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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 itach issuance, Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. All right, welcome to tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. I 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 that AMPU is the very first place that
you guys can get these shows. Continuing our Power rankings today with number ten the Oklahoma City Thunder who are very interesting on their own accord, before we even get to the fact that Chen Holmgren's coming back this year, and just so you guys know, over the weekend, we are now less than a month away from the kickoff of Or I should say, the tip off of the NBA season we are today is what September twenty sixth
and October twenty fourth is our season opener. The Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers will get things kicked off, So I'm starting to get super excited for that. But we're gonna talk, okay, see today a good long season preview on them, and then I've got three or four mail back questions for the end of the show as well. You guys are the job. Before we get started, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Don't forget about follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LT and our podcast feeds wherever
you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. And I need mailbag questions. We're gonna continue to do those at the end of these shows in perpetuities, so don't forget to drop mailback questions in the YouTube comments. All right, let's talk some basketball so quick, little off season recap. Not much roster turnover for the Thunder. They did lose Darios Rich to the Warriors and free agency. He was basically their backup five last year. They did get Davis Beharton's
in a trade. He shot a fifty eight percent EFFECTI field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots last year sixty five percent when he was unguarded. In general, was deadly in spot up situations one point four to four points per possession, which is like off the charge. Good. But he barely played only eleven minutes per game last year, and forty five games only logged eighty two spot up possessions.
My guess is that he probably won't play much. We'll see, but it's very possible that he ends up getting moved at some point. I'm curious to see what they decided to do to him. But technically he's on the Thunders roster right now. Vacilla Jay and I'm sorry if I'm butchering the pronunciation there, but Vasilla Jay meat Chitch signs for three years and twenty four million dollars. Played overseas last year and was amazing. He's a big guard. He's
about six foot five, moves pretty well laterally. He's not a great like vertical athlete, but he moves pretty well laterally. He's got a good quick first step. He was one point two to one points per possession in pick and roll last year. Just a ridiculou lessly deadly pull up three, particularly from three, but he can do it from everywhere
on the floor. But he just whenever he sees a spot when a dude ducks under a pick or gets caught on a pick, he can rise in, fire out to like twenty five twenty six feet and hit it pretty consistently. He was fifty three point four percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots overall last year, and most importantly, when he gets downhill and pick and roll, he's got a gift for engaging the
screen defender, baiting them to come further out. Because of his willingness to shoot not just the three, but also pull up jump shots in the mid range and floaters and things along those lines, he could pull the screen defender out, which then unlocks his best skill, which is his passing ability. He was an excellent passer and pick and roll last year, great at making the skip pass
of the weeks side corner, hitting the roll man. He's just a super skilled shot creator and I think he's going to be an interesting addition off the bench for Okase. He was forty one percent on all jump shots overall, fifty eight percent waited for threes, and sixty two percent at the rim, which is excellent for guard. I just look at him as basically like a shorter version of Josh Giddy, who's a better jump shooter. Is kind of
the way that I look at it. But I think he's gonna be an interesting guy to come off the bench and continue to be the next in a long line of skilled shot creators on this OKC team. They also drafted Cason Wallace out of Kentucky, Big guard, six foot two, strong, long arms. I think he's got about a six to eight wingspan, good athlete with like real downhill power when he starts attacking the rim. He can
actually get by people pretty easily. Good shooters well, fifty four percent effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots, forty seven percent on pull up jump shots, and he has the potential to be an excellent defender. I'm not as high on him as everyone else. I think he really struggles with screen navigation right now, but I think it's mostly an effort thing. When I watch him, he just kind of seems willing to die into screens
or get into a trailing position. I think he's got the athletic tools and the strength to be an excellent screen navigator, so I think in the long run he could be a really interesting option there. But this is a team that's deep at guard, so I'm not sure
he's gonna play much to start. But again, in this particular situation with the Thunder, they're just stacking assets, stacking young talented basketball players, so they could pick the ones that actually make sense with them in their long term vision and trade the ones that aren't a fit into that vision for potentially the veteran star that could come into the picture. Right, because as we look at this roster, it's all kids in their twenties, right, You're guys like
Victor Oladipo who are on the roster. I mean that, like I doubt he ever actually plays for the Thunder, that he's not going to be a veteran presence necessarily, right, So it's like, you're not this is a young team, and so in the long run, having all these assets could be the vehicle with which you get veteran presences that are needed, specifically a role player, because I don't
