neil, so Lavert's trying to read the situation. It looks like Kneeang's gonna help on Nurkic. So now LeVert is basically guarding two on one here against Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. You

can actually see Lavert guessing. He's like, which way is he gonna go? Which way's he gonna go? Kneang tags Nurkic, Which way is he gonna go? He guesses Durant, so he runs to Durant's side. So now Royce O'Neil is able to make this kickout past to Devin Booker, and now Kris Lavert is now closing out again. Look at this balls in the air. Devin book one of the best offensive players in the world, is now catching on the perimeter, wide open with a defender closing out at him.

An advantage created for the star. He catches and quick makes the extra swing pass to Kevin Durant in the corner, who he actually misses this three. But this is a great example of a super high quality shot that they generate again through advantage creation basketball for one of the best shooters in the league. All right, here we go

heading to clip number five. By the way, that blast play ended with Nurkic getting an offensive rebound in the chaos, throwing it back out to Devin Booker and he ended up making a jab step three at the top of the key. All Right, so here we're gonna get the first sighting of Bull Bull, who was an absolute monster in this game. We're gonna be talking about him quite a bit here, but we're gonna get multiple screening actions. That's gonna end with Beal and U Banks on the

right side of the floor. So we get this screening action here. It's gonna be swung across the floor here to U Banks. This play was actually designed, I believe, for Bill on the strong side the whole time to run a screening action for KD. So my guess is the original design of this play was U Banks was supposed to screen for Kevin Durant coming out Cleveland. Just defends it really well, so you can see Beal's looking, he's looking for KD. Strews just does a really nice

job navigating this and shutting that action off. So the next step in this flow here is this screening action didn't work. KD is gonna go space to the corner and U Banks is going to set up a step up and set a ball screen so you could see you can actually see you. Bank's point like, all right, I'm gonna go set it. You slide down. He's literally pointing like, go down. So then he comes up and he sets the screen. Evan Mobley is now up at

the level of the screen. Now, as we know, when you get the screen defender up to the level, that's gonna have to pull one of these guys in to tag the roller, almost usually Carris Lavert in this particular situation, so we have Mobile at the level. Beal comes over

the top. U Banks is rolling into the lane. Mitchell's gonna kind of sort of stunt at him, but Bill at this point has already identified that Lavert is coming in to step in and guard you Banks, and Bial makes a very nice skip pass to the week side corner. Two Bowl Bull, who by the way, is shooting forty eight percent field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots this season, and he knocks down the corner three. Alrighty, this is our last offensive play before we get into

our pick and roll coverages. This one actually starts with Bull Bull on a switch against Donovan Mitchell picking him clean doing more work on the defensive end. That's not the last we're gonna hear of Bull Bull on the defensive end. We'll get back there in a minute. We run down to the other end of the floor. We're gonna get what's called a RAMS screen for use of Nurkic.

So I'm so excited about this because I've talked about so many of these concepts on the show, and I haven't been able to actually give you guys visual examples, and now we can so a RAM screen. As I've talked about so many times over the years. The purpose of the RAM screen is to get a gap between these two guys, because if Jared Allen, who's an excellent pick and roll defender, is able to just walk into his defensive coverage, it's a lot easier for him to

do his job. But if you can create a separation between these two guys, Yusuf Nurkicic can sprint up into the screen and there's going to be a minute there or a second there where it's a two on one where the screen defenders trailing the play and you can create an advantage. And this one doesn't actually amount to anything, but I wanted to actually just kind of demonstrate to you guys the concept. This does turn into a bucket for Phoenix, but in a counter So here's our ram screen.

Eric Gordon is setting the pin down on Jared Allen to try and Yusuf nurkicch is running up to set the screen right. So Eric Gordon does a good job. He makes contact. Now we get our separation. There's our separation right. LeVert counters this by icing the ball screen. So Nurkic is coming up to that right hand side. If Devin Booker could get to his right hand here, Allen would be compromised because he's fighting up around this way. Devin Booker, in all likelihood would turn the corner and

get all the way to the basket. So Lavert counters this by icing the screen, which means denying the use of the screen. So look, he's sitting on the high side and begging Devin Booker to drive back to this left hand side. So again there's another hop to the high side. His Nurkics tried to create even more angle

for Devin Booker to go right. Lavert is completely denying the use of the screen, and the move to the right but obviously that bakes in a driving lane to the left, which is Jared Allen's job to catch right. In any sort of ice coverage, this big guy is typically going to drop back and catch that drive away from the screen. So Devin Booker drives, He engages Allan, and Devin Booker knows he's not just gonna drive by

