The volume. The ever its NBA Cup is here and you can win big getting in on the action at DraftKings sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All thirty teams split into six groups every Tuesday and Friday, playing for the right to advance in the single elimination in season tourney culminating in the NBA Cup Championship in Vegas.
We have a new favorite on DraftKings. The New York Knicks are actually favored to win the NBA Cup right now at plus five hundred, with the Cleveland Cavaliers with the second best odds at plus five fifty. First time, here's something special just for you new DraftKings customers. Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets if your bet wins. Score big with DraftKings Sportsbook,
every point counts. Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app and use code hoops that's h oops, that's code hoops for new customers to get one fifty in bonus bets if your bet wins when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York called eight seven seven eight hope N why or text hope N y to
four to six three sixt nine. In Connecticut, help was 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 and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkang dot co slash b ball. All right, welcome
to Hoops to Night. You're at the volume heavy Friday. Everybody, Hope ball. If you guys have had a great week so far, got a jampackshow for you today. It is a mail bag day. Got about a dozen questions. We're me going all around the league. Thank you to those of you guys who submitted questions. You guys are the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of these videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLT so you guys
don't misshow announcements don't forget about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your post under Hoops Tonight, don't forget. It's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Also, we have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for the Hoops Tonight channel where we're going to be releasing some reels and stuff like that. To make sure you guys follow those feeds.
And the last, but not least, if you want to get a mailbag question into our mailbags that we do on Friday and occasionally an additional time during the week, we drop them in the YouTube comments. Make sure you get the questions there and we'll hit them at least every Friday.
All right, let's talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason, I'm a longtime listener and a few times recently it feels like the mail bag has become responding to crybabies instead of answering thoughtful questions, having unique conversations, etc. You don't need to defend yourself against people aren't listening to the show or delusional fans. Maybe using it to touch on some younger, less talked about teams would be cool. To love what you do. Man. First of all, thank
you for the kind words and the support. You're absolutely right, and I owe you guys better than that. I shouldn't be stooping to the level of responding to people that are either trolls or people that are having arguments and bad faith, and so I'm going to do a much better job. I appreciate you calling me out on it. You're right, I got to do better. I think you're right.
This mail bag should be more for getting into some of the younger teams that we don't talk about as much, talking about big picture basketball concepts, and getting to those of you guys who have well meaning, well thought out questions. So you guys have my word. I'll do better again. I appreciate you calling me out on it. Next question, Hey, Jason,
I've been watching since the beginning. I have a little complaint, and I know real life gets busy, but it seems like we aren't getting as many videos as we did last season. Last season, it felt like every night there would be a quick reaction video. So far this season there have been days with no videos. I just appreciate your videos, brother, You're doing great. Just a fan complaint, so I was just curious because I feel like, all I do is work, but obviously I want to hear
you guys out, so I just dug into it. Tomorrow is one month since the start of the season, or I should say today, since it's airing on Friday. I'm recording this on Thursday. But today, this Friday, represents exactly one month since the start of the season. And I went and looked, and we've done twenty four full episodes, which means we're going more than once more than five times a week. The general rule of thumb is in a month, if you do if you work twenty two days, you're
working on average five days a week. Right, So like we're going over five days a week, which is pretty much in line with what we do during the regular season. Right Generally speaking, we're going to release five new episodes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then usually about one night a week, I'm going to pick a primetime game and do an instant reaction, which we've done about
five times this season. Now, you're right. The very first season, when I first started with the volume, we were going every night. It was a nightly show, but obviously we transitioned into hitting the big games, but having the shows during the day, which I prefer because then I get to really pour over the film. Like my opinion is that the show is better in its current format because I can really dig into the film methodically and meticulously
and give you guys better information. Even in the playoffs when we go every night, I also go almost every day because even though we're going every night and that's the instant reaction and capitalizing on the urgency, I also just need to watch the film. That's something that is very important to me. It's been like that since I played in college. It's just what you do. It's just
I like pouring over the film the day after the game. So, like, the general thing you can expect from me on the show is that from about the beginning of October usually it's like mid September because I do so much season preview content. From about the middle of September to about the middle of April, you can count on me for Monday through Friday, five days a week, plus about one nightly show a week, usually geared around a big national
TV game. Then from the mid April to mid June, you guys can count on me to go basically every night and every day. Like those of you guys who've been around during the playoffs, you know what it's like we do. Last year, we averaged about like twelve brand
new episodes per week during the playoffs. Then after that, during free agency, in Summer League and the trade market and all that stuff, I go down to about five days a week, and then in that August September stretch, I'm going to go down to about three days a week because it's the summer and that's when I'm going to take a break. But that's been the cadence we've been following for the last couple of years, and that's pretty much what you can expect from the Channel moving forward.