think this team needs any more shot creation necessarily. But looking at the depth chart at guard, they have shake Gil, just Alexander Trey, mann, Isaiah Joe Mitschich. Like we mentioned earlier, Cassan Wallace at four, Josh Gitty, lou Dort, Jalen Williams, Kenrich Williams, Aaron Wiggins, and Jeremiah Robinson Earl. That's a pretty ridiculously deep core of forwards. And then Bigs Chet Holmgren,
Alexei Pokoschewski, Jalen Williams, and Uzman Dang. That's a lot of really good basketball players and it's gonna be really interesting to see how they kind of piece together the rotation. Starting lineup with Chet coming back should be Shay, Josh Gitty, Lou Dort, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren. That's potentially a lineup that could be the best lineup in basketball within the next five years. That is a really, really exciting
group of young players. So there's two different ways that I think that the Thunder are going to make a leap this year. Because obviously I have them very high. I have them up at tenth. So I'm saying that I believe the Thunder a top ten team in this league. And this is a team that was very firmly in the middle of the pack last year. So what am I saying is going to justify that leap a couple
of different things. Specifically, is this already is an existing group that is on the rise before we even get to Chet Holmgren. Right, Like Shake Giojess Alexander is a bona fide superstar, Josh Gatty is a serious weapon as a number two. Not only did he average seventeen eight and six last year, but he had thirty one points, nine rebounds, and ten assists in that play in victory against the Pelicans. I watched that game in its entirety again this morning. He was awesome. And then Jalen Williams
is coming off of super impressive rookie campaign. I think he has the potential to be a better version of Jalen Brown, who's got more of like a versatile shot creation package and a better passer, much better. He's already a better passer than Jalen Brown. So, like, I'm really excited about Jalen Williams in the long run as well. This is a team that can get so much better
even just looking at that specific core. And then you throw in Chet, who specifically addresses some very specific weaknesses on this team, right, like, this is a team that did not protect the rim well last year. This is a team that did not rebound well last year. And so not only is chet Holmgren another super exciting young player as like a folkrum there, he's also specific addressing
a need. And as good as Jaylen Williams was last year playing off playing basically as they're starting five for the second half of the season, like he struggled in pick and pop situations, he struggled as a role man. That's something I expect Chet to be good at right away. And so it's not just the exciting young group and the improved continuity and them getting better as they are as just as all young players do year by year in their experience in the NBA. It's also adding a
super talented young player that specifically addresses a need. And so I'm really really excited to dive into that a little bit deeper on both ends of the floor. But I don't think people are even prepared for how good Chet Holmgren is going to be. I think he's gone under the radar a little bit, not just because he missed the year last year, but because of all the hype surrounding Victor Wembinyama, and like, don't get me wrong,
Victor wemen Yama is a better prospect. He deserves to be, and in the long run he should be a better player. But right now, Chet's actually significantly more polished from the perimeter, significantly more polished Webnyama is, and so I think he's actually gonna provide a lot of what Victor can right away, but be a much better perimeter player, which I think is going to be super exciting. But we'll talk about that more later. So let's get to the offensive end
of the four. So the Thunder primarily set up in five out spacing, and the reason why they're able to do that is they've got skilled big men, right like Jaylen Williams and Alexi Pokashevski and Dario Sarch last year were all capable at least willing to take three point shots, right. Some of them made it more than others, but they were willing to take those shots, and so that allowed them to set up in that five out spacing. This year, it's gonna be the exact same kind of arrangement. You're
just gonna basically swap out Dariosarge for Cheded Holmgren. And then properly slot Jaalen Williams where he should be, which is as a backup five right. But it's the same kind of setup, and the reason why five out spacing matters is it's just much harder rotations to make. So imagine a four out one in spacing system where in any sort of ISO situation, my big man's in the
dunker spot. If I beat somebody off the dribble, or I post up and try to make them move aggressively towards the basket, it's a really easy rotation for the rim protector to make because he's basically just gonna let's say that his man is in the dunker spot, He's gonna situate himself close enough that the ref won't call defense of three seconds, but close but still be in the paint where he can help, right, Or even if that dunker stands, you know, in the short corner, he
can still have like one foot in the paint and just kind of step in and out. It's a really easy rotation for him to make at the rim. And then same thing for pick and roll. In a pick and roll situation, if you have a non shooting five, you can run no roller behind coverage, meaning like you can actually continue to back up into the paint and not have to worry about the rollman popping to the three point line where he can cause problems. You can drop back and handle the rollman and the ball handler
coming towards you. Right. So in a five out spacing system, you make that rotation infinitely harder, right because in pick and roll coverages, now you've got Jalen Williams or in this case Chet Holmgren popping to the three point line, and now as the role man, you have to account for the fact that he can score there. Now, jay Lynn Williams actually struggled in picking pop situations last year, did not play super well there. Chet Holmgren's gonna be
