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Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive award. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources to dkang dot co slash b Ball. All right, welcome to hoop Tonight. Here as the volume heavy Monday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great start to your week. Got a jam pack show for you today. We're gonna do what we usually
do on Mondays. I have five big questions from the weekend of hoops and then at the tail end of the show our weekly power rankings as we go through the top ten teams in the league. You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LTC.
You guysn't mis show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight, Don't forget it's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for the Hoops Tonight channel where we're releasing content throughout the year.
Make sure you guys follow us there, and the last not least, keep dropping mailback questions and the YouTube comments so that we can get to them on our Friday shows throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So first question, Jason, what would you need to see from the Cleveland Cavaliers to take them
seriously as contenders? So we're in this weird spot with the Calves where they had the best record in the league and their record is not just exceptional, it's above a seventy win pace. So like some really special stuff there, right, there's some context. Obviously, the Calves have played literally the easiest schedule in the NBA to this point in the season. Their opponents have only won I think like forty six
and a half percent of their games. But even if you want to find that somehow, they're still kicking ass
and performing really well against great teams. Started their West Coast road trip with a dominant win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, a game where it's kind of back and forth for the first quarter and a half and then they just exploded in the second quarter the same way they usually do, just really really good defense getting out in transition, that team is legitimately one of the funnest basketball teams I've
ever watched. In transition, they remind me of the early Warriors, the way they weaponize that chaos to generate high quality threes. They're shooting the ball extremely well as a team, they're defending at a super high level. They're playing a very smart brand of basketball. It's awesome. It's beautiful what we're seeing right So, first and foremost, I do take them seriously as championship contenders. The question is how seriously. And before we get into that, we got to talk a
little bit about NBA history. Since Kevin Durant left the Warriors, in those five seasons, been ten teams that finished with a top two net rating in the league. So the team that outscored their opponents by the most points per one hundred possession is the top two, right They're with
those five seasons, two from each season. Boston in twenty twenty two and in twenty twenty four is the only team out of those ten teams that actually won their conference that won three playoff rounds, let alone four, And obviously the twenty twenty four Celtics are the only team that won the title. Point being, we've had eight teams in the last five years who kicked dass all regular
season long and then didn't win three playoff rounds. So okay, the question becomes, if it's not just about net rating, what do you look for in those types of teams in terms of ranking them as contenders? Well, first and foremost, I do think it's important to acknowledge that dominating the
regular season is an important indicator for championship contention. Yeah, there are a lot of teams who dominated the regular season and still lost, But the fact of the matter is the team that wins is almost always a high
net rating team. In fact, you have to go all the way back to the twenty eleven Dallas Mavericks to find a team that won the title without at least a top six net rating, and we all view that MAVs team from twenty eleven is kind of like a massive upset, right, we view that as like a choke job, if anything on the part of the Miami Heat. So then the next question becomes, well, we're not just a trans We're not just a great team. We're a transcendently
great team. We're not just a great net rating team. They're outscoring opponents by like eleven points per one hundred possessions. They're a historically dominant team. Statistically, well, the Cavs have an opponent win percentage of forty six point six percent. That's dead last in the NBA. So yeah, they're still dominant. But there's no doubt that the easy schedule has helped
them pad their record a little bit. For example, the Phoenix Suns, who are currently sitting at eleventh in the Western Conference, have the same number of wins against five hundred or better teams as the Cleveland Cavil. So, like, I look at them as definitely a very very good regular season team, but like it's difficult to say just how good. Yet they're in the middle of this really
tough road trip. They have the ninth toughest remaining schedule, So the Chips are gonna fall where they may where they may over the course of the eighty two What I look at when I start evaluating beyond that first part. That first part is, in order to win the title, you gotta be a good, a very good regular season team. We just don't have an example in recent NBA history of a team who coasted and chilled and then won the title. It doesn't happen. You have to dominate the
regular season. So step one for the Cavs. Check what's step two for me? In terms of evaluating a team as a playoff Right, I look at what are your weaknesses? The playoffs are about vetting weaknesses. When you have to play four rounds against elite teams, inevitably one of them is going to have the means with which to attack
your weaknesses. Let's say Boston for example. So they had eight rotation players last year, an eight man rotation where every single player was a good shooter, a good passer like a guy who's good at making reads, a good ball handler, and a good defender, all eight of them, some in different ways than others right, Like, maybe Peyton Pritchard could be shot over the top a little bit, maybe Chrisops Porzingis could be exploited a little bit in space,
but as the totality of the lineup, because they were able to put Chrisops on guys who couldn't shoot above the break three so that he can run a drop coverage. Because Peyton Pritchard was primarily working against bench groups and smaller doses, it just didn't matter. The point is is they didn't really have a weakness. They didn't have a weak point you could attack in their defense. They had so much offensive firepower that they could withstand bad games
from their stars. They were a good rebounding team, they were a good transition defense. They didn't turn the ball over. So like, why did the Celtics win the title? One because they attacked the regular season to a stab, the associated the necessary habits and details, right, But two because they were very well built basketball team for the playoff setting. We have to look at the calves through that type
of lens. So like, for instance, why did a dominant regular season team like the twenty twenty two Phoenix Suns get upset in the second rom Actually this to me in recent NBA history, is the best corollary for this Cleveland Cavaliers team. Like everyone thinks Donovan Mitchell is a star player, I agree, so is Devin Booker. But Devin Booker is not the kind of guy that you'd view on the same level as the top top guys in the league. Same goes for Donovan Mitchell. Darius Garland a very,
very very good guard alongside Donovan Mitchell. Same could be said about Chris Paul with that Phoenix Suns group, having a guy like Michal Bridges, having a guy like deandreton that was a very talented roster. Cam Johnson too, right as a very talented roster. But what happened They ran into a Luka Doncic led MAVs team and they couldn't guard Luca and CP three and Devin Booker weren't able to meet with star power to meet the level that
Luca was at and they got upset. So again, like it's it didn't really matter necessarily that they were dominant in the regular season because they had specific weaknesses. Their perimeter defenders couldn't make Luca uncomfortable, their stars couldn't produce consistently enough to match the level that the Stars for Dallas were producing it. As we look at the Calves in particular, there are three main things that I'm concerned about for them in a playoff context. One is shooting.
