Hoops Tonight - NBA Mailbag: Mavericks OVERLOOKED, Spurs & Wemby can WIN NOW, Nuggets new lineup?

and pick your team and place your bet. One of my favorite bets to look at right now is the NBA Championship picture. I have three teams in the same tier. I have Boston, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland all in the same tier. But Boston's at plus two fifty, the Thunder at plus two sixty five. The Cavs are at plus eleven hundred, So some nice value there to help get you started. Here's something special for all new customers. Bet five dollars to get two hundred dollars in bonus bets.

Instantly download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app and use code hoops. That's code hoops, that's hoops. For new customers, to get two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly when you bet

just five bucks DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gamble problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope and why to four six seven three six nine Connecticut help us available for problem gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario, New customers only. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co slash audio. All right, well, Condobe tonight here at the volume evy Friday. Everybody, it is mail bag Day. I got a bunch of good questions. If you guys want to drop mailbag questions for the show in the YouTube comments, put mailbag colon. Write your question and we'll get to it on Fridays

throughout the rest of the season. You guys knowe the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight youtubechannels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS you guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed where you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful for you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,

and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the season. Make sure you guys follow us there now. Like I mentioned off the top, last but not least, keepdropping mail bad questions in those YouTube comment Every few weeks, I feel like I have to say this, and part of it is just because we still, thanks to the YouTube algorithm, get exposed to a lot of new people that haven't

seen the show. I'm a Lakers fan, more accurately, a Lebron James fan that roots for the Lakers, and when Lebron retires, I won't have any of that nostalgic emotional fanhood from my childhood, which will be probably better for my job. But I am a Lakers fan and so I watch almost every Lakers game, and of course I'm going to talk about it on my show. Why wouldn't I have opinions. They're my favorite team, right, And so some of that is going to come through in the show.

That said, I work extremely hard to cover the rest of the league this week. After this show, we'll have like over three hours of non Lakers content that will be released in this week. I spend a great deal of time covering the rest of the teams, and so what we do to try to make that easier for you guys is we put chapters and we do breakout clips, so it's pretty clear to see where what we're going to be covering on any given show. And so if you don't want to watch any Lakers content, don't watch

any Lakers content. I totally get that. I sympathize with it. I understand. I get that there's a lot of people out there that hate the Lakers for the obvious reasons involving the Laker franchise, and you may not want to hear me talk about them. I don't blame you skip over it. But there's a lot of good stuff covering the rest of the league beyond that if you just look at our channel. And so that's just a little disclaimer for our new listeners that I've joined the show

within the last couple of weeks couple of months. Yes, we're going to talk about the Lakers and my favorite team, but that's really in the big picture, doesn't come close to encapsulating what we do on this show. Fantasy mailbag question. If you're the Warriors, are you doing a similar deal for Beal? Maybe in that scenario you keep kaminga and at Kyle Anderson talking about Bradley Beal instead of trading for Kevin Durant. I would not make a deal for

Bradley Bial. I don't think the Warriors really have a need of in guard depth. I think that they've got a lot of guards that can do different things, and they've got a skill guard already. Bradley bial is an excellent athlete who should in theory be a guy that can help in a lot of ways. But he's just such a bad off ball defender and just in general off ball role player that I on the defensive end of the floor that I don't think it actually solves

many problems for Golden State. I think for them, especially at that salary point. I think for them, if they were going to make a big swing for you know, a high powered player, it'd be in the front court. Jason Nets fan here saving the obvious. The Nets are rebuilding. They are set to have the most cap room in the NBA next season, and they're tanking to get a high pick. Clearly they want to get a star or

two in free agency or a trade. In order to have a bottom three record and likely a top three pick, They're going to have to start losing even more. The Nets offload Cam Johnson and Nick Claxton, they won't have any good role players on the roster. Won't that lack of decent starters make it harder to recruit free agents and or entice a star to demand a trade to

the Nets. I think the Nets should hang on Cam Johnson and Nick Claxton in order to be an attractive destination and hopefully they get lucky in the lottery and snag a top four or five pick. What do you think is the best case for course forward for the Nets? So? I think the idea of building through free agency doesn't make a lot of sense, certainly not in this coming summer one. It just hasn't been the way that people have done it as of late stars have renewed deals

on their current teams and then asked for trades. That's how player movement has happened for the most part. Also, if you look at free agency this year, there's just not a lot in the way of great options. Like Lebron could be a free agent, he's not going to Brooklyn. I think Jimmy Butler might go if you offer him

a max contract, just if no one else does. If he just opts out and go and Bok offers him a max I think Jimmy would probably go, just because I think he's gonna have hard time getting a max contract elsewhere. But I don't know how that makes any sense for Brooklyn, Like, why would Brooklyn do that? What Jimmy Butler is gonna put you in the same position Miami's in, if that makes sense. So, like, I think the Clippers will probably try to resign James harden I,

especially since they still have Kwhi Leonard under contract. I don't see any point in going after a guy like a Fred Van Vliet, maybe Brandon Ingram. He's a guy that, like, if you're gonna throw a big max offer because you wanted to, Brandon's the kind of guy that I would I would go after. Like, he's only twenty seven years old, and Brandon is actually at his best when he's not on a team with a ton of ball handling, but on a team where he kind of gets to run

