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All right, welcome to hop.
Tonight here at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great end of your week. Today is mail bag Day. We're gonna be bouncing all around the league. I appreciate you guys for dropping questions in the YouTube comments. Remember if you want to get in on our mail bags any one of our full episodes, just going of the YouTube comments, type mailbag with the colon and type your question That's how I can find
them in the mix of all those comments. Drop your questions in there and we'll get to them in Fridays throughout the remainder of the season. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss any sho announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed
wherever you gets podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Don't forget about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year. And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments. Like I mentioned earlier, we get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason, I believe Jannis is a capable and good defender, even won Defensive Player of the Year. If I'm not mistaken, you are not mistaken, But it seems he never actually defends and guards players with the ball. I watched Clippers and Blazers beat the Bucks, and he never took on the challenge of guarding Zubacher Aighton who both had great games.
We have seen in the past Jimmy Butler Jason Tatum kill smaller guards, but he won't guard them, and he says just doing what coach thinks is best. Is there any particular reason Giannis has labeled such a great defender but never takes on any challenges of actually guarding the ball on players. I believe he's fully capable of defending. Shout out to Sauarro bear Down must be a Tucson guy.
So when you're deploying your defensive resources, you want to deploy players into areas where their individual skill set matches best. When you're looking at a team defense, there are several different roles that need to be filled. The three that are most common and most important are your primary on ball guard, your ballscreen defender, the guy who's going to be guarding the opposing team's center, and then the guy
who's in the low man position. Now there's two other jobs there, and again it differs from team to teams. Some teams have more guards, some teams have more bigs. Some teams do a lot of attacking through ISO and post up situations, and some teams run a lot more motion. Everyone's getting put through a blender. So it's not like a it's not like a just a clean answer for every situation. But the gist of it is, you gotta have a guy that guards the other team's primary ball handler,
the guy who's running the most ball screens. That guy's gonna have to be quick, he's gonna have to be good at navigating screens, good at back pressure.
Right.
Then your ball screen defender. This is a guy who rides the yo yo right like he's always got to go up to the level to show against ball handlers that can shoot off the dribble, but then drop back in that coverage and then get back up to the level and then drop back into that coverage that is typically best served by a player that's good with his hands and that has great size, right.
And then you have your low man.
That guy's going to be playing off the ball, usually on the weakest.
Offensive player in the front court for the opponent.
And that's the guy that when the big man goes up to the level, that fills that gap underneath the basket and then gets back to the to the weak side whenever that big guy drops back. Right, the other two jobs are typically there's a less ball handler, right, So a guy that still runs action but not as much. You're usually gonna put your skill guard, your guard that's not as good of a defensive player in that type
of matchup, think like a Damian Lillard, right. And then most teams at the three have a guy that is like a little bit of a score, a little bit of a ball handler, a little bit of a spot up shooter, kind of like a guy who's a jack of all trades but a master at none. Type of guys usually what teams have kind of operating around the three, that's where you're gonna put your other front court player.
Right.
So, like, as you're determining how to use resources, as you're looking at Yannis, it's a poor use of resources to be like, I want you to guard the opponent's best post player. Why because Brook Lopez is not as good at covering ground in rotation and help in recovering situations as Yannis, but he is really big. So you're better off using Brooke to defend centers and having Yannis function more off ball as a help and recover guy. Yannis can do it, It's just not the best way
to allocate Brooke and Giannis. Same goes for on ball stuff on the perimeter. For years, that used to be things something that people would talk about around like that twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one area era. Why doesn't Yannis guard perimeter ball handlers? And it's like, first of all, like Yannis is incredibly big, incredibly strong, and he is incredibly fast when he gets going, but he's not like
the quickest tight space movement type of player. Like they're like a guy like an Andre Jackson or a guy like AJ Green who's been guarding ball handlers and navigating screens and doing all that for his entire life, is going to have a better time navigating that responsibility than putting Yannis on some perimeter guard and asking him to
navigate screens and do all that kind of stuff. As you look at the layout of the roster, that's why the the stability that came for the Bucks defense from guys like Andre Jackson and and AJ Green kind of stabilized things. They kind of figured out the roles right, Like they put Aj Green or Ajax on the best guard to chase over the top of screens. You put Brooke in ball screen actions, coming up to the level
and dropping back, Jannis is operating as a lowman. Dame's guarding the worst opponent guard, and Chris Middleton atorium Prance is guarding that third player that's on the perimeter. Right, Like, that's just the best way to deploy your resources. As soon as you move Giannis into a different spot, whether it's the primary ballscreen guy or the primary perimeter guy, he's going to be doing a job that he doesn't
have as much practice. And guess what, Like, Yiannis at center is a look that the Bucks have had and have used. And Yannis is a capable ballscreen defender. Some of the greatest highlights that I've ever seen from a ball screen defender have come from Yannis. He's very good at that. But it's one of those things where if you use that exclusively and now you have a tough time finding something for Brooke to do right. If you put him out on the perimeter, you have a hard
time finding someone to do that lowman job right. So, Like, as much as I understand and the idea of wanting to take Giannis and use him to plug holes elsewhere in your defense. He is best served as that kind of low man help side defender because the other jobs are actually more achievable for the role players than if you kind of Jerry rigged it around and you moved on. So like that's the gist of it. Giannis is at
his best as a help defender. That's the thing that he's best at, and it's what also allows the other Bucks defensive players to slot into roles that best fit their skill sets. Was gonna subscribe at twenty two forty, but you said Quentin Grimes played good defense on You said Quentin Grimes played good defense on Desmond Bay, and we traded Grimes last year. Other than that, pretty decent content, Go Nix.
