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have some fun this week. Download the game Time app. Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So a quick offseason recap for the Sacramento Kings. They lost Terence Davis, Matthew Delavadova, PJ Dozer, Rashaun Holmes, and Chimezi Meto. They added Chris Duarte, who was a young scoring guard from the Pacers. Had a rough year last year, but he does have some talent. JaVale McGee is a backup center. You guys might remember me doing
a scouting report. I'm not sure how many Kings fans found this, but around the shortly into the beginning of free agency, I did a full breakdown of Sasha Vazankov. He played for Olympiacos last year and he won the EuroLeague MVP. Super super exciting post player. Was devastatingly efficient in the post last year, one point two six points per possession, one hundred and fifty one. Post ups has
like a ridiculous set of left shoulder fade aways. He's got kind of like a one leg fade away over his left shoulder, He's got kind of like a drifting fade away over his left shoulder, and then he's got like kind of a power fade that it hit when he gets good separation, but he knocks that down a ton. He's over fifty percent on hooks and on floaters, and
he's a really good passer. He actually reminds me of like a It's funny because he plays the same position as Sabonis, right, and so your head quickly goes the direction of Sabonis. But I actually like think of him more as a Yokic type of archetype. And I don't mean he's as good as Jokic, obviously, but just in the play style, he's a much better shot maker than Sabonis. His touch away from the basket is several levels better
than Sabonis is. Obviously, he's not the athlete that demonis is, but he's got this shot making piece away from the rim that Sabonus doesn't. So I kind of like the fit because it's like a scheme consistency thing, right, because they play the same position. So now when some bonus goes to the bench, you can bring in another player to run all these dribble handoffs and all these ball screens with a similar level of offensive skill, albeit a
different kind of form of it. Right, with the shot making, he was fifty seven percent an effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers last year in Europe forty seven percent on pull up jump shots effective field goal percentage. You'll see him, you know, dribble the ball around the top of the key and then fake in action with somebody, and then when the guy just kind of concedes a shot a few feet back, he'll just quick turn and rise and fire from the top of the key. He's
got that in his bag. He get legitimately a very very good shot maker, makes everything around the rim. Again, it's it's gonna be difficult to see how it translates to the NBA. That's always the question when you bring a guy over from Europe. But this dude was well over a point per possession and inverted pick and rolls well over a point per possession in ISO's well over a point per possession in the post. He was devastatingly efficient in Europe last year. So I'm really interested to
see how it translates. Really, it'll just come down to what he can do defensively. Who can you guard? That's always the question when you get to the NBA. And I do like the scheme consistency having him coming in force the bonus. They also drafted Colby Jones in the early second round, big guard out of Xavier. Good physical tools. He's about six y five, has about a six to eight wingspan, reasonably strong. I think he'll put on a
couple pounds too. I wouldn't be surprised if he's up around two ten by the time he gets to training camp. Uses his physical tools well like he like most big guards that you're hoping for. He plays slow and methodically gets guys trapped on his backside. Really really good floater. He was actually fifty five percent on seventy seven floaters
last year. He loves to kind of like bait you into contesting a mid range shot right like he'll kind of snake the pick and roll and like get into the mid age and like hesitate back like he's gonna shoot, and then he loves to step through and shoot that little right handed floater over the top. He also was
a very good catch shoot player. He was sixty four percent in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots last year, and he shot sixty two percent at the rim, which is very good for a guard. Biggest weakness for him right now does not have a reliable pull up jump shot. He was just nineteen for seventy on pull up jump shots last year. But I do like to pick and I think he could immediately help the Kings kind of as like a second side
creator off the bench. This is a team that's got a lot of guys that love to come flying off with screens and shoot, and guys that are taller and lankier and more off ball players. But it'd be interesting to kind of have him potentially as a long term prospect as a guard. He actually was one point one to zero points per possession in two hundred and five picking rolls last year. That's awesome, especially for a young player. So I definitely like the Colby Jones pick as a
long term prospect. The depth chart coming into this season at guard Deer and Fox, Malik Monk, Daveon Mitchell, Kevin Herder, Colby Jones, and Chris Duarte at Ford, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Trey Lyles, and Kessler. Edward's one of my favorite young wing defenders in the league, Aarreon Kessler, and then the Biggs demonis Sabonis Sashevazankov. He might end up playing some
forward as well. That'd be really interesting if you could play the two of them together, especially with the weakness they had on the front line and rebounding situations, and just in general protecting the rim. Alex lenn and JaVale McGee as well. All Right, let's talk about the offensive end of the floor for a minute. So the Kings had the number one offense in the NBA last year by a significant margin. They averaged one hundred and eighteen
point six points per one hundred possessions. That was a full one point three points ahead of second place. They also had the second best half court offense, just zero point three points per one hundred posessions, behind the Dallas Mavericks. They were a heavy, heavy transition team. They scored two thousand and fifty nine points last year in transition, according to Synergy, that was the third most in the NBA.