much much better there. So it's gonna be an even bigger problem for defenses this season. But as the screen defender, you have to be prepared for on the throwback pass to the popping big you have to close out, which is a really difficult rotation to make. Right. Or let's just say, in any sort of ISO situation, if I've got a shooting five, let's say, for instance, like a play that the thunder run a lot, so a lot of times they'll have they'll have their big man started
above the break at the top of the key. So let's say Chet Holmgren's there, right, and they'll do a back cut with SGA. So a lot of times they'll use SGA as like a decoy to set up a dribble handoff. So like SGA will like throw the entry pass to the top of the key to the big man and like fake like he's gonna go for a dribble handoff, but then he'll just cut back door and he'll go through to the other side, and then they'll like flow into a dribble handoff out of the corner
for like Jalen Williams or something like that. Right, But let's say Shae gets by his man in the back cut and Chet throws the pass and hits Shay on the drop on the back cut towards the basket. Where's the rotation? Right? In a excuse me, in a four out one end system, if you beat somebody on a back cut and the rim protector's there, it's an easy rotation, right. The rim protector's just waiting. Maybe you make the drop
off pass to the dunker spot. But we've seen a lot in the playoffs, in particular, guys in the dunker spot, it's easy for them to get to for the rim protector to recover, right. Like we'd see you know, Jared Allen sitting in the dunker spot and Mitchell Robinson be able to stunt up at Evan Mobley but still get back to contest Jared Allen. Or we'd see the Lakers.
That would happen a lot with Jared Vanderbilt, Like he cut into the dunker spot and he'd catch there and the guy would be able to step up to help, but then still recover back to Jared Vanderbilt. It's just an easier rotation to make, especially for an elite rim protector. But in a five out system, if SGA beats his man on the cut and you know chet Holme and throws that bounce pass, that rotation's got to come all the way out of the weak side corner. Now that's
an extremely difficult rotation to make. SHA's probably going to get a layup, right, And if he doesn't get a layup, it's you're in a five out spacing system, right, So even if he does rotate over and stop SHA from making the layup, he's gonna have easy kickouts to shooters on the weak side and so and like, literally, instead of a rim protector being able to step up to contain SGA and then stunt back to stop the dunker spot, he's not gonna be able to contest that and then
close all the way out to the weak side corner. So again, five out spacing requires you to have a skilled big man, a guy that's capable of knocking down shots, and not only that, but capable of making plays off the dribble. But if you can set up that way, it provides many, many more issues for the defense, right. And like we've seen five out lead to advantages even for teams that don't have shooting bigs, right, like Golden
State runs primarily a five out offense. And now again we've seen elite defen has caused them problems by sagging and top locking, right, But for the most part, five out spacing is going to provide better opportunities for your perimeter players to get downhill. That just fundamentally is the best way that they to set up an offense in
the modern NBA. And that's you know, kind of why I love this Oklahoma City Thunder team so much like they have one of my favorite young players in the league and Shay Gilles Alexander, they have one of my favorite young draft prospects in the league and Chat Holmgren. They've got all these other young players that are super fun and exciting to watch. They've got a coach, Mark Dagenol,
who does a really nice job. But also they play a modern brand of basketball that I really really like, not just on the offensive end of the floor, but
on the defensive end of the floor as well. But again, like that, when you combine that spacing setup with guys like Shay that can get downhill so well, with guys like Jalen Williams that can get downhill so well, with big guards like Josh Giddy that can punish players inside, like you end up scoring in the paint a ton And they were fifth in restricted area makes per game in the entire NBA in seventh and overall points in the paint per game, So I think that was a
positive fallout from their spacing setup. But everything starts with shake gil As Alexander, like he's just a bonafide superstar. He was fourth in the league in scoring last year, averaged thirty one points per game sixty three percent through shooting, which is just obnoxiously good. But most importantly, he excels at a brand of basketball that you need to reach
the highest levels of the game of basketball. Right Like SGA is not an analytics guru, Like I'm gonna take the most efficient shots, and we're gonna squeeze out the best point per possession rating and in all these situations and maximize regular season potency. He plays basketball in a
way that succeeds in the NBA postseason. He does take shots that are not necessarily analytically sound, right Like an SGA pull up jump shot last year was only worth about one point zero two points per possession, right, which seems low because he's taking a lot of pull up twos, But the reality is is like he can get to that shot whenever he needs to, even in a situation where things get super congested in the paint, where the ref starts swallowing their whistles and letting go a lot
of a lot of contact and fouling. Right, like his points per possession is resilient, it's postseason resilient. By by thriving in the methodical half court setting, he can be a great crunch time player, and he can be a great playoff player. And I don't think it was a coincidence that in his first massively important elimination game as a as the solo star, as the main star on a team. Obviously he had his reps in the past.