the show. I think he's better and more of a heliocentric role than in like a read and react type of role. I think he's one of the better among the forwards in the league. I think he's one of the better kind of like pick and roll passers that we have very good at throwing skip passes and getting the defense into rotation. So Brandon Ingram's an interesting option. But then again, I mean, if Brandon Ingram's your best player, I don't think you're necessarily going anywhere a special at

that point either. So, like I think i'd use the cap space to try to win bidding wars for proven role players, especially ones that are do big raises, because those are the kinds of guys that you can turn around in trade for more asset return. Most of the guys that you sign you can turn around and trade by like December fifteenth or January fifteenth, in the middle of the season. I think it's December fifteenth, if I

remember the date. But like it's one of those things where like, for instance, like remember when Indiana signed Bruce Brown, you know, like you end up getting a guy like that. Now they intended him to more be a role player on that team and they ended up using him as salary ballast to go get a Pascal Siakam. But it's very possible that somebody turns around and trades a first round pick for Bruce Brown this year even though he

makes twenty something million. Nobody wants to pay Bruce Brown twenty seven million or twenty something million to be a role player on their team. But like, if you have other bad contracts that are not that are not contributing to your team, you will happily take a higher paid role player that'll help you and you can get multiple second round picks, protected first round picks, things like that.

So like you could try to get into the free agent conversation with specific guys to try to drive like just basically bringing in assets that you can turn around and flip. But I mean, self awareness is a big deal in these sorts of situations, And to me, like it's pretty obvious that the nets are years and years away from serious contention. So at this point, I actually go the Oklahoma City route, which is take on as much young talent as possible, getting as many cracks at

the first round as you can get. Look for in the trade market, lottery picks that failed for other teams, guys that are in their third fourth year that didn't pan out, but it might have something to do with

situation or role that might have a better chance. Like those are the kinds of like if I think they should be calling a Golden State and trying to get a Jonathan Kaminga, I would make more sense for a team like Brooklyn to get a guy like Jonathan Kaminga and like really just give him the keys to the

offense and just see what he's capable of. Then go after a guy like Brandon Ingram, who we know exactly what he's capable of and exactly where the ceiling is there, right, Like there's just at this point, if you're gonna be bad, be bad with a purpose, don't be bad without a purpose.

But like, as long as you have as many first round picks as possible and you're bringing in those younger cast offs from elsewhere in the league, you just get a bunch of opportunities to evaluate young talent, and then once you hit on one or two of those guys, then you have a good idea, like, Okay, this guy can be the best player on a championship team, or like, this guy can be the second best player on a championship team, So now we need the best guy, or

like whatever it is. You get like a couple of guys that are like rock solid guys that you get out of your draft and development system. Then from there you take a strategy approach to what are our strengths and weaknesses. Okay, well with this group, we really need to anchor him with this sort of thing. Oh like, this guy's really gonna need a five that can shoot.

Oh no, this guy's gonna really need this this guy's this guy's gonna really need a ball handler that can free him up and make him more of like a screening threat. Whatever it might be. Right, there's all of these different directions you can go with team building, but you can't really make that decision until you know what your foundation is. And if you make your foundation brandon Ingram, you'll know what your foundation is, but you won't have

any real upside there. The better option there is to to look for younger talent. Once you identify what they are capable of, then you can build around their strengths and weaknesses. Last thing I'll say on that front is just you got to establish basketball culture. It's just so important. You need to from the ground up in your franchise, from the coaching staff to the development staff, even the front office with the types of guys that they go after.

You need to establish a basketball culture that permeates from year to year so that as you're building in that direction, you don't become a bad team. Right Like it's okay to be a bad team in terms of like your talent level and your ability to win games. You don't want to be a bad team in terms of the style of basketball you're playing. You want to play solid basketball on both ends of the floor, so that as the talent grows, the ecosystem is already there for the

talent to thrive in. How come teams in the NBA overlook G League players and even overseas European players. Example, Jay Huff was in the G League for years and never got an opportunity, but now he's a decent backup center. So why don't teams look outside current rosters for backup Biggs exclaimer or disclaimer, I know that they will have certain flaws, and they are backups for a reason. First of all, the good teams do you know Memphis has been finding this kind of guy just about every year.

Golden State has done it again with this gee Santos, who's been doing some really useful stuff for them. Biggs, I think, in particular, translate better. Bigger forwards, bigger athletes translate better because simple athleticism focused jobs. You can find a lot of young, useful talent around the world, but some of your perimeter, especially shot creation talent, they rely so much on skill and decision making and there's like a huge drop off the NBA level to sub NBA

levels in that regard. And so I again like teams do some teams are better at it than others. But like I think there's certain types of players where that's an advantageous way to look, and there are other types of players where it's not. Can you break down how Amen Thompson, a non shooter starting for Jabari Smith, has not negatively impacted the Rockets offense with his cutting and fast breaking, his fast breakability. I would also say his

offensive rebounding ability. You know, the inability to convert spot up possessions is an issue for a man, right Like, he gets zero point seven to four points per spot up, that's in the eleventh percentile. But he actually logs more cuts than he does spot ups. Houston does a good job of not putting him in that position very often. Like most players like Amn Thompson that are bad shooters

still log a lot of spot up possessions. The reason why is they just somehow end up with the ball because people aren't guarding him, right Like, that's usually how it ends up going. But he logs more cuts than spot ups because of the way that the offense is organized. Like look at the end the Memphis game, for instance, so steady diet of Fred van Vliet, Jalen Green, high ballscreens that sort of thing, high ball screens, high ISOs.