They were not an efficient transition team. They scored just one point one to one points per possession in transition, which was twenty fifth in the NBA. NBA, But like we were talking about with the Memphis Grizzlies, one point one to one, which is not efficient compared to other transition offenses, is still way more efficient than even the best half
court offense could ever hope to be. The MAVs were the best half court offense in the league last year at a one oh five offensive rating, So even at a one to eleven in transition, that's better than anything you're gonna get in half court, which is why teams like that hunt those opportunities so often. They were super low in volume for pick and roll compared to the rest of the league, only twenty eight times per game.
Only the Warriors run fewer pick and rolls than the Kings, but that's because they run a lot of their two game as dribble handoffs, which we'll talk about in a few minutes. But they were great when they did run pick and rolls. They were one point zero five points per possession. That was the fifth highest mark in the league. Dearon Fox led the way here. You guys, remember that high volume pick and roll list I've been talking about
all offseason. So like the fifteen guys who ran at least a thousand, well, dearon Fox ran nine hundred and ninety nine, so he just barely missed that list. But had he made that list, his one point zero eight points per possession would have been fourth on the list. So Dearen Fox was one of the very best pick and roll ball handlers in the league last year for all intents and purposes, even though he didn't meet my
one thousand qualification. All about versatility. With Aaron Fox, he was forty six percent on pull up jump shots in the mid range, fifty four percent on floaters, so just a devastating mid range attacks short of the rim. Awesome at the rim as well. He's seventy seven percent in the restricted area on three makes per game, and he can make all the passes right so the rollman in the kickout passes to shooters as well. I thought he passed really well for the most part in the Warriors series.
His only real weakness right now with Dearon Fox is his three point shooting off the dribble. He's only thirty percent on pull up threes last season, but that super diverse shot creation in pick and roll. Again, it's like we talked about three level scoring when it comes to like ISO players right like at the rim, midrange three point shots. I look at it as like four levels. With pick and roll, It's like, can you make the
threes off the bounce. Can you score in the mid range of off the dribble, and then can you make floaters? And then can you score at the rim. The reason why the floaters in mid range jump shots are different in pick and roll is because of back pressure. So like, if a defender's trailing you in pick and roll, a pull up jump shot doesn't matter because you're gonna take a pull up jump shot and the guy's gonna come
from behind and swipe the ball away from you. You've got to have a forward moving shot when the defender's trailing you in pick and roll, that's the floater, right So like with pick and roll scoring, I look at Moore's four levels, and right now, Dearon Fox is really sharpened three of the four levels. He's off the charts, good at the rim, off the charts, good with his floater, off the charts, good with his pull up, maybe not off the charts good, but very very good with his
pull up jump shot. He just needs to tie off that three point shooting piece and then he will go up even a further level from there. Malik Monk, Harrison, Barnes, Kevin heard her all just slightly over a point per possession, which is good. Keegan Murray one point two points per possession, which is awesome, although in a small sample size, Davion Mitchell was really the only ball handler for the Kings last year that struggled in pick and roll. He was
just a bit below average. But this team just has an absurd amount of ball handling and shooting talent, Like they were even the fifth best spot up team in the league. They converted spot up possessions at one point zero nine points per possession. So that's really the genesis of the King's offensive success. They've got this spolkrum right in Deerren Fox, who's this incredible high pick and roll
player or drible handoff player too. Just considered it a two man game play, right, And that partnership with demonasa bonus. But then everybody around them is not just a good ball handler, but like an above average ballhander, not just a good shooter, but an above average shooter. And so these guys can run these actions against the set defense and get over a point per possession, and so there is no weak point in the offense. There's no like a weak point in that chain, right, And so that's
why they're so successful. When they start driving and kicking teams to death. But this team loves to run dribble handoffs.