But I understand, I know you just I know. I just wanted to kind of dig into it, make sure I was giving you guys what you guys expect from me on the channel. Next question, Piston super fan here. I believe the Pistons have hit on multiple draft picks over the last three to four years and that cad Ivy Duran is a good core to build around. We have tried to be young and fun and ended up being one of the worst teams in NBA history. We're now trying to add some playable vets and win, but
will likely waffle under five hundred this year. All star caliber free agents do not want to come to Detroit. So what would be your suggestion? Suggestion? What would your suggestion be to build this team without getting outrageously lucky in the draft? Thanks love the show. Longtime listener, Again, thank you for the kind words and for supporting the show. A couple of things. First of all, I want get
too hung up on this year's results. As of right now Thursday, when I'm recording this, you guys are the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. I think if I told you that coming into the season, given what we expected out of teams like Philly and Milwaukee and Indiana, you'd probably be pretty stoked about being up at number six, two out the gates. The schedule was really tough, and you drop some games, but you've been a pretty serious
basketball team since then. I've watched about three or four Pistons games, and when I watch them, they look big, they look athletic, and they've got some smart young shot creators and some talent that could pan out in the long run. Even with that being the case, even with me admitting and pointing out that I think that the Pistons are having a pretty successful season to start. I
wouldn't get too hung up on this year's results. This kind of goes back to some of the concept that I've gone with with a bunch of different teams that I've talked about over the last few years, in the sense that you stand to gain a lot through natural improvement over the years, right, like Jade and Ivy showing a lot more flash as, like a downhill shot creator knocking down shot at a higher level, Like having a good season, Kay Cunningham having a good season. He's gonna
get better. Jayden's gonna get better. Jalen Duran right now, he's kind of matchup dependent, right, Certain matchups he does
really well. Certain teams that can spread him out and make him work more on the perimeter he can struggle with, right, But he's I like that core a lot, and you stand to get dramatic improvement from that core year over year over the next few years, And so I wouldn't get too hung up on this year's results as far as the roster bill goes, this is where again, if you like your build, you like your guards, you your
you have your shot creators, you like your defensive anchor. Okay, the next step now is trying to find high level role players in the draft, which, by the way, I feel like the Pistons have done. That's what the SR. Thompson pick is, That's what the Ron Holland pick is, right, Like, these are athletes that you can count on to do the dirty work around your best players. Now. The thing with us are in Ron Holland is they were both so young that there's gonna be a little bit more
of a long development kind of trajectory for those guys. Right, But this is one of those things where you can also look at in the draft drafting some older players. Because you are correct, especially because of having to pay kid Ivy and Duran, you're not going to get this. Last summer was pretty much your last chance to get like really high level role players through free agency, right, And like to your point, I think that finding that additional talent through the draft is the way to go.
I don't think you have to necessarily get very lucky though, because when you're drafting, a lot of teams are looking for substantial, splashy pieces. They're looking for a secondary shot creator. They're looking for potentially the next star to run their franchise. There are guys that end up in the draft that
are role player prospects. How the number one pick last year, Zachary Risache was a role player type of prospect, right, Like, there's older guys that end up in the draft, older guys that don't have as much upside, but that can do NBA ready things right away that kind of fit the mold of what Detroit's trying to do. Dalton connect falling to the Lakers is a classic example of that. They're drafting at seventeen and they get a legitimate rotation piece,
right So that's the thing. It's like, you've got some really athletic long term prospects and Ron holland Nsar Thompson, maybe you start looking for, like some older players in the draft that are a little bit like more of like NBA ready type of guys, because that is where in the draft you can get some discounted role players relative to the overpaying that you have to do in free agency a lot of the time. And so again, I like the core, I like the direction this is going.
I think this season has actually been off to a better start than people think. Our people are willing to admit. I understand that, like under five hundred is never a reason to be like super super excited. But the NBA has like twenty really good teams, and the NBA schedule's tough. The Pistons played a tough schedule out the gate. They're gonna be fine. It looks like they're gonna get their first chance to play some real meaningful either at least a play in game or maybe even a full playoff
series this year. They're on the right track. It's just about a couple of specific types of draft picks they need to hit in the future, and then the player development in house. Next question. This is in regards to the warriors eleven man rotation. Part of that also is helped by playing twelve guys because like ice hockey, you need more shifts of bodies to constantly push at that pace. It's a huge etch. And Steph is as an offensive engine.
