Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings + Warriors & Clippers West favorites? Will Kevin Durant, Kyrie & Nets drama continue?

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in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Vanduel here at the volume we are live on AMP. It is time for our bi weekly power rankings. And don't forget if you're watching on YouTube or on our podcast feed, that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get our live breakdowns like this, so

you guys know the drill We're gonna remember. I'm gonna be I'm gonna mention a lot today, things along the lines of in the last two weeks or since our last list or in the last chunk of games, and the main reason why is I I don't want to be just a standard power rankings list that primarily focuses on the on the postseason for starters. I just want

to do something different. And then secondly, I just don't really change my opinion that much based on regular season basketball unless I see some things super drastic, like for instance, with the Warriors. Yeah, it's been a rough start. I still think they are a top tier contender. If I was doing a playoff power rankings, they'd probably still be in my top three right now. They're not even on

the list this week. So the way that these power rankings lists are gonna work because I really want to take it as an opportunity to focus on who's playing well right now just to kind of help us keep things interesting during the regular season. So here are the teams that dropped off the list from last week. First is the Warriors. I had them up at ten two weeks ago based on respect as the defending champs, and their starting lineup was still playing really well. And then

they went three and four since that list. Their seventh in offense during that span, but defense continues to be their issue, their sixteenth over that span. And I talked last night about how it's not just the bench, it's the starters that are having issues too. That starting lineup of Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and

Covan Looney. Over the course of the first six games, that grouping had a deep sense of rating of one oh three and since that East Coast road trip their last seven games, they have a defensive rating of a hundred and ten. So they just you know, we can talk about the bench all we want. We could talk about Clay Thompson missing shots. We could talk about Jordan Pool missing shots. The core five guys are also not

defending the way they did to start the season. Uh, the Chicago Bulls, I had them at nine after their five and four start. They were defending really well. Well, the bottom is fallen out of their defense. Their twenty fifth and defense over the last two weeks and they dropped five out of their last six games. The Toronto Raptors there four and four in the last two weeks. I was concerned about their inability to score and defend

in the half court. If you guys remember like they were third in offense, but and there their third in offense and eighth and defense. But if you looked at cleaning the glass and looked at their half court numbers, they weren't good at all. Well, it seems like other teams have figured that out. They were third in offense the first two weeks, seventeenth and offense the last two weeks, eighth in defense the first two weeks eighteenth and defense. The last two weeks they were fourth and net rating.

The first two weeks they were twenty second in net race eating the last two weeks. They did get a nice little win at home last night over the Heat. No Gna Nobi was awesome on both ends of the floor. So this is where I enjoyed this particular structure. We might never talk about a team like the Indiana Pacers over the course of the season, but with this type of structure and power rankings, we get to talk about them. This week. At number ten, I have the Indiana Pacers.

They were four and one. Since our last list, they've won six out of eight overall, pushing them up over five day are now seven and six on the season. They beat the Raptors, they beat the Pelicans, they beat the neat the Heat and the nets in that span. They're also fourth in defense. Since our last list, anchored by Miles Turner has been fantastic. He had and ten with three blocks last night in a win over the Hornets. One of the revelations here in the early part of

the season has been Benedict Mathin. You know, and I liked him at Arizona. Remember I'm from Tucson, so I followed the Wildcats closely, and you know, there were a lot of things I liked. He was an obvious NBA athlete. He already was pretty built into his grown man body, and he was really competitive. You could see that fire in him, which you know, manifested in his work, ethic and things along those lines. So I liked him as a prospect. But my main concern was his jump shot.

I thought his form was a little funky. It's got a hitch in it. It's kind of off to the side of his head. But he's shooting on pull up jumpers this year, including on pull up threes. I remember when I started coaching high school basketball. I I coach with a really good coach here in Tucson as one of his assistants. Obviously, because my availability in the evenings is tough, so I primarily hope in the morning, help in the mornings with like skill development and stuff, and

our head coach. He played professionally in Italy for like seven years. He's point guard, just a basketball genius. And one of the things he told me was like, don't worry so much about form, especially with young players, because that it's just gonna get in their heads. Focus on things that are more controllable, like their base, making sure they get good lift every time, making sure they ditch

unnecessary movement, and things along those lines. And we could talk about Bennedic Natherin's release all we want, but he's always had a really good bass, he gets great lift, there's not a ton of wasted movement, and that's why he's knocking down shots right now. So a fun little stretch of basketball from the Indiana Pacers, and both Buddy

Yild and Miles Turner look excellent. I still I still remain shocked that the Lakers didn't see those guys as people that would um give Lebron and Anthony Davis a real fighting chance. Number nine the Dallas Mavericks. There are four and three since our last list. They did drop a game without Luka donchitch last night. They started the year grade on offense and poorly on defense, and it's been the exact opposite since. So since our last power rankings,

there twenty eight in offense and fifth in defense. I watched the Clippers game yesterday from I believe it was Monday night, might have been Sunday. Dallas jumped out to a huge lead. Then you know, the Clippers methodically worked their way back in by playing good defense, forcing Luca and a bunch of mrs getting out on the other end and scoring. John Wall had a really nice game um getting getting to the basket, knocking down, pull up

fifteen footers and stuff like that. The game was tied at ninety three late and both teams were double teaming the Stars, So the Mavericks were double teaming Paul George and the Clippers were double teaming Luca don che It's. But in this four possession sequence, the Clippers went down, they double team Paul George. He turned it over. Then the Mavericks went down, the double team Luca don che It got a wide open three for Reggie Bullock because Luca made the play right. Then they went down and

they double team Paul George again. He turned it over again, and then they went down and the double team Luca don Chech. He made the right play, Dwight Powell on the short roll, hit Reggie Bullock on the left wing. He hit another big shot and the game was over. So it's kind of an interesting game back and forth where Luca just made the right plays at the end of the game and PG turned it over twice. It's also good to see Reggie Bullock finally get going hitting

those massive three's. Christian Wood is also averaging twenty points per game in their last three, and they're toning back Luca's usage a bit. It's only thirty six percent since our last list, when it was up over fort to start the season. Alright, number eight the Memphis Grizzlies there four and three since our last list, twenty one and offense and third in defense. I wanted to talk about

