Hoops Tonight - NBA Mailbag: Team USA in trouble? Lakers & Warriors top targets, Nuggets better?

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throughout the rest of the summer. And then, last but not least, before we get started, just a little note on how the schedule is going to look for the next month or so. During the Olympics, we're gonna be covering all of those games, certainly all of the USA Games, probably a handful of other games involving some of the other major national teams, and then it's gonna be kind

of mixed in with player rankings. We're starting player rankings next week, and again I'm still trying to figure out a way to kind of market the two different lists, because the way I see it, there's kind of two different ways to rank players. There's ranking them in a vacuum and ranking them based on theircomplishments of the last season, kind of like bragging rights in a vacuum. And I'm trying to just kind of come up with a way

to kind of express that something catchy. So if you guys got any ideas, drop them in the comments underneath these videos. But we're gonna hit in an Olympics. We're gonna hitting player rankings that should pretty much take us through the month of August, and then when we get to September, it's time to get started with season previews, and then we're gonna start diving into each individual team, all of their player acquisitions, so on and so forth, diving into

some different expectations for them heading into next season. But on that note, let's hop into this mail bag. We're gonna be going all around the league. It's gonna be fun. First question, and these questions. Some of them came from Twitter, some of them came from YouTube. It's kind of a shmortgage sport. We had a ton of questions. Obviously, couldn't get to all of them, but I do, as always appreciate you guys for participating and giving us all those questions.

Question number one, it's crazy that USA had to be rescued by Grandpa James. Yet again, wasn't this supposed to be the new Dream team that would beat the ninety two squad. Either way, this team isn't that good or the rest of the world has caught up.

like in ninety two. Obviously with Michael Jordan, you could argue Scottie Pippen was in that conversation as well at that point in time. I shouldn't say in conversation for number one, but a lot of people have viewed Scotty as the second best player in the world during that time, coming into two thousand and eight, I think Kobe was the best player in the world at that time. Lebron was right on his heels. They were both on that team.

Twenty twelve, Lebron undisputed best player in the world, Kevin Durant hot on his heels. Those two guys were all on the team. This team doesn't have a single player that's going to be considered in the same conversation as Giannis or Luka Doncic or Nicole Jokic. So I don't think they're as top end talented, but I do think that they are a very well rounded basketball team. Now, Steve Kerr has done some janky stuff with the lineups

that's made it tricky. I want to get more into that in just a second, But I don't think this is like an absolute world beating type of squad like the ninety two, two, eight, twenty twelve teams in terms of the absolute apex talent. It's more of like a depth of talent kind of thing. They're not going to just absolutely demolish everybody like the ninety two Dream Team

did simply because there's more international NBA talent now. I saw an instagram kind of like graphic the other day that showed that in the nineteen ninety two Olympic run, there were fewer than ten NBA players playing for FOBA teams. Now there's more than sixty. So that just gives you a basic demonstration of how much NBA talent there is

playing overseas. And one of the things I talk about a lot, I shouldn't say playing overseas playing for FOBA teams, but I talk a lot about the concept of diminishing returns, right, Like if every player has to fulfill responsibilities on the floor, and superstars are famous for being able to take these like big chunks of responsibilities, a lot of times you

need guys to fill in small roles. And when you take a star level player and ask him to fill a small role, like there's just not gonna be that much of a gap. Like, for instance, Devin Booker and what he does for Team USA is not that much better than what other two guards are doing for other FOBA teams, even though Devin Booker is a way better player.

It just has to do with the diminishing returns of Devin Booker being in the type of role that he is with tim Usa that said, they are underachieving to this point. I do think that they are good enough to go over there and win every game by around ten to fifteen points. That's what I predicted last summer. That's what I think should happen. That's what this team's potential is. With the talent they have. They should go over there and they shouldn't blow everybody out, but they

should at least win convincingly. They should win comfortably every single one of these games. But that's not been the case. They've been in a couple of knockdown, drag out fights, namely with Germany and with South Sudan. Right now, that is where we have to get to Steve Kerr in the lineup structure, because the end of this question is either way, i'd be concerned if I was an American.

My concern surrounding the team's performance, I'm holding off until we actually see them play in some foeba uh these Olympic games because in the showcase there's more of a lack of urgency when it comes to Steve Kerr and trying to figure out line of combinations that work, for instance, doing line shifts that's not usually how basketball works. Usually like yes up, two or three guys out, maybe one or two guys out at a time, and you're kind of like guys play longer shifts and it's more of

like a flow from unit to unit. Steve Kerr has been doing line shifts. He's been going five in, five out and just swapping guys out and then maybe mixing up a little bit towards the tail end of these games. And so I really just want to see the types of lineups that Steve Kerr uses in the real games, if he's still doing line shifts, if he still has

