Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings: How Luka Doncic & Mavericks RETURN TO FINALS with Klay Thompson

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varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKG dot co slash ft ball. All right, well coon hoops toight, you're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, O ball of you guys are having a great week. Got a jam packed show for you today. We are leading off the top with another season preview from our power ranking series with number five, the Dallas Mavericks.

So we're gonna do a season preview on the Dallas Mavericks. After that, there was one preseason game last night that played the majority of the starters from both teams. That was the New Orleans Pelicans versus the Orlando Magic. So we're gonna do a breakdown of that game from the perspective of both teams. And then at the tail end of the show, I've got five clips for another another episode of Timpf's tape that we're going to hit at the tail end of the show. You guys have the

joke before we get started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss SHO announcements. Don't forget about a podcast view wherever you gets podcast under Hoops Tonight, and keep dropping mail

bag questions and those YouTube comments. We are going to get in the habit of doing probably one or two mail bags a week during the regular season, So keep dropping those questions in the comments and we will be getting to them throughout the regular season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So number five, this is the last team in my if things go right tier, I have

four teams in the top tier of championship contenders. These are teams that I think have way less in the way of like holes in terms of like talent deficiencies and specific areas of the roster that could make them very beatable. Right. So, for instance, like one of the things we're going to talk about with the Dallas Mavericks today is like they have a substantial hole in their starting lineup in terms of perimeter speed. Right You've got

Klay Thompson, who's a very old guard. You've got Luka Doncic who obviously is a big body point guard who doesn't cover a ton of ground, and you've got Kyrie Irving and PJ Washington. So, like perimeter speed is a substantial weakness of that particular team. As you go to the teams that are higher up on this tier, they have more strengths, a little bit less in the way of weaknesses, fewer ways that you could conceive of them getting knocked out at various points over the course of

for playoff rounds. So among this tier though, from teams eleven to five, I do think Dallas is the best of the if things go right teams, And we're going to talk about all the reasons why today. So offseason recap real quick. They lost Josh Green, Tim Hardaway, Junior, Derek Jones, Alex Fudge, and Greg Brown. They added Spencer Dinwoodie who was with the Lakers last year, Kessler Edwards who was with the Kings last year, Quinn Grimes, Naji Marshall,

and Klay Thompson. Before we get into some of the specifics with the MAVs for this year, let's go really quickly over their free agent addition. So Spencer Dinwoodie. I covered him very closely with the Lakers. Mavericks fans will obviously know him from a few years ago when he was on the team during the Western Conference Finals run. Not as good offensively as he used to be. He just hasn't shot the ball well from the perimeter since

leaving Dallas. He's been below a point per jump shot in both seasons since leaving Dallas, particularly bad when he was in Brooklyn. The last time he shot the ball well, though, was in Dallas, and it was a very different role in Brooklyn. He was like a primary shot creator for that team. With the Lakers, they were running a five out off usually with three ball handlers on the floor, so it was a lot more read and react and kind of flowing from side to side, lots of ball

and player movement. Right in Dallas, He's going to go back to what he did in twenty twenty two, which is runs some spread pick and roll and they're kind of four out one in attack and then spotting up off the ball. And he played really well in that role last time. I think, for the most part, how well he does in that role this time will come down to, as we've talked about, how well he shoots

the basketball. So we'll just see how quickly he slides back into that comfortable feeling he had when he was with Dallas last time. I will say when he was with the Lakers, I was impressed with him defensively. He's a good athlete. He's got long arms, he competes can guard the best perimeter player on the other team reasonably well. I think that's a legitimate weapon to add to this team off the bench. I think he's a great pickup at a veteran at a veteran minimum contract. I actually

wish the Lakers would have kept him. I'm not sure exactly why they just let him walk like the way that they did, but maybe he just liked the role that he could potentially have in Dallas better. So Kessler Edwards is an athletic guard defender. He was a fringe rotation guy for the Kings last year, didn't play much, did have his best three point shooting season last year, though, Quentin Grimes, I want you guys to think of him

as like a discounted, lesser version of Dante DiVincenzo. Like he's an aggressive shooter with a quick release, jumps a little higher on his shot than Dante does, but he's a really good athlete. He competes on defense. He's not as good as Dante, but he's kind of that archetype of off ball guard. I think he's perfectly fine as a back end of the rotation type of guard. And then Naji Marshall is one of my favorite bench guards