I was actually rewatching Game seven against the Warriors this morning, and they ran a handoff on five of their first six possessions, and they just basically toss the ball to Sabonis sometime after they've crossed half court, and Sabonis will kind of dribble up to the to the above the brake line, and then he's just turning and looking and waiting for one of these guys to come off that handoff. And the Warriors in particular were just completely ignoring Sabonis
playing off of him. But he would just wait and then as the offensive player would cut off of him, he would kind of hand the ball off and then he'd pivot backwards to try to generate contact with the defender as he's trailing to play to get separation right. And guys like Keegan Murray and Kevin Herder are primarily coming off of those handoffs looking to take quick catch and shoot threes, and guys like Harrison Barnes and deer and Fox and Elik Monk are more looking to put
the ball on the floor. Harrison Martin will do a little bit of both, and a Malik Monk will occasionally rise and fire as well, but for the most part, those guys are looking more to get off the dribble. The Kings actually ran the most handoffs in the league. They ran one hundred and twenty nine more handoffs than the second place team, which was actually the San Antonio Spurs, and they converted handoffs at one point zero zero eight points per possession, which was the second best mark in
the league. So they were basically the very best team in the league. Get running handoffs first in frequency, second and efficiency. You're not going to do any better than that. Now. The Warriors basically shut this action down, and the way they did that is they put Kevon Looney on Demona Sabonis and had him basically just lag back into the paint. And as a result, you know, as long as that guard for the Warriors could stay reasonably attached coming over
the top. So Bonus wasn't looking to shoot very often, and when he did, he didn't make enough of him In that series, like Demonasbonis would occasionally like step forward and take some three off the dribble or or pull up jump shot off the dribble. Occasionally he'd turn and face Looney and attack him, but Looney was bumping him off his spots and causing all sorts of problems. So so Bonis was kind of the weak point in that
dribble handoff situation. And as long as the guard was attached over the top and could funnel the guards into the lane, Kevon Looney's there waiting, and Sabonis did have some success on the offensive glass. He grabbed a shit ton of offensive rebounds in the in the series, but the total, the total package of Sabonis as a threat in that two man game ended up being a problem, and the Warriors held Kings dribble handoffs to just zero
point eighty seven points per possession. That's twenty one points per one hundred possessions, worse than where they were in the regular season. The bright spot in the Warriors series was the Deer and Fox and Malik Monk duo and the ability they had to consistently get dribble penetration. So anytime you take a look at a new playoff team, right and we're gonna get to see this with I think the Oklahoma City Thunder are gonna make the playoffs this year and We'll get to see what Jalen Williams
can do in a playoff setting. We're gonna to see what Sga can do in a seven gamer as the number one option. Right, We're gonna see Josh Gitty, We're gonna see Chad Homer and these guys, and you're gonna
find out, like will it translate? Because that's always the question, right, And there's a difference between regular season basketball and playoff basketball, and that chasm is getting bigger and bigger by the year, and so it's always intriguing when you see a new playoff team come onto the scene, like what's good and what's not because the playoffs they have a We always
talk about how they expose weaknesses, and they do. If you have a great weakness, the playoffs are going to shine a light on that, but they also sign a shine a light on your great strengths because even if you do have an elite defense, and even if you do secure defensive rebounds, you go over to the other end of the floor, you're gonna face an elite defense, and what you're gonna find out really quickly there is are your offensive folkrum's actually capable of generating quality shots
against playoff caliber defenses in playoff scouting situations over a couple of weeks against the same defenders, seeing them a thousand times, right, that's when you're gonna find out whether or not their top tier offensive skill is actually worth what it's capable of being worth in a playoff setting. And that was what was really intriguing and encouraging about this Kings team. Both Deer and Fox and Malikmunk can beat people off the dribble in the playoffs consistently, and
that was encouraging. They were able to consistently get the Warriors into rotation by beating people off the dribble, and that, to me is a really really good foundation moving forward because you can identify the other weaknesses. Right, we're gonna talk about saib Bonis in a second. I thought he was the biggest weakness in their offense. In their offense last year in the playoffs and against the Warriors, but
also on the defensive end. You're gonna see these specific things, but one of the positive things that came out of it was Daron Fox and Malik Monk. That's the foundation there, So you look at that as something you can replicate. You can count on that next year when you get to that first round series again, whoever it is you're playing, Daron Fox and Milik Monk will be able to beat people off the dribble. Okay, how do we build out the rest of it? How do we figure out how
to get enough stops? How do we figure out how to fix the problem with Simonis in the two man game? Right? So, like we got a foundation, now we can move forward and look at the rest of the roster from there. Well, let's talk about Sibonus because I thought he was the biggest weakness in the Kings offense during that playoff series. So a two man game requires both players to be a threat, otherwise it's not a two man game, right.