They put Jaron Jackson on him for a good chunk of that, and they put Brandon Clark on him for a good chunk of that. But where is he always sitting. He's just sitting in the dunker spot on the left side of the paint, where if the guy steps up, he can get in there and get a quick drop off passer a lob and dunk it. Or if someone shoots something, he can crash the offensive glass. He can just do damage there. And that's really the thing. Like if you miss a spot up three, of course it

hurts your team. That's an opportunity that you couldn't convert, but you can make up for it by overwhelming impact as an athlete running in transion transition where a men Thompson is amazing crashing the last cutting to the rim. Like we talked about defending on the perimeter, he had a huge stop against John Morant at the end of that game. You can turn yourself into a net positive

while being a bad shooter. This is again it's all about organization and being the right type of high motor athlete that can really make teams pay for leaving him. I think part of it too, as far as the swap for Jabari Smith has been that Jabari Smith has been a blow average spot up shooter spot up player this year himself. He shoots forty percent on unguarded catch and shoot three, so he'll knock down the wide open ones, but he misses quite a bit when he gets closed

out at and then he'll drive into long twos. Like he's taken forty three mid range jump shots this year, only made sixteen of them, only gotten thirty two points. Thirty two points on forty three shots is not good. That undercuts his success. So like again, like the realities is, it's not that much of a drop off in spot up capability and there's just so few of those opportunities because of the way that they use him in a man was so good at the end of that second

Rockets win against Memphis. They were down eight middle of the fourth quarter and he had three dunks out of the dunker spot, including a pretty nasty alley loop off of a play where Jaren Jackson overhelped on Shan Gun. His vertical spacing is legit. He's an easy target and he'll pop up off the ground quickly. Again, like to finish in the dunker spot, you have to be able to quickly come off of two feet around the basket,

like Lakers fans. You'll notice this with Max Christy as of late, who does it more like cutting to the rim off of inverted ball screens with Lebron But like if you're gonna finish among the trees. You got to use speed off the ground, like quickly popping off the ground off of two feet and finishing and men Thompson is really really good at that. He blocked Jalen Wells

at the rim and a help side possession. He spooked Jalen Wells on a close out that forced him into an air ball on a catch and shoot possession down the stretch. He got the stop of the game on a hard John Moran drive where he stripped him down low and forced him out of bounds. He had two free throws after getting fouled out of another catch in the dunker spot, and then he got the biggest rebound

of the game after John missed two free throws. It came flying in from above the break and grab the rebound. So like, just did so much good and never ended up in a position where it was a problem that he was being helped off of. The Grizzlies put centers on him and helped off him all game and a man just made him pay for it. And that's really all that you have to do to be a useful role player in this league. I also want to shout out Jaalen Green. The Rockets had been playing really, really well.

They're on a five game winning streak, and in this five game winning streak, Jalen Green has been averaging thirty three points per game on fifty five percent from the field, fifty three percent from three to ninety six percent from the line. That's just outrageous. I've talked a lot about how this team is so good defensively and they compete so hard, and they're so good in transition that like, if they just get good shot creation from Jalen and Fred,

they win. Like I've pulled the stats in the past and don't have him in front of me, but there's like a pretty clear through line for the Rockets between their shot creation from Jalen and Fred and whether or not they win games. One last thing I'll say about Jalen Green too, Like I talked about this long time ago with respect it was about a month and a half ago with respect to Jalen and to Jonathan Kamingo, which is like, guys that their respective fan bases has

been pretty low on. There's a chunk of Warriors fans that think Jonathan k ming is like the second coming of like Lebron James, but a lot of Warriors fans, most of the Warriors fans that I talk to are are kind of like they think he's fine. I think

he's fine. I don't think he's anything special. Rockets fans have been mostly out on Jalen Green over the last couple of years, and I just I can't quit on guys like him and John or Jonathan because that freaky rangey athleticism with size, not like a small guard like Jalen Green's big, He's a decent sized guard or two guard.

And when you have the ability to cover ground and to beat people off the dribble and to do athletic things, when games become super physical and become more about leveraging athleticism, I'm always gonna be high on that type of guy. And like I understand, Jalen Green comes with a lot of poor decision making, inconsistent defensive effort and execution. There's stuff with Jalen that undercuts his success, but the talent

is undeniable. And like going on a five and oh streak averaging thirty three points per game on the level of efficients, again, that's fifty five, fifty three to ninety six. That's outrageous that that's just a really exciting stretch of asking all the Dalen Green, Hey, Jason, absolutely love your show and the way you break down the game has helped me understand so much more about it since I've been listening, since I've been listening in this past year.

