Hoops Tonight - NBA Team Rankings: Are Kawhi & Paul George too injury prone for Clippers' title? - podcast episode cover

Hoops Tonight - NBA Team Rankings: Are Kawhi & Paul George too injury prone for Clippers' title?

Sep 27, 202332 min
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Episode description

Jason Timpf continues his ranking of the top 20 teams in the NBA heading into the 2023-24 season with No. 9, the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers have two hall of fame wings in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but in four postseason trips, Kawhi and Paul George have only been healthy in one of them. If Kawhi and PG can stay healthy, with the emergence of Terance Mann, and acquisition of Russell Westbrook, the Clippers are a real threat in the Western Conference. #volume

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See Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com, slash Football terms for eligibility terms and responsible gambling resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after inach issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. We are live on AMPS, so if you're watching on YouTube, we're listening on our podcast feeds. Don't forget the AMP is the very first place that you

guys can get these shows. We are covering the Los Angeles Clippers today with the full seas in preview. They come in at number nine in our Power rankings. I also have three mail bag questions for the end of the show as well. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, Follow me

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last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball so quick. Little offseason recap for the Clippers. They lost Eric Gordon. They added Kenyon Martin Jr. In a trade from the Rockets. A super athletic forward. He averaged thirteen points and six rebounds per game last year. He was an ok shooter when he was wide open, fifty two point four percent effective field goal percentage on

unguarded catch and shoots. Not great in other situations. He was forty three percent in effective field goal percentage on guarded catching shoots, and he was zero for five on off the dribble jump shots. But he was one of the best rim finishers in the league. Last year. He shot seventy percent at the rim. He made three hundred and twenty seven shots at the rim last year. That

was the fifteenth most in the entire NBA. As a matter of fact, there were only nine players in the last year who made at least two hundred and fifty shots in the restricted area on at least seventy five percent shooting, and it was eight centers all dudes who are six to eleven in taller, and Keny Martin junior at six foot seven. So, especially on this particular team that struggles with getting to the rim consistently and finishing there consistently, I think Kenyon Martin can help there a lot,

especially as a cutter working off the ball. With all of the ball handling and shooting that the Clippers have, they also drafted Kobe Brown. He's a big, rim pressuring forward. He's a little on the short side. He's only six six and a half without shoes, so he's about you call that six to seven and a half six to eight ish with shoes. But he's got super long arms. He's got a seven foot one wing span, and he

weighs two hundred and fifty two pounds. He's a big dude, and he was one of the most efficient post players in the country last year at Missouri. As a matter of fact, only two hundred and forty eight players in the entire country and all of Division one basketball ran at least one hundred post ups, and Kobe Brown ranked third on that list out of two hundred and forty

eight players, scoring one point two points per possession. He's got this really quick baseline spin where he'll kind of catch and look towards the middle, spin back towards the baseline, hit you with that baseline elbow, kind of gets away with a little bit of a chicken wing, which he'll continue to get away with at the next level, and then basically if you cut him off, he'll spin back middle. But he's not looking to take tough shots. He's not taking a ton of hooks, he's not taking a ton

of fadeaways. It is a power post game. It's all about positioning and ceiling himself inside of an area where he could rise up and quickly finish. I think it'll

serve him well attacking switches at the NBA level. I don't think he'll have the same strength advantage obviously when he gets to the NBA level going against grown men, but in switching situations or when he does have a mismatch, maybe a cross match and transition, he's going to have opportunities to beat players in the post and those quick duckins and passes over the top, he's going to be

able to quickly finish. And he actually shot the ball really well last year as well, not so much early in his college career, but really well last year six in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots, seventy nine percent when he was unguarded, and even fifty percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots. He had lots of rescue possessions last year where he'd end up with the ball with four or five seconds left on the shot clock and he would just go

to a quick, wonderable pull up. And because he's got good long arms and he gets good lift on his jump shot, he could just rise over the top of guys in fire and and that was kind of like a nice little release valve last year for Missouri. And then obviously with his physical tools, with the super long arms and his athleticism and strength, he's capable of being an impact defender, especially with the Clippers who do a

lot of switching one through four. So I think I think Kobe Brown's gonna be an interesting player for the Clippers in the long run. The interesting thing there is going to be there just super deep at forward and whether or not he's gonna be able to get minutes. So let's take a look at the depth chart really quick. So I guard Russell Westbrook Norman Powell, Terrence Mann, Bones Island, and Jason Preston. And at the forward position, again, this

is probably the deepest core of forwards in the league. Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George, Marcus Morris, Nicholas Patoom, Robert Coveyon A Mere Coffee, Kobe Brown, Kenyon, Martin Junr and Brandon Boston. And then they're bigs right now with Vika Zubac, Mason plum Lee and Musa Diabate. So I'm relatively certain their starting lineup will look like what it did in Game one versus the Suns last year. So it's probably gonna be Kawhi, Leonard, Paul, George,