in the league. About half dozen times a year as I'm watching random Pelicans games, I'll be like, holy shit, that was a crazy move from Naji Marshall, Like I get like it just as crazy to me, Like like for a bench guard. Just like the the the creativity and the deep bag of dribble commentation dribble combinations that Nasey can get to. He's got some legit off the dribble pop. He also just had the best three point shoot shooting season of his career, shot thirty nine percent

last year. And he's got good size. He's big and strong as a perimeter defender. I love him as a guard off the bench for the MAVs. And then let's talk about the Klay Thompson fit. So Klay Thompson was a move for the MAVs to go all in on offense. Last year. The MAVs core lineups all had three iffy above the break three point shooters on the floor. So

like obviously the center position. Derek Jones Junior shot twenty six percent on above the break threes in the playoffs and PJ Washington shot thirty one percent on above the break threes in the playoffs. So even though PJ and Derek Jones were both pretty solid from the corners, it was there above the break three point shot and that kind of like weakness in their games that became an issue, specifically once Lucas started having to use them as screeners.

I want you guys to imagine the spread floor in a four out one end situation, and I want you to imagine PJ Washington in one corner Derek Jones in the other corner. Let's pretend Luca's on the right wing running the action and Kyrie's on the opposite wing. Kyrie obviously is a great above the break three point shooter.

Someone comes up to set the ball screen, let's call it Derek Lively, and Luca and Derek get to kind of work downhill into the lane, and as long as the team is guarding it two on two, Lucas obviously gonna either shoot his little patented something in the short to mid range or he's gonna throw a lob to the big man if the screen defender commits right, and then if anybody helps from the weak side. So if the two guys in the ball screen kind of coalesce

around Luca and the lowman, and let's say PJ. Washington's in the left corner, that lowman comes over the guy guarding PJ to tag Derek Lively. That's where Luca throws the skip pass to the weeks A corner and he's gonna knock down that corner three. Both Derek Jones and PJ. Washington shot well on corner threes. Last year. PJ. Washington shot lights out on corner threes in the playoff run, right, So like that was kind of how it worked naturally

for Dallas in the majority of their matchups. Then they run into Boston and Boston takes Chris tops Porzingis and instead of putting him on Derek Lively and running a drop cover, they put Jason Tatum on the center for Dallas. And they put christops Porzingis on PJ. Washington or on Derek Jones, right, the guys that are the weaker above the break shooters. So now imagine that same configuration. Right, I've got PJ. Washington in the left corner. We've got

Dare Jones on the right corner. I've got Kyrie on the opposite wing. Here comes Derek Lively to set a pick. Now they're just switching it, and now I have Jason Tatum on me. And Luca did have stretches where he scored the ball well against switches. Against Boston, we all know that he filled the box score up right, But Dallas's offense overall, on a large scale of the over the course of the series, their offense completely fell apart.

The specific reason why was Luca is basically only able to work effectively in ISO so let's say, now we know we call Porzingis up into the screen, or we call Derek Lively up into the screen. They're just switching it. Jaylen Brown runs down with the center. Tatum stays on Luca. Luca wants to get into a traditional pick and roll coverage so that he can pick them apart with the pass right. So now he calls, let's say that PJ. Washington is being guarded by Chrisops Porzingis. PJ Washington was

all the way in the left corner. So now PJ. Washington's gonna come up to set the screen. Kyrie is gonna slide down to the corner. Derek Lively, though, in this case, because he's not a floor spacer, neither was Daniel Gafford, that guy's standing in the dunker spot now. So now as a result of that guy standing in the dunker spot, Jason Tatum is sitting head directly underneath the rim in help ready for anything that comes towards

the rim. It's just really congested down there. Now. When Derek Glavely was setting the screen, him and Luca in a vacant paint. Him and Luca were rolling together, driving and rolling into the paint together. But now since he has to call PJ into the screen, Derek's just sitting there in the paint, which allows Tatum to be in help. Then from there, as Luca comes off the screen, Porzingis is there to corral him coming off, and Jalen Brown

is chasing over the top, and PJ. Washington's only spot he can go to because Kyrie's in the left corner and Derek Jones is in the right corner, or if Derek Jones and PJ are switched, then it's PJ in

the corner. Whoever it is, there's somebody in the corner, but there's the only opening for PJ to go is above the break because if he rolls now, there's a shit ton of congestion in there because Derek's already in there with Tatum on him, Luca's driving in there, and like literally, Porzingis the guy who's guarding him, is sitting in a drop coverage guarding Luca coming downhill or Horford guarding downhill, right, although Horford did some switching in the