Desmond Bain for a second. He heard his big toes, who's gonna be out for a few weeks, but he's having a fantastic season, fueled by his improvements as a shot creator. If you guys remember I I always really like Desmond Bain's spot up shooting and a little bit of his relocation shooting, you know, some of that stuff's off the dribble, but not too much more, mostly attacking closeouts right. And I love his competitiveness. He competes on

the defensive end as well. Lots to love about Desmond Baine. But I've never thought he's a little too upright, and he doesn't have a great first step and so, and he doesn't handle the ball super well. So I was concerned about his shot creation. Well, he's put a ton of work over the course of the off season. I was listening to a Grizzlies broadcast the other day and they were talking about this. He um relentlessly focused on his off the dribble shooting and just his ball handling

in general. Well, look at this. He's forty six percent on seven pull up jumpers for per game, including forty percent from three, And he's getting into the restricted area to attempt shots four point three times per game, up from two point seven last year. So he's just getting to the basket a lot more, although he is missing some layups right now. Memphis desperately needed a second legit shot creator. If Desmond Baine becomes that, that's huge for them.

Um number seven is number seven, the New Orleans Pelicans. They're five and three since our last list. Wins over Chicago twice, they beat Memphis. They also beat the Warriors ninth and offense and tenth and defense since our last list. Really balanced attack, They've got six guys averaging double figures in this stretch. They've also been really good in crunch

time closing games. They're three and one in games that involved crunch time with a one seven offensive rating in a nine five defensive rating when the game is within five with less than five minutes left. UM the Sacramento Kings at number six. They're five and one since our last list, seven and two since their own four start, their second in offense and nineteenth and defense over the

last two weeks. Daron Fox's improvement as a jump shooter is one of the main things that is driving this resurgence. From the King's last year, He's got thirty four percent on catching shoot jumpers. This year he's shooting fifty on catching shoot jumpers. Obviously a big deal, especially with Demonic Sabonis on the floor and the attention that he commands

around the basket. Demonus has also been fantastic over the course of the last couple of weeks, and then tarn Fox is up to on eight point four pull up jump shots per game, which is really solid. He's been going to that pull up to a lot at the end of games and it's been going in for him alright. Number five the Phoenix Suns. They are three and four since our last list, but they've been decimated by injuries.

CP three has a heel issue, Cam Johnson tours meniscus. Obviously, Jake Crowder has been out the entire season because he demanded a trade. So they're just a little thin right now, but they're still thirteenth in offense and fourteenth and defense over this stretch and manufacturing some wins, including an impressive win last night against the Golden State Warriors. I was really impressed by Devin Booker last night, yet again passing

the basketball. That's been something that I've been on all season. I think has been the biggest driver of his success as he's been rising up the league over the course of the last couple of seasons. And then Campaign is doing a really nice job filling in for Chris Paul. He's averaging nineteen points and six assists. He gets a ton of dribble penetration. Last night, I was talking about how he's like the fastball to Chris Paul's change up.

You know, Chris Paul methodically works in the lane and dries debate defenders into getting out of position so that he can make passes to advantage situations. Campaign it's a lot more straightforward than that. He's just getting downhill and drawing help kicking out with Everything with Phoenix is about getting to that backside so you can have guys like Damian Lee and Michaal Bridges making plays um because they're really talented and when you give them advantages, they're gonna score.

And Damian Lee, for instance, is shooting seventeen for thirty from three since our last list, number four. The Portland Trailblazers. They're five and two since our last power rankings with wins over the Pels, The Heat and the Sun's are eighteenth in offense and twelfth and defense. They're doing it in crunch time. They've won three games in crunch time during this span. Is a team. They're shooting fifties fifty percent from the field in sixty from three in clutch

situations over the last two weeks. Jeremy Grant is playing incredibly well in this span despite some injuries, you know, because Dame has been in and out of the lineup with that calf issue. He's averaging twenty seven, six and three in this five and two stretch on fifty six percent shooting from the field and six from three. You know, I was kind of uh intrigued by Jeremy Grant a lot over the last couple of years. I wanted the Lakers to get him when I was covering the Lakers.

You know, when he went to Detroit, he from Denver for the same amount of money that Denver offered him. He wanted to be a lead ball creator, right, So he goes to Detroit and he has a pretty productive season. I think he averaged somewhere around twenty four points per game, and he was relatively efficient. Next year, he was kind

of injury plagued, right. But what you're seeing is, you know, when someone goes that route transitioning from off ball to on ball type of creation, there's an adjustment period and then there's like a comfortability that builds over time. And what are seeing is a player that that is only in his third season really in this type of role, and he's thriving in it now because he's getting a lot more reps, he's a lot more comfortable. You're seeing

development as a pull up jump shooter. His handle looks great. There was that game against the Pels that we covered i think last week where he was hitt and pull up jump shots to get the defender to come up on him and then using counter moves to get to the rim and make him big plays to lead his team to a win without Damian Lillard or use of Nurkics on the floor. So a really really nice pick up for Portland. And hey, they're top four team here

early in the season. Number three. The Denver Nuggets there five and two since our last list, and they're one of those two losses was without Local, without Nickel Yokich. This has been a weaker stretch of their schedule though, um just for a little bit of context, the only really good team they played during this fan was Boston and they did get rolled in that game. But they're making some progress on defense there, up to up in

the league in defense over their last seven games. And then Jamal Murray just looking a little bit more like himself. Every single day. Um hit some big shots last night against the Knicks. He's up to nineteen points per game on fifty three percent shooting in his last seven games and forty one on ten pull up jumpers per game.