My question for you is when you say reeling about the Spurs. I've always thought reeling was a term used as a good term. Can you explain why you use that term to describe why they have been not doing so great? So they're four and seven in their last eleven games, their fifth in defense in that span. It's all about the offense. In their seven losses, they're twenty first in offense. It's been brutally bad. In the losses. They have a actually that's that twenty first in offense

numbers through the entire eleven games. I need to fix that. In my notes, four and seven in their last eleven games, fifth and defense, twenty first in offense in the seven losses, they have an offensive rating at one oh eight, which is really really bad. It's been especially a bad in

the clutch situations. It's been kind of an ironic shift because the Spurs actually started the season winning eight of their first eleven games that went to clutch situations, but they're one in six in clutch situations during this four and seven stretch. In those seven clutch games, they have an eighty three offensive rating, which is just in the gutter. And it's a combination a lot of things. I've talked

a lot about settling for tough shots with Wemby. I won't get into that again today because I've harped on it like four times in the last couple of weeks. But some of it is decision making, like late in the Grizzlies game, like Steph Castle was in like kind of a one on one with Jaron Jackson at the rim and was clearly kind of engaged with him and tried to like go through him and shoot out to the side. It went exactly as you would expect. Jaron

Jackson just swallowed the shot up. Like Victor women Yama had a play where he drove right into Jaron Jackson and got blocked like that. It's just poor decision making. Some of it, too, is just that they're shooting really, really poorly, like Chris Paul and Victor wemen Yama are two for sixteen on clutch threes in those seven clutch situations, the rest of the team is only three for nine,

so like they're not making any shots. And there's been some sloppy defense in there too, like some really bad backside rotations. Victor wemen Yama was getting pretty pissed off at the end of the Grizzlies game. Where of their Grizzlies game where there was a couple of plays where they got burned, there was a play where like Santi al Dama was being guarded by Wemby, and Santi's set like a ghost screen for Desmond Baine and went out to the left corner and Keldon Johnson was on Desmond

Baine and fell for the ghost screen. Falling for the ghost screen is like he opened up like preparing to run into the screen instead of just sliding with Bain. And so when he opened up and there was no screen, Bain just went around, and which is what happens in

ghost screens. Like ghost screens are really effective because it tricks people into thinking there's going to be a screen when there's not going to be a screen, which can breed a relax like maybe we're gonna get switched here, or maybe I'll just be able to chase over to the top because I'll have drop coverage help. But on that possession, Aldama went to the corner. Wenby didn't want to help, so because obviously he's guarding a shooter, so dest maywell right to the basket. Nobody else in his

Spurs Jeers he helped at the rim. Wenby's looking around, like, what the hell are you guys doing. And then there was another play a couple of plays later where he showed up at the level against Bain, and obviously when you show up at the level, the role man is going to get open on the backside, and Desmond Bain through the pass. Wenby tried to deflect it, but it got through. Well, there's a scheme for that, right if the big shows at the level, that's where the lowman

steps over to rotate. The Spurs had no lowman step over on that play and gave up another dunk, and so, like, Wenby was pissed off, but like it's just sloppy defense right at the end of a game. CP three can help, Harrison Barnes can help, but at the end of the day, this team is still relying on a lot of young players that will make mistakes. I don't think Steph Castle and Victor Wemenyamo will be foolishly challenging RIM detectors in

a few years after they learned their lesson. This is this is like just kind of part of the process of developing as a basketball player. Yo, Jason, keep up the great videos and great content. Do you think the Spurs should make a win now move while Victor's contract is low and he's playing at an all NBA level. Personally, I think if you gave Victor Adierre in Fox right now we are a playoff team. The guys that would keep untouchable are Vic and Castle. I've already talked about

this before, but I agree with you. I think vic Vick obviously is untouchable. I think Devin Vessel has been impressing me in some other ways, Like I think he's got some ability to cover ground in rotation, his closeouts are sharp, and obviously he's a capable offensive player. I'm with you, though, like Steph Castle, I think is just going to be really damn good in the big picture. But like remember when I was talking in the last

question about young players and making mistakes. There's a development process that takes place, and some players are going to be faster than others, Like like I think Steph Castle is gonna develop faster, Victor wemin Yam is gonna develop faster, but other young players are going to develop slower, like Kelt Johnson has been in the league for a while

now and he's still making mistakes. And so like, if you put yourself on the trajectory of, like, let's just be patient and hope all these guys, you know, pan out the way they're supposed to, you're going to run into issues where some of the guys are ready but other guys are not, and then you're not good enough, and then Victor is going to be pissed and you're not going to be competitive the way that you need

to be. So like, in my opinion, because of Victor's trajectory, which is like he's already playing at a top ten level for most of this season, probably will be a consensus top five player as soon as next season, would that being the case, Like, like you gotta get on his schedule, and that would involve you being more picky and choosy about which young players you're willing to wait and watch develop. Darren Fox is a super interesting option

for this team. It's one that I think is a shoe in natural fit with Victor women Yam on both ends of the floor. Darren Fox because of his offensive load, like his workload. He is a guy that gets kind of physically aggressive at the point of attack, like at the ball, like tries to swipe at the ball and force turnovers. But he's not the best like contained guard in the league because that just takes a lot of work and he's got a lot of work on the