series as well. But PJ. Washington would then pop above the break because that's the only opening that he can go to and he's not a good above the break shooter, and so that was kind of where things fell apart for Dallas. The pick and roll attack, which was predicated on picking on the opponent center in mistakes that he might make, was shut down by Boston's ability to put

their center onto a weaker above the break shooter. And so here's the thing, just simply by we all know that Derek Jones Junior is a much better defensive player than Clay. That goes without saying, but Clay is the second best shooter in the history of the sport. So one other thing I'll say about this, PJ. Washington has good form on his jump shot. The elbows in he's in a line, gets good lift, it's fluid, there's not

a hitch, there's not a lot of wasted motion. And he did shoot thirty seven percent on above the break threes for Dallas in the regular season. So the upside for this move is you're taking Derrek Jones Junior, who's a guy who is a week above the break shooter, out of the equation, and you're plugging in Klay Thompson, who's one of the best at it in the history of the league. Right, But Also, the weak point is

still there with PJ Washington. Imagine if you face Boston again with this exact same lineup, all that's happening is, instead of them being able to help off of Derek Jones Junior two, in a lot of these cases, they're just still going to be helping off of PJ Washington, They're just gonna be glued up to Klay Thompson off the ball. So let's say it's Drew Holliday on Clay, He's gonna be glued up on Clay. You're right, But

they're still going to put Porzingis on PJ Washington. They're still going to put Tatum on Derek Lively, They're still going to put Jaylen Brown on Luka Doncic. They're still going to switch those ball screens, and they're not just gonna suddenly roam off of Clay. They're going to continue to roam off of PJ. With the rim protector. So obviously, Clay increases the aggregate shooting talent that's on the floor, But schematically, in order for this to all work, PJ.

Washington inevitably is going to have to be able to hit above the break threes for the specific matchup of Boston. Now, as we talk about this, like, here's the thing. The West is kind of wide open. I have Denver and Oklahoma City above Dallas. We're gonna talk about why in a little bit. I want to make sure I give my explanation, like I always do when I make these sorts of decisions. I want to explain why but the East, Like, yeah, the Nicks have a shot, Yeah the Sixers have a shot,

Yeah the Bucks have a shot. But Boston. I think the gap between Boston and the rest of the East is larger than the gap between let's say, Oklahoma City or Denver in the rest of the Western Conference, right, And so like, with that being the case, the inevitable kind of like a barrier standing between Dallas and the NBA Championship is Boston. And in order to beat Boston, PJ. Washington's going to have to hit above the break three.

So like, even though I think Clay is a massive influx of offensive talent, he's going to make them so much better offensively over the course of the season. I think Dallas is going to be top three offens this year. We're gonna continue to talk about all those reasons why but the reality is is the ultimate goal their goal of beating Boston if they were going to get out of the West and win the NBA Championship. I do think PJ. Washington eventually is going to have to hit

above the break threes at a certain rate. And it's a copycat league too. Like any team that has two forwards now that they feel realistically could guard Luca at least make Luca work, they're just gonna even just one because Gafford and Lively are not like back to the

basket like beat switches types of centers. They're gonna put the guy that they think can guard Luca on Luca right, and then they're gonna put their bigger forward on the center, in this case Lively or Gafford right, They're gonna switch it, and then they're gonna leave their center on PJ. Washington. Teams are going to copy that. Like it was statistically devastating what it did to Dallas's offense, any coaching staff worth their salt is going to continue to explore that

concept as a way to guard Dallas. So with that being the case, PJ. Washington's offensive development particularly is an above the break shooter, and I think there's some upside there. Like I said, his form looks good. He did shoot

pretty well there in the regular season. PJ Washington's growth as an above the break shooter is going to be a key thing to keep an eye on from Dallas this season, and one of the things I hope they do is don't just only plug PJ in the corner and make sure that he gets plenty of above the break attempts over the course of the season to help kind of polish that up and make sure that he's comfortable by the time you get to the postseason. Will

the MAVs run more action? Klay Thompson hit one hundred and sixty three shots coming off of off ball screens last year, is most in the league by far. It's eighty four more than any non Warrior in the entire NBA. Last year. He also got one point one points per shot in those situations in half court settings. One point

one points per shot is very efficient. Offensive ratings tend to get closer to one twenty for the best or a little above one twenty for the best offenses in the league, but offensive ratings are inflated by things like offensive rebounds and transition scoring right because transition offensive ratings are typically way higher. One point one points per shot in the half court is a really good shot. Can't hope to do much better than a one to ten

offensive rating in the half court. Here's the thing too, Naji Marshall can dribble shooting pass. Spencer Dinwoodie can dribble shooting pass, Kyrie Irving can dribble shooting pass. Derek Lively at the center position is like, in my opinion, one of the better like five out prospects that we have in the league at the center position because he's so good at making reads and making passes out of overplay situations. This is a different roster than Dallas had last year.