So as much of a threat as the guards were, as good as Malik Munk and Darren Fox were, Darren demonas Sabonis was actually kind of a problem. His jumper was completely ineffective. He only took twenty three of them in the series, despite the fact that the Warriors were basically leaving him unguarded, and he converted those twenty three jump shots into just nineteen points. That's zero point eighty three points per possession. So leaving him open was a
win for the Warriors. That he wasn't able to convert those enough frequently, He wasn't he didn't want to take them, and then even when he did, he wasn't converting them enough, and then he couldn't finish around the rim. He really really struggled to finish over Kevon Looney and Draymond Green at the rim. As a matter of fact, after shooting sixty nine percent at the rim in the regular season, Sabona shot is fifty six percent at the rim against
the Warriors. And this is an interesting outcome that I've seen a lot in NBA history biggs that don't have like unbelievable supreme gifts. And like, here's the thing. Sabonis is not small, but he's not way bigger than everybody, right, Like jokicch is so much bigger than everybody at the position that he can play bullyball and it works, right, Like Lebron James is so much bigger than everybody who plays his position that he can bullyball. He can play
bullyball all game long. Right. But when you and that, and that's why even in everything that Lebron struggled with in last year's playoffs, he was good in the post. Right. That's the way I look at the situation with these power players that don't have the supreme uh like strength advantage. Right, Look at Kevin Love over the years, Look at like Blake Griffin and what would happen to him? Sometimes when you get to the playoffs, look at Julius Randall and
what's been happening to him in the last few playoff runs? Right, And then it's happening with Sabonis as well. These big forward centers that are that play bullyball during the regular season and can bury people under the rim and finish around the rim during the regular season. You get to the postseason, you facet utter defensive front courts. More physicality is allowed, guys are able to shove and push on you more, and suddenly that bully ball doesn't work as well.
And so then you'll see Kevin Love run into Thaddeus Young and get his ass kicked, right, or Draymond Green used to kill him too, Or you'll see Demanda Sabonis run into Kevon Looney and have problems Like you'll see Julius Randall run into bam Adebayo and suddenly he can't bully him, and now his lack of touch gets exposed. Like if you don't have top tier touch in those situations,
it can be a problem. Like at least for Kevin Love when it was failing, when his post up attack was failing, he could run pick and pop and spot up to the weekside corner and be a threat, which is why Kevin Love still had some offensive impact even after his low post game was removed in specific matchups. Right, But for Sabonis, he shoves people around in the regular season, gets wherever he wants to go, makes everything around the rim, and then he gets to the postseason and suddenly he
can't make anything. He went from nineteen points per game on sixty seven percent true shooting in the regular season to sixteen points per game on fifty two percent true shooting in the playoffs. And this has been a career long problem for them for him. He has a career sixty one percent true shooting in the regular season and fifty four percent in the playoffs. That's a seven percent decline over his entire career. And there's four playoff runs
in there at this point. So like that's the reality right now, is Sabonis is not a good enough jump shooter to be a threat away from the basket, and his bully ball rim attack doesn't work in the postseason. And so when you combine that with the fact that he's not a good defensive player, his impact craters when he gets to the postseason. But here's the thing. That problem is not going away because demonas Sabonis just signed a four year, one hundred and eighty six million dollar extension.
So that's something that they're going to have to learn how to overcome. So let's go back to what we were talking about earlier. We have our foundation, right, Fox and Monk beating people off the dribble are The second piece of our foundation is our overwhelming offensive skill, right, So it's all of the ball handling and shooting down the roster from guys like Keegan Murray, Kevin Herder, and Harrison Barnes, Right, And he throws the bonus in there too.