Like to see that closer to forty percent. But once he gets there, that's when we'll really know that Jamal Murray is back to what he used to be because he's one of the best pull up jump jump shooters in the league. Bones Highland, after a rough start to the season, is also starting to get going. He made three massive threes uh in the late third quarter in early fourth quarter against the Knicks last night. He had one to start the fourth quarter where he got an

and one falling forward. It was one of the most bizarre um you know and one threes that I've ever seen. Uh. That gave him a big lead. I think they went up like eighty, but they ended up falling apart. Just without Yokich, they just don't have the interior presence that they need, especially against the Knicks team that has a good amount of interior size. Bones Highland is shooting on five pull up threes per game since our last list.

All right, number two, the Milwaukee Bucks. They are four and three since our last list, but still just a half game back of the best record in UH in the entire league, and injuries are really the driver of this current little, somewhat um less impressive stretch. Janice smissed three games he had a foot ankle issue. He's also only averaging twenty four points on thirty nine percent shooting UH in the four games that he did play, so he's obviously a little banged up right now. Now. Drew

Holiday is out with an ankle issue. So they went in the last night's game down three starters and with one of their starters not quite a hundred percent yet. Bobby Portis was starting, Javon Carter started, who's been really good, and then uh bou Champ. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Um, he's a rookie and he had a little bit of a rough shooting night last night, but he shows a lot of flashes defensively and he's got a good frame. They're still just finding a way to win games. How

is that? Because they defend their sixth and defense since our last list, despite being down all of those players, and Brook Lopez is one of the early season favorites for defensive Player of the Year this year. He made seven threes in block three shots last night in that

win against Cleveland. And so despite all that bad luck, despite Janice being you know, hurt and out of the lineup a little bit, just bit, Drew being out, despite Pat Connaton being out, just by Chris Middleton being out, despite all of that, they went four and three because that's what teams with championship aspirations do. They have a real identity that they can lean on when there's lineup turmoil.

There is a large chasm for me between the top two teams Boston and Milwaukee, and the rest of the league right now. I expect some other teams to join that level over the course of the season, but right now Boston and Milwaukee look like they're in a class of their own. Number one in the Boston Celtics. They had a defensive clinic versus Atlanta last night to bring them to eight and oh since our last list, their first an offense since our last list, and first an

offense for the season with a comfortable margin. They're up to eleventh and defense over their last eight games, driven in large part because of their really good defensive performance last night against Atlanta. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are still killing it. They're averaging fifty and eight in the last two weeks. And then I wanted to talk about Marcus Smart for a second, because you know, I've been a little as good as Jason Tatum has been offensively.

I was a little disappointed because he kind of stopped being the playmaker that he was towards the end of

the year last year. Now, I wanted him to do that because he wasn't a great isolation player and he wasn't getting to the basket and finishing well enough, and he needed to improve more in those areas, and he was already showing some high showing some promise as a playmaker, so I thought it made more sense for him to take that role and for Jalen Brown to kind of be your, you know, point him and shoot him type

of of score well. As Tatum has kind of gone into this season, he's been much better isolating, much better

getting to the rim, much better scoring efficiently. So it's kind of worked out that he let go of some of that playmaking rope and the guy who slotted into that role as Marcus Smart, Um, he's he's been I want to say, he's averaging a career high and in assist right now, he's averaging like eight or nine assists per game since our last Power rankings, and he is taking on that specific role of getting dribble penetration, starting the advantage creation process for Boston that they do such

a good job of extending because they have so many good players, and Grant Williams and Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and and uh and uh, you know Malcolm brogged in on the back end, Al Horford, you know, uh, spotting up in the corners, whatever it is. They just have so many guys that can expand the advantage that they just need that guy to get that initial dribble penetration and kick out. And right now Marcus Smart is the guy that's filling that role. And then lastly, Grant Williams,

He's on four threes per game and has been excellent defensively. Um, in the last couple of weeks. You know, like I said last night, he bet on himself turning down that extension to try to get more and he's been so good to start the season that he's probably gonna get it um and then Luke Cornette has done a really nice job filling in for Robert Williams. They look like the best team in the world right now, and they

deserve the top spot on our list. You might notice next to me here on the screen, good friend, Mr Carson. We've had no Carson for a while because we've been waiting on a specific piece of equipment that we finally got installed so that we can functionally make this whole thing work. But dude, it is good to see you man. How are you today? Oh Jason, it is just a joy to be here and I'm great, very happy. Some

great basketball going on. Hell yeah, We've got five questions from the early chunk of the season here really quickly. Before we get started, Please subscribe to the YouTube channels so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore Jason lt s. You guys don't miss show announcements or any film breakdowns that we do. And if you miss one of these episodes and you can't get back to YouTube, remember you can find them

wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight. And on that note, Carson, let's get to question number one. What do you got question number one. Despite their struggles, the Warriors and the Clippers are still co favorites to get out of the West Jason. They're both plus three thirty on fandel to win the Western Conference. Does that make sense to you? Are they still deserving favorites? Yes, because, well, specifically with the Warriors, I'll say yes. I don't feel

nearly as optimistic about the Clippers. I mean, for starters, there's nobody else in the Western Conference that's really blowing anybody away. Like Portland's off to a good start, but then they drop a game at home to the Brooklyn Nets last night. You know, like the Nuggets. They're nine in five, but they have lost a lot of games too good teams, and their defense isn't nearly where you expect it to be. So no one's really impressing in a way that would lead you to believe that the