It's a lot more ball handling, a lot more guys who are capable of doing more than just shooting catch and shoot threes on offense. So I'm really curious to see if Jason Kidd implements more ball in player movement this year. And there's a very specific reason why I believe in that those of you guys who watched Timp's tape yesterday will know what I'm talking about. When you have more on ball action and off ball player movement

and screening. It makes it so that the defense has to make more decisions, right, and the more decisions that the defense has to make on any given possession, the more possibility for them to make a mistake, and a mistake almost always ends in a open shot or a layup. Right. So this is where like, am I asking the MAVs to ditch Lucaball. No, that absolutely should be their main pitch, But Lukaball the spread pick and roll for out one end concept that relies entirely on Luca's superpower. The way

to the defense doesn't make mistakes against Luca Ball. It decides what they want to do, make Luca score or make him a passer. Right. But when you have more off ball action and player movement and on ball action to start possessions, that's where you can start getting more defensive mistakes where guys just fuck up and someone ends up wide open. And so my thing is like, I want to see them build that out as a pitch. If Luca ball is going to be the fastball, I

want to see this as a change up. I want to see them build it out over the course of the season. And No, by the way, when I say five out concepts. This doesn't mean just plug Maxi Kleiba in that center. That's not what five out is. That's just the stretch. Five five out is about multiple actions on the same possession. We're getting side to side, we are involving multiple ball handlers. There is a flow. It is a blender both on and off the ball. That

is five out. I would like to see Dallas build that out as their change up this year so that if they run into a matchup where it's like, hey, they just tucked the center on PJ. Washington. He's just missed two or three consecutive above the break threes. He looks a little sketched out by it. Luca is now having to attack big forwards and switches. Our offense is

grinding down a little bit. Hey, why don't we plug in an extra ball handler, Like, why don't we throw in you know, we'll go you know, Luca, Kyrie and well, hell like just say with Clay on the floor, even with just those three, and let's just kind of tweak the way we play and get a little bit more side to side, have a little bit more action being run, and see if we can't just loosen things up a little bit for a few minutes. My prediction is that

they won't do that. My prediction is that they'll more or less do exactly what they did last year, but then add like four to five possessions of game where they run Klay Thompson off of some sort of like double wide stagger floppy action underneath the basket, something like that, where they try to get Clay some catch and shoot threes, just kind of randomly mixed in surrounded by typical Luca ball. But I'm hoping that they add more of a five

out look over the course of this season. Either way, I expect the MAVs to be a top three offense this year. The Luca and Kyrie fit is perfect. Clay is a massive upgrade of Derek Jones Junior. On offense. I think PJ. Washington will continue to improve this year. They have an existing offensive framework that works really well.

Even the issues that talked about are more matchup specific, Like here's the thing, not every team has Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown at the guard or at the forward positions, right like I was. I was like kind of going through the league and looking at it, and there are there are, there are teams, and they're all the good teams, right, like the Knicks have some really like a guy like the Knicks could put uh og An Andobi on Gafford and Lively and look to switch those types of actions.

That could be something that they that they look to do out in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City now that they have a little bit more interior size, now that they have Alex Caruso is another option. You can imagine a situation where they put lou Dort, even Uh on Luca, but then put a Uh like a big a bigger, stronger forward, or even even put lou Dort on the center and put Caruso on Luca and then they can

switch ball screens. Like I think there are gonna be a lot of teams that try to mimic what Boston did, right, but even that's all. That's all specific playoff match matchups for like the later rounds, right Like over the course of the eighty two they're gonna dice everybody up. They just are. They have too much talent and there's not enough teams in the league to have the person l to give Dallas the issues that Boston gave them. Defense will be tricky Clay fell off of a cliff defensively

after winning the title in twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty two was like an underrated defensive moment of Clay's career, Like he kind of switched on to Jaylen Brown about halfway through the series and just did a really nice job on him. But since that series, he's kind of fallen off of a cliff. Kyrie will be their best guard defender in the starting lineup. In a lot of matchups, They're probably going to have to put PJ Washington on

the other team's best perimeter player. I'm just curious to see how they deploy everyone, Like are they going to ask Kyrie and Clay to guard guards so they can keep PJ as a low man, or are they going to put PJ on the ball and ask Clay to spend more possessions and help. I'm really curious just to see how they deploy everyone. I don't think they can get to a top ten defense with Clay in for Derek Jones Junior. I don't think that that's an outcome that's on the table for them. But I do think

