Hoops Tonight - LeBron & AD shine, Russ "disengaged," Simmons impresses, Nets-Bucks & Wolves-Lakers

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gambler dot net in West Virginia. Yeah, all right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Vanduel here at the volume. Happy Thursday. Everybody, you've almost made it to the weekend. I'm gonna keep things really simple in terms of the schedule for the next week or so. Today we're gonna talk about Bucks nets from last night as well as

Lakers Wolves from last night. Then tomorrow a video I'm actually recording today, but tomorrow we're releasing about twentysomething minutes on the Redeemed Team documentary, which I thought was super interesting and there were a bunch of topics kind of surrounding that, um whole era of USA basketball and I

think are super interesting that will dive into. And then as we go into next week, on Monday, we're gonna do our season preview, just get some picks, some final picks put down for the season on the record, and then Tuesday night is our first live show of the season, immediately after the final buzzer of Lakers Warriors. That is how close we are things getting started, and I'm very very excited for that. So you guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel

so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter so you don't miss any show announcements, as well as the footage breakdowns that I do. That's where they go. And then, last but not least, for whatever reason, you miss one of these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish them. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight.

And on that note, let's talk some basketball, So nets Bucks, I I want to start with Ben Simmons because I thought this was his best game of the preseason so far, and the game that kind of best indicated his ability to impact winning for this particular team. So um, I kind of start to see two very unique roles shaping for Ben Simmons, kind of like a first unit role

and then like a second unit roll. Now it remains to be seen how often he kind of ends up in this type of role, because I would imagine they'll stagger Kyrie and Katie a lot this season. But when he's playing alongside Kyrie and k D, he's kind of in that Bruce Brown Brown roll, right, like he's part of the actions that they're running. It's a lot of dribble handoffs, that's a lot of screening and slipping to

the short role. He's you know, out of the short role, he's making reads, kicking the shooters or trying to finish at the rim. A lot of screening, a lot of cutting, that kind of stuff that's to be expected. That's kind of what Bruce Brown did minus the shooting actually obviously. But I don't think we're gonna get any of that out of Ben Simmons this year. But I don't think we're gonna get any of that out of Ben Simmons

ever at this point. Um, But then you saw him in the second unit there and started to attack and high pick and roll and they were just setting really high ball screens, and um, the thing that was encouraging is as he was going to his strong hand to the left, he started looking to score a little bit.

He actually went three for five in this game. He made a really nice little right handed floater along like about the third lane line on the left side, and then a couple of possessions later he tried the exact same thing and missed it, but again went back to it, which is good, got an offensive rebound and actually turned and made a really nice little like six or seven foot hook shot with his right hand. Again, him looking to score is going to be the thing that causes

teams to actually try to guard him. Later on, in that uh specific stint, he was on the right block in a post up and because he had just made a right handed hook shot, a couple of possessions Earlier, Utu want to Nabi's man helped dug In to try to stop Ben Simmons in the post, kicked it out to Utah and he knocked down to three again like

there's a careful balance. Doesn't need to be a gunner, doesn't need to take ten shots a game, but just a willingness to try to score the basketball when he has left on an island, or when he's attacking downhill and pick and roll, or in the short roll somewhere in that ten foot area. That's all he needs in order to impact this team at the highest level. He needs to show a willingness to score when he's within

ten ft of the rim. He's so gifted going downhill to the rim that that's enough to cause teams to actually collapse around him as long as he's willing to score. Doesn't need to knock down threes, that's not his job on this team. Just needs a show willingness to score there. Um. He also did a nice shop in the first unit, attacking the offensive glass um and getting started, getting the getting the nets started into their driving kick in that way.

Uh Then on the defensive end of the floor, look look like from the opening tip of this game, you could and Janice and Ben Simmons have always had like a little bit of a thing um, you know, And I think Janice has obviously won that battle resoundingly, but Joannice always takes it personally. Whenever he plays against Ben Simmons, he tries to humiliate him and to Ben Simmons credit. Like in this game, it was more of the same. Nice was going at him every time down the floor,

and he held up pretty well. There was a couple of breakdowns. There was a baseline out of balance play where Janice kind of hit him with the swim move and dunked a lob. There's another play where in transition, Ben Simmons was back backpedaling too much so he didn't really have his ground to stand and Yannis just plowed through his chest actually missed a layup, but you know how Yannese is, he just immediately got the offensive rebound

and put it back up and in. But when they were actually in the half court setting and Janice was trying to attack Ben Simmons chest to chest, I thought he held up pretty well as well as you'll see a wing do in this league. What you know, I've talked a lot about the best perimeter defenders in this league, and we've talked about Jayson Tatum and Andrew Wiggins and Michael Bridges, and Ben Simmons is in that grouping for