Clippers or Warriors are in trouble out West now? Is there a chasm forming between them and the Bucks and Celtics. Absolutely, I think everybody would agree with that. But in the Western Conference, I'm not overly concerned with the Warriors. They've got a bunch of issues. Their defense is falling off a cliff, their seventeenth in their last seven games. Their starters have a one ten defensive rating during that span

as well, which is not good. Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool are both struggling a bit offensively, and then their bench has trouble holding leads. They're getting outscored by thirteen points per one Hunter possessions with Steph off the floor, when they're outscoring teams by seven when Steff is on the floor, which is a twenty point swing. But everything is fixable. The starters aren't defending, but we know they

can and we know they will. They were one of the best defensive units in the league to start the season, and they were outstanding in the playoffs last year, so they will again be outstanding soon. It's just a matter of commitment. Clay Thompson is shooting on a wide open threes. Hot take here, Carson. I think those are gonna start

going in eventually. Yes, he's had some shot selection stuff, but if really you want Clay to be aggressive, if you just want him to be making shots, people are really only complaining about the shots because they're not going in. And then Jordan pools a young players are gonna occasionally gonna have some cold stretches, but they're gonna find a way to bolster the bench. They've got trades they can make um involving the young players. They're gonna be a

buyout destination because they'll have minutes available. It's a great culture, you know, a West Coast and uh chance legitimately to win a title. They're gonna get a good buyout wing somewhere. And then they could always do things like dusting off on Drake Gudala or increasing the starters minutes as we get closer to the playoffs to just make the bench

less important. And then with the Clippers, like they're playing better, but they're twenty seven and offense in this last ten game stretch, even when they've gone seven and three, they can't score. And then Kauai, like, dude, Kauai was doing jan Kie stuff like playing one first half shift to try to limit his minutes, and he still broke down. So like, what what universe is he gonna suddenly survive the rest of the season, let alone ever look like the old Kauai. So with with the Clippers, I'm a

lot more pessimistic. But the Warriors issues I think are fixable. I think the Warriors are certainly in an interesting spot, and I think you've been a big advocate of make the mid season move. Go out there, put all your pieces in, because this is a title caliber core with an all time gray player and the future entry you get from the Moody's. The commingas the Wiseman's just does not compare and value to the immediacy of hey, we can win a title right now, and I completely agree

with that. I also think it is absolutely necessary because this top six is title caliber. We saw it last year. That is undeniable. I don't think anybody's really significantly regressed here. Steph looks even better. Clay is playing very poorly, but it's like you said, I mean, for most of his career, Clay's job has been to make contested shots. And guess what, He's been inconsistent since coming back from injury. But I still think he'll shoot thirty seven percent from three. He'll

be okay. But the reality is that the loss of Gary Payton, the second Auto Porter junior, have really completely changed the outlook of this bench. And you know, Anthony Lamb is the best bench player outside of Jordan pool right now, and so I like Dante DiVincenzo, he has not looked like the same player he was before his injury. In Milwaukee, Jamichael Green has been very mess So I just don't think you can count on this ben rotation right now to be good enough to really make a

meaningful push in the playoffs. But they're not that far away, so I think they have to make a move. But it's not a move that's at all impossible to make, especially with the assets they have, which are decreasing in value. But I'm sure still holds some intrigue. Yeah, and a lot of the options, you know, because I've had Warriors fans asking the comments like hey, can you provide some options, And it's the same kind of trade targets that you're

seeing elsewhere around the league. They could go the route of trying to poach a couple of the role players that are playing for the Utah Jazz. Right They could go after you know, Yaka Purdle and Doug McDermott from the San Antonio Spurs, giving them a legit because like right now, they're one front court injury away from the season basically being over. Like if kevn Looney or Draymond Green goes down, they're gonna have an extremely hard time

winning any games. Um, you know, I I look at you know, Miles Turner for instance, as a guy who you know, was playing really good basketball this season, and yes he's been mentioned with the Lakers, but the Lakers don't seem to want him, so someone else is probably gonna get him because of Pacers aren't gonna you know,

ride this out. Yeah, they're over five now, but they're eventually going to pull the plug out of all of this, and they're gonna, you know, take a first round pick or something along those lines, and you might be able to get him from one of those young players if you're Golden State, especially since I'm sure Indiana would like to get a good wing in there alongside their their new backcourts. So you know, there's options out there. They just have a bunch of different directions they can go.

If Anthony Lamb pans out, which he's been playing really well, shooting the ball well, guarding multiple positions. If Moses Moses Moody gets it together, they dust off Andrey Gudala, they increase minutes for the starters. They might not need to do anything, but when the time comes in February, they'll have the flexibility with a bunch of different ways that they can go. And so I think, I mean that's why, like, of all the teams to be concerned about, I just

wouldn't be like it. It's not there. Like you said, Steph looks better than ever. There's the best lineup for the Warriors. This isn't guarding the way they used to, and it's it's only been like four months. It's not like they've lost that capability. They're just this is classic,

you know, title defense malaise. Right. The Clippers are also interesting to me because they have been so great defensively number two in defensive writing on the year, and that is probably, I would say, actually certainly the more reliable predictor of if you're looking at which end of the floor, which can we trust more Certainly it's the defense compared to the offense without Kauai, because so much of what the Clippers do is predicated on the isolation, the drive

and kick, trusting their perimeter guys to go out there and get buckets like their third in isolation percentage there twenty nine and passes made, which is just how they've always played basketball. But when Reggie Jackson has not been great, when Norman Powell has not been great, when John Wall hasn't been great, and when you don't have Kauai, that's basically their entire offensive identity kind of thrown out the windows. So I'm not overly confident that Kauai is gonna be