they can get to fifteen if everyone buys in. They have the rim protection. That's always a great foundation. They have size. They are just a little too slow the perimeter to be a top ten defense, But defense is going to be the main thing. I'm watching with Dallas in the early part of the year to see how things shape up. In summary, I have Dallas as the

best of the if things go right teams. I do think they're a little matchup dependent, and that's the main reason why I don't have them in the top tier. Teams that can that have two good forwards that can switch their one to five pick and roll, teams that can spread them out and attack their weaker defenders in space right on the defensive end. Teams like when Luca's

in help, he's fine. But as soon as there's a team that can really spread them out and can attack Luca off the dribble consistently, that's where things become a problem. I think it would be helpful if Luca got into a little bit better shape and got to the point where he could hedge and recover, because then he wouldn't have to necessarily worry about holding his own on an island. If he could just throw a hedge and then sprint back to a shooter and chase them off the line.

We'll see if that's something that they deploy more this year, because like they just went with like asking Luca to guard in the postseason, and that just didn't work. It went horribly well. So so like that's something that I would like to see them explore a little bit more as having Luca just see if he's capable of hedging. I'm not sure his feet are quick enough, but we'll see.

But among all the teams in this five through eleven tier, like we talked about the Minnesota Timberwolves, we talked about the Lakers, and the Suns, and the Memphis Grizzlies and all these teams, the Philadelphia seventy six ers, all these teams that are in this tier, I think Luca is the best player in that tier considerably. Giannis is the

one guy that you could take closer. But I don't think Milwaukee has the talent that Dallas has, So I think they're clearly the best of this particular tier of teams. I think Boston would kick their ass again if they played again. I don't think Clay solves the Boston problem, because, like I told you guys, they're still just going to put Porzingis on PJ. So the upside if you were going to be like, hey, Jason explained to me how Dallas could beat Boston this year. It's PJ Washington gets

better at above the break threes. PJ. Washington gets better above the break threes. Luca gets in better shape and becomes a better perimeter defender. Those two things happen, you give yourself a fighting chance against Boston. I think they'd get killed by Boston if they played him again. Though, Let's say a team like Philly or Milwaukee gets through.

Though Philly's gonna have Kelly Ubray and Caleb Martin on the floor, those are guys that Dallas could deploy Luca on and continue to pack the paint, keep him out of dribble drive situations, make if he shooters make shots, kind of like they did with Minnesota. I think that Dallas has a chance, Like I think Dallas would beat Philly in a series. Milwaukee another team where there's gonna be guys on the floor. They feel comfortable helping off and sagging into the paint and packing the paint, not

having to guard so much in space. Milwaukee is a team that I think Dallas would beat in a playoff series. So if Dallas can get out of the Western Conference and if somebody can upset Boston, I think they have a real chance to win the title, and that to me puts them kind of classically in this tier of if things go right, I don't think there'll be a dominant regular season team. I think they'll be above the plan,

but most likely in that three to six range. So the last question is why do I have Oklahoma City and Denver above them? Oklahoma City has considerably more talent. They're the most talented team in the Western Conference by far. That to me is a pretty straightforward explanation. Denver, talent wise, is more on the same level as Dallas. Why do I have Denver over Dallas Because Denver presents more matchup issues, specifically for Boston. Boston does not have a soul who

can remotely make Jokic feel uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Boston is built to stop Dallas like they're built to slow down that offense. I think Boston is most likely going to win the East. So therefore, Denver is clearly a better candidate to get the trophy because they have more capability of beating Boston. In a series than Dallas does. But if Boston gets upset, I think Dallas has a real shot. All right, let's get into Magic Peals also real quick before we get

into this game. I've every time we get into the start of the year, I always have to kind of explain this to people. I cover a shit ton of games. I would say, we go what on average, five times a week and then maybe like a sixth episode for something that's usually a big NBA story that drops down or something along those lines. Right, But in the five games five days a week, I'm on average covering three to four games. So we're covering somewhere between fifteen and

twenty games a week. Okay, I'm going to hit the big market teams. I'm gonna hit the Knicks, I'm gonna hit the Celtics, I'm gonna hit the Sixers, I'm gonna hit the Warriors, I'm gonna hit the Lakers. I'm gonna hit all like those are the We just have to that's just smart business. The way I compensate for that is I just work more and I make sure that I cover more games. So like we are still going to hit between five and ten games a week. That cover teams that are outside of like kind of like

the major market teams. We are going to cover the Pelicans, We're going to cover the Magic as much as most of the other national NBA shows in the league. We just supplement it by doing more. So, like, here's the thing, Not only are there big market teams that I want to hit, like the Lakers are my favorite team. You don't think I'm gonna watch all the Laker games. Of course I'm gonna come on here and share my thoughts.