This was in.
Reference to our show the other day where I accidentally said Quentin Grimes instead of Duce McBride. I do hours and hours and hours of content throughout the year, hundreds and hundreds of hours. I'm gonna make mistakes. All that happened there is I just misspoke. Duce McBride is one of my favorite players on the Knicks. Those of you guys who've been listening to the show the last few years have heard me talk about how much I love
Duce McBride. I even talked before the season that I really liked his fit with the starters in place of Josh Hard at times. So, like you guys know, I'm a big believer in Duce McBride. I just misspoke. That's kind of part of the job that happens, and it wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time.
This is an interesting one. Our defense is catching up to the three point offensive trends to me against three point teams, it certainly feels like defenders know a drive, a drive means a kick, a perimeter pass means a swing pass is likely, etc. It feels like easier to stop now than last season. There is no doubt that in terms of defensive strategy, because like that's the way
the game changes. Either a defense comes up with a new strategy that forces a offensive adjustment, or an offense comes up with a new strategy that comes up with a defensive adjustment. Right, I'll give you a couple of basic examples. Offense makes an adjustment in the sense that about ten years ago, every single guard just started becoming really damn good at pull up three point shooting off
of ball screens, following in the trend of Steph Curry. Right, So, all of a sudden, ball screen coverage has changed and it turned into now you actually have to chase everybody
over the top of screens. That caused a boatload of problems for defenses, right, Like that was the whole Like every team starts cooking drop coverages, right like the Atlanta Hawks, for instance, with Trey Young in the Eastern Conference Finals run that they had, right Like, you have this stretch there where you have all these dudes that are just torching drop coverages.
Right.
But then the defense is adjust and they kind of figure out this concept of lowman rotation. So essentially they just started bringing the big up to the level and then using the lowman to kind of split the difference between the roleman and the guy in the weak side corner.
So the way that the offense had to adjust to that is now what you're seeing is that the offense the pick and roll ball handlers that are great at the skip pass, the guys that can come off the ball screen and whip it across the court over the lowman into the corner. Where the guy the low man is supposed to be guarding is. That's where you can break down those defenses. Right, So like there's an action and equal and opposite reaction, right as the offenses and
defenses are constantly adjusting to each other. As teams have looked at the analytical side of things more, they've discovered an order of operations for what makes a great shot. Right, an uncontested rim attempt is still the best shot in basketball. A uncontested three point shot is still the second best shot in basketball. But you start to work through and it turns out that, like on defense, you should have
the same exact approach. You should take away the rim first, and then the very next priority should be the three point line. So like when you're closing out to the perimeter, there's no reason to close out with the intent of
containing anymore obviously if you can't. If you can, if you have an athlete that's good enough, if you have a Derek Jones junior that can fly out, contest a guy and contain great But like if you have to choose between closing out short and allowing a guy to shoot while you contain him or chasing him off the line, you're gonna chase him off the line now, because if you chase him off the line, there's another step in that progression where someone can come over and help at
the rim. So essentially, these defenses are saying, we're gonna take away the rim and we're gonna chase you off the three point line, and there's just gonna be a boatload of space in the middle of the floor where you can work right or you're gonna have to make multiple driving kicks, like you're gonna have to get to the rim kick, drive kick, drive kick, and then maybe at the end of the shot clock you get a
good look. It's testing teams in their diligence to break down a defense through multiple driving kicks on the same possession, because teams are so good at taking away the rim and taking away the three point line now, and so, in a weird way, like I think it's been, I think it's been a little bit more of a shift towards playmaking and guys that are really good at getting into the teeth of the defense and making the next read. That's why I think a team like Boston did so well.
That's why I think when you see these teams that have small ball looks and all these guards that can drive and kick well like Oklahoma City does, Like now with Cleveland having all of these different guys that can dribble, shoot and pass on the perimeter, and they've been one of the biggest assist percentage teams in the league this year, right Like, that's an important part of how the game has shifted. It's now not just about driving. It's not
just about knocking down three point shots. It's about having enough aggregate ball handling, shooting, and basketball IQ on the floor to break down a defense through several attacks. I was curious, though, I just wanted to look. I wanted to see if there were any trends that statistical trends in terms of three point volume and then other trends around the league. So these are the teams with the
top ten records in the NBA right now. The Calves, the thunder the Celtics, the Rockets, the Grizzlies, the Knicks, the Nuggets, the Lakers, the Bucks, and the Clippers. Those are your top ten by when percentage. Okay, the Calves are fifth and three point volume, and the Celtics are
first in three point volume. The thunder or eleventh. The Rockets are twentieth, the Grizzlies are nineteenth, the Knicks are twenty third, the Nuggets are thirtieth, the Lakers are twenty seventh, the Bucks are sixteenth, and the Clippers are twenty sixth. That's in three point attempts per one hundred possessions. So of the top ten records in the league, only two of them are top ten and three point volume. Now, it's worth at least mentioning so that we are being
honest about the data here. It's worth at least mentioning that those two that are in the top ten and three point volume, Cleveland and Boston are two of the top tier championship contenders in the league. Right, But seven of the ten that are in the top ten in records are in the bottom half of three point attempts in this league. That is an interesting stat So I was curious. I just wanted to look around. Is there
any statistical correlation with winning this year? Is there any like clear stat where like everybody use good is good at this And here's what I was able to come up with just poking around rebounding Each of the top four rebounding teams in the league. Houston, Memphis, Denver, and New York all have top ten records, and the Clippers also make that list at seven, but each of the top four all being top ten records I think is interesting.