me as well. And what sets Ben Simmons apart from his peers in that regardless He's bigger and stronger, and the Jannice matchup in particular, he rips through guys like Andrew Wiggins and Michael Bridges and Jayson Tatum and in that matchup because they're just too skinny and he just he just man handles those guys. Ben Simmons is a little bigger, little stronger, little more stout, little more willing to hold his ground. And you saw that actually amount

to a pretty decent matchup for the Nets. Now why

does that matter? That matters because when we get into a playoff series, if you're looking at a matchup between the Nets and the Bucks, aside from Ben Simmons, there's not really anybody on that roster that you feel comfortable leaving on Janice for long stretches and doing well right like it, I think they'd end up going with someone like Nick Klaxson, hed get buried underneath the rim in most cases, so you know, having that as a weapon someone to throw at Janice in a playoff series not

gonna stop him. We learned that with the Boston Celtics last year. You're not stopping Janice Antenna Coompa. But if you can drop his efficiency, and he was six of twenty one in this game, if you could drop his efficiency, you give your team a chance to win. Now again, holding your honest to six of twenty one, that is a team effort. They were crowding him every time down the floor. There's not a player in the world they can guard Jannie on an island. But Ben does a

pretty good job. I was impressed by him last night. It was it was a good for their dress rehearsal before the season starts. That's about his encourage a performance from Ben Simmons. As you could see, there was one last little play in their uh second quarter where Drew Holiday gotta switch on Ben Simmons, and Ben Simmons smothered him on the isolation possession, forced him into a really

tough step back that barely grazed the rim. They immediately ran down the other end and got an alley you dunk, and I was just like, man, this guy is so ridiculously versatile. He's guarding a little guard and locking him up a couple of possessions after he's holding his own against one of the most dominant power forwards that we have in the history of basketball. So kudos to Ben Simmons.

A really really impressive game. Um, Katie and Kyrie they were plus thirteen and plus twelve respectively in this game. Their continuity is really starting to show. They have such a natural feel for how to play off of each other, and Kevin Durant in particular so good at hunting Kyrie

in his spots. You know, I I talked a lot about if you guys remember with Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown, how you know we kind of look at their scoring totals and we just think, oh, like this is the uh, this is your stereotypical twenty point per game guy, and this guy is twenty six point per per game guy. Okay, so they're both just scores, no, no, no, Like Jayson Tatum is more of a do everything forward that can pass the basketball and Jaylen Brown is more of a

tunnel vision score. Not that there's anything wrong with either archetype. They actually compliment each other really well. One of the ways that things go off the rails for the Celtics is when Jayson Tatum starts to look for a shot too much rather than embracing that playmaking role, and that kind of like dynamic that's split there, that's taking place in Boston where Jalen Brown is becoming more of the dynamic go to score and Jayson Tatum is becoming more

of the advantage creator. That dynamic is going to make Boston a better team. And you're starting to see that same type of dynamic happen with Kevin Durant. And Kevin Durant is actually a better passer than Jayson Tatum. He's a better passer than a lot of the small forwards around the league right now. One of the things that I've been most impressed by in this preseason is Kevin

Durants passing. You guys remember that from some of the other games that we covered, But it's a similar dynamic for him and Kyrie unique kaye E to start to kind of become that gunning score, and you need Kevin Durant to kind of become more of the advantage creator, the guy that kind of makes the offense work. And I'm seeing that in this preseason, and I like what I'm seeing as a result. This is this is a very similar dynamic to the Lebron Kyrie thing. Do you remember.

I I remember like the the it was almost like two thirds of the game Lebron was controlling things, scoring, passing, the usual Lebron ball, and then like a third of the game the other chunk of possessions Kyrie. A lot of times they'll just dribble the basketball up the floor and shoot like they're like dribbles on a possession with no passes. And you know, at the time, I remember like thinking, man, this is crazy. I don't understand why they do this. This is early in like two thousand sixteen.