Not that they can't shoot, but are they gonna shoot this? Well? They're shooting two percent better from three than anyone else in the league. They're shooting damn near forty five percent on transition threes. I was watching that Nuggets game that onslaught in that second quarter. It's like packing the paint, getting stops running down int transition. It's another three for Darius Garland, another sea for three for Sam Merrill, another
three for Sam Meryl. They're just going in and they're going in, and they're going in, and they're all going in. Forty five percent on running threes, like running up the floor in transition, that's a sky high number. So I do have a little bit of a concern in the sense that, like what happens if they get into a tough playoff series where the shots don't fall at the same level that they've been shooting. Two is regular season margins. Kenny Atkinson has brought into the Cavs an incredibly smart
approach to the regular season. They are incredibly locked in on the details. They're dominating on the margins. They're forcing turnovers, they're getting out in transition. They're sharing the ball more and splitting the load offensively so that you're not becoming heliocentric and predictable in the half court. They've been the best half court offense in the league this year. They are playing a very, very smart regular season brand of basketball.
But because such a huge part of their success is forcing turnovers and getting out in transition, what happens if you do run into a team that has elite ball handling, that takes good care of the basketball, that manages to strangle the pace, And then what if you also have some shooting some shooting woes in a situation like that, then it turns into more of a rock fight, an ugly half court basketball game. From there, that brings me
to my third concern, which is entry points. I still see an opportunity for a good team to get the calves into rotation through attacking some of their lesser defenders like Darius Garland and George's Niean and so on and so forth. So like again, if I'm talking about winning the title, it's not about beating Indiana in the first round. Cleveland's gonna beat whoever it is they face in the first round in all likelihood. But what if you do face Milwaukee in the second round. What if you do
play face Boston in the conference finals? What if you do have Oklahoma City waiting for you or Dallas waiting for you in the championship round. You have to go through those teams back to back to back, and some of those teams have the ability to attack your specific weaknesses. If I had to do it right now, if I had to rank, I would still keep Boston number one. Okay, see in Dallas first. I would have Cleveland kind of like with New York in that like four or five
kind of competition at this point. But I'm not saying they can't do it. I'm just saying we're less than halfway through the season. You have played the easiest schedule in the league. I would like to see more before I finally decide where to place this team in the contender's list. When we get closer to the the end of the year and the schedule is getting tougher, we are going to learn more. They're about to play Golden State tonight, turn around to play the Lakers. Tomorrow, they
have to play Dallas. I'llbe it without Luka Dancic. They're gonna come home and they're gonna have to play Oklahoma City next week. We're gonna get more opportunity to learn from this team and see them against some of these matchups and have a little bit better read of what their weaknesses are so that we can make that sort
of judgment call when we get there. All I'm saying is, you can't take high net rating and really good regular season record to the bank for a championship, asked the twenty twenty one Utah Jazz, asked the twenty twenty two Phoenix Suns. There are tons of examples in NBA history of that sort of thing not working. It's just something to keep an eye on as we progress through this season. Again, I am intrigued by Cleveland. I want to see where I like. I could see them being above Oklahoma City
and Dallas. I could see that by the end of the season. I view Cleveland as the second best championship favorite behind Boston. I'm just not there yet, and I want to see more Number two. Jason, what do you make of Jonathan Kminga's dominant performance performance against the Phoenix Suns the other night? So this was inevitable and this is something that happens that a lot of times when you're having discussions around a young basketball player. Jonathan Cominga
was great against the Phoenix Suns. He was left on an island a lot against Mason Plumley and was just hitting really good aggressive moves against him where he was drawing fouls and getting baskets, hit several big jump shots. We talked about the Draymond Green defense on Kevin Durant on that one of those late possessions that forced KD and that really bad miss. Johnathan Kamingo did an awesome job on KD throughout the fourth quarter, got a couple
of strips on him. It was just back pressure, chasing from behind and swiping down at the basketball. Johnny Cominga had a really damn good game. And this is what always ends up happening when we have these sorts of discussions. We always look at it through the lens of what just happened and taking a victory lap or you know the other side, taking a victory lap if the opposite thing happens. When the reality is we're talking about a
big picture issue that extends beyond what just happened. Why do I believe in trading in young talent for useful veteran talent when you're in a win now circumstance. So stop thinking about like these younger teams that are on a championship trajectory. I'm talking about like these Lakers and Warriors types of teams where it's like your star is in his late thirties and you gotta get it done like this year. Okay, there's a reason why I'm anti
relying on young players in that situation. Young players come hand in hand with volatility. I am not concerned about whether or not Jonathan Kaminga can drop thirty something points in a game, can be a dominant defensive force down the crunch time of a game, can make play after play to help his team win. I'm not debating whether or not he can't. I think Jonathan Kminga has the potential to be a star in this league. Not a superstar,
not a foundational superstar. But I think he can be a top twenty five, top twenty player in this league. Within the next five to ten years, five to seven years.