Rebounding is very important in this league. Assist to turnover ratio. This is one of the more interesting stats that I've come across in my time covering the league. This year, Boston, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City, in addition to having the three best records in the league, also have the three best assist to turnover ratios in the league. I thought that was super fascinating. So the teams that are best at playmaking for others while not turning the basketball over are also
the three best teams in the league. Where this kind of comes to fruition for me as a concept points off of turnovers. Six of the top ten teams in the league in terms of record are top ten in points off of turnover, meaning they turn their opponents over and they get out and transition off of it opponent points off of turnovers. The top five in opponent points off of turnovers per game are OKC, Boston, New York, Houston, and Cleveland. That's really interesting. What is that telling us.
That is telling us that if you can make plays in drive and kick without turning the basketball over so that you stay out of transition defense, but at the same time, on the other end, you play good defense, force turnovers, and get out in transition, you're winning in the modern MBA, which I think is super fascinating because of something I've been talking about almost NonStop this season, which is the concept of speed and how valuable speed is.
As the game has shifted more towards transition basketball, about a fifth of these games, roughly twenty percent of these games is taking place in transition. When you play in transition, you're usually about twenty percent more efficient than you are when you play in the half court. So your ability to get out out and transition and keep your default keep your opponent out of transition are two of the biggest dynamics that's leading to wins and losses in the
modern MBA. I think that's super fascinating. So just a couple of statistical trends to keep an eye on as we as we move forward with our coverage of the league. Hey, Jason, huge fan of the show, been watching since the beginning of your time with the volume. I did want to ask. You've mentioned before you do a little bit of coaching. Have you ever considered getting into that full time or even training guys? Yeah, so I train high school kids. I did it this morning. I do it on Monday
and Friday mornings throughout the season. It's something that I can relatively easily achieve within my schedule to where I get to scratch that itch of coaching, so to speak. And I really love the group of kids that I work with, and I just enjoy it so much. But at the same time, it doesn't take so much away
that I lose control of my situation with work. And also I work so much, and I have my wife behind the scenes constantly advocating for me to work less, and so like, if I took on more in terms of coaching, that would be problematic. But I also spend a lot of time playing basketball right now, so like I would imagine that in the time when I decide to stop playing, that time will be time that I then shift to devoting towards coaching.
Training is cool.
Skills training is probably one of the things that I have the most experienced with because it's just what I do.
It's what I do for my program.
I've done individual skills training as well, outside of the high school concept or context. I love skills training because it's just what I did to myself, like to become a good basketball player in my thirties. I've worked relentlessly over the last ten years on skills development, footwork, dribble combinations, scoring moves from various spots on the floor, just all of these like little different like skill things that I like to help teach the next generation of basketball players
how to do. That. Said, like, ultimately, basketball coaching at the team level is what I would like to do when the time comes. I would like to get more into, Like i'd love to coach a high school team once I get to the point where I'm not playing, But it'll just have to be at a point in my life where I have more time, and right now I just don't have the time for it, so we'll see. It's definitely a big picture goal of mine. I love coaching.
I think the high school level would be the most fun, and it just is more realistic with my big picture career goals in terms of sports media, So I think that's the direction will eventually end up going thoughts on Bronni's latest NBA stint. So this was the big story that was going around as Bronni got first quarter minutes and an important game for the Lakers on the road in Philly.
A couple things.
There's a lot of different angles that come at this from first of all, I didn't think his stint was quite as bad as everyone made it sound like. He had two really bad turnovers. He had a high post entry to Anthony Davis out of a horn set where Anthony Davis was not ready for the basketball, and Bronni threw it anyway, and Yabuselli just blew through AD's left shoulder, got the ball and went down the other end and
got it done. Okay, that is on both guys. Though Bronnie shouldn't have thrown the pass because there was no angle for it, So that's one hundred percent on Bronnie to not make that decision. However, Yabuseli was kind of like beating Anthony Davis with physicality a lot in that first quarter, and Ad has to do a better job fighting for positions, so I won't put that one hundred percent on Bronnie. But again, your point guard needs to make sure that the players are ready before he throws
a pass, so that was a mistake. And then he drove a close out on Tyrese Maxi on the left wing where Maxi reached around and poked.
The ball away.
Always pushed the ball forward when you beat someone off the dribble. This is a lesson for all basketball players at every level. Like if you beat someone off the dribble, whether it's in a ball screen, whether it's in a ISO, whether it's in a closeout situation, push the ball forward because the last resort for every defender is just swipe around from behind and see if they can't poke it away. As you're down in a dribble stance with the ball at your hip, that's when they can get at it.
So a couple of bad turnovers. He missed a spot up three, but he also had a beautiful feed off of a back cut to Jackson Hayes, a really nice read out of a three man action where he determined that no one was on his bottom side and he had an opportunity to slip. He slipped out of it. Eighty hit him on the bounce. He drew multiple players in help. He dropped it off to Jackson Hayes Jackson, He's got a dunk. It was a really nice play.