Steph as is is a typo here. Steph is an offensive engine that makes all eleven of those guys playable in high efficiency offense. And Raymond as an enhancer allows them to play against Draymond as an enhancer allows them to play against big lineups. This makes perfect sense to me, And this is something that I've been kind of keyed
in on a little bit. I think it's delicate because it has to a lot of it depends on how many good basketball players you have, right, Like if the Lakers, for instance, started running an eleven man rotation, it could get a little tricky with some of the guys that they have at the tail end of their rotation right now. Right. But the flip side of that is like when you play this style though, style that the Warriors play heavy
transition both ways. That's the thing. Like the Warriors, as of like two nights ago, the last time I checked, had the best transition defense in the league, per cleaning the glasses defensive points added per one hundred possessions metric. Right, So, like that's a lot of work. That's a lot of sprinting back in transition and like making sure that you're flying around in the open floor. What they do in
offense in transition, the way they run around. I had a play that I put in Tim's tape earlier on Thursday where you guys got to see like how quickly they run in the half court when they're trying to run their action. So, like it's one of those things where if you have eleven good basketball players, it does make sense to me that you would go with a
bigger rotation in the regular season. Ice hockey's a great comp it's the line shifts and the fact that your best player might only play twenty two to twenty five minutes a game because he's just cause skating is so damn hard in terms of the cardio, right, And like that's the thing like playing this brand of basketball, and it extends to the half court too, with all the ground that you have to cover in rotation, closing out at great three point shooters that are spotting up twenty
five feet from the basket, right, So like, yeah, I'm actually I'm actually kind of into this concept. Like the the Lakers run a nine man rotation, but they play at a slower pace and they've got some guys that are a little bit more lethargic. But like, I'm with you. I think if you've got ten eleven good basketball players, you should run a longer rotation. Warriors fan, I'm grateful for Kerr. I'm grateful to curR for the last decade, but I'm also pissed at the way he's handling our
next generation. Why is Lindy Waters getting more playing time than Moody and Jonathan Kaminga. It feels like two years ago when Ty Jerome and Jeremy Lamb got playing time over Moody and Jonathan Kaminga. I don't mean to hate on Waters. I love having him, but I'm more interested in seeing what Moody can do. And the last time jk played crunch time, he won the game in overtime against the Rockets. So this is one of those things where, after all these years watching Steve Kerr, we just have
to understand his philosophy as a basketball coach. Why do you everyone wants to cling to this narrative that like, Steve Kerr hates Jason Tatum because they beat him by fifty in a regular season game last year, or because of what happened in the NBA Finals in twenty twenty two, or something like that, And it's like, actually, the reason why Steve Kerr played Derek White and Drew Holliday over Jason Tatum is he kind of looks at the guard position in his offense as a as a quick rate
and react player that has to be able to shoot on the move. And if you remember, Jason Tatum was not shooting the ball well at the time. And Jayson Tatum isn't exactly a movement shooter either. He's a kind of more of an ISO shooter, Like he's a guy that you kind of want initiating the offense. Right. And and the Olympic team they had already decided they were going to be running through Lebron at the top of the key, and they needed players that were going to
be more running in that action, in that Steve Kerr system. Right, this is the same thing that's been happening happening with the Warriors forever. It's like, oh, Brandon pazemskis getting all these minutes, like all these guards are getting all these minutes, while Moody is not getting as much, or Jonathan Kaminga's minutes are less consistent. And that's all it is. Steve Kerr trusts Lyndy Waters to be a threat off the move as a shooter and to make decisions coming off
of those actions at a higher level than Moses Moody. Now, Moses Moody to me is a very good player that just kind of is a little bit of a clunky fit in the Warrior system in the sense that he's a good physical perimeter defender with size, which is like there's a lot of value there. And I actually think he's a pretty solid shooter when he can get his feet set and he's open. He's worked hard as a movement shooter. He's a better movement shooter than he was
a couple of years ago. He's a better movement shooter than a lot of the guys that have come through other development programs around the NBA. Right, but specifically within the Warriors offense, Lindy Waters is a better movement shooter who is a better decision maker in the decision zone, which is like you come off the screen, you have to immediately read the screen defender. He's too far back. I and my guy's caught on the screen. I'm shooting
this thing. He's too far back and my guy's trailing, but he's not completely attached. I want to methodically work down into the lane and see if I can't warp
the defense a little bit. Once I get in there the decision zone around that elbow, I need to make quick reads based on what the health defense is doing, and like Steve Kerr has traditionally trusted players that are better and read and react situations in those rotation minutes, and guards tend to be better read and react players because they've been handling the ball since they were younger.
But like that's the thing is, Like I think Kuminga still gets his opportunities and he's playing in this bench role where he gets to come in and be more aggressive. But I don't think it's like any sort of personal vendetta or like philosophy involving wanting to be small. I think it's literally just about that read and react decision making and Steve Kerr trusting some of his guards over the years more than he's trusted some of his forwards.
Last Warrior's question, and then we'll move on d Anthony Melton being out for the season is a tough blow for the Duves as he was the perfect off guard to step and they're only real two way small perimeter player. What should they do to make up for it? Regarding their front court and secondary production issues. Do you think there are any realistic chance that the heat would part weighs with BAM and if so, could they get him
without completely gutting their roster. I think he'd be a much better fit than someone like Giannis, and his contract is more modest too, So obviously bad news about the Anthony Melton. I'm just as bummed for him as I am for the Warriors, just because that guy's just had a nightmare stretch of injury luck over the last couple
of years. But I'm not as concerned about it in their rotation, because, yeah, you're right, d Anthony Melton might have been the best two way guard next to stef maybe in terms of his defensive ability and his ability to shoot and make plays in action, but you're so deep at the guard that I just am not worried about it. There's just so many other guys that can do that job. It's really the front court that where I think that they could use a real talent upgrade.