I think he can get there. But the difference between this version of Jonathan Kaminga in that version of Jonathan Minga, the twenty seven year old Jonathan Kamina is the twenty seven year old Jonathan Minga through pain and suffering of loss, through the joy and the the you know, confirmation of wins, through the practice, through the experience, through everything that will
happen between now and when he turns twenty seven. We'll figure out how to replicate what works and to cut out what doesn't work for him so that he's more consistent. The issue is whether or not Jonathan Kminga can have a game like he did against the Suns. It's a question of whether or not he will. And the truth of the matter is this season, when the Warriors have leaned more on Jonathan Minga, they have not played as well.
A couple of basic stats. When Jonathan Kminga takes fourteen or more shots this year, the Warriors are four and eight When Jonathan Kminga plays twenty seven minutes and thirty seven seconds or more. This year, the Warriors are four and ten when he plays fewer than twenty seven minutes and thirty six seconds. The Warriors are twelve and three.
The reason why is when you divert those minutes towards players that have a higher floor, albeit a lower ceiling, there's a more steady production within the confines of what the group is trying to do, and the Warriors are better idea guys. If I thought Jonathan Kaminga would be that guy every game, I would never ask for him to be dealt. But we've seen sometimes five six game stretches where he does it, but he's never been able to sustain that type of impact on both ends of
the floor. And the bigger issue is do you trust Jonathan Kaminga to knock down big jump shots in high leverage situations in the postseason? I don't do. I trust Jonathan Kaminga to be a functional off ball defender. Like we know Jonathan Minga can be good on the ball, defensively, he's a very bad off ball defender. Literally, just two games ago cost them a game. Not paying attention in off ball defense, like one mistake in a big spot cost the Warriors a game, And that's okay. Young basketball
players make mistakes. I expect an athletic forward in his young in his early twenties to get lost off the ball. Sometimes I expect forward in his early twenties to be hot and cold as a jump shooter. I expect those sorts of things. That's what we've always gotten from young basketball players in this league. And so then the question
becomes about the reality of the situation. Will Jonathan Kaminga become the consistent two way winning force before Steph Curry loses the ability to bring the top end talent necessary for this team to win. I don't think so. After Steph Curry is gone, is Jonathan Kaminga good enough to be the foundational star to lead you to success in this stacked Western Conference. I tweeted this out the other day. I had a mail back question where someone was kind
of upset about it. But the stats for the offense when kamina is on the floor and Steph is off are insane. Pulling it up right now. With Steph Curry on the floor this year and Jonathan Kaminga off, the Warriors have a one to twenty one offensive rating that's in the ninetieth percentile. When Jonathan Kaminga is on the floor and Steph is off. The Warriors have a one h three point five offensive rating that's in the sixth percentile.
Jonathan kming is not good enough to be the kind of guy that anchors you as a Western Conference team, of of me like a respectable Western Conference team in the future. He's not that guy. So if he's not good enough to help Steph now, and he's not good enough to really lead to success in the future, and you don't have something else in the hopper that it's not like Pods can become the kind of guy that'll slot Kaminga Properly, you don't have that guy. Frankly, you
don't have that guy. You do not have a guy in house that is good enough to lead the next era of Warriors basketball. You do not have it. So the only way you're gonna get that is by tanking and taking on as much draft compensation as possible for bad money and being bad for a few years while you try to get yourself an opportunity to bring in
a great player. And so the way I look at it, if Johnathan Kaminga is on the roster post deadline, then you're just hurting both eras you're hurting this era, and you're hurting that era now. I had a lot of people talking about, like, well, who are they gonna go after. I don't want to lose John Andan kaminga for Cam Johnson or for a role player or Nikolavusovich. I get that. For the record, I said this from the beginning of the season, and I still feel this way. There's no rush.
Don't make a deal now. Don't make a deal now unless it's exactly what you want. I've heard that the Warriors are waiting potentially to see if they can get a big name like a Kevin Durant or a Lebron James or Jimmy Butler. I don't think you're getting those guys personally, but I'm okay with waiting for it. The problem is is if February comes and goes and you don't get KD, Jimmy or Lebron, but you also don't get something else to help this team on offense. Now
you're hurting both eras. I know the bottom feels like it's falling out, but like, here's the thing. You're not the twelve and three team that started the season, but you're not the three to twelve team that brought you back to five hundred After that, either things will stabilize. A lot of guys are playing poorly. Buddy Heel's playing poorly, Andrew Wiggins is playing porter the Dennis Schroeder's playing poorly.