And then he also had a nice driving kick off of the right wing to Dorian Finney Smith who missed a three, but he generated an open three with a nice little clothes out attack. So like, again, there were mistakes on offense, but he also made a couple of plays on offense and on defense, Like all three shots that Tyrese Maxey made were super tough contested mid rangers, which is literally your job guarding Maxie. Like if I was talking about Max Christy guarding Tyrese Maxey, this is
what I would say. I'd be like, keep him off the three point line, try to keep him from getting completely downhill towards the rim, try to force him into tough contested mid range jump shots, which is literally what Bronnie did. However, he had a weird botch switched with Dorian Finney Smith where he kind of like jumped away and just let MAXI drive. That was a bad defensive play, and then he fouled Tyrese Maxey on a separate drive.
So the point being like that was that stint looked exactly like what I would expect from a young super raw NBA prospect that has some NBA tools, but that is years away from being an NBA rotation player.
Flashes of good.
And mistakes that are pretty much unacceptable for a pro right, Like, that's exactly what I would have expected. So it wasn't like the complete dumpster fire that everyone made it sound, but it looked exactly like what you would expect for putting Bronnie in the game. This is where I think there is fair criticism to Levy towards JJ Reddick. He's kind of setting Bronnie up to fail there. Bronnie shouldn't
be in that situation. Yes, the Lakers were down on a road trip, down bodies, specifically at the guard spot. They needed someone to step into that spot, but it should have been Cam Reddish, not Bronni. Like, there isn't a single thing that Bronni does on a basketball court better than Cam Reddish. Yet at this point in his career, maybe in the big picture, Bronni will become this on ball guard. I want to talk about that here in a minute, But like, what you do in that spot
is you play Cam Reddish. Cam Reddish doesn't do much on offense. But the one thing he doesn't do is he doesn't turn the ball over, like he knows how to not do too much and make sure the ball stays in possession. With his team, Cam Reddish isn't a good spot up player, but he'll play within a role and he'll do his job. And right now, Bronnie has at no point in his career demonstrated the ability to
knock down three point shots at the NBA level. So like any's shooting concerns, the same concerns are there for Cam Reddish, or the same concerns are there for Bronnie, right and then lastly, Cam is just a better defender than Bronnie at this point in his career in every vesset, So like within the context of trying to win that game and you're in a guard depth situation, the obvious call is play Cam Reddish, which is a fringe NBA player, but that is much more capable of playing a role
within an NBA team right now than Bronni is. I am not like the Bronnie haters out there. I don't think he's just some nepotism case. I think he has legitimate NBA tools. I thought he was a reasonable late second round pick. Lots of guys in the second round if you put him in the NBA would look like Bronnie does. Okay, Bronni needs time, He needs years of reps before he's ready. I think he belongs, he deserves his shot. Let him take his time and figure it out.
The problem I have is what I said before the season. He should absolutely never play meaningful rotation minutes. I said that because he needs to earn that right behind the scenes over the course of years, demonstrated, because like he hasn't demonstrated it in college. He started, He's shown the ability to get buckets in the G League, but he needs to do it in a larger sample, and then he needs to come to the NBA level and demonstrate in garbage time that he can play. Then he can
get an opportunity. There's an order of operations to bringing Bronni into real rotation minutes, and it wasn't bring him in on the road in Philly and have him get attacked relentlessly by Tyree Smacksy when he's literally on fire. Right, So, like I disagreed, it wasn't the end of the world. They were gonna lose that game in Philly anyway, that they were banged up, Ad got hurt, they had other guys al Vanderbilt was out, Gave Vincent was out. It's a road trip long Lakers have been bad on long
road trips all year long. Like I don't, I don't really take too much from the loss, but like, yeah, I would recommend not playing Bronny in real rotation minutes until he shows the ability to play well in garbage time, and then I would I would consider that sort of option in a case where injuries dictate that the end of your roster plays more. One other thing I'll point out there was this weird my friend Raj who was my former co host when I used to do State
of the Lakers before I worked for the volume. He covers the South Bay Lakers, and he asked Bronny one day and said, like, what do you see yourself as in terms of your role in the NBA? And he said he sees himself as an on ball guard. And I was a little concerned by that because like, I think Bronnie is years away still from being a off ball defensive guard. But he's many I think he's really far away from being like like a legitimate NBA guard
that can run action for extended stretches. So like, it's kind of interesting to me in terms of like his career path. Like, to me, if Bronnie wants to look like an NBA player inside of his first contract, the pathways get really good at defense, and get really good at catch and shoot threes, get really good at making driving kickreads, short role reads like when he ran that inverted ball screen with Ad like that kind of stuff.
Those are the kinds of actions that I want to see Bronny get good at to where I could be like, oh yeah, third year of his deal, he can play
fifteen minutes a night or good NBA team. That's the path for him, in my opinion, if he wants to be a primary on ball guard, like, there are guys with way more pedigree than him that are not good enough at that he I think he's really far away from being like a okay, he's gonna be a fifteen point for assists per game guy off the bench for a good team, Like I just don't really necessarily see that in his trajectory at this point. But if that's
his goal, that's fine. There's a pathway that He's got the physical tools for it, but his skill development is going to take so much work over the next few years to get to that point. And so I just hope he realizes the type of challenge that's going to be, and I hope that people around him realize the type of challenge it's going to be. Clearly a men, Thompson is not coming out of the starting lineup, But what about when Jabari Smith is.