So you got all this offensive skill, Well, those guys all shot like shit, right, Like especially Harrison Barnes and Kevin Herder really struggled to shoot in that in that playoff series against the Warriors as a team, as a matter of fact, the King shot just thirty one percent. Okay, So let's just take a glass half full approach there and say they were a little nervous first playoff run for that group in general, Harrison Barnes hadn't had a playoff run in a few years. Let's just call that
a fluke and say they're all gonna shoot better next year. Okay, So let's accept that. And for the record, I'm not sure that's gonna happen, but let's just accept that for the sake of this argument. So I've got my offensive foundation and my shot creators. I've got this overwhelming offensive skill. The third pieces, they have to find a way to get stops, and that was never a priority for them. Last year. They were twenty fourth in defense on the season,
twenty eighth and half court defense. According to Cleaning the Glass. The only two worst half court defenses than the Kings last year's last year were the Rockets and the Spurs, two teams that were deliberately trying to lose games. They were twenty fifth in paint defense. They allowed fifty three points in the paint per one hundred possessions. They allowed teams to shoot sixty nine percent in the restricted area
that was twenty fifth in the league. They were eighteenth in defending the three point line in the amount of made three pointers they allowed per one hundred possessions, and they were seventeenth and rebounding. The only thing they were good at on defense was transition. They were third in transition defensive transition defense frequency and eighth in transition defense efficiency. But outside of that, they were bad everywhere on defense,
and it was everywhere in the personnel as well. So Bonus not a good rim protector, Harrison Barnes not a good low man help defender, right, And these guys are capable of being better than they were for the record, I'm just talking about what they were last year. Herd
her Murray not good perimeter defenders. Darren Fox capable of being a good defender, had moments of being a good defender in the Warrior Series, but didn't over the course of the season establish himself as a good perimeter defender right. So down the line, it was a personnel issue, and when you're not bothering anybody around the rim like Barnes, Sabonis is one of the worst defensive front courts in the NBA. When you're not bothering anybody around the rim,
and you're not containing anybody on the perimeter. You're just
gonna give up driving lanes all game long. I watched a ton of King's pick and roll defensive possessions this year because I was trying to get a feel for their scheme, and their scheme was very aggressive, Like Sabonis was showing high on almost every ball screen, So like you would see when the ball screener is going up to set a screen for the pick and roll ball handler for the other team, Sabonus is coming way out to the top of the key and he's basically trying
to catch the ball handler as he's coming off and contain him until the guard recovers, and then he goes back and if the guard doesn't recover, he'll hang for a switch and then the guard will peel off and try to box out the big man rolling into the basket.
But Sabonis was getting toasted up there a lot, like getting just flat out beat off the dribble as he would rise up to contain right and teams weren't just doing that to Sabonis, they were doing it in guard guard actions like they would like call Kevin Herder's man over, and Herder would like hard show like catch heads, try to like contain the ball for the guy to recover, and then he would just get beat like with a with a split back towards the screen or or the
hard dribble around and they just every single ball screen they were giving up dribble penetration. And so I mean, I don't really have a good answer for the off ball actions with the with the guards, right, So, like if they're gonna bring Herd her into the screen and he can't contain either, there's really no answer there. Like if Herder can't keep the ball in front of him,
there's not really anything you can do. But at least in the Sabonis situations, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd tinker with that a little bit and maybe consider dropping Sabonis a little bit deeper, because maybe it'd be better to give up more pull up jump shots and floaters than all of these easy layups they're giving up at the rim. But it has to be a commitment thing from the top down. There are good perimeter defenders on
this team. Dearn Fox is capable of being a good perimeter defender, Davion Mitchell is capable of being or Davian Mitchell is an excellent perimeter defender. Kessler Edwards is capable of being a very good perimeter wing defender with good size. Right. So, like, if you don't have rim protection, you have to be
elite at the point of attack. And so one of the things you saw Mike Brown do in the series against the Warriors is he just started taking Herder and Murray out of the game and playing other guys who were more willing to defend. And so at a certain point you have to wonder if maybe Mike Brown needs to do that from a cultural standpoint from the start of camp, like, Hey, Kevin Herder, you're our guy. Keegan Murray,
you're our guy. Harrison Barnes, you're a guy. I'm not trying to to discount any of that and what we have planned for you, and obviously we want you to have these spots, but if you don't defend, we're gonna have to give a portion of your minutes, a bigger portion of your minutes to guys like Davion Mitchell, to guys like Kesler Edwards, Right, guys that are at least going to try to compete on the defensive end of the four right, And so I think that's something that