Although Denis Schroder by the way a couple huge plays at the end of that Sun's game, that driving layup that he had and then that huge three that he hit that gave you guys a lead, A couple of big buckets there from Dennis Schroeder. But like Dennis will play better, Buddy will play better, Andrew Wiggins will play better. Steph will play better. Andrew Wiggins or Steph and Raimond are both a little banged up right now. They will
be better. You'll stay afloat. Yeah, you might not be above like the seven or eight seed when you get to early February, but maybe you will be. And at that point you can make that call. I'm just saying that you owe it to Steph Curry to turn Jonathan Kaminga and whatever salary filler necessary into a more dependable veteran player that gives them a better chance to win
this year. Yeah, that player is not going to have the high ceiling that Jonathan Kaminga does, but his floor is going to be significantly higher, which is going to give you a better chance to win in the short term. Again, the numbers are there, guys. When the Warriors lean a lot on Jonathan Minga as a, as a shooter and in a large minute's role, they're not winning. That's just what the numbers are saying. Number three, Jason can Kwhi Leonard bring the Los Angeles Clippers to the level necessary
to contend for an NBA championship. So they've won four of their last five games to beat, albeit with some injury luck. No Luca when they beat Dallas, no job when they beat Memphis, no step when they beat Golden State. But they've won four of their last five. They're eighteen and thirteen. James Harden and Norman Powell are averaging fifty three points per game over the course of this five
game span. And now we have reports that Kawhi Leonard is close to returning, and so all these people are asking, what can this team accomplish now that Kawhi Leonard is coming back into the fold. And the answer to me is very simple. If he comes back and he plays like Kawhi Leonard, and he can stay healthy for the entirety of a playoff run, then they absolutely can win
the title, no question. I believe in this roster. Zubach is a legitimately very good center who is very nice to have for some specific matchups in the Western Conference, guys like Anthony Davis and Nicol Jokisch. James Harden is a secondary shot creator. Norman Powell is a tertiary shot creator. Kawhi Leonard, if you get Robot Kawhi, if you get fifty five forty five ninety Kawhi, then you're absolutely a
championship contender. With the perimeter defense and athleticism and hard working talent on the perimeter that they have, they are a rock solid team that is built to thrive in the modern NBA. I mean, I talked about the Clippers without Kawhi staying afloat in the standings before the season simply because I believe in this type of roster build. Give me a floor raiser and James Harden, give me a pick and roll partner that can anchor a defense. And if you Kazubas and give me a bunch of
dudes who fucking guard on the perimeter. We're gonna win a lot of basketball games. That's what the Clippers have been doing. Plug Kawhi entered into that, into that situation up the offensive ceiling, you absolutely can go on a run and win for playoff rounds. Obviously. The only question is will he be able to stay healthy? And you guys know how that goes, and we would all be stupid to count on it, But we'd also be stupid to pretend it can't happen either. He's thirty three years old. Now,
that's thirty three with a bunch of knee injuries. But if he can put together six months here, guys, six months, that's all. If he can stay healthy for six months, they absolutely have a shot. I think we'd be foolish to count them out. Two more, Jason, you mentioned during your player rankings that Victor wimen Yama had potential to jump from your current ranking into the top ten players by the middle of the season. I know he had a slow start, but in December it seemed like he
had really taken that second year elite. Would you say that based on what you've seen recently, that he's jumped into that top ten and possibly top five players in the World. Thanks for the content. As a diehard Spurs fan, I can't stand that you've rooted so hard for the Lakers, but I appreciate your perspective on the sport and coverage in the NBA. I look forward to your reaction videos after big games. Thank you so much for the kind words.
And as I always tell you, guys, like as soon as Lebron retires, he's my only real emotional fanhood attachment and when that goes, then I won't have any attachment to any team or player in the league. But in the meantime, I appreciate you. Know, it's so funny. I had somebody in a male back question the other day go like, wasn't even a mail back question, it was just like a comment. They were like, they're like, aren't you an analyst? You're not supposed to be a fan
and you're an analyst. And I've always thought that's so funny to me because like, first of all, I don't necessarily view myself as an analyst. I think it's just a show. This is just the show, and the show is what the show is. The show is the way that I like to talk about basketball. And then secondly, like I'm a basketball fan, so I am a fan. Why would I sit here and pretend like I'm not a fan. I just am a fan that happens to
have a show where I talk about basketball. I've always thought that's interesting, Like why don't I talk about the Lakers. I watch all the Laker games because I'm a big Lakers fan, so like, obviously I want to talk about it, like it's not really hard to figure out, you know what I mean? And then what I do is I just put in the extra work to be able to cover the rest of the league, and obviously I take pride in that work, but like I also am just I've never it's weird. I've never felt like a need
or a responsibility to not be a fan. I think I have the responsibility to tell you guys, I'm a fan, and to sit here and bullshit you to the face and say that I'm not a fan when I obviously am. But I think that that's just I've always been a believer in like just be authentic and just kind of let the chips fall where they may. That's how I've you know, kind of run the show over the years, and I don't intend on changing that anytime soon anyway, to your question, So I don't think he's top five.
I think jokichianis, SGA, Luca, and Jason Tatum are all clearly the top five. Obviously, Luke has been hurt this year, but when Luca's healthy, we all know that he's in that group. He's definitely in that next tier of guys for me, and you know, it's one of those things where when I have him right there at six, probably not. The reason why is like, there are guys that are not going to have the high ceiling that a Victor women Yama has. Guys like Anthony Davis, Guys like Kevin Durant.
There's a bunch of guys kind of in that that group. But there's a bunch of them. I'm leaving a bunch of names out. The reason why I would have Wenby's still behind those guys is there is a difference between like, I'm a hyper talented wrecking that is just completely filling up the box score and I'm an incredibly experienced, good basketball player that knows exactly what to do on every
single possession to maximize my chances to win. That's the biggest difference between now and where Wemby will be well, Wemby improve as a shooter, yeah, will we improve as a ball handler? Yeah? Will he improve his muscle masses, defensive instincts and all these different things. Sure, he's gonna get better at all that stuff. But the main thing that's gonna drive Victor wembin Yama's success into the future is going to be him understanding how to manage basketball games.
What that means is like, hey, like, maybe this is not the time to take this jump shot. Maybe this is not the time to go to one of my higher variants sequences. Maybe this is the time to go to one of my lower variance sequences, like something closer to the basket. He's got a whole repertoire of stuff around the basket that he's not even close to unlocking yet.