Back from injury, he starts for Brooks. How do you think that.
Lineup would work? Thank you for all the great content. I think Jabari Smith has got to come back to the bench.
I think you have.
I was talking about this with Sam Vessini the other day on his pod. What we're seeing right now from the Rockets. I mean, they ended up losing that game in Memphis last night, but like what we're seeing from Houston right now is one of the most impressive stretches of regular season basketball you'll ever see. Like they are racking up wins against great teams night in and night out.
I have been talking recklessly on my show and on other people's show about how I think the Rockets need to make some sort of all in trade because I think they have a chance to win the title this year. That's how much I think this That Rockets roster can contend athletically on both ends of the floor with the top teams in the league. So like, you don't mess with that. Even for Brooks. I think Brooks has been one of the best role players in the league this year.
He was a huge part of their winning Boston with his shooting. He has been great defensively all all season. He had another twenty plus point game in Memphis last night. I would leave Brooks in there, and I would just bring Jabari Smith in and guess what, He's got to fight for minutes with Cam Witmore, He's got to fight for minutes with Jayshon Taate with and he's got to earn it with those guys. In my opinion, I Jabari is a good player, but he has a tendency to
settle for tough mid range shots. He hasn't converted spoted possesions as well as he needs to be. He's a good defender, but he as an athlete is just another one of the guys there. So like, I think you got to make Jabari Smith earn the right to regain his spot in that rotation. Hello Jason, just a simple question. Have you been impressed with the knicks of defense during this recent stretch of games? Yes, I have, More specifically
though their transition attack. This has been something that when the Knicks have been at their best this year, they've played fast, they've gotten stops, and they've ran And I thought, specifically the Nuggets game, what won them that game was their transition pushes. They actually only turned Denver over I think fourteen times, but they scored almost every time off
of those turnovers with quick runouts. And like, I've just seen so many examples of that this year when the Knicks look good, where it's og An Andobi running his lane in transition, it's Michale Bridges running to the corner in transition, it is Karl Anthony Towns trailing the play in transition. It is like this, we play defense, we get out and run, then we knock down shots. And like so much of I talk about in terms of the top teams in the league, it comes down to margins.
Where are you going to find ways to win? And there are certain things that the Knicks are going to struggle with, like the defensive inconsistency this year has primarily centered around the kind of like undisciplined hedges and from guys like Jalen Brunson and from Karl Anthony Towns, like just not doing their job when teams hunt them to actively attack the ball, get back in rotation or switch
and contain the ball well. Like those two guys have been the issues, They're going to continue to be the issues. Even when your defense is at its best. There are these entry points that people can go at in terms of Brunson and Cat, so you have to find a way to generate margins elsewhere. Have a unique set of offensive talent because they have a stretch five and these big rangy wings that can run the floor well, and a lot of playmaking talent that the Knicks can really
be a good transition offense. And so again, like as we look at the Knicks and their potential big picture championship goals, I've view a certain number of things as non negotiable. They've got to become a more consistent defensive execution team because they need to force turnovers because it unlocks one of the most important parts of their game of their game, which is transition attack right and so again, like you've got to think of it in the big picture.
It's not about beating anybody really other than Boston and Cleveland. Right now, those are your ultimate goals. To get to where you want to go, You've got to get through Boston and Cleveland. And if you're going to beat Boston in Cleveland, you're gonna have to generate margin because Boston in particular is going to relentlessly attack Karl Anthony Twons and Jalen Brunson. And where you can create margin is
by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. I think those are easy ways to turn defense into offense more freely, and I thought the Denver game was a good step in that direction for the Knicks. All Right, it looks like we got five more at this point. Hey, Jason, I'm wondering if you could just take a minute to talk about Jason Tatum's improvement as a playmaker. I've been really impressed with him as a game manager this season.
If you watch the Celtics games closely, for the most part, Jason will start games off a little more passive while their starting lineup is on the court and create shots for them. Then Missoula will usually pull most of the starters besides Tatum and Derek or Tatum and Holiday, which is when he gets really aggressive scoring because he knows he's still capable of scoring when the bench group.
Is more limited.
I found it interesting in last night's game against the Bulls, closing the third quarter and in the fourth quarter, that Boston was up fifteen to twenty points and every player for Boston was hitting shots, yet still every possession Chicago
would send a double team at Tatum. I know about a week ago you touched on Tatum's ISO this season and how he's having one of the best ISO seasons in recent NBA history because he didn't put up stats like Sga or Jokis, because he's on such a great team and a lot of people either diminish or don't
understand the actual impact he has on the game. We just saw a team that was so scared of what he would do to them in isolation, even down double digits, knowing that doubling him would open and I would result in an open shot Boston was making. For the most part, they were still willing to do it, even if it meant they were stopping him from getting to the basket.