Nick Batoum, Russell Westbrook and if you Ka Zubak. Now what I would like to see them do in the long run is especially since Batoum kind of started to show some signs of decline in that series. Didn't attack closeouts very well. He was like just barely over half of a point spot up situations, not the same defender that he used to be as he's starting to get older. I'd actually like to see them go with Terrence Mann

in the starting lineup. I think there's this thing with Tyleru in general, where he seems to think of those two as kind of like one or the other. Like, if he's feeling Russ, he'll stay with Russ. Man'll come off for the bench for him, and then he might close with Man over Russ if it gets to that point at the end of the game and Russ isn't really all that engaged. That seems to be kind of the way Tylu sees it. I actually think I go with both of them. I think, first of all, that's

your five best players. If you're ranking the players on this team, Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook are are in that list, right, Like it's Terrence Man, Russell Westbrook, and i Vica Zubac are your third, fourth and fifth best players probably right. Norman Powell could be in that discussion, but I'd say Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook, right. So if that's the case, you're allowing yourself to play your

best five guys. You're adding two rim pressure guys in Russell Westbrook and Terrence Man to kind of compliment Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as you know, guys who are more driving to look for pull up jump shots, right, they're driving to get positioned for pull up jump shots, and so getting a couple of guys who pressure the rim well. Also they both both of those guys can switch on to forge defensively and quiet and Paul George can switch onto guards defensively. I also like the idea

of being more aggressive. This is a defense that did not force as many turnovers as they probably could last year and didn't get out in transition as much as they probably could last year, and so I would in the long run if I was running this team, I would start Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook together with Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubak. So, just so you know, that lineup played zero minutes last year, so it'll be interesting to see if we get a chance to see

it this year. Before we go into the offensive ended four, I wanted to talk really quickly about load management, so Tyleru referenced this in I believe in the postseason presser if I remember correctly, But basically he wants them to take the regular season more seriously this year, and I think that's a good idea on a bunch of different levels. I think, especially when you're integrating a newer piece like Russell Westbrook, continuity is going to be an important advantage.

Most importantly, like the load management thing, you got to look at it in the bigger picture. There is no evidence that load management actually prevents injuries from taking place, right, And I mean one of the best case studies of that is the Clippers. They're incredibly careful about making sure that their stars don't play too much, and those two guys missed a third of the season. Basically, they combined

to miss fifty six games last year. And as we look back at the last three playoff runs that they've been in, actually four playoff runs, so we have this year, neither Kawhi Leonard or Paul George were able to finish a playoff run. Right. Last year, Paul George is healthy, but then is a late COVID scratch, but I won't

blame him for that. But only one of them is healthy for a potential playoff run, right, twenty twenty one, only one of them is healthy, right, because Kahi Leonard gets hurt in the towards the end of the Jazz series, Right, So Paul George ends up finishing that playoff run by himself. And in twenty twenty, both Paul George and Kwhi Leonard were available, they just didn't play well, right, So I've got one time in four postseasons that both of them

were actually able to finish the playoff run. So load management's not working for them. And you know, I can't say for certain if you know, playing more frequently in the regular season and conditioning yourself for the playoff run is actually a good thing or whether it would work, but it's worth a try at this point because the status quo is not working, and so I would like to see the Clippers attack the season with more urgency

throughout hunt for a higher seed. Then you might be able to limit minutes in the first round and not have to push your guys to a crazy intense level in the first round series against Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Right, Like, there's advantages to taking the regular season more seriously, not to mention continuity, helping Rustlern to fit in with this group.

That's the way that I would approach the season. I believe that's the approach that Tyler's going for, and if so, it could be potentially a sign of things changing with the Clippers. All right, let's talk about the offensive end of the floor for a minute now. Again, it's hard to read too much into these numbers because Kawhi and PG missed fifty six games combined and Russell Westber came

into the offense at the end of the season. But they were seventeenth in offensive rating last year, seventeenth and half court offense according to Cleaning the Glass Heavy into matchup attacking, they were top ten ISO and top ten post up team. This is not a team that runs as much pick and roll as the other teams in the league. This is not a team that methodically looks to pick you apart with ball movement and high level playmaking.