There's gonna be and because we market the show based on what gives us the best chance to work in search engines, Like, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of thumbnails that have Lebron James on it. There's gonna be a lot of titles that say Lakers this or Warriors that, or Nick's this or Celtics that. But usually there's four to five segments in that show. And of those four to five segments, yeah, two or three of them are

gonna be hitting major market big topics. But I'm always going to do the work to cover the rest of the league. So it's one of those things where one of the ways that we fight that breakout clips look for breakout clips. But two, we put in chapter markers, So like, if you don't want to hear Lakers, if you're sick of hearing fucking Lakers, click on the video, fast forward past the Lakers part, and then you'll get

to everything else. Again, I always just have to say this about once a year just to kind of remind people, like, Yeah, we're going to cover a lot of the mainstream stuff, but that doesn't mean we're not covering everything else. I work really hard to make sure that we get to a shit ton of games so that we can compensate for the fact that we hammer some of the mainstream stuff. And again, like, as a basketball fan, yeah, when Lebron retires,

I'm not going to have a team anymore. He's my one sentimental attachment in the NBA right now, and at that point, I won't have that specific, you know, desire. But like, yeah, we're gonna cover most of the Laker games. Why cause I'm going to watch most of the Laker games because I'm a Laker fan and I'm gonna have opinions about it, and I'm fortunate enough to have a situation where I can talk about them. So like, again, it's not. And quite frankly, the Lakers have a massive

fan base, so that stuff makes us money. That stuff gives us like a means with which to pay the bills and to keep the lights on right. So like again, I just have to say that about once a year. And on that note, let's talk about the Orlando Magic in the New Orleans Pelicans. So Zion looks amazing. He had three straight driving assists to start the game. The one that was on the first possession of the game was kind of like the classic Zion where he comes up the right wing, He's got the ball in his

left hand. He just kind of hits that high hesitation and just kind of dribbles a little bit towards the elbow. The entire Magic roster just like coalesces around the paint. He throws a kickout pass to the wing and I think it was Herb Jones, but I can't remember who it was. But one of the Pells role players knocks down a shot and then next possession, similar thing, next possession,

similar thing. The Magic we're doing a lot of switching, and so even when he would get get different guys on switches, he's just trying to get downhill and make a kickout pass. There was also a couple of plays in that first quarter stint, and both of these made my TIMPs tape segments, so you guys will see him here in a second. But Zion had these plays where he drove really hard to the right. I think one was over Wendell Carter Junior and one was over Pala Bancaro,

but really hard. Dribbles to the right and he gets cut off, and then he ends back to the left and goes to a hook shot kind of in the middle of the floor and knocks it down. This is that like over the top shot that I say is so important for these downhill guys. This is the one

that I've been begging Giannis to get forever. Even if you're the best athlete in the league at your position, you are inevitably going to run into somebody who is close to your level of athleticism and can stop you from just running rough shot over them all night long. Even the guy that is arguably the best athlete NBA history, Lebron James, look at his career history, it's like he runs into Andrea Guadala, he runs into Kawhi Leonard, even

in recent years, he runs into Aaron Gordon. Mind you, he's not the athlete he was when he was younger, but like inevitably, you run into a guy that can kind of sort of beat it a spot's chest you up and force you to make something over the top.

Doesn't mean you have to make a three. If you can drive at that guy and then he cuts you off and you can counter back the other way and hit something over the top, that is something that you can rely on in a tight spot when the defense is guarding you one on one and not really helping off super far, and there's not a great look elsewhere, and that's kind of the best you can do on

that possession. If you can get to a bucket where you could like, hey, I can hit this shot fifty to fifty five percent of the time, that's something that could really carry you in tight half court situations. Back to back of them that looked really, really good. Jonathan Isaac checked in off the bench for the Magic Zion immediately started bullying him underneath the basket. The Pelicans are even just barely scratching the surface of what this can become.