I think he at that one playoff series with with Chris Paul in the bubble, right, But like when when you look specifically at his first real big, you know, high stakes playoff game in the first round of the of the playing tournament, he was incredible and down the stretch of the game was creating high quality shots all over the floor right and ended up hitting basically the game winner, that crazy one like fade away going along
the left lane line, right. So, like, that's the exciting part is it's not just that you have a superstar. You have a superstar whose game is specifically built to thrive in the NBA postseason. And that to me, if you're a basketball fan and you're rooting for a team, that's like the one thing you absolutely have to have
to have any chance to win. And SGA is that guy, And so that's your starting point, that's your primary entry point, right, Like that's the guy that can consistently get the defense into rotation, and from there, they're just a devastating drive and kick team because everybody on the floor knows how to cut, knows how to relocate off the ball, knows how to attack a close out, knows how to attack the offensive glass. They're just an extremely difficult team to guard.
It's funny because, like watching the Thunder is a surreal experience because they're super young, right, They're this super young basketball team. All their core players are in their twenties, and yet when you watch them, it's like watching a veteran team. Even their older play, even their excuse me, even they're younger players, guys like Jaylen Williams and Josh Giddy,
they play like veteran players, you know. Like even Jaylen Williams as a young big man in this league, Like you watch him in a high stakes environment and he just isn't gonna do anything stupid, Like he's just gonna play within his role and limit mistakes and do his job.
And that's like a cultural thing from the top down in the roster, Like this is not the Houston Rockets from last year or the Detroit Pistons, and some of these other young teams where it's like it just feels like no one really knows how to play basketball at like a veteran level. Right, Like, this is a young team with the personality and execution and habits that you'd
expect to see from a veteran team. And that's what makes him such a devastating half court offense in these big, like slow down environments, right because like you're just SGA is either gonna be able to call for a ball screen and get a blitz which is gonna open up a four on three and you're gonna get some sort of wide open shot out of it, or in single he's capable of executing and getting to spots on the floor where he knows he can make shots at a
high percentage, and and it just makes them really really difficult to guard. But they have tons of secondary shot creation, obviously, Josh Giddy, as we mentioned earlier, the incredible thirty one to nine to ten in the In that first playing game against the Pelicans, Jalen Williams was up over a point per possession in all play types. Last year, Jalen Williams converted ISOs at one point one to two points
per possession. Last year, there were seventy two players in the NBA who averaged or excuse me, who logged at least one hundred ISOs last year. Jalen Williams ranked seventh out of those seventy two players with his one point one to two points per possession. Like, as far as young rookies go, he's one of the more exciting ones, and he's obviously going to experience significant leaps in the coming years now, the biggest weak point in the offense
last year was their spot up shooting. As good as their spacing principles were, they just had a lot of guys who struggled to make shots like Lou Dort, Jalen Williams and Josh Gitty and I'm talking about jay Len Williams and Josh Gitty were all below a point per possession in spot up situations last year. Even Shay is good of a pull up jump shooter is as he is, he's not a good catch and shoot player. He was only twenty eight percent from the field on catch and
shoot jump shots last year. As a team, the Thunder were twenty six then spot up efficiency, so they were bottom five in converting spot up possesions. Last year, that was the big thing that held them back on the offensive end of the floor. Now, I think a couple of things will help here a lot with their spot up shooting. One, continuity, you have guys like Josh Kitty,
Jalen Williams, Sga. These are all guys that are accustomed to having the basketball in their hands a lot, right, And so I'm not surprised the guys like Jalen Williams and Josh Kitty struggled a little bit in spot up situations because they're just not used to having to do that a lot on the basketball floor, right. So, and even Sga, like you give the ball to Josh Kitty or Jalen Williams and let them go to work. He's not used to having to take a lot of catch
and shoot jump shots, so he only took fifty all season, right. So, Like at a certain point like these all three of them will get more and more comfortable playing with each other, understanding where their off ball opportunities are and how to capitalize on them. So I think continuity will help, because yeah, I think that's basically the first year that all three of those guys have played together, and then the Chet
Holmgern thing. He's just a massive upgrade on both ends of the floor and it's just gonna make things a lot easier. Like Jaylynn Williams the center, he was really good in catch and shoot situations, in spot up situations, but when he was picking and popping, he struggled to knock down shots. He was just six for twenty one on the season knocking down shots. He was good in the short role, like he would catch on those blitzes from SGA and he would make good reads to shooters,
but he really struggled finishing at the basket. So like as good as Jalen Williams was in certain areas, he had some pretty glaring weaknesses. Like I expect Chet to thrive in those situations. I expect Chet to be a great pick and pop player. I expect Chet to be a really good short role player as well. He's gonna actually provide vertical spacing, a legit gravity in rollman possessions where he can actually roll to the rim and be
a vertical spacer. That's not a thing that this team has had, and that's not a thing that SGA has been able to play with right and then he's also gonna have the ability to capitalize on switches and things along those lines, which Jalen Williams couldn't do. So I think I think Chet's just gonna be a much much better player. And that's not an insult to Jalen Williams. He did his job. He filled in as a center with the injury, but like that's where he should be.