Bam would be a like, literally a dream fit, but I just think he's going to be way too expensive, and I also doubt that Miami moves him in a rebuild. Like to me, if Miami continues to spiral and they're not doing that bad, they're six and seven and Eric Spolstra have botched a game where they could easily be above five hundred right now in an Eastern Conference that doesn't have many above five hundred teams. But let's say that they keep spiraling. I think even if the Heat
looks to rebuild, they would still rebuild around Bam. He kind of feels like the heart and soul of the franchise in a lot of ways. He plays a very specific position that is an anchor on both ends, which is like, he's the guy that can anchor a defense at the five spot as a drop big and a switch big in a rebounder, and then on the other end of the floor. He's kind of like the quintessential five out big in the sense that he's really good at dribble handoff action at the top of the key.
So like, even with his offensive limitations, he's still a really good fulcrum on the offensive end, and he's a defensive anchor, and he's at the right age, still has a long a lot of good basketball left. Have a hard time believing that they're going to move on from Bam.
I also think that they're kind of betting that BAM's development is a shooter in the long run, and a guy like kell El Ware is like a stretch five next to him, that they might be able to play him at the four and have a bigger front line. So I don't think BAM is the option. Now. I talked about Jimmy Butler a little bit yesterday and I had some Warriors fans complain, like, oh, you can't give up Andrew Wiggins for Jimmy Butler. For the record, I
don't think you should do it unless you have to. Like, if you have the opportunity to get a guy like Jimmy Butler without including Andrew Wiggins, you do it ten times out of ten. I mean, I'd imagine a lineup with Steph Curry, and you know, I think you could. You can maybe even consider getting away with a buddy heeled in that lineup if you have Jimmy and Andrew at the three four next to Draymond but Like, there's a version of it where the Warriors just ask for
Andrew Wiggins if you want to make that deal. Now, the reason why I said I would consider it, Let's take a little bit deeper. One. The Warriors have been going big in the starting lineup anyway, so there's kind of like this one spot for Ford, which is at the three with Andrew Wiggins, right, And in the event that you have to flip at Wiggins for Jimmy Butler, you still have Jonathan kaminga for when you go small, right, you can imagine a Jimmy Jonathan Draymond type of look
with Draymond at the five. Right. But I'm not saying you flip Andrew Wiggins for Jimmy Butler right now. The Warriors are a trade at the deadline type of team. Why because there's no version of this where they're desperate. Yeah, I have the perfect deal fell into their lap right now. I would expect them to jump on it. But that's not how teams trade. Usually. Teams usually want to wait till the deadline because they want to weaponize the market. Right.
They want to get multiple teams bidding to drive up the price. Right, That's how that works. So when we get to February, you make a call. At that point, we're going to know a lot in February. We're going to know that Andrew Wiggins is either having a flashback season like twenty twenty two, or he's more or less the same player than he was last year. Right, Like we have this like roughly I can't remember how many games of Warriors to play, maybe fifteen at this point,
so you have like a roughly fifteen game sample. It's a small sample still, but like when we get to Jane, when we get to mid late January, we're gonna know, like this is Wiggins is back. We're in good shape. All right, let's do this. We're also gonna where Jimmy Butler's at. He's been kind of rough to start this year, right, but like we'll have a better idea of where Jimmy Butler's at in mid January. So let's just paint a
picture here for a second. Let's pretend that Jimmy Butler looks great in mid January, like really starting to get his legs back underneath him. He looks great, he looks healthy, he looks ready to go. Let's say that the Heat are still foundering in the playing area around like the seven eight seed, okay, and the Heat front office looks at the situation and they goes, they go, we can't
beat Boston. Maybe they get their butts kicked by Cleveland at some time around that uh, around that time too, And so then the Heat start to have some serious conversations, and they're like, Okay, our best past way to kind of resetting here is why don't we make a deal with Jimmy and let's say that the Warriors can pull it off. And for the record, forget about Andrew Wiggins for a second. Let's just set him aside. Let's just say that the Warriors are able to make the deal
even without Andrew. But let's just say that they they're able to get Jimmy Butler. Okay, all I want you to think about is a big playoff game. Okay, don't think about the regular season. As I talked about. As soon as they got those two wins against the Pelicans when Steph was out, I was all in on this team as a regular season wins juggernaut. They're gonna win a lot of regular season games because they're deep, they're fast, they're well coached, they've got great leadership on the court
with Stephan Draymond. They're just gonna win a lot of regular season games. Okay, So we get to mid January, you already know you're going to be a home court team in the first round, or more or less, that's the trajectory you're on now. Just think about a big playoff series. I want you to think about a second
round series against the Dallas Mavericks. They've got it together, Dallas Mavericks are cooking with their system with Clay Lucas, got his legs underneath him, Kyrie's hoopin, and it's a two to two series and you're going into Golden State for a pivotal game five or hell, you're in a road game, whatever it is, big playoff game, big moment.