He had to play against ant in the post in clutch time yesterday against the Timberwolves, where he just stepped over his right shoulder and was at the rim and just dunked on everybody. Wait till he realizes that if he catches at five feet he can just turn over his left shoulder and shoot a hook shot, Like and if he can get that hook shot, up to sixty
five seventy percent. He can have a lack of variance play that he can go to or my jump SHOT's going, I'm leaning on the jump shot, right, Like, those are the kinds of things that separate, and so like it's like, oh, Jason, he's averaging thirty ten and five and four blocks a game, Like, how could you possibly say that he's not better than you know, Jason Tatum or something like that. And again, that's the thing is there's two steps to it. It's
no different than Yannis. Right, Like Yiannis early on it was like this dude's getting thirty and twelve or twenty eight and twelve every day inn game. This is insane, Like this is a this is one of the best basketball players in the world. And it's like, yeah, but the Yiannis from twenty nineteen had no idea how to manage basketball games. Compared to the Yannis of twenty twenty four, The Honess of twenty twenty four has just so much
more command of each possession. That's the big difference. And so like, again, to me, Wenby's in that six to ten right now, he's playing at that level. But in order to get to that top five range. There's a certain level of just like basketball surgery, he's gonna have to get better at and that will come in time and with experience. Last one, I just wanted to give a couple of follow up thoughts on the Lakers trade yesterday,
the trade for Dori Infinity Smith. I spent a good amount of time last night messing around on the trade machine because now that I wanted to come away from my efforts. Last night, my wife had a friend, a friend of hers that was in town, of childhood friend of hers that was in town, and they ended up
hanging out last night. So I had a Sunday night to work and I literally just watched a bunch of basketball and spent like an hour and a half on the trade machine messing around with a bunch of different Lakers stuff. And what I kept coming around to was a simple conundrum, and it's a conundrum that I know a lot of Lakers fans disagree with me about, which is what do you do next? And is Max Christie good enough to be the two guard? Okay, so first
of all, start focusing on Max Christie. It's the exact same thing I was talking about earlier with Jonathan KAMINGA, I'm not worried about Max Christie's ceiling. I had people in my comments on Twitter going like, Max Christy's playing so well right now. You're right. What happens with young talented players. Sometimes they play well, sometimes they don't. He's in a phase right now where he's playing well. You guys saw from earlier in the season what it looks
like when he doesn't. And like, here's the thing, Max Christy against the Cavs on Tuesday Night. He might play really well, but I can't really like count on him in a game like that, Like he might also struggle because he's young and he's gonna be playing against a really, really good team. Ideally, I want Max Christy as the bench guy in that role, the guy who comes in and guards the best player on the floor with the
bench group. Ideally, that's what I want. Then there's this second issue, which is where does Ruey Hotchimura fit into all of this? Dorian Finney Smith to me, he's got a similar kind of build to Ruy, but he's got much better instincts and foot speed on the perimeter as a defender, meaning defensively, he's better at playing the role of the three than a guy like Ruey Hachimura is now. Ideally, I'd love to have Ruy too. There's small ball potential.
You can imagine a lineup that has Ruiy, Lebron and Dorian Finney Smith all on the floor at the same time, the ability to switch. There's a lot of upside there. But the truth of the matter is Ruy's playing thirty four minutes a game guys and Dorrian Phiney Smith more or less plays his position, so it might substantially cut
into Rui's minutes. And if it does, what's a better use of Ruey's salary as a bench forward or call it a starting forward with Dorian coming off the bench, but with those guys splitting minutes or using his salary as a means with which to upgrade the one week spot in your starting lineup, which is the two guard spot. And that's what I see it as. I want to turn Ruey into a guy at the two that is a veteran professional defender with experience, And that's why I
keep coming around to Bruce Brown. A deal with Toronto centered around Ruey and Bruce Brown, they'd have to include
a couple of minimum contracts. There would have to be potentially a third team to take on one of the spots for the roster spots for Toronto, Like there are complications there, but a deal centered around Ruey for Bruce Brown turns Ruey, which would then become basically like a kind of like a specialist for certain types of situations like oh, with this lineup, we want him next to Lebron and Ad, or oh with this lineup there with this matchup, we want Dorian Finney Smith next to Lebron
and AD, and we want Ruey coming off the bench or anchoring small ball groups. I think that would be better served as like what if we just had like a rock solid starting two guard, Like he's the guy who plays thirty minutes a night now and he's always on the floor with Lebron and Ad and with Dorian Phinney Smith and they can share the floor together. And now I have Austin Bruce, Dorian Lebron, Ad. Every guy in that lineup is a good defender. Austin's the weakest
defender in that lineup, and he's a good defender. Bruce is a legitimate guy who can guard opposing starting guards. Dorian Finney Smith can guard the second best perimeter player, Austin can guard the third best perimeter player, Lebron and Ad on the back line, they'd be elite defensively. Dorian Finney Smith is a knockdown, catch and shoot guy. Bruce Brown is not the best shooter in the world, but he is a very good connective off ball player. He's
Liken Alex Caruso. He's a guy who screens really well, cuts really well, offensive rebounds really well. Bruce is really good with transition rim pressure, meaning like he'll get the ball and just attack the rim and transition, kind of like what Josh Hart does for the New York Knicks. I think that line up is really damn good. So that's the direction I think they should go. Now that opens up a second hole. Okay, Jason, you're losing d Lo and you're losing Ruie and you're replacing him with
Dorian Finney Smith and Bruce Brown. Where's the offense? And I tend to agree with that, and that's why I would make two separate deals. I put together this deal yesterday, and again, this is obligatory. This is all Fantasyland trades are very difficult to make. There are a million things that have to line up, including the interests of the Lakers' front office to spend first round picks on role players. But all things considered, these are the two deals that