other end of the floor. Well, if you're gonna partner a guy like that and a ford aggressive defender, like a gambling aggressive, try to force turnovers type of defender, you want rim protection behind it. Victor wmen Yam and can support him in a way that Demonda simonas cannot. And it's just a guard, a real perimeter shot creator that is ready to be at VIX level in big spots that can like actually hang instead of relying on a very old Chris Paul to be the guy that's

setting him up in those situations. So, like, if you can do it at the deadline this year, great, If it's something that you do over the summer. Great, whatever it is you need to do, but I would love to pair Dearon Fox with Victor women Yam. I think I think it's the kind of move that is aggressive while also like cognizant of a of a more extended timeline, because I think Daron Fox has a lot of good

basketball left. Hey, Jason loved the show. With Russell Westbrook's resurgence, Aaron Gordon returning from injury, and Peyton Watson looking like a better perimeter defense option at times? Is it time to think about moving Christian Brown to the bench. Also, if you're Mike Malone in a playoff series, who are the four you want on the floor next to Yokich? We actually just talked about this. Was it yesterday? I think it was yesterday's show, Well, that would have been

Wednesdays show because I'm recording this on Thursday. But I'm of the opinion that you need to keep Russell Westbrook in the starting lineup because you need to maintain this set of circumstances to see if you can ride this wave of really good Russell Westbrook basketball as long as you can. Aaron Gordon, I think you have to have out on the floor in terms of lowman help for Jokic so that he can get up to the level of ball screens. So I think those guys have to

be out there in the short term. If Russ starts to struggle, then by all means, bump him out of the starting lineup put Christian Brown back in there. But I absolutely would bench Christian Brown at this point he came Westbrook in the starting lineup. Hey, Jason, not so much a basketball question, but more of a podcasting one. When you make appearances on other shows, for example, Koc's a while back, can you walk us through the behind the scenes about how you organize these guest appearances? Is

it a conversation between Colin and whoever? The bosses of Yeah? Who sports are? Is a lot more informal here in Australia. I'm friends with someone that runs one of the biggest podcasts of OSSI Rules Footy, And because there aren't a whole lot of podcasts compared to NBA and NFL, everyone sort of knows everyone else and it's really easy to schedule appearances on other shows. Just curious how things work in the US and the fact that the NBA is a lot bigger than the AFL, so there's way more

podcast slash shows for consumers, thinks. Fun fact, one of my former high school teammates, guy who played at the University of Arizona. One of the grooms men in my wedding, a guy named Mat Korchik. He actually played in the

AFL for Carlton. There was this. I don't know if they're still doing it, but apparently the AFL comes and recruits like d one big men that don't play in the NBA because they're just the kinds of guys that can fill the ruckman position, where I guess is like a jump ball that they throw in the middle of the field where you basically just have to the two biggest guys in either team just like fight like hell to try to get the get the ball. So that

was interesting. But so I have a just a rough understanding of the AFL for my buddy Matt's journey over there. But anyway, as far as the guest appearances, I it's a lot simpler than you'd think. First of all, the volume doesn't care if I do guest appearances with anybody. I don't have to clear that with anybody as long as I do my job and like produce my show the way that it's supposed to and put in a certain amount of effort for guest appearances with other volume shows,

like they'll let me do whatever I want. Outside outside of that, I pretty much say yes to everybody who asks, and it usually just results in like a text message like Chaos will text me, or Colin's producer will text me, or whatever it is that that wants to have me on the show. And yeah, there's like a there's like a common courtesy and I provide this in reverse when I have guests on my show, but there's a common courtesy to send him a rundown like hey, here's what

I want to talk about. But it's really simple. It's like, well what works for your schedule this time? Okay, great, Well what do you want to talk about? Well we're gonna talk about this okay. Cool, Like it's really not as complicated as you think. And then it works just like any other guest appearance where it just becomes more conversational, which I enjoy as a mix up from what I do on this show. Long time listener, thanks for all

the work you put in for us. Two Part question one, do you think it's worth it for the Pistons to make a deadline move this year, ideally for Cam Johnson or do you think they ride out the year and build through the draft and free agency. I've been coaching a freshman high school team. We are routinely less talented and athletic than the majority of teams on our schedule. Are there certain offensive philosophies or sets you would suggest implementing to get the most out of my roster? Sorry

for the length and comment. Thanks again, keep up the great work for number one. As far as the Pistons go, Like, here's the thing, you call up Detroit, and if you can do something like Tim Hardaway Junior and Simone Fontechio and get Cam Johnson er, or maybe you can get it with just Tim Hardway Junior. But if you do some sort of deal like that and you don't have to include a ton of draft compensation, sure, by all means, I just think it's going to be more of a

bidding war. And what I would not do is give two first round picks for Cam Johnson because that first round draft compensation you need to save just in case you need to make a more aggressive trade down the line for a more elite talent, especially for an off ball score like Cam Johnson. There's a lot of opportunity, in my opinion, in the middle of the first round to find wings that can shoot and defend a little bit.