I'd want Jimmy Butler out there with Steph. You get into those games and everyone's uncomfortable and everything's a rock fight and everything's nasty, and having a big, strong forward who has an alpha dog mentality, who is highly versatile on both ends of the floor, a savage competitor that's going to bring it. You just know he's going to bring it, A true foxhole guy that competitively will match Steph in those moments that could be the difference between
you getting the trophy and not getting the trophy. Flat out. So I get it. Wiggins looks great, Jimmy looks old. If they both look to this way in February, No way I'm making that deal. I'm just saying you make
the call when you get to February. And if you get to February and you look like a really good regular season team that just lacks some top end firepower, and a certain type of player becomes available in this case talking about a Jimmy Butler, I do think you've got to make that deal because that's the type of deal that gives you the guy that you need next to Steph, next to Draymond, that can be a foxhole guy in that big moment, and he's the like I
wouldn't trade Wiggins for any other guy I wouldn't trade Wiggins for I don't think. I don't think Brandon Ingram is the guy that's good enough for a Wiggins deal. I don't think Levine is good enough for a Wiggins deal with the way he's playing right now. But Jimmy's the one guy where I'm like, we have routinely seen this guy when he is healthy in a playoff series. He is regularly outplayed players that are viewed as above him in the NBA hierarchy. I just would want him.
I'd want him in the battle with me if I had an opportunity to have him in that situation. The reason it's a mismatch is that speed gets slower and size never gets smaller. Fatigue always favors the larger fighter or basketball player as long as they're at similar levels of fitness. So I actually don't think I agree with this. The thing with the fight is you're trapped in a ring on a basketball court. There's just a lot of
space to cover. And I actually tend to think that like, yes, the bigger team in a rock fight when everyone's tired, will have the advantage in the half court. But if the faster team can spread you out and keep you in transition, I think they can still do a lot of damage. And more or less, I just think they are generally in better physical condition. Now, to your point, similar levels of fitness, that's fine, but they're faster and
so that they can have some success in transition. And so if you again, yeah, if you're the bigger team and you can keep things in the half court, I do agree with you. But I just think that it requires a certain type of big team, and a lot of the big teams out there, teams like the six, they're they're just so slow in transition. It just doesn't matter, right, Hey, Jason,
thoughts on the Magic winning six straight games. I thought after Palo went down they were toast, but Franz and the rest of the team seem to have stepped it up in a big way. Now, the Magic did lose to the Clippers on Wednesday night, but they won six in a row before that. Franz Wagner has been leading the charge. His jumper has been a little better. Last year was at zero point eight three points per attempt. This year it's at zero point ninety four. His passing
and pick and roll has been awesome. He does a really nice job of like after he gets into you know that like elbow area, right, so like after he comes off of the screen and he's you know in that like between fifteen and twenty feet from the rim, he slows down in there and he gets really methodical. And what ends up happening when he does that is like there's a guy dribbling with a live dribble, you know,
in like around the paint. Close to the paint. There's like an inherent like natural tendency of help defenders to kind of suck in. And he's just done a really nice job throwing rifles, kickout passes and generating good spot
up opportunities. Again, like, the league average in spot ups is like something like it's like around like one point zero seven, one point zero eight points per possession, and in the half court a one oh seven one o eight offensive rating is awesome compared to what most teams get in the half court. The majority of teams in the league don't even get a point per possession in the half court, right, So, like, he's just really good at generating spot up opportunities by being methodical in the
mid range and his ball screens. He's run one hundred and seventy ball screens this year that have amounted to one hundred and seventy nine points. He's getting one point zero five points per possession out of the thirty players in the NBA that have run at least one hundred and fifty ball screens this year. That ranks eleventh, ahead of guys like Damian Lillard, K Cunningham, Donovan, Mitchell Franz is having an excellent shot creation season, and then Anthony
Black is having a really nice season. Now, he's only shooting thirty two percent from three, but he's shooting forty two percent on unguarded catch and shoots, which is important because that's when you're open, right when the defense is playing off of you. And he's had some really important
threes this year, including a game winner. He's converting spot ups even though he's shooting only thirty two percent from three, he's converting spot ups at one point zero eight points per possession, which is a little bit above average, and a big part of that is his closeout attacking. He's a good athlete and once he gets his head of steam, I mean, his finger rolls damn near above the rim. Like he's just a good athlete in that situation. But
he's also just been a legitimate secondary creator. I remember, I can't remember which game it was that I was watching, it was the one where he hit the game winner, where earlier in the same fourth quarter, he ran like a little ball screen with Wendell Carter Junior and came off engaged the screen defender. Perfect pocket pass, easy bucket in crunch time, and like he's been doing that all season.