I would make. So with the Raptors, it would be Ruy Jalen Huchafino, and Jackson Hayes, because I don't think you would need Jackson Hayes if you got a backup center, which is going to be what the second deal is. Obviously, that's the situation where you would potentially have to do something to clear up roster spots for Toronto, but you find a way to figure that out. The second deal
would be you call up Utah. And one of the advantages for the Lakers is they already have a first round pick that Utah owns that is protected, so if they needed to negotiate, they could even further sweeten the pot by just removing protections on a deal like that. But I would trade Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt for Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. So in that case, now, all of a sudden, I have plenty of ball handling. I've replaced the del Rui offense issue by bringing in
Colin Sexton, a guy that can help run offense for US. Right, I've got Colin, I've got Austin, I've got Shake Milton. Those are like my three ball handling guards. But then I've got a slew of perimeter defenders, Max, Christy King, Garden shoot Right, Dorianfinny Smith, kN Garden shoot, Bruce Brown, Can Garden be a functional offensive player? Cam Reddish probably outside of the rotation at that point, but that King guard. But then I also have Dalton connect as a guy
that can help on the offensive end. But at the same time, I have the ability to have really good, strong bench groups led by a good center and Walker Kessler who also can fill in on the nights when Anthony Davis can't play. I can have a group centered around Walker Kessler and Lebron at the four five. I can have a group centered around Ad and Dorian Finney Smith at the four or five. When Lebron's off the floor, I can bring in Christian Wood when I need extra
forward depth. There's just a lot of different flexibility there with a lot of good basketball players, plenty of offense. And then just think about this, Austin, Colin, Max, Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Cam Reddish. Those are all good defenders and a bunch of guys with like Bruce, and we talked about like resetting the Lakers culture so that they just naturally play harder. Well, having a guy like Bruce, having a guy like Dorian, having Austin,
having all those guys that naturally play hard. That does support your natural motor throughout the season, as Lebron and ad can eb and flow with their energy. So again, that's just like, that's like my if I had to give you guys my dream scenario, those would be the two deals, and it would probably be like a lightly protected first to Toronto and and then like a lightly protected first and maybe removing the protections on the other
pick for Utah. Yeah, you've given up everything. You're all in now, but you're all in with a team that has a lot of really good basketball players around Lebron, James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reeves. Then if it doesn't work out, you blow it up and you trade Anthony Davis, and you trade Austin Reeves, and you load up on first round draft picks and you go about the process of
trying to rebuild from there. But that is the direction that I would look to go, and at a minimum, I think the move here is trying to turn Ruie into a guy that you think is a starting caliber, experienced player at the two, that you trust in a playoff set. All right, guys, let's work through our power rankings and then we'll be out of here for the day. All odds again are provided by our partner Draft Kings.
So number ten the Minnesota Timberwolves. The caped off a three to one week with a win last night at home against the Spurs. Another really strong defensive performance. Victor hit several tough shots in that game, but I thought Julius Randall really made him work hard. He took thirty shots to get to his thirty four points. I thought he did a really nice job defensively there. Go Bart made several huge plays down the stretch. Manhandled Victor wemen
Yama on an offensive rebound put back. He set a monster off ball screen that got Dante DiVincenzo open on the left wing for three. He drew a foul on the offensive glass and made both free throws. His typical excellent defense switching onto guards in ball screens got a big contest as Wenby was coming into a movement three. I just thought he was really good and Ant had a bad game where he couldn't really make a shot to save his life, and they got to win. Anyway,
A big one for the Wolves. They're nine and four in their last thirteen games, and all nine of their wins were against winning teams. They beat the Clippers twice, the Lakers twice, the Warriors, the Spurs twice, the MAVs, and the Rockets. They've had a good stretch of health. All of their top eight rotation players have played in every single game in this stretch. In this span, they're twenty third in offense. Thing is still a chore on
that end of the floor. Spacing is terrible. They go through extended stretches every game where the offense just grinds to a halt. A lot of really interesting stuff coming out of the lineup dead data, like the bench groups are just consistently playing better, like staggered bench starter groups that have more shooting are consistently playing better than the starters.
When you make basketball easier for your players, like when you make things function on offense by providing them space, they start to believe in what they're doing more, which gets them to defend better. That's the dead giveaway. The starting lineup has their best defensive talent. In three hundred and seventy nine minutes, they have a one to eleven
defensive rating. That's not very good. I mean it's it's very good, but it's not as good as Minnesota is capable of, right, and it's because they don't believe in what they're doing on offense. When you're getting buckets, you feel good about yourself. You believe more in what you're trying to do on both ends of the floor. You do a better job on defense. The best example of
this is their bench group. They have this bench group with Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall flanked by Dante DiVincenzo Nikhil, Alexander Walker and nas Reed, all three good three point shooters. They have a one to twenty two offensive rating a one hundred defensive rating, ten points better than the starting group in over one hundred minutes this year. That's not a small sample. Plus twenty two points per one hundred possessions. That is proof of concept of this kind of this
idea that I've been talking about forever. Two concepts, right. One, do we need rim protection if we can defend on the perimeter. No. If you defend on the perimeter well, in that group, Aunt, Julius Dante and Nikhil Alexander Walker, they all can guard. You guard on the perimeter, you create an easier job on the back line, and you can defend well even without having rim protection on the floor.