himself or healthy. We just don't know, so I think right now I would certainly put the Suns in the Nuggets right in that same tier. I think all these teams are flawed. I think there's uncertainty with all of them, and I don't think any of them compare to the top tier of teams out East. Certainly agree on that. Yeah, I put the Nuggets as the one team that I would put as a legitimate Western Conference threat. They're nine in four when Yoki's plays, and that was despite at

the start of the season. Jamal Murray is still kind of working his way back, and Bones Hiland did not shoot well to start the season, but Jamal looks a little bit more and more like himself each and every game that he plays. Bones Highland is shaking off that rough start. Now he's making his shots again in this recent stretch from the Nuggets, he's shooting like pull up threes or something insane like that. Their defense is still just terrible, but we know that they're capable of playing

better than they have. They're never gonna be a top five defense, but they should be closer to fifteen, and I think they're twenty three right now. So they've just got a bunch of different ways that they can improve. And then, to put it simply, the Clippers and the Warriors, that Yo Kitch matchup is just really tough for them,

you know. The the the Warriors have beaten the Nuggets in the playoffs with the injuries that they've sustained, but they've suffered some losses to the fully healthy version of the Nuggets during the regular season because it's just a different matchup for them physically. And then obviously we've seen what happens when Yoki comes into contact with the Clippers. So I put the Nuggets as my biggest threat to

those two teams. I would agree with you there Sons have looked good, but I think their depth is a bit of an issue, and the Nuggets have the potential of being the best offense in basketball on any given night, and that gives you a pretty high ceiling. Let's flip here from some teams that have struggled, but overall there's

still a pretty high confidence level. And I mean certainly Vegas is still respecting them to a team that has been a complete circus this entire year, and it seems that every not even weak, every few days there's a new obstacle thrown at them. So Jason, does the next season get more ridiculous or less ridiculous as the year goes on? You know, because the Nets have so much talent on paper, there's always the chance that it could improve.

You know, like if what we saw from Ben Simmons last night is the way he plays the rest of the season, that's encouraging. Katie plays like an m v P. Kyrie Irving comes back. They defend the way they defended, you know, getting what you're getting from you don't want Nabby for instance, who by the way, did a really nice job defending Damian Lillard on switches. He's just super tall and super long and can knock down threes and he's actually a pretty decent athlete, right, Like, you know

that there's a bunch of good there. But as I'm putting that all together. It kind of feels like one of those like same game parlays where I make a two dollar bet that has like a payout, Like, yeah, it could all go that way and we could all get rich. Or the far more likely scenario is that one or two of those things go wrong, which leads to the domino effect of everybody else going off the rails and then it goes south, you know, like the we we've just we've just seen in this movie before.

They can play good basketball and the right matchups two or three games in a row, like last night, I was an impressive win. They defended Damian Lillard extremely well. They down the stretch of that game kind of strangled the pace, got better shots, and it looks good. But it's a lot of its matchup dependent. You know, they struggle against the Kings because they've got a couple front court players that are more physical, right, you know, and

then Portland's not so much. And then you know, there's also the reality of the Celtics box matchups like uh, no matter what the idealized version of this NETS team is, specifically uh specifically, Boston and Milwaukee are equipped to not just beat the nets but kind of snatch their heart with the way that they play on both ends of

the floor. So like you know what, Josiah never stops believing and he's like the X, the X that's still are the guy who's still in love with his X, and did no matter how often she stabs him, stabs him in the back, he just keeps going back. You know. It's one of those types of deals. But my guess is it gets more ridiculous, but there's it's always on the table that Kyrie comes back. Ben Simmons turns into

Wing Draymond. Kevin dray plays like an m v P. Seth Curry does his thing, Joe Harris makes a bunch of threes, like you did you get a couple of key role player performances. Yeah, there's there is a ceiling here, but that same ceiling has existed all season for various reasons, and it just continues to go up and down the way that it has. I don't know how much more ridiculous things can get, but I also wouldn't really predict

them to get less ridiculous. And I agree that last night was outside of that Knicks game, maybe they're best all around effort of the year. I still think Portland, I mean clearly just felt to me like a more talented team. It was kind of an issue of shot making for them in spots, but the nets were locked in defensively, Like you said, Watanabe was great, Joe Harris

was finally making shots. But it's still just feels far too ambitious to bet on everything consistently coming together and jelling, especially when you're reintroduced Kyrie, even though obviously he elevates your offensive ceiling. It's just like the defense was abysmal when he was out there. We have no reason to have any sort of confidence in the chemistry, in the

cohesion of this team. Simmons. I mean, he finally scored fifteen points, and you know, he attacked a couple of times downhill and out of the post, but he's just so clearly not the same athlete. He's not the same defensively, and he's still in his head. I mean, he only took six shots. A couple of them were like one exactly. It's like he is just so so far from what he was, what we could have ever expected him to be.

So I think we should just buckle in and not invest in any nets success and invest in a lot more hijinks in mayhem, because I really I don't see this team winning a playoff series. It's like to be fully healthy and committed and together and like each other and play both ends against a really good top tier out east. I just think, no way. Well, that's the key, because bad things happen to every basketball team. That's a dirty little secret. There's two different kinds of teams out there.