EMBIID with the starters. That's where I think there's some vulnerability here, because with EMBIID with the starters and with Anthony Davis and bam Adebayo with that bench group, there's a little bit of like an imbalance. I talked about this a lot in our last show, so I won't go into as much detail, but the short version is the starters really struggle to rebound and really struggle to chase over the top of screens with embat in his

drop coverage. Well, look at the lineup. This guy, a thirty six year old Steph who's turning thirty seven next year, thirty nine year old Lebron is turning forty next year, and Devin Booker that you're asking to chase over screens with Drew Holliday, with Drew Holliday being the only guy in that lineup that's a professional screen navigator, and you're asking them to chase over with Joel Embiden drop coverage. That's just a poor use of those players in their

skill sets. In addition to that, you're not rebounding well with that group well for all the same reasons Devin Booker average athlete at the NBA level, Steph Curry gonna be thirty seven next year, Lebron gonna be forty next year. Of course, you're not a great rebounding team. So, like a lot of this is by simply adding making some basic tweaks to the lineup structure, for instance, like swap Devin Booker out with a guy like Jason Tatum, make

yourself a substantially better rebounding team. Jason Tatum can do what Devin Booker does, move Anthony Davis into the starting lineup. By the way, as far as Tatum with the starters goes, that could also be Kevin Durant. Put Kevin Durant in for Devin Booker, right, then if I have let's just say, let's just say Tatum for the sake of this particular discussion.

If I go Steph, Drew, Tatum, Lebron ad and I'm switching, I'm a substantially better defensive rebounding team and I'm substantially more cohesive defensive unit because I'm running a scheme that makes sense with those particular guys. I don't want Steph chasing over screens. I don't want Lebron chasing over screens. I don't want kd or. I want those guys switching. And those guys all can switch pretty well. Drew can

guard up Steph. He's not the most athletic guy in the world, but he's sixty three and he's pretty big and strong, and he's pretty good at forcing guys to take pull up jump shots over the top. Anthony Davis can defend guards, Lebron James can switch those guys. That's

a switching unit in my opinion. Then you put Embid with the bench group where they're struggling to score in the half court, and embiids another offensive hub, a guy that can really add some offensive firepower to that unit, and so I want to see what they look like in the real games, to see if Steve Kerr applies those specific concepts, because if he does, I do think Toosa is gonna win by ten fifteen every single game

and get out of there relatively comfortably. But I'm really curious to see the strategy that they employ when they get out there. Next question, what political reason would cause him be to start? He's not a Nike athlete, he plays for the Sixers and is not even born in America.

Were sure it's just not Steve Kirby stupid. I think this has most mostly probably has to do with some sort of under the table deal to try to get MB to not play for France instead, right, like that was the whole thing, was easy going to play for France.

And I don't know if it had to do with the fact that tm USA needed a big and you know, because like even you could argue if the TMOSA only had a D and band, they might be a little undersized on the front line, right, So like Tmosa kind of needed a big France had Webbin Yama and Gobert, right, So, like it's a little bit. Uh, but that probably had

something to do with it. But it's very possible that there was some sort of deal underneath the table where it's like, hey, I will leave the team France and play for Team USA as long as you let me start. That very well might have been worked out. I think that's stupid. I think promised to play agreements are a loser mentality, and I've seen them all over the place. Obviously we've heard about it in the NBA in terms of agency politics, but like I've seen it at the

college level. I've coaches promise starting spots. I've seen coach I saw a juco coach once promise to guard at twenty shot attempts a game. Like to talk about talk about a loser mentality, right like, instead of like having a player earn that right or having a player demonstrate

that he's deserving of that type of offensive workload. There are these deals being cut that basketball games aren't won by deals getting cut, They're they're won by basketball teams organically taking shape by virtue of what is earned on the floor. And so I'm not a huge fan of that. I'm not sure if that's what happened, but that would be an example of a political reason that would lead and be to start like, hey, we'll start you, but that's your kind of like, you know, the the dangling

bait to get you to leave Team France. Is Lebron really the best player on Team USA or just the most experienced playing with the star studded team. I do think through through these five games to this point that Lebron has demons in a small sample size, he is the best all around basketball player in that group with his size, strength, athleticism, playmaking ability, shooting ability, his downhill ability, his ability to play bully ball around the basket. He's

demonstrated that to this point. Do I want Lebron or Jason Tatum to start training camp tomorrow? I want Jason Tatum. Do I Lebron or Anthony Davis to start training camp tomorrow?

I want Anthony Davis. Right, Like, at a certain point, Lebron's age becomes a factor in the grand scheme of an NBA campaign, from the tip off of training camp to the Larry O'Brien Trophy in mid June, You're gonna want a younger player, and I don't think Lebron belongs in those conversations, because I just I all you have to do is watch the Lakers. He's conserving energy in a lot of areas throughout the eighty two just to try to survive, right, But that's not the case for

this Team USA example. Right, like in these games, Lebron is the best player in this small sample size because he is healthy right now. He is in great shape right now. He is you know, well rounded and ready to go right now. And so, yeah, is Lebron the best player on TMOSA?

over the summer. That doesn't make you a better basketball player. It's really that simple. Every single player that went to this tam USA camp is going to come out a better basketball player, which would inherently lead them into more productive NBA campaigns next year, provided their bodies hold up.