him or shoot over the top. He is now waiting for Nurkic to break open as he slips out of the screen, patiently waiting, patiently waiting, makes the pass, puts it in a perfect spot where LeVert can't get to it. Nurkish does a good job of a low gather there. You could see him actually take a low gather to

prevent to prevent Darius Garland from reaching down. And because he's behind the roll man, because the roleman is behind the screen defender, that forces Struss to step over from bull Bull out of the corner, which creates a wide open three for bow Bull in the corner, who again is shooting forty eight percent on catch and shoot three. So that's it for the offensive end of the floor. And again I hope that that provides you guys a

good example. Again, we're talking about a difference here of thirteen percent in the percentage of their field goals that are assisted during this four game stretch compared to what it was like last year in the postseason. They are not playing hero ball. They are not playing we have to take tough shots every time down the floor. They are playing advantage creation basketball, and they're giving really high level offensive players high quality opportunities to convert into points.

And that's how you light up a bunch of top ten defenses consecutively. All right, let's get back to the film and talk about the defensive end of the floor. H our first pick and roll defensive clip. Now, on this first action, we're gonna get a ball screen here with Evan Mobley on Darius Garland. Okay, as he sets the screen, Devin Booker identifies it immediately. If you look at Booker, he's chilling here in the corner, but he identifies the ball screen immediately and steps up into the

driving lane. So see steps up into this driving lane. He's put himself in a position where if Darius Garland turns the corner, he can offer help, but he also feels comfortable closing out to the high side of Karris Lavert and chasing him on that baseline side where Kevin Durant can help. And in that case, if he were to chase Lavert off, Kevin Durant would help, and knee inks coming out. Booker could honestly just switch after he gets beat. So this is really smart help from Devin Booker.

Typically you don't help out of the strong side corner, but he just knows that he has the ability to chase Lavert off there. So this forces a reversal. The ball gets reversed around to the other end of the floor, and we're gonna get Max Strus in a ball screen with Evan Mobley. We have Roy O'Neil chasing over the top, does a good job staying physical and staying attached. But Max Truce nice little extra crossover dribbled to beat Royce O'Neil and get into the lane. Watch Devin Booker here though,

Devin Booker this whole time, this action's happening over here. Look, he's pointing. He's telling kd Hey, they're running a ball screen. They might get beat. You're gonna have to be the low man here, which means if Mobley sneaks behind or if anybody gets downhill, Kevin Durant's cleaning that up. That means the next step in the windshield wiper rotation is Devin Booker has to rotate down here to Niang in the corner, and Eric Gordon has to rotate here to

Karros Lavert on the wing. Devin Booker's ahead of the play. This is that communication piece. The action hasn't even the action is just now happening. Booker's been calling out the coverage here for a few seconds, and that allows them to be ahead of it. So when he gets beat, KD steps up. As KD steps up, look at Booker. Booker immediately takes a slide step. As soon as KD goes,

KDI goes, Booker slidestep and he forces the turnover. And you can actually see if you watch Eric Gordon, Eric Gordon is already ready right here to make the rotation to Lavert. See he's not worried about Garland anymore. He's rotating to Lavert. So again the communication on the back line and the effort to get to the right place in time, and you force a turnover. Another interesting example

here is Devin Booker is one of the best pick and role players in the league. He understands these reads better than everybody, and so he, as a defender, can actually channel that offensive IQ to understand the reads and actually get ahead of them as the defensive player. All right, on to clip number eight. This is a textbook example of what's called a peel off switch. So we have a transition opportunity here for the suns. Lavert sees an opportunity. He's like, I've got bull Bull on me. Bull Bull

is a forward. He's not going to be particularly good at navigating screens. We talked about this all the time. So what a great time to run a ball screen because Bu Bull probably doesn't know how to guard it. Well, it turns out bo Bul does know how to guard it. So as the ball screen comes, Mobili to set it. As he sets it, you can see bo Bull try to fight over the top. He tries to fight over the top of the screen, but then he sees right

here he identifies that Bradley Beal has effectively switched. So this is what's called a peel off switch. When you're in a ball screen and you're trying to fight over the top and you end up getting caught a little bit and your screen defender switches. Your read as the on ball defender is to peel off of your man and to take the role man and to in many cases, if the guard is looking to shoot, in many cases your job is just to keep him off the glass.