Just he's athletic enough to kind of really pressure the rim when he's coming over the top of that screen, and he just makes the basic passing raids that are available. He's run one hundred and eighteen ball screens this year,
and he's over a point per possession. That's awesome for a young guard, especially one that coming into the draft was a guy that some guys had some some people had some skill concerns about, right, But what has made the Magic be able to go on a six game winning streak without Pallow is the same thing that's made them great for the last two years, which is their defense and their rebounding. They've had a ninety six defensive reading. They had a ninety six defensive rating in the six
game win streak. That's awesome. They grabbed fifty two percent of available rebounds in that span, that's awesome. They did a bunch of scoring in transition and off of turnovers. They forced over seventeen turnovers per game in that six game win streak, So like that's their bread and butter, and then it's a high offensive floor brought by Franz and Anthony Black doing a good job and then scoring in transition off of those turnovers. They had a one
to fifteen offensive rating over that six game span. That's pretty solid being down your best offensive player. Right, I'm actually really worried about the Lakers tonight again. By the time you guys hear this, this game will be over and will know what happened, and hopefully the Lakers can pull it out. They're favored, so maybe they can get it done anyway. But this is the type of team
that always has given the Lakers problems. Really athletic guards that can ball pressure d Loo and Austin and make them uncomfortable picking them up full court, just bogging down the Lakers' offense with ball pressure, which is something that has happened all season. They have a lot of bigger front court players that can switch Lebron ad action, So like that sort of switching has always caused problems for
the Lakers. Now, with Palo being out and Wendell Carter Junior did not play against the Clippers in the in the the first front half of the back to back, he might he might end up playing in the Laker game. We'll see, But like, maybe they're down too many bodies in the front court and it'll just be a little bit easier for the Lakers to get some drible penetration in their screening actions. But I'm worried about the magic
our team that force a lot of turnovers. They pressure the ball well, and they get out in transition, and like, what are the two main weak points for the Lakers. They're like guard athleticism in transition and guard athleticism handling ball pressure. And so like, I'm worried about the Lakers tonight. Hopefully they can get the win, but that that's the type of matchup, that problem that the Orlando Magic can present.
And again, like this is just I think they're I think they're on a really good trajectory because they're just super talented. Franz is having a better season than he did last year. Pallow was playing great before he got hurt, and he will eventually be back. They've got sized, they've got defense, They've they're they're they're serious basketball team and a real threat I think in the Eastern Conference. Hey, Jason,
love the show. I think a great trade for the Lakers would be to somehow get Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney Smith out of Brooklyn. It would solve their shooting and athleticism issues. What do you think that would take? I you know, I'm kind of zeroed in on the three as the upgrade now too. It's it's ironic because Originally I was zeroed in on the two. I was like, well, you know, Rui's your three, Austin's your one. Just put a really good athlete at the two. But the rise
of Dalton connect has changed my opinion on this. I think the ultimate version of this team is Dalton as a starter. I like Dalton as a starter for several reasons. One, he is an off ball score, meaning like he doesn't need the ball in his hands to be a real threat on the offensive end of the four, which is important because the Lakers run a lot of their offense in the starting group through Austin and Lebron and even
through ad In like post ups and like high post stuff. Right, So Dalton is an off ball score that compliments them perfectly. Two terms of the defensive end of the floor, I want Dalton playing with the highest IQ defensive players on the court because that'll just make for an easier defensive role for him, right, So, I think that makes a
part makes a good amount of sense. Three, he's super athletic, right and so in the event that like let's say, for instance, that you get a Dorian Finney Smith at the three, then you're running out of lineup that has Dorian Finney Smith, Dalton, connect Lebron, James Anthony Davis. Now Austin Reeves is your fifth best athlete in the lineup. When he's your fifth best athlete in the lineup, you're
an athletic team. If he's your third best athlete in the lineup, you're not a very athletic team, right, which is some of the issues that they've had over the
last couple of years. And so to me, like originally I was thinking between Ruey and Dilo, ruis the better player and a better fit with the starter, So like, why don't we just go Ruey and then we'll find somebody that's an athlete to fill in at the two, right, And by the way, that was the decision that JJ Reddick made with the rotation right bringing in a Cam
Reddish into that spot. But now that I see Dalton as kind of the shoe in starter at the two in the long run, now I'm thinking, like the even post Lebron, post Lebron, you're looking at Austin Dalton ad as the foundation of the franchise, right, So like it's forwards that you're looking at as upgrades. And to me, like Jared Vanderbilt is very much a theoretical player at this point. Got another report that he's gonna be out at least another two weeks the other day. So, like
Jared Vanderbilt's got a long way to go. But as far as as far as like a cam Reddish goes, there's severe offensive limitations. I also don't think he's necessarily big enough to be the three. I prefer him kind