But like, as long as their bodies hold up, Like there's nothing but good that comes from this, not even to mention, just the conditioning element that you know, by the time this is done, it's going to be what mid August or late August, and and at that point in time, they're a month and a half from training camp. So like at that point you maybe take a week

or two off, but then you're gearing up for the season. Anyway, I bet you there are gonna be guys who come out of Team USA and just stay in the gym and make sure they're ready by the time they get there. A couple Lakers questions, next, do you think Max Christie can be that athletic starting two guard that we need? So you guys know how I feel about young basketball players.

The main thing I worry about with Max Christie is his decision making, like when to pass, when to shoot, what to do when he drives past his man in a closeout situation, making reads in those situations. Those are the areas that I worry about Max Christie. I think he can shoot the ball fine, and I think he can defend, But the question is can he make those decisions. One of the things that sucks for Max is Darvin Ham horribly misutilized him last year and played an inferior

player in cam Reddish over him all season long. And so from that standpoint, like Max and get the reps that you would have hoped that he would have gotten

over the course of last season. But I would imagine that they'll start him at the two to start the season, or maybe not start because of the d LO situation, but they'll play him a lot at the two to start the season, and it will be up and down, and they are going to be highs and they're gonna be lows, where he's a young player making young player mistakes. That said, one of the things I think a lot about with the Lakers, as it pertains to them needing

to make a deal last year. Their biggest weakness, as I've said on and on, is having athletes on the perimeter. So if Austin Reeves is a skill guard and Lebron James is a forty year old forward and Anthony Davis is a center, you really need athletes at the two and three. And last year was d LO and Torrium Prince bad athletes d Lo and Ruy Ruey who's big

but not particularly quick on the perimeter. And so this is where it gets interesting because you have three players that are kind of sort of getting added to the roster even though they were on the roster last year. Bex Chrissy was on the roster last year, didn't get used. That's an athletic two guard. Gabe Vincent was hurt all year last year. He is a guy that is a

pretty solid point of attack defender. Jared Vanderbilt is one of the best point of attack defenders in the league and is super versatile and can guard many different types of ball handlers. Those guys were all Gabe and Vando were unavailable for injury. Max Christy obviously was in the Darvin Ham doghouse because Darwinham just just playing bad basketball

players or lesser basketball players for no reason. Right, So, like those guys getting added to the mix, if they're all healthy and ready to go, will help facilitate easier regular season basketball for the Lakers, right However, can Gabe start? I think he can next to Austin as long as your three is awesome, and right now, your three is

not awesome. Can Vandos start? I think he can as long as your two is awesome, But right now I don't think there two is awesome, and so in the long run, I still think the Lakers need up raids of those types of roles. However, Max Gabe and Vando just being healthy and ready to go at the start of training camp will buy the Lakers the time to

make that deal at the deadline. Again, if you think of it very simply, the Lakers have two draft picks to use, and you probably have two seasons left of Lebron playing at a pretty high level this year and maybe next year. What that means is whatever your next trade is, that has to be a hit that you gotta get the right guys with that deal, right, and so being patient, I'm not against it as long as

they actually do something at the deadline this year. What they cannot afford is to make the mistake they did last year, which is like, oh, d lo, he's playing really really well, we're fine, we don't need to do anything, and then you roll into the Nugget Series with the exact same players and lose the exact same way. That can't happen, right, And So I'm okay with taking that group into the season because I do think a van down Max can help in the eighty two to facilitate

some of that perimeter athleticism that they need. But at the deadline, I think you have to do something, and if they don't, I would be I'd be really disappointed.

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his ability to play off the ball. But one of the things that I underrated about Dennis Schroder last summer, I said that when they swapped out Dennis for Gabe, I was like, I like this because this is a player that's not quite as good as Dennis, but maybe a better fit with the Lakers because he can play off the ball. That was the main reason why I

was kind of pro that direction last summer. Where it became aware that I was wrong about that was the Laker roster had nobody that could beat anybody off the dribble other than Lebron James, and that becomes a problem in the half court when you're trying to get the defense in rotation and generate quality shots. If Dlo needs a screen and if Austin needs a screen and Anthony Davis needs a post up, then you're in trouble, especially against switching teams, because now you're asking forty year old

Lebron to do everything. And yeah, there were these moments like against the Clippers where they were switching everything and it got kind of bogged down, but then Lebron hit a bunch of threes and it was fine, Right, But like, that's a lot to ask, And so I've gained another layer of appreciation for Dennis as just a speed demon that can beat people off the dribble and how that can be of value in the half court to generate

quality shots. So if I could turn gave to Dennis Schroeder, I would personally, But that's just because I've gained a new appreciation for Dennis, And again I'll own up to the fact that that's the exact opposite of what I said last summer. But again, every year I've covered the league, I learned more and more about the game. Secondly, the d lo Jalen Ri Chafino Cam Brittish for Bruce Brown.