I'm just curious your opinion on how hard it'll be to stop Boston when Drew and Jalen get out of the shooting slumps thro in with Tatum basically being unstoppable when you try to match him up one on one. So on that as game plan, Like if I was game planning for the Celtics, it depends on the roster
that I have. If I have excellent defensive personnel across the board, guys that can all kind of guard in space, and I've got good backside help defenders, I'm going to want to switch contain and force them into ISOs and hope that they settle for bad jump shots instead of
trying to go through my players. Right, But if I've got some weak defensive personnel on the floor like Chicago does, when you've got to Josh Giddy or Nicolavusevich that kind of thing on the floor, you put yourself in a situation where you can't really guard in space that well. So then you start to make a simple calculation at Boston's three point percentage, no one is really shooting that
well this year compared to last year except for Peyton Pritchard. Right, So Tatum's this like all world ISO player, Boston's perimeter shooters have not been that good this year. As a game plan, you might think, if you have that type of roster, that your best bet is to get the ball out of Tatum's hands and force other people to make shots. That said, inevitably, this story ends with Boston running into a team that doesn't double that feels comfortable
leaving Tatum and Jaylen Brown one on one. When that happens, it will be incumbent on Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum to find ways to draw two to the ball. The only way they're going to be able to do that is if they score so effectively in those one on one matchups at the rim, because if you do it from the perimeter streaky, you'll have stretches where you make two or three tough pull up jump shots in a row, and then you'll miss two or three in a row.
But if they get consistently, if they have better balance between settling and attacking, and they attack those, it will become untenable for the defense to leave one on one coverages. That's when they can bring two to the ball or they can drive past that first guy and draw helpers and they can make driving kick passes to get those wide open threes again, Like it's you got to think of it beyond the Chicago problem and more like what
about the OKC problem? Like what about what if they run into a Knicks team and a Knicks team does more switching, you know, like that sort of thing, Like it's gonna be like you can't take Jalen Brunson and settle for pull up jump shots. You've got to take his ass to the basket. You can't take Carl Anthony Towns in space and just take step back threes. You've
got to take him to the basket. Like there's Oklahoma City is the real one that I would worry about for Boston there because they have the personnel to switch more effectively. But like that's gonna be the real issue. I have been really impressed by Tatum as a playmaker this year, and you can't deny the isolation numbers and
the jump shooting has been a really nice improvement. But make no mistake, the reason why the Celtics beat the shit out of the Mavericks last year was because Jason Tatum and Jala Brown drove past Luka Doncic didn't shoot over Luka doncicch and so like again like, I think the doubling will be something that Boston will see from time to time in the postseason of Tatum, but inevitably they will run into a matchup where Tatum and Jalen Brown are gonna have to break these defenses down in
more one on one situations. What do you think about Adam Silver saying he's a fan of four to ten minutes four ten minute quarters in basketball? How do you think this would impact the NBA? Are you four or against it? Thanks for doing a great job and always dropping insightful content. I'm a big fan of your show. Thank you so much for supporting the show. It means a lot to me. I think shortening the quarters is really stupid. The NBA has one problem, one big problem
with our television situation urgency. This is something I've been harping on NonStop. There are lots of things that could be better. Officiating could be a little better. Yeah, right now teams are taking a lot of threes, but I do think defenses will force teams to adapt. There there are things with the broadcasting where it can be a little podca has to eat in a little less. Let's
talk about the game. There's a little like media companies focusing on player movement instead of the quality of the basketball. I'm there for all that stuff, but those are those, to me are small issues compared to the much larger issue, which is that since the year, since the year MJ retired in nineteen ninety eight two, now we went from having there's almost nothing on TV. You sit on your couch on a Wednesday night and the NBA game that's on is one of the few options to watch, and yeah,
you're gonna watch that game. But now there are thousands and thousands and thousands of television options, thousands and thousands and thousands of smartphone options. You're having a hard time getting people's attention. That said, sports still is one of the biggest draws when it comes to people's attention.
The NFL is a great example of this.
The NFL continues to put up monster television ratings even though there have been so many more options that have risen to the surface. Why urgency Every regular season game feels huge, Every postseason game is single elimination. The urgency is off the charts. Okay, the bottom line is an NBA team can lay an egg three games in a
row and it really doesn't matter. I rooted for the Lakers as they have dicked around at the bottom of the standings for two consecutive years and barely crawled up to the seven or eight seed and got into the playoffs at the end, and they haven't cared. This year has been a little bit better on that front. But like the reality is is, you can afford to be bad for a while in the NBA. The Pacers were awful to start the year, didn't matter. The mass have
been pretty bad this year because of injuries. If Luca and Kyrie come back, it's not gonna matter. Like there's the Suns got off to a great start, now they're terrible. The Warriors got off to a great start, now they're terrible. Like both of those teams could easily rebound with a trade. The NBA regular season is too damn long. I believe that the NBA regular season to sixty six games will space the games out more so that more players play more often in every game than has about twenty percent
more urgency. And then if you want to do a play in tournament, fine, but don't let twenty teams in You got to get that back down to sixteen. There has to be a more realistic like, oh, half the teams don't make the playoffs instead of oh, two thirds of the teams do make the playoffs. Urgency is the problem. It's the number one thing that could be that can
be addressed to actually lead to tangible results. People do want to watch our best athletes compete when it matters, but it just doesn't matter enough in the NBA, and that is that is the main issue.
Guys like us, people who.
Really enjoy the game, We're going to get a great deal of enjoyment and appreciation out of the NBA regular season. The casual fan is going to tune in and out based on when they think things matter, and there's just not a lot of times where.