But then it kind of dawned on me that what was beautiful about it was Lebron got to rest on those possessions because Kyrie is so good at creating shots and congested environments that it's almost like Lebron can take half of the take for a third of the game. He could take the offensive end of the floor off and focus his energy onto the defensive end of the floor, essentially biding his energy for the larger portions of the

game when he has to be aggressive. That's kind of the dynamic you're seeing forming with this Kyrie Irving and

Kevin Durant thing. If Kyrie guns and creates a bunch of this offense, it alleviates pressure on Kevin Durant so that he can focus on being a playmaker for larger portions of the game, focus on the defensive end of the game, and then when the team needs him to create shots, obviously he's the best at it because he's taller, he's got one of the highest release points that we've ever seen, and the Duke knockdown shots from everywhere on

the floor. So that dynamic, that split that we're seeing there, that's a product of continuity from them playing together for a long time, Kevin Durant's development of development as a passer, and then just kind of realizing what their natural roles are on this team overall, kind of looking back at the nets over the preseason and in this particular game, they're just competing a lot better on the defensive end of the floor. And the athleticism, the influx of athleticism

on the wing really helps. Having Royce O'Neil there. Having Ben Simmons there, that's just better basketball players, better athletes, guys that can rive in the physicality, that in that uptick and talent on that specific area of their roster is helping them a lot on the defensive end of the floor, and then on the offensive end, they're just

you know, I gotta give him some credit. I criticized that, not criticized, but I characterized the Nets in our season previews as a team that doesn't run a lot of offense, and they'll run it on dead ball situations, they'll run it sometimes after free throws for the other team, but they don't run a lot of sets. Well, in this preseason, they've been running a lot more actions when they get

down the floor. Again, I trust brute force offense. I think it translates to the playoffs better than most forms of offense because it's it's kind of like immune to scheming, so to speak. But it's nice when you can supplement your incredibly difficult shot making from guys like Kevin Durant and Kyrie with easy stuff by running sets and so seeing them run a little bit more offensive organization, I think is is encouraging to say the least looking over

the bucks. Jannat didn't shoot well, like I said, but he got a lot of really good looks around the basket that he usually makes. Spacing is a legitimate concerned with this team. Now, remember Chris Middleton's out and he's gonna help with that a lot. We've talked about that a lot in the season preview. We'll talk about it

more here in a couple of minutes. But they ended up going huge with Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis in the starting lineup and the nets are just swarming you, honest, everywhere, which is a huge part of why he went six one. They might need to consider balancing those lineups with some more shooting. Portis and Lopez both can shoot, and if you leave them open, they'll make you pay from time to time, but neither of them are guarded as shooters. This is a concept to talk about all the time

on the show. If a guy shoots thirty eight percent on six attempts per game and he's getting panic chased off the line everywhere, that's different than a guy that goes thirty eight percent on three attempts per game and he's wide open every time. First of all, thirty eight percent on a wide open shot is not the same percentage as thirty eight percent on tougher movement shots or

contested shots and things along those lines. And then secondly, all of those possessions, the option two is not being guarded and option one is getting panic chased all over the floor. So there's a huge differ, friends between just looking at three point percentages and looking at the context of the way teams actually guard those shooters when they're on the floor. So playing a portis playing a Brook

Lopez alongside Janice. Yeah, they're gonna get They're gonna take and make some threes, but their men are ignoring them and and and digging down on Jannice all game long. So it's just something that they're gonna have to figure out in terms of balance. That's why I'm so excited to see Chris Middleton come back, because he's one of the best spot up players in the league, not just

knocking down threes but also attacking closeouts. You start to look at the way these lineups are are structured, and if you have your Honice out there, you have Drew Holiday who gets guarded like a shooter, you have Chris Middleton who gets guarded like a shooter. Now I've got two guys in the off ball rolls that are guarded like shooters. Now I can afford to have one of those guys potentially be a little bit more of an iffy shooter. Maybe that's a Lopez if you go big right,

maybe it's a Bobby Portis. But then if I can go with, you know, someone like a Grayson Allen or or Joe Ingles or somebody that's a more die namic shooter. Now I have three off ball players next to you, honest that I'm actually treating with respect when they're off

the ball. So, but you take Middleton out of that equation and you replace him with somebody that's not being guarded, that just that one player kind of swings the pendulum too far towards congestion around Janice and then his efficiency tanks. So it's just something that having Chris Middleton back is gonna be huge. And then just general with lineup structure, then he might need to have a little bit more balance with shooting. Last note on the Knucks, excuse me

the Bucks. Uh, Javon Carter had a really nice night. Uh, specifically with pull up shooting. I'm gonna keep hammering this kind of stuff home because I think these are specific concepts that are really important in modern basketball. Uh. Tons of dribble handoffs and ball screen actions with Janice and guys are going underneath. The screens are dying on the screen because the honest is so damn big and such a good screener. There's just openings there for people that

can knock down pull up jump shots. It is the thing that beats most coverages. Javon had a really nice night pull up shooting. It was a big part of some of the Bucks offensive offensive success. Tip off the NBA season with fan Duel, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers can tip off the season with a no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars back in free bets. If you don't win, just sign up with promo co Jason t Here's a couple of futures that I would keep an eye on if I

were you. Guys. Among the favorites to win the title, I really like the Warriors. Among the long shot bets to win the title, I really like the seventies sixers and the Dallas Mavericks and then on the m v P front, I think Janice is gonna get it this year. I really don't understand why Luca is the favorite. I don't think they're gonna win nearly enough regular season games.