Bruce Brown, for me, is the classic example of an upgraded version of the Vanderbilt gave Vincent kind of Max Christy trio, the perimeter athletes that play the two or

the three right. To me, Bruce Brown is a guy that can bring a lot of like the Alex Crusoe esque like big athletic guard, point of attack, defense, rebounding elements, transition elements, while also being a plus offensive player, which is something that you don't get out of Jared Vanderbilt, which is something that that I think could be an issue with Max Christi even in terms of his decision making.

for Walker Kessler. I would like Walker Kessler if I could get him for one pick. I just think that's kind of unrealistic. But I really really liked the idea of Anthony Davis playing alongside another rim protector for the very same reason that you're watching these Team USA second units be so good defensively. If you put Anthony Davis next to another rangy athlete, it allows him to play the low man position and to be underneath the basket, helping on pick and roll, closing out to shooters on

the week's side, cleaning up the defensive glass. It's the classic look we saw in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee and Marcassol and Andre Drummond and those guys. Right like that, to me is a look that would benefit the Lakers. I just wouldn't give more than one pick for that type of deal, And if I was giving up pick, I'd want to really good player, someone that I think Walker Kessler fits that bill, but there aren't many that fit that bill.

I would prioritize using the first round picks to upgrade the perimeter athletes. Lebron and Ade have been the two top performers on Team USA. KCP came out and said he felt the Lakers should have beaten them as they were up every game. Is this roster good enough to at least make the Western Conference Finals? And what is one move that can make to improve their fourth quarter execution?

So we went over a lot of moves earlier. I thought the KCP quote was interesting because one of the big things that stood out to me about Denver is they just looked really tired throughout that entire playoff run. And I think that that was interesting to see them kind of own up to that. The one other thing I wanted to respond to in this question is the fourth quarter execution piece.

the Nugget series, was defense. Like, what was that one game, the Jamal Murray game winner? The first one? I think it was game two. I want to say that they scored on like nine of their last ten possessions, Like they scored every single time down the floor. The Lakers were scoring two. That wasn't the issue. The Lakers can score. The Lakers were one of the best offenses in the league the entire second half of the season that translated

into the postseason. Their issue is they don't have perimeter athletes, so they always put an underqualified defender on Jamal Murray or whoever the best perimeter player is on the other team, and they can't get stops. That's why they lose. And so like the focus on the fourth quarter execution piece like JJ Reddick will help it the Lass more wrinkles.

They may even go up a level from where they were last year, but they're not going to start reaching another level as a fourth quarter execution team until they improve defensively. In terms of their personnel. Last Lakers question for we move on, what do you think JJ can bring to the table that Darvinham couldn't even with the flawed team they had last year. If you swap JJ and at coach first Denver, could you see a different outcome.

I don't know if it would have been enough versus Denver. Again, I still think their defensive personnel was the main issue there. However, I put down three things that I think JJ could help with one improved offensive execution. One of the things that I've really grown to appreciate over the last year is the importance of actually running action versus just freelancing. You Laker fans know Krngis he works for Tim Cranis

does that b Ball Index a statistical platform. But he did an amazing job last year cataloging the difference between the way the Laker offense function when they ran sets versus when they freelance, and it was a big gap. And clearly that data ended up making its way to JJ Reddick because he's made specific mention of it, I'm not surprised at all. Cranis do is great work and he probably should be working for a team somewhere right now, and hopefully he does eventually at some point. But I

agree with him. I think he's hitting the nail on the head. I'm glad that JJ knows it. The Lakers need to stop freelancing so damn much, and they need to run more organized offense.

up in the play in tournament. So like, just having a guy who's willing to look at the evidence and make the appropriate adjustments accordingly is going to be a huge asset. And then lastly, coaching possession by possession. Famously, Lakers fans refer to Darvinham as hot pockets because he would just stand on the sideline with his hands in his pockets. You watch all the great coaches, you watch Eric Spolstra, you watch Tylu, you watch Mike Malone, you

watch Steve Kurr. These guys are up, They're animated. They coach every possession, They demand excellence every possession. There is an emphasis on attention to detail, and if JJ Redditt can bring that, I think that would be a substantial improvement for this team. Got Warriors question. If the Warriors don't end up getting Lori markinin and then in parentheses puts, I don't think the Warriors will want to give up pods and or kaminga plus multiple picks plus multiple swaps.

What is another option for them to potentially target this offseason to give Steph a true number two option to contend for a title. Not a lot of great options right now. I think that you never know what could happen when you get to the deadline. But now you're kind of looking in that after after marketing, you're kind of looking in that like brandon Ingram Zach Lavine area, and it's like, Brandon Ingram is a guy that I think would be a terrible fit in their five out offense.

Brandon Ingram is a guy that, like when you put the ball in his hands and you let him run spread pick and roll. He's a gifted pull up shooter, can get to the rim. He's one of the branding Ingram is a sneaky, excellent passer, but I just don't think he's a good fit in like a ball in player movement motion heavy like read and react type of offense.