This is a team that runs some sort of action, typically a pick and roll or a dribble handoff or an off screen action off the ball to try to get one of their ball handlers Kawhi Leonard or Paul George in advantage situation, so they can look for pull up jump shots, and if there's a switch, then they will go to facing up, ice, isolating or posting up in those specific situations. It's kind of a brute force offense in that sense, and they were good at it.

They were the sixth best post up efficiency team in the league. Both Kawhi and Paul George were incredibly efficient all play types. Both of them were well over a point per possession in pick and rolls, post ups, and ISOs. But again, that's their bread and butter. This is not a team that moves the ball a lot. They were twenty fourth and assists last year. They do not you know, like I said, they don't have like a really high level playmaker that's looking to pick you apart and make

super high level reads. It's very heavy a matchup attacking offense, right. As a result of that, they do suffer a little bit from the brute force offense is as you expect to see in the regular season. Right Like in the dregs of the regular season, they're not gonna get as many high quality easy shots as the other teams in the league, so their offensive ratings are going to struggle. But what do I always say about brute force offense is they typically go up a level when they get

to the postseason. And that's what happened. Like you gotta remember, no Paul George in the Sun Series and you're still integrating Russ. But Kawhi is still just a machine that can get to his spots right, and in the same way that like you know, a set offense and like ball player movement offense can get to the postseason and start to struggle a little bit as teams scout and play harder. Right, you get the exact opposite effect with

brute force. A player that is really good at getting to his spots and taking and making tough shots, his impact stays at the same or improves when he gets to the postseason. And so like that's what you saw. Kawhi is just bigger, stronger and a better athlete than most of the forwards in the league, so he can get to his spots and take and make the shots

that he's accustomed to making. Russell west Brook, you know, Game one of that Sun series, grabs five offensive rebounds because he's just bigger and stronger and a better athlete

than most of the guards on the floor. He ended up getting a massive offensive rebound that he kicked out to Kawhi on the right wing for basically what was the dagger in Game one when the Clippers got that win, and then on the defensive end, they upped their physicality and turned finesse pull up shooters and kd Into and Devin Booker into players that weren't as efficient as you're accustomed to seeing them, and they ended up getting a big win, and they were actually up by thirteen in

Game two, but obviously the Suns end up playing the game out, Kawhi Leonard gets hurt, Russ has to revert back to basically on ball Russ, and then things kind of fall apart from there. But like again, like that's whenever I gauge offenses that take a more brute force approach to thing things, you got to kind of differentiate

between regular season success and postseason success. This is a Clippers team that, when push comes to shove, is really difficult to guard, regardless of what the offensive ratings says. And we didn't even get Paul George in that, we didn't even get to see as much Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook alongside of those guys, obviously we got to see zero of that. But like, I think they're capable of being a much better regular season offense as well.

But don't be dissuaded by low regular season offensive ratings from into thinking that this team is easy to guard, because they definitely are not the biggest area of opportunity for this offense is rim pressure. They ranked twenty fifth in the NBA in restricted area makes and that's a big part of what limits their ball movement and efficiency in general and offense. Right, Like, they don't get the offense, you know, they don't get the defense into rotation as

often as they probably should, and they really should. Like this, this Clippers team has a shit ton of shooting, like down the roster, and it's not just the role players, it's the stars too, Like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are both deadly spot up guys, and so when you have Russell Westbrook running pick and roller trying to post up or beat someone off the dribble, you've got a lot more space to operate than you see elsewhere in

the league. They were the second best spot out team in the entire NBA, second only to the Philadelphia seventy six ers. And so that's where I think playing more Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook with the Stars could help a lot, because this is a team that doesn't generate a lot in rim pressure and doesn't get the defense into rotation and play drive and kick as much as

they should given the amount of shooting they have. So how about you get Terrence Man and Russell Westbrook with room to operate beating guys off the dribble, get more catch and shoot opportunities for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Paul George in particular can struggle with efficiency because he almost solely takes extremely difficult shots, so getting him more off ball opportunities could be really good. Playing more driving kick basketball, I think that is when the Clippers are

at their best. And so when they use the tougher shot making as a counter and as like a late clock rescue situation type of thing, and rely more on their aggregate ball handling and shooting to carry them in the rest of these possessions, I think that's a better way for them to play offensively. And that's another reason why I'd like to see them start Terrence Man and Russell west Brooke together on the defensive end of the four.