they're gonna have to culturally set from the beginning of the year. Because here's the deal are the Do the Kings have bad defensive personnel? Yes? Do I expect them to be even capable of ever having a top ten defense with Sabonis as the rint protector, No, obviously not. But should they be the twenty eighth ranked half court defense in the league better than just the Rockets and Spurs. Obviously not. That's just laziness. And so as I look at the Kings this season, your goal needs to be
basically the way Denver approached defense. If you're an offensive team, that you think you're gonna be unguardable. And for the record, I do not think the Kings are close to as good offensively as the Nuggets. We saw the Warriors contain them to an offensive rating below one to ten in
that playoff series. They can be stopped to a much greater extent than the Denver Nuggets can because they have a truly unstoppable offensive weapon in Nikola Jokic, and as good as Daron Fox is, it's not in the same stratosphere offensively as Nikolea Jokic. Right, So, I think this
idea is dead on arrival. But even if you do think that your offense is capable of getting you over the top, you've got to get to fifteen in the defensive rating, and by establishing good habits by being a good transition defense, which you already are, by improving your defensive rebounding, which by the way, a deeper drop could help with as well, by by containing better on the perimeter, by just by doing those things, by rotating better when
the defense gets in rotation, chasing shooters off the line. Better commitment in those areas could bump you up to fifteenth in defensive rating, which is going to give you the habits that you need to have a fighting chance when you get to the postseason, especially if your shooters do shoot better in the postseason, especially if Sabonis does play better in the postseason, then you can mess around
and beat some people. But to be clear, as of right now, even though I like that foundation of deeron Fox Round by shooting and playing with the skill big like, even though I like that foundation, this team cannot win a championship as currently constructed there two week defensively in the front court and not good enough offensively to make up for it. But they have a chance to compete within this season and win a playoff series or two if they at least establish good defensive habits and get
better offensive performances out of their role players. All right, let's move on to the mail bag. So first I wanted to so yesterday that random take I had about Jalen Brunson and John Moran went all over the place, and unfortunately it was I had hit it in passing in the Knicks video, So I didn't really dive into the basketball, which is always a bummer because like, here's the thing, I can stand on whatever opinion I take,
no matter what, because I do the requisite research. But in that specific video, I didn't really break down the basketball reasons why I view Jalen Brunson as a slightly better player than John Morant in the immediate future. And so I wanted to talk about that really quick, because like, again, this to me falls into that classic debate that we've seen throughout NBA history about the young up and comer versus the established guy who kind of already has the
polish right. So, for instance, like Kobe versus Lebron in the late two thousands, like eight nine, twenty ten, Lebron fans all swore that Lebron was better because he put up better numbers and he was winning more awards, and he's back to back MVP and all this stuff. But meanwhile, Kobe's winning playoff series, albeit with a better team, but winning playoff series because he was a better half court
shot creator at that point. This is a fact, Like he was just a little better at navigating the playoff environment than Lebron was at that point. So I actually think Kobe was better than Lebron in the late twenty tens. Then come twenty twelve, I think Lebron took that mantle and I don't think anybody passed him. Right. That's why
I'm saying the same thing about Giannis. Everyone's like, oh, Jannis is the best player in the league in twenty twenty, and I'm like, no, Like, Lebron is just way better at navigating the playoff chess match than Giannis is right now, he's a better player. That's kind of the way I look at the Jalen Brunson thing. John Moran is unquestionably going to be a better player than Jalen Brunson in
the long run. John Morant. Obviously, if I'm the Knicks GM and Memphis calls me and goes, hey, I want Jalen Brunson for John Morant straight up, which I don't even think the salaries work, but of course I'd be like, yeah, like give me John Moran. I want John Moran. He's gonna be a better player in the long run. That
wasn't the point of what I was talking about. What I was talking about is right now, in the half court setting that you most frequently encounter in the playoffs, Jalen Brunson is a better and more versatile shot creator. He can score out of the post, He could score in isolation, He could score in pick and roll. He was one of the very best pick and roll ball handlers in the league last year, a better one than
John Morant. He was one of the best post up guards in the league last year, one of the best ISO guards in the league last year, and so he was able to against Cleveland when even Donovan Mitchell was against that defense. He was able to against the Knicks defense, which was a lesser defense against the number one defense
in the league. And again we talked about all the offensive issues that Cleveland was having, but against the number one defense in the league, Jalen Brunson was able to slowly and methodically find the good shots that existed within those games. He was able to pick on Cheeddy Osman
in switches. He was able to identify when he'd have Darius Garland don him and try to put him into pick and roll to get a good shot right like, he was able to attack the mismatches, and so as a result, when the game slowed down into those situations, Jalen was better. He was the best player on the floor. He outplayed Donovan Mitchell in that series. And so to me,