And then obviously with Levine, it's about money and health and there's just a lot of risk there, and so I think if they miss out on market and they'll probably end up holding tight and seeing if they can find something that develops closer to the deadline. Are the Nuggets a worse starting five, but an overall better team with the addition of Sarich Westbrook and developing Strawther and Peyton Watson compared to last season.

And then we're going. We're turning around and leaving like the very next day to go to Seattle, and we got like an airbnb that overlooks Mount Rainier, and we're just gonna kind of relax and get out of the heat. It's been hotter in hell here in Tucson every single day. So I'm looking forward to some time in the p ANDWP the Pacific Northwest. The few times that have been there recently, it's it's becoming quickly one of my favorite places to visit in the summertime, and so I'm excited

to get up there. We're going up there for a week, all right, So the Nuggets. Here's the thing I look at. Everyone's kind of being slotted into different roles, right, So the role that used to be Christian Brown, that's the role that you're looking at for Julian Straw the right like first guard off the bench, right, the backup point guard. You're looking at Westbrook instead of Reggie Jackson, right, and then at the two guard, you're looking at Christian Brown

instead of Contavious Colwell Pope. To be clear, I think going from KCP to Christian Brown is a downgrade. I really like Christian Brown. I think he's actually a better defender than KCP, a more versatile defender because he's bigger and stronger, but like offensively, there's a chasm between those two guys, right, So I think that's a downgrade. We're gonna talk Reggie Jackson Russell Westbrook here in a minute, but I think that's a downgrade. But there's another question

there that we'll get to. And then Julian Strather is a very interesting player. It's got good size, really silky smooth, touched a lot of like interesting stuff in terms of his skill development, I just don't think Julian Strather's ready to be like a huge rotation piece next season. So I'm a little concerned about that. I do think Peyton Watson will be better, and that'll be good for him. I think that's Peyton Watson just getting better year over

year is an improvement. But I do think as we zoom out from that, I think we have to admit that the Nuggets are a little worse this year than they were last year. That said, I thought last year they lost a little bit of their competitive fire. Micha Malone said before last season that winning takes talent, repeating takes character, and I don't want to say they failed that test, because I mean, they were still up in

Game seven in the second round. But like, I think we can all agree that they just didn't quite have the juice last year, didn't quite have that extra bit of like mph to them, you know what I mean. And I think they'll have that this year. I think that Jamal Murray's pissed off. I think that Nikola Jokic is pissed off. I think the Nuggets are going to be really, really good again next season. And so even with those downgrades, and again I think we have to

acknowledge that Caseyp's not as good as Christian Brown. I personally don't think Reggie I don't think Russell Westbrook is as good as Reggie Jackson, which we'll get into in a minute. And I don't think Julian Strather can do what Christian Brown could do as a bench guard. Obviously, right, different types of players, but still in terms of overall impact, I think Christian Brown is better as a bench player

than Peyton Watson. Would that be in the case or not Peyton watsondn't excuse me, Julian Strather, I'm confusing them. I don't think Julian Strather is capable of impacting winning off the bench as well as Christian Brown did last year. Peyton wants it is a little bit better, but I think if we zoom out, I think we have to acknowledge that they got a little bit worse with personnel. However, back with the chip on their shoulder, a little bit of a revenge campaign. I actually think the Nuggets are

my pick to win the West next season. We'll see as we get into training camp if I end up changing my mind, but as it stands right now, I still think the Nuggets are the best team in the Western Conference. Next question, do you really think Reggie Jackson is better than Russell Westbrook? I do, And here's why. I covered Russell Westbrook very closely, and I watched a lot of him with the Clippers last year, and I have a feeling Nuggets fans will kind of come around

to my perspective on this. With Russell Westbrook, it's not about what he can do well, and he does a lot of things well. He's not a good regular season defensive player, but he's a very like he kind of becomes a freaky disruptive defensive player. In the postseason on the ball, and then he'll make plays defensively off the ball. But most of it with Russell Westbrook comes down to mistakes. And I want to get to one more positive before we get there, before we go to the negatives on offense.

In the regular season, he's gonna provide real rim pressure, real transition pace, real playmaking. And he brought all of those things with the Lakers, except for the high level defense. But the Lakers didn't make the playoffs with Russ and I believe he would have done that with the Lakers as well. Here's the thing with Russell Westbrook, It's never

been about the good. It's been about the bad. I have never seen a player make as many mistakes in basketball games as Russell Westbrook does, and you Nuggets fans will find this out pretty quickly. It's the kind of leaking in to try to get a defensive rebound and leaving a shooter open. It's the standing straight leged not paying attention to someone just cuts right behind him for an easy layup on the baseline. It's the missed box outs.