And then, most importantly, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall are downhill players, and if you're asking downhill players to play in a crowd, you're making their life more difficult. With those groups, Julius Randall's doing a wonderful job pressuring the rim and spraying out to shooters. Life is easier for everybody, and they look better as a team. They have been defending really well in this nine zer four stretch. Their second and d are shutting down the paint. They're second
in points per game allowed in that span. They're defending the three point line well, they're seventh, and opponents three's made doing well on the margins too, like keeping opponents out of fast break situations, keeping them off the offensive glass. Really balanced scoring two ant is only averaging twenty point five points per game in the span, Julius is only averaging eighteen point two. Like again, the pace is really low. It's a chore, but they're shooting the three like. They're
shooting the three well enough to kind of make up. Specifically, Julius and ant are shooting the three well enough to try to get some shots in over the top of their poor spacing situations. Dante DiVincenzo is coming on strong. He's shooting forty two percent from three in this span. He's averaging eleven points per game. He had a monster game against the Spurs. He had twenty six points and hit five to threes. But they have an identity. They
grind games down to a halt with their defense. They play super slow, and then they rely on Julius, Raandel and Anthony Edwards' ability to get to their spots, even though they can be inefficient from time to time. I'm still super concerned about this offense in the big picture, but at the very least they've managed to float in the regular season by recapturing their defensive identity. Right now, the Timberwolves are plus three thousand to win the NBA title,
plus thirteen hundred to win the Western Conference. Number nine the Los Angeles Clippers. We talked about them in the earlier segment of the show, so I'm not going to get any further into them right now. If you want to hear more Clippers talk, just go to the full episode. But right now, the Clippers are plus four thousand to win the title, plus nineteen hundred to win the Western Conference. Number eight, the Los Angeles Lakers. We also talked about them a lot in the opening segment, so I'm not
going to get any further into them right now. But backpack wins against the Warriors and Kings. They've now won six out of eight. Austin Reeves is hooping his ass off in this stretch, twenty points, six rebounds and seven assists on sixty percent thro shooting, just two point nine turnovers per game, hit, a game winner in the Golden State game, had the insane passing clinic that he put
on against the Sacramento Kings the other night. The Lakers right now plus thirty five hundred to win the NBA title, plus seventeen hundred to win the Western Conference. Number seven the Memphis Grizzlies two and two week lost of the Clippers in thunder. They beat the Pelicans as well as the Raptors. John Morant went down with a sprain of his ac joint in the win against the Pelicans on Friday.
Really struggled to score during this massive landslide of a run that Oklahoma City put on them in the second quarter. It was like it was just one of those situations where in Oklahoma City has been doing this to everybody at this point, but like Okahoma City can really strangle the life out of you. I think they gave up only nineteen points in the second quarter during that run. Tough timing for the Grizzlies because their schedule is really
tough right now. They're at the Suns, next at the Kings, at the Warriors, home for Dallas and Houston, then at Minnesota, at Houston, at San Antonio, at San Antonio and then home for Minnesota, and as of right now, try to dig into it. There's no timetable on John Morant's return right now, so hopefully he can come back soon because that schedule is pretty tough. The Grizzlies plus twenty two hundred to win the title, plus one thousand and to
win the Western Conference number six, the Houston Rockets. We're seeing our first little bit of sustained shakiness from the Houston Rockets. After starting fifteen and six, they are six and five in their last eleven games. They've lost two in a row. Basically comes down to defensive slippage. Their offense has been bad most of the year, but they
only have a one oh nine defensive rating in this stretch. Ironically, the groups with a men Thompson in for Dylan Brooks with the starters have a defensive rating over one twenty. It's pretty weird. The main starting group also has a negative net rating. So this is with Dylan Brooks, So this is with Jalen Green, Fred Van Vliet, Dilan Brooks, Jabari Smith, and Shan Gun. That group has a negative net rating in the last eleven games. Just can't score.
They have a one toh three offensive rating with that group. There's been a recurring theme too in the last couple of games with Houston blowing leads. They blew a seven point lead with seven minutes left against Miami, and then they blew a sixteen point lead with five minutes left against Minnesota. In this eleven game stretch, they've dropped three games in clutch situations, scoring just sixty five points per
one hundred possessions on offense in those clutch situations. They've been bad all season in clutch situations on offense, but especially bad as of late. Right now, the Rockets are plus eight thousand to win the NBA title, plus twenty five hundred to win the Western Conference. Number five the Dallas Mavericks two and two weeks. They beat Portland and Phoenix. They lost to Portland and Minnesota. Really tough defensive game against Portland, like Kyrie goes Off, he had forty something,
their role players were hitting shots. They just allowed five Blazers to score at least nineteen points. Didn't get enough stops. But as I said at the time of the Luca injury, I still think this is one of the best rosters in the league, and they still have a lot of talent when Luca's out. Beating the Suns without Luca is
a great example of that. They just have a really strong floor every night because they have great rim protection, a variety of different perimeter talent that they could go to depending on the matchup, plenty of ball handling to cover when stars are out if they can just hang in that five to eight range over this next four to six weeks while Luca's out, I think they'll be fine right now. Dallas plus eleven hundred to win the title,
plus five point fifty to win the Western Conference. Number four the Boston Celtics, who are very much asleep at the wheel right now. Everything is about them just giving a shit. From what I can tell, You drop a game at home to Chicago, and then you get pissed off and go into Chicago and just absolutely dominate them.