And so I'd rather build that sort of talent side out through the draft because it's discounted and it keeps you on a timeline that doesn't disrupt your ability to adjust the team and the roster moving forward. But again, like if you can get Cam Johnson for Tim Hartovia jor not include a ton by all means, like, just do it. But I just wouldn't be super aggressive in terms of draft compensation as far as your high school

team goes. In terms of like sets, it's just really difficult because I don't know what players are on your team. And the reality is is like there are certain like structures that work best for certain teams and not for others. Right, Like, if you have a supreme ball handler but you don't have a lot of surrounding talent, you need to generate

space for him to work. But if you have a conglomeration of talent, then you need to play with more five out concepts, more three man action, more motion, side to side stuff that's going to get everybody the ball, where your decision making and your aggregate skill can kind of take over. Right, But like, I don't want to get into sets for any more than that, just because I don't know about your team. As far as like competing with more athletic and more talented teams, the best

thing you can do is win the margins. If you're in better shape and your guys sprint the floor an offensive transition and defensive transition every time. If in defensive transition, they stop the ball, protect the rim, spray out to shooters.

If in offensive transition, they run their lanes, Meaning you have your best athlete forward or center run to the rim, your best shooting forward trail to play, and you have your wing run to the corners, and you run early offense, and you on defense if you have a good shell drill where you're loading up on the strong side and you have good principles like that also is contingent on the roster, Like if you have a center, you don't want to be switching a lot, But most high school

teams don't have a center, so they do a lot more switching. Like I coach high school and there's almost every team is doing a ton of switching among the teams that we compete with. So like again, like those the more schematic stuff on either end of the floor is just really difficult for me to get into because I don't know your roster. But just win the margins. Like,

make sure your team competes on the glass. Make sure your team like is good at setting their man up for screens, and make sure your screeners are really good at setting good, fundamentally sound screens. Make sure that guys are running and sprinting into their cuts. If you're running ball screens, don't let your big jog up into the screen.

Make sure he sprints up into the screen. All of those little things will go a long way towards decreasing the gap in the talent and athleticism between you and your opponents. How do you think Clay is fit in Dallas? So far? He's averaging the least amount of points since his rookie season, and his three point percentage is near the lowest of his career as well. But the Mavericks are winning and look strong when healthy, and the defense is held up as well. Even when Luka, Kyrie, and

Clay all play together. What's working in Dallas that didn't work in Golden State? Thanks love the show. I think he's mostly been really good. I was looking at the numbers today. He's still at one point two points per catch and shoot this season, one point twenty six when he's unguarded, one point one to six when he's guarded. Those are both excellent numbers. His number of unguarded attempts is down. I think that has mostly to do with

the injuries, though. Like in Golden State he got three point six unguarded catch and shoots per game, he's getting two point six with Dallas. Again, that's to be expected when Kyrie and Luca have missed as much time as they have. The trio of guys have actually played seven hundred and eighty four possessions, which is not a big sample size, but it's not a tiny sample size either. They have a one to twenty offensive rating with that group, which is really good, and they have a one thirteen

defensive rating with that group, which is above average. It's not to write home about, but it's above average. I still think they could use a lot in the way of reps and Luca wasn't close to healthy in the time they played, so I think that could look better down the line. I still just really like the roster. I've talked about this a lot, but I think Dallas is the best roster in the West behind Oklahoma City. And what I like about the Clay thing is it's

about options. Like, there will be situations where Clay makes the most sense. There will be situations where they need more ball handling and Spencer din what he makes more sense. There will be situations where they need better defense on the perimeter but also need spot up shooting. They'll go with someone like Quentin Grimes, right Like there will be situations where between Quenton Grimes and Naji Marshall, Naji Marshall is playing better. Nausee probably gives you the best combination

of defense, ball handling, and spot up shooting. But again, a lot of it you can feel out from night to night. Like this guy is feeling it tonight, Let's go with him. Clay's body is feeling great, and he's sliding his feet and he's guarding tonight. Okay, we're leaning on Clay. That sort of flexibility to me is what like that? To me? Is what makes this Dallas roster is like they just have depth at every position group. Okay, you need a primary shot creator, Well, guess what. Kyrie

and Luke are two of the very best in the NBA. Okay, well, one of them is down. We need somebody to step into that spot. Well, we have Spencer Dinwiddie who can really create shots in that system. Jaden Hardy, Naji Marshall can put the ball on the floor, Klay Thompson can run action. Like, there's just a lot of depth there off ball shooting. There's just a ton of off ball shooting. For depth, you have PJ Washington, you have Maxic Kleb the center position. You have to just literally rock solid

starting caliber NBA centers. Like that team is just loaded with talent. And I know that they've been losing a lot of games since Kyrie and Luca got out, and I know that they may not be in this situation and the standings that you would have thought this year. But I mean, this is one of those teams where, like, very rarely an NBA history, is there a team where I'm like, if they get healthy and they get right for the end of the of the season, they can really make a run in Dallas is one of those

teams for me. For more, what do you think is the biggest reason for westbrook success with the Nuggets. Would you have credit it to Yokic's amazing passing ability or do you think it's more Westbrook's doing. I've noticed Westbrook has been very good at cutting off the ball and seems to be hitting more catch and shoot threes. Absolutely love the show. I watch almost ever every episode. Never stopped doing this. Thank you. That's very kind of you.