It's the poor decisions where like he'll randomly just in transition see a three on three and twenty sixteen, Russ woul dunk it, but twenty twenty three, Russ doesn't have that juice, but tries it anyway and ends up missing a layup and it leads to a transition opportunity. The other way, it's the settling for bad jump shots. It's the team's completely ignoring him and him not weaponizing that. Like a lot of players get ignored.

six or seven good things and two or three bad things. Right, Russell Westbrook is gonna do twenty twenty five good things in like twenty five thirty bad things. Like it is this like crazy oscillating back and forth, like oh my god, that was incredible, to what the hell are you doing to oh my god, that was incredible, to what the

hell are you doing? And sometimes it'll stack up like mark my wordsuggets fans, there will be a game in November where it's the end of the third quarter and you're on the road in a big like you're on the road in Oklahoma City and Jokic checks out with five minutes left, and or maybe it's the start of the fourth quarter that Jokich checks out or whatever it

might be. When you're gonna you're gonna have Russell Westbrook come in, and there will be a sequence where, like in a ninety second span, he does like five stupid things and next thing you know, you look at the scoreboard and instead of being down four, you're down fourteen.

Like that's that's the Russell Westbrook experience. It's these Sometimes the mistakes come in waves too, And like I'm not I'm not trying to hate on the guy, Like this was literally what it was like when I was rooting for him two years ago when he was a better athlete, and he's gonna be an even lesser athlete at this point in his career. So like I I will say this and Zach Low from ESPN did a really nice

jot breaking this down. It's a low risk proposition for Denver because if the fit doesn't work, you just bench him or you cut it right like the Denver doesn't need Russell Westbrook, so it's.

Let's say next year, it's like they beat that, like the Orlando Magic in the in the second round, and then they beat like the what either the Philly team that has Paul George and Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxi or maybe that Knicks team that added Mikhale Bridges, and then they go to the finals and they beat like the Denver Nuggets or the Oklahoma City Thunder or someone

like that. Like, if they do that, I think that this Celtics team all of a sudden enters into a totally different conversation because there's the first team to repeat since the KD Staph Warriors. You're following up a dominant season with a more impressive playfforn. There's all sorts of things there. Referencing Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum as a duo is where it gets a little weird for me because there's five thirty million dollar players, and I felt

the same way about the Warriors. Everyone'd be like, Oh, it's Stephan k D. Stephan k D, and it's like, no, it's not. It's Stephan kd and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and Andre Guidala.

works wonders for both their legacies. For I think it adds a whole other layer of legitimacy on last year's team. I think a repeat would work wonders for the Seas. Hey, Jason, I appreciate the hard work you put into the videos. Do you feel like Oklahoma City are going to make a big move this season or are we still another year away? With the team competing at this level and depth, it seems we're done and to let their picks resolve

into either even younger pieces. I agree, and I do think that the Thunder will eventually make more of an aggressive all in type of deal where they use a lot of draft compensation. My guess is it'll be on a forward. We talked going into the summer that there was two directions they could go. They could either put Shed at the ford next to a center, which is what they're going to try with Isai Hartenstein this year.

The thing is they don't have to rush. They're going to be a dominant regular season team no matter what, so they can wait for a really good deal around the deadline. There's not even a rush in terms of this particular season, in the sense that if they don't find what they want at the deadline, they can wait till next summer if they want to. I think this team is really good and is a bona FIDE top tier championship contender. Just go down the list. How is

their offensive shot creation? Well, can't do much better than shake kills Alexander one of the best offensive engines in the league. Jalen Williams is one of my favorite young players in the league and awesome Number two. Chet Holmgren brings a whole bunch of offensive firepower to this situation. Isaiah Hartenstein is like a prototypical five outdribble handoff big I think he's an excellent fit there. Okay, what do they look like in terms of their physicality on the frontline? Well,

last year they sucked. Isaiah Hardenstein is a monster on the glass and a guy that completely raises the physical profile of the team. What do they like defensively, Well, they got real rim protection and chet Holmgren. What do they like at the point of attack? Lou Dord is one of the best options in the league at the point of attack. He's like the only guy I've ever

seen really truly frustrate Luka Doncic in a playoff series. Like, they've got it all and the one thing they don't have is a bigger chet at the five look and the only way they're going to get that is by trading for a forward, and my guess is that is going to be what they keep their eye on throughout the rest of this season heading into the trade deadline. Well, this was a I asked after I gave my Lakers Celtics take the other day for people to provide basketball

reasons why they disagree. And there was a bunch of you guys who gave reasons, but I wanted to shout out one of you guys. This is from Steven Smith. Hey, Jason, love the show. Admittedly by a Celtics fan here, but I can give you a few basketball reasons why I think the twenty twenty four Celtics could beat the twenty twenty Lakers. I know Anthony Davis was probably the best defensive player in the league at the time, but the way Boston spreads teams out with Porzingis would be hard

for the Lakers to guard. Jason or Jalen could run two man game with kp at the top of the key and give and have KP Pott forcing ad out of the paint and giving Jason or Jalen driving lanes to score or kick it to Drew or d White. At that point, it becomes somewhat of a shooting contest. Given this Celtics team was the most prolific three point shooting team in NBA history, I believe we'd win that battle.

finals this year. With the twenty twenty Lakers. While the twenty twenty Lakers have a front court advantage, we have a back court advantage.