And again, these are you know, these numbers are a little bit limited because we had Kawhi and Paul George missed so many games, and Russell Westbrook came in late.

But they were seventeenth in defensive rating last year fourteenth, and half court defense according to cleaning the glass eighteenth, and protecting the paint opponent's points in the paint per one hundred possessions, seventeenth, in protecting the three point line three pointers made opponent three pointers made per one hundred possessions twenty fourth, and first forcing turnovers, and they were

sixteenth in keeping teams from scoring in transition. So they were basically below average in every major defensive category except for two. They were really good at rebounding. There were seventh in defensive rebounding, and again a lot of that is wing athleticism and being able to get contested rebounds that come long out to the perimeter right. And then they didn't foul. They committed the seventh fewest. Excuse me, they put opponents on the free throw line the seventh

fewest times per one hundred possessions in the NBA. But this is another reason why I liked the idea of Terrence Man and Russell West were playing together. We mentioned this earlier, but improving your point of attack aggressiveness. You know, Zubo's actually a pretty decent rim protector. He's not great like, I don't think you're ever going to be a dominant rim defense, but he's actually a pretty solid rim protector.

And I love the idea of switching one through four with man Russ, you know, Kawhi and PG even with some of the other guys coming in, guys like Norman Powell, right, he's a guy that can switch on to bigger players. We talked a little bit about kJ Martin earlier as a guy who's got a lot of athleticism at the

forward position. This is a team that can do a lot of switching, be very aggressive at the point of attack with their strength and athleticism, be very physical at the point of attack, knowing that you've got Zu back on the back line, and I think they can force a lot more turnovers and get out and transition more. This is a team that only they were eighteenth and transition points scored offensively last year, so they did not

get out in transition a lot last year. With guys like Russell Westbrook and Terence Man on the roster and kJ Martin, they should be looking to get out and transition more, and so I'd like for them to be more more physically aggressive. You know, a point of attack defense, trying to force turnovers and get out in transition to

supplement their half court offense. So the big silver lining for Clippers fans when Paul George and Kawhi Leonards shared the floor last year, the Clippers outscored opponents by eight point three points per one hundred possessions and they were a lead offensively. They had an offensive rating of one twenty point three when the two of those guys were together. So this team is still super dangerous when they're healthy.

It's just, you know, we shouldn't bet on them being healthy. Like, like we said, there's been one time in the last four seasons that the two of them have been healthy for a playoff run right and throughout the playoff rount. So it's not something we should bet on, but we have to be prepared for that as a possibility because if we get to a second round series and Kauhi and Paul George are healthy and they're going against anybody

in the league, they are capable of winning. Now, if I had to make a prediction, obviously, I think it's more likely that they end up having injury issues, like chances are they'll probably end up as a bottom half seed, like in the five to eight range, and they'll probably end up losing in the first round with one of their stars. That's what's probably going to happen. But we always have to be prepared for the reality of what can happen when Kawhila Leonard and Paul George are healthy.

One last note on Russell Westbrook because obviously I talked a lot of positive with Russell Westbrook today and he deserves He played really good basketball with the Clippers, and I want to make sure that I emphasize that up front, but I want to push back on one specific idea, and it was kind of a narrative that came out of the whole Russell Westbrook trade, and most of it was coming from you know, you know, like obviously, the Lakers have a very loud and obnoxious fan base and

a lot of like Laker non Laker fans like to have fun at their expense, so that's part of this, right, But there was this narrative that like, Russell Westbrook succeeded with the Clippers because they let Russ be Russ and they didn't downtrod him with external pressure, and like it was all the Lakers' fault that Russ struggled, and as someone who literally covered every single game during the Russell Westbrook era in a Lakers jersey, I want to emphasize

that that's very much not what happened. Okay, yes, it was a It was an awful basketball fit. There's no doubt that Russ on the Lakers was a bad fit, right, Like him and Lebron were kind of redundant, right as like big, rim pressuring playmakers. Right the Lakers before the trade deadline had no shooting, so Russ didn't have much space to operate. Like playing Russell Westbrook in lineups with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, you know, especially as declined

jump shooters, not a great idea. That first year. There's a lot of ad at the four with like DeAndre Jordan on the floor with Russell Westbrook. So like, don't get me wrong, there were a lot of like fit things that were not great. And then you go to the Clippers and it was an obvious fit, right, Like they needed a rim pressuring playmaker because they didn't have one.