He should be off the bench. He's a very good bench player to have on this particular team at the center position. But when you add in the improved spacing with Chet Holmgren, and not only that but his improved playmaking in the short role, I actually think you're just gonna get higher quality spot up reps. So when you factor in better spot up opportunities and more continuity for the guys learning how to capitalize on him, I expect them to be a much much better spot up team
next year. So I mean, when you kind of put all that together, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if OKC ended up being a top ten offense next year. I predict them to finish in that eight to twelve area, like right around the tenth best offense in the league. Now, looking at the defensive end is actually a super interesting experience with this Thunder team because they were really good
in some areas and really struggled in others. Right, They finished thirteenth in defensive rating, which is confusing because they were an average paint defense, They were a bottom ten three point defense, They were the third worst defensive rebounding team in the league, and they fouled a ton. So like, how did they manage a decent defensive rating thirteenth in the league despite being not great at any of those
core areas. And it really just comes down to they never ever turned the ball over, right, They they're the fourth best team in the league at taking care of the ball. That prevents their defense from having to deal with those trains opportunities, Right, Like, every time you turn the ball over, it's a high percentage possession going the other way. By taking care of the basketball, you prevent
those opportunities. Right. In fact, they allowed a transition possession on just thirteen point five percent of their defensive possessions. That was the best in the entire league according to Cleaning the Glass. So taking care of the basketball and avoiding those catastrophic defensive possessions where you're just giving away a two on one, three on one, fast break dunk or wide open three. That helps a lot. And then the second part of it is they forced to turn
the turnovers. Opponents averaged sixteen point three turnovers per one hundred possessions against the Thunder, which was the second best mark in the NBA, second only to the Toronto Raptors. And that comes down to their aggressive point of attack defense. This is the strength of their defense is the point of attack. Lou Dort is one of the very best perimeter defenders in the league. Shake Gildas Alexander is a
very impactful perimeter defender, is very disruptive. He's constantly reaching in with his long arms and getting deflections and knocking the ball away. He was actually tenth in the entire league in stocks last year steals plus blocks, which is insane because that's a stat that's typically dominated by long, athletic wings and rim protectors, right. But nope, Sga is right there in the mix because he's super disruptive at
the point of attack. So think of it like this, if you force a ton of turnovers, meaning you cause in this case, sixteen and a half possessions a game where the other team doesn't even get a shot on the basket and you keep them out of transition, you can be a good defense even when you struggle in other areas. And I think that's the perfect example of that.
You finished thirteenth in defensive rating despite not protecting the paint well, despite not protecting the three point line well, despite not rebounding well, and despite fouling a lot, And it's literally just goes to show you like you can target specific areas and be elite at specific things and cover for that. And them dominating the transition attack through forcing turnof and taking care of the basketball allowed them
to be a moderately successful defense. But again, like chat Holmgren, is what makes this super super exciting because you've got this elite point of attack defense in my opinion, right like between SGA and Loudort, you're gonna be able to cause serious problems for perimeter players at the point of attack, but you've had no rim protection behind you, and you've never been able to end defensive possessions with a rebound.
Like here's how important rebounding is for this team. According to cleaning the glass on half court defensive possessions in terms of actually forcing misses. The Thunder were the fourth best half court defense in the league last year in terms of actually forcing misses, and we count calculate that by points per play rather than points per possession. But they gave up an offensive rebound on thirty percent of
those half court possessions. So when you're giving them an extra chance one out of every three times, that's gonna hurt your defense. And that's what it ended up happening. So again, like they actually were a really good half court defense, they just couldn't secure defensive rebounds, right And so like when you look at that specific situation, that's where it gets exciting to add chet Holmger into the mix, because this is a team that forces a ton of turnovers.
This is a team that can be impactful at the point of attack. Now, this is a team that can protect the rim. Now, this is a team that can secure defensive rebounds. Chet Holmgren is that type of athlete at the center position, and that I think is gonna push them way up in what their defensive potential could be.