But in a hypothetical matchup, I would go with the Celtics in seven, although I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers ended up winning. Appreciate the great content, content, and I hope this message finds you well. First of all, thank you for taking the time to spell out your basketball thoughts. One of the things that I talk about all the time is that bothers me. It's like a

pet peeve. Is like I offer a basketball opinion and the people that are just like that are just like, fuck you, You're stupid, you rummy, you know, and it's just like and it just turns into like a like a shit talking contest, and that's just not productive. It doesn't solve anything. I got into doing this for a

living because I love talking basketball. Like I used to literally like walk through basketball and have these debates with my college teammates when we were growing up, either on buses or in hotels or after practice when we were untying our shoes and stuff like. I love talking basketball.

What that means is I want to hear what you guys think and taking the time to actually write out why you think I'm wrong is something that is way more productive and something I'm willing to engage with, and so I appreciate you taking the time.

the basketball. Alex Cruso is like something crazy like two hundred and twenty five pounds of solid muscle at six six, Like he's a really difficult guy to bully. And Danny Green's even bigger than him. So like they are big on the perimeter, that twenty twenty Lakers team, and so it's more of a switching look. And the idea there is you switch and you contain the basketball. And again I'm not saying you won't ever get dribble penetration, but

it's about flattening dribble penetration. A straight line drive past Luka Doncic forces hard help, which leads to wide open closeout opportunities. A good perimeter defender is going to make those drives more of like a banana route, like a flattened out drive, which makes it so the guys can dig down instead of hard helping, which makes for easier closeouts. It just allows you to kind of avoid that drive.

they're a better duo than Tatum and Brown. They're a way better duo even than Luca and Kyrie were. And that's a big part. Like those two were just an absolute wrecking ball that entire season. But I appreciate the comment. You did a really good job breaking it down. I think your take was super reasonable. Hey, Jason, love the show. I'm a fan from Trinidad in the Caribbean. You have

a following here. I know you have said that usually a basketball player is who they are around the age of twenty six twenty seven, But isn't it possible for del to improve his defensive skills and athleticism during the offseason. I think he's a high level offensive talent aside from when he gets in his own head. But I just don't buy him saying I'm just not athletic at this

phase in his career. He's been trying. Trust me, there is like a there's like a range of potential athletic outcomes for every player, and likee, Delo has a range, meaning he can get better, but there's a ceiling there, and his ceiling is still too low to impact the game as a role player the way guys like Derek White do, for instance. All right, let's see Pistons question. Hi Jason, thanks as always for your content. As a depressed Pistons fan, last season was an absolute shit show.

Really tested my love of the game. However, I think this offseason was quietly one of the best, considering the overhaul of the front office and getting Fred Vinson to help IVYSR. Holland improve their jump shot. People clown the Tobias contract in the Tim Hardaway junior trade. I understand when you win fourteen games, we don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. But You've always mentioned the importance of solid vets that can still play a high level to

help a young core develop good habits. When you're assessing rebuilding teams, what signs apart from the win lost column are you looking at to see if a group is on the right path to take the next step? And do you think this Pistons group can take a Houston esque leap towards respectability for example thirty odd wins. I do think that the Pistons are poised for that type

of leap. I'm met much of a believer in Kid Cunningham, and quite frankly, last year was Manti Williams was not playing their best basketball players and that kind of like set them up for failure in a lot of ways. I like the additions because they all make sense. Tobias Harris is a guy that can play the four or the three. I think he's gonna play a lot of four for this group. But he's a glue guy at this phase in his career. He's a dude that just like that just kind of like fits in with other

basketball players. He can attack mismatches in the post, he can go to work off the bounce, but he's a guy who can also just kind of play a smaller role and then shooting to create spacing. Blik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Junior will help in that area, I think

the most. As far as like the adding vets piece, Like, I'm a big believer that if you put a bunch of young basketball players that don't know how to play together, especially under a like a less than fantastic coaching staff, there's not a whole lot for them to improve on because they're not learning from any sort of experience, right and so especially as long as those veterans don't take

away from their opportunities to learn. So, for instance, like John Wall with Jalen Green doesn't make any sense because John Wall is going to directly infringe on Jalen Green's ability to kind of like have those opportunities to go to work, right, Like what makes sense is you want of these veteran players like Tobias Harris, Maliki's tim Ardowa Junior that are going to play smaller roles and primarily just serve as mentors for players. And Kaid's still gonna

play it the same way. Ja Nivey is still going to play the same way, Jalen durn Is still going to play the same way, and you just have the ability to just kind of elevate the overall basketball iq of those lineups. There are a lot of possessions where like Kid Cunningham gets the defense in rotation and then the play just dies from there because there are guys that don't know how to properly attack closeouts or to make the right reads in those situations. These guys will

help in those ways. As far as next year and taking that leap, it's really just about can Kay Cunningham continue to be the shot creator that he is, Can you get obviously a little bit more competent coaching, and then can you be adequate defensively in that front court? Right with Jalen Dern and Tobias Harris, I think you're a little undersized. I do think we'll see some Isaiah