that's kind of the differentiator. Like John Morant is going to have all the highlights, He's going to fill the box score, just like Giannis could fill the box score in twenty twenty, just like Lebron could fill the box score in two thousand and nine. No one's questioning the accolades, no one's questioning what he's capable of, no one's questioning
the potential in the law run. But right if I had to start a playoff series tomorrow with equal supporting casts on both sides, and Jalen Brunson is navigating one team and John Morant's navigating the other team. I think Jalen Brunson wins that series because as of right now, at this moment in time, he is a more dynamic half court shot creator in the slow down, physical playoff environment then on the other end of the floor. Jalen Brunson is not a good defensive player, but he's not
gonna hurt you there most of the time. Like I didn't think he had a good playoff or excuse me, I didn't think he had a good defensive run with Team USA that I thought that was a commitment thing that went down the roster. Obviously, he's not a great defensive player, but he as long as he's as long as he's surrounded by good personnel, he's not going to hurt you defensively in a playoff series. Because he's big and he's strong. You're not gonna be able to bully
him in the post. You're not gonna be able to consistently beat him off the dribble. Right John Morant literally is an atrocious defense under right now, he can make defensive plays, He's a defensive playmaker. He'll block a big shot here or there right or he'll jump a passing lane here or there. But right now, he's not a
good defensive player. As a matter of fact, the one time they won a playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the best bits of offense that the Timberwolves had was tossed the ball to Patrick Beverly and let him attack John Moran off the bounce, and he was having a lot of success that way. So that's the thing. Like, right now, John Morant's a bigger defensive liability and a lesser half court shot creator. So I think Jalen Brunson
is a slightly better basketball player right now. Within the next couple of years, Jaw's going to improve as an off ball defender. He's going to put on a little bit muscle so he can improve as an on ball defender. He's going to get better at deciphering playoff defenses, identifying the types of counters that defenses employ against him in a series to try to make him uncomfortable, like he
really struggled with the Lakers pick and roll coverage. He's gonna have opportunities to figure those things out and then he will become a much better player than Jaylen Brunson. But that was the only point I was trying to make. I was explaining why I had the Knicks above the Grizzlies in my rankings and explaining why I view Jalen Brunson as a slightly better player than John Moran in the short term. But I wanted to have an opportunity to actually talk about the basketball reasons for that. So
I'm glad we got to do that today. All right, for mail back questions, and a couple of them are gonna be quick. Any plan, Oh, it actually only have three mail back questions. That's my bad. So from Andy, any plans for a weekly NBA round table podcast once the season starts would be great to see you interact with other volume guys, breaking down games, plays in the league,
et cetera. So I'm not gonna get into details here because we have to finalize some stuff, but we have at least two things that we're working on that will add some kind of wrinkles to the regular season in the way that we do the show. I do plan on working with guests more frequently this year, but at the end of the day. This show is, at its core is always going to be just me breaking down games.
For those of you guys who have been hump fans of the show over the summer, like this is very different than what our show is normally like like we do, although these, uh, these season previews are a little bit more like what we like to do. But the player rankings lists and the all time rankings lists, and that's all stuff just designed to get through the summer, right.
It just gives us an excuse to talk about basketball and a bigger picture for fun in the in the dregs of the NBA off season, but in the regular season, it's a pretty consistent theme. I will wake up every day, watch the games from last night, give you a breakdown of the games, and then two or three nights a week for major national TV games, will go live right after the games. But at its core, this is breaking
down games. But what we're gonna try to do is add like a once the once a week type of thing where we bring someone on and talk more big picture stuff. So that's kind of the game plan. I'll keep you guys posted once we finalize stuff. Next mail back question, why don't teams in the NBA utilize more plays outside of picking role. Isn't the consensus. When the ball moves more, the game is more exciting to watch. Also, this should give teams that have a tougher offense, So
I'm trying to read this properly. Also this this should give teams a tougher offense to pit against the defense. I'm removing one of the words there. So this is an interesting dynamic. So, first of all, there's a reason why teams have gone away from running sets to the extent that they used to. And the main reason why is just players are so much better now in terms
of skill. Our skill development has reached a point now where we have probably like a solid fifty players in the league that are really good at making tough shots, right pull up jump shots off the dribble, tough floaters, shots out of the post, shots at isolation. So like it's gotten to a point now where any NBA offense can get a pretty decent look that a guy can make a good percentage of the time without having to
do anything too crazy. And so for instance, like let's say, for instance, I've got Damian Lillard on my team, and uh, you know, it's a slow down situation. We gotta stop.