There's the teams that complain as the bad things happen, as they spiral out of control, and then the teams that, like you're you're just looking. It's like, oh, the Bucks won again last night, and whoa two starters were out and six for seventeen, Like what in the world? Like like you you look at it, and it's like like like Janice messed up his foot and is is been like below from the field in his last four games, has missed three of the last seven games, and Drew

Holidays out with an acle issue. Pat Connaughton's out, Chris Middleton's out, and they're just winning games because they're just in the locker room. There's such a buy in down the roster that every night you're getting a consistent product. And yeah, even in the downsides like this past two weeks stretch, all that went wrong for the Bucks and they went four and three, you know, and they beat a Calves team um the other day that was you know,

obviously down Jared Allen, but had everybody else available. So like, it's just it's just the difference between the top and the bottom. Like the Nets have demonstrated that a little bit of adversity kind of causes them to fracture, you know, and and that sort of thing isn't going to suddenly change in this case. Yeah, I completely agree. And before the Nets started destroying themselves and embarrassing themselves, they were destroyed and embarrassed by the Boston Celtics in the playoffs

last year, who have been really exceptional this year. They're twelve and three, they're on pace to have the best offense in basketball history, and obviously they've done this all without email Doca. So, Jason, do you think that his impact on the Celtics was overrated? Not necessarily, but I do think that in general, when we see things like this,

we don't give enough credit to the other party. So, for instance, like Emma Udoka is a tough guy, and he was brought in to help specifically with toughness with a core of players and Mark Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen excuse me, and Jaylen Brown who had struggled a little bit with toughness over the course of the years. Right, And yes, Judoka helped with that transition that led to that finals run last year, But you also got to give those guys credit for changing. To me, it reminds

me of like Kobe and pal Gasol. You know, the narrative is like Kobe changed Palkasol, and like, I don't doubt that Kobe's competitiveness and toughness had an impact on him, but give Pal Gasol some credit for just toughening up as he got into late round playoff series consistently. You know a lot of times it's the pain and suffering of the loss that helps lead to that toughness as well.

And again, so it's it's kind of that kind of thing, like I give a good chunk of the credit to Kobe, and I give a good chunk of the credit to Pal in this case, what did I say all summer after the email, Udoka said, a thing came down. I was like, yes, Emay helped with this, but I think the change has already been made by the core players and they will continue to exhibit that toughness now that email Udoka has gone. And that's exactly what has happened.

And you know, give those guys credit. They just you know, Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown came out uh three or four months after an embarrassing loss in the finals, and they both look like better players than they were last year. That's a credit to that. Jayson Tatum was a bad isolation player last year. This year he's been a good isolation player. He's increased his efficiency in a bunch of very important areas. He was a bad mid range scorer last year. This year he's a good mid range scorer.

You know, like you're just seeing improvement from those guys. Give them credit. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown two in key moments of this series in the season. Even though the team defense hasn't been as good as you'd hope, they've locked in and there's still two of the best perimeter defenders in the entire league. And then dude, Marcus Smart, what he's done for them offensively as a dribble creator. Just getting into the gaps of the defense and creating

that initial advantage is super impressive. He's one of the best pick and roll ball handlers in the league this year. Yeah, I think you put it very well. My thought kind of what Udoka did last year was extremely important and extremely impressive. But I also thought this year, bringing in Joe Massoula, who has been there, it's a lot easier to sustain that defensive culture once it's been established. Those

offensive principles, once they've been established. It's like how Luke Wallon could come in and coach the Warriors to being thirty nine and four because they had already done the handiwork behind Steve Kerr in establishing those habits, those principles, and then of course it's difficult to sustain those things. But then it's a matter of the commitment by the players. They're aware of what they need to do, and clearly

the Celtics players are committed in continuing to improve. So I don't really think that that will ever come back to bite them. Do you think right now if you had to pick between the top teams out East, are the Celtics the team that you would trust the most to win it all. No, I still get I still give an edge to the Bucks. Um, but I do think that the Celtics have gained ground in a sense compared to where you might have felt about those two

teams after their Eastern Conference in my final last year. Um. But yeah, I wanted to give one last story to just kind of like hammer this point home. When I was in junior college, when I was playing up in Utah, I had a coach. His name was Carter Roe. Now he coaches at Arizona Western UH, which which is in a conference here in Arizona, And like he was one of the guys who really targeted my lack of toughness

when I was a young basketball player. And I remember like vividly, like ice cold Utah mornings doing planks on the soccer field where the grass is frozen, and I'm like quitting on the drill and stuff, and he's like down, just screaming in my face, telling me I'm not tough and stuff like that, and like he worked on me

really hard over the course of that season. And it's like he hasn't been my coach since that season for obvious reasons, but his impact has lingered with me, and a lot of the things that changed about me as a player that year are still a part of my basketball identity to this day. And that's kind of like the way that a coach can impact any basketball player. And so that's kind of the way I see the

Udoka thing. He came in, he worked with those guys for a year, He targeted some specific weaknesses for them in terms of mental toughness. That impact is there even now that he's gone, And now that role in your life is taken on by producer Ryan Bromley, who's yelling at you when you're down there in the gold all right. So one of the main stories of this season are one of the most fun stories I think has been the explosion of shape Gil just Alexander and You've talked

about it recently. He's now had thirty seven plus in three straight games. He's averaging thirty two on the year. Is he a top ten player in the league now?

So this is a delicate conversation because I I've been doing I've been going out of my way for this season to really focus on evaluating players based on this season because I have some like long standing philosophies like, I'm not going to put younger players over experienced players that have and there and done that in terms of the way I ranked them in the grand scheme of things, you know, Like, for instance, I had Lebron fourth before

the season. I will not adjust that in my grand scheme rankings until after the playoffs this year, right, But as we zoom in on this season, has Lebron been a top top four player? Absolutely not. He's been somewhere between fifteen and eleven, right, Like you know, Tatum, I

had him down at six. He's actually been better than that this season in terms of just in the vacuum of this season, you know, like that, as we go down that list, there's kind of a difference between talking about what's going on this year versus the grand scheme of things. Has shay Gil just Alexander been a top ten player in this season? Unquestionably, maybe even top five? Right, But as I'm ranking him against the other players in the league in the grand scheme of things, I would

wait until after the season. I would want like, how am I supposed to? For instance, I had Paul George somewhere around like eleven right in the in the list before the season. Why would I put s g A over Paul George, who two years ago when Kauai went down, dragged his team with two within two wins of an NBA Finals birth Like, that's not fair in my opinion.