Janice is just a safe bet to put up monster numbers to win a ton of games, and it's been long enough since he won his last one that I think he's gonna have some pull with the voters. Vandel is my favorite sports betting app. I love how easy it is to use. I love how easy it is to get money in and out. I love that cash out feature that allows you to get out of a bet when garbage time could potentially ruin it. It's just the best there is right now. So NBA fans c

for yourself. Why Vandals America's number one sports book. Download the Vandel sports Book Gap and sign up using promo code Jason T to get started with your no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars. Alright, moving on to the Lakers and the Wolves. I'm not gonna talk too much about the Wolves because we just talked about them yesterday, but I do want to touch on a couple of quick things. First of all, this is the first team to outplay the Lakers core lineups so far

in this preseason. Got to give him some credit. There little context. They were plus ten with Lebron, so they really just struggled with the non Lebron lineups. Also, the Lakers shot like shit. Although the Lakers are not a good shooting team. We'll get to that in a minute, but kudos to the Wolves first team to outplay the

Lakers core lineups in the preseason. That means something. Um, Kyle Anderson, now we always knew he was a good wing defender, but you know this, I was really disappointed with Minnesota's perimeter defense in general yesterday when I was watching them and Kydle. You know, they certainly held up better today, but that's still a big weakness on this

particular roster. They're gonna rely on Rudy Gobert to do a lot around the basket, but I do think Kyle Anderson um counterbalances that a little bit because his length is a legitimate problem. He probably had a half dozen deflections in this game, causing problems for basic things like post entries, Lebron trying to hit cutters, or things like Anthony Davis trying to pass out of post ups, things

along those lines. He just shrinks passing lanes and makes things really difficult, just in the basic flow of offense. I thought, I thought that was a really nice pick up this summer, and he definitely alleviates some of their perimeter defense problems. A couple other Wolves I wanted to shout out Jalen to well, Dude, some shot making from him in that five to ten foot range in this

game was ridiculous. Short fade aways, push shots, things along those lines, plays where Lakers were draped all over him, playing excellent defense, and he's just knocking down shots over the top. He didn't wasn't making his perimeter shot in this game, but he was showing some really nice shot making in that short rang in Jeria, which I think is one of the most underrated scoring areas in the league. He also defended really well. Just an interesting young guard.

I think Jordan McLoughlin I don't like that much and I don't think he's gonna be able to fulfill kind of what Patrick Beverley did. But Jalen No, Well, I do think kind of makes up for some of their losses from the Rudy Gobert trade and then nas Read his perimeter shooting really made Anthony Davis pay for roaming off the ball. They're playing Anthony Davis at the five. He's sagging back off of everything. Nasa Read only made

three threes out of six tries. But if you think about it, I mean, that's nine points that if that's not a stretch, Big Anthony Davis is now shutting everything down around the basket. All three of those possessions are probably stops. Hey, this was an eight point game at halftime. That's the difference between you being down one or up by eight. Right, is a NASA red coming out and knocking down shots. Um looking forward to the Lakers, So shooting obviously was the big reason why they lost this

particular game. I think they I think they missed at one point sixteen consecutive. The reason might even have been more than that. Some of it's just ad luck. Like three of their very best shooters, which is Patrick Beverley, who's a good catching shoot three point shooter, Kendrick Nunn who's a good catching shoot three point shooter, and Matt Ryan is a good shooter. Those three guys went one

for fourteen from three. I'm pretty good looks. There are a couple of tough ones in there, particularly from Pat Beverly, that were more contested than usual, but most of the shots that they got were pretty good looks, and they went one for one for fourteen. So some of that's just bad shooting, but a lot of it is the fact that this is a Lakers team that's one of

the worst shooting teams in the league. Like Russ went over two from three, I expect us to go over two from three, and I expect that to happen a lot. Lonnie Lonnie Walker went one for three from three. I expect that to happen a lot. He's kind of right around that range as a shooter. A d went over two, that's gonna happen a lot of nights. Dennis Shooter went over for one. That's gonna happen a lot of nights.