Because I didn't even see any really great drive and kick possessions where they were like multiple touches. I still think that's the thing that they can get to over time. Like this team is going to be so good on offense. If Zion can stay healthy, we could be looking at a truly special offensive season from him. And I think it's a top ten offense and one that could get even higher with Trey Murphy, CJ McCollum. Those guys are

such good spot up players. John Tay Murray, well, see he didn't shoot the three ball well last night, but I think he's gonna shoot it pretty well this year. Jordan Hawkins came in and shot the seams off the basketball like they just have all this shooting. And then they have these two guys in Dejonte and in Zion that can get downhill and can make plays. And even Brandon Ingram as we've been hearing, has looked really good in training camp, and so that's another guy that can

kind of break the defense down. Dejhontey didn't shoot it well. He had a couple of his patent mid range shots but missed everything else. But he was getting two spots and he was getting dribble penetration, and again Orlando's defense is insanely good, so like, this is a tough matchup for that first version of this offense. At the end of the first half, they ran some two man game with Dejonte and Zion, and Zion was setting good screens and Desonte was easily getting into the paint where he

could make plays. I thought that was kind of an interesting action that we'll see more of this year. I think Dejonte's fit overall will take some reps, just because it's kind of an interesting fit, but I do think it'll go fine. Cj looked great, shot the ball super well last year, came right back to work this year. Nine points on six jump shots yesterday. Jordan Hawkins eighteen points and two assists in twenty one minutes. Kind of

slided into like the Trey Murphy type of role. And what really impressed me about Jordan Hawkins was his ability to get dribble penetration off of his shooting ability. He was getting a lot of straight line drives off of dudes chasing him off the line, and he was able to like he made some drop off passes, made some mid range stuff. I thought it was a really nice

game from Jordan Hawkins. You can see the formula for the Pelicans, Zion and de Jonte and Brandon getting dribble penetration, really high level shoot, drive, pass threats off the ball to capitalize on that attention. I think they're gonna score a lot of points this year. Orlando. I really I love this team because I love a lot of the players on the team, but I hate watching them on offense. It always looks worse against teams like New Orleans two

that do a lot of switching. By the way, they've got a lot of similar sized players, Orland who does so A lot of teams do a lot of switching against them. But then they just run into this like kind of stagnant thing where they they just bring the ball up the floor and they might have a guard comes set a screen, but then it just inevitably turns into kind of like everyone's standing around and watching Palow or Frontz try to make something happen. It looks like

pickup basketball, but there were some positives. They shot the ball well from the perimeter in the first half. They got cold in the second half. But in the first half, while the Pels starters were still playing, the Magic got one point one nine points per jump shot on twenty one attempts. Polo's shot looked good again. He was three for five on jumpers yesterday. Jonathan Isaac hitd a three,

Jalen Suggs hit a bunch of threes. Again, they cooled off, but I thought that was encouraging after how poorly they shot the ball against Cleveland. And then their defense still looks insane. They have so much speed and strength in the guard corps, even off the bench, like Cole Anthony is like competing on the defensive end. Obviously, Anthony Black his jump shot still looks a little sketch, but he

obviously brings a lot defensively to the back court. And then they just have so much size and length in the front court. Like when Jonathan Isaac checked in, he started like ending up in a lot of help side possessions and protecting the rim, and like anyone on the Pelicans who was in Zion was like scared to shoot around the rim because of Jonathan Isaac. I'm so impressed by them on the defensive end. I'm so impressed by

their physical profile. We just have to see more offensive growth out of them over the course of the season. All right, Let's go to this week's or today's episode of Timp's tape. First couple of clips are going to be zion left shoulder hook. So, as I was talking about in the last segment, inevitably, even if you're a supreme athlete, you're going to run into a guy that can kind of sort of match up with you athletically.

In this case, Pala Bunkara. Zion's gonna make a really hard dribble move to the right, and Palo, who's also in an elite athlete, beats him to the spot, cuts him off. What do you do from there? This is where in situations where you need to create your own shot and you can't get to the rim, it's important to have some sort of calendar to make something over the top. Zion's gonna pivot over his right shoulder and

take like a little five foot hook shot. That is a shot that Zion should be able to get to against every defender in the league at any time. If he can get to the point where he can knock that down fifty percent of the time fifty five percent of the time, that can become a huge weapon for him, especially in a playoff series when things grind down in the half court. There's another example against Wendell Carter, really good athlete at the center position. Zion's come in from

the top of the key. This time gonna fast forward a little bit, get a switch, So Daniel Tye screens. There's a switch. Now we have Wendell Carter hard drive right. Wendell beats him to the spot, cuts him off. Zion pivots over his right shoulder, knocks down a hook. Again, that was over a center. That's a guy that's substantially taller than Zion, and he is able to get the