So just remember, in general, for everybody who's listening, when I'm having these kinds of conversations and talking about these kinds of lists, if it's during the regular season, it's a different type of kind of like measuring system than what I would use outside of the season. But he's unquestionably been a top five, top ten, top five ish

player this year. He's a top tier rim finisher, Like, he finishes at the rim better than just about everybody except for the the usual guys you'd expect at the top. He's a top tier pull up jump shooter. He's shooting the high forties on huge volume. He's excellent pick and roll he's eighty four percentile among pick and roll ball handlers. And he's a massively disruptive defender, gets a ton of steals in blocks for a hundred pound guard. You can't

you can't argue with the results this season. I think that that's very sound logic, and I'm generally pretty tenant, if at least I try to be to lift people above somebody else because of a regular season are certainly only a stretch of regular season play. But he looks like a top ten player right now, and I think, honestly, there might only be concretely like seven or so guys who I would say they're better than s. G A right now. I think that you hit on it. I mean,

he's a top three paint guard in the league. Unequivocally. He's always had that unbelievable change and pace and slinkiness to his game. His paint footwork is ridiculous, the variety of finishes in there, and then now he's paired it with this elite midrange pull up jump shooting game where he's fifty one for mid range and everyone's terrified of s. G A getting all the way downhill, and he just has this incredible ability to stop on a dime, to

step back, and to make all those shots. And it's also just incredible that now we have a couple of guards in the league, him even more so than Job, but guys who they're both shooting well from three this year, and they have that a bit in their game. But really guards who are predicated on getting downhill into the bucket, and that's their greatest strength, and they are truly among

the best players on the planet. Let me ask you this, how do you feel about the okay, see approach around s g A when they have maybe a top ten player. When he's on the floor, they outscore opponents by four points per a Hunter possessions. There are eleven points per a Hunter possessions better with him, and yet still obviously the roster is so far away from accomplishing anything of significance. Is that justifiable to you at this point? Is that

going to become an issue in your eyes? Like, what's your take on that? Well, I think we can make that call from this point looking forward, because at the end of the day, we knew SA was good. We didn't know he was this good, you know, Like, I like the way we're talking about this. I guarantee you the front office is talking about this too, like they're having new conversations now, Like, Okay, it turns out we have one of the ten best basketball players alive. What

do we do about this? You know, like there's Chad Holmgren potentially coming back. Actually hate sneaky have a bunch of really good wings um including lu Doer, who's one of the best defensive wings that we have in the league. Chet Holmgren and Alexei post Polkashovski represent two really interesting stretch bigs, so they can consistently play five out basketball in a way that a lot of teams can't functionally play.

You know there, Uh, it's like specifically with s G A two what you said, that's so interesting we have we have a lot of guards who are excellent downhill and then we have a lot of guards that are excellent pull up jump shooters. What we don't have is like a guard who's both you know, the Bradley Beal's and the Devin Bookers and the Jamal Murray's of the world.

They'll get in the lane and they'll make one or two shots a game, right Like I could beat you to the basket if you're if if things shake up a certain way. Shay is like finishing at the rim more frequently than John Morant while taking in taking eleven something pull up shots of game and making like for pcent of them. Like that is the thing that is kind of unheard of here is he's got the all the pull up jump shooting with all of the downhill stuff,

and that's what makes him so and so exciting. But my guess is that whatever approach the Thunder had, which was to absorb as many picks as possible, you know, develop these young wings and give s g A plenty of time to to develop his skill set well at the same time not wearing him out physically because they're resting him all the time and all this kind of stuff. They were doing that now they've got to change their approach. Chats coming back now, they'll probably target more veteran players

to surround s g A and them. You know, they might look to that. I know they signed door to

an extension. They might try to piece a couple of these guys together and target a star wing out there for a couple of picks and and and try to go at it with you know, Chet and some kind of star wing and s g A. But I'm not gonna be critical of okay SE's front office necessarily unless we're looking at them this time next year and SJA is putting up massive numbers on a garbage team again, I think that's when we could start having that conversation.

But I mean, what were they gonna do, go go all in on s g A last year when he wasn't this good, you know, like and he was good last year, But this is different. What we're seeing right now is a whole other level. It's completely different. And you talk about blending the skill set of the pull up,

jump shooting and the finishing. Just one stat that I think is remarkable on that the short mid range pull up game, especially in terms of people who are leading league in field goals made from ten to fourteen feet sa second. He's only in a tier with Katie right now. Last year he was not even in the top twenty five. He's over two and a half times as many makes on fifty eight percent shooting from that range. So I

agree with you, he has completely taken a leap. He has still been for three years now though young of course, but head and shoulders above everybody else in Okay. See, so it is a strange dynamic, But I agree with you, this is a different tier. Like now you're looking at

young star to superstar. That adjust your outlook. I'm sure we have a guy who's also in that young star category though already, I think, and that's Paolo Bankaro, who is dealing with an injury right now, so he's missed a few games, but has been one of the most prolific rookies that we have seen in a long time. Jason, he was your favorite guy in this draft ended up going number one. Have you been surprised by his immediate

success in the league. Absolutely, I mean I knew he could score, but it's more just the sheer, the sheer efficiency of his scoring that is so unusual for a rookie. Um He's he's averaging one point one one points per is so including passes, which is seventy percentile in the league. He's averaging this is insane, Carson one point for one points per post up including passes, which is in the

percentile in the league. I went back this morning and I watched every single Pala Bunk arrow is so a post up from this season, and like Okay, starting with the ISO, everything's built out of this high hesitation in his left hand. He actually prefers to drive left because he likes to drop his right shoulder. But what's wild is there's clips in this in this set where he's going in. Some of the best perimeter defenders in the league who just can't handle him when he drops that

right shoulder. You know, there's not really a player like him in the league right now. We have guys who are bowling balls but that are kind of unpolished, so I kind of think like Julius randall right. And then we've got like you know, Janice, which is just an alien and an entirely doesn't even really compare to anybody else in the league. And then we have a lot of really skinny wings and forwards that have some good footwork and pull up jump shooting ability and a good handle.