I actually think this team is gonna finish right around tenth and defense as well, and Again, if you're a right around the tenth best offense and right around the tenth best defense in the league, you're gonna win a lot of games. And I think this Thunder team is gonna win a lot of games. I think they're gonna win probably around fifty games, which is a lot in the Western Conference. I think they're gonna have home court
advantage in the first trout of the playoffs. I thin they're gonna be a top four seed, and I think they're gonna be a royal pain in the ass when they get there. And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they knocked out a team or two along the way. Don't be the least bit surprised if you see kind of similar to what the Thunder did in twenty eleven. Just start beating teams that you're not expecting them to beat like that is the type of potential
that I think this team has. I'm super super excited to watch them this year. They're only gonna be on national TV thirteen times, which I think is a mistake because not only do they have super exciting young players to watch, but they're just gonna be good. They're going to be good that Like. Of all of the things that we're going to see this year, one of the ones that I feel most confident about is that if the Thunder are healthy, they are going to be a top four seed in the West. I just I think
this team is incredibly talented. I think they're led by the right kind of star. They are adding a very specific player that addresses all of their weaknesses, and they've got young players that are gonna take leaps. Watch out for the Thunder this year, man, I think they're gonna be incredibly good. All right, let's move forward to the mailbag. So, first mail back question, how much does being involved in
an injury change how you play? Things that come to mind is charge setting, blindside screens, undercutting on closeouts, mid air contests. Thinking about the player that made the impact on Nick Chubb. I'm sure there is some internal warfare anytime a player performs those things on a court after they were involved in an injury. Do players continue to close out as hard, set as many screens, take as many charges, et cetera. So good question. I can only
speak from my personal experience. Uh, but I had a broken foot my sophomore year of college and It happened during the off season, and I was still recovering from it when I came into the season, and the big thing that stood out to me personally was not trusting planting hard or exploding on it. Like when you see
it's it's funny. As a basketball player, you see these opportunities arise right like you'll you'll be working on a close out or working and pick and roll and you'll see an opportunity, like a lane will open up, and if you're an athlete, you'll think, like, oh, I can shoot that gap, and like that was one of my strengths when I was playing, was like I was good athlete. I was a good size, and I could jump and
I can move a quick first step right. So like if I saw an opening, I'd shoot that gap right. And that is an example of a play that requires when you when you really like try to hit the jets, so to speak, into those tight space environments, you have to trust that you can explode, meaning like you have to plant hard. Let's say I need to do a left right takeoff, so I need to plant my left foot hard, swing that right foot around and plant it
hard and elevate off the ground. And like I didn't trust my foot, and that was the main issue, is like I just was very passive and tentative. And it wasn't even just in those specific situations attacking the like any sort of lane that would open up, I'd also it would also be in rebounding situations, like a like a highly contested rebound where I know I need to elevate in traffic, like maybe I don't jump for it right, or a tougher defensive rotation or something along those lines.
Like there was a trust phase that was after the recovery phase, and that's what I remember, is like it was like I got hurt, I rested, you know, walked around in a walking boot for two months, and then when I got to campus, I started to rehabbing get back into shape, and like then there was like this phase where I was more or less back, but I
wasn't playing well. And it's funny because in this particular season that I'm referencing, in non conference play at the start of the season, I really struggled and at one point I actually got pulled out of the starting lineup for two games to like teach me a lesson, so to speak, about not competing enough on the offensive glass or on the on just on the glass in general as a rebounder. By the way, my coach was right to do that. I was not rebounding well at the time.
But then like right around the end of that semester going into the spring, like something clicked and suddenly I trusted myself again and to really plant that footthard and then I was able to make those explosive moves again. And then suddenly, like I rebounded really well. I was I think third in my conference and rebounding that during conference play and ended up making an All conference team.
I played much better in the springtime, and it was because like I regained that trust in my athleticism, and like, you know, it's funny because that's like in general, what it's like aging with the game is. And I'm not that old. I'm only thirty two, but like as a thirty two year old playing now, I'm still not quite the athlete I was when I was in college. But I'm still a good athlete. But like I'm just super picky about it. But it's not even about not trusting
my body. It's about just not wanting to take the risk and it's more like as a thirty two year old whose profession is not basketball, like my profession or shouldn't say basketball, but not playing basketball, right, Like, my profession is outside of that, And I have other passions, right, Like I love to be active with my wife, and we love to travel, and I love to you know, ski.