It's it's a legitimate weakness on the roster, and there are going to be nights for the Lakers generate a lot of quality three point shots and they just don't knock them down because they're not a good shooting team. That is the biggest need on this roster. And it needs to be addressed. That and probably wing size, but more more than anything, that shooting has to be addressed, which brings me to Russ. And again, I'm gonna try to be quick because I always try to be quick

with Russ. He didn't really look mentally present in this game. He was disengaged from the beginning. There's a weird moment where he skipped the pregame huddle. God knows what that was about. Patrick Beverley at one point tried to start a defensive huddle. They completely ignored him there. He made several defensive mistakes. He had several silly turnovers. He's straight up just stepped out of bounds in front of the

Lakers bench twice. He took a couple of quick above the break threes, which above the break threes are literally his lowest percentage shot right now. He's actually a decent corner three point shooter, but he can't make anything above the break. But he he just can't get out of that like that, like that character trade, his basketball character trade of wanting to be aggressive as a pull up

jump shooter even though we can't make them. So it was just a really rough game from Russ, and so then I just want to ask why, like, why are you subjecting your team to this? Yeah, we're gonna already record did the the The Redeem Team show that's gonna air tomorrow, and I'm gonna talk a lot about the concept of redundancy essentially, like you can't just quantify a

basketball lineup by total talent. You have to look at the roles that a lineup has to fill on both ends of the floor and whether or not the players you have can cross those boxes. And right now, like I I, Russ is just a redundancy on this roster. They don't need the things that he does well, and he really struggles with the things that they actually need

from him. And so with that redundancy, you've got this player that's tying up a spot in your rotation, tying up a bunch of minutes, and he's just not helping you win. And and that's that's going to be a problem as we get into this season. I think Russ would be happier elsewhere. I think the Lakers would be better. And if you combined him with picks, he can actually fetch you a couple of pieces that fix your flaws.

Specifically shooting and wing size. And again, even if you're waiting for a better deal because you think Victor women Yama is gonna lead to taking and there's gonna be something out there, then you've got to find something. It's not either find find a small role for him or something where at least he won't do much to damage you in the meantime. To me, that's bring him off the bench, let him play two three shifts a game, you know, let let him just focus his energy on

the dirty work in those possessions. But just like keeping him on the floor for thirty two minutes a night, with all of the things that he does that can hurt of basketball team, I think it's problematic. Um, the Lakers defense was pretty solid in the half court. They mainly got torched in transition just not running back on defense, which is fixable. I'm sure Darvin Hamm is screaming at them about that today. And then again, nas Reid is like the type of guy that's gonna punish this Lakers

defensive scheme. Like we're gonna talk about it in a minute, but this Lakers scheme is really geared towards devoting attention to ball handlers and packing to paint, lots of strong side help. So if Anthony Davis is gonna camp by the rim and you're playing against a stretch big, he's gonna kill you. And as read killed him in this game. So this is the last time we're gonna talk about the Lakers before the regular season starts on Tuesday. So I just wanted to kind of like enco absolute what

I've seen from them so far. I think Darvin Ham has done a really nice job getting the Stars to buy back into the defensive end, particularly Lebron. I thought he had was rough in the first preseason game that but then he's been better since. He's also established a scheme that's worked for them. This is not going to be a great, uh you know, perimeter defense team that can do some switching and guard isolation. This is a team that's going to need to devote extra attention to

the ball handler and extra attention to the paint. And that's what they've done at the expense of giving away wide open three point shots. But what they can do in that case is they can take away the easy shots at the rim that get guys going, and by pressuring ball handlers and offering lots of help at ball handlers. They have a good chance to get the other team's stars to have bad nights and just make them feel less than confident, less than comfortable on the basketball court.

That will go a long way towards helping you, even if role players are sticking threes on the week side. Again, in order for them to be a top five defense, it's gonna take a lot from Lebron James and Anthony Davis on the back line, and a lot of health and a lot of Atrick Beverly, a lot of Dennis Schroeder, maybe even a trade in there for them to get

to that point. It is on the table though, with how well they'll defend the three point or excuse me, how well they'll defend the ball handler and the paint um. Lebron and Anthony Davis both look completely outstanding. I think this is the best they've both looked since the bubble. Lebron more or less looks like Lebron. Anthony Davis hasn't been himself at all one or the year BEFO, so this is the best I've seen him look since the bubble.

So that's a lot to get exciting about. But the problem is is this team is two solid role players away from being a legitimate title contender. So it's so much of the Lakers season comes down to can they find a legitimate rush trade, get it done, and get it done in time for them to build some continuity and figure out how to win with that particular group.

But overall, if you're a Lakers fan, if you had a range of potential outcomes this preseason, this is about as good as you could have expected to this point. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. Remember tomorrow we have the Redeemed Team episode coming out, and then I'll see you guys on Monday for our final season preview. The volume