He's really the only I of his archetype in the league who's like giant, like just a grown man on the basketball court as a rookie who's got the handle to keep guys off balance and and kind of he's always just kind of dribbling and waiting for you to lean one way, and then as soon as you lean one way, he's just punching that gap with physicality, dropping

his shoulder and getting to the rim. And then when you're sending extra defenders, he's making the easy reads that are there in the post, he's going, like what's really interesting about him in the post is He's doing it in every single conceivable way. He's balanced on which side of the floor he's attacking from. He's going over his left shoulder just about the same amount as he's going

over his right shoulder. He'll turn and face and he does like kind of this violent ripped through where he brings his elbows up high and and dribbles on the right side of his body and then drops his left shoulder and then tries to go physically to the basket. He's got so much versatility there that he's unpredictable. And you know what's wild about it, Carson is like he's a rookie, doesn't know doesn't really kind of field the game yet doesn't really necessarily see the floor super well.

Yet over time, he's just gonna get better and better and better and better at this stuff. And just wait until the jumper is really polished. He's gonna put on a number another like five pounds of lean muscle, like he'll probably be right around the same weight but be more lean, and like this kid is gonna be so damn good scoring the basketball. Obviously, there's all these other different things we got to look at, like how he develops as a pastor over the years, how competitive he

is as a defensive player. What does he like just in terms of his demeanor on a night and night out basis, in terms of bringing good effort and energy. There's always that kind of stuff that could be the things that derail him or prevent him from being, you know, instead of a top ten player, he ends up being a top thirty player. Like, those are all the little forks in the road for him. But he is massively except exceeding any potential expectations as a scorer in this league.

In fact, he's already one of the best io and post guys that we have. He has a remarkable skill set and in terms of just his product and historically he's scoring the most points per game by any rookie since David Robinson in and by the way, he was twenty four, he was kind of cheating in the rookie categories so and still an all time great player. So

I was really high on him. I think that you look at just the prospects we're getting overall, these are super evolved freaks who like didn't used to exist before. I thought he could score close to twenty This is twenty three and a half on league average efficiency as a rookie is so impressive. When he is the complete focal point of the Magic offense, it is remarkable and like he's been better in probably just about every way than we could have expected, but still was a prospect.

This guy was a six ten two fifty crazy powerful athlete with a pretty darn good handle, who could look like a wing in spots with the pull up jump shooting, who could attack out of the post, who could roll, who could push in transition, and he's even, you know, overachieved those expectations. I think the post game has been one of the most impressive things. I don't remember him

demonstrating that kind of variety in college. It's been really impressive, and I think with the playmaking, you want to see it be more consistent. But his best moments as a passer, he does some pretty advanced stuff. Sometimes he makes some pretty remarkable fines in the corners, the ability to sort of adapt mid air and still get the ball out with velocity and accuracy. So I agree he has to develop there, but I think he really will because the

moments that you see are so tantalizing, so impressive. The guy's a freak. I was a believer in Chet over him. I thought they were both great prospects. And Chet's gonna have to do a lot to validate that opinion right now, because I'd be pretty confident that Paulo is going to be an all NBA guy. Yeah. I've seen him get Andrew Wiggins off the dribble and just dog walk him

to the basket. I've seen him in the fourth quarter of a close game just bully Jason take him to the rim with the spin, move a basket like he The physical tools that he possesses are legitimate problems for people, and not only that it translates to the postseason specifically, because we know that the bullyball stuff always translates better in the postseason. Then pull up jump shooting and things along those lines, because everyone loses their legs and the

shot accuracy and stuff goes down. Um, he's got good passing chemistry already with Wendell Carter Jr. Where like he'll kind of work into the lane as he's posting up and then wen Dell will just kind of cut behind the basket and he'll just elevate like he's going up for a shot, and then just dumping down for an

easy lay up underneath the rim. He's good man. I got to see him up close and personal when I was in Vegas this year, and I remember sitting there thinking like, Okay, Jade and Ivy was the most impressive player in the sense that, like I came away from that thing being like, wow, I can't believe how good

he is. I didn't expect that. And we can talk about Jade and Ivy some other day, but like, but yeah, like even in spite of that, the hollow thing just was just hitting everybody in the face in that arena because he's huge, just bigger than everybody. It's like he's he's he's kind of an archetype of player that we haven't seen in a long time. He is an invitable mismatch. Go ahead. Yeah, I was just saying, you're completely right. We don't see people like him. No matter who you

try to guard him with, he's a mismatch. He will overpower your wings, he will get by your fours and bigs. He's just a monster, Yes, he is, and I'm very much looking forward to watching him. This was fun, Carson. We gotta do this more often, and we gotta get into some more of these young guys. Alright, guys, that is all we have for today. As always, we sincerely appreciate your support. We are off for the weekend and then we're going Monday Tuesday next week before we take

some time off for Thanksgiving. As always, I appreciate your support and we will see you on Monday. The Volume