shot off. Because again, anybody who actually cuts Zion off on his hard drive to the right is gonna have to really really dig down and take hard slide steps. He's not gonna be able to quickly recover back going the opposite direction. But I thought that was really really encouraging, and I'd like to see Zion take a bunch of those this year and hopefully hit it around fifty percent. This was a really impressive defensive possession from Cole Anthony. So we have the Magic loading up on the strong

side against the Zion drive. Cole Anthony is sinking down into the lane to kind of make sure that herb Jones doesn't cut to the basket. His man is actually CJ McCollum. Watch when the pass gets thrown how quickly Cole Anthony recovers out to CJ. Sprints Boom. He's there

on the catch, completely glued up. Gets a great contest, doesn't foul, forces a miss, short catches the ball in transition, goes the length of the floor, sees a little opportunity where he goes, Hey, Jordan Hawkins not a great athlete, not I mean good athlete, but he's not very big and strong. I might be able to go through him. Sees the opportunity, drops that shoulder, gets the angle. Nice athletic finish at the rim. Cole Anthony is one of my favorite backup guards in the league. But like it's

just an example two of defensive culture. Too. Good athlete off the bench comes in, brings the same level of defensive intensity as the starters. This was a fun one. A little action that the Pelicans ran for Zion that I really liked. It's kind of a setup out of a five out concept. All guys on the perimeter. CJ and Dejonte both just basically cross in front of Zion and nothing ends up happening, but you do see some

brief confusion out of Orlando. I do think they'll get some openings this year whereas guys are acrossing, people make a mistake. I talked to it again. Action gives opportunity for the defense to make a mistake. Orlando's an elite defense. They don't make a mistake here, but you can kind of see the action right these guys cross and notice how CACP threw a hedge too. You're going to see some situations where the hedge stays too long and Dejonte is able to drive that, but inevitably it ends up

settling back into an ISO. But I do think we're going to see a lot more of that action. I'm curious to see how it settles down this year. Here's your textbook driving kick though. So we have Jalen Suggs with his body completely turned towards Zion looking at the ball. That gives a close out opportunity for CJ. McCollum. Zion throws the ball, Jalen Suggs close out. That's that baked in driving lane that I always talk to you guys about if He's going to stand here and I get

a pass on the wing. I have a guaranteed rip through to the right because Jalen Suggs is going to be closing out at me from my left hand side. Rip beats him off the dribble. Okay, so now this is where we're at. Now we're going to talk a little bit about another element of spacing off ball screening. Daniel Tye was down here, Dejontay Murray was over here after the uh, after that crossing action that CJ and Dejhontey ran, Daniel Tye is going to set a backscreen

on Contavious Cabb of Pope. Instead of digging down here and trying to box box out for an offensive rebound, he sets this flare screen for de Jontay Murray, nails KCP. CJ McCollum makes the kickout pass, we get a wide open three. So again, Daniel Tice is a situation. In a situation like that, Wendell Carter's ignoring him and going towards the basket, he maintains himself as a threat on offense by being a screener off the ball. Jante misses the shot, but that's a really good look after an

interesting little action. Then lastly we're gonna go to a different game. Actually this was a play from Oklahoma City, San Antonio. I didn't cover this game because there's too many players out for both teams, and just in preseason, there's so many games to cover, I want to make sure I hit ones where everyone's playing. But we get this really interesting like double drag dribble handoff with Hartenstein as the hub and I talked a lot about this

in my in my Hertenstein signing reaction. But Hartenstein, I'm really fascinated with him operating as a passing folk rum out here at the top of the key. But Kazan Wallace and Alex Kruzer are gonna set a double wide pin down for Chet Holmgren. As Chet's gonna come off, it's gonna turn into a switch. But the main key here is as the switch occurs, Harrison Barnes is the guy that ends up having to grab Hartenstein and then

Sohan switches out onto Chet. As Sohan switches out aggressively, Chet beats him off the dribble, but look at Hartenstein. The interior seal on Harrison Barnes creates the angle for Chet to get to the basket and dunk. Again. Watch Hartenstein right after the pass. He doesn't dilly dally, he doesn't sit at the top of the key. I'm gonna play this in full speed. Watch how quickly Hartenstein gets down from the DHL in here for the seal. See that.

That's some really impressive two man game from Hartenstein and Chet Holmer. We will definitely get a good breakdown of Oklahoma City and as soon as they get their starters out there, I'm really excited to see those guys. All right, That is all I have for today. As always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow with some more game breakdowns. 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.