I'm getting ready to go into ski season, right, so, like I have these other priorities, and so like a serious injury is not something I'm interested in messing around with, right, so I won't push it. So to speak to the same extent that I used to, like most recently, on Sunday, I played in a game, or on Saturday, I played in a game with like a group of players that I play with that we scrimmage club teams in jucos
around the state of Arizona. It's just like a way that I just find the higher level competition every once in a while coming out of Tucson. And I was playing on Saturday and my achilles was causing me some like significant soreness, and I started to feel some soreness on Thursday, and like, I'm just I don't want to risk that, Like it's just not worth it to me. So I literally skipped my game yesterday for my men's league, and like, I'm not gonna play today and I'm not
gonna play tomorrow. I'm gonna take some time off because it's just not worth it for me at this phase of my life to push through and I'm not trying to play professionally or anything, right, And so that same ideology stems into everything, like I won't put my body on the line as much as I used to. And that's the thing. When you're younger, you feel invincible and you do put your body on the line all the time.
But I think everybody kind of goes through a phase in their thirties where they just kind of start to be more picky about it. But as far as injuries go, I think that's like the big thing I learned from that broken foot. And it's just like there's phases. There's the healing process, there's like the rehab and reconditioning process. Then there's like the mental process. It's getting over the mental hurdles that you build over the course of that injury.
All right, next mail back question. If you had the power of the NBA commissioner, what would you change specific or would you change anything specific in the NBA. So I put three things down just as quick. Ideas, I shortened the seasonto sixty six games. I've talked about this before, but like whatever gate revenue you lose by losing twenty percent of the games, I think in the long run you would make up through improved urgency, improved star performance.
Those two participation I should say, by having your stars playing way more of the games, By having each of those games matter twenty percent more in the long run, I think you'd recoup that lost revenue. The league will never do it, but that's what I would do. Secondly, I'd change the way the game is officiated. I think there's an obsession with trying to avoid the overly ugly physical rock fight games of the late nineties and early
two thousands. That's kind of like the direction the league went right with the way they were officiating is trying to avoid that. But I don't think that would happen if you changed the way the game was officiating. By the way, when I say that, I mean like basically give the benefit of the doubt to the defender is what I would do. I would make it so that like if a dude does some janky non basketball move and tries to draw out, don't give it to him.
If a guy flops, don't give it to him. If a guy is maybe fouled on a jump shot, like, don't call it unless you're one hundred percent certain. Like just I would be way, way, way more deferential to the defense with officiating, And I don't think it would ruin the product because the spacing in general is so much better and the overall skill level on the floor is so much better. I think it would just look like playoff basketball in the regular season, which is a
very very entertaining television product. So I would change the way the game is officiating more more in favor of the defense. And lastly, I would change the salary cap rules to protect teams that draft well. So I think it's ridiculous if you're a team like like uh, Oklahoma City, for instance, and you draft all these guys and it comes it comes time to pay them and you can't because of the salary cap, and then you end up having to pick and choose which guys you want to
actually retain. Right Like, to me, that doesn't make any sense. Like the Orlando Magic could run into this problem soon, Like what if you need to pay everybody and then all of a sudden you have to let Markel Folts go? Like that doesn't that That's not fair in my opinion. And so the way that I'd structure it is like, because every team has a combination of both, right, Like the Magic have Markel Folts who they have obtained in a trade, but then they have Franz Wagner and Pala
Boncarra that they got through the draft. Right, So like, at what point do you kind of like change the rules based on how you obtained the player. And That's what I would do is I'd make it so that if you are paying salary tax penalties, I'd structure the entire process so that you only pay those penalties on
players obtained through free agency and trades. Because at the very least, you should have the ability to sign or extend a homegrown player that you've obtained through the draft to a long term deal and not have to worry about paying absurd luxury tax penalties just because your scouting
department is better than the team down the road. I don't think that's fair, especially when you look at the realities of first round draft picks and how many of them actually pan out, and the answer is pretty small. And so like, if you do strike gold three times, like that sucks that you might have to lose a player as a result of that. So that's something that I'd like to see them address as well. Two more, a lot of people say that Kyrie Irving is the
most skilled player in the NBA. What do you say to this? I tend to disagree because I think Steph Curry is the most skilled player in the league. Kyrie might have the best handle, but there have been other ball handlers at least comparable to him in history. However, no one can even touch Curry in terms of volume, pull up three point shooting, plus he might have the top might have a top three handle in the league. Thoughts. Good question. I've talked about this before, so I'll just
give like a really short version of it. But to me, it's like separating the skill set from the realities of what makes a good basketball player. So if you include things like the willingness and ability to play off the ball, conditioning, competitiveness on defense, defensive instincts, things like that as skills, so to speak, then yeah, I think Steph is a
more skilled player than Kyrie. But if I simplify skill down to strictly shooting touch from every spot on the floor, including at the raymen, off jump shots, footwork in and out of specific moves and counter moves, and the handle to make all those moves and counter moves, if I oversimplify the game to just that move passing, off ball play every other thing out of the equation, then I do think Kyrie's combination of shooting, touch, footwork, rim finishing,
sheer arsenal of moves and counter moves is the best in the NBA. Maybe ever, like that's that's how much I think Kyrie has that stuff polished out. But like it's just a silly conversation to my opinion, because Steph is just a much much better basketball player. He is willing to work off the ball and does so at an extremely high level that helps him generate easier offense. Right.