But in this case, Karris Slivert is gonna try to throw it over the top pass to Evan Mobley. But because bull Bull peeled off so quickly, and because he has such outstanding physical tools, he's able to knock that away. So he blows up the play guarding on the ball in the ball screen by knowing what to do, which is example, which is an example of him being an extremely versatile defensive player. But again, Kri Slivert thought he

saw food there. He thought he thought he saw an opportunity to take advantage of a defensive weakness and situation, and it turned out to be a defensive strength. Alright, here we go. This one is really high level pick and roll defense against a complicated action. So what these calves are doing here as they're running an action that feeds into a ball screen. So Mobley's going to try to screen Gordon first, and then Mitchell's going to set

the first pick and they're setting a staggered ball screen. Typically, in a staggered ball screen, the one of the guys is going to roll hard to the rim and the other guy is going to pop. In this case, obviously that's going to be Mitchell as the popper and Evan Mobley as the roller. The idea here is to try to confuse this coverage because it's a three man action instead of a two man action. You can actually see Donovan Mitchell. Watch Donovan Mitchell try to reach out and tap,

just tap Devin Booker on the hip. Watch this, see that little tap. There's a very specific reason why he does that. He's think a lot of teams will switch the guard guard version of this screen. So a lot of teams would be like, oh, Eric Gordon's gonna jump off on Darius Garland here and Devin Booker is going

to now switch on to Donovan Mitchell. Donovan Mitchell is trying to trigger that because he sees Eric Gordon with his back turned to Garland and he knows if he can force a switch, Garland will be able to come over the top here easily into his spot. But instead Mitchell's trying to tap the Devin Booker to fool him into thinking that's a screen, trying to get Devin Booker to trigger a switch so that he switches on to Mitchell. Booker does not fall for it. Eric Gordon stays attached.

Booker fights over the top. Now, this is a textbook example of no roller behind drop coverage. So watch a Nurkic. He's staying in a position where he can help on Mobiley and help on Garland. He's playing, he's playing the low man here. Royce O'Neil is trying to read Nurkic and he's in there just just in case he does need to help. But he quickly identifies watching O'Neill right there, he identif Nurkic has this. He's like, I'm in there, I'm in there. I'm in there right now. He's like,

Nurkic has this. He hops back. Okay, Now Garland makes the skip pass. Because of that hop, he's in position to close out if he doesn't make that hop and he's in the lane. This is a wide open three for kars Lavert. We get a really good close out from Roys. O'Neil traps him on that baseline side and he ends up ripping him from behind on the dribble move,

enforcing the turnover. So it's really good pick and roll defense because the guys out top at the initial action, we're communicating and not falling for the disguise of that of that specific action. And then Roys O'Neil in his pick and roll coverage, identifying as the low man that Nurkic was in good position and staying in a position where he could close out on the weak side. That's an example of not overhelping. All right, here's our last

clip of our film session. This one actually ends in a basket, but I thought it was an interesting example of pre switching to beat a rams screen. So let's go over how this works out here. So Cleveland is setting up in the same type of situation that we saw Phoenix set up in earlier. Darius Garland wants to create a gap between Jared Jared Allen and Drew you Banks, and so they're gonna use Donna Mitchell to set a ram screen down on you Banks to try to get

Allen a gap. Devin Booker, super smart offensive player, runs this same action himself. He identifies it. Him and u Banks are looking at each other right now and they're communicating and they know here comes a RAM screen, so they're gonna talk. Hey, let's pre switch it. See they both signal to each other, we're going to pre switch this action. So what they're doing is Devin Booker is

switching onto Jared Allen. So now that RAM screen is completely neutralized, and now you can switch this ball screen out top. Now here's where they make a mistake though. Bradley Beal as soon as he identifies that Devin Booker is up here and that Allen is actually trying to screen on his outside side, Bradley Beal should just be jumping up to this high side immediately because he knows if he gets beat to the right hand side, Devin Booker's there. So this is an example of them botching

this part of the coverage. But I did think that the pre switch was a really interesting example of a way to counter the RAM screen. So because they don't do that, Darius Garland's able to turn the corner going left, which pulls, which pulls Beal up high enough that they can get the ball to Allen and he just catches too deep and that's just too easy of a shot. But again I thought that that was an interesting example.