It's the you know, two minutes left in the second quarter, like Day might just dribble the ball up the floor, up the left wing, and guys will run to the corners, and a guy will run to the right wing, and then Nurkic will come up and set a pick and he'll come off the screen and if he gets some wide open threes, pull up three, he's gonna take it. If he gets a floater, he's gonna take it. If they help, he'll make the key out pass, and they're gonna get a good shot. They're gonna get a shot
that they can make. That is brute force offense. You hear me talk about this on the show. Brute force offense works even in the playoffs, and the reason why is because players are so damn good. Now. But I agree in the sense that, like I think teams should not use that as an excuse to not run sets. The reason why you don't run sets that often is not just that players are better. It's a scouting thing. You get to the postseason and all those five out
sets at the Warriors run don't work as well. Right, you get to the postseason, in those dribble handoss that the Kings run, they don't work as well. Right, That's that's a pretty consistent theme in NBA history. So at that point, the brute force offense actually becomes the most reliable offense. My thing is, why can't you do both?
Why can't it be brute force offense coming off of action, even if it buys you just a tiny bit more of an advantage, right, even if they scout the sets and they're ahead of them, but you just have a like you have just a half a step on your on ball defender every time, as opposed to attacking a stagnant on ball defender. Maybe over the course of forty pick and rolls in a game, that is an extra you know, tenth of a point per possession. That's what's
that four points? That's four points in a game, in a playoff game that might be decided by four points. Right, So, Like, I'm a big believer in like running complications, doing things to flow into your pick and roll. Like, if Dame wants to run a pick and roll with Nurkic, why not bring the ball up the floor, pitch it to Anferny Simons run to the corner, and then have Infernty Simons run into you with the dribble handoff as you
flow off of the Nurkics pick and roll. Why not do that just to keep the defense a little bit more off balance, right, But the reason why is simple. It's fatigue. Guys get tired in the game and you realize that, hey, we can get a good look without having to run something. So I'll just run to the corner. Dame will run his pick and roll and take a pull up three, you know, rather than us do something to get into that, Let's just do that and then we'll run back and save our energy for defense. That's
the reason why they do it. I just don't necessarily think it's the right process, and I do think that teams that run complications are more effective offensively for that reason, the Nuggets are a team I give credit for that. Like, the Nuggets are typically going to run some sort of interchange into their brute force offense, and I think that that's a force multiplier. It makes your offense that much more impactful. All right, last one from Bob Hi Jason,
great show. What are your thoughts on seeding? For example, if the Nuggets are Warriors, finished with the five or six seed in the regular season, well you still have them as title favorites based on previous success or they bumped down in it contendered here. So this is gonna be an interesting thing throughout the season. I am not gonna care much about seeding. The main thing that I'm gonna care about is how good you look as a
basketball team when you are healthy. Because there are gonna be a lot of teams that fall to five and six because their star has some nagging injury and rather than playing him through it, they're just gonna rest him
for a little while. Right, You're gonna see a lot of teams that are especially after the last postseason, in the last several postseasons, where we're seeing that teams that don't take the regular season super seriously or that struggle through the regular season can still reach their ceiling when they get to the postseason. That shows us that the
regular season does matter less than ever. I do think it does matter, though, And as we go back through NBA history, it is top seed that end up winning. Who won last year, the one seed Denver Nuggets who won the year before that, the Golden State Warriors who started fifteen to one and won a shit ton of games until Steph got hurt, right, who won the year before that? The Milwaukee Bucks, who wont to shit ton of games, who won the year before that? The Lakers
who want to shit ton of games. So like, the regular season does matter. And obviously, good veteran teams that have proven playoff history that are also top seeds, those are the teams that I'm going to believe in the most in the postseason. But if I have to choose between a top seed that is an unproven playoff team or a sixth seed that I've seen succeed in the playoffs and within this season I've seen look dominant with their core players, I'm obviously gonna trust that team more.
But let's be clear, if we get to June, or if we get to mid April and the Lakers are the one seed, I'm gonna pick them to win the title. If we get to April and the Phoenix Suns are the one seed, gonna pick them to win the title, the Nuggets are the one seed, gonna pick them to win the title, the Celtics or the Bucks. Right, Like, I'm obviously going to think of good like proven teams that are also dominating the regular season are gonna get the most amount of faith. And then I'm gonna go
with veteran teams over young, successful teams beneath them. The volume