In the NBA regular season. Hey, Jason, big fan of the show, and I feel you're the best in the business. Thank you. That's a very kind thing to say. My question is in regards to.
The Lakers starting five, what do you think of a lineup of Lebron Austin, Dorian Finney, Smith Ruey, and Anthony Davis.
I feel that.
Lineup would be good able to switch one through five and allow Ruie to shift back to his original position. You talk about how great Lebron is as a hub for the offense, and with him and Austin trading point guard duties, I feel like this could work well. Plus it allows them to play big and even if Lebron doesn't commit to defense every night, they are a bigger team and Lebron still has the quickness to handle guards but could still but could also punish teams with the
size of that position. What also, would love to know your thoughts and keep up the work. So here's the thing it. I talked about this with the Bucks earlier. There are these the defensive responsibilities you want to fulfill. The Lakers are not good as a switching unit in the regular season because Lebron and Ruy. Lebron is a great rebounder and great defender who doesn't try the vast majority of the time in the regular season, and Ruy Hachimura is a mediocre to bad defender and a mediocre
to bad rebounder. So when you couple that with Austin Reeves who's athletically limited, and you put all three of those guys on the floor at the same time, and you start switching, you start end up being ending up in situations where Anthony Davis is on the perimeter. When Anthony Davis is on the perimeter, you need Lebron and Rui and Austin to be athletic around the rim as helpers and as rebounders.
And it's just a lot to ask.
So, like, I actually think that this is why the Max Christi into the starting lineup thing has worked as well as it has. It's allowed the Lakers to do less switching with their five man because Max is more capable of chasing over the top of screens. It allows them to basically keep into more favorable men, keep Anthony Davis closer to the ram where he can defend and rebound. Now, to your point, I don't Let's say the Lakers trade Ruie, which I think is still a good chance before the deadline.
Let's say a different version of that lineup, so it's Austin, Dorian van do Do Lebron ad. Could I see them trying switching in the postseason. Yeah, with that type of lineup, sure, because all those guys can switch, and because those guys would be able to end the postseason, because Vando is an excellent defender and an excellent rebounder, you suddenly have more of that kind of talent on the floor. Lebron now in the playoffs is trying harder, so he becomes
an excellent defender, excellent rebounder. Now all of a sudden, you have the personnel to pull off that type of look. But that's why I've been talking about that with the Lakers, Like I think there's one through five switching should be more of a situational thing and not like a base scheme because of the fact that they're just not good
at it. Good at it in the regular season. Since Jade and Ivy's injury, Cade's usage and turnover rate have skyrocketed, and while initially we got away with it, the last few L's have all had the same thing, teams realizing no else can dribble or break down the d from half court, so they end up trapping and blitzing him in every pick and roll. I don't believe this is sustainable.
If the Pistons are so serious about making the playoffs, Cad will wear out and we don't have the high end talent to keep losing the turnover differential and expect to keep winning games. I think a trade for CJ, McCollum or Sexton using Tim Hardaway Junior's expiring plus seconds is a cost effective solution to add ball handling, slash scoring punch without sacrificing the future. But no one in the Pistons community really knows how tradeing will approach this deadline.
My question is would you make this deal for CJ and Sexton to ease the load off of Caid and if not, what can be done from a coaching schematic standpoint to cut down on his usage turnovers. Thanks as always for your content. So I was watching the Pacers game this morning, actually is a game I wanted to get back to, and so Kid's not actually facing blitzes or traps very often, He's facing a lot of like traditional coverages that are just the way traditional coverages look
against really good offensive players. There's a thing that happens when you get upgraded in terms of your level of respect around the league, where you face aggressive traditional coverages, whereas there's a thing that you face around the league when people don't really fear you, where you face passive traditional coverages. A really basic way to look at that is the size the type of drop coverage that they face. He's not facing traps, he's facing big at the level.
That's a aggressive traditional coverage, meaning the guy guarding the screener is showing at the level of the screen and then recovering back. He spent a lot of time attacking Tyrese Haliburton in the Pacers game using Malik Beasley. They're using a basic hedge in recover scheme. That's literally what the Pacers use with Tyre's Halliburton against all primary ball handlers.
They'll have Tyree's hedge out, meaning briefly put two on the ball and then Tyree's is going to recover and keep his hands up and try to deflect that pass. You got to steal on Kate Cunningham on one of those, right, But Malik Beasley's gonna go like he's gonna set the screen, he's gonna slip, and he's gonna run out to the three point line. He's gonna catch a pass there. By the way, Cad did hit Malik on that multiple times in the first half. He just missed them, right. That's
part of basketball. But when you're facing a bad offensive player or an offensive player that no one's really scared of. They are gonna be like, let's run a deep drop, stay out of rotation. Like, okay, now Malik Beasley's going to set a screen. Tyrese might linger for a second, but he's not gonna hard hedge because he doesn't fear you,
because there's not that level of respect. Caid has now entered into the star ball handler tier, where now he is gonna see a big at the level every single time he runs a ball screen, he is gonna see a hard hedge every single time he attacks a guard in a ball screen. That's just part of the job. Now, to your point, I still think Kaid's been navigating that pretty well. But there's something to be said about you're talking about, which is there's not enough skill on the
court to quickly translate that into buckets. There were a couple of, for instance, kickout passes that Caid ran in
ball screens that end up in Ron Hollins's hands. And Ron Hollind's gonna make some threes, but he's gonna miss some threes, right, Like, he's gonna probably miss more than he makes by a lot, right, So, like that's just a reality of this roster now, to your point, do I think that the Pistons could benefit from a secondary ball handler, Yes, Would I do anything that sacrifices future second flexibility for that, No, that's where like, Yeah, if you can get a CJ. McCollum, I think Sexton might
be a little bit more expensive. But let's say you can get a CJ.