As you can tell, even though they gave up a basket in that specific case, the effort on the back line of those guys, Like again, as the action is developing, Devin Booker and Drew Eubanks are talking to each other, They're pointing, they're communicating, they they're letting each other know where they need to go. I thought that was a consistent theme throughout this particular set of clips, just seeing that level of communication and effort on the back line

defensively to guard and pick and roll. And again, they were excellent in pick and roll throughout that particular game. Final note on the Suns, like, I, you know, it's interesting. I don't necessarily think Phoenix has a lot of physical strength after Nurkic. That's definitely the weakness of their particular roster. As you look around the league, every team has weaknesses,

that's not a shot. But after Nurkic, they have a ton of speed, a ton of skill, and a ton of basketball IQ and the Nurkic brings the unique element of strength for that very specific Denver matchup in Nikolea Jokic. And so because they're playing a better brand of basketball now, because they're not playing hero ball. They're playing advantage creation basketball again, like I mentioned earlier, assisting on seventy percent of their midfield goals in this four game span versus

fifty seven percent in the playoffs last year. That's allowing them to reach a higher level offensive ceiling. And then they're competing defensively and communicating and defending pick and roll really well. I personally think that Phoenix is probably at this point, if I had to pick a team out West that I think is the second best team in the West behind Denver, right now, I lean towards Phoenix.

I think they have the best combination of personnel, playoff scalability, and the ability to compete on both ends of the floor. Not to mention the big white whale in the West, meaning that's an unfortunate accidental metaphor for Jokic, but I meant just like Denver as a unit, as an entity, they are the terrifying world destroyer in the Western Conference. Phoenix is the team that I think is most well equipped to beat them. So as of right now, I think they're the team that I view as the second

best team in the Western Conference. All right, let's move on to our next segment in our mailbag. Hey Jason Wemby question, I've been watching your show for a few years now, top zero point one percent of Spotify listeners. By the way, huge fan. Thanks for supporting the show. I really appreciate it. And I've heard that you say the primary goal of rebuilding a franchise is to go get a superstar. By all metrics, it looks like Wemby is that guy. If you were the GM of the Spurs,

what would you do next? Who are you keeping, who are you letting go? What kinds of player archetypes are you looking to bring in through trades slash drafts? And then thank you so much for your work. It has helped me understand and enjoy basketball so much more than before. Again, I sincerely appreciate the kind words and for supporting. So the initial structure is what I want to look at here.

So if we agree that Victor wem Minyama is our superstar to kind of anchor everything with San Antonio, now we look at like the ideal kind of five man lineup right now for me, right next to Victor Wembnyama at that forward spot I'm looking for a big, strong forward that can help in defensive rebounding situations and in low man situations, kind of like we were talking about in the Suns earlier, that guy that steps over in ball screen situations when Victor Wembinyama has to come up

to the level of the screen. Right at the three spot, we're looking for a guy who can defend on the perimeter, knock down threes, and attack closeouts really well. At the two spot, I'm primarily looking for in the two to one depending on who you end up building around. If it ends up being Devin Vessel, Devin Vessel at the two ends up being your skill guard, right Like he's the guy that is going to have the ball in his hands a lot, be running a lot of pick

and roll. I really need the point guard in that case to be an outstanding perimeter defender, a guy who can navigate screens well, guard the other team's best guard, so on and so forth. Now, with Devin Vessel being a skill guard, I do think that from the forward position, one of those two forwards, whether it's the three or the four, needs to be a really high level offensive player. I do think that's something that they'll need in the

long run. What makes this complicated is you look the payroll. Devin Vessel is locked up on a pretty affordable deal, especially when you factor in how the salary cap could change over the next TV deal. Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins are your main larger contracts. They're in the high teens. Well, most of the young guys are on rookie deals. So like with those guys, you're not going to be dumping

them for salary. You might include them in a star trade if you're looking to bring somebody back, but there's no reason, like they don't really make up much of a factor in your payroll situation. Right, But we also have to acknowledge the reality of Wenby's development arc. He is so good, so fast, there's like a better than fifty percent chance in my opinion, that he's going to be a top ten player in the league next year. And it's on the table that he could be a

top five player in the league next year. That's how freaking good Victor wen Binyama is. And we're talking about another six seven months or longer of development before we get to that point. So like that, you can't be Oklahoma City and do a five year slow burn of a rebuild, you can't take this slow. There's a certain urgency element here based on the reality of Victor wen Minyama's development. So from there I would look at as

far as the young guys go. None of them would be safe for me except for Devin Vessel in Victor wen Binyama, and I would trade Devin Vessel if it brought back a superstar shot creator. But like the other guys, like like I like Jeremy so chan a Sohan not enough to view him as untouchable, like Trey Jones, not enough to view hims untouchable. I've never been a big Keldon Johnson fan. I think he's a little tunnel vision