They're the second best spot up team in the league, right, so they've got a lot more space for Russ to operate right, like they obviously were a much better fit. And then just in general in terms of call it, you know, societal pressure pressure from the fan base. The Clippers were a lower pressure situation, so there's no doubt that it was a better fit with the Clippers. But like to be clear, Russ also started doing things with

the Clippers that he didn't do with the Lakers. Like Russ was awesome defensively, especially in the first half of that Sun series before he had to start doing everything on the offensive end, like he was incredible, you didn't get that with the Lakers, I promise you. He had thirteen steals and blocks in the five game series against the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix ball handlers attempted thirteen shots in pick and roll with Russ as the primary defender, and

they went just three for thirteen on those shots. His back pressure was insane. He would basically get in a trailing position behind the screen and explode, jump off of his left leg and just swat or contest everything from behind. He like legit God in Devin Booker's head in the early part of that series forced him into missus inside the three point line. Like Russ was downright disruptive on the defensive end in a Clippers jersey in a way that he was not with the Lakers. Okay, like, he

crashed the offensive glass much more with the Clippers. He had eleven offensive rebound putbacks in twenty six games in a Clippers jersey. He had thirteen in fifty two games in a Lakers jersey. So like, he was roughly twice as active on the offensive glass when he went to the Clippers than he was with the Lakers. He logged eight rollman possessions in twenty six games in a Clippers jersey. He logged just four in fifty two games in a

Lakers jersey. So like, even shot way better. He shot forty nine percent in effective field goal percentage in a Clippers jersey, forty two percent in a Lakers jersey. So like, again, I'm a big fan of Russell Westbrook when he's playing winning basketball. Obviously, it was a frustrating experience with him in a Lakers jersey. But like, I've always been a fan of Russell Westbrook coming up in the league. It just was frustrating watching him in this transition, especially for

a team that I was specifically rooting for. But when Russ is playing winning basketball, he's actually a ton of fun to watch and someone that I'm rooting for. But let's get one thing clear. Yes, the Lakers and Russell Westbrook were not a great basketball fit, but Russ also shares a lot of the blame for not being willing to do the things that the Lakers needed him to do, and then he suddenly ended up doing those things with the Clippers. And so again, I'm happy for Russ. I'm

happy that he's happier with the Clippers. I think it's a much better basketball fit, and I think he can help them as a basketball team and potentially potentially help them win a championship. But let's be clear, he wasn't doing that stuff for the Lakers. Okay, so let's not rewrite history and act like it was the Lakers' fault that Russell Westbrook wasn't playing as good as high level

of basketball as he did with the Clippers. And honestly, like it's very possible that the embarrassment from that situation for things going the way they did with the Lakers that might very well have been the reason why he finally accepted that he needed to embrace those things to a greater extent. All right, let's move on to the mailback questions. First one from Logan, what are your thoughts on Shaden Sharp? Do you think he could be a future first option for the Blazers with Scoot as the

Westbrook type of guy. So I am not as high on Shad and Sharp as everyone else. I watched him in Summer League Live again this year, and I watched him last year as well, but this year, I like there was a little bit of a moment in that first Rockets game, the game where Jabaris Smith Junior, where he hit the game winner, There was a little bit of a moment at the end of that game where Shaden Sharp started to kind of like he hit a really nice turnaround fade away. He started like beating people

off the dribble. He got ignited by a transition dunk he dunked on. I think it was the that big dude who was playing for the Lakers G League team last year, if I remember correctly. I can't remember his name, but he dunked on somebody and got super invinted it and like suddenly like unlocked his downhill aggressiveness and he started beating people off the dribble and get into the rim and he made like a nice little turnaround fadaway.

He's got that potential. And obviously, like when you combine his athleticism with his touch and some of the ability that he has, there's there's going to be games where you watch Shaden sharp and he looks like you know, Vince Carter in his prime. Right. But the reality is is like I don't see enough of that like overwhelming confidence and audacity and competitiveness to be like a future

first option personally. That's not to say it can't happen, but like, like I said, we had a mailback question a few weeks back, it might have been last week, talking about like what it takes for a player to become a star, right, And in that I remember I talked about like like loving basketball, hating losing, overwhelming competitiveness and audacity, meaning like just like an overwhelming sense of self confidence, right, And like that's the thing is, like

I think Shaden can be lacking in some of those specific areas. And maybe that's just young kid, and maybe that bloss later on and we'll see that from him. But like if I had to guess between Shad and sharp being like a really good number three or four in the long run, or being like a number one for a team that's contending for championships. I lean more towards the former. I think I think he's a guy that's going to be a role player in the big picture.