of playing at the two. Jared Vanderbilt, he's I think Jared Vanderbilt is the right decision when he gets healthy for the starters, like if I was coaching the Lakers, and eventually, like I think, I think what JJ's doing makes sense to me, like going Austin cam Ruey for the short term, but then when Jared Vanderbilt's healthy, I
would go Austin Dalton Van do again. I think Jared Vanderbilt he's surrounded by incredible offensive talent which can make up for his offensive limitations, and Dalton is surrounded by incredible defensive talent that can make up for his defensive limitations. Also, all of a sudden, a very athletic group like Dalton Vando lebron A d is an absurdly athletic two through five,
So like that makes some sense to me. I think that would be like again, short term cam Ruey Vando gets healthy Dalton vand do long term upgrade at the three, it goes Austin Dalton. Whoever that future three is Lebron and Ad Dorian Phinney Smith would be a perfect example
for me. He's like a stereotypical defensive three. He's a very basic offensive player in terms of like shooting and driving closeouts, which I think makes some sense in that Laker starting group because again one of the important things about Dalton. Dalton is a legitimate threat coming off of screens that is going to grab a show, meaning like when he comes off the screen, the screen defender is
gonna have to show on him. We've already seen a lot of opportunity for Ad in particular to get open off of those actions and to get switches where he gets smaller defenders on. I did a whole break on the Lakers offense and the Thursday Show that I recommend you guys check out. But like to me, Dalton's offensive ability to fly off of a screen and make a play makes it less important for the three man to be the kind of guy that can fly off of the screen and make a play. So like, to me,
Dorian Phinney Smith makes a lot of sense. I think, you know, Cam Johnson would be interesting. But like, I still really like Dennis Schroeder. Like I've always liked Dennis. He's a good ball, pressure player. He brings something to that the Lakers don't really have, which is a guard that can beat people off the dribble, which I think would be really helpful. So like I think I'd look for more of like a Dennis Dorian Phinney Smith type
of upgrade. I think Dennis Schroder would be a massive upgrade over at Gabe Vincent for instance, which I was wrong about when they went after Gabe instead of Dennis. Mind you, Gabe was a different player in Miami than he was with the Lakers. But Gabe I thought Gabe was an upgrade over Dennis. I was wrong. Dennis is
a better player. He'd be an upgrade. So, like, the Nets are gonna be fire sailing people, And if they were able to get Dorian Phinney Smith and a guy like Dennis, then it starts to make sense to me where you can kind of see a rotation where it's like, Okay, we have Austin Dalton dfs, yes, Lebron ad the bench group is you know, you have Dennis leading the bench group. It's hard to tell who goes out in a trade like that, but let's say it's Dennis. Let's say it's
Max Ruy, you know, Jackson Hayes or Christian Kolocos. You'r a nine man rotation, right, So, like, I think that kind of tends to make more sense in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the team. Hello, Jason, can you please explain your preference for offensive Swish army knifs that average thirty points per game versus defensive juggernauts that average thirty points a game. Personally, I prefer what Ad and Yannis bring to the table versus what Luka and
Jokic bring. I find more value in players that can score while single handedly anchoring a defense, especially in the case of Ad, where he makes one of the worst defenses in the league competitive just by virtue of being on the floor while putting up thirty eleven in three. Thanks so much for the content, and please ignore us Warriors fans. It'll be better for your mental health. Again, overwhelmingly, you guys are positive. I've done a bad job of
shining too much of a light on the negativity. That's not gonna happen anymore. I do appreciate you guys. So, first of all, there's no exact science. I personally believe that I'd rather have the offensive like just surgical half court shot creator because I believe it's easier as a coaching staff and as a front office to make up
for defensive stuff elsewhere. Right, Like, are a lot of these guys that are Anthony Davis and Giannis, They end up having to cover for a week defensive players anyway, Right, So Like, it's okay for your star to be that weak defensive player if he's anchored by a ton of defensive talent, as long as he does his job. Right, that's the key. Right, Both archetypes have won. Anthony Davis
and Yannis are champions. Nikole jokicch and Steph Curry are champions. Right, But what I do think is fascinating is the Hardin and Luca types have not won a championship yet. And the reason why, in my opinion, is the offensive guys. The Steph and the Jokic types. They at least did their job on defense. They competed on defense, they just had athletical limitations. They won the title being solid defensive players, right, So like that's really the key, but there is no
exact science. I have my personal preference. The reason why I believe it is because I think I can anchor a good offensive player through good coaching and management at the in the front office. Right. But I mean, I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily because there's versions of it where Ad and Giannis have won, and so it really is a matter of personal preference. And by the way, this is one of the things that frustrates me as far as like the guy's doing their job, like Stefan
yokis doing their job. There's this thing that happens in the NBA where it's like a guy gets better at something and then wins, and then everyone goes like you owe him an apology, and it's like he won because he changed, Right, Like that's that's the difference, right when Luke, I think Luca will eventually win a title. He's not my favorite player, but I think he's too freaking good. Like I think I think Luca's gonna win a title eventually.