To send a message. You drop a game to Orlando without Tatum, whatever, You lose a weird game to Philly where your game plan that you've been using against everybody, that's been working against everybody doesn't work because Caleb Martin hit seven threes. And so then you bounce back by beating the living shit out of the Indiana Pacers, again sending a clear message. But then you let the same Pacers team come in on Sunday and punch you in
the mouth. They really got bullied physically in that game. The Celtics have lost five out of nine. The defense has been bad. They have a one to seventeen defensive rating in these last five games, or in the five losses, I should say over that nine game stretch, they're not hitting shots. They're just thirty percent from three. I would caution against just call at variance because they're still shooting
really well when they're wide open. They're shooting thirty eight percent on wide open threes, which is more or less what they've shot all season. It's the moderately contested threes they're not shooting as well on. They were thirty nine percent before this stretch to thirty percent in this nine
game stretch, and that's been the big different difference. Derek White had some interesting comments after the Pacers loss about how this has been the hardest stretch that he's played on since he came over to the Celtics, and like, I'm going to go positive here. I think that adversity
is good. I think it's good to get punched in the mouth every once in a while, especially when you're so good that you're kicking everybody's butt and you start to get a little bit full of yourself, right, Humility is a good thing in that regard, and adversity, in my opinion, has always brought out the best in basketball players. So frankly like, I'm kind of excited to see Boston face some more adversity this year, not just in the
regular season. They're going to face better playoff teams this year, and I'm just curious to see how they respond. I expect a positive response. That's why I'm still picking them to win the title. But I thought Derek white'smments were interesting because that's really the thing that we're going to be keeping an eye on moving forward, how they how to handle their first real stretch of adversity in the
last couple of years. Number three is the New York Knicks four to o. Week they beat the Raptors, the Spurs, the Magic and the Wizards. The Wizards put a little bit of a scare into them on Saturday night. Just in Champagne, he hit a million threes, and Jalen Brunson just pulled them back from the brink with an offensive masterclass. He scored or assistant on every single bucket in the final six minutes of regulation. He hit bla coolabally with this nasty hesitation move to hit a floater that sent
the game to ot. Then he scored nine more points in overtime and they put the Wizards away. Brunson finished with fifty five points and nine assists on thirty one shots with only three turnovers. That's preposterously high usage to not have a single turnover. Excuse me to only have three turnovers. Jalen Brunson has done a really nice job all year of feeling out when the team needs him to do everything on offense versus when they need him
to just take a step back. They're eight and one this year when he scores twenty or fewer points, but they're also five in one when he scores thirty five or more. I thought that was a really interesting stat demonstrate that like touch from Brunson in terms of like understanding how when to like really put his imprint on the game, versus to play more as a cognist system.
Since November fifteenth, the Knicks are seventeen and four It's the second best record in the league Olkloma City sixteen and thirteen, but they're technically sixteen and fourteen because they lost an nd season tournament game. The Knicks are second in offense in that span, fourteenth in defense, third and net rating sixth and rebounding doing some more damage on the offensive glass two, looking more like last year's team,
sixty fifth and assist percentage. Remember this team last year was fifty nine percent and assist percentage, which ranked second to last in the entire league, So a lot more equal opportunity offense. The formula's coming together. They're really defending on the perimeter and using it as a weapon to get out in transition. They're sixth in points off of turnovers in the SPAN and fifth in fast break points.
They're also playing really good driving kickball, getting a lot of really good use out of their offensive talent, and then Brunson is able to provide that apex shot creation that they need when things bogged down. They're battling on the offensive glass again, capturing some of that identity from last year. The Knicks right now plus eight fifty to win the NBA title, plus three to ninety to win the conference. Number two, the Oylahoma City Thunder. They're going
through an absolutely dominant stretch of defense. They've held six of their last seven opponents to one hundred and six points or fewer for their last seven opponents to fewer than one hundred points. Their offense has still been super up and down, but they've been winning even when they don't shoot well because of the strength of their defense, and then when they shoot well, they just beat the
hell out of you. That's really the thing. When Oklahoma City makes shots, you lose by twenty five to thirty points. Since the inn season tournament lost to Milwaukee, since that tournament loss doesn't technically count in the regular season, the Thunder have won eleven in a row and fifteen out of sixteen. The offense is getting better. They're seventh in that sixteen game span, obviously the clunker against Milwaukee, notwithstanding by far the best defense in the league. Over that span,
they're four points better than the second place Clippers. Shay has been gaining ground on the MVP race and very well might be the leader right now. He's averaging thirty three points, six rebounds, and six assists on sixty five percent true shooting with just two point seven turnovers per game. He's playing some super special basketball right now. Isaiah Hartenstein's been great thirteen thirteen and four assists with a two to one assist to turnover ratio. The Thunder kicking ass
If you believe in them. Right now, they're plus three hundred to win the NBA title, plus one fifty to win the conference. And the Calves. We're not gonna go too deep into them. They're two to oh this week, beat the Jazz and beat the Nuggets. We talked about them in the top of today's show, so make sure you get over to the full episode for that. The Calves right now plus sixteen hundred to win the NBA title, plus five point fifty to win the Western Conference. All
a lod It's provided by a partner, Draft Kings. Again, guys, it's all I have for today. We're taking there's a chance. It depends on how some stuff go. I have some family in town, so it depends on how that goes. But if things break right, I might do an episode tonight after Calves Warriors. I'll let you guys know. If not, We're taking Tuesday and Wednesday off for the holiday and I'll be back Thursday. I'll see you guys 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.