and not a good enough shooter. So like, from there, it really is about who you who becomes available in the offseason. I really do think they need to make some type of all in move for an all star in their prime sooner than later, sometime in the next two years. Trey Young is an interesting option, but he's a very risky option. He's a guy that I think unlocks a lot offensively right away, but he's gonna be

expensive to get. And then two, there's a question, there's a there's a case to be made that it's that it's cashing into early and for not a good enough player, and so the Trey Young thing, I'm kind of more leaning towards. I would hold back if I was san Antonio, but that is an interesting option, and I do like

the offensive fit with Victor wembin Yama. From there, I'd be looking for a forward, someone that can work in that three to four spot, who is a much higher level offensive player than what you've had in over the

course of this season. A guy like Lori Markinen is guy look at guy like Brandon Ingram, Like what if the Pels flame out and they decide that, you know, Zion is the guy they want to build around and they're and the guy that they need to cash in as someone like a brandon Ingram, That's a guy that

I'd be looking at. McHale Bridges. I know Brooklyn loves him and views him as a foundational piece, but that's completely irrational given where they're at in terms of talent on that roster and mckail bridge's age and where he's at in his development and the fact that he's kind of close to his ceiling. Mckel bridges is a guy that I'd be looking at. But again, in terms of the actual structure of the roster two forwards there, one of them needs to be a score of some kind,

a high level offensive player. The three needs to be able to navigate on the perimeter defensively, the four needs to be bigger and stronger, especially since Victor is a

little bit on the skinny side. And then at those guards, one of your guards needs to be a high level skill guard, and then the other one needs to be some kind of bulldog like point of attack defender that can navigate screens. That would be the structure that I go with from there. But I do think that they need to make some sort of all in moves sooner than later, just because of Victor women Yama's development. Before

we get out of here, the Julius Randall injury. So it turns out that he tried to rehab the shoulder and it just isn't gonna come around, and so he's getting surgery and he's gonna be out for the rest of the season. What does that mean for the Knicks. Here's the thing. Theoretically, if Ojan Andobe can come back and get the elbow inflammation under control, I do think

he can slide into that four spot. And Isaiah Hartenstein is playing so incredibly well, and Mitchell Robinson is back into the equation in a way that he wasn't earlier in the season. Right, So, like, the Knicks are still formidable, but the reality is they need a consistent shot creator beyond beyond Jalen brunts And we saw last year when Julius Randall was available and he just wasn't quite good enough because he was out of rhythm and playing on

a bum ankle. We saw that that wasn't enough, and so it's a lot of pressure on O Jannoby to kind of be that matchup attacking forward to create shots. And so I had really high aspirations for the Knicks, and I still do in the long run, and I'm really curious to see what they do this summer to kind of bring in that legitimate secondary shot creator next to Jalen Brunson. That's just Julius Randalld getting healthy, or

it's some sort of trade or free agent acquisition. But I'm interested to see what they do in the long run. But I just don't know that they can get through that gauntlet at the top of the Eastern Conference without having a bona fide secondary shot creator, and so I kind of view that Julius Randall injury as a bit

of a death sentence. That said, again, I think the way you kind of structure this in the short term is when og and Obi comes back, you play him at the four and essentially ask him to do a lot of what Julius Randall does, targeting smaller guards and screening actions to get switches into do that bully ball post up attack. Just to have an option to spell Jalen Brunson as much as you can. New York is

still going to be a pain in the ass. Again, Julius Randall wasn't even very good last year, and they were, you know, a few shots away from being in a good position to make it to the conference finals. So I still believe in the Knicks as a like a kind of a pain in the ass type of threat. But firepower is just going to eventually be an issue for them. There's just too many teams around the league that have more shot creation than the Knicks two, and so the Julius Randall injury is more or less a

death sentence at this point. Unfortunately, it's been a fun next season. They've competed through it all, and they have such a bright future and they have so much talent on the roster, but it's just their only hope relied on Julius Randall coming back this year and being a reliable secondary shot creator. All Right, guys, that is all

we have for this morning. As of right now, We're planning on going live tonight on YouTube after the final buzzer of Nuggets Clippers, unless a bunch of superstars end up not playing. So we'll see how the injury report comes out. But I hope you guys have been enjoying these film sessions. I'm excited to keep building them out in the long run. I appreciate you guys a support, and I will see you next time. The volume