When he does, he will defend better, he'll be in better shape, and he'll work harder on the defensive end. He'll be less of a sive compared to what he's been in the past. So what'll be funny is Luca will win and then everyone will be like, oh, everyone owes Luca an apology. He proved everybody wrong. Where are
the haters now? And it's gonna be like, actually, the haters were right because Luca did need to improve on defense, and he did eventually improve on defense, and now he has the trophy, right, Like I can already just see it happening. Luca. Eventually he's gonna win, and he's gonna win because he's improved. And then everybody who was critical in the past is gonna get criticism, which doesn't make any sense to me. I two more and then we're out here. This first one's a double to mail. That
question is from a pure entertainment standpoint. Who do you think are the five most exciting players and teams to watch? And two? What do you think about Daron Fox's breakout games this weekend and his overall outlook So Okay, five most exciting players, no particular order. Steph Curry. I just love his combination of skilled, motor and competitiveness. Anthony Edwards after the Lebron' Steph era, He's gonna be my favorite player. I can just already tell. I love how psycho competitor
he is. I love just the athleticism. I find him to be a very aesthetically appealing player. Kyrie Irving still to me, like just just amazing the show that he put on in that Warriors game that I covered last week. Just his shot making still is one of the most aesthetically appealing players in the league. Lebron James is still someone that I really enjoy watching. I think he's just a showman. He's got a gift for just being an entertaining player to watch. Also, like it just feels surreal
to me to watch Lebron. I Like, I have a friends giving thing tonight, so I can't watch the Magic game. But like there's I'm so thankful that like seventy times this year and I get to watch the games in the morning for my job, right, But like it's funner to watch it as a fan live, Like that's kind of the other thing we talked earlier about the schedule. One of the reasons why I like working in the morning too is in addition to being able to put on a more detailed show, it also allows me to
watch more as a fan the night of right. But like, every time I sit down and like watch a Laker game, I'm like, I just feel lucky. I'm like, it's the year twenty twenty four, it's about to be twenty twenty five, and we still get to watch Lebron James play like serious basketball, Like it just feels like historic to even be watching it. And then John Morant, specifically when he's
in Memphis, he just is such a showman. It just it feels like every time John Morant plays in Memphis, it's like an event and like you're gonna get four to five ridiculous highlights. He's gonna light the crowd on fire an additional ten times. John Moran's in that top five for me as far as teams, Celtics and Warriors because they run really beautiful modern basketball concepts that I enjoy. Specifically the Celtics I really grew to appreciate over about
the second half of last season. The Lakers on offense. They're my favorite team obviously, so that's part of it. But two, they run a really pretty brand of offense. I did a video breakdown in the show on Thursday where like, they generated seventeen easy shots easy makes in the second half just with awesome ball in player movement. I find their offense to be very visually appealing Nuggets,
same sort of thing. I think Mike Malone does a lot of really fascinating stuff to capitalize on Jokic double teams and just how they are with their cuts in their spacing. And then lastly the Suns when KD was healthy, I thought they were playing a fun brand of basketball. KD was playing incredible on both ends of the floor. They were kind of surgical in the half court at the end of games, and the shot making is always really pretty with that group. So those are my five
most exciting players and teams in no particular order. And then Darren Fox. I had him in my top twenty
five this year. I had him over Kyrie, And one of the big reasons why I had him over Kyrie is like I just trust him as a Number one to be able to generate more rim pressure and more quality shots for his team over the course of the game, and he's really taken off over the course of more than just this last year with a jump shot, and it kind of reminds me of some of the stuff with Aunt, where it's like, when you combine true elite
downhill athleticism with elite jump shooting, you become incredibly difficult to guard. And I think that he's just kind of entering a point right now where he kind of everything's coming together for him and he's becoming a little bit on the unguardable side, and he's on a pretty fun trajectory. Darren Fox has become a really great player in this league. Last question. Look as bad as the MAVs record is, they are still top ten in both offensive and defensive rating.
What's the unwritten rule? Teams that are in the top ten are in both our contenders MAVs are just like the Bengals, slow start, but trust me, by the end of the season, they're going to be a threat. PS. I know the Bengals aren't doing good this year, laughing my ass off. I have a feeling this year's MAVs are going to look a lot like last year's MAVs. It's going to be more because of health and continuity
as opposed to the trade market. But I think they're going to have to go on a run at the tail end of the season, and that's kind of what I expect. I expect them to be one of those teams that wins like twenty two of their last thirty games and goes into the playoffs as a serious threat. They're a team that, like you do, I think they can win a championship without getting an up or seed.
Probably not just because that's what NBA history tells us, but I do view them as a substantial playoff threat, and no awkward start is going to change my opinion on that. A lot of this is just Luca has been hurt, he's hurt again, and Klay Thompson is a different type of piece, a lot of different types of pieces that or incorporating, which takes time to build dot continuity. All right, guys, that's all have for today. I always appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We'd be back on Monday with power rankings. I will see you guys then the volume. What's up guys. As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.