I talked to it. I did a deep dive breakdown of this the other day, so I don't want to get too far into it. You can actually find it on our YouTube channel. It's like Westbrook's return. It's a big thumbnail with Russell Westbrook on it. But I think it's a combination of a lot of factors. I've seen a lot of Nuggets fans that are like kind of victory lapping over, like the well we fixed Russ no one else could. And I think that's disrespectful to the

multiple fan bases that watched and rooted for Russ. He's on his sixth team in seven years. Guys like it can't all be the Laker's fault if he's on his sixth team and seven years. Here's the thing, there's blame to go all the way around in all of these situations. Russ is not the only reason why the Lakers sucked in that twenty twenty two season and missed the playoffs.

He's like, he's not the only reason why things we were bad in that period, which by the way, they traded Russ and went to the Western Conference finals, Like it was clearly a bad fit. They brought in better fitting talent and they went on a run. But like during that time, like other people were to blame as well. It wasn't just Russ's fault. That said, Like it was also Russ's fault. Like Russ was not hitting catch and

shoot threes, he was not cutting. I shared the numbers, but like he's already had almost three times as many buckets off of cuts this season, just in this small half of a season then he did his last year in Los Angeles with the Lakers. I mean, so like there, it's a combination of factors. Jokic definitely makes it easier.

He's the best player in the world and as good as Lebron and Adr neither of them were the best player in the world in twenty twenty two or twenty twenty right, the Nuggets in general, I think are a better, more organized basketball team than the Lakers. That definitely helps. But a big chunk of it is Russ is starting to hit threes when he didn't, and Russ is being willing to move off the ball and to cut and to be a threat without just standing around on the perimeter.

It's Russ, through the humiliation of the last few years, has become an active participant in his own survival in this league. He's put in the work, and so it's a combination of all those factors. I think Nuggets fans should feel a certain amount of pride in the way that they've been able to weaponize Russell Westbrook but making it so that everyone else was terrible and Russ was never to blame and here we are finally giving Russ's opportunity.

That's just not reality. And guys, I watched every single game he played with the Lakers. I promise you he was to blame too for how things went during that span. Do you think the concept of a tough shot maker is real? And if so, how valuable is it to

a team? I find it hard to understand how a tough shot maker or clutch player averaging twenty one points per game will be seen as a more valuable piece on a team compared to someone else who averages the same amount of points doing it with less tough shots. Tough shot making is a skill in basketball, just like anything else's. But if it's your foundational skill, I don't think it's a good foundational skill. I'll use myself as

an example here for a minute. Like one of my best traits as a basketball players, I'm a tough shot maker, and I've had that since i was young. I'm a good athlete, and I'm tall, i have long arms, and I've just I've worked really hard behind the scenes on like right shoulder fade aways, left shoulder fadeaways, one leg fadeaway, step back's going right, step back's going left, all this different footwork, and those shots were useful for me when

I was younger. But when I was younger, and I could make tough shots, but I couldn't do much else. It wasn't I wasn't a good basketball player, not nearly as good as I am when I'm older, now, tough shot making still helps me to this day if there's spots where like I need to get a bucket in a in my men's league or in a pickup game, like I like having the ability to create my own shot.

That that's something that is a useful skill. But what made me a good basketball a better basketball player in the later in this later phase of my time playing is all of the other stuff, you know, like defending, rebounding,

playing within a team concept as an offensive player. So like when it comes to tough shot making, like having a tough shot making is a shot maker on your NBA team is super useful, But like if your entire offense is predicated on guys hitting tough, contested pull up jump shots, it just puts a certain ceiling on your team offensively, especially when things get grinded down to halt in playoff games. This has been something I've seen with some of the best pull up shooters in the league

in recent years. I've seen this happen to James Harden. I saw it happened to Kevin Durant in twenty twenty too, if you remember when he lost to Boston. There's there's a lot of examples of this where like it gets so physical that you're so tired that it's hard to make the tough shots. Tough shots are like fifty percent footwork and then or I should say thirty three percent footwork, thirty three percent touch, but thirty three percent is leg strength.

Like if I'm looking at a good defender and I go in and out cross between the legs and I cover ground on the side step to the right and rise up and shoot, I have to on that side step cover enough ground to get separation while also having the leg strength to stop my sideway's momentum and get straight up and down and get the lift I need to shoot over a contest and get the ball to the rim. It's hard to do in a knockdown, drag

out fistfight of a playoff series. And so I just think I've even seen this with me, like where like when I'm playing and like tough money tournaments and it's like the money's on the line and I'm playing my fifth game in the same day, Like I can't be leaning on my right shoulder fade or my left shoulder fade in that situation. I'm just not gonna get enough

lift to knock it down. In those sorts of situations, that's where I've got to use more of my size and strength to get closer to the basket and try to win bully ball battles. I had a money tournament just a couple of months ago in the fall where in the last we played six games in the same day because we ended up dropping the first game to the to the team from Phoenix that came down and we had to go down and beat the loser's bracket and then go back up and beat the team from Phoenix.