Steuart still alongside him. Although I think Isaiah Isaiah Stewart has kind of become an interesting trade target out there for teams that need The center position is just such a high value position, especially with all the up and coming centers, guys like Embiid and Anthony Davis and NICOLEA. Jokic, Right, and with that being the case, the especially with Isaiah Stewart being kind of a little bit of a shooter, I wonder if he's the guy that they can look

to trade at some point. But in the short term, I think just adding some vets and just another year of improvement from your young players and an improvement a head coach could go a long way to putting that team into that twenty five to thirty win range. One of the top five things to you hope to see when Slash if Acolyte is renewed for a season two. I actually just broke this down in a lot more

detail with my buddy Luke on two Suns podcasts. We actually just released that episode yesterday, so you can find that again wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube under two Sons podcasts. But the gist of it is, like, I think that we saw Darth Plagas in the season finale, right.

He's a super interesting character because he's the guy who basically set up the entire plan that Palpatine executed in the Phantom Menace to get to the Chancellorship and then obviously to start the Clone Wars, and so I think it'd be really cool to dive into that you've showed Plagas.

I think it'd be really cool to go season two centered around Kymer go way back to his Jedi fallout with Vernestra, whatever happened there, and dive into how he met Plagas and him becoming a Sith, And then the tail end of season two, I would have the showdown between Chymie and Plagas as they determine who's going to become the Dark Order of the Sith and whatever they decide to do with Kymier. At that point they can figure out Season three, I would like to see them

dive into Plagas and Palpatine. I'd cast a young Palpatine and I just do a whole I'd do like two seasons of prequel content, like a little bit of young Palpatine, a little bit of like older Palpatine with Plagas, and just really dive into the backstory of how those two kind of executed their plan that started in The Phantom Menace. That's what I would do if I was running The Acolyte. But again, check out our pod. It's a it's a totally different format. I'm with my best friend. It's much

more casual. But we've done I think one hundred and twenty six episodes now, so we've actually been around pretty long. But we just did an Acolyte episode today or yesterday, and then we also do House of the Dragon. Expectations for John Morant and the Grizzlies. They have a solid core that's still pretty young. I think they're going to dominate the regular season next year. I don't know what

they're gonna look like as a playoff team. I need to actually see them play, especially with all these new pieces. I want to see where Gigi Jackson fits in all of this. I want to see if Zach Edy can help. I want to see if John Morank can continue to play the way he did when he showed up in the middle of the regular season last year. Can Marcus Smart stay healthy. There's a lot of question marks there, but I do think they're going to dominate the regular season.

I expect them to be a top four seed or the Orlando Magic on the same tier as Philadelphia in New York or is it too soon? I still think they're behind that tier. I'd put them behind the Bucks too. I just think they still need to until Franz Wagner and Palo Buncarrol become better jump shooters. I don't think they can enter that tier, but I do think that they'll be a very good regular season team. Wouldn't be surprised if they pass one of those teams in the

regular season. That said, I still view them as firmly in that fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. Let's do one more. This is a Pelicans question. Without a center and with de Jontay Murray and CJ McCollum on the roster, where do the Pelicans go from here? Who should they trade? I would trade Brandon Ingram, And really my reasoning is this simple. Brandon Ingram has not played sixty five games in a season since he was a rookie. He's consistently

hurt and consistently playing below his peak. I'm a huge brandon Ingram fan. When he's healthy, I think he's one of the best passing forwards in the league.

spot up players in the league last year. He was up over one point three points per possession, so good at shooting and driving closeouts. So like BI is not only worth more in terms of getting returned, but CJ's a better fit alongside Dejonte and Zion, And so that's the direction that I'd look to go from there. Try to flip him for a center. There's a bunch of different actions directions they can go. You could look at like athletic rim running centers, guys like Nick Claxton or

Clint Capella. There are guys who could shoot it a little bit. I talked about Isaiah Stewart with the Pistons earlier. He's a guy that you could try to put a pry away from Detroit. Wendell Carter Junior from Orlando. You could even look at I'm worried about this from a defensive perspective, but what if Minnesota decides to move on from Karl Anthony Town or if Chicago decides to move on from Nikola Vusevitch. Those are a couple of other guys as you could look at in terms of shooting

next to Zion Williamson. But I viewed them as a drive and kick team in the future. I really like the idea of Zion and dejhon Ta Murray beating people off the dribble. Guys like Trey Murphy and CJ. McCollum benefiting from that and close out situations because of their ability to shoot and make moves in the in the mid range. All Right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you for supporting the show. We're gonna take the rest of the weekend off.

We'll be back on Monday to break down the Olympic opener between USA and Serbia as well as we're gonna I'm gonna start prepping the player rankings at that point. We'll probably end up airing that on Tuesday, but we will be back on Monday. I will see you guys then.