McCollum. If you can get a c.
J McCollum without including any first round draft compensation in giving up only one of these veteran players that's on a contract, I do think it would be worthwhile because you are probably going to end up in a playoff series with Kid. If you're gonna end up in a playoff series with Kid, you want to see what it looks like if he doesn't have to do absolutely everything. So it's not about winning the title. It's about getting
good experience for Kate. And one of the best ways to do that is give him a legitimate experience in the sense that he needs a secondary ball handler that can spell him when he's on the bench and run second side action make life a little bit easier for him. Also, guess what if it's CJ. McCollum that is setting that
screen and slipping out of it. He's going to have a opportunity to create with an advantage, and he's a better ball handler playmaker type, so he'll be able to help capitalize on those situations better than a Malik Beasley
can when the shots not falling right. So, like again, I'm not opposed to that kind of move, just everything has to be within the concept, the context of the big picture goal, which is this team has real potential in the long run, because Kate is a superstar in the making, because I do like Jade and Ivy, because I do like the pieces that they have around him. So it's about being delicate and cheap in that regard.
But yes, if you can get CJ. McCollum for cheap, I do think that's a move that would allow the Pistons a little bit more of a traditional ball handling structure as they head into the postseason. Last one, Jason, you've been advocating for Cam Johnson to be traded to Golden State to fill the second option role. Laughing my ass off, Like what, Cam is a great shooter, but he can't even average over twenty points per game on the nets. That's why we've been calling you crazy for
the Cam Johnson obsession. Zach Lavine is the obvious ideal option, even if it costs more. Problem with going with the zach Lavine type is you have to include Andrew Wiggins Draymond Green. That just makes it infinitely more difficult. Also, just as you get into those big salaries, because the Warriors have six players that make between five and ten million, you just have to piece too many of them together and it becomes a depth a problem with your the
amount of depth that you're losing. I'm not saying don't make a zach Lavine deal. I'd be happy to make a zach Lavine deal. I think a Jimmy Butler deal would be good too. I'm not disagreeing. I'm saying Cam Johnson is also an option. The reason why is I think Cam Johnson has an offensive skill set that works really well in Golden State system. So a couple things. First of all, came Johnson's better on the ball than you think. He's run one hundred and seventy six actions
this year, so ball screens, post ups ISOs. He's run one hundred and seventy six actions with passes and generated one hundred and eighty five points. It's good amount over a point per possession. That's really solid. Of the ninety one players in the league this year to take at least one hundred pull up jump shots off the dribble, he ranks thirteenth out of those ninety one. In EFFECTI field goal percentage at fifty four percent, he gets one point zero eight points per pull up jump shot. That's
really good. He's also shooting fifty two percent from the field coming off of off ball screens, seventy one percent in effective field goal percentage when you weigh it for threes, one point four points per shot. Of the twenty eight players in the NBA that have run at least fifty actions off of screens and taken shots, So coming off of an off ball screen and shooting of the twenty eight players have done that at least fifty times, he
ranks number one in the entire NBA at it. That is a specific skill set that perfectly fits into Golden State system. So he is real on ball pop, great pull up shooter, and a great off screen shooter. I keep talking about the concept of value for a team versus value in a vacuum. The example I always use is Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray's value to the Denver Nuggets is much greater than it would be elsewhere in the league because his pull up shooting over the top is
so immensely valuable. His ability to score against switches with Jokichen the two man game is so immensely valuable. But put him in another situation where he's with a less dynamic ballscreen partner and where he's actually depended on night and night out to be great, You're gonna be wishing
for more from Jamal Murray. Right if Cam Johnson was the best player on a really good team, or if he was in a situation where they already had a bunch of ball handling and they just need him to take catch and shoot threes and to drive closeouts and to play a little bit of defense. His salary slot
doesn't even make sense that point. But on a Warriors team that could really use a guy that is consistently good as a scorer coming off of action off ball and on ball, he is such a perfect shoe in fit in the Warriors system that I think his value there, especially on a team that is so utterly devoid of scoring talent at the top He's such a natural fit there that his value would be greater there than it would be elsewhere in the league. That's why I'm advocating
for Cam Johnson. If you could do that and not give up Wiggins and not give up Jonathan Kaminga, now we're talking about a roster that has some real upside. I like that as an option. I like Levine as an option. I like Jimmy as an option. I'm just saying, don't discount Cam Johnson as an option because he's a better offensive player than you probably think he is. All Right, guys, that's all I have for today. I'm also out of town for the weekend. I'm going skiing. I'm leaving tomorrow
for my annual ski trip to Breckenridge. I will be back in time for the trade deadline, so I will have a trade deadline reaction when I get home. I also bring my to go gear, so like if I end up in Breck and a trade goes down, I will record something at that point. But there's a chance if nothing goes down that I won't see you guys until Wednesday. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show, and I will see
you guys then the volume. What's up guys, As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.