And like, I didn't do much work in the post all day. I'd been doing a lot more shooting from the perimeter, operating as a ball handler, that kind of stuff. And in that final game, I was like, I'm dead. I need to just use my size, and I just went down to the block and worked out of the post during the championship game. And it's just more reliable in those sorts of situations. And that's kind of what I've always been drawn to Jokic about as in more

in the NBA concept. And by the way, when I talk about myself as a player, most of you guys take it the right way, but like it's just how I relate to the game. I don't have delusions of grangeur. I'm not here sitting here thinking I should be in the NBA. As a matter of fact, I think I'm far from that level. But I've worked really hard to become a good basketball player, and it's how I relate to these situations. It's how I think about the game.

And like Jokic, for instance, one of the things that's always drawn me to him as a player is like he thrives in those situations because his game is predicated on close to the basket shot making, which doesn't rely as much on his like strength and is less susceptible to fatigue related decline. If that makes sense. All right, Two more quick ones, Hi, Jason, I had a question about the comments here. I feel like there's always a loud minority that just wants to hate on the show.

I was wondering how you managed to deal with comments like that so professionally and not let it get to you. When I tried making stuff on YouTube, I had a similar situation on a much smaller scale, and the hate comments really got under my skin. Thanks for your content. You enrich mikes with basketball thank you for the kind of words. It's it's not easy. Like I was talking about this with my wife actually the other night. It's it's really bizarre actually to have a lot of people

talking shit about you on the internet every day. I really struggled with it a lot in the first like year or two. I've got a lot better at it more just compartmentalizing The reality is, though, is it never it never goes like the icky feeling you get when you read someone who says something bad about you doesn't go away like it h every time I read a comment like that, it still feels funky, right. I've just gotten better at quickly compartmentalizing it and moving on. But

it's just an important part of the space. And something I would say with this sort of thing is like anytime you do anything that has you in the public sphere, and some of this is like the reality. I've seen some like professional athletes complaining about this, and I want to be like, you're a professional athlete, You're in the

public sphere. This is what comes the space. But like everybody that exists in this space of whether it's media, whether it's just being a public figure, whether it's being an influencer, whether it's being a professional athlete that has big social media profiles, whatever it is, the Internet is just going to bring a certain amount of nastiness to you, and you just got to find a way to deal

with it as best as you can. I think of the real part of it is the self awareness to just know that it's never going to stop, like will no matter what I do. Even if I tried so hard, even if I identified every single thing that people are upset about and I tried to cater my analysis to fit into this like perfect zone, there would still be hundreds of people who would be pissed off at me. So like part of it is understanding that no matter what you do, you're gonna piss people off and there's

gonna be negativity. And once you accept that reality, it becomes about navigating it within your own mental health as best as you can. And I know that certain people deal with it in different ways than others. So what

works for me may not work for you. I'll tell you, guys, to be honest with you, the big one that works for me is zooming out and looking at the big picture, which is that when I have a video that or like if we have a week where we get two hundred and fifty thousand views or three hundred thousand views, and there's you know, three or four hundred really nasty comments, there's usually like way more very positive comments, like really

positive comments, and there's the viewership. You can't deny the viewership is what is two hundred assholes in the mix of two hundred and fifty thousand views? Right? And so, like zooming out and like looking at the big picture helps me compartmentalize it a little bit. But yeah, like i'd be lying to you if I said it just I don't just look at it and just feel great and rolls off the back. It sucks, and you just get better at handling it as you get older. Jason,

you are the man. I've been reading some of these comments, and I was wondering, as a reporter, what do you think about comments from people that give you directives on how you should report on things? Is when they don't study or know nearly as much as you. I think part of the the issue is not having ego within this space, which is like I work really hard behind the scenes. I watch a ton of film and I try to learn as much about the NBA as I can.

I'm on this like side mission that runs hand in hand with this job, which is I want to run the best show that I can, but I also want to learn as much about NBA basketball as I possibly can. I want to be an expert on NBA basketball, and so I have a certain confidence in my analysis based out of the work that I do behind the scenes. But I also think it's important to not feel like

you've got it all figured out. And and so that's the thing is like when people disagree with me, I look at it as just additional perspective, another opportunity to another opportunity to learn about the game from somebody who've

used it differently. And so that with that with within that context, like when I see people that comment stuff and they argue or say you're wrong, that's stupid, I think it's this Like there are times, of course, there are times where I look at it and I go, yeah, I disagree with that, But there are other times where I see that's why I read the comments. I read

the comments because I want you guys as perspective. And there are times where like I've listened to a or read a comment and someone will have like a hey, actually, you know, you know with the pacers, I've noticed this, and I'll be like, oh, that's super interesting, and then like I'll do my own digging into it and come to another conclusion. And like I was actually talking about this with a couple of Celtics guys the other day.

I think that everybody that has the intention of being an expert and anything should try to listen to as many people as possible, to gain as many perspectives as you can, and to just increase the just the total amount that you can learn from something like this. But again, like I don't take it personally when people disagree with me about basketball takes, I just look at it as an opportunity to get additional perspective. All right, guys, it's

all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. Tomorrow, I got the special I recorded with Jova on yesterday that's going to be running just kind of a Lakers deadline centric piece, and then we'll be back on Monday with our power rankings and everything like usual. I'll see you guys then the volume. What's up guys. As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops 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.