And for the record, I think there's almost a zero percent chance that'll that he'll be better than Scoot Henderson in the long run. Next mail back question, do you think the Pistons have a chance of making the play in or even the playoffs with Kate Cunningham coming back? So I picked this question for a very specific reason. Those of you guys have been following the show for

a while know this. But like typically speaking, it's difficult to cover the entire NBA, and the way that I choose to cover it is to primarily focus on the

relevant teams, the playoff team. So kind of like this list, like we're doing season previews for the top twenty teams right, Like I don't have the time, with having to cover everything else, to devote you know, eight hours in a day to studying film and getting ready to cover the Detroit Pistons this year, And like, if you are a Pistons fan and you're looking for coverage, like you're gonna get occasional coverage here. Like I'm obviously if they turn

out to be relevant, I'll be covering them closely. But like I'm gonna watch them, and I'm going to, uh, you know, I'll probably watch like ten to fifteen Pistons games this year, and I'm gonna dive into Kid Cunningham pick and roll numbers and watch his shot creation development.

And we're gonna talk about caid and his development. But like we're just not gonna cover them particularly closely because they're in the lower tier of you know, teams in terms of overall interest, right, And it's just bad business, for lack of a better term, for us to do that. But like we are gonna cover him to a certain extent, just like we will with any of the other young players in the league. Right, Like we've done a lot of talking about Jabari Smith Junior lately as a young

player that I really like. I really like Kid Cunningham is the big playmaking guard. Right. But the truth is I didn't watch the Pistons enough last year to have a really strong opinion about them, and so I can't tell you how I feel about their chances to make the play in I mean, obviously, I think they're probably not going to because of the twenty teams that are in front of them, but like, obviously it's on the table,

it's a possibility. And with Kay, it's not just Ky Cunningham, Like I'm also blanking on his name now, but the guard they drafted last year, the one that I talked about all the time, that's my favorite. But I really like, uh, it's killing me, Like I I have the weirdest memory with this kind of stuff, Like sometimes I'm like laser focused and can remember everything, but like occasional player name, Jade and Ivy, thank you occasional player and player names

I just completely blank on. But Jade and Ivy is another super super exciting young player on that on that roster. So I'll watch him a few times. We are gonna cover him, but don't expect too much Pissons coverage this year, to be honest, unless they start, you know, being a five hundred team. Last male back question rank shake Gilesxander, Alexander, Devin Booker, and Jason Tatum purely as play purely as players right now, not counting their previous team in playoffs.

So in my player rankings, which were obviously factoring in previous team in playoff success, I had Tatum above Booker and Booker above Shay Right, so I'm going to keep

Tatum at the top. I just think he's so much more impactful defensively than Devin Booker and Shake Gilds Alexander, and he honestly, I think, you know, he gets a lot of criticism, as he should, because he's made some especially last year in terms of a little bit of a decline and defensive commitment and a big decline in his overall shot variety, which I think hurt his efficiency

in the playoffs a little bit. He deserves some criticism, but I think he gets too much criticism, and he still is a guy that's had a lot more big playoff moments than people realize, and is still very very, very very impactful on both ends of the floor and at the end of my Heat series, like he just was better than Jimmy Butler at the end of the series, right until he got hurt. So I'm I'm pretty high

on Jason Tatum. The real question would be would I be willing to put Shay over Devin Booker, and Shay's a really gifted three level shot creator. I think he's a higher level, like overall half court surgeon than Devin Booker. That's like what I want to think. Like, if I wanted to try to make a case for Shae, that's where it would start. I also think Shay is a better defensive player than Devin Booker. But here's the reality.

In the first nine playoff games this year. Now, Devin Booker did struggle in the final two games of the Nugget series, but this is crazy. In the first nine games of the playoff run this year, Devin Booker thirty seven points per game, five rebounds, seven point four assists, sixty two percent from the field, fifty one percent from three, and eighty seven percent from the line. So, like, feels kind of stupid for me to put Shae over Devin Booker. So I'm gonna keep him in the same order that

I did in my player rankings. I think Tatum is better than Booker, and I think Booker's better than Shae for right now, All right, guys, that's all I have for today is always I sincerely appreciate you supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow with number eight. Don't forget to drop mail back questions in the YouTube comments and I'll see you guys tomorrow. The volume

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