His willingness to work off the ball makes him less repetitive. So, like Kyrie, Irving is gonna attack in very similar ways often, and if you are guarding him with a live dribble from the perimeter every single time, like you're just gonna kind of figure out how to get in front of some of his moves, right, But like, Steph is gonna always be moving off the ball, and if he does go to pick and roll, it's gonna at the end of the game when he needs to, and it's gonna
catch you off guard and you're not gonna be ready for those moves. And I think that's a big part of why he's so successful when he gets later into the postseason, right, and then Steph is also a better defender, a better rebounder, a better leader. He's just a better basketball player. And so like, yeah, when we say, like who's the most skilled player of all time, it all
depends on how you define skill. And yes, if we narrow down skills specifically to ball handling, shooting, footwork, then yeah, I would say that Kyrie is the most skilled player in the NBA. But he's not close as a basketball player to Steph. He's a far better player on both ends of the floor, including on the offensive end, and that's why he's won so much in his career. I don't think that's a coincidence. All right, last question, what do you think will happen with Dame? Doesn't seem like
Portland is interested in trading him into Miami. So the latest intel is that Toronto's getting in on the equation. And I don't want to say it's off the table, because one, I'm not a super connected guy. It's not something I'm really interested in. I'm more of an analyst, right, I'm not, you know, constantly having phone conversations with gms and trying to get behind the scenes intel. Right, So like I don't speak I can't speak to the to
the personalities involved. Right. And if here's the reality, If Portland is vindictive enough to send Miami away from Miami, there, excuse me, send Dame somewhere other than Miami. And if Toronto is as aggressive as they were during the Kawhi situation, then yeah, like Dame might end up being a Toronto raft. But two things. One, I don't understand why Toronto would even do that. Like how good is Toronto really? Like I didn't even have them in my top twenty teams
this year. They have arguably the worst backcourt in the NBA. Like if I slot Dame into the starting lineup even in a vacuum, Like, let's just pretend Toronto doesn't even have to send players back like is Dame Ogan Andobi Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and Yaka Perl Are they are they winning the championship? Like? I don't think so. Like I think they instantly become like a fringe contender, But
they're not winning the championship. It's not like the Rafters in twenty eighteen, who were if I remember correctly, they won fifty nine games or something like that, and we're the number one seed in the East and like or just flat out like literally just a better version of
Demarta Rosen away from being a championship team. And so yeah, they swapped Danny Green and Demarta Rosan out and or excuse me, swapped Demarta Rosan out right in the deal they had Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green and suddenly like they are the best team in the league and demonstrate that on the court. Right, But like that team actually made a lot more sense in terms of how close they were, how wide open the league was at that point.
Obviously with when you get to the postseason, Well, I guess, I guess technically it's not true because the Warriors were still put together. I get Yeah, I guess that's a good point, like the Raptors were technically taking an even bigger risk when you factor in how dangerous the Warriors
were at that point. But I do think in general, taking a fifty nine win team and swapping a superstar or a star like in Demarta Rosen for a superstar in Kawhi Leonard is just a much more straightforward process than We're maybe not even a playoff team, and we'd have to give up one of our core players to get Dame anyway, Like, let's say you just give up ogn and obi Is, which is the structure of the deal, that the only structure of the deal that makes any
sense for the Raptors. Let's say you just give away Ojan and obi Is, Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Junior with Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and Yakapera winning the title. I don't think so so Like I don't really understand that specific rumor. I continue to think, like I've thought all summer, that Portland cannot do this to Dame. They I do believe they owe it to him to send him to Miami. I know so many of you guys disagree with me, and we don't need to get into
that again today. But like I do believe that they're eventually gonna send him to Miami, and this is all just a leverage campaign to get the most possible return, which I'm totally okay with, even as ugly as it all looks in the big in the big picture. Right, So my guess is, I mean today's Tuesday. My guess is that we end up having this trade before before some because of Media Day on that following Monday, and teams wanting to kind of have their roster set going
into training camp. So my guess is this ends pretty soon. And my guess is this ends with him in Miami, but of course it's on the table that he ends up in Toronto or somewhere else. All Right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow with number nine the volume